Top-secret data on an advanced US military system was leaked because Japanese officers were swapping porn files at work, a newspaper said Thursday. Japan is questioning a naval officer on charges he obtained confidential data on the US-developed Aegis combat system, the defence ministry said Wednesday. But the Yomiuri Shimbun said the data was leaked when the petty officer second class had copied pornographic images -- accompanied by the sensitive files -- from a colleague's computer and circulated them to a third officer.
Police suspect senior officials might have been involved in the porn swapping as the 33-year-old officer being questioned would not have had access to the classified data, the newspaper said. The petty officer said he did not know that the pornographic images were accompanied by sensitive information, the Japanese daily said, quoting Kanagawa prefectural police. A police spokesman declined comment, saying the investigation was ongoing.
The Aegis system has a cutting-edge radar and can launch missiles at more than 10 targets at one time. The Japanese naval force has five Aegis-equipped vessels. The data found on the officer's computer included formulas for the Aegis interceptor system and data on its radar's capacity to track several targets at once, the Yomiuri said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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One would think that if seppuku is still on the books, it would be called for here.
The security situation in Afghanistans districts bordering Pakistan is restive, particularly in Kamdesh district, which is close to the border, said Tamim Nurestani, the governor of Afghanistans eastern Nurestan province, in a report monitored by BBC. We believe that the Taliban will launch an operation there in the summer. According to our intelligence reports, the enemies and the Taliban will come to Nurestan province from Helmand and Kandahar provinces to fight. As you know, it is a mountainous province and they approach some roads from the valleys ... they mistreat people for one or two hours or plant mines, said the governor in the report.
Nurestan is one of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, and has a 240-kilometre border with Pakistan. The report said that a number of districts of Nurestan province were at the risk of being captured by the Taliban. It said if military forces of the government and NATO did not pay attention to this crisis, the districts bordering Pakistan would be captured by the Taliban.
Tamim Nurestani said that a number of Taliban fighters had settled in most of the regions and valleys of the province, and were regularly threatening security in the region. According to the governor of Nurestan, the Taliban intend to send their fighters to his province to create unrest in the eastern provinces of Panjsher and Badakhshan in the summer.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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In Panjsher? Massood's power base? I don't dount tehy will send fighters there, what I doubt is if they will return.
On March 31, 2007, Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qaddafi called, in a speech in Niger to Tuareg tribal leaders, for the establishment of a second Shi'ite Fatimid state in North Africa, after the model of the 10th-13th century empire that ruled North Africa, Egypt, and parts of the Fertile Crescent. In his speech, Qaddafi denounced the division of Muslims into Sunni and Shi'ite as a colonialist plot, and rebuked the Arab League members for "hating Iran."
At the beginning of the month, on March 1, 2007 - the eve of the anniversary of the coup that brought the Libyan Free Officers to power - Qaddafi gave a speech in which he denied the existence of a non-Arab Berber people (this also being a colonialist plot), provoking protest among Berbers and supporters of minority rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
The following are excerpts from Qaddafi's speeches See link, plus a rebuttal by the non-existent non-arab north africans.
#2
Is it just me or is Quadafi the biggest world b*tch available. This guy throws himself at whoever whatever happens to be the strong horse for the moment. WTF
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour. Pelosi, the first woman House speaker, said she had not discussed King Abdullah's recent criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, focusing instead on praise for the king's Mideast peace initiative, and efforts to quell conflicts in Somalia and Darfur.
She met with the king Wednesday and with several members of the Shura Council, an unelected advisory assembly named by the king, on Thursday. Asked if she had discussed the lack of women on the council, she told reporters, "The issue has been brought up in our discussions with the Saudis on this trip."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Well, Woman, Start with your visit as you dawned a headscarf and decided to be the rep of all that is evil and "negotiate" for just that. Eating from the tree, are we? Though through my experience, Women were the only ones who would have no part with the golden calf. Anyhoo, whatever. You do look modest in a headscarf. Just sayin.
#2
"efforts to quell conflicts in Somalia and Darfur."
Is that doublespeak for causing and agreeing to stop said conflict to messiah nancies face but yet ensure no infidel lives past 2025? Hmm, funny. I guess nancy did not get the MEMO.
