Zim-Bob moves up to Number One, while Kimmie slides into third. King Abdulla is fifth, Muammar tenth. Pretty quick read, from yesterday's Parade Sunday magazine.
Somehow, W fell off the list...
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/23/2009 07:24 ||
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#1
Bobby M will be attending the award ceremony in NY. Hoping to receive a DVD collection.
The idea is to think of either a dictator or sitcom character, and the game tries to figure out which one you are thinking of.
A word of caution: this game has been around for a decade, so has a HUGE database of both dictators and sitcom characters. So be as obscure as possible.
#8
Saddam is no longer on the list. His sons will not make the list. General Pervez Musharraf should not be on the current list. Chavez didn't make the list. I guess he did not pick up the bar bill too many times.
The US and its European allies are preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned.
Any thought of asking the Afghan people what they want in a government?
The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai. In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many US and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives, and predict the Afghan president will win re-election in August.
A revised role for Karzai has emerged from the White House review of Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by Barack Obama when he became president. It isto be unveiled at a special conference on Afghanistan at The Hague on March 31.
As well as watering down Karzai's personal authority by installing a senior official at the president's side capable of playing a more efficient executive role, the US and Europeans are seeking to channel resources to the provinces rather than to central government in Kabul.
A diplomat with knowledge of the review said: "Karzai is not delivering. If we are going to support his government, it has to be run properly to ensure the levels of corruption decrease, not increase. The levels of corruption are frightening."
Why is it 'frightening'? This is Afghanistan where corruption has been a way of life for the last several millennia. Similarly, the words 'astounding', 'amazing' and 'unbelievable' also should be banned.
Another diplomat said alternatives to Karzai had been explored and discarded: "No one could be sure that someone else would not turn out to be 10 times worse. It is not a great position."
The idea of a more dependable figure working alongside Karzai is one of the proposals to emerge from the White House review, completed last week. Obama, locked away at the presidental retreat Camp David, was due to make a final decision this weekend.
Obama is expected to focus in public on overall strategy rather than the details, and, given its sensitivity, to skate over Karzai's new role. The main recommendation is for the Afghanistan objectives to be scaled back, and for Obama to sell the war to the US public as one to ensure the country cannot again be a base for al-Qaida and the Taliban, rather than the more ambitious aim of the Bush administration of trying to create a European-style democracy in Central Asia.
Other recommendations include: increasing the number of Afghan troops from 65,000 to 230,000 as well as expanding the 80,000-strong police force; sending more US and European civilians to build up Afghanistan's infrastructure; and increased aid to Pakistan as part of a policy of trying to persuade it to tackle al-Qaida and Taliban elements.
The proposal for an alternative chief executive, which originated with the US, is backed by Europeans. "There needs to be a deconcentration of power," said one senior European official. "We need someone next to Karzai, a sort of chief executive, who can get things done, who will be reliable for us and accountable to the Afghan people."
Money and power will flow less to the ministries in Kabul and far more to the officials who run Afghanistan outside the capital -- the 34 provincial governors and 396 district governors. "The point on which we insist is that the time is now for a new division of responsibilities, between central power and local power," the senior European official said.
No names have emerged for the new role but the US holds in high regard the reformist interior minister appointed in October, Mohammed Hanif Atmar.
The risk for the US is that the imposition of a technocrat alongside Karzai would be viewed as colonialism, even though that figure would be an Afghan. Karzai declared his intention last week to resist a dilution of his power. Last week he accused an unnamed foreign government of trying to weaken central government in Kabul.
"That is not their job," the Afghan president said. "Afghanistan will never be a puppet state."
The UK government has since 2007 advocated dropping plans to turn Afghanistan into a model, European-style state.
Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who will implement the new policy, said it would represent a "vastly restructured effort". At the weekend in Brussels, he was scathing about the Bush administration's conduct of the counter-insurgency. "The failures in the civilian side ... are so enormous we can at least hope that if we get our act together ... we can do a lot better," he said.
#2
This sounds eerily like the way the VietNam war started to go awry. When you start dabbling in the internal politics of another country, you are playing with fire. Not surprised though, Obama has fubarred everything else he has touched.
March 21, 2009: In Afghanistan, a Russian transport taxied too close to four Belgian F-16 fighters. The engine exhaust blew sand and rocks into the engines of the F-16s, destroying the engines in three of the fighters. New engines had to be flown in to replace the damaged ones. The F110 engine used in the F-16 costs about $5 million each, but the damaged ones can be rebuilt for less than that. Belgium sent the four F-16s to Afghanistan last September. Who paid?
Thanks to billions of dollars spent in road and air base construction, troops in landlocked Afghanistan will never have to worry about getting enough supplies, the Pentagon's chief of military transportation told senators last week.
Insurgent attacks on major supply roads into Afghanistan have disrupted U.S. delivery schedules, said Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, who directs the U.S. Transport Command. But he told lawmakers that he has personally assured the head of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus, "We will be there. We'll figure out and make sure you never have to worry about this."
Petraeus is overseeing the influx of 17,000 additional troops into Afghanistan beginning in May, and McNabb is working to maintain "a lot of options . . . lots of ways to get in there" with cargo for those forces. "You probably couldn't ask for or find a tougher place from a logistics challenge, of getting the stuff in," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The most successful option has been air delivery. Battle gear -- including arms, ammunition, sensitive equipment, bomb-resistant vehicles and armored personnel carriers -- has been brought into Afghanistan by air, thanks to a Pentagon-funded expansion of air bases at Bagram, Kandahar and Bastian. In recent years, the capacity of the bases has been increased by up to 400 percent, and the growth continues. At Bagram air base, for example, the Army Corps of Engineers is managing about $650 million in construction, according to Col. Thomas O'Donovan, commander of the Afghanistan Engineer District.
