Illinois Senate Kicks Blagojevich Out of Office. Now we just need an investigation into B.O.s involvement. It was his former Senate seat... What did he know, and when did he know it?!?
The Illinois Senate also voted to bar Blago from ever holding office again. As if he'd even get his wife's vote right now ...
#2
I'm sure that there were more than a few 'tight sphincters' in both houses of the Illinois legislature today.
The quicker they could get this done, the better (before the 'flashlights of truth' could shine into all the dark nooks and crannies).
Not much will will be done by the US DOJ in the way of 'spreading out' their investigations either, I'm afraid. Obstruction by the new improved Executive Branch will see to that. What we know now will probably be all that there is made public.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/29/2009 18:35
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#3
Icould have been a contender, I could have somebody
#8
I'm afraid this ends USA Fitzgerald's career in Chicago. All the remainders from all camps, POTUS-Mayor Daley-Cook Co machine, are aligned in agreement that this strand of corruption Rezko to Blagojevich is sufficient for the task assigned.
That, and we're relying on Sens. Durbin and Burris to carry the political fight for his retention.
I suspect AG Holder will have enough cover to include Fitz in the group which will leave, and they may give him a parting enticement of some sort - ambassador/judgeship/asst. cabinet post in a security function.
Notice how the goalposts are shifted by the MSM. Notice how the Iraqis have more courage and integrity in their pinkie than the entire MSM.
A smooth election could encourage supporters of a fast-paced withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by next year, but any major irregularities or bloodshed in Saturday's main voting could raise worries about the readiness of Iraq's institutions.
It also included prisons and many hospitals, including a maternity ward in the southern city of Najaf where 21-year-old Salwa Majid filled out a ballot with one hand and cradled her hours-old son with the other. "It's my duty to vote for a better Iraq," she said, showing off her index finger tinted with purple ink -- used in Iraq to identify voters.
In prisons across Iraq, inmates in orange jumpsuits filed in one by one to vote. Faraj al-Haidari, the head of the election commission, said voting was open to any detainee awaiting trial -- even those accused of insurgent attacks or links to al-Qaida in Iraq -- but those sentenced to more than five years in prison were not eligible.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/29/2009
17:54 ||
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#1
Vote early and often!
Posted by: Richard Daley ||
01/29/2009 21:11
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#2
In prisons across Iraq, inmates in orange jumpsuits filed in one by one to vote.
Kinda like... well, never mind.
Posted by: Richard Daley ||
01/29/2009 21:12
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Actually, Southern Iraq has a significant number of Black inhabitants (a result of the slave trade). In fact, there is even an Afro-Iraqi style of music.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/29/2009
17:46 ||
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#1
I hear they are both Muslim but differ on selling plates and hats with their picture on them
#2
LOL airandee. Ironic isn't it who wanted to stop this man's liberation from a dictator. God bless the men and women who sacrificed to make this man's campaign possible.
A judge has sided with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bid to save money by forcing state workers to take days off without pay.
The furloughs; two days a month; are scheduled to start next week.
Two state employee unions had challenged Schwarzenegger's executive order, saying he did not have authority to order furloughs. A Sacramento County Superior Court judge disagreed.
He also cited the state's financial condition. California will be forced to make billions of dollars in cuts to close a deficit projected to hit $42 billion through June 2010. In his temporary order Thursday, Judge Patrick Marlette said: "The current circumstances constitute an emergency."
#1
Your talking less than 6% of the state's deficit will be 'recovered' by this method (basing on about $65/hr employee cost - seems high, but figuring govt. pensions and such).
It's kind of like saving paper by printing on both sides of the sheet. It looks like you're actually doing something to save money without really solving the true problem (like printing way too much unnecessary reports, memos and such).
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/29/2009 17:08
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#2
Well, no one will cut any of their precious programs, so they gotta start somewhere.
#3
It's kind of like saving paper by printing on both sides of the sheet.
I kept a souvenir when the Army was doing that in 1976. One the second printing was the schedule for the July 4th activities, on the original side was the final determination and signature by the Commanding General of some poor troop's Courts Martial. I called the distribution center about it who tried desperately to police up the copies they'd already sent out. :)
#4
CHINESE MIL FORUM > MEXICO DERAILING INTO ETERNAL CHAOS: THE PARAMILITARY GROUP ZETAS [ex-Mahican ABN, other Mil Elites turned TECHY Drug Criminals + Guns-for-Hire] LOCKING IN THE US BORDER PATROL, DHS!? Mexi Gang ZETAS + armed aligned are giving MEXICO a run for its running, and may yet succeed in rendering the USBorderPat + USDHS, ETC. WHOLLY INEFFECTIVE OR INCOMPETENT IN STOPPING CROSS-BORDER CRIME OPS, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, AND MILITANCIES FROM ENTERING THE USA.
TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today stormed out of an angry debate at the Davos forum on the Gaza war with Israel's President Shimon Peres.
"I do not think I will be coming back to Davos after this because you do not let me speak," the Islamist-rooted prime minister shouted before marching off the stage in front of Mr Peres, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and an elite audience of ministers and international officials at the World Economic Forum.
Mr Erdogan criticized the audience for applauding Mr Peres' emotional defense of Israel's war in Gaza, before the moderator, Washington Post journalist David Ignatius, insisted that the debate had gone over time. He said Israel had carried out "barbarian" actions in Gaza.
Mr Peres had told the audience that Israel had been forced into the offensive against Hamas by thousands of rockets and mortars fired into Israel. "The tragedy of Gaza is not Israel, it is Hamas," said Mr Peres. "They created a dictatorship. A very dangerous one."
Mr Ban, Mr Erdogan, and Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa and Peres all gave long impassioned statements on the conflict which left more than 1300 Palestinians dead and widespread destruction in Gaza.
#1
The journalist at the Telegraph is having a little fun. 'Rooted' in Australian slang means completely f**ked up and irretreviably broken. So 'Islamist-rooted' means completely f**ked up by Islam.
A MILITARY judge at Guantanamo Bay today rejected President Barack Obama's request to suspend the trial of a Saudi accused in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the Pentagon said.
"Judge James Pohl denied the motion" put forward by the prosecution at Mr Obama's request to suspend the trial for 120 days, said Defence Department spokesman J.D. Gordon, confirming a report by The Washington Post. The Post said that Judge Pohl had found the government's argument "unpersuasive".
Are we being set up for Bambi's team to throw in the towel and refuse to prosecute anyone? After all, the bad mean judge won't cooperate with them.
The paper said the decision threw into disarray the administration's plan to buy time to review the cases against some 245 prisoners still held in the Guantanamo Bay camp in southern Cuba.
In his first full day in office last week, Mr Obama ordered the closure of the controversial detention centre within a year. But no decision has yet been made on what to do with the detainees still held at Guantanamo, most of them without charge, and many of whom cannot be returned to their home countries for various reasons.
Saudi defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 43, was due to say whether he pleads guilty or not at a hearing set before the Guantanamo military commission for February 9. Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he allegedly conspired to help two Islamic extremists who steered an explosives-laden barge alongside the Cole, which was docked at the port of Aden, Yemen. The attackers then detonated themselves and their load.
Remember the USS Cole? Even if you don't like Iraq and find Afghanistan difficult, the whole Cole incident is easy. Terrorists blew a hole in the ship. We got their helper. He needs to be jugged for life.
Nashiri was arrested in 2002, and held in a secret CIA prison for almost four years before being transferred to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, southern Cuba. In February, former CIA director general Michael Hayden confirmed that US interrogators had secretly used the waterboard torture technique on Nashiri (and two other detainees) while he was in the spy agency's custody.
Following Judge Pohl's decision, the new administration will now have to decide whether to withdraw the charges against Nashiri or not. He is one of six detainees who could face the death penalty if the charges are proven against him. "It's somewhat of a shock," Stephen Reyes, Nashiri's military defence attorney, told the Post of today's decision.
I'm shocked too, I figured the judge would stay everything until Bambi made the oceans recede ...
On the evening of his January 20 inauguration, Mr Obama's administration asked prosecutors to stay upcoming hearings of Guantanamo detainees for 120 days to allow time for a thorough review of the controversial military commissions. The following day, two military judges, including one trying the cases of five men accused of organising the September 11, 2001 agreed to the request.
Federal judges in the US District Court in Washington are also currently presiding over hundreds of cases brought by Guantanamo detainees challenging their detention, arguing they have the right to know the charges and evidence against them. In June, the Supreme Court granted these so-called "habeas corpus" rights to all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
#1
I believe the gauntlet being place is "do I obey the law or do I obey Caesar"? Congress passed the law IAW their authority under Article I, Section 8.
Careful Bambi, its a trap. If you tell them to disregard the law, what's your defense when they do [and not just the laws you pick and choose].
PAKISTANI police said today they had arrested a nine-member gang linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, who are wanted for multiple suicide bombings, including an attack outside the Danish embassy.
"We have busted a gang of nine high-profile terrorists, who were involved in several high-profile attacks in recent times," said Rao Iqbal, police chief in Rawalpindi - the garrison city close to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
A senior police investigator said the nine were linked to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, which US officials say have become a safe haven for hundreds of extremists fleeing Afghanistan.
"They were involved in five high-profile suicide attacks (in Pakistan)," said the investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information.
He listed the attacks as bombings outside the Danish embassy and an Italian restaurant in Islamabad; an attack on an army medical corps bus and the killing of Pakistan's most senior military officer to die in a post-2001 attack.
Six people were killed, including a Dane, in a devastating car bomb attack outside the Danish embassy on June 2.
A Turkish woman aid worker died and at least 10 other foreigners were wounded, including several US diplomats, when a bomb exploded at the popular Luna Caprese Italian restaurant in Islamabad on March 15.
Police said the gang also helped orchestrate a suicide bombing near Islamabad's Red Mosque on July 7 that killed 19 people, mostly policemen.
"They were involved in logistics and providing suicide bombers to hit targets," the senior police official said.
Police said the arrests marked the highest number of suspected militants captured from one gang from Rawalpindi since Pakistan joined the US-led "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
According to senior police officers, the Rawalpindi nine had links to Usama al-Kini, al-Qaeda's top commander in Pakistan, who was killed in a US missile strike on January 1, in South Waziristan.
The suspects were arrested this week when a police intelligence team raided their den, the police official said.
He said the ring leader had been identified as Mohammed Illyas, also known as Qari Jamil, a former prisoner held for three years at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre housing alleged suspects in the US-led "war on terror".
Mr Iqbal said police recovered 100kg of potassium chloride, 50 detonators and 20kg of ball bearings, which militants pack in suicide vests to maximise carnage.
Police officials said the gang also provided suicide bombers for an Independence Day attack in the eastern city of Lahore on August 14 last year and an earlier attack on the Naval War College, also in Lahore.
They had confessed to their involvement in these attacks, police said.
#1
"He said the ring leader had been identified as Mohammed Illyas, also known as Qari Jamil, a former prisoner held for three years at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre housing alleged suspects in the US-led "war on terror"."
#2
The command to "go and sin no more" worked better for Jesus than it does for us.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/29/2009 17:44
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#3
Logically, this should be okay. Mohammed Illyas, also known as Qari Jamil, wants to perform a suicide bombing - we want him to perfrom a suicide bombing. Let the fireworks go forward!
#2
Wouldn't it be interesting if these folks devoted as much time, ingenuity and effort to positive and productive enterprises as they do to smuggling, making little rockets and other subversive activities.
They might actually have a working economy and a functioning society by now.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/29/2009 15:35
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#3
I heard the Israeli military attache speak last night and one of thing he said was that most (or possibly only some) of the Grad rockets that Hamas used were smuggled into Gaza in pieces. This was because they were too big for the tunnels as a unitary piece.
He also said that the IDF believes that 75% of the Grads used by Hamas were smuggled into Gaza during the 6 month 'calm'.
The best part was when someone asked,
"If the Egyptians can easily end the smuggling, why didn't they do so?"
The guy said, "I'm afraid I don't have a politically correct answer to give you."
FRENCH police wielding batons charged dozens of youths who threw bottles, set fires and tore-up manhole covers as violence erupted on the fringes of a protest against economic hardship today.
Officers in riot gear intervened in the Opera District of central Paris as pockets of trouble broke out at the edge a crowd of tens of thousands. Youths overturned bins and set bonfires in a main shopping boulevard.
The violent protesters were pushed back by three or four police charges onto the Place de l'Opera where the mass of the rally was assembling, but the situation remained volatile, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Earlier, the huge and initially largely peaceful rally organised by France's main trade unions had marched through Paris to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's response to the economic crisis.
Critics continue to press the case that Israel committed "war crimes" in its war with Hamas, because of the civilian casualties in Gaza. Ironically, many of these wounds may have been caused by a weapon designed to reduce collateral damage. Not that the Israelis admit they have the thing.
We first reported on Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) munitions in 2006. The weapons originated as an offshoot of a bunker-busting program, when it was found that adding tungsten powder to explosives seemed to increase the blast effect over a small area. The powder was acting as micro-shrapnel which only carries for a few feet (compared to hundreds of feet for larger fragments), so the result was dubbed the "focused lethality munition" (FLM) which does massive damage in a small area and nothing outside.
There are a large number of reports from Gaza that suggest this type of weapon has been used, and, unfortunately, caused civilian deaths. There are reports and pictures of victims peppered with small particles, and descriptions which are consistent with very localized blast.
During Noah's trip to Israel, he saw drone footage of an extremely small weapon hitting a car. When it struck on a road, cutting through a Gaza cemetery the car didn't go up in a ball of flames. Its roof caved in, with a puff of smoke. The back doors were blown out; the front doors stayed shut.
Erik Fosse, a Norwegian doctor working in Gaza says that the weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different [from a shrapnel injury]. I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different."
According to Fosse and his colleague Mads Gilbert, the weapon typically amputates or tears apart lower limbs and patients often do not survive. It's no more illegal than normal blast-and-shrapnel weapons, but it is a mystery.
The only known focused-lethality munition is a version of the GBU-40 Small Diameter Bomb. The weapon has been sold to Israel; Danger Room reported last month that the Israeli Defense Forces were using it in Gaza. But there are two problems. First, the Israelis seem to have bought the original version, not the FLM. And secondly, as Ares reported, Boeing has stated that it has not made any deliveries of the weapon to Tel Aviv, yet.
Ares speculated that the IDF is using weapons supplied by the U.S. Air Force; a spokesman told the site that "we cannot release sensitive information on foreign military sales."
However, Fosse told Britain's Independent newspaper, "all the patients I saw had been hit by bombs fired from unmanned drones. The bomb hit the ground near them and exploded."
It's just possible that Israel is dropping Small Diameter Bombs from drones, but far more likely that this is a small missile with a DIME warhead. Channel 4 News recently aired footage of Human Rights Watch's Marc Garlasco investigating the site of a number of DIME strikes in Gaza. The damage was very localized confined to one room in one case suggesting a much smaller weapon.