#4
"We told her there should be some movement on the visa issue because, while we understand the security needs, the situation is unacceptable," said Abu-Holeiqa.
Yup, they got all of that covered pretty well. They give YOU visas and Mexicans a ride back to the border. But hey, world peace, right?
#6
..Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia from Syria, where she defied the White House's Middle East policy by meeting with President Bashar Assad and saying "the road to Damascus is a road to peace."
Damn right, and in m book, all of Demascus is rubble, but hey, they can convince me differently.
Sorry rantburgers, thought I would take the snark shift.
#8
Pelosi asks: Where are the Saudi female politicians ?
Can't y'all hear the Saudis laughing from over here? Who is this moron and how does she think her utterly ineffectual presence is going to change an millennia-old entrenched pattern of male privilege that any of these guys would cheefully string her guts up for a clothesline to preserve?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2007 8:08 Comments ||
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials
This means that Dem pollsters focus-grouped the headscarf-in-the-mosque pictures, and the results were deemed unsatisfactory. Therefore, it was necessary to insult the Saudi ruling class in order to compensate for a self-inflicted political injury.
#21
Pelosi asks: Where are the Saudi female politicians ?
The light slowly begins to dawn in Her Majesty's Brain. (Very loosely speaking.)
Perhaps this trip will yield something useful after all if Pelosi wises up even a tiny little bit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/06/2007 12:29 Comments ||
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#22
Maybe someone should write to her and introduce her to Rantburg.com. Then maybe she will have a clue about the Middle East and Islam in general.
Shocking!!
#23
Pelosi asks: Where are the Saudi female politicians ?
you've got to be kidding me. And Pelosi is over there 'negotiating' for us? She has that scarf wrapped way too tight.
Where's my blood pressure medicine
Posted by: Jan from work ||
04/06/2007 13:22 Comments ||
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#24
Pelosi asks: Where are the Saudi female politicians ?
At home, bossing around the Filapino and Pakistani housekeepers.
#25
Maybe someone should write to her and introduce her to Rantburg.com
despite her claim to represent all of America, Queen Nancy does not accept emails except from her own district. Nice echo chamber, eh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 16:18 Comments ||
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#26
And this idiot thinks she should set US foreign policy. If she were any more stupid, her head would implode. God help us and protect us from dummycritters.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/06/2007 21:25 Comments ||
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ISLAMIC community leaders at Lakemba mosque are being interviewed by the federal police about mufti Sheik Taj al-Dene Elhilaly's decision to hand charity funds to supporters of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorist outfits in Lebanon.
Officers have seized documents from the Lebanese Muslim Association, which backs Sheik Hilaly, and interviewed its president Tom Zreika. Islamic Friendship Association spokesman Keyser Trad, who is in Lebanon, has also been contacted by police.
The LMA raised $70,000 in conjunction with other Islamic bodies following the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon. The money was meant for widows needing ammunition war victims but LMA documents, in Sheik Hilaly's handwriting, state he gave $13,000 to political party leader and alleged supporter of the Iraqi insurgency and al-Qaeda Sheik Bilal Shaaban.
The Weekend Australian reports Sheik Hilaly, who is overseas, and LMA employee Sheik Yihya Safi will be asked by the AFP to provide a detailed outline of how they distributed the Australian-raised funds in Lebanon. It has been claimed that Sheik Elhilaly met with the leader of Hezbollah's terrorist wing, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
#5
You just knew this vile loudmouth slimeball was going to come up dirty. If Australia let's this maggot back in, they may as well roll over and surrender.
#6
Unless they convict and imprison him, Zenster, then deport him and his entire family. Or convict and deport, skipping imprisonment -- whichever is more appropriate.
"just as I went to Paris, to negotiate a less-than-honorable surrender to our North Vietnamese Overlords, Speaker Pelosi continues in this dishonorable and traitorous manner with our Islamic Overlords, I salute her"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 16:34 ||
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#1
Of course he does - turds birds of a feather and all that.
#4
Sorry Capsu - just reaffirming who is and isn't an asshole traitor. BTW - f*ck you and your visual of Rosie bathing! JK :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 17:51 Comments ||
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#5
Teresa Heinz Kerry also criticized Romney, saying "some segments of our population don't like uppity ladies -- and they call them all kinds of names. And (Pelosi) clearly is a wonderful example of what happens when women get in positions of power."