The materials for all this construction must be trucked into Afghanistan, since the country has few factories. Cement is brought in from Pakistan, steel from Uzbekistan and other northern neighbors, and manufactured goods such as doors and doorknobs from China or India. These trucks also carry food, water, clothing and other personal supplies, typically bringing them from Pakistani ports and into Afghanistan at one of five border crossings. About 130 to 140 shipments reach Afghanistan each day along that route, McNabb said, and because only 78 containers a day are currently needed to keep up with demand, "we're getting more in than we need." But insurgents have been successful enough at interrupting shipments that McNabb's command is using satellite trackers to look for any sign of attack and to reroute trucks accordingly.
Meanwhile, "alternative routes to Afghanistan through the Caucasus and Central Asia have become a high priority," McNabb told the senators. The Pentagon has enlisted Russia, China, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in a northern distribution network, and a few dozen shipments have already reached the Afghan capital, Kabul, by that route. The hope, he added, is to be "able to bring in about 100 containers from the north a day to supplement" what is imported through Pakistan. "So we have lots of options to get the stuff in." However, if all ground routes fail, McNabb said, "if we had to do everything by air, you would see a Berlin airlift."
One result of all the construction is that the Corps of Engineers has become the largest employer of Afghans after the national government. Corps contractors, O'Donovan told reporters Friday, will spend about $4 billion in Afghanistan this year and employ between 45 percent and 60 percent of the overall construction industry in that country. The U.S. Agency for International Development spends, he said, $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year in Afghanistan. The corps has about 720 miles of roads under construction in Afghanistan, with another 250 to 350 planned for next year. O'Donovan said that while plans are not finalized, he expects to devote about $4 billion this year and $4 billion to $6 billion in 2010 to more road contracts.
O'Donovan also said contracts totaling about $411 million are about to be awarded to construct facilities in southern Afghanistan, where they will be used by the additional U.S. forces deploying there. An additional $1 billion worth of construction may be ordered, he said, "depending on final allocations."
The United States has built $2 billion worth of facilities for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and plans to build another $1.2 billion worth in 2009. Eventually, the corps wants to construct in every Afghan district a police compound that includes a station, housing and dining facilities, water wells and security perimeter walls. The corps is also hiring and supervising contractors to operate and manage the police facilities, at a cost of $104 million last year and $300 million this year.
#1
Logistics Generals know that they will never get the headlines like combat Generals. So their personal glory rests in moving mountains of supplies through impossible routes, ahead of schedule.
They live for the day when some enemy leader says, "They couldn't have done that. It's impossible!"
The red plastic sofas in the living room of Maulvi Mohammed Rahmani in Kabul's Deh Bori quarter are rarely empty these days. The pitted dirt road in front of the home of the tribal elder and former Taliban minister is as busy as the lumber yard behind it.
"For a long time, no one came to see me, then our Arab brothers started coming, then our European friends and now, most recently, the Americans," he said last week.
The cleric owes his sudden popularity to his leadership of a group of former Taliban who are now acting as a channel of communication to the insurgents waging a bitter war against coalition and Afghan forces across the south and east of Afghanistan.
Since Rahmani and several others travelled to Saudi Arabia last year for a first meeting aimed at preparing a dialogue, revealed by the Observer, initiatives to find a negotiated solution to the conflict in Afghanistan have gathered pace -- now with the blessing of the new American administration.
Last week, United States ambassador Bill Wood said that, although his government opposed anyone "shooting their way to power" and was against any agreement involving "power-sharing or an enclave for the Taliban", there was "room for discussion on the formation of political parties or running candidates for elections".
"Insurgencies are like all wars: they end when there is an agreement," Wood said in an interview in the vast, heavily guarded US embassy in Kabul. "[The Taliban] have said 'no start of negotiations without prior departure of foreign forces'. That's not serious. Let's get serious."
Such talk would have been inconceivable even six months ago. Now, in an astonishing U-turn, Kabul diplomats are privately discussing what concessions could conceivably be made to insurgents.
There is talk of the Afghan government releasing certain prisoners from detention centres in return for a halt to attacks on government buildings and infrastructure such as schools or roads; the removal of key insurgents from United Nations blacklists, which render them diplomatic outlaws; and even changes to the Afghan constitution to allow a "political wing" of the Taliban to integrate disaffected, ultra-conservative, rural Pashtun tribes -- the insurgents' key constituency -- into the political process.
The process has gathered pace since the meeting in Mecca last year. Dozens of such encounters between possible mediators are taking place.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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A Yemeni court on Monday condemned an Islamist to death for establishing contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.
Bassam al-Haidari, 26, was found guilty of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state. Another defendant Imad al-Rimi, 23, was sentenced to five years in prison and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, to three. Israel, which has no diplomatic ties with Yemen, dismissed the allegations, saying it had no contact with the condemned man.
"The court... sentences the first defendant to death in the case of making illegal contact with the Zionist Jewish Israeli entity," Yemeni judge Hassan Elwan said.
The defendants vowed to appeal. "This is unfair, you have sentenced me without any proof of these accusations," Mahfal shouted from the caged dock.
The three men went on trial in January, accused of operating under the name of the little-known Organisation of Islamic Jihad and spreading false news of attacks on government buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Yemen in 2008.
The prosecution charged Haidari with corresponding with Olmert through emails, one of which said: "We are the Organisation of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything."
The charge sheet said Olmert responded to Haidari, also known as Abu al-Ghaith, welcoming his offer to collaborate. "We are ready to support you to become an obstacle in the Middle East. We will support you as an agent," Olmert was quoted as writing. Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said the charges were "completely far-fetched."
