The Pentagon has recommended that the White House consider awarding the Medal of Honor to a living soldier for the first time since the Vietnam War, according to U.S. officials.
The soldier, whose nomination must be reviewed by the White House, ran through a wall of enemy fire in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in fall 2007 in an attempt to push back Taliban fighters who were close to overrunning his squad. U.S. military officials said his actions saved the lives of about half a dozen men.
It is possible that the White House could honor the soldier's heroism with a decoration other than the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. Nominations for the Medal of Honor typically include detailed accounts from witnesses and can run hundreds, if not thousands, of pages.
The review has been conducted so discreetly that the soldier's family does not know that it has reached the White House, according to U.S. officials who discussed the nomination on the condition of anonymity because a final decision is pending.
Pentagon officials requested that the Washington Post not identify the soldier to avoid influencing the White House review. Administration officials declined to comment on the nomination.
The nomination comes after several years of complaints from lawmakers, military officers and Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the Pentagon had become so cautious that only troops whose bravery resulted in death were being considered for the Medal of Honor.
Gates "finds it impossible to believe that there is no one who has performed a valorous act deserving of the Medal of Honor who has lived to tell about it," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, who declined to comment on specific nominations.
#2
Prediction: another DSC award. Don't forget Gates was behind the denial of the MoH to Sgt. Rafael Peralta.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/01/2010 11:25 Comments ||
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#3
In my previous comment I probably offered a lousy reference for this article, since Sgt. Peralta's award would have been posthumous if approved. But it still goes to probable denial of the MoH for political factors: in Sgt. Peralta's case, due to his possibly having been an illegal immigrant when he first came to the U.S.; for living nominees, the fear that a MoH winner might say/do something embarrasing to the government.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/01/2010 11:38 Comments ||
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#4
Gates "finds it impossible to believe that there is no one who has performed a valorous act deserving of the Medal of Honor who has lived to tell about it and that we can trust not to turn on the Administration later," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, who declined to comment on specific nominations.
There. Fixed that for ya. Oh, and BTW, this is a MAJOR breach of tradition - the number of people in on an MOH citation is VERY small and they're supposed to say NOTHING. That leads me to believe that the leak was authorized at the highest level, and that the kid is indeed going to get an MOH to recognize his courage and so that people will stop asking tough questions.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/01/2010 11:40 Comments ||
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#5
I hope you're right. This will be one of the last steps in the recover of the military from the Vietnam war.
#6
but it will take attention away from Obama so you know he won't give it too the man although he deserves it. Since then the pres would have too salute this soldier.
Posted by: chris ||
07/01/2010 14:13 Comments ||
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#7
This is the guy who doesn't put his hand over his heart for the Pledge of Allegiance. He would probably present him the medal, then have him ushered out the back door through the trash, like he did with the Dalai Lama.
#8
Inre: Dalai Lama:
"And don't forget your cufflinks!"
They have to be doing it on purpose.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
07/01/2010 15:12 Comments ||
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#9
I realize we're all (including me) a pretty cynical lot around here, almost as bad as Ace of Spades, but I'd suggest we not trash Obama on this one.
Obama isn't awarding the MoH, if in fact it occurs. The Office of the Presidency is, on behalf of the Congress.
Did any of the Vietnam MoH recipients do anything stupid just because it was Nixon who awarded them the medal?
I believe the MoH recipients are a very special breed, and that they handle themselves with more class and dignity than I could ever muster. I don't worry about them, and I don't worry about Obama on this one. He'll do and say the right things because that's what he must do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/01/2010 15:27 Comments ||
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#10
The name is out there. I would highly recommend reading this NY Times article on his unit and their fight. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/magazine/24afghanistan-t.html
#11
Great read, Chuck, thanks for the link.
I wonder what happened to PVs and frozen zones, Afgan BS too PC to go against, or just money and BS? It needs sorting out.
[Quqnoos] Pakistan indicated on Tuesday it might extradite Mullah Baradar to Afghanistan in a bid to help Kabul broker a deal with militants, reports said
"We are working with Afghanistan's government to come up with a mutually acceptable arrangement for Mullah Baradar's extradition," a security official said.
Afghanistan had recently made a renewed call for extradition of Baradar and other Taliban commanders detained in Pakistan.
Moreover, this time round there is as yet no legal hurdle in Baradar's extradition. A challenge to his extradition was thrown out by the Lahore High Court in May.
The planned extradition would form part of efforts by Pakistan to help the Afghan government broker a peace deal with insurgents, an official said.