?????
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/06/2007 18:07 Comments ||
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#6
As they say in Texas, "some people jus' need killin'."
Posted by: Mac ||
04/06/2007 18:32 Comments ||
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#7
> I'd rather watch Rosie bathe...
Actually it'd be an impressive sight, watching her leap into the air after diving as deep as 2000 ft.
#8
One clueless idiot endorsing another clueless idiot - how DEMOCRATIC of them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/06/2007 21:27 Comments ||
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#9
He's a cartoon, a caricature of a buffoon politician. Does anyone listen to him anymore without putting their hand to their mouth and snickering behind it? He's an ineffectual "botched joke" on the nation.
Vice President Dick Cheney accused U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday of "bad behavior" on her Middle East trip, saying she bungled a message for Syria's president that was later clarified by Israel. Cheney harshly criticized Pelosi's visit to Syria this week and declared in an interview, "The president is the one who conducts foreign policy, not the speaker of the House."
Pelosi's Syrian stopover was opposed from the start by the Bush administration, which accuses Damascus of sponsoring terrorism and says it should be isolated from the international community. While in Damascus on Wednesday, Pelosi announced she had told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Israel was prepared to negotiate with Syria. That prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office to underline the Jewish state's preconditions for such talks -- including that Syria abandon its "support for terrorist groups."
Cheney, pointing to the Israeli reaction, said it was obvious Olmert had not authorized the message Pelosi delivered. "It was a non-statement, nonsensical statement and didn't make any sense at all that she would suggest that those talks could go forward as long as the Syrians conducted themselves as a prime state sponsor of terror," the vice president said on the Rush Limbaugh radio show.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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So folks, ya don't trust Bush's foreign policy?
Think you'd be willing to give this bitch's Marin County Wine and Cheese party version of foreign policy a shot? And think good, because you could be betting your life on it...
#2
If it weren't so dangerous to us all, it would be almost hilarious to consider how this moron struts through MME (Muslim Middle East) halls of power with little consideration of how each and every male within a mile's radius is wondering how this uppity broodmare ever got the idea that she or her sisterhood will ever occupy the same positions they do.
These guys must be laughing hysterically once she leaves the room. The only reason they don't smack her down is because she does everything to promote their interests short of servicing them sexually.
#3
More like San Francisco bath house foreign policy.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/06/2007 4:16 Comments ||
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#4
Knock down the colors on the scarf and she looks like a WW2 D.P.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2007 11:44 Comments ||
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#5
No Cheney, not "Bad behavior" the phrase you want is "Treasonous Behaviour"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/06/2007 12:35 Comments ||
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She must have dug that scarf up from the bottom of her grandmother's drawer. Apart from the craven pandering to a bunch of seventh century devil worshippers, it's really tacky.
California's top Democratic legislator called on Thursday for voters to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in a ballot measure for the state's 2008 presidential primary election. "We do not have to be on the streets of Berkeley or on the streets of Oakland," state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "We can now use the ballot box."
During the Vietnam War, both Northern Californian cities hosted frequent anti-war demonstrations, but with students today not threatened by a draft as they were in the 1960s, the Iraq war has not sparked the same level of public response. Polls suggest, however, that a growing percentage of the public favors an end to the U.S. involvement in Iraq.
A Field Poll report released on Thursday said disenchantment with President George W. Bush's handling of the war has pushed his approval rating among California voters to its lowest level since he assumed office and near a record low scored by President Richard Nixon in August 1974 shortly before he resigned from office in the Watergate scandal. Perata said he would introduce his bring-the-troops-home measure on Monday. To make the ballot, the measure requires a majority vote in the state Senate and Assembly, each controlled by Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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GLOBALRESEARCH > SUICIDAL AMERICAN STATECRAFT > PLANETARY MOVEMENT - George W. Bush resides over the end of his own Presidency; + FREEREPUBLIC/
PRESS TV > RUSSIAN GENERAL > IRAN's air defenses are VERY STRONG + capable of inflicting losses = repeling any US air attack. RIAN > Russia to deploy S-400 Triumf [SA-21 Growler], i.e. S-300/400 family, ADS around Moscow.