"We have no knowledge of any contact with this person," he said. "Every day we receive numerous messages from the Arab and Muslim world and we hail those wanting dialogue with Israel."
The Islamic Jihad group also claimed in Internet messages signed by Abu al-Gaith that it prepared 16 car bombs to attack government buildings and embassies, according to the prosecution.
Yemeni authorities rounded up six suspects in the capital Sanaa after a September 17 attack on the US embassy that killed 19 people. The interior ministry said at the time that the arrested group included Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani, the signatory of an Islamic Jihad claim of responsibility for the attack on the US mission. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh later that an Islamist "terrorist cell" with links to Israeli intelligence had been dismantled.
Saudi Arabia has arrested eleven Shia Muslims for protesting the police's violent attempts at hunting down an outspoken Shia cleric.
On Sunday, the police captured the Shias who had organized a vigil in the Eastern Province's town of Awwamiyya, voicing concern over the law enforcement's drive in search for cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqer Al-Nimr, Reuters reported.
The cleric has been on the force's wanted list for accusing the Sunni authorities of suppressing the Shia minority and urging the independence of the province's Shia-dominated Qatif region from the rest of the country.
"Our dignity is being held, and if it's not let free, we will examine other options, and any legitimate option will be examined," he has been quoted as saying in an internet posting.
"We saw with our own eyes how the dissension forces beat up women. Where's the dignity? Where's justice?" Nimr said in a reference to last months' police crackdown on Shia demonstrations in the holy city of Medina.
The Medina uprising had been provoked by the police's killing, wounding or arrest of the Shia pilgrims who had sought to enter the Baqi cemetery.
The Wahabbists, notorious for extreme intolerance, bar women from entering the burial ground which buries many of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s relatives and companions.
Shia minorities, as well, accuse the Wahhabists of using their political influence to oppress the Shia minority -- roughly 10 to 15 percent of the population.
In response to the allegations, however, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz said earlier in the month that "we completely reject the clash of sects in our country. We believe that all citizens have equal rights and duties,"
"There are foreign parties who seek to cause (an) escalation (between Sunni and Shia), but we are able (...) to prevent any interference in the internal affairs of the country," he added according to Middle East Online.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Sixty thousand civilians are being trained to spot terrorists, Gordon Brown revealed yesterday.
In the latest Labour anti-terror initiative, huge numbers of staff on rail networks, at airports, shopping centres, public buildings and sports venues have been picked out by MI5 and the police to be taught how to watch for 'suspicious behaviour' and respond swiftly in the event of an atrocity.
The Home Office plans are likely to raise questions over the effectiveness of an army of amateur 'terrorist-watchers'.
There are fears they will swamp the police and security services with spurious alerts or single out law-abiding British Muslims, which could also inflame religious tensions.
Citing security grounds, the Home Office would not provide details of the training, which MI5 helped to draw up, beyond that it centred on improved vigilance and response to terrorist attacks, including evacuation and crowd-control procedures.
Writing in a Sunday newspaper, the Prime Minister said the public 'should be under no illusion' that 'the biggest security threat to our country and other countries is the murderous agents of hate that work under the banner of Al Qaeda'.
Britain's largest Muslim organization rejected Sunday calls for its head to resign for backing Hamas and called the government's latest attempts to interfere in the organization's structure "high-handed" and "condescending."
The Muslim Council of Britain criticized the government's call for its deputy, Dr. Dawud Abdullah, to step down after he signed the Gaza Declaration in Istanbul, which the U.K. government claims was an act of supporting violence and extremism.
" We cannot make Mr. Abdullah resign but we may reconsider our relationship with Muslim Council of Britain if it does not look into this matter "
Spokesperson for Hazel Blears
In a letter to the council, Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government expressed concern that Abdulla was one of 90 Muslim leaders worldwide who signed the declaration, whichpledged support for Hamas, the democratically-elected government in the Strip.
Blears warned that the government would reconsider its relationship with the organization if the deputy does not resign.
"We cannot make Mr. Abdullah resign but we may reconsider our relationship with Muslim Council of Britain if it does not look into this matter," a spokesman from Blear's office told AlArabiya.net.
"We are concerned that the statement calls for direct support for acts of violence in the Middle East and beyond. We are also aware that a senior member of the MCB may have been a signatory to this statement. If it is proven that the individual concerned had been a signatory, we would expect the MCB to ask him to resign and to confirm its opposition to acts of violent extremism," a spokesperson said in a previous statement.
But the council, which is an independent non-government body, rejected Blear's "high-handed and condescending action" in a press release Sunday and affirmed its commitment to opposing violence, and specifically the "targeting or killing of British soldiers anywhere in the world."
"What the British government is trying to do is unprecedented," Dawud Abdullah told AlArabiya.net. "It has no right to interfere into the affairs of a national body and dictate who should hold office in organization. We have not found evidence where such government meddling took place in the affairs of non-government bodies in the U.K. whether religious or civil," he added.
Abdullah is one of the three officers elected by the British Muslim community. As deputy of MCB he reflects the views of all its affiliates, one of which affirms "the right under international law of the Palestinian people to resist the ongoing illegal and brutal occupation of their land.
" The committee backs Dr. Dawud Abdullah and refuses that he steps down "
Helbawy, MCB founding member
Committee members of the council affirmed their support of Abdullah at the committee quarterly meeting held late Saturday in Birmingham where they flatly rejected the removal of an elected officer at the behest of government minister. "The committee backs Dr. Dawud Abdullah and refuses that he steps down," Kamal Halbawy, founding member and a member of the board of advisors told AlArabiya.net.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
How do I write "enough talk" with Austrian accent?
