(CNSNews.com) -- The State Department on Monday tiptoed around the issue of Islamic law (shari'a) forming the basis of countries' legal systems, after comments by Libya's interim leader raised new questions about just how progressive the so-called "Arab spring" will turn out to be.
Islamists are playing prominent roles in the transitions in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, and are also believed to be a factor in the uprising against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... While few will lament the removal of Muammar Qadaffy ... who is now deader than a rock... -- or of Assad, should he go -- concerns are growing that Iran may not be altogether wrong when it characterizes the regional upheavals as an "Islamic awakening" rather than the ushering in of greater democracy.
Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil raised eyebrows Sunday when he told a rally in Benghazi that the country's post-Gadaffi legal system will be based on shari'a.
His declaration that "any law that violates shari'a is null and void legally" implied that Islamic law would not merely be one of several sources of inspiration, but the ultimate one.
Abdul-Jalil's comments appeared to preempt a process spelled out by interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril a day earlier -- an election within eight months, followed by the drafting of a new constitution, which will then be put to a national referendum.
On Monday, Abdul-Jalil told a presser in Benghazi that he wanted to assure the international community that Libyans were "moderate Mohammedans." He also said he had been referring in his earlier remarks to a temporary constitution.
A "draft constitutional charter for the transitional stage," released by the NTC last August, declared that "Islam is the religion of the state and the principal source of legislation is Islamic jurisprudence (shari'a)."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The creation of a stable and prosperous fanatical sharia regime is the Western consensus definition of 'winning in Afghanistan.' Even the civil rights of non-Muslims in the West are subordinated to that goal.
Why should sharia in Libya even be a story let alone be a reason for outrage?
#2
Yeah right. Mutilation of thieves, stoning of adultresses (including after being raped), death for homosexuals, converts (what about freedom of conscience?) or for anyone who tells something against Muhammad (what bout freedom of expression) are all integral parts of Shariah. So much for human rights
Isn't State that department who is headed by a woman supposedly smarter than any of the Rantburg women?
#5
Why stop now, the very thing we were lectured to about OBL, football spiking, photos of dasgudmooslimb, etc was the exact very thing which just went on with Daffy.
A retired general was given a suspended sentence of almost a year in jail on Tuesday for insulting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, state run Anatolian news agency reported.
The case against General Saldiray Berk, who is also a suspect in an alleged coup plot, was filed by the prime minister.
Erdogan's lawyer petitioned the Ankara prosecutor's office last year, citing a speech Berk gave in 2008 during a visit to an village in eastern Turkey.
Berk was accused of asking his audience: "Do you know the prime minister has sold the country?"
Finding Berk guilty of the charge, the court, in the eastern province of Erzincan, suspended the 11 month and 20 day sentence for five years.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been sentenced to two years in prison for improperly lifting the arms of a 15-year-old drug smuggling suspect while handcuffed in what the Justice Department called a deprivation of the teenagers constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force.
Agent Jesus E. Diaz Jr. was named in a November 2009 federal grand jury indictment with deprivation of rights under color of law during an October 2008 arrest near the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, in response to a report that illegal immigrants had crossed the river with bundles of drugs.
In a prosecution sought by the Mexican government
Scoring points at home...
and obtained after the suspected smuggler was given immunity to testify against the agent,
So he had no obligation to tell the truth...
Diaz was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum in San Antonio. The Mexican consulate in Eagle Pass had filed a formal written complaint just hours after the arrest, alleging that the teenager had been beaten.
Defense attorneys argued that there were no injuries or bruises on the suspected smugglers lower arms where the handcuffs had been placed nor any bruising resulting from an alleged knee on his back. Photos showed the only marks on his body came from the straps of the pack he carried containing the suspected drugs, they said.
The defense claimed that the smuggling suspect was handcuffed because he was uncooperative and resisted arrest, and that the agent had lifted his arms to force him to the ground a near-universal police technique while the other agents looked for the drugs.
So far I'm not hearing anything that a Chicago cop wouldn't do.
The allegations against Diaz, 31, a seven-year veteran of the Border Patrol, initially were investigated by Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Professional Responsibility, which cleared the agent of any wrongdoing.
But the Internal Affairs Division at U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled differently nearly a year later and, ultimately, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas brought charges.
The Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council said the governments case was based on false testimony that is contradicted by the facts.
Such as the statement from the now-immunized perp?
In a statement, the council said that because the arrest took place at about 2 a.m., darkness would have made it impossible for the governments witnesses to have seen whether any mistreatment took place.
Which means anyone claiming to have seen mistreatment couldn't have, either...
