[Tolo News] A member of Afghan House of Representatives on Saturday claimed that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader, is in Afghanistan and her guest.
Homa Sultani, an Afghan MP representing Ghazni province, criticised the government over being reckless about her remarks saying the Afghan government hasn't paid any attention to what she said of receiving the Taliban Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in her house. Homa Sultani's house obliterated by Predator drones. Film at eleven...
Some politicians suggested that a delegation should be formed to visit the leader of the Taliban at Homa Sultani's home.
"At the moment Mullah Omar is in Afghanistan away from ISI and Pakistain. He is our guest and with us. His message is that he is ready for reconciliation and peace talks," Mrs Homa Sultani claimed.
Insisting on accuracy of her remarks, Mrs Sultani said if she is proved wrong she is ready to be punished.
"If my words are proved wrong, then I am ready to be punished for making a big lie on a big issue," she said.
Finally some of the politicians suggested formation of a delegation to verify Mrs Sultani's claim.
Shir Wali Wardak, an Afghan MP representing Wardak, said: "If the leader of the Taliban has come over to someone's house for a party, we should set up a delegation and as soon as possible we begin our negotiation with him."
The remarks came as Afghan cops have consistently emphasised that the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is living in a safe haven somewhere outside Afghan borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"If the leader of the Taliban has come over to someone's house for a party"
The Taliban party? With music and dancing and beer and women? And here I thought those things would get you invited to be the entertainment at the local soccer stadium.
#2
The honorable MP has made this claim before. Is the esteemed mullah her semi-permanent houseguest, or has he been wandering peripatetically, stopping there in each loop between Afghanistan and the wilds of Pakistan?
CAIRO: Egyptian political groups said on Sunday they would suspend demonstrations during Ramadan, which starts on Monday, but would resume a campaign for swifter democratic reforms by the ruling army after the Muslim fasting month is over.
Many Egyptians have grown tired of the protests, which have disrupted traffic in city centers. Nerves are often frayed during Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Ramadan this year falls during the height of the summer heat. You guys ever think of moving the holiday to January?
Lunar calendar. It doesn't match up with the solar year, so the holidays wander a bit. The Jewish calendar adds an extra month periodically to bring them back in synch, which is why Hannukah falls anywhere from Thanksgiving weekend to Christmas. I imagine the Muslim calendar does the same.
The groups said they would continue to demand that the army council, which took over after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, speed up reforms and the prosecution of former officials who face corruption and murder charges.
Most of the groups were among those who pulled out of a protest on Friday after accusing Islamist groups of having hijacked the event, which had been organized to send a united message to the army.
The groups' supporters have been camped out in central Cairo's Tahrir Square and other areas around the country since a protest on July 8.
"Several political parties and youth groups have decided to suspend sit-ins temporarily throughout the holy month of Ramadan, assuring a return ... for peaceful sit-in in Tahrir Square for other demands to be achieved," 26 groups said in a joint statement distributed by e-mail.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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On July 26, 2011, just before Issa's hearing, The Department of Justices Operation Fast and Furious: Fueling Cartel Violence
JOINT STAFF REPORT was released by Issa and Grassley. read it here
I knew of the report, but hadn't read it. Today, I ran across this report from Fox that had info that had come out in the report, but not in the hearings. Some of the interesting parts (new to me anyway):
The failed federal anti-gunrunning program known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government was single-handedly "arming for war" the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as U.S. officials kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border.
Those shocking allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation.
At one point, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say guns sold under the program took just 24 hours to travel from a gun store in Phoenix to a crime scene in Mexico. ATF agents there pleaded for help but were told nothing about Fast and Furious, which was intended to let guns "walk" in order to track them to higher-profile traffickers.
------------------------
Meanwhile, the report claims the agents' superiors in Washington met every Tuesday, to review the latest sales figures and the number of guns recovered in Mexico.
"How long are you going to let this go on?" Steve Martin, an assistant director of intelligence operations asked the ATF top brass at a meeting Jan. 5, 2010, according to a transcript of the meeting contained in the congressional report. None of the men responded and several quickly left the room, the transcript reveals.
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By Feb. 27, 2010, Lanny Breuer, the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., was allegedly told that the ATF had successfully helped sell 1,026 weapons worth more than $650,000 to members of the Sinaloa cartel.
The briefing included all top ATF officials, including the agents in charge in Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a half dozen top Justice Department attorneys.
