[Dawn] Afghanistan on Monday took full control of the Bagram military prison from the United States, healing one running sore in their testy relationship as US-led forces wind down more than a decade of war.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... had made the fate of the detention centre north of Kabul part of his ill-tempered push to regain illusory sovereignty over key matters from the Americans, ahead of next year's pullout of foreign combat troops.
The US was long concerned that a total handover to Afghanistan's weak and corruption-prone security forces would allow suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda Death Eaters housed at Bagram to return to the battlefield.
But US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel clinched an agreement with Karzai in a telephone call on Saturday, the Pentagon said, and the handover ceremony took place on Monday.
"This ceremony highlights an increasingly confident, capable and sovereign Afghanistan," General Joseph Dunford, the commander of the international coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
Bagram was due to be turned over to Afghan forces on March 9, but the transfer was postponed at the last minute after Karzai indicated that "innocent" prisoners held there would be released.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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What's the over/under on the upcoming 'mass escape...?'
#4
"This ceremony highlights an increasingly confident, capable and sovereign Afghanistan," General Joseph Dunford, the commander of the international coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement.
The transcription left out the snorts and giggles as he dumped this verbal turd on the ground.
[CHRON] Eager to overcome a bout of bickering, U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... and Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... made a show of unusual unity between their two nations on Monday. The friendly display came as the U.S. military ceded control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan, ending a longstanding irritant in relations.
Kerry arrived in the Afghan capital of Kabul on an unannounced visit amid concerns that Karzai may be jeopardizing progress in the war against extremism with anti-American rhetoric. After a private meeting, Kerry said he and Karzai were "on the same page" on security and reconciliation issues and brushed aside suggestions that relations were in peril.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Word from Basel indicates the cheques have now cleared.
Now here is some amusing news. According to the Arabic website, Sawt al-Masih al-Hur, members of the Islamic group Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Suez, Egypt, deciding to implement their namesake, took to whipping an Egyptian woman today because of her clothingonly to receive a sound thrashing at the hands of the citizens of Suez. The picture published by the website says it all.
[Egypt Independent] Freedom and Justice Party Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein denied reports circulated on Monday that the Moslem Brüderbund was on a state of high alert ahead of new presidential decrees expected to be issued within hours.
"We have no information about decisions that presidency would take. News in this regard is untrue," Hussein wrote on the FJP website Monday evening.
Earlier in the day, Al-Masry Al-Youm had reported that the Moslem Brüderbund's Guidance Bureau had issued instructions to its administrative offices to prepare all members to mobilize in support of expected decrees, said anonymous sources close to the group's leadership.
Brotherhood leaders have been holding meetings since the reprisal of last week's festivities between Brothers and opposition activists in Moqattam on Friday. The sources claim that all group members have been instructed to get ready to take to the streets once President Mohamed Morsy makes his statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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It could also be that Egypt is getting close-n-closer to being de facto broke, wid military-controlled food rationing a very real + possible option for the Morsi/Mursi Govt.
I'm interpreting this Artic as the MB preemptively prepping for trouble.
#2
If recent events elsewhere are any indicator, Egyptian bank depositors with accounts in excess of $130,000 USD might have cause for concern.
Of course we've not seen any surprising new Egyptian contracts for hundreds of millions of rounds of hollow-point pistol ammunition or taxes levied upon medical instruments, medicines, and procedures....which appear to be new and developing venues for mobilization, theft, and financial seizure.
[Libya Herald] Protestors demanding Prime Minister Ali Zeidan be sacked returned again yesterday, Sunday, to the government's headquarters off Triq El Sikkah in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
According to an eyewitness, the group numbered around 20 men. He thought they were the same people who were at last Tuesday and Wednesday's demonstrations calling for the passing of the Political Isolation Law and removal of Zeidan.
Yesterday, however, unlike the previous nights, the protestors came with arms and, according to a guard, threatened to use grenades against any vehicle that left the PM's headquarters. The warning was taken seriously, as officials did not leave their offices until late afternoon when the tension had been defused, several hours after the protestors first arrived.
Misrata Congressmen Abdulrahman Swehli and Salah Badi were reportedly seen entering and leaving the building but had spent the larger portion of their time on site speaking with demonstrators. It is not clear if their appearance swayed the protestors to allow officials to leave the building.