#2
Yeah, Joe. That's what the Russians would say. But look at the record of Soviet weaponry in the hands of Muslim Middle Easterners whenever it's come up against US or Israeli weapons.
#3
Don Perata is chief whore for the CA donks. He's trying to suck up to the moonbat Nor Cal base so when redistricting and term limits are shot down by the Dems, the moonbats will have his back. Here's a take from Chris Reed's blog, editorial writer for the San Diego Union Trib:
Perata's ploy: Slick, insincere and likely to work
This press release just came out:
PERATA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO "VOTE US OUT" OF IRAQ
California Ballot Measure Allows Citizens to Voice Demand for War's End
BERKELEY - California would become the first state in the nation to call on President Bush to immediately withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq under legislation unveiled today by Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland).
Frustrated by the Bush Administration's failure to end the war after more than four years, Perata announced plans to place an advisory measure on California's statewide ballot as part of next year's February 5th presidential primary.
Whether or not you think the advisory is a good idea, no one should have any illusions about why Perata wants this put on the ballot.
Obviously, he expects to win vast kudos from his party's base with little effort and no expenditure of political capital. But I also think he's hoping to insulate himself before his pending double-cross on redistricting reform. After saying in late 2005 that he would work to get a redistricting fix on the ballot, he sabotaged it in the closing days of the last legislative session. Now the governor and Fabian Nunez say they want to pair redistricting reform with a relaxation of term limits in measures to be put on the February 2008 ballot. But polls show public hostility to any term limits change, and Perata and many of the Dems who control Sacramento worry about a worst-case scenario in which redistricting reform passes -- meaning there are far more contested Assembly and Senate races -- but not a relaxing of term limits. So watch for Perata to sabotage redistricting reform yet again and keep it off the February 2008 ballot.
He will then be bashed by all of California's editorial pages, from the Kumbaya types to the doom-and-gloomers. How does he keep some of his luster? By portraying himself as an anti-war crusader with another measure on the February 2008 ballot, one that will generate such a hullaballoo that the good government set's whining will be drowned out.
It's slick, insincere and has a good chance of working. The public doesn't care nearly as much about redistricting as it should.
Posted at 10:29 AM
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 16:24 Comments ||
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Any person with the first, middle or last name of Muhammad automatically gets into the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) in the Homeland Security Administration/FBIs database as a potential or possible terrorism suspect. When a person with such a name travels, he is subjected to special scrutiny. A letter from Brigid Starkey of Catonsville, Maryland, in the Washington Post this week said, My son proudly carried his grandfathers name, Reza, as his middle name. Will this cost him opportunities or cause him embarrassment in the future? How about his friend Ali, a girl of Italian heritage whose nickname is short for Allensandra? She wrote that every American of ethnicity and faith should see this as a wake up call. She noted that entry on the lists of potential suspects maintained in US security agency databases could occur simply because a person had a middle name such as Muhammad, a name as common as Mike or John. We must end the witch-hunt that is ensnaring innocent people and trampling their rights. This is our America, the correspondent wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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My son proudly carried his grandfathers name, Reza, as his middle name. Will this cost him opportunities or cause him embarrassment in the future? How about his friend Ali, a girl of Italian heritage whose nickname is short for Allensandra?
What about your son getting blown to pieces while traveling to meet his girlfriend?
#2
Reza is a Persian name. In Sharh's Iran there were people who cahnged names from Arab to Persian ones as a mark of indiffernce/hostility toward Islam.
#3
My unofficial count shows one out of three terrorists carries the name Mohammed or a variant. Virtually 100% of terrorists are Muslim. Sound like pretty good profiling parameters to me.
#5
Hey lady, if you don't like it, change your name or screw yourself.
When you accept the fact that there is terrorism in the world that can strike anyone at any time, then you MUST accept the invasion of privacy which may be necessary to rid the world of that terrorism. In short, when the religion of blood and death is removed from the human experience, then all things may return to normal.
#7
Anybody noticed that the article is fundamentally not true? The Daily Times of Pakistan is the basis for this assertion? No comments of citations from DHS, FBI or any American source. PLeeeeaaazzzze
Posted by: Just AboutEnough ||
04/06/2007 14:07 Comments ||
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#8
Well this sucks...