President Hamid Karzai's deputy-spokesman Hamid Elmi also said in a radio interview and the interior ministers of both countries had held exclusive talks on the issue. "They are ready to solve this issue and hand (Baradar) over to Afghanistan."
Taliban second-in-command Mullah Baradar's arrest in a joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence services in February from Karachi was described as a major coup in their counter-insurgency collaboration.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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A leading Somali insurgent Islamist group asked citizens on the eve of the country's 50th independence anniversary to boycott celebrations and warned of reprisals if they attended.
"We call on the Muslim people to avoid commemorating what they call the national day as it was inherited from the infidels", Moalim Hashi Mohamed Farah, senior Hezb Al-Islam official said in Mogadishu. "We warn the local media and journalist against attending the ceremonies. Anyone found covering the national day events will face bad consequences", he said.
Farah also said events such as International Tuberculosis Day should not be observed as they were un-Islamic. "Marking and celebrating for the events like Health Day and Tuberculosis Day is not also mentioned in the holy Koran and so that partying for those days is totally banned in Islam," he added.
They celebrate tuberculosis over there? One hopes there is a translation difficulty.
Strict Islamic Sharia rules are being implemented in some parts of the capital Mogadishu and other regions of Somalia by the Shebab group, which has a dedicated religious police branch known as "Jaysh al-Hisbah" (Army of morality). Units from the movement's "social mobilisation brigades" can often be seen criss-crossing busy areas on pick-up trucks and blaring instructions through loudspeakers to join the jihad and respect a pure Islamic clothing style.
#1
al shabaab would be toast if only the UN would recognise Somaliland and Puntland as the independent states they are.
They don't want al shabaab in the north. that would make a stable launch pad to wipe it out in the south
but the UN is tooo UNintelligent for that.
They'd rather keep paying the Transitional Federal Government whose chief role is warming seats at Java House Nairobi with their buttocks, sipping aid-money lattes.
[ADN Kronos] Al-Shabab, the Somalia Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group, says it is close to the presidential palace in capital Mogadishu which will allow it to control the southern part of the country.
In a 10-minute video obtained exclusively by Adnkronos International labelled "The African Crusaders", Al-Shabab refers to troops from the African Union, primarily in Mogadishu to defend the airport, as "crusaders."
Hey! We're the crusaders!
A voice speaking English with an American accent describes the video's images of destroyed tanks and other military vehicles, praising Al-Shabab's successes. Using the video as propaganda to demonstrate the perceived weakness of transitional president Ahmad Shari, the insurgents show images of destroyed buildings and gun battles that happened in the lastest offensive.
A government security official this week admitted to retreating following a fresh Al-Shabab offensive but denied that the militants had made any significant gains.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
D *** NG IT, America = Amerika, the OWG Mighty USSA = OWG Weak USRoA SSR, WE MAY BE LOSING AFRICA BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS LIBERIA'S NATIONAL DEBT IS CURED = UNDER CONTROL!
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan said on Monday it was closing borders with Libya to protect travelers and traders from attacks by rebels, a likely reference to Darfur insurgents who have taken refuge in Tripoli.
Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid issued the order with the "aim of reorganizing" police along the border, according to a statement on the ministry's website.
Passage on a highway to the boundary "has become subjected to threats and attacks from rebels and outlaws who commit robberies and extortion," the statement said.
"The decision will be enforced starting on the first of July 2010 and until other directives are issued," it said.
Libya's border with Sudan passes through the troubled Darfur region, where the United Nations estimates 300,000 people have died in a war that started in 2003 when ethnic rebels revolted against the Arab-dominated government.
The announcement comes a day after Sudan said it had called on Libya to expel the leader of Darfur's rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Khalil Ibrahim, accusing him of making statements undermining peace efforts in Darfur and threatening attacks on Khartoum.
If Libya agrees to Sudan's request, one possible exit route for Ibrahim and his followers would be an overland trek across Libya's border, straight into the northwestern tip of Sudan's Darfur region.
Chad, on Libya's southern border, has already refused to take the JEM leader and any offer of a new home in Egypt could spark a diplomatic rift between Khartoum and Cairo.
JEM forces have been involved in clashes with Sudan's army inside Darfur since the rebel group suspended its participation in peace talks in early May. In May 2008, JEM forces travelled hundreds of miles from north Darfur to launch an unprecedented attack on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had a telephone conversation last Thursday in which the question of Ibrahim's presence in Tripoli was raised, Sudanese media reported.