Residents of the area say they are getting tired with the demonstrators and also gathered to oppose their continued appearances. Last night, several neighbours said they had had enough and demanded they leave immediately.
Reports that three demonstrators had been run over by the premier's car, resulting in serious harm, were refuted by the government, who offered security camera recordings as evidence.
Earlier yesterday, there was an attempt to disrupt by the government's question-and-answer session with Congress. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... according to a facebook post by Congressman Ahmed Langhi, the intruders were removed from the hall and the questioning session continued without further interruptions.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] On a market stall in the Malian capital, stickers of Lionel Messi, Madonna and the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... fight for space with the far more popular image of Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... , the French President.
Other stalls offer tricolors and T-shirts bearing pro-French slogans as Mali, bursting with gratitude over La Belle France's intervention to drive Islamists out of its northern cities, celebrates its former colonial ruler like never before.
"Madonna isn't successful anymore, now it's all about it's Francois Hollande", said Ousmane Traore, a stall holder in Bamako, who is doing good business selling stickers of the French leader for a few dozen francs (cents).
"When someone is successful, their sticker sells very well. What works here is Hollande and Sanogo," he says, referring to junta chief Amadou Sanogo, who took power in a coup a year ago and remains popular and influential.
A nearby trader says he has sold out of stickers of Hollande - but they can be found attached to the handlebars of cycle of violences across Bamako, 53 years after Mali gained independence from La Belle France.
A small television in a shop a few meters away shows Hollande announcing the imminent restoration of Mali's illusory sovereignty thanks to the French-African operation launched in January to drive Islamists out of the north of the country.
In the northern city of Gao, festooned with tricolours since the French ousted Al Qaeda-linked forces of Evil there in January, it is not uncommon to see Malians with T-shirts bearing the slogan: "Thank you to La Belle France for its readiness and commitment."
"I never imagined that so many Malians would buy the French flag. The first days after intervention were surreal," said Souleymane Drabo, a columnist for daily newspaper Progress.
"Anti-French sentiment was quite strong in Mali at the time of independence and, in the immediate post-colonial years, very nationalistic," he said.
Suspicion and distrust used to be the norm, but there has been a "complete reversal" since the intervention, Drabo told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Older Malians who were around during the struggle for independence would be "frustrated at having to owe their salvation to the former colonial power", he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Older Malians who were around during the struggle for independence would be "frustrated at having to owe their salvation to the former colonial power", he said.
The answer is in the mirror. Clean your own house or someone else will eventually clean it for you because the rot starts to impinge upon theirs.
A South African court sentenced a Nigerian to 24 years in prison on Tuesday after finding him guilty of masterminding twin car bombings in Nigeria.
Henry Okah was found guilty in January for the October 2010 bombing in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, that killed at least 12 people and wounded three dozen during a celebration to mark the country's 50 years of independence.
The South African Press Association reported that Judge Neels Claassen of the High Court in Johannesburg announced Okah's jail sentence, which includes 12 years in prison for each bombing and 13 years for threats made to the South African government after his October 2010 arrest. The 13 years will be served concurrently with the 24 years.
Okah was a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, which claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The group accused Nigeria's government of failing to alleviate poverty in the delta, even though it earns billions of dollars from the region's oil. In 2006, militants from groups like MEND started a wave of attacks targeting foreign oil companies, including bombing their pipelines, kidnapping their workers and fighting with security forces.
When Okah was convicted, Judge Claassen had said the state had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and the Nigerian's failure to testify meant the evidence was uncontested. Okah was found guilty on 13 counts of terrorism.
Two people, including a Muslim cleric (imam), Jamal Kiyemba, who were implicated in the disappearance of a number of people, including children, have been charged with terrorism and remanded to Luzira Prison.
Jamal Kiyemba, 34, a former al-Qaeda suspect and Bashir Nyangishu, 26, appeared before the Makindye Court Grade One Magistrate, Henry Hadilu, last Wednesday and were charged with terrorism.
