A devastating report into the Afghanistan war has concluded that the British task force sent into Helmand in 2006 was ill-equipped, under-resourced and too weak to defeat the Taliban.
In Operations in Afghanistan -- which is deeply critical of both senior commanders and government ministers -- the Defence Select Committee states that the Helmand mission was undermined by bad planning and poor intelligence, and the task force was capped at 3,150 troops for financial rather than operational reasons.
Much of the blame for the failings is levelled at senior officers for claiming that field commanders were content with the support they were receiving, when the reverse was true.
The report reveals that the high levels of British casualties was not predicted. Since 2006 more than 370 British troops have been killed and almost 2,000 wounded
#1
...force sent into Helmand in 2006 was ill-equipped, under-resourced and too weak to defeat the Taliban.
Like the rest of NATO. American military welfare backed by a lack of political resolve to tell the dependents to get on with their own defense for decades has simply mirrored the same process of the American social welfare system. Dependents in both cases exercised their own free will to stay in that condition. Well, the money is now running out.
#3
...One of the worst things about the coming crunch is that it will almost certainly mean a retreat from Europe (as opposed to NATO) we'll still be in the treaty, but the troops and planes will have to come home, we just wont be able to afford them. That will be when the full extent of NATO's military collapse will become evident. We'll also learn why it was once said that NATO was designed to keep the Germans in and the Russians out.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/17/2011 10:48 Comments ||
Top||
* GUARDIAN.UK > ARMY TO SHRINK TO SMALLEST SIZE SINCE THE BOER WAR WHILE RESERVISTS' ROLE BOLSTERED [ + $$$ funding for Military Equipment]. UK Army to shrink to 84,000 personnel from 100,000 after 2014 when the US-NATO Afghan withdrawal is slated for completion.
(KUNA) -- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned a recent kaboom a Mosque in Kandahar in which a senior Afghan holy man was killed along with three others while dozens of people were maimed.
In a statement, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed dismay that at such a horrific act that happened at a sacred place like a mosque, describing the crime as an inhuman and cowardly act which negates the noble Islamic values.
He conveyed his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the government and people of Afghanistan and prayed for the quick recovery of the injured. (end) ay.mao
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
To see a map, click here. To read Rantburg reports on Wednesday's ruling on Mexican Army jurisdiction in human rights cases, click here, here and here.
By Chris Covert
Last Wednesday's ruling by the Mexican Supreme Court that the Mexican Army must relinquish jurisdiction to local and state courts in cases involving human right cases caused quite a stir in Mexican military circles and in some political circles.
In just the last six months, the Mexican Army has been expanded by equivalent of two combat divisions, and deployed in some of the country's worst trouble spots in northern border states, and a new national security law currently held up on procedural grounds are but two of the major problems facing an organization that enjoys enormous popular support.
But back starting in the late-1960s and ending around the mid-1980s, the army was employed by a succession of Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) presidents starting with Gustavo Diaz Ordaz which used the army as a blunt cudgel against radical, communist and socialist movements in the country which threatened to upset the political status quo.
The start of the Dirty War can be dated to the Tlatelolco massacre of October 2, 1968, when at least 44 unarmed individuals were shot by Mexican security forces including Mexican Army in Mexico City.
From that point on until the mid-1980s, Mexican security forces throughout the country dealt with radical movements in the country using military power deployed and ordered by Mexican presidents, especially concentrating their effort on more extreme hotspots, including Guerrero state on the west coast of Mexico.
Guerrero was then and still is to this day a contrast of Mexican style modernity with its Acapulco resort and surrounding environs, and the grinding poverty of an agrarian society in the rest of the state.
Guerrero was also the birthplace of several anti-government socialist and communist movements, including Army of the Poor, led by Lucio Cabañas, and Asociacion Civica Nacional Revolucionaria, led by Genaro Väzquez Rojas.
Both of these men and their organization used violence against government facilities, including kidnapping and armed robbery to achieve their aims, and to fund their movements. And it is clear from online sources both of these leaders knew each other, although their respective movements may not have cross paths.
One common association both men had was they both knew and had visited Rosendo Radilla Pacheco. Cabañas and Radilla both had the common link that they were both born and lived in the Atoyac de Alvarez municipality in Guerrero.