It is highly likely that Israel has developed its own version of DIME. In the United States, DIME is also being used for active defense systems to shoot down rocket-propelled grenades and other incoming threats. Because it does not throw shrapnel to any distance, it's much safer than traditional warheads. The Israeli "Iron Fist" interceptor unveiled in 2006 is a similar concept, with small radar-guided projectiles. "Iron Fist uses only the blast effect to defeat the threat, crushing the soft components of a shaped charge or deflecting and destabilizing the missile or kinetic rod in their flight," according to Defense Update. This suggests DIME technology.
One of the often-quoted concerns about DIME which I mentioned two years back is the potential for tungsten particles to cause cancer. But it's quite possible that the Israeli version is not based on tungsten, and we will not know until there is chemical analysis. (Just a guess, but something called Iron Fist might well use iron or steel particles).
But why is such a precise weapon, intended to avoid the risk of collateral damage, causing civilian casualties at all? It takes tactics and procedures, as well
You see that sort of thing in Africa all the time. We've seen lots of stories here about people using witchcraft to steal men's--you know whats.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/29/2009 20:26
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#10
Doctors Spooked by Israel's Mystery Weapon
We first reported on Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) munitions in 2006. The weapons originated as an offshoot of a bunker-busting program, when it was found that adding tungsten powder to explosives seemed to increase the blast effect over a small area. The powder was acting as micro-shrapnel which only carries for a few feet (compared to hundreds of feet for larger fragments), so the result was dubbed the "focused lethality munition" (FLM) which does massive damage in a small area and nothing outside.
Current US plans call for procurement of 24,000 SDBs and associated Diamond Back kits over the period 2005 2015. SDB will also offer extended range capability, utilizing standoff, precision attack gliding kits such as the Diamond Back, offered by MBDA. Other SDB enhancements include seekerless configurations, such as the Lockheed Martin PNAV.
September 8, 2006: USAF F-15Es recently received the new 250 pound Small Diameter Bomb I weapon, offering precision-guided accuracy within 1.2 meters of the aim point. The weapons are expected to equip the USAF 494th Fighter Squadron scheduled to deploys to Southwest Asia later this year. The squadron will be the first to use the Air Force's new Guided Bomb Unit-39 bomb fitted with diamond-back wings that enable the weapon to glide to its target from a stand-off distance.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
01/29/2009 23:27
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Tonight on "Religious Cops". Look for the surprise twist ending...
MAKKAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and the Public Prosecution in Makkah are investigating the case of an Indonesian victim who was raped by 46 men, including one police officer, around a month ago. The woman, a 38-year-old maid, was initially raped at a backstreet rest house by a police officer. The woman was picked up by the officer after running away from her sponsor in the Nuzhah district late at night one month ago, Al-Watan newspaper reported. Forty-five other men then raped her over the course of the night and next day. As the Prophet would say, "Opportunity knocks"...
The woman was then left on an empty road where another police patrol found her and took her to the King Faisal Hospital in the Al-Shishsha district of the city. But...suuuurprise, suuuurprise, surprise... Subsequently, medical investigations showed that the woman was suffering from AIDS. She is still recovering in hospital, the daily said. Looks like a Law and Order ripped from the headlines episode...
Police raided the rest house and arrested a number of men who raped the woman. One of the men then supplied police with the names of his friends who also raped the woman. There was Mohammad and Mohammad and Mohammad and Mohammad and...
Al-Watan newspaper also quoted a medical source as saying the suspects would have to wait at least six months to confirm whether they have AIDS, as symptoms only appear six months after the virus enters ones body. The men have been released on bail while investigations continue. Has she beeen stoned to death yet?
#4
No comment from MidoMan, I see. Ah, well. It's rather late in muslim-land.
Al-Watan newspaper also quoted a medical source as saying the suspects would have to wait at least six months to confirm whether they have AIDS, as symptoms only appear six months after the virus enters ones body.
SOMALIAN pirates today captured a German-owned LPG tanker participating in a convoy through the Gulf of Aden Maritime Security Patrol Area, diverting Chinese and Indian warships with a decoy raid to enable colleagues to seize a small ship with low freeboard. LPG blows up real good...
The pirates' latest victim is the 1990-built, 4,316 dwt Longchamp, operated by Hamburg-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, with 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian national onboard.
The attack took place in the early hours of this morning while the ship was within the MPSA under military protection, said Schulte quality and safety manager Frank Lesse. "There were apparently three ships attacked, which diverted the attention of the warships, and unfortunately the ship that was taken hostage by the pirates was the Longchamp." Now they're even taking on convoys?
"The Indian warship tried to repel the attack but was too late. [Longchamp] is a small LPG with a low freeboard, so she is easy to board. The pirates picked her, went on board, and the other pirates vacated the scene. "The Indian warship kept a safe distance, so as not to aggravate the pirates. Then the ship turned hard to starboard and went straight for the Somali coast."
The master was allowed to contact the company's emergency centre to make a brief statement, and reported that seven pirates were on the ship. The assumption from this is that none of the crew were hurt.
Schulte was at the time of writing still able to track Longchamp, although there had been no further contact with the crew. The Bahamas-flag vessel is the third ship to be captured off Somalia this year.
#3
Cutting CAIR off is only a first step. From the article:
Last autumn, FBI field offices began notifying state CAIR chapters that bureau officials could no longer meet with them until CAIR's national leadership in Washington had addressed issues raised by the HLF trial, according to people with knowledge of the notifications.
In one letter obtained by IPT News, James E. Finch, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Oklahoma City field office, canceled a meeting of the local Muslim Community Outreach Program, a state-federal program designed to enlist Muslims in terrorism prevention and investigate reports of civil liberties violations.
"Regrettably, due to circumstances beyond my control, the meeting will be postponed until further notice as a result of the planned participation by the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations," Finch's Oct. 8, 2008 letter to Muslim groups in the Oklahoma outreach program said.
Finch made clear the Oklahoma office valued its relationship with local Muslims. He said the stumbling block to further outreach was CAIR's national leadership.
There is no way that CAIR officials can explain the interweaving of their organization with Hamas that would satisfy the FBI that they are not closely connected to a designated terror group. Now that the FBI is on record, I look forward to seeing what slight CAIR will have to endure next.
#4
This won't last long. The Bureau will be 'nudged' by the new "inclusive" administration to acquiesce to these leeches (and offer sincere apologies for the 'misunderstanding'). As a token gesture of sincerity, a new minaret will be built atop 935 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.
Then heads will roll............
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/29/2009 14:36
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SECURITY for the 2010 Winter Olympics in westernmost Canada is forecast to cost just under one billion dollars Canadian ($1.2 billion), five times more than originally budgeted, media reported today.
The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing unnamed officials, said the estimate for the 17-day event has become a "very sensitive" issue in the midst of a recession and financial troubles to build an athletes village.
The original cost for what has been described as the largest peacetime security operation in Canada's history was $C175 million ($216.7 million) when Vancouver won the right in 2003 to host the games.
More than 12,000 police, private security personnel and Canadian soldiers are to be deployed to keep the games safe from terrorist attack and other disruptions.
All U.S. taxpayers would enjoy the same immunity from IRS penalties and interest as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, if a bill introduced today by Congressman John Carter (R-TX) becomes law.
Carter, a former longtime Texas judge, today introduced the Rangel Rule Act of 2009, HR 735, which would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from charging penalties and interest on back taxes against U.S. citizens. Under the proposed law, any taxpayer who wrote "Rangel Rule" on their return when paying back taxes would be immune from penalties and interest. Rep. Carter is my new favorite Congresscritter.
If you write 'Dodd Rule' on your return you get a double credit on your mortgage interest deduction ...
Posted by: Mike ||
01/29/2009
11:33 ||
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#1
I'd rather invoke the "Geithner rule" and simply not pay.
#1
Per the graph in the article, the US seems to be working its way up the chart. We seem to be outperforming all the other industrialized regions. (Damn those Americans!)
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/29/2009 11:33
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#1
Here we have it in writing, folks. Soros dictating monetary policy and blaming it all on the US, with a global solution:
Finally, the international financial system must be reformed. Far from providing a level playing field, the current system favours the countries in control of the international financial institutions, notably the US, to the detriment of nations at the periphery. The periphery countries have been subject to the market discipline dictated by the Washington consensus but the US was exempt from it.
How unfair the system is has been revealed by a crisis that originated in the US yet is doing more damage to the periphery. Assistance is needed to protect the financial systems of periphery countries, including trade finance, something that will require large contingency funds available at little notice for brief periods of time. Periphery governments will also need long-term financing to enable them to engage in counter-cyclical fiscal policies.
#5
Here we have it in writing, folks. Soros dictating monetary policy and blaming it all on the US, with a global solution:
Specifically, he's complaining because emerging market stocks (in which he had long positions) went down further than US stocks (which he shorted). I think it's an ideological bet that the West (specifically the US) is doomed and the sky's the limit for anything outside of the West. It's an idiosyncratic way to trade, and he's certainly entitled to do what he wants, but he's nuts to think that we're going to go out of our way to make his trades profitable.
Not everybody has fallen under Harry Potter's spell. Boooooooooo...Mahmoud, I'm under your bed...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
A short Iranian documentary recently translated by the Middle East Media Research Institue and published on the Jerusalem Post's website claims that the teen wizard hero of J.K. Rowlings best-selling books and movies is being used to promote Zionist propaganda.
The five-minute segment (video below), which aired on Iranian news channel IRINN on December 15, shows clips from 2002's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" while several commentators offer their explanations of the symbolism in the series. "Now more than ever," the Iranian film's narrator says, "this tool serves to spread the dark and evil essence of Zionism and its goals."
The commentators point to several different elements of the story as evidence of a Zionist agenda - pointing to the themes of witchcraft and wizardry, which the documentary ties to Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticism. "[The Zionists] are trying to convince viewers that because there is no easy way to distance oneself from witchraft, Satan and the like they are saying indirectly, 'Join us,'" says Ali Asghar Saadati, billed as an Iranian expert on religious cinema. Join us! Jooooooooin us!!!
The IRINN piece also looks to the battle over "pure" wizarding blood as evidence of a Zionist subtext. "Propaganda for purity of blood and race, one of the principles of global Zionism, is openly portrayed and emphasized in the second Harry Potter film," the documentary's narrator says, alluding to the films' villains' obsessions with blood purity. "If we add this [film] to the other pieces of the puzzle the beliefs depicted in the other propaganda and political products of the Ziono-Hollywoodists, the Satanic features of this inhumane movement will become more evident." Ziono-Hollywoodists? That's a new one...
Iranian film critic Sa'id Mostaghasi, meanwhile, sees Harry raised up as a Messianic figure, and his final battle with the Dark Lord Voldemort as being akin to the End of Days. "[The Zionists] support Harry Potter because he is the promised Messiah," Mostaghasi says. "As you can see, he has the same traits and wants to defeat a dark force, which in this film is depicted as Voldemort. In the sixth episode, there is even mention of the War of Armageddon. Boooooooooooo...He's gonna cement up the well so the 12th Imam can't get out...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Surprisingly, nobody in the documentary latched on to the half-Jewish background of actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the titular wizard. Reza! Stop the presses!!
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth film in the series, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 17, with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" set for a two-part release in 2010 and 2011. "Hary Potter and the Loony Iranians"...
WASHINGTON House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that while critics may quibble with some elements of spending in the $819 billion economic rescue plan, Democrats were willing to act and Republicans were not.
Discussing the plan that the House approved on a strictly party line vote, Pelosi acknowledged Republican criticism that large sums of money are set aside for favored Democratic programs such as aid to education and Medicare. But she said "we are definitely stepping up to the plate to say we'll be accountable."
The California Democrat also said that Republicans are failing on the policy aspects of reviving the struggling economy.
In an interview broadcast Thursday on CBS's "The Early Show," Pelosi said Republicans "have had their chance. They decided to oppose. That's their choice."
#2
Really? Then I can be suitably shocked when people get angry and the Dems claim it was all Bush's fault?
The stimulous is a huge transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the wealthy and well connected. I guess by expressing their pride in this act the Dems are going with the "Big Lie" rather than the "Little Lie".
#4
It's the biggest heist in history but we don't need to worry because old San Fran Nan is gonna be "accountable". Does that mean we'll get to see her doing the perp walk any time soon?
#6
Because nothing says trust me like and administration with a tax cheat heading the IRS and pelosi's word.
And yes, Republicans are failing by not getting the word out and articulating how the market system works, and how our tax money is really being spent. Perhaps instead of such abstract numbers as trillions start with every item being listed as cost per person, hummm? Something loud and public. Every R voted against it this round, great but that shouldn't be news.
*anyone ever wanted to snap your fingers and suddenly all cosmetic surgery in DC is nullified and everyone reverts to what they would look like naturally?
A Spanish judge on Thursday launched a probe of seven current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed a Hamas terrorist and 14 other people, including nine children.
The people named in the suit include Dan Halutz, who commanded Israel's air force at the time, and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, then defense minister and currently national infrastructures minister.
Judge Fernando Andreu said the attack against Salah Shehadeh in a densely populated civilian area might constitute a crime against humanity.
The judge was acting under a doctrine that allows prosecution in Spain of such an offense or crimes like terrorism or genocide even if they are alleged to have been committed in another country.
Will they apply that retroactively to the Socialists and Communists who killed so many in their Civil War? To the Spaniards who wiped out the Aztecs, Incans and Mayans? How about to all the slaves they brought to Central and South America?
No?
Andreu announced the probe in a writ issued Thursday.
#4
Rough translation of JFM's linked article, with a little help from the dictionary:
Fernando Andreu stated this decision in a writ concerning an accusation by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, namely a one-ton bomb dropped by an Israeli fighter plane on the home of Salah Shehade, a Hamas Terrorist, in the Daraj neighborhood.
The Judge also (called?) on a Palestinian board of inquirey to take the depositions of witnesses of this attack; and also sent a writ to the Israeli Government to notify the accused, even though court records show that they had already asked an Israeli board of inquiry if they had investigated. (The Spanish court did not) receive a response. "In such a concrete case," Andreu indicated in his writ, "we find a directed armed attack following (other matters related to the dispute?) to end the life of a person presumably connected with a terrorist organization, known as Hamas."
(The next paragraph lists the Israeli officials indicted).
I couldn't piece out the comments very well, but one of them was something like, "These courts are part of the problem, not the solution."
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to transfer the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty and evacuate some 60,000 Jewish settlers from the West Bank, an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday.
Yediot Ahronot said Olmert detailed the concessions he offered to Abbas to US President Barack Obama's newly appointed envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.
Mitchell, due to meet Abbas in Ramallah Thursday, is on his first trip to the region since his appointment last week and met Olmert over lunch Wednesday.
The daily said Olmert also offered Abbas to withdraw from most of the occupied territories along the lines of before the 1967 Arab- Israeli war, in which Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
Some changes would be made to those lines that would allow Israel to annex its main Jewish settlement blocks in the West Bank.
But Israel would compensate for the lost land by handing over territory in the south of the country to Palestinian sovereignty on a one-on-one basis, Yediot said.