Posted by: Muhammad Muhammad Muhammad ||
04/06/2007 14:34 Comments ||
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#9
Adolf used to be a perfectly respectable German name. Things change.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/06/2007 15:37 Comments ||
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#11
Adolf used to be a perfectly respectable German name. Things change.
Bingo, Baba Tutu! We'll know that things have changed enough when the most popular European baby name is no longer "Mohammed". The end point should be when the name "Osama" falls out of favor in the MME (Muslim Middle East).
Here's a tidy solution to the profiling problem. Have airlines provide flights where people are profiled according to country of origin, religious affiliation and names. Also provide flights where absolutely no profiling is allowed. Let the flying passenger pick their own option.
After 0.1% of the profiled flights are bombed compared to over 50% of the non-profiled flights, I think critics will STFU. Personally, I think that a total lack of booking on the non-profiled flights would quickly settle the matter.
NEW DELHI: In a "startling revelation", former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has claimed that Pervez Musharraf in 1996 had sought her permission to "take" Kashmir by assuming control of Srinagar, a suggestion she had shot down.
Bhutto made this claim in the revised edition of her autobiography "Benazir Bhutto: Daughter of the East" released in Britain this week.
Musharraf, then a major general and director of military operations, had concluded a briefing to Bhutto with the words that "a ceasefire would be in place and Pakistan would be in control of Srinagar."
"I asked him, 'And what next?' He was surprised by my question, and said, 'Next we will put the flag of Pakistan on the Srinagar Parliament'," she wrote in her autobiography.
She said Musharraf asked her to go to the United Nations and "tell them that Srinagar is in Pakistan's control."
"'And what next?' I pushed on. I could see the General Musharraf had not been prepared for this grilling and was getting flustered.
He said, 'And you will tell them to change the map of the world taking into consideration the new geographical realities'," she writes.
Bhutto said she ended the meeting abruptly after telling Musharraf "pointedly" that "they (UN) will pass a Security Council resolution condemning us and demanding that we unilaterally withdraw from Srinagar, and we will have nothing for our efforts but humiliation and isolation."
Bhutto writes that this was the second offer she had received to conquer Kashmir. The earlier being made by General Aslam Beg during her first term as prime minister between 1988 and 1990.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/06/2007 13:43 ||
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Under growing pressure to restore democracy, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appears to be trying to reach a deal with the exiled former premier who heads Pakistan's largest political party.
The latest indication of Musharraf's softening stance toward former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto came Thursday, with the announcement that a veteran anti-corruption investigator who pursued cases against Bhutto was being transferred to a job in provincial administration. It was not clear whether the move could quell Bhutto's legal troubles or was purely symbolic. Still, it fanned speculation that a weakened Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. war on terror, may sanction her return if it helps him hang on to power.
Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, is agitating for Musharraf to close the cases against her so that she can return in time to campaign in parliamentary elections due around the end of the year. The general is under growing international pressure to make Pakistan's government more democratic, eight years after he seized power in a bloodless coup.
Continued on Page 49
The melt down has started. Regime change has become inevitable. On a quiet moment, one can hear the rustling sound of the wind of change a peaceful transition to the rule of law and peoples power the quintessential elements that lend grace and dignity to a nation. Any contrived soft image is a delusion.
Note: Dedicated to the memory of, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The writer is former Chief of Army Staff, Pakistan
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/06/2007 18:00 Comments ||
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Opposition parties on Thursday accused the government of engineering the Jamia Hafsa crisis to divert public attention from the ongoing judicial crisis.
Talking to Daily Times, leaders of the main opposition parties also said that if President General Pervez Musharraf was unable to control the madrassa crisis, he should step down rather than shift the responsibility for containing the Talibanisation campaign of the madrassa students to civil society. Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidery, deputy secretary general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), was of the view that the government engineered the Jamia Hafsa crisis to distract attention from the real issues, especially the ongoing judicial crisis. He said the government was unnecessarily highlighting the madrassa issue and Gen Musharraf mentioned it in each of his speeches without fail.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Political parties and non governmental organisations on Thursday staged a protest at Aabpara Chowk to condemn the government for not taking action against students of Jamia Hafsa. Speaking at the event, Mehnaz Rafi, a parliamentarian from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), said girl students of Jamia Hafsa were disturbing city life in the name of religion. She stressed that Islam was a religion of peace, not violence. True Muslims believe in equality and freedom of expression for all schools of thought, she said. She said women politicians and NGO activists should work together to get women their due status in society. Nargis Faiz Malik, president of the Islamabad chapter of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), demanded that the government rein in the extremists of Jamia Hafsa.