"So there's no doubt after this briefing that guns in this case were being linked to the Sinaloa cartel?" a congressional investigator asked Martin during a July 2011 interview.
"I'd say yes." Martin replied.
"Very apparent to everyone in the room? the investigator asked.
In December 2009, Southwest Border Czar Ray Rowley Yes, one of Obama's Czars, now retired
threatened to expose Operation Fast and Furious because of "the large number of guns that had already been trafficked" but ATF officials talked him out of it.
The precise number of casualties in Mexico isn't known, but ATF officials confirm the murder of Mario Gonzales Rodriguez, brother of the Chihuahua attorney general, with a Fast and Furious gun.
According to the report, the U.S. knew for eight months of the link between the ATF operation and his death, but refused to tell any Mexican officials. Finally the acting ATF attaché told the Mexican Attorney General Maricela Morales. Her reply, "Hijole," which translates into "Oh my."
#1
I would suggest reading this report! It's not as long as the Table of Content shows, lots of footnotes and charts. It read fast -- full of information.
#3
Yes indeed! I've been following this and wonder where it is going to end up. Is someone going to fall on his sword as G. Gordon Liddy did for Nixon (Which didn't protect Nixon in the end). Are there going to be indictments? I read somewhere that there are civil lawsuits over the agent's death. Wonder what discovery will yield? This operation was as big a government sponsored cluster fvck as I've ever seen.
The CIA's Islamabad station chief, who oversaw the intelligence team that uncovered the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... 's hideout, has left Pakistain for medical reasons, a US official said. Allergic to being blown up, maybe?
The CIA declined to comment on the matter. "The chief of station is a respected, senior officer who had the full faith and confidence of folks back in Washington," the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Most people will agree the officer's role in one of the greatest intelligence victories of all time means this person was pretty darn effective, no matter what the Paks may think."
ABC News, citing US and Pak officials, said the officer who headed one of the Central Intelligence Agency's most sensitive positions worldwide was not expected to return.
It was the second such departure in seven months from the post, after his predecessor was forced to leave when a Pak official admitted his name had been leaked.
Not so much leaked as shouted from the rooftops in an act of petty revenge, but never mind.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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The CIA's Islamabad station chief, who oversaw the intelligence team that uncovered the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... 's hideout, has left Pakistain for medical reasons, a US official said.
The CIA declined to comment on the matter. "The chief of station is a respected, senior officer who had the full faith and confidence of folks back in Washington," the US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Most people will agree the officer's role in one of the greatest intelligence victories of all time means this person was pretty darn effective, no matter what the Paks may think."
ABC News, citing US and Pak officials, said the officer who headed one of the Central Intelligence Agency's most sensitive positions worldwide was not expected to return.
It was the second such departure in seven months from the post, after his predecessor was forced to leave when a Pak official admitted his name had been leaked.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The top US military officer said on Sunday Afghan faceless myrmidons of the anti-American Haqqani network were finding it harder to move into Afghanistan but warned that their safe havens in Pakistain still posed a risk to the decade-old war effort.
UAV controllers need to have some fun, too...
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, travelled earlier in the day to eastern Afghanistan where Haqqani faceless myrmidons are attacking US forces.
"The overall goal has been to make it much more difficult for the Haqqani network to penetrate directly in what has previously been called sort of this 'jet stream' between Pakistain, right through Khost (province) into Kabul," Mullen told a news conference in the Afghan capital.
"And it is more difficult (now)." Pakistain's intelligence agency has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Not so much suspected as known, proved, and demonstrated. But this passes through the target Pakistani minds like wind through a forest, ruffling a few leaves but otherwise leaving no sign of its passage.
Based in Pakistain's wild North Wazoo area on the Afghan border, Haqqani refrains from attacking the Pak state, and critics say Islamabad sees the network as a lever to maintain influence in any future political settlement in Afghanistan.
Mullen has in the past has accused Pak intelligence of having a "longstanding relationship" with Haqqani faction, one of the deadliest groups fighting US troops in Afghanistan.
He told news hounds in Kabul that Washington continued to press Islamabad to go after the safe havens enjoyed by the Haqqani group and other bully boys.
"The safe havens that exist in Pakistain are a central and great risk in terms of the achievement of the overall strategy," Mullen said.
"So we continue to engage on that, continue to bring pressure on that. But I would be hard pressed to tell you time and place, when it's going to happen."
Ties between the United States and Pakistain were deeply strained after US special forces launched a secret raid in Pakistain in May to kill al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who knows that it's like to live in the belly of a whale only he's not living... , compounding fears the safe havens could go unaddressed.