Asked why these offers failed to materialize into a peace agreement during the past year of negotiations, Olmert blamed Abbas and Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia, saying they froze contact as soon as it became clear Israel was heading to elections and refused to sign a document inking what had been agreed thus far.
The daily gave no source and the article appeared to be based on a leak from a participant in the Olmert-Mitchell meeting of Wednesday.
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, would neither confirm nor deny the report.
'I can only refer you to the speech the prime minister gave publicly at the (late prime minister Yitzhak) Rabin commemoration,' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
In that November speech, Olmert called for concessions similar to the ones which according to the Yediot report he in fact made to Abbas.
'The prime minister has been flexible and creative' since Abbas and Olmert revived long-stalled peace negotiations at a summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007
#2
In a way it's clever. Olmert shows the west that he's going the extra mile for peace, knowing all the while that Abbas can't accept the proposal and live for another ten minutes, since it wipes out the 'right of return'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009 11:50
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#3
I don't give Olmert that much credit for thinking that much outside the box.
BAGHDAD -- Iraq will not allow Blackwater Worldwide to continue providing security protection for U.S. diplomats in Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Thursday.
Blackwater's image in Iraq was irrevocably tarnished by the September 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square. Five former Blackwater guards pleaded not guilty Jan. 6 in federal court in Washington to manslaughter and gun charges in that shooting.
The decision not to issue Blackwater an operating license was due to "improper conduct and excessive use of force," said Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf. Blackwater employees who have not been implicated in the shooting have the right to work with a different employer.
"We sent our decision to the U.S. Embassy last Friday," Khalaf told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "They have to find a new security company."
A U.S. Embassy official confirmed it received the government's decision, saying that U.S. officials were working with the Iraqi government and its contractors to address the "implications of this decision."
Neither Khalaf nor the U.S. official gave a date for Blackwater personnel to leave the country and neither said whether they would be allowed to continue guarding U.S. diplomats during the interim.
A U.S.-Iraqi security agreement approved in November gives the Iraqis the authority to determine which Western security companies operate in Iraq.
In the 2007 shooting, Blackwater maintains its guards opened fire after coming under attack after a car in a State Department convoy broke down. The Iraqi government has labeled the guards "criminals" and is closely watching the case.
#2
Actually, RW, the Marines are usually posted to guard embassies. The problem with hiring Blackwater to guard INSIDE the compound is that they can't LEAVE the compound under this new rule. You need to have someone that can travel with the diplomats wherever they go. Since things are winding down in Iraq, there isn't much need for the Blackwater people. I see this as more or less an exercise of sovereignty more than anything else.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/29/2009 11:37
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#6
Despite the name, Marines don't "guard" embassies in the way most people think. They are the final line of defense and have a very specific mission. They do not stand at the front gate and screen visitors. Nor do they perform PSD-type jobs as bodyguards for ambassadors. The need for PSDs will not go away but looks like BW in Iraq will.
Posted by: Bnagkok Billy ||
01/29/2009 13:17
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#7
I'm curious about the security for the massive new embassy complex, which I watched being built but never set foot in. One side fronts the river, the other side presumably will have the road well blocked and regulated.
Blackwater's contract with Dip. Security is worldwide, I believe (sort of like the global contract that KBR has for LOGCAP). But I'd think DS could just hire Aegis or DynCorp or some other similar outfit for Baghdad. During 2005/2006 Blackwater was not used for security inside DOS areas - that went to Global and other companies. So this shouldn't be a big deal.
#1
Its like this: 4 of ya sitting around, you and another are playing a game of chess, a buddy and another are sitting around watching. You are winning the game hands down when your buddy gets to talking to you - you get done listening turn back around and there is a pawn on the board which wasn't there; you're sure of it but your opponant insists it was there. OK, fine, still winning.
Game continues and the two spectators start a ruckus and you look to make sure it isn't a fight. Turn back around and suddenly there are 2 bishops on black tiles. WTF you say but can't prove otherwise, pressing on you continue to win but game starts to even. With the 2 spectators now constantly jabbering in your ear you see your opponant add a piece to the board during a move. Now you got'em you think but the spectators say they saw nothing.
You know you are being had. Your opponant is obviously cheating. Problem is the spectators say otherwise (one of which was supposedly your friend and really in on it) - that is one problem, the other is that you had placed a $10k wager on the game and are now losing.
Next illegal budget spending bill passed means new rule during game; loser pays extra k for each piece winner has remaining on the board.
The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
The suspect in the case is identified as Andrew Warren in an affidavit for a search warrant filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. by an investigator for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service.
Officials say the 41-year old Warren, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.
According to the affidavit, the two women "reported the allegations in this affidavit independently of each other."
#3
If convicted, the Andrew Warren shit should be stoned to death as the crime happened in a Muslim country. What the hell is that? You guys, USA shit, not only you support third world dictators but rape their women.
Turkey's prime minister had a message Thursday for US President Barack Obama: redefine terror and terrorism in the Middle East and use it as the basis for a new American policy.
i.e., Hamas = not terrorist; Hezbollah = not terrorist; IDF defending itself = terrorist
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country which is held up as a model of moderation
has played a key role in trying to mediate among Israel and Syria and the Palestinians, said Obama's new Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, will be in Turkey for talks Sunday.
"President Obama must redefine terror and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and based on this new definition, a new American policy must be deployed in the Middle East," Erdogan told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
#1
Whenever the Arabs used to cut up rough under the rule of the Turks, the Turks would invade the troublesome Arab area and indiscriminately slaughter a few thousand of 'em. This worked and soothed the Arabs for while.
So would this be a new definition of terrorism, or would it be what the Arabs were doing?
#3
He's already on it! The term GWOT is no longer used by the administration. I'm sure there's more to follow; Mooslim sensitivity training, Mooslim presidential advisor, Mooslim Congressional Caucus, mandetory arab language training in schools, etc.
(I hear those German lefty chicks can suck-start a MiG-29)
KARLSRUHE, Germany -- Germany has been very good to Spec. André L. Shepherd since he deserted the U.S. Army. The 31-year-old former mechanic of the 601st Aviation Support Battalion is enjoying perks that eluded him back home in Ohio: a bed, a bank account, a cellphone and friends.
Best of all from his standpoint, he isn't back in Iraq. "I'm having the time of my life," says Mr. Shepherd, the only American bunking at a refugee-processing center in southern Germany.
The U.S. deserter enters uncharted legal territory on Wednesday, when Germany begins weighing his request for political asylum. The case will put to the test a 2004 European Union directive requiring member countries to grant asylum to soldiers protesting unlawful wars.
He walked away from the military for his convictions. Now, U.S. Army deserter Andre Shepherd seeks political asylum in Germany. WSJ's Mike Esterl reports.
Mr. Shepherd could wind up in a U.S. jail if his application is rejected, but a favorable ruling could open a new escape hatch for Americans stationed in Germany who want to avoid combat duty in Iraq. About 38,000 American soldiers are stationed in Germany, a key logistical hub for the U.S. Army.
Mr. Shepherd has no shortage of supporters. Punk rockers gave him shelter after he decamped from a military base near Nuremberg in 2007 and went into hiding. Dozens of peace organizations have championed his cause since he turned himself in to German authorities late last year and applied for asylum. "He's our poster boy," says Tim Huber of the Military Counseling Network, part of the German Mennonite Peace Committee, a nongovernmental organization helping finance Mr. Shepherd's legal campaign.
The U.S. Army says 71 soldiers deserted from its European bases last year, a mere sliver of the roughly 3,500 soldiers who deserted world-wide over the past year. It says it doesn't actively pursue most deserters, who make up less than 1% of the enlisted force in any given year.
A spokesman for the U.S. Army in Europe said the military is aware of the asylum case but that it is "completely in German hands." If Mr. Shepherd is returned to U.S. custody, though, he could face up to five years in prison under military laws.
Mr. Shepherd was raised in a tough Cleveland neighborhood before moving as a teenager to the suburb of Lakewood. He eventually studied computer science at Kent State University but says he left without a degree in 2000 after running out of money. He worked several low-paying jobs and says he lived in a 1994 Dodge Intrepid for several months in 2001 because he couldn't afford rent.
Mr. Shepherd was again living in a car -- a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am -- in December 2003 when he walked into an Army recruitment center in Lakewood and signed up. The new recruit was deployed to Camp Speicher in northern Iraq in September 2004, where he helped repair Apache helicopters. He didn't see action but had some contact with Iraqis who worked on the base. "None of them looked like they were happy to see their liberators," he says. Didn't cross his mind that they might be racist toward blacks, as many Arabs are.
#1
The sad truth is that instead of the rest of the Americas, for decades now, the place to run for criminals of all types has been Europe. However, Americans that do this had better bring money, as the Europeans are stingy with work permits.
Most of those who run to Europe have warrants out for them for serious drug felonies, but it goes all the way up to Mark Rich.
As far as the US military is concerned, they are probably glad that they will no longer have to pay for this guy in any way, if the Euros accept him. Had he been smart, he would have faked a disability. Anti-American anarchists don't have much of a pension plan.
The Euros will let him live there, just no citizenship, and no money. Have a nice day.
#2
Mr. Shepherd could not find a halfway decent job despite some years of training as a programmer? Back in 2003 even many the McDonald's restaurants couldn't find enough staff at $7-9/hour, and I'm sure many managers would have been happy to let him park his home in the back of the lot in exchange for 60 hours/week of work.
Let Germany have him, if they really want to decrease the quality of their genetic pool.
#3
He walked away from the military for his convictions.
What convictions are those? Can't be he didn't wanna kill anybody because it says he saw no action. Maybe he's averse to...work?
Let him leech off of the German anti war movement until his application for asylum gets bounced. Then he can get sent back here and learn about a new "conviction"...
#6
he didn't have any convictions about killing anyone he was repairing apaches. And he had a some college too his credit anfd still couldn't find a job?
he's full of shit they should really go after him since he wants too do news interviews and put his ass in jail then ship him back too germany after stripping his citizenship
#7
Methinks there oughta be serious consequences for Germany if they pull this s**t (i.e. grant him "asylum"). It's already taking the already incredibly rich level of Euro arrogance and idiocy to new levels - the pathetic, do-nothing beneficiaries of US courage and commitment sitting in proxy judgement of their benefactors' continued sacrifices for sanity and civilization.
Germans oughta take some of that vaunted national shame complex and apply some of it to their current, inexcusable, contemptible behavior and attitudes. The Morgenthau Plan looks better all the time .....
#9
Nah. They don't want to keep the clown around to deal with him or have to bother upkeep at USDB at Fort Leavenworth. Court martial yes [cause it's a federal felony conviction], bad paper to kill any VA bennies yes, and then the road. Now try getting a 'good' job in the next decade with bad paper.
#10
If shipped stateside, IMHO on top of his dishonorable, it might not be that surprising to see him locked up (to set example) and then let out early for good behavior after only serving a fraction of his total time.
in sentencing him, the length of his incarceration (anywhere from overnight pre-trial confinement up to five years) to some degree will depend on whether he gets charged with just dessertion, or dessertion plus awol, and maybe even missed movement.
what charges stick will really depend on the judge and panel. the judge will take into consideration factors like how many days and months he remains gone, and his outrageous contempt shown by involving the media. all this will play into it.
he, being so vocal about his dessertion, would be a poster boy to make an example out of. If they go that route, officials can give him a stiff prison sentence with media coverage in the Army times as the cherry on top, and as a deterrant.
What is for certain (if germany doesnt keep him) is he will get bad paper as you say. ofcourse this is all assuming he isnt granted the asylum he sought.
#11
If Germany grants his asylum request, we should immediately restrict all military personnel in Germany to US bases. (Yeah, I know some people live off base. You do what you can.) This will have a noticeable input on the local German economy.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/29/2009 17:38
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Berkeley's public library will face a showdown with the city's Peace and Justice Commission tonight over whether a service contract for the book check-out system violates the city's nuclear-free ordinance.
The dispute centers on a five-year, $63,000 contract the library wants to sign with 3M, an international technology company based in Minnesota, to service five scanner machines library patrons use to check out books.
But 3M, a company with operations in 60 countries, refused to sign Berkeley's nuclear-free disclosure form as required by the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act passed by voters in 1986. As a result, the library's self-checkout machines have not been serviced in about six months. Library officials say 3M is the only company authorized by the manufacturer to fix the machines, which were purchased in 2004.
The library asked the Peace and Justice Commission for a waiver, but at its Jan. 5 meeting the commission voted 7-1, with two abstentions, to reject the request. The library is now appealing the decision to the City Council. . . . "We really mean it when we say we don't want to be part of the nuclear machinery," said commission member George Lippman. "The act is meant to be a blow against nuclear war. We're serious about upholding that."
A MIGHTY blow.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/29/2009
06:35 ||
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#1
Berzerkeley's anti-nuclear ordinance originated in the early 80s during a fad for such declarations in communist satellite municipalities within the US, such as Berkeley itself, Madison, Cambridge, and many minor outposts in California and the northeast. Initially, these were worded to prohibit any research on behalf of nuclear weapons organizations by anyone in the city. This would have included forms of research that involved nothing more than reading, writing, performing mathematical operations, or writing computer programs. Moonbat lawyers recognized pretty quickly that these would run afoul of the First Amendment. They were instrumental in getting their comrades to water down the ordinances to the simple requirement for a declaration of compliance from city contractors.
These ordinances' actual purpose, of course, was to weaken the US nuclear weapons program in an effort to strengthen and assist the Soviet Union in the Cold War. After the Soviet collapse this took on a life of its own, except for a small benefit to the PRC and North Korea, being deeply embedded in the psyche of the traitor-cult that runs places like Berkeley. With Iran on the verge of acquiring nuclear capability the American anti-nuclear movement may once again have an aggressive outside client who will pay well for its services.
#2
Btw, I got a routine invitation to bid on a Berkeley city contract a while back (for geo-survey services).
I would have used it for toilet paper but there was no telling what kind of evil commie germs it was carrying.
#5
Because it's all so easy to play like children, not to be forced to acknowledge that their insular community is tied to the statewide/nationwide electrical grid that includes nuclear power plants. How about chopping those powerlines and going it alone [without evil coal or oil either].
#7
Then they better get rid of all the copies of Mao's Little Red Book. Last I heard, the Chinese had nukes.
I wonder if Berleley has one of those Juche committees KCNA is always bragging about?
This is the sinister face of Osama bin Laden's German Al-Qaeda terrorist -- who is threatening to launch bomb attacks in Germany.
Bekkay Harrach (31), dubbed the 'Bonn Bomber', is considered a specialist in remote-controlled bombs, and made his alarming threats in an intenet terror video. With his face covered in a black turban and with his index finger raised, "Abu Talha the German" promises in the video to launch an attack in Germany before this year's Bundestag elections. Speaking in perfect German, the terrorist sent a chilling message: "Our atom bomb is the car bomb."
The Al-Qaeda video was intended to spread fear around the world, and the German BKA federal police agency has talked about a "new quality". Now BILD can tear away the veil from German-Moroccan Bekkay Harrach.
