CIA officers are asking people to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the first American killed in the Afghan war by donating to help the children of their fellow fallen.
Since the death in 2001 of CIA officer Mike Spann, a total of 23 stars have been added to the wall at the CIA's Langley, Va., headquarters that honors CIA operatives lost. Many were killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The clandestine world rarely breaks its silence, especially when it comes to family, but the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation notes about 56 children of those killed in the line of duty will need educational support over the next 17 years.
Spann was part of a small group of CIA paramilitary officers who went into Afghanistan just 16 days after the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Less than two months later, the CIA along with U.S. Special Forces Green Berets and a massive aerial bombing campaign helped Afghan militias drive out the ruling Taliban.
Spann was killed when hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners, guarded by just a handful of Afghans, tried to escape from a fortress jail in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
Spann is survived by his wife, Shannon, a retired CIA officer, and three children.
The CIA Officers Memorial Foundation is a tax-exempt charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions to the Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
Donations to the Foundation should be made payable to the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation and sent to:
The CIA Officers Memorial Foundation
c/o Arnold & Porter LLP
555 12th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20004 Despite anyone's feelings about the CIA as an organization, it truly pisses me off at the bitter and despicable hate leftists will express at this widows and orphans fund.
#1
The CIA seem to be really good at hunting down jihadis with Predators, for which we can be profoundly grateful. On the other hand, one hopes they were merely being vicious when they produced that natinal intelligence estimate announcing that Iran had given up pursuit of nuclear weapons, rather than profoundly ignorant, but the thought of the former somehow does not bring comfort.
Opium and heroin production will spiral out of control in Afghanistan as foreign troops withdraw towards 2014, the country's former anti-drugs chief has warned. Taliban insurgents and farmers will take advantage of the withdrawal to increase poppy production, said General Khodaidad.
Afghanistan already produces more than 90 per cent of the world's opium and more than 95 per cent of the heroin on Britain's streets, but he predicted the trade would soon be "completely out of control".
Britain has spent tens of millions of pounds on counter narcotics schemes in the past six years in Helmand. The province remains the world centre of opium production.
Gen Khodaidad, who was minister for counter narcotics for four years, said the industry was thriving on Afghan insecurity, corruption and weak government. He said: "The Taliban is stronger than this present government and that directly affects poppy cultivation."
"The Taliban explains to the farmer that the foreign troops are leaving and if you grow poppy, I am still here."
The Taliban are estimated to raise annually between £60 and £250 million a year through the trade. High opium prices meant production rose nearly seven percent this year according to the latest United Nations estimates.
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has nominated a US-educated banker as the new governor of the country's central bank, his spokesman said Thursday. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi named the candidate as Noorullah Delawari. His nomination comes after a five-month vacancy in the post caused by turmoil in Afghanistan's banking system due to the near-collapse of the Kabul Bank, once the country's largest private financial institution.
Parliament is expected to discuss its approval of the appointment on Saturday, said lawmaker Gul Pacha Majeidi.
Delawari is a former central bank governor who now sits on the institution's governing board. He will replace Abdul Qadir Fitrat, who fled to northern Virginia in late June after claiming to have received threats to his life in connection with Kabul Bank scandal.
Kabul Bank became a symbol of the country's deep-rooted corruption, and the case was closely followed by Afghans and international donors because it is widely perceived to be a test of the government's pledge to root out patronage and graft.
Afghanistan's financial system appears to be slowly recovering from the aftereffects of the near-collapse, which required a massive central bank bailout. Last week, the IMF approved a three-year $133.6 million loan for Afghanistan because it found the government had taken steps to address governance and accountability issues that surfaced during the Kabul Bank crisis. The decision reassured international donors, many whom had withheld aid while waiting for the IMF decision.
The Kabul Bank has been split into two parts, a healthy one being run by the Afghan Finance Ministry, and another which is has taken over hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans. The Afghan government hopes to put the healthy bank up for sale in the middle of next year.
So it's their version of TARP only with more transparency and honesty...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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EU condemns "excessive violence" in Cairo, calls for independent investigation; White House says situation requires a fundamental solution, devised by Egyptians."" Thank G*d for small favors.
#4
The Egyptian military wants to transfer power widin the next year [2012], but both the democratists [anti-Islamists?] + Islamists want the transfer ASAP.
Meanwhile ....
* TOPIX > EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE [the Arab Spring].