Sameena Nazir, executive director of the Potohar Organisation Development Advocacy (PODA), said the government should evict the madrassa girls from a childrens library, which they have occupied for months. She said the government was responsible for ensuring the rule of law. Dr Farzana Bari, of the Pattan Development Organisation, appealed to the government to close down Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa and drive the extremists out of the city. Naeem Mirza, of the Aurat Foundation, said the government had proved unable to take action against the madrassa students. The protestors carried placards demanding the closure of Jamia Hafsa. They shouted slogans against extremism and the government for taking no action against the madrassa girls. The protestors rallied from Aabpara Chowk to TCS Chowk before they broke up peacefully. Link roads remained closed for an hour.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Pakistan on Thursday rejected a US media report that it was secretly aiding a militant group for attacks across the border in Iran as tendentious. The Foreign Office takes serious note of the tendentious ABC News report alleging that a group called Jundullah (Soldier of God) was operating from inside Pakistan to carry out raids across the border into Iran, said an official statement. It described as an absurd and sinister insinuation that Pakistan was part of a secret campaign against Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Relatives of a Briton held in Pakistan over a plot to bomb transatlantic jets have begun legal moves to stop alleged plans to swap him for separatist rebels living in Britain, his lawyers said on Thursday.
Officials say the arrest of Rashid Rauf in August sparked a worldwide security alert and arrests in Britain amid fears of a conspiracy to blow up airliners flying from London to the US. We have learned that the Pakistani government is negotiating with the British government for Raufs extradition in return for six wanted Baloch nationalists who are based in the UK, his lawyer Hashmat Habib told AFP.
Habib said he had filed a petition with a high court in Rawalpindi on behalf of Raufs maternal uncle Zahoor Akhtar. We have prayed the court to direct the government to share such a request with us and also bar the government from extraditing Rashid unless the petition is decided, he said. Habib said the petition also demanded that the government provide a monthly allowance of Rs 50,000 to Raufs wife and their children.
The 25-year-old Rauf faces charges including impersonation, carrying a fake identity card and fake documents. The terror charges said Rauf was in possession of 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide which were meant to be used to blow up the passenger jets. He denies being linked to the conspiracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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OK he's not linked to a conspiracy, hang him as an ordinary murderer-wannabe.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/06/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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#2
OK he's not linked to a conspiracy, hang him as an ordinary murderer-wannabe.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/06/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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#3
Real reason: Rs 50,000 per month. Keep the terr, send the green.
Taliban attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistan have virtually stopped since Pakistan imposed stringent controls on its border, NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai said on Thursday. Orakzai told Reuters in an interview that Pakistan had sent in more troops, set up more check posts, started some selective fencing and imposed night curfews to stem infiltration. These measures have virtually stopped cross-border movements, Orakzai said. Now there are no reports of any cross-border movement...Our friends have admitted and acknowledged our efforts, he added, referring to the United States. Orakzai said that the peace agreement in North Waziristan had helped reduce militant attacks into Afghanistan and also brought down violence in the region. Referring to clashes between tribesmen and foreign militants, Orakzai said the foreigners had violated the pact, forcing the tribesmen to act.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has a full-fledged training camp for women militants situated 6 km from Muridke on GT Road between Lahore and Rawalpindi, with infrastructure to provide rigorous training to cadres in guerrilla warfare, an intelligence report has said.
Giving details of the Lashkar's women brigade, the report says these militants are imparted 21-day training in handling arms and ammunition, besides swimming and jehadi discourses. The special course, called 'Daura-e-Sofa,' is given to women cadres drawn from madrassas in PoK and the Kashmir Valley. The trainee militants are housed in a double-storeyed building situated in the camp premises. The intelligence report says the LeT's women-training camp is headed by a 45-year-old woman jehadi, Umi Hamad, a Pakistani national.