He looks like a slight young man with brown eyes, full lips and prominent ears. The picture was taken when he was about 20, when he went to a night school in Bonn. From 2002-2004, he studied laser technology and business mathematics in Koblenz. He was already noticeable then to the authorities, who were aware of his radical Islamist views.
In 2007, Harrach travelled to the tribal area on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After secret training, he rose to become Al-Qaeda's chief planner of attacks abroad. Harrach, a Morrocan who became a nationalised German in 1997, is now at the top of American most wanted lists.
They believe that he and his German wife Elisabeth (29), a convert to Islam, and their son Hamsa (2) are hiding in the inaccessible mountains in the lawless Pakistani region of Waziristan. But Osama bin Laden's friend is threatened with the same fate which met a former Al-Qaaeda planning boss, Abu Ubaida -- the Egyptian was killed a year ago by a rocket fired from an unmanned US drone.
The biggest fear held by German security forces is that Harrach could secretly return to Germany in order to bring his attack plans to fruition. In the 30-minute terror video, he brandishes a bazooka and waves it around, demanding the withdrawal of German soldiers from Afghanistan. The BKA warned in an internal document: "The possibility of suicide attacks must also be taken into account."
The Military and Security Intelligence wing of the Kuwaits Ministry of Defense has referred a Saudi non-commissioned officer to the State Security police for sending 20 young Kuwaitis and Saudis to fight a holy war in Afghanistan, reports Al-Rai daily, quoting security sources. The same sources said the accused was holding seminars and lectures on fighting a holy war inside his home in Sulaibiya, which was being reportedly attended by a number of Islamists. The man had reportedly succeeded recruiting 20 young Saudis and Kuwaitis from the district.
The sources added the 20 youths are now in Afghanistan and some of them are fighting the so-called foreign troops. According to some reports some of them have either died in battle or have been arrested. The daily also said there is information available about the rest of the group members.
The sources revealed the suspect was active in recruiting youth to fight jihad over a period of time.
It has also been reported one of his sons was killed in action in Afghanistan while the other was arrested by Saudi security authorities for collecting money to fund jihad activities. His third son also is in Afghanistan but no information is available about his fate. The sources added an Islamist MP reportedly intervened without success to seek the mans release.
#2
Afghan president Karzai ought to announce that all foreigners found in Afghanistan without the proper visas on their person, or in any way connected with the invasion of foreigners who fancy themselves fighting jihad, will be thoroughly questioned, then hanged as traitors to the Ummah -- not shot as jihadis -- without trial. Then give a list, by country only -- no names -- of how many have already met that fate at the hand of the country of Afghanistan. The most impressive way to accomplish this would be to call in all the foreign ambassadors, plus reporters from the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Afghan radio and television stations, and the major newspapers and television producers of the Muslim and Western worlds, thus making the statement in such a way that none can later claimed they were not thoroughly warned. Give tapes and videos of the announcement to each set of village elders Afghan and allied army units pass through, so the locals know the gauntlet has been thrown down. An intra-village competition for number of certifiably foreign jihadis killed, announced, say, monthly, would be fun, and tie in nicely with the local culture. Non-headless bodies with identification papers would be necessary to substantiate a claim, of course, similar to the Red Chinese requirement that the peasants turn in X dead flies and mosquitoes per unit time when they were on a disease-reduction tear. Otherwise the system would be overwhelmed with a combination of imaginary kills and the bodies of unwanted cousins.
#9
beavis and besoeker, yall know i'm from franklin up here too the northeast of ATL and we have our very own little sect of jihadist on a compound up here that even the local deputies are scared too go into. you can hear gunfire at thenir practice range very frequently . I went to school with one young boy at the grade school level and now that i think back on it he was taught too hate even at that age. didn't have any friends that weren't muslim(and this was like 88) then hit a teacher in the ha=ead with a rock and we never seen him again.So it looks like our state is getting ran over with them too. You can even see the women come into local supermarkets with their burkas on which is kinda unusual in rural GA
#11
Yes, we agree, MarkZ. But the problem is our country is being run by those who disagree...for whatever reasons I cannot fathom...maybe has something to do with oil. But then, with Obama, he seems quite sympathetic to them just because they are, like, his kin.
#12
ISRAELI MIL FORUM > SAUDI PRINCE [Turkic Al-Faisal] WARNS/THREATENS THE USA OVER ISRAEL. Iff the USA = OBAMA ADMIN refuses to revise or alter its policies as per ISRAEL + PALEOS, at the PROMPTING OF IRAN THE USA SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IFF SAUDI ARABIA LEADS A JIHAD AGZ ISRAEL, ETC.
IOW, THE SAUDIS MAY STOP BEING A US ALLY-PARTNER AND INSTEAD BECOM A DE FACTO MIL ENEMY OF ISRAEL + THE USA???
A bomb exploded at a roadside food shop in the jihad-infested insurgency-torn southern Thailand province of Yala Thursday morning ,wounding four soldiers, one losing both legs. Responding to the emergency, a bomb squad investigated the scene of the incident and preliminary investigation found that the bomb was a homemade five-kilogramme device set off by remote control.
Investigating authorities said an Army truck carrying 14 soldiers was on a routine patrol in the Yala provincial seat and stopped for a breakfast break as a roadside food-vending area on the Malayu Bangkok-Pongyuerai Road in the Yala provincial seat's Sateng subdistict.
Private Tuanamran Guso,23, sat at a stone bench in front of the shop when a bomb, hidden underneath the bench, was detonated by remote control taking off both his legs. The blast wounded other three privates. All four were rushed to hospital in Yala.
Meanwhile, in the nearby province of Narathiwat, police said they acquired more information on the insurgent movement from 31-year-old suspect, Muhamad Bali Masa. The suspect was arrested Wednesday after a shootout between an insurgent group and security forces at Ra-ngae district in which Imran Bimayeng, 30, was shot dead.
Police said the suspect confirmed the dead man was Imran Bimayeng, a member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) who was involved in bombing and attacking security forces in the southern province many times. Imran Bimayeang was reportedly an expert in producing bombs and other explosive devices, the officials said.
(Xinhua) -- The Somali presidential election may be held this week and the proposed constitutional amendment to extend the one-month deadline is foregone after pressure from the international community, officials from the Somali transitional government and a major opposition faction who are now attending the on-going talks in Djibouti, said on Tuesday.
Diplomats from African and western countries at the power-sharing talks in Djibouti has insisted that the Somali presidential election be held within the timeframe set in the Somali Transitional Federal Charter, Mohamed Omar Dalha, deputy speaker of Somali parliament told local Shabelle radio in Mogadishu by phone from Djibouti.
The thirty-day deadline for the election of a president expires on Wednesday as former president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed stepped down on Dec. 29.
The Somali Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) agreed last October on the outline of enlarging Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament and forming Government of National Unity.
On Monday, the Somali lawmakers approved the expansion of the parliament to include members of the opposition faction, the ARS, who will be sworn in on Tuesday.
The enlarged parliament is expected to chose a speaker and a president for Somalia in time for the African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Abba early in February, Abdurrahman Abdishakur Warsame, a senior member of ARS told the local Horn Afrik radio.
"We are expected to swear in the newly elected president for Somalia next Saturday and then the president could get down to work to save the country as soon as possible," said Warsame, one of the newly nominated opposition MPs.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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(Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country is willing to conduct dialogue with the United States without any preconditions, the official SANA news agency reported Tuesday.
Assad made the remarks in an interview with Lebanon's al-Manar TV, the mouthpiece of the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
"If there are preconditions, there won't be dialogue, they know this thing," Assad was quoted as saying, adding that "but I think dialogue has started many weeks ago seriously through figures close to the U.S. administration."
"As for dialogue, we have no preconditions, but in regards to reaching an approach through this dialogue, the only provision is to consider the Syrian interests," said the Syrian leader.
Syria was under continuous isolation during the Bush administration, which demanded Damascus to stop support for Palestinian militant groups and the Lebanese Hezbollah, sever its ties with Iran, control its borders with Iraq and stem anti-U.S. infiltrations from crossing into Iraq.
Assad also expressed cautious hope that U.S. President Barack Obama could bring peace settlement to the region instead of wars.
"We hope for settlements, not wars after the departure of an administration which adopted primitive war as a policy," said Assad, noting that the Obama administration rejects this principle and talks about its inclination to peace which he said "are more positive."
As for the indirect peace talks with Israel, the president said there was no prospects for an immediate resumption of such talks, which were suspended after Israel launched military offensive against the Gaza Strip late last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
See also TOPIX > ISRAEL: IRAN AND SYRIA DESIRE TO TAKE PLACE PLO WITH PALESTINIANS.
Also on TOPIX > IRAN'S AHMADINEJAD WILL NOT TALK WITH OBAMA UNLESS US FIRST APOLOGIZES.
Bullet-ridden bodies of eight civilians were found dumped in Swat on Wednesday, officials and residents said. The bodies were found at two separate locations in Mingora. "Five bodies were recovered from one place and three from another," a security said. It was not clear whether the civilians were killed during the military offensive or executed by the Taliban. Authorities have intensified efforts to win back control of the valley from the Taliban, with several towns under curfew and orders to shoot violators on sight.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Translator Error
"Bullet Riddled, not ridden
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 14:57
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#2
I keep forgetting to put on the unquote marks, Hmmm.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 14:59
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If they get a quality relief pitcher they'll really kill the American League ...
A Royal Bengal tiger killed a man in Khukumari area of the Sundarbans yesterday, police said.
The victim is Khokon Sana, 35, son of Abdul Bari Sana of village Kashimari in Shyamnagar upazila. Khokon went to the Sundarbans to collect reeds (goalpata) on January 27. While collecting leaves in Khukumari area, a tiger swooped on him and dragged him into deep forest. Later, locals recovered the body from deep forest.
When contacted, Shyamnagar Police Station officer-in-charge Abdur Razzak confirmed the incident.
"Yup, that's Khokon allright. I'd recognize that thigh bone anywhere."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker, whose department has been rocked by controversy, said Tuesday that he will resign next month and blasted the City Council for paying "lip service to their commitment to public safety."
Tucker, 65, said at a news conference at Oakland City Hall that he will step down Feb. 28 after serving more than four years as chief. He stressed that he has not been fired - nor has he been asked to resign - but that he is leaving because that is what is best for the city and that "quite frankly, I've lost faith in this council."
"I think when the council and the chief of police, regardless of who's making the decision, are finding themselves with irreconcilable differences, that it's time for one of them to go, and I've chosen myself to be the one to go," Tucker said.
He made the announcement hours before four City Council members prepared to discuss their plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Tucker, citing spiraling violent crime, a below-average rate of crimes solved and a stream of negative publicity. Tucker described the council's criticism of him as "for the most part inaccurate."
The leaders of the proposal, Council President Jane Brunner and members Larry Reid, Desley Brooks and Pat Kernighan, called off their news conference after Tucker's announcement.
The chief, whose salary is $205,000, serves at the pleasure of Mayor Ron Dellums. The mayor said he accepted Tucker's resignation with regret and that an interim police chief will run the department after Tucker leaves. Dellums did not say who that will be or how the chief will be selected.
Dellums praised Tucker's work in overseeing changes in the department in the wake of the "Riders" scandal. In that case, several officers were acquitted of criminal charges that they had planted evidence and beat suspects in West Oakland in 2000, but the city paid a $10.5 million civil settlement and agreed to implement reforms under the supervision of a federal judge.
"If history is recorded correctly, Chief Tucker has been an instrument of change moving forward, has been committed to reforms in the Oakland Police Department, has been respectful of the role of the courts in moving that mandate forward. Many of the changes that now have taken place have moved Oakland well forward in a very dramatic way," Dellums said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
I can only wonder how ugly it must be to work under the Oakland city council.
#4
Now I remember where I've heard Dellums' name before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dellums
He was the darling of the local antiwar elite and made a lot of visits in the Chicago area in the 70s.
#6
Oakland is 578% better now than it was when I was a kid, but its still a festering sh*thole where they don't want the police to really clean it up. When they finally grow a set and decide to fix it, it will be fixed. They've done it to many other towns that were just as screwed up.
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani has visited the restive Swat valley to oversee a military operation against the Taliban militants
During his visit Kayani met with senior officers and soldiers engaged in the military operation on Wednesday.
The army chief was also briefed about the latest development by operation commanders and reviewed the progress.
The visit comes two days after Pakistani lawmakers warned the government that the insurgency was spilling from restive Swat valley over to the settled areas in the country and would "reach Islamabad sooner than Lahore."
The 900-square-km (3,500-square-mile) Swat Valley lies less than 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, Islamabad.
Taliban has demolished more than 300 schools in the valley which was once considered a tourist destination. The valley has been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Pakistani forces and Taliban-linked militants in recent months.
Kayani's visit came days after Maulana Fazlullah, a Pro-Taliban cleric, in a radio address, called on 45 people including political leaders, ministers, lawmakers and prominent personalities to appear before Taliban courts.
Fazlullah has threatened that if the summoned officials did not appear in courts they would face dangerous consequences.
The militants have set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints in the troubled region.
About 1,500 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in fighting against militants in Pakistan since 2002.
The spread of violence from Afghanistan to Pakistan comes seven years after US-led forces, under former president George W Bush's war on terror doctrine, invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to eradicate insurgency and terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
900-square-km equals 3500-square-mile? Is this new math or what?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/29/2009 10:25
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#2
probably flip-flopped the units. 900 sq mi is about 3500 sq km
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 22:01
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(Xinhua) -- Israeli F16 warplanes carried out early on Wednesday three successive airstrikes on the border line between southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt, no injures reported, residents said.
Witnesses said that Israeli F16 war fighters fired three air-to-ground missiles within a short period of time on the border area between the town and Egypt, causing damages to several houses in the area.
An Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that the airstrike was a response to a bombing attack carried out by Gaza militants early on Tuesday, in which one Israeli soldier was killed and three wounded.
The residents of Rafah said Israeli warplanes targeted the tunnels dug under Gaza-Egypt's borders with three heavy missiles. Israel insists that these tunnels are used for weapons smuggling.
The renewal of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza came after one week ceasefire has been unilaterally declared first by Israel and then followed by Gaza militant groups, led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Earlier on Tuesday, media reports coming from Cairo quoted Hamas negotiator to the truce talks with Egypt Ayman Taha as saying that it was agreed to extend the ceasefire until February 5.
Hamas has, meanwhile, said in a written statement that the movement accepted to extend the ceasefire, but has not accepted yet a truce agreement. However, Egypt hoped a longer- term truce to be announced on early February.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
wish the IAF had a bigger bomber... they need to drop the old 'tall boys' of WWII vintage... that might send a message the paleos can understand
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:31
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#2
Night raids? Some Israeli must've read about Washing Machine Charlie.
Sweet dreams, Palis...
Aswat al-Iraq: The office of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Diala's Mandali district has allegedly prevented more than 40 employees in the customs department from casting their votes today, according to the department's head.