On the charge sheet, the prosecution alleged that Kiyemba, Nyangishu and others still at large, between 2008 and January 2013 at Zzana in Wakiso district, were directly involved in the kidnapping of a group of people.
The two are alleged to have kidnapped the people for "the purposes of influencing the Government or intimidating the public for a political and religious aim".
The victims were identified as Kaliisa, Frank Milo, Zaidi Mutebi, Medi Wamala, Sadia Babirye and Huzaifa Mutebi.
Kiyemba is an imam at Masjid Taqua in Kirimanyaga zone, Zzana, while Nyangishu is a bodaboda cyclist and a resident of Seguku in Wakiso. The case was adjourned to April 10.
The Police arrested Kiyemba from his home in Zzana following the disappearance of Zaida Mutebi and his children: Mohammed Wamala, 13, Shadia Bibirye, 12 and Huzaifah Mutebi, 7.
Kiyemba was arrested together with Nyangishu, who allegedly used to transport them on his motorcycle. The family is alleged to have disappeared in January up to now.
Kiyemba's arrest follows a complaint filed before the Police by Mutebi's wife, Aisha Nalwadda, about his missing children and husband.
Kiyemba was also linked to the disappearance of a number of other people.
Kiyemba was formerly a detainee at the US detention facility of Guantanamo after he was arrested in Pakistan while on his way to Afghanistan. He was arrested as a terror suspect in 2003. He spent there three years before being released and deported to Uganda.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/26/2013 10:05 Comments ||
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Kiyemba was formerly a detainee at the US detention facility of Guantanamo after he was arrested in Pakistan while on his way to Afghanistan. He was arrested as a terror suspect in 2003. He spent there three years before being released and deported to Uganda.
Quelle suprise...not.
Shut down Gitmo right now. Take every inmate left, put them on a boat to Africa, release them halfway there.
[Guardian Ng] THE Presidency Monday cautioned proponents of amnesty for members of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... against politicising the issue. It said they should instead take a cue from how the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta was brokered by initiating contacts with the Boko Haram leadership and convince them to come out in the open and dialogue with government.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, gave the admonition in a statement issued in Abuja Monday.
According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... has nothing to gain from the prolongation of the wanton destruction of life and property by Boko Haram and expects leaders of thought in the affected states to prevail on the group to abandon its destructive pursuit and embrace dialogue like the bully boyz in the Niger Delta did before amnesty was granted.
And warning against the danger of promoting impunity among ethnic groups, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Monday opposed any move to grant amnesty to members of Boko Haram.
The group specifically urged Jonathan not to succumb to the increasing pressure of granting amnesty to the members of Boko Haram as this move would encourage other ethnic groups to hold the view that violence pays and therefore resort to this as a means of seeking government's attention rather than using legitimate means.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday accused some newspapers of distorting his party chief's Sunday's remarks on the probable role of the army in tackling the country's political unrest. He said this might create confusion.
The Daily Star yesterday checked the footage of Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's speech and found that the media had reported correctly, proving the BNP leader was wrongly blaming the media.
"The speeches [on army] that some newspapers published were not consistent with what the honourable opposition leader had said," Fakhrul told a presser at BNP's central office in the capital's Nayapaltan area.
On Sunday while addressing a roadside rally in Bogra, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia made some remarks on the army, including that the armed force would not play the role of "silent spectators when people are being killed" and that "it would play its role in due time".
Her comment drew huge flak from different quarters. Former army officers and noted citizens expressed surprise, saying that "it was tantamount to provocation".
In yesterday's presser, Mirza Fakhrul read out what the leader of the opposition had said at one of the Bogra rallies. He, however, did not mention a few other lines that sparked the criticism.
He read: "She [Khaleda] thanked the army for not opening fire when they were deployed in Shahjahanpur to restore peace and order. She also said that our army works for keeping peace abroad. If there is any disorder in the country, they will carry out their duties in due time. Our army is working in the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... ' peacekeeping missions to establish peace abroad. If there is no peace in their own country, the foreigners would then say that the army is unable to maintain peace in their own country. It's time we thought about these matters."
"Apart from these, she said nothing else," Fakhrul claimed.
The BNP spokesperson then requested newsmen to "present the speeches, especially that of the opposition leader's, so that no confusion is created.