The head of Sudanese intelligence, Mohammed al-Atta, was reported to have said at the weekend that Ibrahim's extradition was "imminent," on a website close to the secret services. But this was denied by the rebel group.
"Ibrahim is in Libya and will remain there until he completes talks over the future of Darfur and Sudan" with Gaddafi, JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam told AFP.
"And even if Sudan said it would close its border with Libya, it doesn't have enough soldiers to do so," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
I was just in this area last November.
I can assure you that there is a Libyan border presence( nice guys.), and there is even an Egyptian border presence(Nicer guys, our hosts for most of the trip), but despite my being well inside the Sudanese border for two weeks, there were no signs of any official Sudanese border guards or any other such things. There is essentially no official Sudanese governmental presence anywhere in that country beyond 20 miles from Khartoum. Trust me on this, if you want to go to this part of the world, you don't get there through official processes in Sudan. You come down from Egypt or Libya.
And Chad? Don't get me started. Chad makes the Sudan look like Disneyland on Grad night. The Chadian government having an opinion on who does and who does not cross into their country is beyond parody. Its not a country, its a combination mad max sequel and zombie movie, and its border areas with Libya are notoriously porous.
Let me try to describe the place this article is trying to talk about. This is the very deep part if the Sahara desert. If you are like me, you think "the desert" is the world you see out your window when you drive out to Las Vegas. Its not. The Sahara Desert is unlike anything you have seen in North America. The closest analog we have in the very deep part of the Sonora desert near the Gulf Of California, and even that is an order of magnitude more wet than this part of the world.
Compared to this part of the Sahara, death valley is a verdant garden. When you drive across any part of our western desert, it is dry, but things grow, there is water, it does rain, though sparsely, almost every year. There is Cactus throughout our deserts, there is none in the deep Sahara. This particular part of the Sahara is known by NASA as a perfect analog for Mars and was used as such when the Mars landers were being prepared. When NASA went there in the 90's to study it, they took soil samples and found that 80% of the samples were completely sterile. There is no plant life in this area, none, zip, nada. It rains, when it touches the ground only every decade or every other decade. When I was there, I described it best by saying that the largest spot of exposed water in the area was in our own eyeballs.
There are exactly three wells in the area, all at the base of one mountain. The Libyan border crossing is right on top of one. The other two are hard rock guelta wells. which means that they are catch basins at the bottom of ancient riverbeds. In other words, depending on the water received on the "once a decade" rains, they often go dry.
What this means is that if you are the Sudanese government and want to put a border station out there, you have to bring everything with you. All your water, food and supplies. Its a big logistics challenge and a big cost. Oh, you say your border is big and you need more than one? keep adding it up for each station.
If you are trying to get across this part of the world and you know there is a border station, you go around it. No one is going to come looking for you, so border stations are largely ineffective. Instead, you just camp on the water. Thats what the Libyans have done, as the Egyptians.
The only official military presence in the area is based around Jebel Uweniat. Thats because, thats where the water is - the only water for thousands of miles.
and that water can be measured in cups.
Posted by: frank martin ||
07/01/2010 18:19 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, and Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee were shown arrested yesterday in a slew of cases including four in connection with war crimes. They were also remanded for 16 days each.
The move came a day after they had been arrested for failing to appear in a Dhaka court in connection with a case of hurting the religious sentiment of the country's Muslims.
The court however granted the three Jamaat top brass bail in that case yesterday.
Meanwhile, law enforcers arrested at least 100 leaders and activists of Jamaat and allied student organisation Islami Chhatra Shibir from different parts of the country till last night since late hours of Tuesday, for putting up road barricades, burning of tires, and bringing out marches protesting the arrests of their leaders. Khulna district Jamaat ameer also former lawmaker, Mia Golam Parwar, was among the arrestees.
Twenty two of them were arrested from the Dhaka court premises yesterday for unlawful gathering.
Nizami and Mojahid were shown arrested in two war crime related cases filed with Keraniganj and Pallabi police stations of the capital in 2007 and 2008, for killing freedom fighters during the country's liberation war in 1971.
A Pirojpur court yesterday granted two petitions for showing Delwar Hossain Sayedee arrested in two separate cases, filed with Pirojpur Sadar and Ikurkandi police stations last year, in connection with killing freedom fighters, torching of houses, and looting of valuables during the liberation war.