It said Marcos Ramos, the Border Patrol agent who stood next to Diaz, testified that he did not see any mistreatment of the smuggling suspect.
The council said other witnesses made contradictory claims and some later admitted to having perjured themselves. Such admissions, the council said, were ignored by the court and the government. It also said that probationary agents who claimed to have witnessed the assault raised no objections during the incident and failed to notify an on-duty supervisor until hours later.
Instead, they went off-duty to a local Whataburger restaurant, got their stories straight and reported it hours later to an off-duty supervisor at his home, the council said. Then the witnesses went back to the station and reported their allegations.
'Probationary', eh? What are they doing now?
The council also noted that the teenager claimed no injuries in court other than sore shoulders, which the council attributed to the weight of the drug load, approximately 75 pounds, he carried across the border.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, which brought the charges, is the same office that in February 2006 under U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton prosecuted Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean after they shot a drug-smuggling suspect, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, in the buttocks as he tried to flee back into Mexico after abandoning a van filled with 800 pounds of marijuana. Aldrete-Davila also was given immunity in the case and testified against the agents. Agents Ramos and Compean were convicted and sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively.
I sense a pattern here...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2011 12:24 ||
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#1
Our biggest threat to our border security is our own fucking government.
#4
I'll have to drill down sometime into primary news sources on this one, because this story doesn't tell us the key thing: what did the BP agent do that was wrong? Lifting a man's cuffed arms up? That's SOP, from what I've read, and I believe it. Hurts like hell so the perp stops resisting; if you're a cop that's a very good thing.
There has to be something more, and I'll look to find some trial news and post it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/26/2011 16:28 Comments ||
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#8
BP, the question is whether they are doing it to weaken us in preparation for the introduction of totalitarian Marxism or whether they are doing it because they are greedy, stupid and corrupt. Either way it's not good.
[Dawn] Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... ordered an investigation on Tuesday on the liquidation attempt on the Chief Justice of Azad Jammu and Kashmire (AJK) which maimed him seriously.
The prime minister also condemned the deadly attempt against the AJK's Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal near Muzaffarabad.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, unknown armed attackers shot and injured the AJK Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal while he was walking in a park on a campus located near Muzaffarabad city.
The CJ Mughal was rushed to Hospital for emergency medical assistance. The additional SSP confirmed the incident and said that all exits routes of the area were sealed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Participants of a multi-party conference here on Monday pledged to offer every sacrifice for the defence of the country, demanding unequivocal refusal by the government to conduct army action in North Wazoo.
Around 60 religious and political parties and prominent individuals, including those representing minorities and tribal areas, attended the conference that was not attended by most of the mainstream parties.
The participants lamented the government failure to implement resolutions passed by the parliament and the recently held All-Party Conference (APC).
It demanded the government should declare in clear terms that no army operation would be conducted in the North Waziristan and US drones violating Pakistain's airspace would be shot down.
It also called upon the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of drone attacks, alleging the US was using chemical weapons against unarmed civilians.
The conference opposed Most Favourite Nation (MFN) status for India and called for 'open support' to the freedom movement in occupied Kashmire.
Regretting at the absence of most of the mainstream political parties including the PPP, PML-N, PML-F, PTI, MQM and ANP from the conference, the participants said it reflected the 'intentions' of these parties. The conference was presided over by the JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq while prominent among the participants were JI's Munawwar Hasan, Jamaatud Dawa's Prof Saeed, PML-Q's Chaudhry Zaheer, Gen (retired) Hameed Gul, AML's Sheikh Rashid, PML-Z' Ijazul Haq, Ayatollah Najfi, Pastor Ibrah Deniel, Sirdar Sham Singh, MQM-H's Shamshad Ghauri, Gen (retired) Muhammad Shafiq, and Ajmal Wazir from Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Were my advice any good, I would say that I would like to have the PM and Security Counsel of India in Philadelphia, ....... and let the President play golf.
The Times claimed on Friday that both sides wanted a U.S. military presence in Iraq to continue next year but that the White House bungled the negotiations by pushing the issue of troop immunity too hard too soon. Now heres McClatchy thickening the plot: How much of that was due to bungling and how much was due to Obamas and Bidens studious disinterest?
Throughout the summer and autumn, as talks on a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq foundered, President Barack Obama and his point man on Iraq, Vice President Joe Biden, remained aloof from the process, not even phoning top Iraqi officials to help reach a deal, according to logs released by the U.S. Embassy here.