Fakhrul, however, did not mention the following lines:
"I would thank the army for not doing such thing [open fire] on the people. The army has also responsibilities towards the country and therefore, they would not play the role of silent spectators. They will not just watch them [the govt] kill people. So, the army will play its role in due time."
Newspapers and television channels focused prominently on the aforementioned remarks, including what Fakhrul told the presser yesterday.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, the fiddler suddenly struck a sour note. The dancing stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at Bob... talking to BBC Bangla Service last night, Fakhrul said, "What she [Khaleda] wanted to say is that unrest is prevailing in the country and the government is killing people by shooting them. If situation goes on like this, the reputation of Bangladesh Army will be stained abroad."
Asked what role the army can play given the present situation, he said it had not been mentioned [in Khaleda's speech at Matidali, Bogra]. Such situation will not bring any good or reputation for the army.
"And there is no option to explain this in any other way. But one or two news media, who always distort BNP chairperson's speech, gave different explanation [of her speech]," alleged Fakhrul.
- See more at: http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/blame-it-on-media/#sthash.PtYsq3gG.dpuf
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Is it just me or are all predominantly Moslem countries a wreck?
Seems that way. Can you name one that isn't? Maybe Jordan?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/26/2013 10:08 Comments ||
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Some are less a wreck than others, but it seems US foreign policy is bent on rectifying that.
If you want to define US foreign policy overthrowing or abandoning governments headed by a somewhat competent autocrat and replacing them with rabid (albeit Western schooled) Islamists that one hopes might kill you last, then yes.
North Korean state media said Tuesday that the country's military command had ordered its rocket and artillery units to be on "highest alert" to strike bases on the U.S. mainland, Guam, Hawaii, and other targets in the Pacific and South Korea.
The threat came after the U.S. and South Korea signed a military contingency plan to respond to possible attacks from North Korea, Washington's latest step to reassure its Asian ally as Pyongyang's increasing provocations and China's growing territorial ambitions fuel anxieties among its neighbors.
The announcement of the new agreement was timed to the anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, on March 26, 2010, according to a U.S. defense official. South Korean officials have been anxious to signal to the public that they would not let similar future attack go without a swift response.
Seoul said it hadn't detected any unusual military activity in the North that might precede an attack. The Pentagon condemned North Korea's threats to target U.S. military bases Tuesday, saying it was ready to respond to "any contingency."
At last check, the "DPRK/NOKORS" said ...
> War can "begin at any time", wid or widout warning.
> Accused new Nippon PM Shinzo Abe of bellicose "confrontationism".
It is my belief that China covertly intends for the DPRK to keep ROK, USFK, USFJ, JSDF, + UNCOM militarily preoccupied while the PLA focuses on Taiwan all the way southward to the SCS + SE Asia.
The advantage for the US-Allies + UNCOM may lay in China's desire to have Japan + ROK, etc. under its wing vee the US, + keep SCO-CSTO + "strategic partner", BFF Russia as neutral as possible in any NE Asian mil conflict that does occur. THIS INFERS THAT CHINA IN THE WORST-CASE, OTHER THAN MASSIVE CONVENTIONAL WAR ONLY,COULD CHOOSE TO WAGE A LIMITED NUCLEAR CONFLICT, I.E. USE ONLY BATTLEFIELD = TACNUKES IN COMBAT EXCHANGES.
Also, as per WMF + Other PLA Perts worry that the PLA's Boyz per se may be too long in the tooth = militarily "rusty/deficient" due to decades of inactivity as per support of overseas Chinese foreign policy, espec as compared to the post-Yugoslavia, post-9-11 USDOD includ National Guard + Reserves???
The longer any NE Asia conflict lasts, the more proficient/expert the "rusty" PLA will become.
IFF ONE BELIEVES THAT CHINA + PLA STILL DESIRE GUAM + HAWAII, ETC. PACOAS FOR VIABLE FUTURE MILBASES, THEN THE ABOVE APPLIES - GUAM, ETC. WILL SEE EITHER MASSIVE CONVENTIONAL = AIRBORNE + COMMANDO LED ASSAULT, OR A LIMITED TACNUKE STRIKE.
