An alleged accomplice in the Sept. 11 terror attacks underwent reconstructive surgery for decade-old damage from his "sodomy" in CIA custody and was to be returned to his clandestine prison to recuperate, his attorney said Saturday. Why do these guys get doctor's appointments right away when our veterans are stuck with the VA?
"All they said is there was minimal bleeding and he is recovering," attorney Walter Ruiz, a Navy Reserve commander, said Saturday morning.
His client, Mustafa al Hawsawi,
...his file in the Rantburg archives can be perused here...
48, was scheduled to begin surgery at 9 p.m. Friday and Ruiz said he was informed that it was over by 10:45 p.m. And now his rectum is attached to his mouth as it should be.
Hawsawi, a Saudi, and four other men are awaiting a death-penalty trial for allegedly orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. He voluntarily missed Friday's hearing to rest up for the procedure.
An unclassified portion of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of the CIA's Black Site program showed allegations that Hawsawi was subjected to rectal exams with "excessive force" before his 2006 transfer to Guantanamo and that at one point he had a "medical emergency" that the agency considered having treated in a foreign hospital. Nahhhh! Just messin' with yah, dude!
On Saturday, the military was mum on the outcome of Hawsawi's Guantanamo surgery. Ruiz said he received few other details, aside from the fact that, once the anesthesia wore off, the Saudi was to be returned to Camp 7, Guantanamo's secret lock-up for former CIA Black Site captives -- including Hawsawi and five others awaiting death-penalty trials.
The detention center spokesman, Navy Capt. John Filostrat, had no information to provide Saturday morning about the medical procedure carried out at the Navy base hospital, a 5- to 10-minute prison ambulance or prison van drive from the Detention Center Zone. Hopefully they used a buckboard.
He said by email, it was prison policy "not to discuss detainee medical issues." Sorry, we don't comment on a$$holes.
Nor would Filostrat say whether a colorectal specialist was brought to this remote base to do the surgery, and whether, if so, others among the up-to 6,000 base inhabitants were able to benefit from the surgeon's presence. The base is run by the Navy, which has sailors and their families, about 2,000 Jamaician and Filipino Pentagon contract workers as well as an approximate 2,000-strong military and civilian staff at the prison of 61 war-on-terror captives.
Detention Center commanders have for years briefed reporters that their captives get commensurate medical care to soldiers and sailors; and that the Navy routinely brings in specialists to carry out some procedures.
Hawsawi was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003 with the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and was held by the CIA until his delivery to Guantanamo in September 2006. He is alleged to have helped the hijackers with money, Western clothing, travelers' checks and credit cards.
Hawsawi's lawyers had been litigating over conditions at the remote prison and, sought medical intervention to treat a rectal prolapse that has caused Hawsawi to bleed for more than a decade. Too bad it couldn't have been a lifelong condition. Now he'll be in shape to go back out on the battlefield after 0bean pardons him.
He has sat gingerly on a pillow at the war court since his first appearance in 2008. But the reason was not publicly known until release of a portion of the so-called Senate Torture Report on the CIA program in December 2014, which described agents using quasi-medical techniques called "rectal rehydration" and "rectal re-feeding." Heh. Re-feeding. Good one! I'll bet they didn't have many problems with hunger strikes after that.
"Mr. Hawsawi was tortured in the black sites. He was sodomized," Ruiz told reporters earlier in the week, advising them to "shy away from terms like rectal penetration or rectal rehydration because the reality is it was sodomy," he said. Since then, he said, he has had "to manually reinsert parts of his anal cavity" to defecate. We could have made it so he didn't need to . . . .
"When he has a bowel movement, he has to reinsert parts of his anus back into his anal cavity," Ruiz said, which "causes him to bleed, causes him excruciating pain." His victims certainly don't have to worry about this.
Families of eight people killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks were on base at the time of the surgery, brought by the Pentagon to watch four days of pretrial hearings. One expressed disgust that a hearing was on "minutiae." Successive groups have told reporters they are eager to get on with the trial, and criticized the pretrial focus on torture.
Earlier in the week, Army Lt. Gen. Jennifer Williams, one of Hawsawi's attorneys, asked the trial judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, to order the prosecution or CIA to give them the Saudi's complete medical records from across more than three years of spy agency custody. "Here are before and after pics of his a$$hole."