The omission is an unusual one, given the high priority that U.S. officials had given to achieving an agreement for some sort of residual U.S. presence in Iraq after the Dec. 31 pullout deadline set in a 2008 pact between the two countries. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other senior Pentagon officials spoke often about the need for an agreement in a pivotal country in a volatile region and insisted talks were continuing up until Friday, when Obama announced that all U.S. troops would be coming home before the end of December
A major complication was the insistence by the Obama administration that the accord go before the Iraqi parliament, something that in the end Iraqi politicians decided was impossible. But whether that restriction was necessary is an open question. Many status-of-forces agreements are signed at the executive level only, particularly in countries without elected legislatures.
But the White House turned the issue over to the State Departments legal affairs office, reporters in Baghdad were told on Saturday. The lawyers gave a variety of options, but Obama chose the most stringent, approval by Iraqs legislature of a new agreement, citing as precedent that the Iraqi parliament had approved the 2008 agreement, reporters were told.
In other words, they could have tried to negotiate with Maliki and Talabani directly rather than go through the Iraqi parliament, where the Sadrists had extra leverage. Whether they would have gotten anywhere on immunity with them given the political risk in Iraq of extending the U.S. occupation is unclear, but apparently the White House wasnt eager to find out. An Obama spokesman insists that the storys totally wrong and that The One and Biden were engaged with Iraqi leaders all along, but an Iraqi government spokesman didnt deny the lack of contact when asked by McClatchy. Any theories on why the White House would have chosen a path of, shall we say, benign neglect on extending our troop presence? Maybe this data point from the new Times poll can help.
His approval on Iraq is suddenly up eight points since the withdrawal was announced, as Im sure he expected it would be. If he thought extending the troop presence was a bad idea all along, notwithstanding what that would mean for Irans influence in Iraq, thats fine. If he thought it was a good idea but then balked when Iraq insisted on an end to troop immunity, thats also fine. And if he thought both those questions were subordinate to the political calculus of re-election as Lindsey Graham put it, Iraq and Afghanistan is being run out of Chicago, not Washington well, thats not so fine but theres nothing we can do about it. But whatever the answer is, at least be proactive about it. Dont leave Panetta to languish for months trying to make something happen with Iraqi leaders while conspicuously refusing to bring to bear the full influence of the presidency on his behalf. The McClatchy piece leaves one to wonder if they were secretly hoping all along that negotiations would collapse, in which case Panettas efforts were either a going-through-the-motions show aimed at placating American hawks or else a bona fide attempt to reach a deal that the White House had no intention of capitalizing on. Embarrassing either way.
(Ma'an) -- A smuggling tunnel underneath the Egypt-Gaza border collapsed on Tuesday morning killing a young man from Khan Younis, medics said.
Medics in the Gaza Strip identified the man as 29-year-old Ahmad Rabee.
The victim had been missing for hours after the tunnel collapsed in the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah before his body was found.
Eight Palestinians were killed while working in smuggling tunnels in September. Medics say over 160 have died in the network of tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on Gaza in 2006.
Under Israel's crippling blockade, the tunnels have provided a lifeline for residents of the coastal enclave.
Egypt's re-opening of the Rafah border eased the impact of the siege for some residents, who were able to leave Gaza freely for the first time in years, but the terminal is not equipped for the transfer of goods and it has had little impact on the siege.
[YNet News] A week after the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, top Saudi holy man Dr. Awad al-Qarni is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who kidnaps Israeli soldiers.
He is responding to an ad published by the Libman family offering a similar reward for anyone who catches the person who murdered their relative Shlomo Libman. Libman was killed by gunnies near the settlement of Yitzhar in 1998.
"The press reported that the Zionist settlers will pay huge amounts of money to whoever kills the freed Paleostinian prisoners," al-Qarni said. "In response to these criminals I declare to the world that any Paleostinian who will jail an Israeli soldier and exchange him for prisoners will be rewarded with a $100,000 prize," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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Moscow has sold Iran the highly-advanced Avtobaza truck-mounted systems which are capable of jamming aircraft radar and the electronic guidance instruments of attacking missiles. This deal, announced in Moscow Tuesday, Oct. 25, substantially boosts Russian military assistance to the Islamic Republic.
These radar jammers are a component of Russia's most sophisticated anti-aircraft and electronic warfare system for the early warning of approaching assault planes and missiles.
Avtobaza is only part of the complete system. Its job is to transmit incoming information via optic fibers to separate electronic command centers and central air defense commands which then act to foil air or missile attacks.
Arguing that the weapon is purely defensive, Moscow claimed its sale to Iran does not violate the UN Security Council weapons embargo against Iran.