In an article published by Milenio Saturday, Radilla's daughter Tita, described Radilla Pacheco as a simple farmer who managed to teach himself to read and write inside of three months, who subsequently devoured history and law texts, who loved to sing and play guitar, and who typed out his own text on a typewriter he bought for his agrarian reform movement in Guerrero.
Tita is also vice president of Mexican Association of Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared and Victims of Human Rights Violations (AFADEM), the organization which eventually brought the lawsuit that was decided last Wednesday.
According to the article, Tita was 21 years old, and pregnant with her second child the day her father was arrested by the Mexican Army at a checkpoint, August 25th, 1974. Her brother Radilla Martinez, was then only 11 and a witness to the arrest. Apparently Radilla Martinez upon learning his father was about to be taken away, burst into tears, but his father told him to stop crying and gave him money. One of the site commanders at the time allowed Radilla Pacheco to give money to his son before he was taken away.
Radilla Pacheco was 59 years old when he disappeared.
Historical records in the form of now declassified US State Department memoranda originally written in January, 1974 and in March 1974, paints a scenario of Guerrero was a state under constant siege. Several incidents were recounted in one cable in whcih Lucio Cananas' grpup was named as the perpetrator of several kidnapping and ambushes.
Among the actions recounted are:
A September, 1971 of Mexican Director of Airprots Julio Hirschfeld Almada in exchange for a cash ransom. Cabañas was not linked to this kidnapping.
A November 1971 kidnapping of University of Guerrero rector Jaime Castrejon Diez, who was released following the release of several political prisoners.
July and August 1972 ambushes of Mexican Army units in Guerrero. Cabañas's group was tied to this incident.
The report goes on to detail five other incidents that took place after a brief period of relative calm, at least one of the incidents being another ambush of a Mexican Army patrol November 18th, 1973 which killed five soldiers and two guerrillas, and wounded seven soldiers and two guerrillas.
The cable states the incidents listed are a few of the most spectacular incidents between 1971 and late 1973. During that time, one of Radilla Pacheco's associates, Vazquez Rojas, died after a brief period of captivity at the hands of the Mexican Army in February, 1972.
Another State Department cable,this time authored by an FBI legal attache published brief thumbnails of Mexican armed radical groups including Lucio Cabañas' activity within his Army of the Poor. The FBI called the organization Partido de los Pobre (PLP), probably not its official name or acronym.
According to the cable, the PLP supported itself with kidnapping, extortion and bank robberies, and had limited itself to the state of Guerrero.
The statistics maintained by Tita's AFADEM and others paint a stark portrait of a government's reaction to the multitude of political threats and pressures it faced during the 1970s.
According to Dr. Peter Watt of the University of Sheffield, a total of about 1,200 individuals disappeared during the Dirty War nationwide. Of 638 individuals known by AFADEM to have disappeared, 438 were from the state of Guerrero. Of those, 400 originated from Atoyac de Alvarez municipality, where Radilla Pachecho was born, lived and from where he disappeared.
Now, 37 years later, Tita, now 58 and living on a farm of 13 hectares, mother of five, grandmother of 17, appears to have won a small personal victory over a large and imposing political system. Her memory of a father who refused to go to school after learning to read and write, instead choosing to support his family on the farm, who loved to drink coffee before going out into the field, lives on.
If reports detailing the issues with military jurisdiction in years old unresolved cases are true, the state, local and federal courts in Guerrero may be about to experience a huge flood of lawsuits stemming from this tiny, but brutal, part of Mexico's Dirty War.
No legal system of any republic in history has faced such an oncoming burden, but for all the weight of the many potential lawsuits that may spring from this ruling, it could dwarf the potential political fallout the the PRI may experience.
Stunning local and state political victories, a telegenic putative PRI candidate for president of the republic, Pedro Pena Nieto and his beautiful soap opera actress wife, Angelica, may not be enough to spring the PRI into Los Pinos.
Indeed, the potential for forcing the PRI into political irrelevance cannot be understated.
A man, involved in the July 13 Mumbai blasts, reportedly died of police torture during interrogation, according to media reports on Sunday.