"Sayedee was shown arrested in the two cases following a court order," Pirojpur Superintendent of Police Nafiul Islam told The Daily Star last night.
All three of them were shown arrested in connection with Rajshahi University student Faruq Hossain's murder.
The trio were remanded in five other cases. Three of those cases were filed with Paltan police station in the capital, and are in connection with assault on police, and attempt to murder; one was filed with Ramna police station in the capital in connection with an incident of torching a car on June 27 this year, in which two persons were severely burnt; and the other is a sedition case filed with Uttara police station in the capital in March this year.
After the remand hearing, the arrested three were produced before the court which had issued the arrest warrants against them on Tuesday. After hearing both the prosecution and defence, the court granted the arrestees bail in the case in connection with hurting the Muslims' religious sentiment.
Then they were sent to Dhaka Central Jail. They were transported in a prison van amid tight security.
A top police official, wishing anonymity, told The Daily Star that the arrests "were not made suddenly", and hinted that the three might be shown arrested in more cases filed at different parts of the country.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun however told reporters, in the morning before the latest developments took place, that the arrests were not linked to war crimes.
Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Maqbul Ahmad in a media briefing in the afternoon alleged that his party leaders were implicated in "false" cases for "political revenge".
The Dhaka court proceeded with the cases amid a pandemonium yesterday, as hundreds of curious lawyers thronged the court room and the premises, when the accused were brought in at 4:30pm.
Few of the onlooking lawyers were shouting out slurs at the arrestees, accusing them of being killers, and anti-liberation individuals.
The court went on with the proceedings without power supply for about two hours.
Around three hundred law enforcers including members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), and Armed Police Battalion were deployed in the court complex to avoid any untoward incident.
Earlier in the day, leaders and workers of ruling Awami League backed student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League brought out marches chanting slogans against Jamaat and Shibir around the court premises.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday came up with a fresh two-day programme including protest rallies across the country today demanding immediate release of its three top leaders.
Jamaat would also observe "doa [prayer] day" on Friday seeking release of its Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayedee who were arrested on Tuesday.
Announcing the programmes at a press briefing at the party's central office last night, Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Maqbul Ahmad alleged that the leaders have been implicated in "false cases to harass them politically."
Meanwhile, Nizami in a written direction asked Maqbul Ahmad to carry out the duty as acting Ameer and ATM Azharul Islam as acting secretary general of the party.
Regarding the whereabouts of Rafiqul Islam Khan, one of the accused of the case filed on charges of hurting religious sentiment of the Muslims, Maqbul said Rafiqul Islam is staying in Dhaka and keeping contact with the party and he will appear before public in due time.
Replying to a query, he said BNP conveyed sympathy and support to them and they (Jamaat leaders) are keeping regular contact with BNP leaders, he added.
In a written statement, he also alleged that an ill effort to "torture" the leaders is on in the name of remand.
The government has filed "false and harassment cases" against them to take political revenge, he said adding that Jamaat strongly condemned and protested this "undemocratic acts" of the government.
Demanding cancellation of the remand and release of the arrested leaders immediately, Maqbul said though they [arrested three leaders] were granted bails in the main case, they have been shown arrested in other cases.
As they were granted bails in the main case, there is no logical ground to take them into remand in other cases, he said, adding the government is oppressing Jamaat by arresting its leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
North Korea warned Tuesday that any accidental clash during an upcoming US-South Korea naval exercise could spark war, as tensions remained high over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Really. We should be really, really frightened and give them groceries.
Minju Josun, the cabinet's official daily, accused the South and its US ally of "fabricating" facts about the sinking to incite a war against the communist state.
"It is as clear as day that a small accident that might occur during the joint military exercise would easily spread to an armed clash and eventually, to an all-out war," it said, slamming the planned drill as provocative and dangerous. The United States and South Korea are planning a special naval exercise as a show of strength in response to the sinking, which they blame on the North. No dates have been announced.
"If the US imperialists, gripped by their pipe dream of invading the North, ignite a new war on the Korean peninsula, our military and the people will wipe out not only the invaders but their strongholds as well and achieve a final triumph," the daily said. Beijing last week expressed concern at the planned joint exercise, which reportedly will include a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier battle group in close proximity to China's territorial waters.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
You mean restart the war you already restarted by sinking SKPR ship Cheonan?
Obviously they intend to blame the USA for their restarted War.