Detained Muslim cleric Abu Qatada lashed out on Sunday at his prison conditions in Britain, complaining of harassment and abuse.
"I am being isolated, harassed, abused and moved from one place to another under maximum security ... I don't know when and how this is going to end," Abu Qatada wrote in a letter to the London-based Islamic Observatory Centre. He did not elaborate but said his warders strip him naked twice a month to frisk him, according to the letter, a copy of which was received by AFP. "I have to ask (the authorities) to contact my family a week in advance. Otherwise, I can't call them," added Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmud Mohammed Othman.
"Sometimes I wish all Muslims go to jail in Britain to understand what I am talking about and see how things are run in this (Belmarsh) prison," in southeast London. Once labelled Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, Abu Qatada is fighting a deportation order to Jordan, saying he risks being tortured back in his home country. But he suffered a blow last month when Britain's top court ruled against him, although the European Court of Human Rights has called on London to postpone its deportation until after an appeal.
Abu Qatada, who has had political asylum in Britain since 1993, is wanted in Jordan for funding a terrorist network known as Reform and Challenge (Al-Islah Wal Tahhadi) which was dismantled in 1999. Amman has repeatedly urged London to extradite him.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Sometimes I wish all Muslims go to jail in Britain..."
Probably the one thing he has said that 98% of Brits would agree with.
A news report said Sunday that it is likely North Korea has sent two American journalists detained last week to the capital of Pyongyang for interrogation.
An interrogation that is likely to be long and painful. But I don't think we'll be hearing much from the Red Thingy or Amnesia International ...
South Korea's Yonhap news agency quotes sources in China as saying that, considering the significance of the case, it is very likely the two will be questioned by North Korea's security and military agencies. South Korean officials did not confirm the report.
The North's official news agency, KCNA, said Saturday the Americans were taken into custody Tuesday while crossing the North Korea-China border. It said the matter is under investigation.
South Korean media reports said Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained with their Chinese guide near the Tumen River, along North Korea's border with China.
In Washington, a State Department official said the United States has contacted North Korea about the matter through its mission to the United Nations in New York. The official says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is very involved in the case.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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They're either "Americans" or "journalists" - they can't be both. As far as I'm concerned, this is just another case of red-on-red action.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
03/23/2009 0:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
ION TOPIX > JAPAN'S MILITARY TO BE REDEFINED INTO A NEW GLOBAL FORCE.
#3
WORLD MILITARY FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > IIUC USA TO SEND TWO ANTI-MISSLE AEGIS DESTROYERS TO TRACK NORTH KOREAN MISSLE LAUNCH [04/04-8th].IT IS NOT CLEAR HOW LONG US DESTROYERS WILL REMAIN. ONE AEGIS DESTROYER, US DDG#56 USS JOHN MCCAIN, HAS A NEW KOREAN-AMER CAPTAIN.
ALso on WMF > CHINESE MILITARY, DIPLOMATIC SCHOLARS FEAR [premature] WAR IN THE CHINA SEAS, PLA AND NATIONAL UNPREPAREDNESS. PHILIPPINES NOT INTIMIDATED BY CHINA'S NEW SPRATLEY ARMED NAVAL PATROL [converted elderly PLAN Warships = Fishing-Recce Trawlers]; + PHILIPPINES DEMANDS REPEAL OF CHINESE VETO IN UNITED NATIONS, REFORMATION OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL.
#2
She came to her job interview without a headscarf, and at that time she never wore a headscarf before. She tried it on in the shop and didn't feel like taking it off. When she came to work, she asked one of the employees if she could wear a hijab. The employee called his boss, the same guy who interviewed her, who said she should take it off. She doesn't think it's relevant how long she's been going with a hijab.
She says it's now part of her identity
pretty fluid "identity". Beyotch is making a stink for her 15 miunutes. Fire her
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/23/2009 7:06 Comments ||
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#3
Hell, make her wear it. In fact, make her wear a burqa - all the time.
#4
She came to her job interview without a headscarf, and at that time she never wore a headscarf before. She tried it on in the shop and didn't feel like taking it off. When she came to work, she asked one of the employees if she could wear a hijab. The employee called his boss, the same guy who interviewed her, who said she should take it off. Tanveer says she asked just to be certain, but didn't expect a negative response. She doesn't think it's relevant how long she's been going with a hijab.
She says it's now part of her identity. She read that 7-Elven support free choice and she doesn't understand why they don't respect hers. She says she not taking up the issue because she wants her job back. She says she's doing it for other girls who wear a hijab and want to work.
I'd translate, but I don't know how to say "cha-ching" in Norwegian.
I'm with Spot. Make her wear it twenty four hours a day. Especially in the summer...
#5
Nordic muslims increasingly live off public welfare. The EU constitution compels relatively open door entry to phony refugees. Eventually the public will react to this forced subsidy of aliens who reject assimilation.
British MP George Galloway, who headed the Viva Palestina convoy from London to Gaza covering thousands of miles and crossing three contents, vowed Saturday to take Canada's immigration minister to court for banning him from entering Canada, citing the British MP as a threat to national security.
George Galloway vowed to take Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to court after the Canadian feds denied him entry into Canada. Galloway was on his way to Canada
" I'm very, very surprised by it, but I'm fighting it "
George Galloway, British MP"I'm very, very surprised by it, but I'm fighting it," Galloway told Canadian said in a telephone interview from Britain. "My friends are even now planning judicial review of the reasonableness of the minister's decision. I will one way or another be heard in Canada -- either in person or by some other technical means."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm not sure how much of a security threat he is to Canada, but he is an embarrassment to the whole human race.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/23/2009 8:34 Comments ||
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A Canadian-Lebanese national arrested for his alleged role in a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing is the victim of "anti-Arab" prejudices, a defense witness said Friday.