Read, DETER OR STOP A REPEAT OF ISLAMIST-LED DESTRUCTION OF NATIONAL ANTIQUITIES E.G. AFGHANISTAN'S BUDDHAS.
h/t Instapundit
Thousands of people, including women and children, are being illegally detained by rebel militias in Libya, according to a report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Many of the prisoners are suffering torture and systematic mistreatment while being held in private jails outside the control of the country's new government.
The document, seen by The Independent, states that while political prisoners being held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, their places have been taken by up to 7,000 new "enemies of the state", "disappeared" in a dysfunctional system, with no recourse to the law. These who ignore History, etc...
Egypt's ruling military council has officially named former Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri to lead a transitional government, according to state TV. Thousands were seen in Tahrir Square in protest of the appointment.
As thousands of protesters were seen streaming into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, in protest against Egypt's military council, state TV reported that former premier Kamal al-Ganzouri had been named interim leader of Egypt by the council.
The activists had demanded that the military council, which has ruled Egypt since February, hand over power to a transitional government that would lead the country until a presidential election next June. They were also vehemently against Ganzouri taking over, even on an interim basis, due to his connections to the ousted regime.
Ganzouri served as Egyptian prime minister from 1996 to 1999 under ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
The previous civilian cabinet, led by Essam Sharaf, resigned earlier this week amid violent protests, which left at least 41 people dead - 36 of them in Cairo - and more than 2,000 injured.
After intense international pressure, the military issued an apology on Thursday for the deaths, and in a statement offered "its condolences to the families of the martyrs across Egypt."
The military council has again vowed that the parliamentary election will go ahead as planned on Monday, saying it would do everything in its power to prevent the repetition of the violence that swept Cairo and Alexandria, the country's second city, over the last week.
Despite calls to step down immediately, the military ruled out any such move.
"The people have entrusted us with a mission and if we abandon it now, it would be a betrayal of the people," said General Mukthar el-Mallah, a senior member of the ruling military council.
Mallah also said the military respected the views of the protesters, but that they did not represent the whole of Egypt.
"We will not relinquish power because a slogan-chanting crowd said so. Being in power is not a blessing. It is a curse. It's a very heavy responsibility," he said.
Protesters blame the military for the country's tenuous security and growing economic problems.
The military's standing was dealt a severe blow during a Coptic Christian protest on October 9, in which 27 people died, most of them Christians. Video showed soldiers running down demonstrators with armored vehicles.
Powerful politicians helped form a radical Muslim sect responsible for hundreds of killings this year in Nigeria aimed at seizing control of regional power and oil money but now may have lost control of the monster they created.
The Nigerian state security service said yesterday it made a breakthrough in uncovering support for the extremist group, Boko Haram, earlier this week when it arrested Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, whom it said was one of several spokesmen for the sect. The agency described Konduga as a political thug who received orders from a member of Nigerias parliament.
Konduga, who purportedly used the nom de guerre al-Zawahiri when speaking on Boko Harams behalf, allegedly implicated a member of the national assembly in the groups activities. Kondugas nickname derives from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. On Tuesday, authorities arrested and charged Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume of Nigerias ruling Peoples Democratic Party for allegedly being Kondugas sponsor. The senator belonged to a committee looking at possible peace talks with Boko Haram.
Konduga has also implicated a former Nigerian ambassador, now dead, as well as a former governor in Nigerias north-east, in Boko Harams creation. Konduga said that Boko Haram expelled him some time ago, suggesting he and his supposed political masters had fallen out of favour with an organisation that is increasingly violent and strident.
The group suspended me because they thought I was an agent of the state security service, Konduga said.
Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terrorist groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say.
With that wing viewing a wide variety of people and institutions as potential targets, even politicians with ties to Boko Haram can no longer consider themselves safe. Politicians in the city of Maiduguri, Boko Harams spiritual home, and other places in Nigerias mostly Muslim north-east now surround themselves with security and live in apparent fear of the sect.
Politicians in Nigeria have long been rumoured to have ties to militants. In the countrys southern Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms extract an estimated 2.4 million barrels of crude a day, politicians hand out Kalashnikov rifles to those who help rig elections. Many of those gunmen became part of the militant and criminal gangs kidnapping oil workers and targeting pipelines.