Monday's announcement of a guilty plea by a Somali terrorist who was captured by the U.S. overseas offered opponents of President Barack Obama another chance to expose his hypocrisy, this time with regard to a program he and other liberal-left politicians condemned during the Bush administration: Rendition.
A Somali national who admitted he was the liaison official between al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, and who later acted as a U.S. government informant and witness pleaded guilty to a number of U.S. terrorism-related charges, according to the Justice Department on Monday. The guilty plea was unsealed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame entered a guilty plea to a nine-count indictment charging him with providing material support to Al Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) -- two designated foreign terrorist organizations by both the State and Treasury Departments -- as well as conspiring to teach and demonstrate the making of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), possessing firearms and explosive materials, and other offenses.
Warsame originally pleaded guilty on December 21, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan federal court as part of a cooperation agreement with the United States. The guilty plea was kept sealed until Monday, March 25, 2013.
The 27-year-old Warsame was captured in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen by the U.S. military on April 19, 2011, and was renditioned and questioned at a hidden location for intelligence purposes for more than two months.
The Warsame capture in essence is a case of rendition since he was held at an undisclosed location and interrogated by military and/or intelligence agents, according to former police detective and military intelligence officer Mike Snopes.
"During Barack Obama's first week as commander in chief he was quick to issue an executive order that ended the CIAs rendition policy and use of black sites, in which the CIA operated a number of clandestine overseas prisons for terrorism suspects. Obama and other Democrats had been highly critical of the Bush administration's treatment of captured terrorists," Snopes explained.
A few months after promulgating Obama's executive order, on April 9, 2009, then CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that the CIA no longer operated detention facilities and that the black sites were closed down, according to Snopes.
"At the same time, however, the CIA was also maintaining a series of quasi-renditions in which cooperating governments maintained 'black sites' for the CIA agents to continue their interrogations," noted political strategist and attorney Michael Baker. "When news came out about Warsame's rendition, the media's silence was deafening and even the most far-left lawmakers were silent."
Everyone wants to project their inner military commander.
An African force deployed in Mali should be converted into a U.N. peacekeeping operation and a separate combat force created to confront Islamist threats, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
A U.N.-backed African force, known as AFISMA, is due to take over from France when it begins to withdraw its 4,000 troops from the West African country in late April. In a report to the 15-member Security Council, seen by Reuters, Ban recommends AFISMA become a peacekeeping force once major combat ends.
But to tackle Islamist extremists directly, Ban recommended a so-called parallel force be created. Diplomats have said France is likely to provide the troops for that force.
"Given the anticipated level and nature of the residual threat there would be a fundamental requirement for a parallel force to operate in Mali (and potentially in the sub-region) alongside the U.N. mission in order to conduct major combat and counter-terrorism operations," Ban wrote.
#1
Translation: African units aren't up to the job and won't be anytime soon - if ever.
Far better that Ban's UN exercises maternal oversight and keep the African kids playing 'soldier' on the Western coin, while the Western troops that 99% of the UN member nations routinely condemn continue to waste blood and treasure doing the dirty work.
Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime.
In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause, a delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance â" the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition â" took the seats assigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Al-Khatib used the forum to call for a greater U.S. role in aiding the rebels and said he had appealed to Secretary of State John Kerry to consider using NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey to help defend northern Syria against strikes by Assad's forces.
The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat was made at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha. The Arab League in 2011 suspended the Syrian government's membership in the organization as punishment for the regime's crackdown on opponents.
The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, said the Syrian opposition deserves "this representation because of the popular legitimacy they have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and the historic role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing for building the new Syria."
The diplomatic triumph and Qatar's praise, however, could not conceal the disarray within the top ranks of the Syrian opposition.
[An Nahar] The resignation of the "courageous" chief of Syria's opposition is regrettable but will not affect the U.S. government's support for the rebels, officials said Monday.
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib's abrupt decision to step down from the National Coalition has underscored divisions among the opposition, but U.S. officials said Washington would not withdraw its backing for the group.
"We're sorry to see him go," White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told a presser.
But he said "Khatib's announcement does not change the U.S. policy of support for the Syrian opposition and the Syrian opposition coalition."