Hassan Diab, 55, was arrested in November in an Ottawa suburb at the request of French authorities who want him extradited to stand trial for murder, attempted murder and the destruction of property for his alleged role in the bombing that killed four.
On this third day of the bail hearing, Nour al-Kadri, an activist and instructor at the University of Ottawa where Diab also taught, said the suspect was "targeted" by prosecutors because of "anti-Arab sentiments."
"Many people in the Arab community believe he's being targeted," said Kadri, a member of the Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations. "We [all] feel we are being targeted and this is one example." Kadri drew parallels between Diab's case and Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian wrongly detained in 2002 during a stopover in New York and sent to Syria where he was jailed and tortured for over a year.
A Canadian judicial report in September 2006 cleared Arar of terror ties and blasted federal police for wrongly labeling him an "Islamic extremist." But the prosecution in Diab's case has painted a different picture: that of a man who poses a flight risk, who kept contacts in numerous countries and who maintained a strained relationship with his girlfriend Rania Tfaily.
Tfaily would be asked to serve as a principal guarantor if Diab were paroled, and the suspect admitted under cross examination that he had an affair with another woman prior to his arrest four months ago.
This week's bail hearing is Diab's second shot at freedom after an appeals court quashed a December decision to detain him pending an extradition hearing because Diab, who does not speak French, could not read French prosecution documents entered as evidence at his first hearing.
In October 1980, a bomb planted in a motorcycle saddlebag outside the Copernic Street synagogue in Paris killed three Frenchmen and a young Israeli woman, and injured dozens.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
The Arar case was the result of US intelligence' reliance on inept Canadian police work. The government of Canada paid Arar $10,000,000 in compensation. US authorities claim - with merit - that they made a good faith error. The Diab case was made in France, and based on good police work.
Army snipers could soon have a weapon capable of killing enemy fighters out to 1,200 meters, which is 400 meters beyond the range of the current-issue sniper rifle.
Program Executive Office Soldier is working on a plan to outfit units that need their snipers to shoot out to 1,200 meters with a modified M24 sniper rifle chambered for the .300 Winchester Magnum.
The Army began replacing the bolt-action M24 with the M110 Semiautomatic Sniper System in late 2007 to give snipers a rapid-fire weapon for engaging multiple targets in urban areas. Both rifles are chambered for 7.62mm NATO ammunition and have an effective range of about 800 meters. Many in the sniper community disliked the decision, arguing that the M24s simple bolt-action design has fewer moving parts and is more accurate than a more complex semi-auto design.
The complaints prompted 25th Infantry Division officials in Hawaii to write an Operational Needs Statement last summer that involved sending their M24s to the guns maker, Remington Arms Co. in Madison, N.C., to be retrofitted to .300 Win Mag instead of turning them in to the Army.
PEO Soldier Commander Brig. Gen Peter Fuller said he will support the request as a short-term solution for giving the Army a longer range sniper rifle. We are supporting units that are asking for modified M24s in .300 Win Mag, if they have an operational needs statement for such a capability, Fuller recently told Army Times.
Both the Army and Marine Corps are working a long-range sniper rifle designed to kill an enemy from as far out as 1,800 meters. Both services use versions of a .50-caliber sniper rifle that is effective out to 2,500 meters, but the 30-pound weapon is mainly intended to destroy large nonhuman targets such as light-skinned vehicles.
We realize there is a gap in between those two, 800 to 2,500 meters, Fuller said, cautioning that this is a short-term fix. Do you want to have a program of record or do you want to keep pushing things into gaps? There are a lot of vendors out there, he said. How do you ensure you have a fair and open competition to make sure the best opportunity comes forward and not just one because we did an operational needs statement?
The caliber upgrade for the M24 is not a new concept. Special operations units such as the 75th Ranger Regiment have been shooting M24s chambered in .300 Win Mag since the late 1990s.
The 25th IDs upgrade effort involves sending the existing M24s to Remington, where they will be fitted with a new barrel, a new bolt face, a special folding stock and a more powerful optic. Each upgrade would cost about $4,000, Remington officials have estimated. Standard M24s cost about $6,700.
Its still unclear how the modifications will be handled, Fuller said. When units have their own unique systems, how do you maintain that across the Army? he asked. We have to think through this; at some point, musical chairs are going to stop and you are not going to be able to do your own thing.
#1
Eventually, I hope to see a .50 BMG used in an advanced ceramic rifle, that would have significantly lighter weight than steel, and probably better accuracy. It would be expensive as hell, but very durable and possibly rate a 1500 meter effective range.
If you think about it, keeping the price of rifles under $10k (or typically $500) is an old notion based on large conventional forces needing a lot of rifles. Snipers and their missions have proven so valuable that shelling out $30-50k for their primary tool isn't so exorbitant.
#2
Came across this Anonymoose: ...we came across an interesting company called McCann Industries that has a very interesting high-tech, ultra-light carbon fiber M14/M1A rifle/carbine stock/chassis. This chassis/stock blew us way by how light it was--just 24 ounces (24 oz).
Carbon fiber for a .50 cal.--I don't know.
At:
http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1112
#4
mhw, that's true for any high-powered rifle. The bullet travels faster than sound and if you are way to close you can hear the crack of the tiny sonic boom as it goes by.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/23/2009 18:59 Comments ||
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#5
JohnQC: Advanced materials can be so unrealistic in their behavior that you have to laugh. For instance, theoretically at least, a 1" thick rod of carbon can be stronger than a steel I-beam. They have now figured out how to make a carbon sheet more transparent than Saran Wrap, that could stop a speeding 18-wheeler cold.