Williams noted that CIA cables released under the Freedom of Information Act show that, in one instance in April 2003, Hawsawi was interrogated with "continuous sessions of water dousing, walling, attention grasps, facial holds, cramped confinement, and psychological pressures for 14 nonstop hours." He got sleep breaks?
But defense teams preparing for trial have no medical records from that period, noting that Hawsawi also suffers cervical damage that may be linked to "walling" -- a CIA technique that rammed a captive's head into a wall to break him for interrogation. I hope the wall is OK.
Water dousing is described in the Senate Report as similar to water-boarding, a near-drowning torture technique.
The judge at one point questioned whether such medical records exist.
"What we know from open-source material is that medical physicians at times were in place when these techniques were being done and when the torture was being committed," Hawsawi's Army lawyer replied. "Don't forget to re-feed him his vitamins. Gotta keep him healthy, you know."
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... has said the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group plans to deploy at least 7,000 fighters in northern parts of the country.
Gen. Dostum made the remarks upon his arrival in northern Faryab province to supervise counter-terrorism operations following the fall of Ghormach district last week.
He said the ISIS terrorist group is attempting to deploy foreign snuffies mainly citizens of Syria, Iraq, Lebannon, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Chechnya.
The First Vice President further added that the Taliban group should be initially defeated in the norther parts of the country in a bid to pave the way for the establishment of strong posts for the security forces to fight the ISIS loyalists.
The remarks by General Dostum come as the Afghan and US forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province from where the terror group initially launched its operatins.
The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) launched a major operation in Nangarhar to suppress the activities of ISIS loyalists in mid-July this year.
The US forces also provided support to the Afghan forces during the operation conducted in Kot, Achin and parts of the province where ISIS loyalists were conducting insurgency.
The US forces resumed operations against ISIS loyalists after the B.O. regime granted them broader role to combat the terror groups in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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A Somalia regional administrator has said the wall being built between Kenya and Somalia will not end terror attacks.
The Kenyans will be the judge of that...
Mr Hassan Abdi Ali, who is a district commissioner of Diff in Somalia told the Nation that the wall was unnecessary because terrorists might bring it down using heavy explosives.
Ah, but it will slow them down to do so, and then they will be caught. Or shot...
In an interview on the Kenyan side of Diff, some six kilometres from Kenya/Somalia border on Friday, Mr Abdi said the wall would separate the border communities and hinder the war on terror. It will also deny locals social privilege, he said.
A privilege is not a right, of course.
He said Kenya and Somalia should invest in a long lasting solution by working together towards bringing terrorism to an end.
“I urge the Kenyan government to work together with us in this fight because we are neighbours. We face the common enemy, “ he said.
Mr Ali said Kenya and Somalia should share important information and meet frequently to discuss security. He urged the border counties to help Somalis by sharing resources including water points and pasture, thus enhancing unity and minimise terrorism.
What do the Somalis give in return -- agree not to kill Kenyans?
He also urged the Kenyan government to allow free movement of Somalis so that they could get education.
Ibid...
He said their primary school system was up to Standard Four and if the Kenyan government wanted to bring terrorism to an end, it should partner with them in promoting education. Mr Ali claimed illiteracy was contributing to the rising cases of terrorism in Somalia.
That drives the conclusion that illiteracy is also rising. Have people forgotten how to read?
The administrator urged the Kenyan government to help Somalia promote education. He said Diff in Somalia experiences about six cases of terrorism monthly. He added that Middle Juba and Gedo region were hardest hit while few cases are reported in Lower Juba.
Mr Abdi was hopeful that in 10 years Somalia will be safe and a strong country with a strong economy.
What a lovely idea! It would require a dearth of Somalis, but clearly they're working on that.
He urged Somalis to promote peace and work with the security agencies from both countries to end terror.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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The UN refugee agency said a total of 26,819 Somali refugees have in principle confirmed their intention to voluntarily return home and are waiting to be facilitated to return to the Horn of Africa nation. The UNHCR said in its bi-monthly report released on Saturday that some 2,525 returnees were supported to voluntarily return to Somalia by flight and road convoys from Sept. 16-30.