Boko Haram began the same way, as politically [and] criminally minded field marshals began arming youths to keep their hands on the reins of power in north-east Nigeria, said Khalifa Dikwa, a professor at the University of Maiduguri. At stake is control of power at the state level in Nigeria, controlling budgets larger than those of neighbouring nations thanks to the nations oil wealth.
The political scene in the north-east is dominated by the All Nigeria Peoples Party, which Ndume the arrested senator once belonged to before joining the ruling party. Little is known about the sources of Boko Harams support, though its members recently began carrying out a wave of bank robberies in the north. Police stations have also been bombed and officers killed.
Boko Harams attacks and its factional splits make it much more difficult for the government to arrive at a political solution or an amnesty. The groups main demand is not one the government is likely to bend to in a nation that is split into a Muslim north and a Christian south.
While the Niger Delta militants agreed to lay down their guns for money and the promise of work, Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Shariah law across a nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram was thought to have been eradicated in 2009 after its leader was killed and its mosques left in ruins. However, the group has staged increasingly brazen attacks over the last two years, including the attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja. This month, its fighters led an attack on a north-east Nigerian state capital that killed more than 100 people.
Powerful politicians helped form a radical Moslem sect responsible for hundreds of killings this year in Nigeria aimed at seizing control of regional power and oil money -- but now may have lost control of the monster they created.
The Nigerian state security service said yesterday it made a breakthrough in uncovering support for the bully boy group, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... , earlier this week when it tossed in the clink Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, whom it said was one of several spokesmen for the sect. The agency described Konduga as a "political thug" who received orders from a member of Nigeria's parliament.
Konduga, who purportedly used the nom de guerre al-Zawahiri when speaking on Boko Haram's behalf, allegedly implicated a member of the national assembly in the group's activities. Konduga's nickname derives from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. On Tuesday, authorities tossed in the clink and charged Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume of Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party for allegedly being Konduga's sponsor. The senator belonged to a committee looking at possible peace talks with Boko Haram.
Konduga has also implicated a former Nigerian ambassador, now dead, as well as a former governor in Nigeria's north-east, in Boko Haram's creation. Konduga said that Boko Haram expelled him some time ago, suggesting he and his supposed political masters had fallen out of favour with an organization that is increasingly violent and strident.
"The group suspended me because they thought I was an agent of the state security service," Konduga said.
Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terrorist groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say.
With that wing viewing a wide variety of people and institutions as potential targets, even politicians with ties to Boko Haram can no longer consider themselves safe. Politicians in the city of Maiduguri, Boko Haram's spiritual home, and other places in Nigeria's mostly Moslem north-east now surround themselves with security and live in apparent fear of the sect.
Politicians in Nigeria have long been rumoured to have ties to jihad boys. In the country's southern Niger Delta, where foreign oil firms extract an estimated 2.4 million barrels of crude a day, politicians hand out Kalashnikov rifles to those who help rig elections. Many of those gunnies became part of the jihad boy and criminal gangs kidnapping oil workers and targeting pipelines.
Boko Haram began the same way, as "politically [and] criminally minded field marshals" began arming youths to keep their hands on the reins of power in north-east Nigeria, said Khalifa Dikwa, a professor at the University of Maiduguri. At stake is control of power at the state level in Nigeria, controlling budgets larger than those of neighbouring nations thanks to the nation's oil wealth.
The political scene in the north-east is dominated by the All Nigeria People's Party, which Ndume -- the tossed in the clink senator --once belonged to before joining the ruling party. Little is known about the sources of Boko Haram's support, though its members recently began carrying out a wave of bank robberies in the north. Police stations have also been bombed and officers killed.
Boko Haram's attacks and its factional splits make it much more difficult for the government to arrive at a political solution or an amnesty. The group's main demand is not one the government is likely to bend to in a nation that is split into a Moslem north and a Christian south.
While the Niger Delta bully boyz agreed to lay down their guns for money and the promise of work, Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Shariah law across a nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram was thought to have been eradicated in 2009 after its leader was killed and its mosques left in ruins. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the group has staged increasingly brazen attacks over the last two years, including the attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja. This month, its fighters led an attack on a north-east Nigerian state capital that killed more than 100 people.
SEOUL: North Korea threatened Thursday to turn Seouls presidential palace into a sea of fire, stepping up its rhetoric one day after South Korea conducted large-scale military drills near a front-line island attacked by the North last year.