We're not buying your lies.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/01/2010 0:43 Comments ||
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#2
HMMMMM, HMMMMMM, yokay dokey I'll bite, I'm not convinced Kimmie = DPRK is aiming at the US-ROK as CHINA repor is holding a multi-service, ANTI-USN CARRIER, PLA MILEX/PLAEX now thru July 5th.
Again, IMO at this time Kimmie = DPRK need a NEAR-TERM, "GREAT POWER(S)" MIL CONFRONTATION ASAP more than Moud + Nuke-happy Islamist Iran.
PICS OF STARVING = SKELETAL NOKOR KIDDIES + ADULTS do not par wid NORMAL PRO-VS-ANTI-GOVT/US IRANIAN PROTESTERS.
DPRK NUCPROGS > the closer NK gets to fielding RELIABLE, ALBEIT PRIMITIVE? INDIGENOUS NUCWEAPS, the more it risks alienating even overlord CHINA from sending vital national assistance to NK.
IMO IRAN IS IN A MUCH STRONGER POSITION THAN THE DPRK TO "TOUGH IT OUT" AGZ ACTIONS OF THE US-WEST + UN VEE SANCTIONS [2012-2015/2020].
Seville, Spain - A Syrian man of Kurdish origin has been sentenced to three years in prison in Spain for throwing a shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, judicial sources said Wednesday.
The incident occurred on February 22, when Erdogan was visiting the southern Spanish city of Seville.
Erdogan was getting into a car after receiving a cultural cooperation award, when the 27-year-old man hurled a shoe at the prime minister, shouting the name of Kurdistan.
The shoe hit Erdogan's car instead of the premier, and was picked up by his bodyguards.
The Syrian had been living in Seville for months. Prosecutors proposed substituting his prison sentence with an expulsion order, but the court rejected that option, because the accused feared reprisals in Syria.
The man said he did not intend to hurt Erdogan, but rather to draw attention to the situation of Turkey's Kurdish population.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic extremist group working for uniting the world under Sharia law, is scheduled to hold its second annual conference on July 11 at the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook. The theme of the event is, "Emerging World Order: How the Khilafah Will Shape the World." The organization has chosen the home of President Obama, the leader of the free world, to pursue its anti-democratic agenda by taking advantage of the freedoms it seeks to vanquish.
"HT recruiters use religious language to pull the confused Muslim youth to their side in an effort to undermine American democracy. The danger of this conference is that it legitimizes HT as a mainstream organization and allows it to further spread its hate-filled message that divides Muslims and non-Muslims," Zeyno Baran, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, told FrontPage.
Hizb ut-Tahrir has accurately been described as "a conveyor belt to terror" by Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, the moderate Muslim leader of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. Although the group condemns terrorism and doesn't publicly support violence, several of its members have gone on to become major terrorists, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The group may not embrace the tactics of Al-Qaeda but their goals are the same. Hizb ut-Tahrir's first conference in the U.S. was held last year in Chicago and was titled, "The Fall of Capitalism & the Rise of Islam." It was attended by between five and six hundred people, and one speaker openly called for throwing out the U.S. Constitution and putting Sharia law in its place.
Posted by: ed ||
07/01/2010 08:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
I bet the electronic signature of the place will look like that of a nuclear plant, even though the administration will have given instructions for them to back off.
#2
Are we going to let them get away with it allow the event to proceed so that we can gain a vast treasure-trove of information, or are we going to stop them from spreading their disease and instilling confidence in jihadists and potential suicide bombers?
A military judge will decide whether a Sudanese detainee who says he has undergone "various methods of interrogation" since 2002 can use an Arabic-speaking psychologist with experience in post-traumatic stress disorder to help him prepare for trial.
Arguing Wednesday before military judge Navy Capt. Moira Modzelewski, attorneys for Noor Uthman Mohammed said the psychological assistance is critical to evaluate statements Noor has made that the government plans to use against him. Prosecutors accuse Noor of running a terrorist training camp in eastern Afghanistan. "Without developing the defense we really will not have an opportunity for a fair trial," said defense attorney Navy Cmdr. Katharine Doxakis.
Noor was captured in Pakistan in March 2002 along with a dozen or more captives who were rounded up at the same time as a better known detainee now held here, Zayn al-Abdeen Mohammed Hussein, better known as Abu Zubayda.
Declassified documents say Abu Zubayda has told interrogators that the Khalden training camp that Noor allegedly ran was a rival to training camps run and sanctioned by bin Laden, wasn't associated with al-Qaeda, that it was first set up by the U.S.-backed resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and was committed to a defensive, not offensive, jihad. At least one of the people arrested on that day, former Russian Army ballet dancer Ravil Mingazov, was ordered released after a U.S. district judge in Washington ruled that the Pentagon had no evidence to hold him.