"The main office of the commission's office in Mandali district, Khanaqin (155 km north of Baaquba) has prevented over 40 voters from participating in the electoral process," Col. Salah al-Anbaki told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Those employees were barred from voting on the pretext of not having the province's ration cards," Anbaki explained.
Meanwhile, the director of the IHEC's office in the province, Aamer Lateef, denied receiving any complaints in this regard. "We have heard of violations in some electoral centers, but these are inaccurate accusations as no official complaints have been made to the commission," Lateef said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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You tell me -
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama was working with Arab intermediaries to establish an unofficial dialogue with Al Qaida long before his election as the 44th U.S. president, according to a report in the upcoming weekly edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com.
Al Qaida has offered what has been described as a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to the report.
Only they didn't use the word, 'truce' ...
Obama has deemed the U.S. reconciliation with the Muslim world, including Iran, as his main foreign policy goal, sources quoted in the report said. The president has been aided by several Persian Gulf Arab Muslims with ties to Al Qaida's leadership in Pakistan, they said.
On his first day in office, Obama ordered the shutdown of the U.S. Navy prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which where 245 suspected Al Qaida members are detained.
Subsequently, in his first television interview as president, with the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel on Jan. 26, Obama spoke about his own ties to the Muslim world: "Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect," Obama said. "I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries."
That would be news to many since the MSM didn't bother to tell us about it during the election.
"My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy -- we sometimes make mistakes -- we have not been perfect," Obama said.
That's irrelevant. The issue isn't perfect: the issue is what type of life to lead. Al-Qaeda has chosen war, and they aren't going to be mollified by smooth words.
The two presidential actions have already prompted calls for reconciliation by a range of leading Muslims. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi called on the United States to launch a dialogue with Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden while the Al Qaida-aligned Gamiat Islamiya urged an immediate four-month ceasefire.
Only they didn't use the word, 'ceasefire' ...
At this point, according to the report, Al Qaida appears divided over Obama.
"Addressing the Islamic world, Obama said we are in need of a new direction," a statement by Gamiat leaders said. "So he is calling for adopting a new approach that differs to the blocked and irrational path that [former U.S. President George] Bush followed."
The report also says Obama's initiative has been endorsed by much of the U.S. intelligence community.
"The United States has imposed attrition on Al Qaida, disrupting its command, control and communications and isolating it," George Friedman, a leading U.S. strategist and director of Stratfor, said in a Stratfor.com report. "To avoid penetration by hostile intelligence services, Al Qaida has not recruited new cadres for its primary unit. This makes it very difficult to develop intelligence on Al Qaida, but it also makes it impossible for Al Qaida to replace its losses."
That's an endorsement?
Still, Saudi Arabia' royalty fears any reconciliation between Al Qaida and the United States. The sources said Saudi King Abdullah worries that Obama's effort would legitimize Al Qaida and bolster its status in the Gulf Arab kingdom.
If the above report is true he is GUILTY of treason.
18 U.S.C. Section 953
953. Private correspondence with foreign governments
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
#5
Months before the Madrid bombings while officially supporting Azanr policy of zero contacts with ETA and political isolation of its supporters, Zapatero was having vontacts with ETA. Then came the Madrid bombings and in addition of handling Al Quaida a major political victory ("see how weak are the Crusaders and how easy it is to make them flee"), he also made major concessions to ETA.
#9
Rantburg warned of this months ago, as it has this recent business with Hamas and Zimbabwe. US State,the Agency, and POTUS HAD to know this was going on. Why did "W" not BUST him and his little ballet dancer when he had the chance?
"One President at a Time." President-elect Barak Obama
#10
For the same reason that he didn't pursue the doubts about Obama's birthplace or his doubious connections: because given MSM-made BUSH's impopularity it would have been presnted as he using dirty tricks to tild the election. And given that Obama was sort-of Black it would have been presented as a trick to keep Blacks down. In other words he had hhis hands tied. All he could do was hope McCain would win. Unfortunalitely McCain did only one thing well in his whole campaign and was laughable for about everything else (eg when he told he would skip the debate and ended assisting).
953. Private correspondence with foreign governments
I have some questions about this?
1) Is Al-Qaida a foreign govt? I dont believe so.
2) Obama was on foreign relations committee, does it matter?
3) Is brokering peace talks as a senator through intermediaries treason?
#14
Obama was on foreign relations committee, does it matter?
Spot on Clineth Gonque1423. Not that Obama actually did anything in that committee but his buddy Senator Feingold has been dancing with the Algerians for years. Its not a huge leap to assume the Arabs read the tea leaves and in traditional fashion played both sides of the fence.
#15
People really should have taken the fact that Obama REFUSED to produce an authentic US birth certificate, REFUSED to produce his recent (and previous) passports, and REFUSED to produce his college records ALOT MORE SERIOUSLY. Instead, via the Saul Alinsky "vision" anyone questioning these things was passed off as a nutjob. Without a doubt the production of those documents would have been quite revealing. Too late now . . . Obama the Traitor is in command.
#16
Ex-lib, and JFM -- you can't argue that Obama isn't an American citizen AND that he's a traitor. If he isn't a American citizen, then by definition he can't have committed treason against America. By calling him a traitor, you're accepting his citizenship.
#17
Very well, Snakes; we call him an imposter, a mole, and a snake in the grass.
Posted by: mom (who is more than usually cranky today) ||
01/29/2009 21:59
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#18
"The United States has imposed attrition on Al Qaida, disrupting its command, control and communications and isolating it," George Friedman, a leading U.S. strategist and director of Stratfor, said in a Stratfor.com report. "To avoid penetration by hostile intelligence services, Al Qaida has not recruited new cadres for its primary unit. This makes it very difficult to develop intelligence on Al Qaida, but it also makes it impossible for Al Qaida to replace its losses."
If Mr. Friedman is correct and we have AQ up against the ropes, why in heaven's name would we now seek a truce? These people are not interested in honest negotiation or compromise. This is only kicking the can down the road. So sad.
Pakistani investigators have completed the initial investigation of information regarding the Mumbai attacks, provided by India in a dossier on January 5, and found the attacks were not planned in Pakistan, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday.
The channel quoted its sources as saying that investigators had submitted the initial inquiry report to the Interior Ministry.
According to the report, the Mumbai attacks were planned outside Pakistan, the channel said, without elaborating if the probe had been able to determine where the attacks had been planned.
The Interior Ministry would review the inquiry report in a high-level meeting today (Thursday) and the findings are likely to be publicised on January 31, the channel reported.
Release: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan would release the details of the investigation into the Mumbai attacks 'very soon'.
"If there is anything substantive, we will certainly share (it) with the world," he told Reuters in an interview in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where business and political leaders are attending the four-day World Economic Forum.
"Very soon, whatever the findings, will come to the world," he said, adding that he first hoped for more cooperation from India.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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In a swift victory for US President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved a historically huge $819 billion economic stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy.
The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama's pleas for bipartisan support. "This recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years," the US president said in a written statement released moments after the House voted.
Earlier, Obama had declared "we don't have a moment to spare" as congressional allies hastened to do his bidding in the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
On the final vote, the legislation drew the support of all but 11 Democrats while all Republicans opposed it.
On the final vote, the legislation drew the support of all but 11 Democrats while all Republicans opposed it. The vote sent the bill to the Senate, where debate could begin as early as Monday on a companion measure already taking shape. Democratic leaders have pledged to have legislation ready for Obama's signature by mid-February.
A mere eight days after Inauguration Day, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday's events heralded a new era. "The ship of state is difficult to turn," said the California Democrat. "But that is what we must do. That is what President Obama called us to do in his inaugural address."
With unemployment at its highest level in a quarter-century, the banking industry wobbling despite the infusion of staggering sums of bailout money and states struggling with budget crises, Democrats said the legislation was desperately needed.
"Another week that we delay is another 100,000 or more people unemployed. I don't think we want that on our consciences," said Democratic Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the leading architects of the legislation.
In New York City, an Obama economic adviser and Citigroup Inc.'s incoming board chairman, Richard Parsons, called the nation's financial crisis "a death spiral" and said the federal stimulus was the only way to save the economy.
"If we don't use taxpayer money to do it, there is no money to do it," Parsons said in a speech to lawyers. "If the financial system collapses, shame on all of us; we'll all have hell to pay."
Republicans said the bill was short on tax cuts and contained too much spending, much of it wasteful and unlikely to help laid-off Americans.
The party's leader, Rep. John Boehner, said the measure "won't create many jobs, but it will create plenty of programs and projects through slow-moving government spending." A Republican alternative, comprised almost entirely of tax cuts, was defeated, 266-170, moments before the final vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#3
Perhaps it will pass the Senate in its current form, but no doubt it will be against Republican opposition, which means the Democratic party will own the results. Since a lot of the provisions won't go into effect for a few years, and since there will be an election in 2010, there is no guarantee that the plan won't be walked back two years from now... which could prove very amusing for those campaigning for the 2012 presidency.
#6
Yep, idiots is right. Good on the house repubs, this gives me a little glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, when they do get control they end up getting complacent and legislating like big gov't rinos.
Cut taxes, cut spending - that's how you truly rejuvenate the economy - heck, this ain't rocket science, just a little econ 101. Income, corporate, payroll, death tax needs to be cut. Death tax ought to be repealed. Welfare and other entitlements should've been cut big time.
The first financial bailout was a scam. Big 3 bailout is another joke. This one looks worse than the other two (if that's possible). I wouldn't have bailed out anyone - the "bailout/stimulus" cure is more likely to be worse for the patient then letting the illness run its course.
#7
I do believe this bill is eligible to be filibustered. If the Senate Repubs would stick together ... oh who am I kidding?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009 9:43
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#8
If they couldn't even get Jerry Lewis (Appr.-CA) on board, they really must have locked up the pork in crates marked "for Democratic consumption only". How many squishes are left in the Senate? McCain's got a hard-on for bipartisanship, but even he might be puckering up at the prospect of a united Republican House of Representatives vote like this.
It may come down to Specter and the witches of Maine.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/29/2009 9:57
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#10
A few things, first this bill will look completely different when it comes out of the Senate. Unlike the House, the Senate Dems can't push through anything they like with no Repub support. Second, is this, if you take out the massive amounts of pork the bill is not that bad. Almost all of the stimulus effect this year will come in the form of tax cuts. Check out: Stimulating Waste. It's obvious why the House is doing this, Nancy has all the juice now and she and her cohorts are going to try to push through every socialist wet dream they can while most of America is worried. Good on the Repubs for standing up to her. Now the Senate can hopefully trim the fat and we'll end up with a decent bill. Of course the best bill would be straight tax cuts to businesses and lowering the capital gains taxes with none of the pork. But that ain't going to happen. Another hopeful thing is the balance of power will (please God) shift in two years when alot of the stupid spending starts ramping up.
#11
I dunno, AHM. I'd like to think you're right, but:
1) much of the 'tax cuts' are actually credits -- you have to do as The One says to get them
2) The One still wants to pull the plug on the Bush taxes cuts of 2002 and 2003
3) The remaining RINOs in the Senate may vote yes for 'unity'. Snowe, Specter and McCain are the prime suspects.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009 12:02
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#12
800 + billion on top of the 750 billion bailout. Is any of this inculded in the 1 trillion + projected deficit? Here in Canada some of us are upset that our government is projecting a deficit of 34 billion for 2009 (first projected deficit in about 10 years, our 2008 deficit of about 1.1 billion was not planned ahead of time). If I'm pissed about our government, US Rantburgers must be positively livid about theirs.
#13
Just remember, we have mandatory redo in 2 years, unlike parliamentary systems that live for ever till enough momentum builds for payback. The Donks partied in '93 with the Clinton win just like this till the reckoning came due in the '94 elections.
#14
On the final vote, the legislation drew the support of all but 11 Democrats
That means 36 of the Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of this outrageously bloated bill. When more then three quarters of these so-called fiscally conservative Democrats bolt into the night its time to shut down that kennel.
#15
Steve, there's a lot of 'hoping for the best' going on in my mind. But to address your comments, I can't imagine BO pulling the plug on the Bush tax cuts before they expire in 2010. That would be very stupid on his part in that it would be bad for the democrats in 2010. And while he's many things, I don't think stupid is one of them. To be honest, this bill is way better than I would have imagined given the current balance of power and psychological condition of the country. I expected more tax credits for poor people to buy booze and cigarettes and less for people who actually work for a living. Mixed in with all of the bloated wasteful spending there's some decent stuff that will actually help. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a good bill. It just could have been WAAAAAY worse. Plus, I'm thinking there is enough negative vibes on these massive spending bills that even the RINO's will have some fight in them. Just remember, any changes the GOP can get in the final bill is most likely an improvement. And P2k hit it on the head, a lot of this spending won't be hitting until close to mid-term elections. So, here's to hoping for some change the rest of us can believe in!
#19
The 11 Dems who voted against it. With their reasons...
1. Bobby Bright - Alabama's second district
Bright said: "I feel strongly that the American people must have confidence that a recovery package is worth its tremendous price tag. Congress could have done this by simply focusing on investments in infrastructure and targeted tax relief for individuals and small businesses, but this legislation includes billions in additional spending that will have little effect on the economy."
2. Parker Griffith - Alabama's fifth district
He said he wanted more funding for projects "such as NASA, water and sewer and transportation" in the fifth district. "We need to jump start our economy and create new jobs, but this bill does not do enough to cut taxes, support small businesses or invest in our research and development programs. I hope that we can work together to improve this bill as it moves through the process so that taxpayers are protected and we do more to invest in the programs and projects important to North Alabama."
3. Allen Boyd - Florida's second district
He said: "I have serious concerns that this level of deficit spending without a plan toward fiscal responsibility will only make our economic problems worse. This stimulus package does not address the issues that we know are at least partly responsible for the economic downturn, and that is years of irresponsible fiscal policies rooted in out-of-control spending and borrowing."
4. Walt Minnick - Idaho's first district
He said: "Economic stimulus, no matter how much you spend, is only going to work if the US banking and financial system is also functioning." He added that until banks are lending money again, it's unrealistic to expect results.
5. Brad Ellsworth - Indiana's eighth district
He said that he supported many of the provisions in the bill and "it's clear that our economy cannot get back on its feet without some help."
But "there were far too many provisions that would provide little to no economic stimulus. I hope that the Senate and conference processes will result in an improved final bill."
6. Frank Kratovil - Maryland's first district
He said before the vote: "A stimulus package of this unimaginable size needs to be met with the reality that a recovery and reinvestment plan is an extraordinary response to an extraordinary crisis. It is not an opportunity to abandon fiscal discipline in lieu wasteful spending. The plan includes projects to the tune of $200 million to rebuild the National Mall and $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts. Although these may be admirable causes, they certainly are not emergencies and should not be lumped in with legitimate efforts to strengthen our economy and get people back to work."
7. Collin Peterson - Minnesota's seventh district
He said in a statement: "In this difficult economy, many in Congress are rushing to write and pass another massive federal spending bill. In my view, what we're considering will not solve our problems, and may in fact make matters worse." He added that the bill should have focussed on "programs directly resulting in job creation and infrastructure projects, and for unemployment compensation and food stamps".