On Wednesday, South Korea mobilized aircraft, rocket launchers, artillery guns and naval boats for the first anniversary of the artillery attack on a military garrison and fishing community on Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Two marines and two construction workers were killed in the 2010 attack, the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Pyongyang accuses Seoul of provoking last years attack, saying it struck after warning the South not to hold live-fire drills in the disputed waters. South Korea has said it fired shells southward, not toward the North, as part of routine exercises last year.
If they dare to impair our dignity again, the deluge of fire on Yeonpyeong Island will lead to the sea of fire in Blue House in Seoul, the Norths Peoples Army warned in a statement from Pyongyang. They should not forget the lesson taught by the island shelling.
If provoked again like last year, the Norths military will launch merciless, annihilating and more powerful strikes to blow up the island without any trace, the Norths Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a separate statement later Thursday.
The North has issued similar threats over the years at times of tension with South Korea. Since then, South Korea has spent millions of dollars beefing up its arsenal. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Jung Seung-jo said his forces would crush the enemy if they strike again.
Wednesdays maneuvers took place off Baengnyeong Island, South Korean-held territory near the maritime border. The drills were meant to send a strong message to North Korea but did not include live-fire exercises, military officials said.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday during a visit to a military command that he was sorry North Korea had not yet apologized for the shelling. He said Pyongyang must apologize if it wants relations to improve.
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11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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Five Muslim Moroccan girls in Belgium beat a 13-year-old classmate, called her a "dirty Jew and told her to "return to your country.
The girl, Oceane Sluijzer, has filed a complaint with police after the anti-Semitic attack at a sports training center. The attackers were identified and questioned by police.
Jewish legislator Viviane Teitelbaum of Brussels denounced the "silence" of political leaders and most of media after this attack.
Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations of Belgium (CCOJB), the umbrella group of Jewish organizations in Belgium, expressed "shock" at the attack and asked that the investigation be conducted without delay. The Jewish group added it is considering filing a civil suit and said the Jewish community is exasperated by repeated attacks on Jews in Belgium, whose Jewish population is 40,000.
#3
There are a bunch of prominent Jewish martial artists, who should be contracted to come to Belgium, to train all Jewish children, as a cultural imperative, with serious martial arts.
"Jewish children must learn to defend themselves against attacks by those that hate Jews. Older boys must protect younger boys and girls and the elderly. Girls must protect each other and themselves. It is something that all Jews must do."
#7
I'm pretty sure that any attempt by this 13 year old girl to defend herself is illegal anywhere in Europe.
On the other hand, we need to understand what she did to cause those Persons of Color to vent their frustrations.
[Dawn] A Christian rights group in Pakistain on Thursday urged cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... to scrap a major rally planned for Christmas Day, calling the move insensitive to the minority group.
Khan set Pakistain alight and surprised critics last month by drawing tens of thousands of people to a rally in his hometown of Lahore, transforming overnight from a wannabe to potential kingmaker in polls expected next year.
He now hopes to top that success with a rally in Bloody Karachi, Pakistain's largest city, on December 25, which holds special significance as the birthday of the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and a public holiday.
But in an open letter, the Centre for Human Rights Education called on Khan to change the date and send a positive message to persecuted minorities that he would work to reverse decades of discrimination.
"Arranging a rally on Christmas Day shows they are not sensitive to the Christian community," said Samson Salamat, director of the Lahore-based group and a Christian human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... activist.
"This is an important day for us and it is our basic right that we should be given respect," he told AFP.
Arif Alvi, secretary general of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) told AFP the party would "consider the suggestion" but said it would hamper preparations to change the date.
"We will cooperate with the Christian community and facilitate their celebration of Christmas. We will also provide them transport, if they contact us, for Christmas celebrations or to attend our rally," he said.
But Michael Javed, a Christian community leader in Bloody Karachi, dismissed any problem, saying that Christmas rituals would be largely completed before the rally gets underway in the evening of December 25.
There is a tiny Christian minority in Pakistain, where only three per cent of the population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Mohammedan and where the Vatican has said Christians are often victims of violence and discrimination.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Pak muz accomodating religious minorities? Can't happen.
#2
There is a tiny Christian minority in Pakistain, where only three per cent of the population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Mohammedan and where the Vatican has said Christians are often victims of violence and discrimination.
India/anywhere else bar Saudi would be safer!
Posted by: Paul ||
11/25/2011 12:22 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Arrangements have been finalised for the public meeting of Pakistain Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), to be held on Nov 25 in Jhagra area of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.