“In total as of Sept. 30, 32,949 Somali refugees had returned home since December 8, 2014, when UNHCR started supporting voluntary return of Somali refugees in Kenya, out of which 26,848 were supported in 2016 alone,” UNHCR said.
Kenya in collaboration with the UN refugee agency are working on a program that will ensure a smooth and voluntary repatriation of over 300,000 refugees living in five sites at the Dadaad refugee camp after Nairobi announced the closure of the camp.
Kenya, which hosted protracted negotiations that culminated in the formation of the transitional federal government of Somalia, says the refugee situation continues to pose security threats to Nairobi and the region apart from the humanitarian crisis.
According to the UNHCR, road convoys were suspended from Aug. 30, after the Jubbaland administration notified UNHCR Somalia about their decision not to receive any more returnees until integration processes inside Somalia are addressed.
“The road convoys still remain suspended and refugees are not currently travailing by road any more. Similarly, the flight departures to Mogadishu has been suspended on Sept. 25 because of security related issues in Mogadishu, but flight departures are expected to resume once the security context improves,” UNHCR said.
The statement comes after international medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said a vast majority of refugees do not want to go back to Somalia and urged Kenya thus to consider alternatives to closing down the Dadaab camp.
Many refugees surveyed cited by the charity list their main concerns as fear of forced recruitment into armed groups and the threat of sexual violence.
Other concerns are the absence of health care in Somalia, the medical aid group said.
MSF said its findings raise doubts about the voluntary nature of the repatriation programme being carried out by the Kenyan government and the UNHCR.
“It is unacceptable that, without any other solution being offered, thousands are essentially being pushed back into conflict and acute crisis — the very conditions they fled,” said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, the head of the MSF mission in Kenya.
According to the MSF report, 86 percent of surveyed refugees in Dagahaley do not want to go back to Somalia. Fears around insecurity were acute with nearly all — males and females — stating that the risk of sexual violence is high. MSF is therefore questioning the “voluntary” nature of the returns that the UNHCR is helping facilitate.
“The fears that the refugees tell us about are real. It is crucial that any return is voluntary, and refugees must have all necessary information about the services and conditions which will meet them in Somalia,” said Liesbeth.
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10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Libyan Investment Authority has not ruled out an appeal after a London judge dismissed its $1.2billion claim against Goldman Sachs over the total collapse of high-risk derivatives investments
In a 68,000 word judgement, Mrs Justice Rose ruled that the US investment bank had not misled the LIA about the risks involved and had not used undue influence in order to secure deals from which it reaped some $200 million in profits while the LIA lost everything.
The case involved nine trades between January and Aril 2008 in which Goldman Sachs structured two investments in the American bank Citigroup, three in Electricite de La Belle France as well as trades in Banco Santander, Allianz, ENI and UniCredit. At the time the global financial markets were going in to meltdown and bank shares were plunging. The court heard that the LIA believed that the markets would recover and that when the trades matured in 2011, prices would have rebounded and the Authority would reap a handsome profit. But instead the shares continued to fall and the positions that Goldman had bought for the LIA became worthless.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The coalition battling Yemeni rebels said Saturday that one of its warplanes had "wrongly targeted" a funeral in the capital Sanaa after receiving false information from a party within the Yemeni army
The coalition added that the directing operations center of the Yemeni army approved the strike without the coalition’s authorization and announced disciplinary proceedings.
"Because of non-compliance with coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries," an inquiry team found.
"Appropriate action... must be taken against those who caused the incident, and... compensation must be offered to the families of the victims."
The coalition’s statement said also that "other parties" exploited the incident and "raised its toll."
Coalition accepts probe results
The coalition also said that it accepts results by the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) on the Great Hall incident in Sanaa after examining the investigation.
"The coalition affirms that it accepts the results of the investigation, and has begun to implement the JIAT’s recommendations," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the coalition as saying.
The coalition also expressed "its regret for the unintentional incident and the ensuing pain for victims’ families."
It added: "The incident is not in line with the coalition’s objectives, namely protecting civilians and restoring safety and stability to Yemen."