A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... military official, speaking to news hounds on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that there was only a minimal chance that the Haqqani threat could be eliminated.
"If something happens on the other side of the border and those sanctuaries get reduced...that's great" the official said.
"We're not counting on it. What we are trying to do is to build the Afghans' capacity so they can handle that."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... has vowed that his party will will clean sweep the next elections.
Speaking during during a presser in Lahore, Imran Khan said that PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and President Asif Zardari have broken all corruption records in the country.
He said that poverty has reached unprecedented levels, whereas taxes have broken the backs of the poor and the wealthy are becoming even more rich.
Imran Khan said that PTI will hold a sit-in outside Parliament in support of the Supreme Court every Saturday during Ramazan.
At the same time PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said that Imran Khan has already lost two elections against the PML-N and seems to be eager to lose a third election. He said that instead of politically attacking Asif Zardari, Imran Khan is adament in criticising Nawaz Sharif.
Pervaiz Rasheed said that he doubted the PTI chief could challenge Zardari in elections from Larkana or Nawabshah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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A bigwig in President B.O.'s National Security Council said on Friday that US covert anti-terrorism operations should be doubled at a time when the al-Qaeda is floundering following its leader's death.
"I think there are three to five senior leaders that, if they're removed from the battlefield, would jeopardise al-Qaeda's capacity to regenerate," Lt Gen. Douglas E. Lute told the Los Angeles Times.
Lt General Douglas E. Lute is responsible to oversee Afghanistan and Pakistain strategy at the National Security Council.
"We've got to take advantage of the fact that, when Bin Laden died, al-Qaeda was in uncharted waters," Lute said. "This is a period of turbulence....You need to go for the knockout punch," Gen. Douglas E. Lute said.
Lute's comments came after retired Adm. Dennis C. Blair, who resigned last year as director of national intelligence, on Thursday said drone strikes have become counterproductive because they are provoking public outrage in Pakistain and potentially creating new enemies.
The United States should offer Pakistain the chance to become a sole partner of the US in the fight and therefore should only carry out strikes the Paks approve.
But Pakistain's director of Intelligence agency has asked the United States to bring an end to drone attacks in Pakistain, diplomatic sources told Dawn news agency. Which means no drone strikes at all, Adm. Blair, which is what I think you're advocating...
Afghan military experts say US drone attacks in tribal areas of Pakistain is a clear indication that Pakistain is still beating around the bush and is unwilling to be an honest partner in the combat despite the flow of millions of dollars in aid to Mighty Pak Army.
Hadi Khalid, an Afghan expert, said: "Pakistain should be forced to stick committed to its commitments in the fight against terrorism, or the United States should deploy its ground forces in the areas where terrorist elements have been hidden."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) American drone-fired missiles slammed into a car near the Afghan border on Monday, killing four suspected Islamist militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
The missile strike took place in the Nargusa area of South Waziristan, which like much of the rugged border region is home to al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with their agency's rules.
The officials identified the dead men as Pakistani militants, but said they were not from the border region. Two other fighters were wounded in the strike.
Monday's attack was the first recorded missile strike in Pakistan since July 12.
#2
Whywas this "the first recorded Missile strike since Since July 12"?
Seems to me that the place should be wall to wall Ceaters by now?
If it isn't, there's work to be done.
And LOTS of it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2011 10:53 Comments ||
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#3
No coffee Yet, sorry.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2011 10:54 Comments ||
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#4
With every drone strike get a free nuke strike. That is what I call doubling down.
Azerbaijan, Baku: Iran is to pursue the compensation from 8 year of imposed war under Sadam Hossein regime, Mehr News Agency reported quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.
"The compensation issue during imposed war by Saddam Hossein regime is on our agenda and Iraqi officials, it will be pursue considering regional condition and Iraqi government proficiency," he said. Think any of the money would find its way to the families of the twelve year olds frog-marched to the front?
Iran, Iraq war started in 1980 and stopped after 8 years according to UN resolution No 598. The war left a least 1.5 million dead from both sides.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Saddam in Iraq has much to answer for in starting this war but so does Iran. The Iranians deliberately flamed religious tension in Iraq and called for a Shia revolution in Iraq. This became very serious. Then the Irans sent in terrorist.
#3
At the time we didn't like Iran or Iraq, so it seems like whenever one side started to get ahead we found a way to help out the other.... Heartless, but effective.