"About 2,000 persons including party workers will perform security duty at the public meeting," former provincial minister Iftikhar Jhagra told a presser here on Wednesday.
Flanked by Shah Farman, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Zahid Hussain Mohmand, he said that he had resigned from Pakistain People's Party and would formally join PTI at the public meting, which would be addressed by Imran Khan. ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... "I quit PPP as it is now Zardari party and there is no room for ideological workers in it," he said. He added that the Nov 25 public meeting would be historical as people were rushing to join hands with Imran Khan against corruption and for protection of the country.
Mr Jhagra said that the public meeting of PTI would be a turning point in the politics of the entire Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... . He added that masses wanted change and PTI chairman was the only person, who could materialise the wishes of peoples in the prevailing circumstances.
The former minister said that separate enclosures had been set up for women, journalists, students, lawyers and minorities at the public meeting. "The rival parties will see for the first time that women belonging to different villages will also participate in a large number in the meeting," the former minister said.
He said that activists of different parties had also assured him to announce joining PTI at the public meeting. "A number of provincial assembly members of Nowshera district, except one, have also assured me of joining PTI," Mr Jhagra claimed.
However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... Mr Yousafzai said on the occasion that a big public meeting would be held in March as the Nov 25 gathering was a routine one and could not be compared with that of Lahore. In Lakki Marwat, several elders of Serai Gambila area joined Pakistain Tehrik-i-Insaf on Wednesday. They announced joining PTI at a public meeting which also attended by member of central council of the party, Khan Bahadar Khan Marwat, and other local leaders.
The elders including Haji Ghulam Jillani, Haji Saeed Khan, Mohammad Ishfaq Khan, Mohammad Saeed Khan, Mohammad Khan and Nasir Khan reposed confidence in the leadership of Imran Khan and said that PTI would bring a peaceful revolution in the country.
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11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo on Thursday to discuss imposing sanctions on Syria for failing to implement an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan to end a crackdown on protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... The League, which for decades has spurned ordering action against a member state, has suspended Syria and threatened unspecified sanctions for ignoring the deal it had signed up to.
Syria has turned its tanks and troops on civilian protesters, as well as on armed forces of Evil challenging Assad's 11-year rule. The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... says more than 3,500 people have been killed.
"Syria has not offered anything to move the situation forward," said a senior Arab diplomat at the League, adding that it was considering what kind of sanctions to impose.
"The position of the Arab states is almost unified. We all agree...that the situation does not lead to civil war and that no foreign intervention takes place," he said.
The November 12 agreement to suspend Syria was backed by 18 of the pan-Arab organization's 22 members. Leb, where Syria for many years had a military presence, and Yemen, battling its own uprising, opposed it. Iraq, whose Shia-led government is wary of offending Syria's main ally Iran, abstained.
Arab ministers were meeting in a Cairo suburb instead of the League's headquarters in Tahrir Square, occupied by protesters after days of festivities with police in nearby streets.
Khaled al-Habasi, an adviser to Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, said the body was "working on uniting the Syrian opposition on a vision regarding the future of Syria during the transitional period" and drawing up sanctions.
Earlier this month, the League asked Syrian opposition groups to submit their ideas for a transition of power ahead of a planned bigger conference on Syria's future.
"There are many ideas and suggestions for sanctions that can be imposed on the Syrian regime," said one Arab government representative at the League, who asked not to be identified.
These included imposing a travel ban on Syrian officials, freezing bank transfers or funds in Arab states related to Assad's government and stopping Arab projects in Syria, he said.
The decision to draft economic sanctions was taken at a meeting on November 16 in Morocco, stepping up pressure on the Arab state. Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... agreed to the Arab plan on November 2, but the crackdown continued and Syria requested amendments to a plan to send Arab monitors to assess events at first-hand.
La Belle France called on Wednesday for a "secured zone to protect civilians" in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground.
After the uprising erupted in Libya, the League suspended Tripoli and also called for a no-fly zone that paved the way for a UN Security Council resolution and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... air strikes.
Arabs have shown no appetite so far for following a similar route with Syria, which neighbours Israel and lies on the fault lines of several interlocking conflicts in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Now, if it was a meeting of "Arab minstrels", it could have been interesting.
#2
Arab ministers were meeting in a Cairo suburb
No doubt at an OWS approved "public space" "There are many ideas and suggestions for sanctions that can be imposed on the Syrian regime
And if they don't work, we'll poop on a police car.