Faiz Usmani died following a brain hemorrhage early Sunday, reported Indo-Asian News Service, quoting hospital sources.
The report quoted a medical officer as saying that Faiz Usmani was picked up as a suspect in the triple blasts, which left 19 people dead and 129 others injured, but late Saturday evening he suddenly took ill and was rushed to Sion Hospital in Mumbai. He died there around 1:20 a.m. Sunday.
The officer said when Faiz was brought to hospital, his blood pressure was in excess of 220 points and there was a large amount of blood in his brain, said the report.
Faiz was the brother of Afzal Usmani, one of the prime accused in blasts in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat in 2008, and both were suspected members of the Indian Mujahiddeen.
The family members of Faiz said he was tortured by police.
Iran's state TV says the country's supreme leader has told Pakistain's president that the United States is Pakistain's real enemy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke Saturday during a meeting with Pak President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... ... a.k.a., President Ten-Percent...
It was Zardari's second visit to Iran in less than a month. Khamenei has the final say on all state matters in Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Ayatollah,Tell me how well are the Shia treated in the Land of the Pure Pakistan?
#2
Iran's leaders will be quite flexible re: sectarian differences if it means forming strong alliances with Pakistan against the US and, by extension, Afghanistan which will be encircled when we leave.
The Sunni vs. Shia slaughter will be a second phase, once the Ummah is firmly in charge.
[Dawn] Around $10 billion of US financial support provided over the past 10 years is missing in Pak official calculations.
According to the US Congressional Research Service, $18.76 billion was disbursed to Pakistain for losses incurred in the war against terrorism, but Pak officials claim to have received only $8.76 billion, including the military`s share of $1.63 billion.
The records in Islamabad show that the country has filed claims of only $13.3 billion, speakers at a discussion on `The US assistance to Pakistain: A critical appraisal` held on Friday at the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (Sassi) said.
They said there was a discrepancy of about $6 billion in claims by both governments because the US reimbursed to Pakistain amounts that had not been claimed.
"This money cannot be accounted for and perhaps the US can best explain where it was spent when Pakistain never asked for it," the institute`s Director General Dr Maria Sultan said.
The brief prepared against the background of the recent suspension of $800 million US military aid to Pakistain was based on comparative analysis of US congressional reports and Defence authorisation bills and Pak economic surveys and annual reports.
Sassi Research Fellow Majid Mehmood said US assistance covered both military and civil areas.
The military assistance comprises the Coalition Support Fund (CSF), Foreign Military Financing (FMF), Pakistain Counter-Insurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) and direct funding.
Mr Mehmood said that while the US claimed to have given $12.5 billion, Pakistain`s military had received only $1.63 billion from the CSF and hardware worth $1 billion. He said the FMF helped to buy obsolete US defence equipment and $3.7 billion would be spent for the purpose.
In the civilian sector, the country did not receive more than a few million of the $750 million and $49 million set aside under International Migration and Refugee Assistance and the Fata development plan.
He said $179 million had been disbursed under the Kerry Lugar Bill in 2010 against the US claim of $186 million.
Dr Sultan said that under the bill the country would receive $750 million in the first instalment and $750 million after the presentation of a report by the US representative for Afghanistan-Pakistain.
"According to the text of the KLB, $200 million is administrative charges and most of the aid will go to NGOs or US-based contractors. The actual amount disbursed will be less than $500 million per year -- approximately $2.7 per Pak."
Of the $1.28 trillion US expense in the war against terrorism, Pakistain has received $8.76 billion and will receive $1.5 billion per year under the KLB, "out which only five per cent per year is disbursed", she said.
The estimated loss suffered by Pakistain in the war is about $68 billion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
If the American people were informed as to the activities of the Paks in supporting AQ and the Taliban (read that - MURDER of our soldiers in Afghanistan), they would march on Washington to tar and feather any politician seeking funds for those Haji gangsters! I am absolutely sickened by the continued betrayal and absolute meaningless loss of American life. The entire region isn't worth a warm pale of piss! Get out! Stay out! Forget about them until they raise their stinking heads, then destroy them with the atom, all of them, and be done with it.