8. Gene Taylor - Mississippi's 4th district
He said: "If anything is in it for the Coast, I don't know. I don't think it's worth the $800-billion price tag. I do think there are lower cost ways to stimulate the economy. For example, the multi-peril bill will pay for itself."
9. Heath Shuler - North Carolina's 11th district
He said: "The legislation before the House today contained too much additional spending in areas that will not offer immediate economic stimulus."
10. Paul Kanjorski - Pennsylvania's 11th district
He said:"I strongly agree that we must stimulate our economy to help it recover from the current crisis. However, considering the magnitude of this program, is vitally important that the Congress and American people fully understand both the problem and proposed solution. All Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle needed to provide their input, but unfortunately this was not possible."
11. Jim Cooper - Tennessee's fifth district
He said: "This bill had too many congressional pet projects and too few of President Obama's plans for jump-starting the economy. I hope the next version of the bill stays closer to its purpose: helping America recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.''
#23
All of the jobs contained in this bill that our being touted by the Dems are temporary. There's no permanent stimulous that will be spent prior to 2010. Those are CBO numbers, and the Dems currently chair the CBO. This bill sucks donkeys... on ice.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/29/2009 20:30
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-2 on Wednesday to send the nomination of Attorney General-designate Eric Holder to the full Senate. Attorney General-designate Eric Holder served as President Clinton's deputy attorney general.
The committee's Democratic members unanimously supported Holder; GOP Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma voted no.
Holder's Senate floor vote and swearing in could be completed as soon as Thursday.
This is a mistake; he's more political than Ashcroft and Gonzalez together could ever have been. And the MSM will never point it out.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#4
I suppose it's considered bad taste to stick out my tongue and chant NyaaaNyahh. (I bought the reloading stuff around 10 yeas ago, it doesn't wear out)
Even if you dont (Or can't) reload, save your empty brass, even spent .22 has uses. (Not reloadable, but can be reformed ino .223 slug brass outer shells)
Likewise, .357 and .38 are the same case, just shorter. (Yes I have a case trimmer too)
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 17:22
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#5
I forgot always get manuals on reloading , bullet casting and powder manuals such as Hornady, Lyman, Hogdon, Lee, etc, and find a copy of Handloaders digest, that'll get you going at least.
Machinery without manuals is not useless, but damn near.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 17:30
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#6
Short PS, I got my lyman press at a flea market, they didn't know what it was.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 20:18
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Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police officers, hospital patients and prisoners have cast their ballots as provincial elections begin. About 617,000 Iraqis went to polls on Wednesday, three days before the main polling day.
Government officials say early voting aims at avoiding problems that the country faced in the last national elections held in 2005 as well as ensuring that security forces would be on duty to protect polling stations on Saturday.
"I'm happy to confirm there has not been any violations or irregularities whatsoever and the turnout was huge", chairman of the Independent High Electoral Commission Faraj al-Haydari told reporters after the polls closed.
Over 14,000 candidates are competing for 440 seats on provincial councils in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The election will be delayed in Kirkuk and the three Kurdistan provinces. The local councils, which function much like state legislatures, have significant regional powers and are responsible for selecting governors and provincial police chiefs.
Iraq is tightening security ahead of Saturday voting. Airports and borders will be closed on the eve of the poll as transport bans and night-time curfews will be imposed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said.
Obama got rolled. Over the next few months that will be as common as 'dog bites man'.
'Rolled' suggests he doesn't understand or accept the consequences. I'm not sure I believe that.
I'm not completely sure either, but he is rather clueless about a lot of stuff ...
The official suggested that Mr Obama's White House had made clear it would not prioritise executing the Bush administration's plan to install a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Thus undercutting the Poles and Czechs who stuck their necks out for us. And sending a signal to any other country around the world that trusted the word of the U.S. prior to January 20th. This takes us back to the old Carter days when we actively undercut countries that formerly had been our allies, all to gain the approval of the Euro-left.
An unnamed official in the Russian military's general staff said: "The implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new US administration is not rushing through plans to deploy" elements of its missile defence shield in eastern Europe, according to the Interfax news agency.
'Not rushing' in this case is a prelude to deleting the funding for the project in next year's defense budget.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, had warned that the US shield - which the Bush White House said was necessary to defend against potential attacks from the Middle East - would be interpreted by Moscow as a direct provocation.
Carrying water for the Iranians, since he knows the missiles aren't aimed at him. The only other explanation is that the Russian offensive missile capacity isn't nearly as good as the West thinks: that while we think they could overwhelm our defensive shield with sheer numbers, perhaps -- after the incompetence, lack of maintenance, and lack of upgrades -- they really can't.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, announced in November that in response, Moscow would place short-range Iskander missiles in the western enclave of Kaliningrad.
Which used to be called 'Prussia'. The Iskanders are offensive and clearly would threaten NATO. And Obama is going to cave.
Washington had previously obtained agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic for the installation of the shield, which it said would plug a gap in its global missile defence system.
More importantly, it would shield eastern and central Europe from whatever long-range missiles Iran could produce in the next couple of decades. Obama is making clear, with this act and with his letter to Iran, that he simply doesn't consider them to be a threat. And that isn't what he said in the campaign.
It said the shield was necessary to guard against long-range missiles that Iran was working to develop. The proposed system had received Nato-wide backing.
Because the Euros understood the threat and they also understood that Uncle Sam had the only counter. Now that's going to go away. The only defense the Euros will have against an Iranian threat of a long-range, nuclear-tipped missile will be 'talk'. And we already know how well that works.
Plans for the system were accelerated after the conflict between Russia and Georgia last year.
Because we saw the need to make clear to Putin that his actions had consequences. Now Putin will be emboldened to try more stunts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#1
another dark day for eastern europe... can the iron curtain II be far behind?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:50
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#2
The Russkies only have nukes to rely upon. I suspect that the Poles could make any conventional military act by Moscow give the Georgian adventure the appearance of a parade through Red Square. This time they don't have to worry about the [once effective military] Germans invading from the west at the same time.
#3
While it sucks to leave the Poles and Czechs out on a limb, I never understood why we wanted to defend the EUroweenies in the first place. If they want to be defended, then they should do it themselves. If they don't care about being defended, that's their problem. It's high time we stopped paying to help people who despise us.
#6
Not surprising - when B.O. was getting taken to the woodshed by McCain during the debates about East Europe background and policy B.O. rambled a bit then started talking about houses in California (McCain fell for that one hard) effectively changing the subject (moderator didn't get back on task either).
I believe Europe is full of good people and bad government - a government which acts like a spoiled rich kid hooked on drugs. Talks about how cool he is, how everything is bad except peace man, then goes and withdraws a bunch of money from his inhieratence to buy more smack. Takes his friends over to the parents and doesn't care when they break and steal things. Then suddenly, one day, he's broke homeless and hooked.
Don't know about Iron Curtain or Fortress Europe II, but Russia is putting itself in a position to force its will, ie make Europe till the earth for them and fill the coffers of Moscow, and the only peoples of Europe who seem interested in physically fighting are these East Europe countries - because they have been there and don't want to go back.
And this isn't even saber rattling - President Obama is getting spooked by a guy across the street shaking a can full of pebbles.
#7
Let the European Union protect Europe. While I'm not an Obama supporter I agree with him on this. I thought Bush was make a poor decision pushing this. There was nothing to gain from doing this. I'm tired of the US being the hero for those who do not want help.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/29/2009 12:25
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#8
And its just going to get worse, the anti-us sentiment as a generation raised on being weary of the USA begins to mature. Was over at a colleagues house in Liepzig having dinner and his kids came to the table like, "Holy crap, real Americans in my house? Where are their horns and scales?"
The USA has done more than its fair share for Europe. They want an EU, they should have it with all the responsibilities of a nation. That includes its own defense. Perhaps if the euro elites and hollywood protected their own riviera houses they would begin to understand sometimes things are worth fighting for. However, if the plan is to leave do it right; and that is not by flinching like a over caffinated 12 year old.
#9
I always felt that this was another example of Putin's political theater. He never intended to go through with his threat, and Obama's inaugeration just provides him with an excuse to pull back without losing any face.
All of this is for domestic and Euro-lefty consumption. Kind of like Hugo's recurring invasion scares. The difference is that Hugo actually believes his own dementia and Putin does not.
Expect Rusia's beligerency to disappear until the economy (and oil prices) turn up again.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/29/2009 15:14
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#10
Most of the US sites being discussed are early warning radar to protect the US from middle east missiles. They are misplaced to defend us from Russian missiles that would go over the North Pole and they are useless for protecting Europe becuase the intercept time is so short.
The Russians have been playing a shell game all along to continue their missile sales and be a pain. Now they can always play that missile car again now that they've pulled it back.
#11
ION RUSSIA, WAFF > WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: RUSSIA [Putin], CHINA [Wen Jiabao] BLAMES CAPITALISTS; + MILYUUUHNS OF CHINESE TO LOSE/FACE JOB LOSSES AFTER END OF NEW TEAR'S CELEBRATIONS [Approxi 20-30%(+) of China's 130Milyuhn PROVINCIAL CHINESE LOOKING FOR DOMESTIC URBAN-CITY WORK], + CCP OFFICIAL: 2009 WILL BE A DANGEROUS YEAR FOR CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY???
Aswat al-Iraq: Two policemen on Wednesday were killed in an armed attack on a polling center in Touz Khormato district, according to a security source. "Unknown gunmen opened fire on an electoral center in Touz Khormato district (80 km south of Kirkuk), killing two police personnel, including an officer," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "An investigation is currently underway," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Pakistan Army has the 'will and resolve' to defeat terrorists, restore peace and establish the writ of the state in violence-hit areas, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani told troops during his visit to Swat on Wednesday.
The visit comes a day after the third phase of Operation Rah-e-Haq against the Fazlullah-led Taliban began on Tuesday.
Gen Kayani also lauded the morale of troops. A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations directorate said the COAS "took stock of the situation" in Swat during the visit.
Military commanders briefed him on the security situation in Swat and Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Masood Aslam briefed him on operational plans, it said.
Gen Kayani gave fresh directions for the operation. The COAS also met notables of Swat and the civil administration.
A private TV channel said he also met Pashtun leader Afzal Lala and lauded his stance against the Taliban. Lala said political leaders would not be able to stay in Swat if they were not protected. He called for more government and media attention to Swat.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Pakhtoonkhwa Mili Awami Party Senator Raza Muhammad Raza accused the Balochistan government of embezzling funds donated for earthquake victims during the proceedings of the Upper House on Wednesday.
Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani denied the allegations and an argument ensured.
Raza Muhammad said the Balochistan government had done nothing for the quake victims and had particularly embezzled funds from foreign donors.
Senator Abdur Rahim Mandokhel seconded him, adding no accounts were maintained of the received assistance and how it was utilised. He called for an inquiry.
Senator Pari Gul Agha said the provincial government had received billions of rupees in assistance but the earthquake victims "received nothing". The allegations provoked Raza Rabbani, who challenged Raza Muhammad to bring proof before the House if his allegations were correct. The PkMAP senator said he had "accepted the challenge" and would share substantial information with the House.
Rabbani said it was an issue of a very serious nature that brought into question the transparency of the provincial and central governments and added the legislators needed to be more responsible when making statements. He said he would take the House into confidence on the issue on Thursday (today).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Pols are pols -
"JACKSON, Miss. (AP) â The mayor of a Mississippi city devastated by Hurricane Katrina pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he lied to get disaster assistance to repair his damaged beachfront home.
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr is the highest-ranking public official so far to be charged with fraud related to the storm that slammed the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005." - more
Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Wednesday foiled an attempt to bomb an oil well near Basra city, according to the media office of Basra police. "A force from the anti-explosives department defused an explosive charge planted near an oil well in Talha area (80 km north of Basra)," the office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Another force conducted a raid search in different parts of Basra, during which four wanted men were arrested on criminal charges and a stolen car was found," according to the office.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Well done, Basra police! It's nice to see that the Army isn't having all the successes.
The NWFP government has proposed setting up Federal Appellate Shariat Courts in Malakand whose verdict would be considered final, provincial Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah said on Wednesday.
The proposal -- sent to the federal government to be made part of the proposed Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation of 2008 -- will end the jurisdiction of the high court and the Supreme Court in the area, and has come on the demand of the defuct Tehreek Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) led by Sufi Muhammad, the minister said.
"The provincial government has proposed the Federal Appellate Court, whose verdict will be final. Let's see the federal government's response to this proposed amendment," the law minister said in a brief talk with reporters after a seminar. The Awami National Party-led provincial government had accepted "almost all the demands" of the TNSM chief, he said. There were "some technical and legal complications" in incorporating Sufi Muhammad's demands which the minister said would also be acceptable to rebel cleric Mullah Fazlullah. But the NWFP government had proposed including them in the Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulation "for the sake of peace", he said.
Barristar Abdullah said the TNSM chief and the people of Swat wanted the government to repeal the the jurisdiction of the high court and Supreme Court in Swat.
The move would require an amendment to the Tribal Areas Act of 1973 because there is no provision in the constitution to withdraw jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts, the law minister said. The caretaker NWFP government before the February 18 elections had made a similar proposal in which decisions of the Qazi courts could only be challenged in the Federal Shariat Court.
The ANP-led government had initially amended the draft and deleted the withdrawal of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court jurisdiction from the proposal, saying it would deprive the people of their constitutional rights.
But the NWFP government has been compelled by the TNSM chief not only to withdraw their earlier decision, but also to propose the establishment of a Federal Appellate Court in the Malakand Division whose verdict would be considered final.
After being released from prison as part of an agreement with the government, Sufi Muhammad had announced he would lead a peaceful movement in Dir district demanding the government implement sharia law in the division.
Rebel cleric Fazlullah, the son-in-law of Sufi Muhammad and the leader of the Swat Taliban, had announced support for the proposals Sufi had made. But earlier this week, he summoned politicians and elders of Swat -- including former and current legislators and federal and provincial ministers -- to Taliban courts where he said they would be punished in line with the sharia for opposing the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Reporting from Springfield, Ill. -- Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich will come to Springfield to make the closing argument in his impeachment trial Thursday, state Senate President John J. Cullerton said.
Blagojevich, who has boycotted the impeachment trial so far, will not take questions from senators, Cullerton said. Cullerton broke the news to the Senate as he was going over scheduling. The Senate had been expecting final witnesses today and a single closing argument Thursday morning from House prosecutor David Ellis.
Now, they expect the governor to appear before the Senate. Under the trial rules, he has to ask for permission to speak. It's a motion the Senate is expected to approve.
"I've been informed that the governor would like to come here tomorrow," Cullerton told the Senate. "We would have to give him permission to do that -- I would urge us all to give him that leave so he can argue as his own attorney."
Blagojevich spokeswoman Katie Ridgway said she "can confirm the governor will be down in Springfield to speak before the Senate" to make the closing argument.