#5
Send Iran our bill for damages. They supplied the IEDs that have injured and killed our troops. Send them some missiles. That ought to square things.
[An Nahar] The Philippines' largest Mohammedan guerrilla group has demanded the government halt any planned oil and gas explorations by foreign companies in vast southern areas they claim, warning Sunday that energy projects would complicate peace talks.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front refused to say what they would do if the government ignores their request.
The 11,000-strong rebel group has waged a bloody battle for self-rule in southern Mindanao region, homeland of minority Mohammedans in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. A cease-fire, guarded by international monitors led by Malaysia, has held since the the last major fighting killed hundreds and displaced about 750,000 people after the talks bogged down in 2008.
The United States and Australia have backed the talks, fearing rebel strongholds could harbor al-Qaeda-linked Islamic exemplars.
The Department of Energy recently invited foreign and local companies to invest in oil and gas explorations in 12 offshore and three onshore areas that include the vast Sulu Sea in the south and western Palawan province, which cover regions the rebels want to control. The Philippines imports most of its oil and gas.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the rebels called on prospective foreign companies not to take part in energy explorations they say would deprive the country's minority Mohammedans of natural resources. They lament that they have lost land and opportunities in decades of massive land-grabbing by mostly Christian settlers.
The rebels also oppose the planned sale of two state-run hydropower plants in areas they claim as their own.
"The Philippines has become one huge corporation, there are vested interests everywhere," rebel chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. "We're at the mercy of foreign companies."
Government negotiator Marvic Leonen said that no accord with the Mohammedan rebels prohibits the government from pursuing development efforts. Economic projects are meant to ease the plight of impoverished Filipinos, including Mohammedans in the south, he said.
The Mohammedan rebels' opposition to energy explorations is similar to a campaign by communist New People's Army guerrillas to stop mostly foreign mining companies' operations in Mindanao, where they have destroyed heavy equipment and threatened mining personnel.
Iqbal refused to say if his group would resort to violence, adding they would first exhaust all "diplomatic means."
"We don't want to go into that at this point," Iqbal said.
In current negotiations, the rebels have demanded control over 30 percent to 40 percent of the Mindanao areas and a 75 percent share in revenues earned from the exploitation of natural resources, Iqbal said.
The government has not responded yet, he said.
A similar demand was part of a 2008 preliminary accord on ancestral domain that was turned down by the Supreme Court, sparking rebel attacks on Christian communities that had provoked a major military offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So the MILF are now part of the Obama administration?
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama said he was "appalled" by Syria's crackdown on Sunday which activists say killed nearly 140 people and vowed to step up pressure on President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... regime.
In a statement, Obama saluted demonstrators who have taken to the streets as "courageous" and said Syria "will be a better place when a democratic transition goes forward."
"I am appalled by the Syrian government's use of violence and brutality against its own people. The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime," Obama said.
Human rights groups said that Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people on Sunday -- including 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint city of Hama -- as Assad crushed dissent on the eve of the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan.
"In the days ahead, the United States will continue to increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government and stand with the Syrian people," Obama said. "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and tremble!"
The B.O. regime has repeatedly said that Assad has lost legitimacy while stopping short of explicitly seeking to oust him. The United States and its allies are already busy with a military campaign against Libyan strongman Moammar Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received... along with commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Once again, President Assad has shown that he is completely incapable and unwilling to respond to the legitimate grievances of the Syrian people. His use of torture, corruption and terror puts him on the wrong side of history and his people," Obama said.
"Through his own actions, Bashir al-Assad is ensuring that he and his regime will be left in the past, and that the courageous Syrian people who have demonstrated in the streets will determine its future. Syria will be a better place when a democratic transition goes forward," Obama said.
A U.S. diplomat in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... told BBC World Service radio on Sunday that the crackdown on Hama amounted to "full-on warfare" and a final act of desperation.
"There is one big armed gang in Syria, and it's named the Syrian government," said JJ Harder, the press attache at the American embassy in Damascus.
The official SANA news agency meanwhile charged that gunniesrubbed out two security forces in Hama while a colonel and two soldiers were "martyred" in Deir Ezzor.
SANA said the gunnies torched cop shoppes and attacked private and public property in Hama, adding soldiers tore down barricades and checkpoints set up by the gunnies at the city's entrance.
In 1982, an estimated 20,000 people were killed in Hama when the army put down an Islamist revolt against the rule of Assad's late father, Hafez.