Below is the official statement by JIAT on the Great Hall incident in Sanaa:
The JIAT examined all related documents, and assessed evidence, including the rules of engagement (ROEs) and the testimonies of concerned personnel and those involved in the incident, and has concluded that a party affiliated to the Yemeni Presidency of the General Chief of Staff wrongly passed information that there was a gathering of armed Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... leaders in a known location in Sanaa, and insisted that the location be targeted immediately as a legitimate military target.
JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement (ROEs) and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.
JIAT is still gathering and analyzing data related to the incident, namely reports about some sides that used this erroneous bombing to increase the number of victims, in coordination with the relevant agencies of the legitimate Yemeni government and concerned states, and will announce the results as soon as its investigations are complete.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
"Appropriate action... must be taken against those who caused the incident, and... compensation must be offered to the families of the victims."
"Lemme check my pockets. Here's $33.50, divide it up amongst yerselves"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2016 9:41 Comments ||
Top||
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] "Da’esh (ISIS) doesn’t represent Islam indeed and, in fact, I feel that Islam is the anti-dote to ISIS," Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, the first Scottish Moslem woman Member of Parliament in Westminster, has said.
In an exclusive interview to Al Arabiya English, Tasmina said that we need to make sure that women across the world have an opportunity to work together and try and find a solution to combat whatever is driving people to these actions that are certainly not representative of Islam.
"One of my plans is to introduce an annual international Moslem women parliamentarian summit. The idea is to bring Moslem women parliamentarians from all over the world to talk about how we can share our good policies in action and what we can do to alleviate poverty and have a different narrative about Islam and about what Moslem women stand for," she said.
"I think space needs to be created for women across the world, and particularly women in the Moslem world, because we have a sense of validity when we talk about our religion," Tasmina said.
Burkini ban and Donald Trump
On the issue of what women should wear, she said that it should entirely and always be a matter for women [to decide]. "Women have had to fight for every single right that they now have and we will continue to fight it," she said.
Tasmina said that she has faith in the American people and hopes that they will see through some of "the horrendous rhetoric, not the least in terms of what has been said about Moslems, wouldn’t be welcome in America".
"I was the first in the House of Commons to ask the then Home Secretary Theresa May, who is now Prime Minister, to treat such rhetoric in the same manner we should treat other hate preachers. So let us see what happens," she said in the interview.
She called the growing trend of right-wing politics in Europe a challenge and narrated the circumstances that led to Brexit. "Unfortunately for the people of UK, the European referendum was fought in the backdrop of anti-immigrant sentiment," she said.
According to her, as a result, the country now has a prime minister who is leading a party now known almost universally as "toxic Tories" pursuing a right-wing agenda".
"This is not good for United Kingdom, and for our standing in the world. We would challenge all of this rhetoric because we want to be part of a world that welcomes each other," Tasmina said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Fight for your right to wear a burka, you dumb c*nt...
[AnNahar] A Turkish official ripped a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed out of a mural at the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, a source at the rights body said Friday.
Dozens of people watched as the official, a member of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's parliamentary delegation to the Council, removed the image from the mural titled "The Road not Taken" on Wednesday, the source said.
The drawing of Mohammed wearing a bomb instead of a turban -- the original of which sparked outrage in the Moslem world when it was published in 2005 by a Danish newspaper -- had a banner across the prophet's face reading "censored."
Most Moslems consider portraying the prophet in images to be blasphemous.
The work on the theme of freedom of expression, titled "The Road not Taken", is made up of around 1,000 images.
The mural's Maltese creator Norbert Attard told the online version of The Malta Independent he had placed the "censored" banner across the cartoon "so that it would not offend anyone."
The incident occurred as Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was in Strasbourg to address the Council of Europe and open an exhibition on the attempted coup in his country in July.
The head of the Turkish delegation "offered his apologies" over the incident and reprimanded the delegate concerned, the source said, adding that the Council planned to invite the artist to Strasbourg.
The delegate has not been formally named.
The Strasbourg-based Council, a human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and democracy watchdog body separate from the EU, counts 47 member states.
[AnNahar] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... has angrily reacted to the cancellation of a panel in Sweden about the failed July coup attempt seeking to oust the government from power, calling it a "blow" to the freedom of expression.