Doxakis argued that Jess Ghannam, a clinical professor of psychiatry and global health sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, would help the defense determine whether 17 statements attributed to Noor were reliable and given voluntarily.
Wonder what the good Dr. Ghannam will determine?
Professor Dr. Ghannam is active in good works in the Gaza Strip, according to Wikipedia, and in the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and advocating for the Palestinian right to return effort here at home. That's indicative of his approach...
She noted that Ghannam, who's fluent in Arabic, has worked with non-government agencies that have helped detainees released from the detention center. The request comes after the Pentagon's senior official in charge of commissions, retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, refused to approve Ghannam's appointment, Doxakis said.
Ghannam thinks that there's a "great possibility" that Noor - who wasn't in court Wednesday - suffers from PTSD or depression. Prosecutors, however, said Noor has said he wasn't "tortured or mistreated" while in U.S. custody and quoted him as saying he was "surprised that Americans have been so kind to him and treated him so well."
That's why he's so stressed ...
Prosecutor Navy Lt. Cmdr. Arthur Gaston said the defense failed to demonstrate the need for an expert.
Particularly this expert ...
"The rule says the defense needs to establish why this particular area is at issue," Gaston said. "This should not be about detainees' situation in general. It should be about this particular case."'
The court quickly dispatched another issue in the case: whether an Army reserve officer, Maj. Amy Fitzgibbons, would be permitted to continue to defend Noor. Fitzgibbons, Noor's first Pentagon-appointed defense lawyer, is now based at Fort Lewis, Wash., and has asked to continue representing Noor, but her Army colonel supervisor rejected her request.
Fitzgibbons told the judge that her new supervisor has agreed that she could stay on the case as long as the Office of Military Commissions paid for her travel. "It's nice to have the whole team back for this hearing," Modzelewski said.
Noor is one of five Guantanamo prisoners whose trials before a military commission Attorney General Eric Holder authorized in November, but there's little likelihood that he'll be tried soon. In April, Modzelewski said it would take her until January or February to sift through classified evidence the prosecution intends to use against him and that the trial couldn't begin before she'd done that.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) ...
Are these the 'moderate' Muslims?
... issued a fatwa prohibiting offering aid to foreign troops in Muslim countries whether on the personal or the business levels.
The assembly, made up of jurists and scholars in charge of issuing fatwas for Muslims in the United States and headed by Sheikh Salah al-Sawy, received several inquiries about the stance of Islam on business deals with coalition troops in Iraq or NATO forces in Afghanistan, especially companies that transfer foodstuffs and other supplies to military bases.
The question was posted on AMJA fatwa bank, reads: "Is it permissible to participate in taking food to the American and foreign soldiers working in Muslim lands?" and the answer is, "That would not be permissible, for that would be helping others in sin and transgression."
The fatwa, number 3062 to be issued by the assembly, stipulated that Muslims are not to help foreigners on personal or business basis as long as their presence in Muslim countries is linked to occupation.
The statement was based on a verse from the Quran that said Muslims should only offer help in noble causes and should not take part in any kind of action that involves violence or damage.
"Muslims should help anyone involved in benevolent acts regardless of their nationality, religion, or political affiliation and whether they are civilians or soldiers."
This, the fatwa added, is not the case with foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and which are occupying those countries against the will of their people and, therefore, engaging in any type of interaction with them endows their presence with legitimacy and makes those who deal with them accomplices in the crime.
The assembly, which is considered one of the most respected Islamic authorities in the United States, added that the fatwa also applied to Muslims who are U.S. citizens.
The fatwa stirred controversy in the American media. Several critics warned that such religious edicts usually translate into violence against the troops in Muslim countries while others expressed their indignation that scholars who incite Muslims against American troops are, in fact, American citizens.
Another fatwa that sparked anger was issued by Muslim-American cleric Anwar Awlaki who warned Muslim Americans of serving in the U.S. military or supporting the trooping occupying Muslim countries in any way and declared American troops and military bases an open target for Jihad.
This article starring:
Salah al-Sawy
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Just another undeniable fact that Muslims have not and will never be loyal to this country. My great-grandfathers are rolling in their graves as I write this.