The president replaced the governor of Hama after a record 500,000 protesters rallied in the opposition bastion on July 1 calling for the fall of the regime.
At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
We all might be better off if Obama just kept his mouth shut and stayed out of everyone else's business.
#2
Finally, I think Obama is doing the right thing it's about time we stood up for the demonstrators. Those demonstrators are pretty brave people, unlike Egypt under Mubarak, demonstrating in Syria can be compared a suicide mission.
#3
I think this pointed criticism by the empty suit, under the desk in the oval office is a pre-election ploy to show he's actually an international tough guy, almost as tough as Sarkozy.
While he's spouting all the right words, all he will actually do is have one of those sissies in the State Department bitch slap Assad with another of our famous and terrifying "sharply worded protest letters"...The entire world knows that Bambi is impotent and lacks the guts to do anything to upset the thumbsuckers and nebishes in his "base" on the left...you know the "avoid war at any cost" crowd.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/01/2011 11:19 Comments ||
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#4
http://www.france24.com/en/20110709-hama-protests-bolstered-visits-usa-france-ambassadors-ford-chevallier-syria-assad It is all a scam they could care less about the people morons!
Posted by: Solomon Prince of the Bunions1868 ||
08/01/2011 18:19 Comments ||
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#5
Newly discovered American Gold coins that are rare in a vault in France in Paris, price of gold, who has led the charge, who has highest debt, financial times and west point pdf on mid east and african invasion plan. Oh the poor people what crap!
Posted by: Solomon Prince of the Bunions1868 ||
08/01/2011 18:21 Comments ||
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#6
the Bunions are indeed lucky to have such a coherent and articulate Prince! They should praise you! Anything else would be callous
/I'll go to my room
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/01/2011 18:29 Comments ||
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#7
Nailed it, but gotta foot the bill before asshead will heel, and without a gutsy declare he will never toe the line. Alas its time to hoof the campaign trail, and there will only be 2 dogs barking from el prez, not enough to jam the newsreels.
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... on Sunday accused the Hizbullah-led camp of "practicing hegemony over the State's strategic decisions," noting that "Hizbullah is not even willing to let its allies take part in these decisions."
On the second day of his visit to Zahle and the Central Bekaa region, Geagea added: "Why would we engage in (national) dialogue if the other camp is insisting on its point of view regarding the issue of the strategic decisions."
Asked whether the relation between Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... 's Christians had grown cold, Geagea said: "The patriarch is totally free to voice his opinions and we share a major part of them, but we don't agree with him on some issues. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... we totally respect his stances."
Asked about Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil's accusations against Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. 's government of delaying the drafting of the oil and gas law, Geagea said: "Anyone can launch accusations, but where was minister Jebran Bassil back then? Wasn't he in the previous cabinet? Why didn't he quit if the government was obstructing his work? Why did he remain silent?"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Former premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. condemned Sunday "the slaughter the Syrian city of Hama is being subjected to and all the bloody acts of killing in Homs, Idlib, Deir Ezzor, Daraa and several other cities and regions on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan."
"These bloody incidents definitely contradict with all the intentions that want sisterly Syria and its defiant people to overcome the current crisis," Hariri said in a statement.
More than 136 people were killed on Sunday, among them 100 in the flashpoint protest city of Hama, when the Syrian military launched an attack against several cities on the eve of the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan, human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... activists said.
"Silence at the Arab and international levels regarding what's happening in Syria, especially in the city of Hama -- which suffered the most appalling massacres against its residents in the 1980s -- does not pave the ground for the needed solutions, but will rather push towards further deaths among the ranks of the brotherly Syrian people," Hariri warned.
"We in Leb cannot under any circumstances remain silent regarding these bloody developments in the Syrian arena," Hariri added, calling on "all of those concerned to contain the situation in order to enable the Syrian people of making its choices freely and within their humanitarian rights."
The former premier also hoped the Syrian people "will overcome the current painful crisis as soon as possible."
Hama and the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor have been rallying points for pro-democracy protests since mid-March.
In 1982, an estimated 20,000 people were killed in Hama when the army put down an Islamist revolt against the rule of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's late father, Hafez.
The president replaced the governor of Hama after a record 500,000 protesters rallied in the opposition bastion on July 1 calling for the fall of the regime.
Since anti-regime protests broke out, the crackdown on dissent has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 civilians and more than 360 members of the security forces, according to a Syrian Observatory toll.