The United States backs "the coalition's vision for a tolerant, inclusive Syria that respects the rights of all Syrians.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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The United States backs "the coalition's vision for a tolerant, inclusive Syria that respects the rights of all Syrians.
Er, huh.... I believe the reason Ahmed Moaz al-Khalib took flight was due to the developing absence of "tolerance and rights", or did I miss something once again ?
[An Nahar] The rebel Free Syria Army announced on Monday that it believes Hizbullah and Iran might have been involved in the liquidation attempt of FSA Commander Riad al-Asaad in eastern Syria.
"I do not think the opposition has any role in the attack on al-Asaad but there are other undercover parties that might have been involved," FSA Joint Command front man Fahd al-Masri told radio Voice of Leb (100.5).
He noted: "The Syrian regime has planted many spies and detectives. Hizbullah and Iran might have played a role".
Al-Masri lamented: "The opposition is fragmented and has not been up to the expectations and the sacrifices Syria has given".
Commenting on al-Asaad's health condition, al-Masri revealed that "he might lose his life".
He elaborated: "He has lost his leg in the blast and he is in a very critical condition".
"If he dies, God forbids, it would be a huge loss to Syria".
Al-Asaad was maimed overnight in a blast that hit his car in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said on Monday.
A government official in Ankara confirmed Asaad had been hurt, saying he had lost a leg in the attack but that he was in "good condition" after being rushed across the Syrian border into Turkey for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria's resigned opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said he would make a speech "in the name of the Syrian people" at the Arab summit in Doha, in a statement on Facebook.
"After performing (morning prayers) and consulting many trustworthy figures among them (the opposition's envoy in Qatar) Nizar al-Haraki, I have decided to make a speech in the name of the Syrian people at the Doha summit," Khatib said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Haraki told Agence La Belle France Presse that Khatib, who resigned on Sunday as head of the National Coalition, would head the Syrian opposition delegation filling the seat of Syria, which has been suspended from the League, at the summit starting Tuesday.
The delegation will also include Syria's interim prime minister Ghassan Hitto.
Khatib resigned his post on Sunday, five days after the controversial election in Istanbul of Hitto, who pledged to form an interim government for the large swathes of territory inside Syria that have fallen into bully boy hands.
An opposition source told AFP that Khatib accused "certain countries, notably Qatar, of wanting to control the opposition" and of having imposed Hitto.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... on Monday slammed the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... over its decision to hand Syria's seat at the organization to opposition forces, saying it had rewarded "bandidos" and "thugs".
"The League has handed Syria's stolen seat to bandidos and thugs, to the (opposition) Coalition which thinks it can sit in the name of the Syrian people," the official al-Thawra newspaper said.
"They have forgotten that it is the people who grant the powers and not the emirs of obscurantism and sand," the paper added, in an apparent reference to key opposition supporters Qatar and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
The Arab League summit opening Tuesday in Doha "will take place under Qatari supervision with the main goal to finish off Syria. They forget... that the Arabs, without Syria, would not be real Arabs," the paper said.
Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
station al-Ikhbariya added in the same vein that "the drums of treason echo in Doha."
"Qatar wants to bypass the rules of the vaporous Arab League by giving the seat of a founding member of the League to a coalition that obeys only the money and fuel of the Gulf and submits to American dictates," the station said.
The official Tishreen newspaper described Qatar as "an Israeli dagger planted in the heart of the Arab world."
A high-ranking member of the Arab League, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , confirmed Monday that Syria's seat would be handed to the opposition, a decision hailed by the rebel Syrian National Coalition
The Arab League on March 6 called on the coalition "to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat" and attend the summit, although Iraq and Algeria have expressed reservations, while Leb has distanced itself from the decision.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
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.
[Egypt Independent] Freedom and Justice Party Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein denied reports circulated on Monday that the 
Two people, including a Muslim cleric (imam), Jamal Kiyemba, who were implicated in the disappearance of a number of people, including children, have been charged with terrorism and remanded to Luzira Prison.
Goodluck Jonathan
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday accused some newspapers of distorting his party chief's Sunday's remarks on the probable role of the army in tackling the country's political unrest. He said this might create confusion.
[An Nahar] 