One weapon infantrymen have always wanted is an infantry cannon-rifle. Imagine one light enough for a single individual to carry, that fired, say 30mm rounds.
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over reported disappearance of people in Kashmir, the United Nations on Monday proposed India to have independent investigations into it and wanted New Delhi to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
"India can invite trouble special rapporteurs for independent investigations," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay told reporters. She said India could invite international observers during elections in Kashmir.
"In the past two decades, hundreds of cases of disappearances have been reported in Kashmir. These cases must be properly investigated in order to bring a sense of closure to the families who for far too long have been awaiting for news," she said.
How about the hundreds of deaths due to Islamicist hard-boyz? Any thought that the special wrapper might investigate those?
Pillay met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram here and took up the issue of laws like AFSPA. "I told the ministers that human rights activities need to be strengthened in India. I raised the concerns of civil society about the way the AFSPA is implemented. I also raised the issue of having a UN's office of human rights here," she said.
Pillay, however, said she did not get any assurance from the ministers about repeal of AFSPA. "I did not get any assurance about repealing the Act. The ministers said AFSPA is implemented in certain conflict areas and was necessary (in those areas)," she said.
Laughed at you, did they ...
About having the UN office on human rights, the government did not make any commitment. "Countries, committed to human right, should have institutions in place. There should be no reason why there should not be high commission's office here," she said.
"Employ me, me, ME, employ ME-E-E-E!!"
"I intend to pursue this matter after the elections. All other UN agencies are here. The country so outspoken about democracy should have no fear to have UN office on human rights here," she said.
It isn't fear, it's frustration ...
Pillay also raised issues of human rights violation with respect to "domestic violence, improper investigation of cases by police in India and non-implementation of certain Supreme Court rulings".
She said minorities and dalits demand protection. There will be a world conference in Geneva next month on the human rights violation of minorities.
She said both India and South Africa have many archaic laws, including those that criminalise homosexuality. "You (India) have to look at these laws. You are a vibrant democracy," she observed.
Earlier, addressing the members of NHRC and State Commissions, she said, "India should repeal those dated and colonial-era laws that breach contemporary international human rights standards".
The horrific terrorist attack in Mumbai has also polarised society and risks stoking suspicions against the Muslim community. It is imperative to counter violent religious extremism of any kind by insisting on peaceful coexistence, tolerance and acceptance of diversity, she said.
Does that include the terrorists?
The UN high commissioner also asked the Government to implement the recommendations of the Sachar committee on the status of Muslims in the country.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/23/2009 16:44 ||
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New Delhi: While the dispute over the Sir Creek maritime boundary with Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch remains to be resolved, India is filing its claim in the United Nations for extending its continental shelf before the May 13 deadline, a senior armed forces official said.
The claim, if approved, will give India exclusive rights over mineral and non-living resources in the nearly 250 square miles of area in the Kutch region. Though Indian authorities are confident of resolving the issues during the next dialogue, the government will be staking a claim before the UN.
"The May 13, 2009 deadline was given 10 years ago... by this time all the nations have been asked to stake their claim to the continental shelf which will then govern the area of exclusive economic zone for the particular nation. If a nation does not meet the deadline, all the countries can come and explore the waters," the official said, requesting anonymity.
The Cabinet Committee on Security has already cleared the claim, which the Ministry of External Affairs will soon stake before the 21-member UN Committee on Legal Continental Shelf.
A continental shelf is defined as the natural prolongation of the land territory under the sea till the end of the continental margin and the countries have to submit documented scientific evidence along with their claims.
The United Nations' Convention on the Laws of Sea, to which both India and Pakistan are signatories, gives coastal countries an exclusive right over the resources in the continental shelf even if it extends beyond their Exclusive Economic Zone, which is roughly 200 nautical miles from the base coastline.
"The non-resolution of the Sir Creek boundary dispute means that there are no land boundaries for delineating the sea boundaries. But we can always stage the claim, following which no party can exploit the waters unless the issue is resolved after negotiations," the official added.
The Sir Creek boundary, the 96-km long strip of water that opens into the Arabian Sea and separates Gujarat from Sindh in Pakistan, has been a dispute between the two countries since Independence. The creek is supposed to have rich oil and gas reserves.
The official also added that recently both sides had exchanged the latest hydrographic maps of the area and were close to resolving the issue when the terror attack on Mumbai November 26 last year froze the diplomatic dialogue between the two countries.
"The next time we sit, we can resolve our issue of the Sir Creek. Our maps (drawn on the basis of the hydrographic survey) were similar," the official added.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/23/2009 15:49 ||
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#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA STRONGLY SUPPORTS SRI LANKA; + US [Obama Admin] PREPARES MASSIVE AID, INVESTMENT PAKAGE FOR PAKISTAN.
Guess we found out [another] reason(s) why, i.e. Chin milpol regional circumvention of INDIA + looming US MILPRESENCE in Central-South Asia.
Pakistan is 173 million people, 100 nuclear weapons, an army bigger than the U.S. Army, and al-Qaeda headquarters sitting right there in the two-thirds of the country that the government doesn't control. The Pakistani military and police and intelligence service don't follow the civilian government; they are essentially a rogue state within a state. We're now reaching the point where within one to six months we could see the collapse of the Pakistani state, also because of the global financial crisis, which just exacerbates all these problems. . . . The collapse of Pakistan, al-Qaeda acquiring nuclear weapons, an extremist takeover -- that would dwarf everything we've seen in the war on terror today.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sent DNAs of four accused in the Mumbai attacks to the Interpol. According to sources, DNAs of four out of eight accused have been sent. DNA of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has also been sent.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Why not clone them and then make them stand trial?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/23/2009 8:26 Comments ||
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The "heart of the threat" to the U.S. and many other countries in the world, including India, lies in western Pakistan, a top American diplomat has said,
Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a gathering in Brussels on Saturday that the Afghan crisis could not be resolved without addressing the problem of militancy in the restive tribal region.