#2
See also BHARAT RAKSHAK < [Huffington Post] IS IRAN CONTAINING THE USA? Counter-containment to geopol isolate + weaken the USA + POTUS BAMMER Admin, at OVERT STATE(S)-LEVEL = INTERNATIONAL DIPOMACY, AS WELL AS VIA COVERT SUPPORT FOR LOCAL, REGIONAL MILITANT-LED INSURGENCIES???
Pakistani authorities now believe a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on a mosque in Islamabad three years ago, has carried out several major bombings in the capital previously blamed on the Taliban. The emergence of the Ghazi Force was part of the outrage among many deeply religious Pakistani Muslims over the July 2007 attack by security forces against the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, a stronghold of Islamic militants. Gee, ever consider knocking on the doors of Lal Masjid alumni and chopping off their heads?
Posted by: ed ||
07/01/2010 07:58 ||
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[Dawn] India said on Wednesday a Pakistan-based militant group, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was behind violent anti-India protests sweeping the disputed Kashmir region in which 11 people have been killed. The anti-India demonstrations over nearly three weeks are among the biggest in two years and have spread to many parts of Kashmir, including Sopore.
"We think it is the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is active in Sopore," Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the spiraling street violence.
India has blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba militants for the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and derailed a sluggish four-year-old peace process with Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit on Wednesday termed as baseless and self-serving the reported remarks by Indian Army Chief General V.K. Singh alleging that there were terror camps in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. "Tut tut!"
In response to a question, Basit said that terrorism was a global and regional issue and Pakistan's own concerns vis-a-vis India in this regard had been conveyed. "And tut!"
He said that both sides had agreed to discuss the issue of terrorism and to address this matter in a cooperative and pragmatic manner. "Really, now."
Recently, the Saarc Interior/Home Ministers Conference adopted an important statement on fight against terrorism, he added. "What kind of statement?"
"An important statement!"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to declare that the drone attacks are attacks on the sovereignty and defence of Pakistan and a war crime.
The petition, filed by Advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on behalf of Khan, says the provisions of logistics and facilities to any foreign country or alliance for mass destruction through drone strikes inside the territory of Pakistan resulting into killings of Pakistani citizen is illegal, unwarranted, unconstitutional, in violation the United Nations Charter, universal declaration of human rights, international law as well as the international humanitarian law, a war crime and an attack on the sovereignty, solidarity, integrity and defence of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
SC = SOUTH CAROLINA? Whoa, first RI = RHODE ISLAND wants its own anti-Washington/Obama mil assets, planes + missles etc.,now South Carolina???
An anti-terrorism court in Swat has ordered authorities to produce jailed Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad in court on July 20.
The court issued the orders while hearing terrorism cases against the TNSM chief and his sons. Though Sufi was not presented in court on Tuesday due to security concerns, his three sons along with 23 other terrorists appeared before the court.
The accused are charged under various acts of terrorism, including the killing of security personnel, destruction of government property and treason.
During the hearing, the alleged terrorists threatened journalists not to publish their pictures in newspapers or run their footage on news channels, saying otherwise they would face dire consequences.
The anti-terrorism court judge Asim Imam fixed July 20 for the next hearing of the cases and directed the law enforcement agencies to ensure the presence of all the accused, including Sufi Muhammad, at the hearing.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had withdrawn dozens of cases lodged in 1994 against Sufi Muhammad after signing a peace agreement with him in 2008. However, after violation of the peace agreement by the Taliban, the government arrested Sufi Muhammad.
Official sources claim the provincial government had also re-opened all old cases against Sufi Muhammad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqs role in the joint security committee with Turkey and the U.S. is finding the appropriate mechanism to deal with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a spokesman of the Iraqi government said, underlining that Iraq does not work as a policeman for the Turkish government.
The intelligence cooperation between the three countries still underway, Ali al-Dabbagh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, considering such cooperation as not enough.
This is the first official comment from the Iraqi side on the Turkish government, which considered the intelligence information provided by the Iraqi and American sides on the PKK movements as not enough.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called on the U.S. to help Turkey in its war against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) by providing the Turkish military with than just intelligence sharing.
Sorry, we hate terrorists as much as you, but you've been upsetting us lately ...
Erdogan made his remarks early Monday during a press conference in Toronto, where he attended the G-20 summit over the weekend and met separately with U.S. President Barack Obama.
According to the Turkish leader, an anti-terror mechanism set up between Turkey, Iraq and the United States should include functions other than intelligence sharing. Erdogan said he discussed this issue in talks with Obama.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The head of Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar institution said on Wednesday resolving the rift between the Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah was an Islamic duty and branded whoever blocked it a "sinner."