The announcement came several hours after Cullerton challenged Blagojevich to stop giving national television interviews and to take questions directly from lawmakers at his impeachment trial. In "hiding out in New York and having Larry King asking questions instead of the senators, I think he's making a mistake," Cullerton said outside Senate chambers. "He should come here and answer the questions and provide the context that he claims these statements are being taken out of."
Cullerton also took issue with Blagojevich's complaints that the trial is unfairly stacked against him.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#2
Actually, BP, everybody knows Blago's a Democrat. The crook that Obama named for Sec'y of Transportation is a sort of Republican. In Chicago, the crooks are the Daley Machine, which is Democrat; Downstate the crooks are the Republican Combine (I don't know if "Combine" is a common term or a John Kass coinage).
They all come from the same cesspool. Party titles are for convenience only.
For your edification and entertainment, here is a link to John Kass's column.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists
#3
Kass is a promary source, but don't forget Kjellander - the RNC member from the state. He's a friend of Rove and thoroughly enmeshed with the bi-partisan machine here.
The children, aged 16 and younger, were detained at about 8pm after a complaint by a local cleric.
Five members of the Ahmadiyya community including four children were charged with blasphemy under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code in Layyah on Wednesday. The children, aged 16 and younger, were detained at about 8pm after a complaint by a local cleric. Police have registered a case in the Court Sultan police station against Tahir Imran (16), Tahir Mahmood (14), Naseer Ahmad (14), Muhammad Irfan (14), and Mubashar Ahmad (45). A spokesman for the community denied the allegations saying they were intended to fuel religious hatred. "Victimising children with false accusations is the most condemnable use of the blasphemy law," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Japan has ordered its navy to prepare for a mission to guard against pirates off the coast of Somalia and plans to draw up legislation in the next two months to clear the way for its warships legally to combat modern-day buccaneers.
Tokyo's belated decision to join the more than a dozen nations that have already deployed naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean highlights the sensitivity surrounding the use of military forces by a nation that has been officially pacifist since its defeat in the second world war.
The decision follows months of debate. Many politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic party have long sought to allow a wider role for the military - officially known as its self-defence forces since the postwar constitution renounced the maintenance of an army, air force or navy - as part of a drive to make the nation a "normal country".
However, Tokyo has struggled to navigate the legal waters surrounding despatch of maritime self-defence force vessels, even though a mission against the marauders who have attacked scores of vessels off Somalia over the past year is relatively uncontroversial. The government has concluded that under current legislation, MSDF warships can only act in the defence of Japanese vessels or those carrying Japanese nationals or cargo.
Officials say that navies are legally free to take on high seas pirates at any time, but the MSDF does not have the status of a navy and any action must have a separate legal basis.
In spite of such problems, Yasukazu Hamada, defence minister, yesterday ordered the MSDF to begin preparations for a mission to the waters near Somalia, saying the threat posed by pirates there required "urgent action".
Taro Aso, the prime minister, would also prepare legislation for the Diet by March that would allow the MSDF to protect the ships of other nations from pirate attacks, a spokesman for Mr Aso said yesterday.
It is unclear how quickly any new law might be passed by the Diet. The parliament's less powerful upper house is dominated by the opposition Democratic party, which has delayed a number of government bills in recent months.
Tokyo had accelerated efforts to establish a legal basis for the mission after China last month sent three naval vessels to waters off Somalia last month, the first such mission by the People's Liberation Army navy.
Beijing's relatively prompt action has accentuated fears among Tokyo officials and policymakers that Japan risks being eclipsed by China's growing international influence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#1
as long as they actually are there to 'fight' and not just 'have a presence' in the area.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:33
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#6
Meanwhile, back in NOKOR, TOPIX > VARIOUS - NORTH KOREA DECLARES ALL ACCORDS AND TREATIES WITH SOUTH KOREA AS "DEAD" - WARNS THAT SOUTH KOREA IS PUSHING TO THE BRINK OF WAR!?; + NORTH KOREA DEMANDS A NEW SEA BORDER WITH SOUTH KOREA [Land-Sea DMZ = Borders now NULL + VOID] + REPORT: US FACING WAR, ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE WITH NORTH KOREAN COLLAPSE.
Perhaps GODZILLA + SCALEY BOYZ [monsters] should turn back from the GULF OF ADEN???
Waziristan has become a hotbed for militants after the Bajaur operation, and the situation would worsen if suitable action was not taken, a private TV channel quoted Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General (IG) Major General Tariq Khan as saying on Wednesday. According to the channel, the FC IG said the border areas of Kohat and Peshawar had been evacuated, adding that another 7,000 officials would be recruited in the FC. He said the salaries of FC personnel were less than those of army officials, and "the funds for the operation allowance of the FC officials has not been released so far".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Asharq Al-Awsat - Turkey has called on Hamas to choose between becoming a political movement that pursues negotiation in order to achieve its national goals working within the framework of the Palestinian political system, or remaining an armed group, making it clear that Turkey does not support some of Hamas's activities, and that the movement has made mistakes.
Burak Ozugergin, an adviser to Turkish Foreign Minster Ali Babacan informed Asharq Al-Awsat via telephone that "Ankara believes that Hamas is at a crossroads and must choose between carrying arms or engaging in the political process." He added "Turkey is not giving advice to Hamas, but Hamas must take all steps that it deems necessary."
The Turkish official made these comments after Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said "Hamas should make a decision. Do they want to be an armed organization or a political movement?"
He added "Our suggestion is that they work within the framework of the political system. The party supported by Hamas got 44 percent of the votes in the last elections. It is impossible to ignore this base".
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but secular country that historically has had good ties with Israel and the Arab world, played a role in helping broker an end to the offensive this month, particularly by lobbying Hamas to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called Israel's operations, launched with the aim of ending Hamas's cross-border rocket attacks, "a crime against humanity," deploring what he saw as excessive force, and he suggested Israel be barred from the United Nations.
The government has come under criticism for the strong rhetoric it used against Israel during the offensive in the Gaza strip. Turkish opposition parties, ex-diplomats and columnists have accused the government of taking a pro-Hamas stance.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Bolivia wants to rebuild strained relations with the United States and hopes to exchange ambassadors with the new US administration soon, the South American nation's foreign minister said Wednesday.
David Choquehuanca said Bolivia will present US President Barack Obama with an agenda, including plans for a trade deal that he said was rejected by George W. Bush's government.
"We want to rebuild our relations with the US, and we know that they want a positive relationship too," Choquehuanca told reporters, saying his country would wait until the new US president was settled in office before pressing the issue.
He said the Obama administration had congratulated leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales on voters' approval Sunday of a new constitution, which Morales had made the central platform of his presidency.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Shouldn't really be a problem since both leaders are Marxists.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:43
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Yea, just like sunni and shia, both mohammedams...
#9
Drug boat my ass, the boat was a people smuggler, probably stolen and abandoned when the "New Americans" walked ashore.
Posted by: Rednek Jim ||
01/29/2009 17:08
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#10
If they can bring people they can bring drugs. Probably did. The world's getting faster everyday so ya gotta multitask. Besides them pollos gotta pay off the coyotes somehow. What better way than to deliver some blow after they go ashore?
#11
And besides that, just a month or so ago, an abandoned boat crashed into the rocks at Sunset Cliffs just a few miles south of Del Mar and it was loaded with marijuana. It seems the motor died then they got caught inside the surf line. They left all the drugs in the boat when they bailed out.
Didn't mean to hijack the thread. Just wanted bigjim to know the kilos are on their way.
India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday called on Pakistan to take 'strong action' against those behind the Mumbai attacks, saying no normalcy in bilateral relations could be achieved until Pakistan punished those involved, Al Jazeera reported.
"Every country is responsible to ... ensure that their territory is not misused to cause trouble in the neighbouring countries."
In an interview with the channel, Mukherjee said Pakistan had to fulfil its commitments 'at the highest level' to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. He said Pakistan had to work on "three major things -- dismantle the infrastructure facilities, take strong action against the perpetrators of terror attacks and look for the fugitives of the Indian law who have committed crime here and have taken shelter there".
"Every country is responsible to ... ensure that their territory is not misused to cause trouble in the neighbouring countries," the Al Jazeera website quoted the Indian minister as saying. He said the possibility of a conflict with Pakistan did not concern India. "The issue is how to tackle the problem of terrorism emanating from Pakistan," he told the channel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Benjamin Netanyahu, the favorite to win the upcoming Israeli election, says al Qaeda terrorists will destroy Jesus Christ's burial site.
Netanyahu, who claims he had predicted an Islamic extremists attack on the World Trade Center six years before the actual attack, said terrorists will target Church of the Holy Sepulchre also known as the Church of the Resurrection - Christianity's holiest site.
The church located in Jerusalem (al-Quds) -- which according to the New Testament is the site of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus -- attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims every year and is considered a spiritual focal point.
"Radical Islam is willing and will want to attack the symbolic heart of the Christian religion," said the former Israeli prime minister.
"This will incur a chain reaction we can't even envision. We will witness an escalation of religious conflict above and beyond the regional conflict we have now," Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.
The Right-wing Likud leader said he had warned in a 1995 book -- six years before the September 11 attacks -- that "Islamist terrorists" would detonate a nuclear device in the World Trade Centre in New York.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
I hate to break it to them, but unlike the heathen Muzzies, Christianity is tied to the heart and individual soul and choice to open up to God and keep him with you.
Its not tied to a block of rock in a single place, like Mecca.
But if they want to start playing that game...
It makes one wonder how their false religion of the false paedophile prophet would survive the destruction of that piece of rock at Mecca...
#4
I'm guessing OS doesn't have much experience with Christians in the developing world. In general Christians in the developing world are MUCH more fundamentalist. I could definitely see Christians in South America and Africa going medieval on their Muslim neighbors.
#5
if it would bring about the destruction of islam then it may be worth it, but since most christian preachers teach turn the other cheek it won't so just bomb their damn rock and isn't there a cave in Israel that is supposed too be a xvery "muslim holy site too it could be filled with cement
#6
Spike Uniter, if I understand certain prophecies correctly, they are successful, too. I think one of OBL's videos portrayed him as sitting on a throne much like St. Peter's chair, with a halo effect, but maybe I'm just confusing it with one of Fred's photos.
George Mitchell, Barack Obama's old new envoy to the Middle East, is to hold talks with Palestinian leaders amid continuing violence in the Gaza Strip. He is due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but not officials from Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Earlier, he met Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and said it was vital to extend the ceasefires declared last week after Israel's 22-day offensive.
Why?
Mr Mitchell has already visited Cairo and Jerusalem during a week-long tour. Mr Mitchell has said his visit, which comes less than a week into a new US presidency, showed the American commitment to peace, but shortly after he arrived Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel and Israeli jets pounded a metal factory in southern Gaza.
The US envoy has stressed Washington's commitment to pursuing a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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Mitchell was an officer in a law firm that represented Dubai (providing defense consulting) in a child slavery lawsuit. So this may be another exception to the very strict Obama lobbying rule.
Police arrested five pirates of the Sundarbans after an hour-long gunfight with them at Katamari area under Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district yesterday morning. The arrestees are Jihad, Omar Faruque, Moti Shikder, Ripon and Abdul Barek.
The sixth one was eaten by a tiger ...
Police recovered two foreign made double barrel guns, .22 bore rifles, five single barrel guns, 250 bullets, four torchlights and four large size daggers.
Sub-Inspector Abu Bakar along with 12 armed policemen rushed to Katamari area of the Sundarbans while Jihad Ali, chief of notorious Jihad Bahini, was holding a secret meeting. Four policemen received bullet injuries during the clash. Police said Jihad was wanted in over 40 criminal cases.
Extra security forces have been sent to Sundarbans to rescue 60 kidnapped fishermen.
Apparently Hasina has put an end to cross-fires and encounters. Pity ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#2
Whenever I hear "President Obama" I have an urge to roll around the floor laughing. I get the same feeling from "Prime Minister Kevin Rudd". Both clueless and useless. The magnitude of the disaster the Australian and US voters have inflicted on their countries will become apparent over the next few years. Yep they voted for "change" in both countries.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
01/29/2009 16:31
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#3
Why do these nuts only talk about global warming during ice storms or during blizzards?
The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings plunged 48 percent and online sales fell for the first time as the recession depressed spending by advertisers. The results still beat analyst estimates, and its shares rose almost 5 percent.
The Times also announced it has retained investment firm Goldman Sachs to help explore a sale of its 17.8 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, Fenway Park, a portion of a cable sports network and other properties.
The Times company, which publishes the Times, The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 16 other daily newspapers, earned $27.6 million, or 19 cents a share, in the October-December period, compared with $53 million, or 37 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2007.
Excluding various one-time charges, earnings totaled 36 cents a share, above the 27 cents per share that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected.
Shares in the company rose 25 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $5.85 in afternoon trading.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
now if they can just drop the other %52
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:44
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#2
Earnings down 48%, beats analysts estimates, shares up almost 5%. The worst is over.
#3
This will make it tough to pay off that Mexican loan. How do you say "New York Times" in Spanish? Will they keep an English edition for old times sake?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/29/2009 10:04
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#4
My bad - the parrot died and I've stopped fishing.
(Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe President Mugabe has said he hoped that the agreement by the country's tree main political parties to form an inclusive government by Feb. 13 marks the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe's politics, The Herald reported on Wednesday.
The agreement was made at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Extraordinary Summit which ended early on Tuesday morning in Tshwane, South Africa, though opposition MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti made a sudden U-turn, contradicting a communiqušŠ issued after the meeting.
Speaking to the media at the Harare International Airport after returning from the summit, Mugabe confirmed that the opposition had finally agreed to join the inclusive government.
President Mugabe said he hoped that this marks the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe's politics.
"We did agree that an inclusive government should be formed. Dates have been stipulated for the various activities, which include the formation of the government itself with the swearing-in of the top people, that is the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, then the ministers, and then that the government should be in place," he said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader Morgan Tsvangirai should be sworn in on February 11 along with opposition MDC leader Arthur Mutambara as Deputy Prime Ministers.
President Mugabe said once the government is in place, it will start looking into the concerns raised by opposition MDC-T, including the issue of the appointment of provincial governors.
"This shall start with the constitutional amendment in Parliament which will legalize this whole framework. It (Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill) should be debated in Parliament soon. We do hope that things will open up now. This is a new chapter in political relations in our country and in the structure of Government," Mugabe said.
Under the agreement, President Mugabe remains head of state and government, commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, chair of cabinet and chair of the National Security Council šD currently constituted as the Joint Operations Command.
Asked how the efficacy of the inclusive Government will be determined, Mugabe said: "The enforcement shall be by us. We have an in-built mechanism to monitor this. And after six months, there will be a review of the progress made or the lack of it. In light of this, there should be compliance, I certainly hope there will be."
"However, the MDC-T, after consultations with suspected British and American intelligence officers, issued a conflicting statement against the SADC position. Speaking to the international media on Tuesday, party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed (South African) President (Kgalema) Motlanthe's statement, saying SADC had fallen far short of our expectations," the Zimbabwe president said.