The panel "July 15th -- Behind the Scene of the Bloody Coup" had been planned to take place in Stockholm on Friday.
The office of the Turkish prime minister, in a statement late on Friday, condemned the cancellation and said it was the result of "interference by some Swedish parliamentarians."
"The cancellation of the panel planned to inform the international community on the treacherous coup attempt of July 15 against Turkey’s democracy and parliamentarian system, and the prevention of Turkish journalists from making a statement contradicts with Sweden’s tradition as the country with the world’s oldest piece of legislation on the freedom of media," the statement said.
The panel should have taken place in a small school of a Stockholm district. Local authorities claim they cancelled the event because of security concerns.
"We did a risk assessment taking into account who would attend and what could happen outside. I don't want my schools turned into a battlefield," Bo Andersson, a Stockholm city schools official, said.
The Swedish foreign ministry has not commented.
Furious with the cancellation of the planned event in Stockholm, Ankara said it expected "the European countries, which unfairly criticise Turkey for hindering the freedom of the press at every opportunity, to show the necessary reaction to these attacks on the freedom of media and expression by Sweden."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
They behave as if they've already conquered Europe.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Iraq could not deal alone with driving ISIS from the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Erdogan also defended the presence of Turkish forces in a nearby military camp as an insurance against attacks on The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Turkey has been locked in a fierce row with Iraq’s central government over the presence of Turkish troops at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq, and over who should take part in the planned US-backed assault on Mosul.
Speaking at a ceremony in the Black Sea town of Rize, Erdogan said Turkey would not allow ISIS or any other organization to control Mosul. He also said Turkish-backed rebels in neighboring Syria were advancing on the ISIS-held village of Dabiq in the country’s northwest.
Around 60,000-strong force made of Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces are now finalizing plans to attack ISIS’s last stronghold in Iraq’s Mosul, London-based The Guardian reported on Friday.
As the assault to liberate Mosul looms, ISIS claimed a suicide kaboom that targeted a Shiite Moslem gathering in Baghdad, killing at least 31 people and wounding more than 50 on Saturday.
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10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif ..Pak chief of army staff, meaning he pulls the strings on the Nawaz Sharif puppet to make it dance and sing and not do much at all.... on Friday called for sustained efforts to defeat all hostile attempts to reverse the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... Recounting the successes of Zarb-e-Azb and the resultant stability being achieved to propel Pakistain into a new phase of development and prosperity, the army chief emphasised the need for effectively addressing the challenges to internal security.
He vowed to foil the attempts aimed at reversing the gains and said it was time to consolidate these gains and build upon what had already been achieved, an official told Dawn.
Expressing satisfaction over the operational preparedness of the troops, Gen Sharif reiterated the Pakistain Army’s resolve to defend the country’s geographical borders at all costs.
The COAS said this while chairing a corps commanders conference at the General Headquarters which held a comprehensive review of internal and external security situation with focus on the prevailing environment at the Line of Control (LoC) and operational preparedness of the army.
The conference was attended by all corps commanders and principal staff officers. The participants resolved to continue the sustained and focused combing and intelligence-based operations across the length and breadth of the country to uproot terrorism, harmonising it with the implementation of the National Action Plan to address extremism and other causes of terrorism.
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10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... said Saturday Pakistain is ready to hold dialogue with India if New Delhi is serious about resolving the Kashmire issue.
Pakistain had offered holding of talks on outstanding issues several times but India did not reciprocate, he said while talking to news hounds in Baku before wrapping up a three-day visit to Azerbaijan.
He said Kashmire was main cause of unrest in the region and India must show seriousness for resolution of the issue and honour its commitment under United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... Security Council Resolutions.
Pakistain was committed to peaceful resolution of the Kashmire issue, he added.
The premier regretted Indian allegations that blamed Pakistain for the attack on an Indian army base camp in Uri.
He said India levelled allegations against Pakistain within six hours of the Uri incident, and reiterated that no infiltration took place across the Line of Control (LoC).
The prime minister said his government had introduced a new culture of political tolerance in the country as they respected mandate of every party.
"The PPP formed government in Sindh and we respected it. Similarly we have respected MQM as an opposition party. Even when unethical language was used in KPK we also respected the public mandate there," he added.