"Palestinian reconciliation is a religious obligation and a sacred duty. Whoever blocks or delays it has sinned," Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb said in a statement published by the official MENA news agency.
Tayeb, who became Egypt's leading cleric in March after the death of his predecessor at Al-Azhar, also called on Palestinians, "regardless of their affiliations, to rise above their differences."
The Palestinians have been divided since the Islamist Hamas movement routed forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas from the Gaza Strip in 2007, limiting his powerbase to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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A leader of a radical Muslim sect that started a rampage that left 700 people dead in Nigeria allegedly has issued a videotaped threat calling for new violence as the one-year anniversary of their attack nears.
Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in Hausa has campaigned for the implementation of strict Shariah law. Boko Haram sect members rioted and attacked police stations and private homes a year ago this month, sparking a violent police crackdown.
Posted by: ed ||
07/01/2010 09:25 ||
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[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN lawmaker on Wednesday accused the security forces of secretly supporting Islamist vigilantes as a kind of paramilitary force to intimidate opponents and commercial rivals.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said extremist vigilantes known for violent attacks on bars, minorities and human rights advocates had direct links to military and police generals.
'The organisation is now part of the conflict management strategy the Indonesian military exercises to maintain its power,' she told AFP, referring to the stick-wielding fanatics known as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). 'There are several military personnel who still 'use' the services of the FPI... I suspect they maintain and protect the FPI because they still have interests with them.'
The FPI is known for threatening, intimidating and physically attacking Indonesians with almost complete impunity, despite repeated calls for the government to ban the organisation. On Sunday it threatened 'war' against the Christian minority in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi and urged all mosques in the city to create armed militias. Ms Sundari is a member of a group of MPs who has demanded the government crack down on the vigilantes after they burst into an official meeting on health care in East Java last week and accused the organisers of being communists.
FPI chairman Habib Rizieq hit back at the group's critics, saying they were part of a conspiracy among communists and liberals against the imposition of sharia or Islamic law in the secular but mainly Muslim country. 'Police should not discriminate - whoever propagates communism should be brought to justice as it is a criminal offence,' he told a press conference at FPI headquarters in Jakarta. He did not renounce violence and when a journalist asked him to respond to community concerns about violence he accused him of being a communist.
The military, known as the TNI, and the police have denied any links to Islamist vigilante groups. 'The TNI does not have a pet,' Defence Ministry spokesman Bigadier general I Wayan Midhio was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Post. National police spokesman Edward Aritonang said violence by FPI members was under investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of Syrian teachers wearing the face veil were dismissed from their schools as the Ministry of Education said they undermine the secularism of the state, according to press reports Tuesday.
Syrian Minister of Education Ali Saad said in a meeting with heads of Teachers Syndicate offices that the dismissal of 1,200 teachers who wear the face veil, also called the 'niqab,' was necessary, the Lebanese daily As-Safir reported Tuesday.
"Other ministers are going to do the same thing shortly," he said.
Saad justified his decision by arguing that the face veil is not in line with the secular policies followed by the state as far as education is concerned.
"Education in Syrian schools follows an objective, secular methodology and this is undermined by wearing the face veil."
He also pointed out that the face veil disrupts the teaching process as it hinders eye contact, which is extremely important for the relationship between teacher and student. Therefore, information is not delivered properly to the students.
The ministry's decision affected teachers in various parts of Syria, especially the governorates Rif Dimashq in the south west and Aleppo in the north where teachers in nearly 300 schools in each were dismissed.
The number dwindled remarkably in the capital Damascus, while some governorates were not affected at all like Quneitra in the south.
The dismissed teachers, half of which have contracts with the ministry, were transferred to the Ministry of Local Administration, especially in the municipalities.
Several of the dismissed teachers submitted complaints which the minister promised will be thoroughly studies.
"We will look into their complaints and all they won't lose their rights," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Which raises the question of whether the regime is feeling threatened by Islamicists of some group or another.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea warned Tuesday that any accidental clash during an upcoming US-South Korea naval exercise could spark war, as tensions remained high over the sinking of a South Korean warship.
A military judge will decide whether a Sudanese detainee who says he has undergone "various methods of interrogation" since 2002 can use an Arabic-speaking psychologist with experience in post-traumatic stress disorder to help him prepare for trial.
An anti-terrorism court in Swat has ordered authorities to produce jailed Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad in court on July 20.