Oh! and our cowbell players are much better than the OWS riff raff.
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Najib Miqati hinted Thursday that he might step down if his government failed to pay its 49 percent annual share of funds to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb, which is probing the 2005 liquidation of former premier Rafik Hariri.
"I will take a (proper) stance should the government fail to finance the STL but I hope things will not reach the extent of submitting my resignation," Miqati said in an interview on LBC television.
"STL President David Baragwanath told me that we should pay the STL funds in December at the latest," the PM said.
"Leb is committed to the international resolutions and I have committed myself to secure the funding in a constitutional manner and I have informed the parties concerned of that, including Speaker (Nabih) Berri," Miqati noted.
Clarifying his stance on the U.N.-backed tribunal, Miqati added: "Is it conceivable that a prime minister would disregard any process aimed at fulfilling justice and unveiling the truth about the liquidation of a former premier? Of course not. I urged all the ministers yesterday to shoulder their responsibilities."
Listing the possible benefits from paying Leb's share of funds to the STL, Miqati said: "Should Leb finance the STL, it would be honoring its obligations and preserving its image before the international community as well as its exclusive (maritime) economic zone."
"We would be opening the doors for cooperation with the Western nations and we would be committing to justice, which is the most important thing. We would have stability and we would be protecting the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... , because the Resistance would be strong if Leb is strong and vice versa," the premier went on to say.
As to Hizbullah's stance on the issue, Miqati said he was not expecting Hizbullah to voice its support for the funding of the tribunal.
"But I'm expecting the ministers to show the required patriotism," he added.
"I won't accept, during my term of office, that Leb be a pariah in the international community or that it disavow its obligations. When the issue becomes to fund or not to fund, at that point Leb should be protected and I advise the ministers and the political blocs to tackle the issue in a serious manner," Miqati urged his partners in the government.
"Let them consider funding as an insurance policy to protect Leb from the approaching winds," he said.
Asked about the rally that will be held Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli by the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement under the banner of Independence Day, Miqati, a Tripoli native himself, said "everyone is welcome in Tripoli, which is for everyone and tolerates everyone."
As the premier stressed that his political rivals had the right to organize a popular rally in Tripoli, he warned that the event might have malicious objectives, charging that the Mustaqbal Movement's "philosophy" was based on rejecting the other.
"I respect all opinions, but my position is clear and no one can question my patriotism. I'm not betraying my country or sect and the Sunni sect is one of Leb's pillars and it is the only guarantee for this country," Miqati added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces are preparing a document to tackle Hizbullah's presence in Leb after the fall of the Syrian regime, reported Akhbar al-Yawm news agency on Thursday.
March 14 sources told the news agency that the forces are preparing for a Hizbullah that has laid down its arms, adding that their line of action will become clearer after Sunday's Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... movement rally in Tripoli.
Among the ideas being addressed is punishing the party for its transgressions, while others have proposed that all sides let go of the past and start a new chapter of relations with the group.
The sources noted that some sides believe that Hizbullah will transform into a terrorist organization, based on the international law's definition of such groups and not Leb's views, in light of the Special Tribunal for Leb's accusation of four party members of being involved in the 2005 liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Therefore, one of the upcoming dilemmas Leb may have to face is the existence of a Lebanese government that includes members of a terrorist organization among its ranks, continued the sources.
The March 14 camp is seeking to study these issues, among others, within a document in an effort to reach answers to all pending issues, said the sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It would be nice. Think they could pull it off? With no Iran, no funding, no Hezzies.
#3
BHO bragged on "the tonight show" about installing an islamonazi regime in Libya, at a cost of under "41,000,000,000"; Americans will pay one-thousand fold more when those animals go malignant.
#5
HMMMM, HMMMM, IMO anything beyond proxy MilTerr intervention in Lebanon + Syria would violate nuke-happy Iran's desire to stay on the strategic defensive vee the US + Israel.
Again, while Israel can certainly attack Iran + inflict damage [recoverable] on its NucProgs, only the US = US, NATO can attack, invade, + occupy Iran.
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.
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has nominated a US-educated banker as the new governor of the country's central bank, his spokesman said Thursday. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi named the candidate as Noorullah Delawari. His nomination comes after a five-month vacancy in the post caused by turmoil in Afghanistan's banking system due to the near-collapse of the Kabul Bank, once the country's largest private financial institution.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Najib Miqati