The starting point for the Barack Obama administration's approach to the region was to treat it as an integrated whole, a single theatre of war. "The actual people who pose a direct threat to the countries represented in this room, the people who planned 9/11, who killed Benazir Bhutto, who committed the atrocities in Mumbai, who were terrorising Swat, who probably were associated with the attack on the cricket team in Lahore, who are associated with daily outrages -- they are not in Afghanistan. They're in Pakistan," Mr. Holbrooke said.
He said these militants were based in western tribal areas "although it also extends down into Baluchistan."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
Pakistan's nuclear weapons are controlled by Punjabis, and are in the Punjab. The Punjabi majority holds blackmail powers over Sindhis, because they can control Indus water flows. The largest water reservoir in the world, sits within a stone's throw of the heart of Pashtun militancy. I see dead people.
The latest incident of hijacking of a ship with Indian crew in the Gulf of Aden once again underlines the enormity of piracy menace in the area. But what is causing worry is that the malaise is spreading.
Even though the pirates have set the crew and ship free, the latest incident is the 33rd in the last three months, sources in the Navy said. What is worrying the countries providing security in the sea-lanes is that there has been an incident some 300 to 500 miles east of Kenya this year.
Newer areas
"With the Gulf of Aden coming under increased surveillance by different countries, it shows that the pirates are spreading their activities to newer areas away from the region," the sources said.
Adding to the discomfort is an analysis of data for 2008, which recorded 140 incidents in Africa, of which 104 occurred in the Gulf of Aden region. For India, trouble compounds on a strategic level since of the 29 incidents recorded in South East Asia region, 23 were in the region near Indonesia.
The sources said that during 2008, Indian exports worth $60 billion and imports worth $50 billion passed through the Gulf of Aden. The Navy was providing escort services to ships that transit through this sea lane.
On an average, some 24 Indian ships pass through this area every month. Often there is a situation when the ship is flying the flag of another country but has Indian crew. Or a foreign liner with a foreign crew could be ferrying Indian goods. This is outside of the Indian ships carrying foreign cargo; the permutations and combinations can be bewildering.India has some 837 registered liners but 87 per cent of Indian merchandise is carried by liners flying another flag.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Only a problem until someone has the will to deal with the problem. It may never be solved.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/23/2009 8:25 Comments ||
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#2
I suspect that if an Indian Captain and his crew just butchered a butt load of pirates, they would not be condemned on their return home. In fact, they would probably be wined and dined as national heroes.
President Barack Obama's administration has dropped outright US hostility toward the world's first permanent war crimes court, but it is still a far cry from joining it, experts say.
US officials say the new team is reviewing its policy on the International Criminal Court (ICC) after former president George W Bush's administration snubbed it and drew fire that it was showing contempt for international law.
Hurdles: The Obama administration faces several obstacles if it wants to join ICC. Experts say it could meet resistance from the armed forces and Congress, and any support could vanish if the ICC warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir leads to more, rather than less, bloodshed in Darfur.
John Washburn, who leads a coalition of groups promoting the court's cause in the United States, said the new team is still wary about joining the world's first permanent tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But it is not for ideological reasons. "It has a different view of international law (than the Bush administration). It has a commitment to mulitalateral approaches wherever those are going to be effective," Washburn told AFP. A State Department official said the Obama administration wants to consult military officials and well as legal and other experts within the government.
"Our policy on the ICC is under review," the official told reporters earlier this month on the condition of anonymity. "Any look at the ICC has to include the basic fact that the United States has more troops deployed overseas than any other country in the world and that spurious charges against our troops could keep the court and the US military tied up for decades," said the official.
The previous administration not only saw the court as a potential legal trap for its troops overseas but also "as a threat on American sovereignty" and even "as a first step toward global government," Washburn said. "The Bush administration had a policy of hostility and disengagement," he added. Patricia Wald, a former judge with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said the court's actions until now "gives me no cause for concern that service persons would be politically targeted.
"The ICC can handle only a half dozen or so cases at a time and is committed to prosecuting the most serious violators of international humanitarian law," Wald, who is also a former federal judge, said in an e-mail exchange with AFP. US troops are also protected by so-called status of forces agreements in Iraq and other countries where they are deployed or based, she added. Wald co-chaired the American Society of International Law's task force on US policy toward the ICC, which recommended last month that the new president adopt a policy of "positive engagement with the court."
Washburn said such engagement could involve a level of cooperation with the court that stops short of joining it and becoming a voting member. It could, for example, participate in meetings leading up to and including a review conference that would debate amendments to the 1998 Rome Statute, under which the court was launched in 2002. More than 100 states are now party to it. Eventually, Washburn said, "you could arrive at a situation some time after the review conference is concluded in 2010 in which the US feels comfortable enough with the court to go for ratification." The administration, he said, must line up support not only among key members of the military but also those in Congress. Or as he put it, it must make sure "the stars and planets are in conjunction to make sure this happens."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Not to be confused with the International Court of Justice.
So far all it has done is prosecute a handfull of enemies of African governments of dubious legitimacy (Congo, CAR and Uganda). Although recently it has taken on Darfur.
#7
$130 million a year is lunch for a lot of Euro apparatchiks. Don't knock it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/23/2009 9:36 Comments ||
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#8
He will watch enlistments and retention rates drop like rocks if he puts our military under the authority of the ICC. He can send his beloved Civil Service Corps to foreign hotspots instead.