[Dawn] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and visiting Pak President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... called on Saturday for a boost to bilateral relations, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Iran is ready to reinforce its cooperation with Pakistain in every field,"Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
"Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistain is underway, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012," he added of a multi-billion-dollar project.
Zardari also said relations between the neighbours should be strengthened, and urged that "trade between the two countries be conducted in local currency and not the dollar, to curb smuggling," IRNA said.
He also denounced "efforts by our enemies who seek to show that the Pak government is unstable by provoking trouble," saying that those responsible would face justice.
Zardari's trip to Tehran comes after Washington deferred $800 million (566 million euros) in military aid to Islamabad in a bid to seek greater defence cooperation.
It also comes less than a month after Iran, Pakistain and Afghanistan agreed to cooperate to fight against cut-thoats.
Zardari's earlier visit had been to attend a counter-terrorism summit, on the sidelines of which the three countries reached the anti-militant cooperation agreement.
"After the conference and the tripartite Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistain meeting, we decided to pursue bilateral relations," foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
as saying before Saturday's visit.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Great-Our two main Islamic enemies becoming friends!
TBH the Saudi funded Islamic parties in Pakistan wont let this relationship work!
#3
Pak's Govt-Army has repor well-infiltrated by Radical Islam, as best illustrated or symbolized by Osama Bin Laden + family, etal. living for years in a Pak Army controlled region of the country.
The on-going US Drone strikes have left a sour taste in Pak's mouth as per alleged civilain casualties - in addition, it must be remembered that the GWOT is very much an [anti-Saudi]INTER-MUSLIM WAR/STRUGGLE FOR IDEO + MILPOL DOMINANCE, ESPEC AS PER THE SO-CALLED GLOBAL OR "ISLAMIST" CALIPHATE. PRO-SUNNI PAK WANTS TO BE A "GREAT POWER" IN ITS OWN RIGHT JUST LIKE SHIA IRAN.
Lastly, e.g. DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PART COMPANY WID JAPAN FOR UNSC SEAT: CHINA TELLS INDIA.
Beijing has repor informed Islamabad that it is willing to delink or reduce Chin diplomatic, econ relations, etc. wid Pakistan iff Indjuh will delink or "disassociate" itself from Japan whom China proclaims to still have "historical baggage" against. MORE, MOST PERTS, BLOGGERS BELIEVE THAT UIGHUR/IMU/ETM-TROUBLED RISING CHINA WILL PRIORITIZE ITS GEOPOL RELATIONS WID THE SUPERPOWER US + WANNABE INDIA OER THAT WID ANTI-US, ANTI-INDIA, PRO-ISLAMIST = OSAMA, MILTERR PAKISTAN ANY HOUR OR DAY OF THE WEEK.
In sum, Pakistan is "hedging" agz the day when China may stop being its BFF + "Big Brother".
A pro-Palestinian spokeshole activist says a ship trying to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has set sail and should reach the territory by Monday. "in range - arm the torpedoes"
Nahla Chahal says the ship, The Dignity al-Karama, was part of a larger protest flotilla that had hoped to break the blockade several weeks ago but was thwarted by Greece. "Dignity" huh? The "Dignity al-Karma". I think the Israelis will harsh their mellow...
She says the Dignity left a Greek port late Saturday. The boat is carrying just 16 passengers with the sole aim of "making a political statement." "The Juice are icky"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/17/2011 11:42 ||
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#1
I've already heard the only Palestinian political statement I needed to hear.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/17/2011 12:38 Comments ||
Top||
The youth wing of Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, GP Ansor, said that Umar bin Khattab Islamic madrassa in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, should be closed for its alleged connection to a terror plot.
On Sunday, GP Ansor chairman Nusron Wahid said, "Otherwise, it could lead to the stigmatization of other Islamic boarding schools as a perpetrator of violence."
The madrassa is where a bomb killed school treasurer Suryanto, aka Firdaus, earlier this week. The police said they also discovered jihadi documents at the school. The police faced resistance from people at the school when attempting to enter the school grounds to investigate. They were only permitted entry after a series of negotiations.
Principal Abrory and some of his students are wanted in the aftermath of the discovery of homemade bombs, arrows and sharp weapons at the school. When the police entered the school, the principal and some students had already fled.