He vowed to take the country to path of progress and prosperity, despite "certain elements' plans to shut the country".
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10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh they're serious alright, but likely not in the way you mean.
Turkish forces entered Iraq with Baghdad's consent, a senior State Department official said Thursday, Anadolu reported.
The Turkish military “began to train some of these forces on the ground at the invitation of the Iraqi government”, according to the official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The official stressed that as long as Turkish forces continue to have the consent of Iraq's government their presence there is "fine".
“They need to be coordinated with the Iraqi government,” he said.
Turkey and Iraq have engaged in a war of words about the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq's Bashiqa. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi asked for the formation of a military base in Bashiqa. Erdogan told Abadi to "know his limits," reminding him that Turkey’s military presence in Iraq was due to a demand made by Baghdad.
The countries have summoned respective ambassadors for consultations.
The spat "is not constructive", the U.S. official said as anti-Daesh forces prepare to oust the group from its Iraqi capital, Mosul.
Turkey says its troops are going to be there to prevent any potential sectarian conflict in and around Mosul after the city is taken from Daesh. The operation could begin as soon as next week if preparations are completed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Bandar al-Himedi Daham is a member of al-Shammar, one of the biggest Arab tribes in Syria and he is now the commander of al-Sanadid Force, an unofficial army of 4,500 fighters, combating the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS). In this interview with Rudaw, al-Himedi says the goal of his force was initially to defend their territory against ISIS without any political agenda. But now the situation has changed and their leaders pursue political goals.
Al-Himedi’s force has partnered with the Kurdish YPG on several occasions to fight ISIS holy warriors, including in the Hasakah province. Despite his good ties with the Kurds, al-Himedi rejects federalism for Syria if it leads to the country’s partition. al-Himedi reveals that he has asked the international coalition and Iraqi government to allow his force to join the djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... offensive in order to help defeat ISIS and protect members of the Shmmar tribe who live on the other side of the border.
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10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... said on Saturday plans should be considered to give Yazidis in Iraq protected areas to retreat to in the north of the country.
"The plans are not finished yet, I’ll be honest with you, but they are on the agenda," Merkel told a conference of the youth wing of her conservatives, adding that the survival of the Yazidis was at stake.
United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... Sherlocks said in June that ISIS was committing genocide against the Yazidis in Syria and Iraq to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.
Merkel said it was necessary to think about how the Yazidis driven out of their homes by ISIS could be given a "safe space" to which they could return once ISIS was defeated.
She said it was necessary to talk to the Yazidis and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq about that.
Yazidi community leaders have already asked to have international protection for a self-rule administration that they demand to have in their region in northern Iraq, as part of the Iraqi state.
The Yazidis are a religious sect whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions. They are considered infidels by the hardline Sunni Islamist murderous Moslems.
Merkel also criticized the actions of the Russia-backed Syrian government in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, saying these were "very close to war crimes" and added that the International Criminal Court would have to determine this.
Rescue workers said on Friday that Syria’s military backed by Russian warplanes had killed more than 150 people in eastern Aleppo this week, in support of its offensive against the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
How about protected zones for Germans in Germany?
#2
Protecting others is expensive in manpower and equipment. It looks like Chancellor Merkel hopes the Kurds will take care of it for her, but the Kurds are operating on a shoestring now. Is Frau Merkel working up to another not-a-Marshall-Plan donation to those who might keep a problem from migrating to Germany's doorstep? Though to be fair, this is the one case where that would actually be effective.
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.
An alleged accomplice in the Sept. 11 terror attacks underwent reconstructive surgery for decade-old damage from his "sodomy" in CIA custody and was to be returned to his clandestine prison to recuperate, his attorney said Saturday.
The UN refugee agency said a total of 26,819 Somali refugees have in principle confirmed their intention to voluntarily return home and are waiting to be facilitated to return to the Horn of Africa nation. The UNHCR said in its bi-monthly report released on Saturday that some 2,525 returnees were supported to voluntarily return to Somalia by flight and road convoys from Sept. 16-30.
[AnNahar] A Turkish official ripped a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed out of a mural at the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, a source at the rights body said Friday.
[AnNahar] 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Iraq could not deal alone with driving ISIS from the city of 