More than 12,000 people are also reported to have been tossed in the slammer.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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La Belle France will retaliate "firmly" with any new attack against the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Interim Force in Leb, French sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday.
"La Belle France is very upset with the recent attack against the international troops," they added as they stamped their feet and balled up their tiny fists in rage.
"If some sides want UNIFIL to withdraw from Leb, then there's no need to attack them," they continued. Just...ask.
"La Belle France may withdraw its troops if it is subject to more attacks," they revealed. Yeah...that'll show 'em.
Furthermore, the Italian and Spanish troops are ready and "want to" withdraw from UNIFIL, they added. Yeah! This place sucks!
The sources stated that the attack against UNIFIL took place in the South and "everyone knows who controls that area." The Corleones?
"Gay Paree has repeatedly said that the number of Lebanese army units deployed in the South is insufficient," they remarked.
In addition, other sources said that La Belle France will determine its position on the Lebanese government in light of its stand on funding the Special Tribunal for Leb and position on UNIFIL.
The sources noted that in summer 2010, disputes broke out between the French UNIFIL troops and Hizbullah over the former's inspection of villages in the South.
As long as none of the soldiers are dying, the withdrawal of French troops from UNIFIL is not being discussed at the moment, they said.
Informed sources stated that French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... is aware that withdrawing the French troops will force other units from other countries to withdraw as well, which will jeopardize peace in the region.
Moreover, the sources pointed out that the Lebanese army is not seeking to search for arms in the South.
They explained that once UNIFIL discovers arms in the region, it informs the army, which in turn informs Hizbullah.
This demonstrates that the army is not seeking to search for weapons caches, they noted.
This therefore forces UNIFIL to take matters into its own hands and confiscate the weapons, which will lead it to a confrontation with Hizbullah, which says that the army is charged with confiscating arms, not the international force, said the sources.
The sources stated that the Lebanese army is subject to Hizbullah's will and it will not perform its required duties, "making the French authorities feel that they are running around in a vicious circle."
On Tuesday, a French unit in UNIFIL was targeted in a roadside kaboom near the southern city of Sidon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Firmly? Don't they have a little pill for that?
Posted by: de Medici ||
08/01/2011 7:17 Comments ||
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#3
The French Army did it harshly and quite well against the socialo-isalmists of the FMN in Algeria (some of the French officers had been in the SAS so you can't dispute bothe their bravery and their toughness) before De Gaulle decided to snatch defeat friom the jaws of victory.
It was fifty years ago but it is not fair to present the French as a bunch of effeminate cowards all while the British have allowed shariah-ruled zones and are advised by trheir authorities to not opose resistence and cooperate with burglars. I suppose that means holding your wife or daughter if the burgalrs want to have fun.
Ah yes, I know about that small mistep in 1940 but I also remember about the British in Malaysia put to flee by inferior Japan,es forces and about the surrender of Singapore: in 1940 France didn't have a twenty miles wide antitank ditch.
To gromgoru: In the good old times the GFrench Arlmy dealt with islamists by putting their corpses to dry under the sun.
#4
There is nothing wrong with French soldiers. There is nothing wrong with British soldiers either. Their Leaders, on the other hand, both senior military and civilian, leave very much to be desired.
I would fight along side either.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/01/2011 16:56 Comments ||
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#5
An the United States has sold itself out to 2 countries the size of states for nothing.
Posted by: Solomon Prince of the Bunions1868 ||
08/01/2011 18:28 Comments ||
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#6
Speak to me of the Frogish Gold Coins in the vault.
Posted by: S ||
08/01/2011 23:14 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday condemned the "totally unjustified assault" by Syria's military on anti-regime protesters, which activists said had claimed nearly 140 lives Sunday. Strong message to follow, no doubt, possibly in duplicate.
"I am shocked at the latest reports from Syria thon the lam numbers of civilians have again been killed in a totally unjustified assault by Syrian security forces on the town of Hama," Ashton said in a statement.
Of those killed on Sunday, a hundred were shot as the security forces stormed Hama, said activists.
"This attack and the continuing crackdown in other Syrian cities is even more unacceptable coming on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan," Ashton added.
"The Syrian army and security forces have the duty to protect citizens, not to massacre them indiscriminately.
"Those responsible for these attacks must be held accountable and brought to justice," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
You think our gov would do any different to hold onto their control?
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[An Nahar] EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday condemned the "totally unjustified assault" by Syria's military on anti-regime protesters, which activists said had claimed nearly 140 lives Sunday.