Eight people have been named as suspects in the case.
[An Nahar] Iran is ready to cooperate with Argentina over a 1994 bombing attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, the foreign ministry announced on Saturday.
Tehran, suspected by Argentine prosecutors of being behind the attack, is "ready for a constructive dialogue and to cooperate with the Argentine government to shed all possible light" on the case, a statement said.
Iran "condemns all terrorist actions, especially the one against the Argentine Jewish centre in 1994, and declares its solidarity with the families of the victims," the statement added.
In the 1994 attack, the bomb that leveled the seven-storey AMIA building also maimed 300 people.
Two years earlier, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was hit by a bomb which killed 29 people and maimed 200.
Israel has pointed the finger at Hizbullah for carrying out the attacks, which the Jewish state believes were criminal masterminded by Tehran.
Argentina has issued warrants for the arrest of Iranian Defense Minister Ahmed Vahidi along with five other Iranians and a Lebanese accused of planning and carrying out the AMIA bombing.
Both Iran and Hizbullah have consistently denied any involvement in the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[An Nahar] Syria has increased its rate of supplying Hizbullah with arms, including long-range missiles, which may lead to instability in the region, reported the British The Times newspaper on Friday.
It reported western and Middle Eastern intelligence sources as saying that the party was also provided with eight Scud D missiles that carry a range of 700 kilometers.
The instability in Syria has led to its speeding up of its weapons supply, they said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... a front man in the Syrian Embassy in London stated that it has no information on such a claim.
He added however that Syria, with the help of Iranian and North Korean experts, is developing missiles in the area of Jabal al-Taqsis near the city of Hama.
The Scud D missile, carrying a one-ton warhead, is very accurate in its target, said The Times.
It was developed through Iranian funding and the assistance of North Korean scientists, it continued.
A source close to Hizbullah revealed that since the start of the anti-regime protests in Syria, the party had been receiving so many weapons shipments from that it doesn't know where to store them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#3
Miss Rice hasn't been in office for three years or so now, and over the last month you have been cheering on this pencilnecked asshole's consolidation of power.
#4
Thing.
(i) Hizbulla exists because Israel wasn't allowed to win 2006 war. Due, to miz Rice infliuence on George the Brainless.
(ii) I wasn't cheering Assad, just commenting on what his dada would do: the difference should be obvious---to grownups.
#6
Israel did not have decent leadership, military or civilian, during that war; from all appearances tthey marched north, got themselves bogged down in the bunker country on the border, did not have decent supplies to send their army farther because of apparent corruption problems, nor did they appear to have a coherent plan for prosecuting the war, but you think it's all the Bush Administration's fault?
Did Ms. Rice turn off the CIWS systems on the Israeli ships too?
#7
Looks like Lebanon, not IRAN, may be Israel's real target for mil attack come September???
Iff this report is true, the War Clock now approacheth closer to Midnite for Israel, as Iran
has openly stated that any Israeli attack agz the duly "elected/legitimate" Hezbollah-domin Lebanon Govt will be deemed an attack agz Iran = Islam; + the Hezzies per se will only need covert $$$ from their Iran overlords to reverse engineer the SCUDS - in the worse case, Syruh will keep tranferring new batches of SCUDS to Hezbollah as politics permits.
It also means that the hardline, anti-Israel Paleo Militant groups in Gaza-WB will get the still-deadly older or obsolete weapon systems that Hezbollah [Iraqi Shia Militias?]no longer needs or wants.
#8
Did Ms. Rice turn off the CIWS systems on the Israeli ships too?
That was to prevent an unfortunate incident with IAF aircraft operating within the same area. Which means there was likely no inter-arm cooperation: no op-areas established, no flight lanes or altitudes, no local air-control of aircraft by naval assets, etc. That, and the lowered level of preparation .
Just because one has kicked Arab ass for nearly sixty years doesn't mean one will do it every time. Fate is a fickle b*tch.
[An Nahar] The Special Tribunal for Leb probing into the liquidation of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri will issue 14 arrest warrants that will include Lebanese officials, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa reported on Saturday.