"We did put to the summit our position on the outstanding issues. Unfortunately, our expectations were not met, our case was not received. In fact, there was no objective understanding and assessment of the situation," he said.
According to SADC chairperson and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai had agreed to the SADC position in a closed-door session.
This is not the first time that MDC-T has turned against propositions by SADC in the regional body's efforts to salvage the September 15 broad-based agreement signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and MDC leader Arthur Mutambara.
Last week, Tsvangirai agreed to a proposition by SADC facilitator to the talks, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza for the formation of the inclusive Government, but made a counter-proposal after making "consultations".
MDC-T has disregarded several SADC proposals for the implementation of the agreement, saying it wanted "outstanding issues" to be resolved before they could join the government.
According to a communiqušŠ issued by SADC on Tuesday, the summit noted that Zimbabweans are faced with difficult challenges and suffering that could only be addressed once an inclusive Government is in place.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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President Asif Ali Zardari says Pakistan will disclose findings of its investigations into the terror on India's financial hub within days. "A report on the preliminary investigation would be forwarded to India in two to three days," the Dawn newspaper quoted Zardari as saying during a Tuesday dinner with foreign diplomats in Islamabad.
Zardari said Pakistan was 'seriously conducting the probe' and urged the diplomats to play their role in defusing tensions 'for the sake of peace' in the troubled region.
On January 5, India provided Pakistan with data from satellite phones used by the attackers as well as what it describes as the 'confession of a surviving gunman'.
Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, however, said the evidence provided by India on the Mumbai attacks constituted 'information' and not legally binding evidence.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik announced on January 17 that the dossier was being seriously examined and the initial probe would be completed within 10 days, a deadline that has passed.
Malik, however, held a meeting on Tuesday to review the investigation's progress. Following the meeting the deadline was extended by two days.
Washington, New Delhi, and London hold Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based militant group responsible for the Mumbai attacks that killed at least 179 people, including the nine militants conducting the assault.
Zardari has rejected the involvement of his government in the attacks saying that 'non-state actors' were involved in the incident.
Pakistan has cracked down on LeT and its charity front, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, arresting several militants leaders and closing down its offices and camps across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
These self investigations are always so predictible in their results.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/29/2009 10:27
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#2
ION PAKISTAN, PAKISTANO DEFENCE FORUMS > PAKISTAN FRETS OVER REDRAWN SOUTH ASIA MAP [US strategic intentions in PAKI = South Asia], + INDIAN TALIBAN MAY HURT BJP.
WAFF > PAKISTAN HAS ONLY SIX DAYS OF PETROL RESERVES LEFT [+ Nine days for FURNACE OIL]: GOVT. OWES RS$30.0BILYUHN [Islamabad hard-pressed? to $$$ pay three major Oil-POL Supply Corporations]???
WASHINGTON -- As President Obama moves to redefine the nation's mission in Iraq, he faces a difficult choice: Is he willing to abandon a campaign promise or risk a rupture with the military? Or can he finesse the difference?
Since taking office last week, Mr. Obama has recommitted to ending the war in Iraq but not to his specific campaign pledge to pull out roughly one combat brigade a month for the first 16 months of his presidency. His top commander in Iraq has proposed a slower start to the withdrawal, warning of the dangers of drawing down too quickly.
On Wednesday, Mr. Obama visited the Pentagon for the first time since becoming president, and he seemed to be looking for an option that would let him stay true to his campaign promise, at least in theory, without alienating the generals. The White House indicated that Mr. Obama was open to alternatives to his 16-month time frame and emphasized that security was an important factor in his decision.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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#1
", they're entitled to their opinion, but that shouldn't be our policy."
So of course Medea Asshole Benjamin and the idiot left think she knows more about military ops and stability than the military?
#4
Others said the timetable was less important than the goal.
More and more bypocrosity. The timeline means nothing, nothing at all. Obama is simply conducting a Kabuki dance with the left and the MSM in order to give them time to adjust their focus and story-line rhetoric. As you may recall under the Bush Adiministration there was very little in the MSM about the character of the GITMO detainees. It was "Close GITMO" morning and night. Now that Obama is the decision maker, the GITMO detainees are all of a sudden portrayed by the MSM as the most dastardly of murderers and scoundrels who have unacceptable recidivism rates and bear the closest of watching.
#5
Someone mentioned to the One that unless he was willing to abandon billions [trillions after he and the Donks inflate the currancy] of dollars of equipment and supplies that just the physical and lift ability to move all the material and gear out of country and redeployed is going to take a lot of time?
#7
The "goal" (withdrawal) is an outrageous, dangerous, inexcusable strategic catastrophe that also pours waste on the graves and hospital wards of those who have (successfully) sacrificed to achieve our REAL goals.
As several acquaintances still in uniform have told me for some time, they carefully avoid awareness of most domestic political developments in order to maintain their morale.
#8
"If there are some military people who feel we should stay there, they're entitled to their opinion, but that shouldn't be our policy."
"If" ??? He's been BRIEFED by senior military leaders regarding the dangers of a premature turnover and withdrawl. He never misses an opportunity to disrespect or attempt to disenfranchise the military.
The police on Wednesday foiled a forced marriage of a 12-year-old girl with a 70-year-old man in Kashmoor area of Jackobabad, a private TV channel reported. According to the channel, the marriage of Miro Khan and the minor girl, Afia, had been arranged on the orders of a panchayat. The wedding was underway when the police raided the premises and arrested the bridegroom along with his relatives. The minor girl is in government care now, the channel reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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Somali lawmakers have voted to extend by two years the term of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) which was due to expire in August.
The TFG was formed in Kenya in 2004 in a bid to restore stability in war-torn Somalia. It has however been unable to exert authority across the country.
"We wanted the term of the TFG to be extended until August 2011 so that we can facilitate free and fair elections. We cannot continue with this huge parliament for more than two years," Parliament Speaker Aden Mohamed Nur said.
The lawmakers are currently meeting in Djibouti, due to insecurity in Somalia, to elect a new president to replace Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed who resigned last month.
Clan bickering and violence have scuppered numerous efforts to restore normalcy in Somalia. The Horn of African state has not had a functioning national government since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.
In recent years, ensuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices as well as the collapse of the local currency have significantly worsened the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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(Xinhua) -- Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU) Jean Ping on Wednesday appealed for calm in Madagascar, as the country's tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the street in the capital Antananarivo. In a statement, Ping said he was "deeply concerned by the prevailing political tension and the risk it poses to the stability of the country."
He deplored the loss of lives caused by the violent incidents that had occurred in Antananarivo. The death toll from Monday's violence rose to nearly 40 people, media reports said. Ping urged all stakeholders "to resolve the current crisis through dialogue and respect for constitutional order and legality."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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An 80-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman were declared kari in Sukkur district's Jaffarabad area on Wednesday, a private TV channel reported. According to the channel, the people who passed the verdict also attempted to kill the two accused using bricks and wooden sticks, but the man and the woman survived the attack. The man declared kari has been missing since the attack, while the woman was in a critical condition, the channel said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
a word like 'barbaric' seems to fall short
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:41
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A Hamas official said on Wednesday that it has rejected Israeli conditions for a tahadiyeh (cease-fire), which include freeing kidnapped St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told US Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday that while the Gaza crossings were open that day for humanitarian aid, their full, routine, permanent functioning would require a solution to the Schalit issue.
Olmert has reportedly offered to gradually open the border crossings in exchange for Schalit, who was kidnapped near Gaza in June 2006.
Olmert has reportedly offered to gradually open the border crossings in exchange for Schalit, who was kidnapped near Gaza in June 2006. A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office would not confirm the report.
Salah el-Bardawil, a member of the Hamas delegation currently in Cairo, reiterated on Wednesday that it was not possible to link the truce to the release of Schalit, and said that if Israel wanted him it had to pay the appropriate price. "We said clearly that we have our vision and a list that we presented to Egypt, and the ball is in the Israeli court," Bardawil told Al-Jazeera from Cairo. "If they want to release Schalit, they have to pay a price in return... the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails waiting to be released."
Since the end of Operation Cast Lead, Hamas has refused to connect the Schalit issue with reopening the crossing points and reaching a truce.
Hamas has restated this position with the Egyptians at every meeting, saying that Schalit's release depended on the release of a list of security prisoners it submitted to Ofer Dekel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's former coordinator on the Schalit issue, some time ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Hey, why not? Not like they caught a lotta incoming up in Damascus.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would not hesitate to take the stringent measures to curb militancy in the country. "I have already directed all ministries and the authorities concerned to find out the militants' patrons, financers and sources of illegal arms and ammunitions to root out militancy," Hasina, also the leader of the House, said in her first question-answer session in the ninth parliament.
It was the previous Awami League government that introduced the prime minister's question-answer session in the seventh parliament amending the rules of procedure.
Terming militancy a major problem in the country, the premier said she has already asked the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to form 'South Asian Anti-terrorism Taskforce' in line with her party's election manifesto for curbing cross-border terrorism. It will help track down militants and bring them to justice. It will also strengthen cooperation between the police forces and courts of the South Asian nations.
The lawmakers of the ruling AL-led alliance welcomed the premier's replies thumping desks amid boycott by the BNP-led opposition lawmakers who walked out of the House before the proceedings began.
Replying to a query from a lawmaker, the prime minister said she would not hesitate to take actions against any bank or other institutions involved in funding militants. In a written answer to a query on steps for curbing militancy, Hasina said she has already directed the authorities of religious educational institutions to keep their institutions free from extremism and also asked the intelligence agencies to remain alert against militants.
"Whenever action is taken against militants, it is described as an attack on Islam. But it is not right. The militants have no religion and operate beyond boundaries," she said. "Tough actions must be taken against militants as they act against humanity and religion," Hasina said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
Thought prez zero said the war on terror was over...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/29/2009 0:48
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#2
Look at their sponsors ie Pak ISI and Saudi funds!!!
#3
Here's a clue, PM: it ain't the Jews, or the Lutherans, Catholics, or Buddhists that are causing the problems. I can't rule out the Episcopalians or Hindus, but the primary culprit seems to be the "Religion we cannot name". Good luck with your fight. Religious fatwa against you in 5, 4, 3...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/29/2009 11:20
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed retired Admiral Dennis Blair to be the country's top intelligence official on Wednesday. As director of national intelligence, Blair will oversee all 16 U.S. spy agencies, including the CIA. He will also be responsible for delivering the president's daily intelligence briefing.
During his confirmation hearing last week, Blair, declined to call waterboarding torture. His cautious response reflected a public debate over whether to prosecute CIA employees who used the simulated drowning technique.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009
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Smugglers were back at work in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday repairing tunnels running under the border with Egypt only hours after Israeli aircraft bombed the underground network. "They dropped two or three bombs. But look, everybody is still working," said a 30-year-old digger who gave only his nickname, Abu Ali.
The Israel Air Force bombed the tunnels heavily during the 22-day offensive it launched on December 27 with the declared aim of halting Hamas rocket attacks on its southern communities. The Israel Defense Forces fears Hamas can rearm through tunnels and targeted them again after a bomb detonated by Palestinian militants on Tuesday killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza frontier, 10 days into a ceasefire.
There was nothing clandestine about the bulky, bright yellow diggers and bulldozers grinding around the dusty area known as the Philadelphi corridor that divides the Gaza Strip from Egypt's Sinai peninsula. The work was carried out in open view of Egyptian border guards 50 meters to the south.
"I'm scared but I have to work. What else can I do? It's the only job," said a 17-year-old, who gave his name only as Mohammed. He said he would use the tunnel to bring in clothes.
For the 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip, the tunnels have become a main source of goods, including fuel, since Israel tightened its embargo following Hamas' seizure of control in 2007 from the forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Egypt, which has kept its Rafah border crossing with the territory largely closed, has agreed to help stop the tunnel smuggling, with international technical assistance. But no firm plan is yet in place as Israel and Hamas argue through mediators in Cairo about installing a longer term cease-fire that would meet Israel's demands for shutting off the arms supply and Hamas' demands for an easing of the blockade.
Many tunnels have sophisticated systems and seem to have survived weeks of Israeli bombardment. Scores of white plastic tents and cement structures line the border, where workers removed sand from tunnel entry shafts. One worker splashed muddy water on his plastic tent as makeshift camouflage, but his neighbors did not bother.
Bombs had severed several tunnels. Mechanical diggers gouged out the craters further, then workers came in with prefabricated wooden walls and roofing to patch the shafts. Once that was done, they bulldozed earth back over to conceal the tunnel.
One of the bombs dropped by Israel overnight hit a tunnel used for smuggling diesel fuel. It left a crater about 2 meters deep and destroyed a squat cement structure. It had sent the diesel storage tank flying. The steel tank lay twisted on its side, pitted with shrapnel.
"It doesn't scare us," said 30-year-old Abu al-Majd, one of the owners of the diesel tunnel that was bombed. "I'm going to rebuild. We have the cable for electricity and we're going to start to fix it again right now," he said over the rattle of an electric generator in the background.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009
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#1
I think the Israelis need a light penetration weapon that will bury itself deeply underground, then explode in such a way as to fracture rock in a large area around it.
It is the explosive expert miner's trick to plant charges in such as way as to maximize rock fracture, by creating a microsecond wave pattern to explosions.
#2
"I'm scared but I have to work. What else can I do? It's the only job," said a 17-year-old, who gave his name only as Mohammed.
Ahhh yes another juvenile subterranean slave forced to do the dirty work for their brave masters. Its not just a job there Mohammed its your chance at martyrdom! And if he gets blowed up in the process he can be exploited as a civilian death. Sounds like a Paleo twofer.
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.
BAGHDAD -- Iraq will not allow Blackwater Worldwide to continue providing security protection for U.S. diplomats in Iraq, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Thursday.
Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker, whose department has been rocked by controversy, said Tuesday that he will resign next month and blasted the City Council for paying "lip service to their commitment to public safety." 
(Xinhua) -- Israeli F16 warplanes carried out early on Wednesday three successive airstrikes on the border line between southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt, no injures reported, residents said. 
Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police officers, hospital patients and prisoners have cast their ballots as provincial elections begin. About 617,000 Iraqis went to polls on Wednesday, three days before the main polling day. 
Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said.
The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings plunged 48 percent and online sales fell for the first time as the recession depressed spending by advertisers. The results still beat analyst estimates, and its shares rose almost 5 percent.
Somali lawmakers have voted to extend by two years the term of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) which was due to expire in August. 
(Xinhua) -- Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU) Jean Ping on Wednesday appealed for calm in Madagascar, as the country's tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the street in the capital Antananarivo. In a statement, Ping said he was "deeply concerned by the prevailing political tension and the risk it poses to the stability of the country." 
Smugglers were back at work in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday repairing tunnels running under the border with Egypt only hours after Israeli aircraft bombed the underground network. "They dropped two or three bombs. But look, everybody is still working," said a 30-year-old digger who gave only his nickname, Abu Ali. 