However, the US and Israel are reported to suspect a Russian stratagem whereby the Avotbaza jammers are only the first part of the deal, to be followed by the delivery to Iran of the full ELINT-electronic signals intelligence system. The full system would enable Iran to identity and react to any aerial or missile movements not only over its territory but in the skies of the entire Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.
#3
...transmit incoming information via optic fibers to separate electronic command centers and central air defense commands...
So:
1) Moscow will know the maintenance codes to shutdown that link. Probably a toggle between 'track', 'track & jam', 'track, jam, upload', 'track, upload', etc.
2) The FO link will likely have a active heartbeat/health check protocol mode as well as a tracking coordinate data stream.
So the unit can be rendered ineffective remotely for strategic entry into a defended region, or will act as a beacon for the associated command center.
Coolest thing is they got Iran to pay for the Trojan horse. See how well it worked for Saddam...
#4
Russia and China support all the Western enemies shocka!
Posted by: Paul D ||
10/26/2011 15:35 Comments ||
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#5
Skidmark that makes sense. Now with a nuclear neighbor it would give you some comfort knowing you have that Trojan horse. Then appear to be best of buddies and getting paid for your assistance.
[An Nahar] The telecommunications ministry on Tuesday denied that Hizbullah had installed a private telecom network in the town of Tarshish using state infrastructure.
"After the incident that happened in the town of Tarshish, Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui tasked a technical team with inspecting the works being executed as part of the national project for extending the fiber-optic network," the ministry said in a statement.
"After inspection, and according to the official report submitted by the mandated technical team, it was verified that no private cables were present inside the telecom pipelines installed by the telecom ministry in the town of Tarshish," the ministry announced.
"The ministry reassures the town's residents that no private cables will be installed using its telecom pipelines," it added.
The residents of Tarshish prevented on Friday members of Hizbullah from expanding the party's telecommunications network in the area, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.
It explained that party members sought to expand the network as a team from the elecommunications ministry was installing fiber optic cables to improve internet services.
"The municipal police noticed the party's activity and prevented it from continuing its work," it added.
An Internal Security Forces patrol soon arrived at the scene to tackle the situation.
Soon after, Hizbullah official Hussein Janbey arrived at the scene and a meeting was held between the Tarshish municipal council, headed by Gaby Samaan, and Hizbullah delegation headed by Janbey, reported al-Liwaa daily on Saturday.
The municipal delegation informed Hizbullah of the residents' rejection of the installation of the party's network in the town because they believe it to be illegal.
For its part, Hizbullah insisted on completing its activity, while the residents maintained their position resulting in tensions between the two sides and the "stormy meeting" ended, added the daily.
The party delegation informed the residents that they had experienced more difficult situations in the past, insisting on continuing its activity and stressing that no one would stop it, reported al-Liwaa.
A source from Tarshish told the daily that the town was surprised when Hizbullah members arrive to expand their network.
In addition, it said that this issue had started three months ago and the government and concerned ministries had not taken any action over this matter "despite the fact the party is trying to expand its network in the town by force."
Minister Sehnaoui has said that "no side, whether it is official or unofficial, has the right to use the ministry's network for its personal use without first receiving legal permission from the ministry to do so."
MTV reported on Saturday that armed individuals and cars with tinted windows were spotted in Tarshsih after Hizbullah was prevented from expanding its telecommunications network.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat on Tuesday held Hizbullah responsible for any harm inflicted on him after he accused the Shiite party politician, Ali Ammar, of telling him to fight it out outside parliament.
Fatfat told Voice of Leb radio (100.5) that Ammar's invitation was a direct public threat in front of scores of politicians during the meeting of the human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... parliamentary committee on Monday.
Fatfat along with other March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... opposition MPs argued with Hizbullah politicians over several issues, throwing accusations and cursing each other.
He blamed Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi of initiating the debate after bringing up several political issues during the session that was aimed at discussion a report on the alleged Syrian embassy involvement in the disappearance of Syrian opposition members in Leb.
Fatfat told news hounds at the end of the committee meeting that Ammar threatened him "to sort out their problem on the street."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/26/2011 00:00 ||
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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.
(CNSNews.com) -- The State Department on Monday tiptoed around the issue of Islamic law (shari'a) forming the basis of countries' legal systems, after comments by Libya's interim leader raised new questions about just how progressive the so-called "Arab spring" will turn out to be.
A retired general was given a suspended sentence of almost a year in jail on Tuesday for insulting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, state run Anatolian news agency reported.
Wazoo
(Ma'an) -- A smuggling tunnel underneath the Egypt-Gaza border collapsed on Tuesday morning killing a young man from Khan Younis, medics said.
[An Nahar] Al-