#9
Dropping overt hostility is not the same as actual support... one hopes President Obama merely means to create a less confrontational atmosphere. Additionally, I can't see the Secretary of Defence ever agreeing to join the ICC, as that would create problems for Secretary Gates, given the numbers hostile to his work on the Iraq war. Agreed with g(r)omgoru that there are serious implications, and decreased U.S. support for Israel is a realistic concern, unfortunately. Let's keep a watchful eye on this one, while concentrating on more urgent issues. -- generally the same people who agitated for the arrest of various Israeli politicians over the last decade or so.
BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqi prisoners being held indefinitely without charge by U.S. forces will be freed or prosecuted in Iraqi courts by the middle of this year, the U.S. commander in charge of them said on Sunday.
U.S. forces are currently holding just over 13,000 Iraqi prisoners, Brigadier-General David Quantock, commander of the U.S. detention operations in Iraq, told a news conference. At its peak in November 2007, the number of prisoners held by the U.S. military was double that, he said. Within the next couple of days we will drop below 13,000 detainees, of which about 2,500 are being prosecuted, he said. Some 500 of those had been convicted, 109 with death sentences.
Some detainees had been held without trial for almost six yearsunder a U.N. Security Council resolution which expired on Dec. 31 -- stoking the anger of Iraqis and rights groups. But under the terms of a bilateral pact which took effect on Jan. 1, Washington agreed that all its detainees would be either transferred to Iraqi custody under arrest warrants or set free.
Of those still held, Quantock said, there are 6,000-7,000 who we consider dangerous detainees ... The government can look at the intelligence (and) provide assistance to build cases.
We believe that we will, by the middle of summer, put those individuals in front of an Iraqi court, he said.
Each case would be reviewed by an investigative judge, who would decide whether to release or retain them under warrant.
Quantock said 2,100 detainees had already been released this year because there was not enough evidence to prosecute them. He raised the prospect that the U.S. military could soon close Camp Bucca, a bleak desert jail on the border with Kuwait, once we get our total detainee population down below 8,000.
They would be transferred to Taji, just north of Baghdad.
Quantock said no detainees would be handed over to the Iraqi police unless there were valid arrest warrants against them, allaying concerns by human rights groups that they may be tortured or otherwise mistreated in Iraqi custody. But it was up to the government of Iraq whether those who were set free should be compensated, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Turkey's President Abdullah Gul will arrive in Baghdad Monday on the first visit by a Turkish head of state in 33 years for talks on the thorny issue of Kurdish rebels, feared to step up action after U.S. pullout, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The Sri Lankan government on Sunday said China had opposed a motion in the United Nations Security Council for a discussion on the humanitarian crisis triggered by the war in the north.
A report on the Information Ministry website said Beijing had opposed the proposal on the ground that it was an internal matter of the island nation and the military operations had no effect on international peace and security.
"China informs the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] not to interfere in Sri Lanka's internal affairs."
"China informs the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] not to interfere in Sri Lanka's internal affairs. A proposal included in the agenda of the Council said that civilians are affected by the humanitarian operations in the north," it said.
The report further said the UN Security Council was compelled to withdraw the motion on two occasions due to stern opposition from China. However, the pro-LTTE TamilNet said Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative in the Security Council, supported the proposal for a briefing on Sri Lanka. "The United States feels strongly about and concerned about Sri Lanka and we support the provision of it to the Council -- full and updated information on the humanitarian situation," the website quoted her as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Saturday his country wanted stability in Lebanon and supported the holding of the June 7 legislative elections on time, adding that Damascus was ready to hold normal relations with all Lebanese leaders including Future Movement leader Saad Hariri saying: "We have a big heart, we forgive." In an interview with the pan-Arab satellite TV station al-Jazeera, Moallem mentioned his country's relationship with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt saying: "Jumblatt has to decide what he wants, if he wishes to visit Syria we shall take that into consideration."He said that he had discussed the situation in Lebanon with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, adding that they both agreed that Syrian-Lebanese relations "could not be altered due to geographic and historic facts."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/23/2009 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.
A Yemeni court on Monday condemned an Islamist to death for establishing contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.
Detained Muslim cleric Abu Qatada lashed out on Sunday at his prison conditions in Britain, complaining of harassment and abuse.
A news report said Sunday that it is likely North Korea has sent two American journalists detained last week to the capital of Pyongyang for interrogation. 
British MP George Galloway, who headed the Viva Palestina convoy from London to Gaza covering thousands of miles and crossing three contents, vowed Saturday to take Canada's immigration minister to court for banning him from entering Canada, citing the British MP as a threat to national security.
A Canadian-Lebanese national arrested for his alleged role in a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing is the victim of "anti-Arab" prejudices, a defense witness said Friday.
Army snipers could soon have a weapon capable of killing enemy fighters out to 1,200 meters, which is 400 meters beyond the range of the current-issue sniper rifle.
The "heart of the threat" to the U.S. and many other countries in the world, including India, lies in western Pakistan, a top American diplomat has said, 
The latest incident of hijacking of a ship with Indian crew in the Gulf of Aden once again underlines the enormity of piracy menace in the area. But what is causing worry is that the malaise is spreading. 
BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqi prisoners being held indefinitely without charge by U.S. forces will be freed or prosecuted in Iraqi courts by the middle of this year, the U.S. commander in charge of them said on Sunday.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul will arrive in Baghdad Monday on the first visit by a Turkish head of state in 33 years for talks on the thorny issue of Kurdish rebels, feared to step up action after U.S. pullout, officials said.