Diplomatic sources told the daily that the warrants are expected to include Lebanese officials and military personnel and other people from different nationalities.
"The new circulated names include a current MP (in the parliament) and former Ministers and MPs," they said.
Sources involved in the Lebanese situation stressed that "the satisfaction that followed the appointments and the release of the seven Estonians might not last long with the near release of the new arrest warrants."
The diplomatic circles said that the arrest warrants are expected to be issued before the end of July.
The STL submitted a confidential indictment and arrest warrants for four suspects in June. The names were not released but were leaked to the media and later confirmed by the Lebanese government.
Mustafa Badreddin, Salim Ayyash, Assad Sabra and Hussein Anaissi are all members of Hizbullah.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... their whereabouts are unknown.
Leb now has 30 business days to find and arrest the four named in the warrants.
If no arrests are made, the court can publicize their names and call on the accused to surrender within a month, after which the defense chief can himself appoint lawyers from his office's list to represent defendants in absentia.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Hundreds of Syrian dissidents debated strategies to oust Bashir al-Assad's regime Saturday in Istanbul as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Hamilton Fish ... called for a halt to the "brutal" repression of protests.
A simultaneous gathering scheduled to take place in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... was cancelled after at least 28 non-combatants were killed, including 16 in the capital, in demonstrations on Friday, activists said.
They said security forces placed in long-term storage almost 300 people in a clampdown on the largest anti-regime rallies in four months that saw more than a million people take to the streets in the cities of Hama and Deir al-Zour.
Clinton told CNN Turk television on a two-day visit to Syria's northern neighbor: "The brutality has to stop. There must be a legitimate, sincere effort with the opposition to try to make changes.
"I don't know whether that will happen or not," she added.
Some 350 dissidents attended Syria's opposition meeting in Istanbul, which was held in a packed conference hall decorated with Syrian flags and began only after a minute of prayer for the victims.
"The Congress is expected to endorse a roadmap aiming to take the country from the state of totalitarianism and tyranny towards democracy...," organizers of the so-called National Salvation Congress said in a statement.
Participants came from various countries and belonged to many different opposition groups, according to coordinators.
"We have a paper with our view for the future, for changes in Syria, for democracy and freedom," Haitham al-Maleh, a senior opposition activist told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We will see if anyone has any (objections) to our paper, we will make corrections possibly and then we will elect a group of maybe 15 people to continue working outside Syria.
"We will connect those inside and outside Syria," said the 79-year-old lawyer and human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... campaigner.
Opposition groups have held two other meetings in Turkey since anti-regime demonstrations began in March, as thousands decamped across the border with Syria to escape bloodshed.
Some, mainly Islamist participants, had hoped Saturday to work towards forming a transitional government, but opposition member Burhan Ghalioun said it was too early.
"There's no point in that today, it's premature, no one is in favor of that," he said.
Ankara, whose ties with Damascus have flourished in recent years, has piled up pressure on Assad to initiate reform but has stopped short of calling for the Syrian president's departure.
But Turkey's frustration with his foot-dragging on reform has grown.
Last month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Damascus of committing an "atrocity" against demonstrators, the harshest remark yet in Ankara's criticism of the security crackdowns, which activists say have claimed the lives of more than 1,400 civilians.
Clinton told CNN Turk television Saturday: "None of us really have influence other than to say what we believe and to encourage the changes that we hope for.... We don't know how this is going to end yet."
Commenting on the opposition meeting, the top U.S. diplomat said later during a presser: "Efforts by the opposition to come together, to coordinate and define a program, forms an important part of political reform."
She described those attempts as "encouraging."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
No doubt the hopeful West will be very generous in supporting this new group of freedom fighters.
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 devastating report into the Afghanistan war has concluded that the British task force sent into Helmand in 2006 was ill-equipped, under-resourced and too weak to defeat the Taliban.
A man, involved in the July 13 Mumbai blasts, reportedly died of police torture during interrogation, according to media reports on Sunday.
Iran's state TV says the country's supreme leader has told Pakistain's president that the United States is Pakistain's real enemy.
Around $10 billion of US financial support provided over the past 10 years is missing in Pak official calculations.
A pro-Palestinian 
Hillary Clinton