The presence of women militants in the LeT ranks was first detected late last year when a 20-year-old woman militant - Khalida Akhtar - was held in Srinagar. However, details of the location and infrastructure of the militant camp emerged from interrogation of other LeT militants who had surrendered before security forces in January-February this year.
Akhtar had told intelligence sleuths that Lashkar was raising a band of women militants of Kashmiri origin and providing them ideological and arms training in the camps situated in PoK. The emergence of women militants had created ripples in security forces and counter-intelligence sleuths had briefed authorities on the chances of these militants being used as honey traps to infiltrate the ranks of paramilitary forces deployed in Kashmir. The claims made by counter-intelligence sleuths were based on facts that emerged from Akhtar's interrogation. Her questioning revealed that one of her primary tasks was to trap army officers and jawans to monitor troops' movements and operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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was standing in the doorway of his battalion's [Ramadi] headquarters when a 107-millimeter rocket struck two feet above his head. The impact punched a piano-sized hole in the concrete facade, sparked a huge fireball and tossed the 25-year-old Army specialist to the floor, where he lay blacked out among the rubble. Eventually the rocket shrapnel was removed from Town's neck and his ears stopped leaking blood. But his hearing never really recovered, and in many ways, neither has his life. A soldier honored twelve times during his seven years in uniform, Town has spent the last three struggling with deafness, memory failure and depression....[The article refers to] multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits. The conditions of their discharge have infuriated many in the military community, including the injured soldiers and their families, veterans' rights groups, even military officials required to process these dismissals.
It is the kind of rumor the anti-war people would make up. It is also a very dangerous rumor, particularly if it is discovered that it was [true]. I still don't know, but this is the kind of story that caused great trouble in [ancient] Gaul and Africa among the [Roman] Legions. Threatening pensions and benefits of those with what amounts to a monopoly on the means of violence is never an intelligent thing to so.
On Pournelle's blog, a Army Drill instructor said this:
I learned that to 5-13 discharge a recruit who wouldn't obey orders, I had to prove a pre-existing mental condition. This meant that the pampered little brat didn't attend training, had to be taken to medical and mental health appointments, usually by a much-needed-elsewhere NCO, and had to be housed separately, lest his barracks-mates belittle him for his stupidity. Civilian medical and mental health records would have to be sent for and evaluated by military mental health folks, and THE PROCESS TOOK WEEKS. It was also discouraged by higher ups who were under pressure to produce troops for the war effort. I had to attend seminars led by General Officers that "explained" how we weren't actually lowering standards.
Anyway, if 5-13 discharges are deliberately being misused to broom combat wounded vets from the benefit rolls, those who are doing it deserve WORSE treatment than the Blackwater contractors got in Falluja
One of the instigators of the article in The Nation sent this in anonymously (link)
I am an Iraq War Veteran who came home from Iraq with many issues, one being mental related. So I too sought help from the Mental Health professions at the Army Hospital . On the first visit and within the first 15 minutes of the one on one with the Psyche I was told that I could be out of the Army within 2 weeks if I took a personality disorder discharge. I went home that evening and looked up AR 635-200 chapter 5-13 and read about it (being the army geek that I am). I went back the next day and told my doctor that I didn't feel that a personality disorder was what I had. My doctor immediately started the paperwork to begin the MEB process. 4 months later my 10 year military career came to an end with the PEB giving me a 30% disability rating which made me medically retired...I went to work as an out processor. Myself and another 20 year retired veteran are the only two that do this part of the out processing here at our installation. We were both there the day Jon Town came in. The 20 year vet (Paul) was so disgusted when he heard Town's story and after taking care of more and more Iraq vets with personality disorders said to me "we need to do something about this"...[The article's author] doesn't finish the story so let me. Jon Town went to his congressman who made this a big issue with my installation and the Pentagon. After many months of work, Jon Town's debt to the military was wiped away and he also received payment for Separation Pay due to the fact that he had served over 6 years and was involuntarily discharged. The Pentagon asked Town, in his words "To shut up about this", which obviously he didn't.The number of personality disorders here at this installation has declined severely since Josh Kors started writing his piece. I know that the article was slanted and I tried to help Mr. Kors stay unbiased since this is not a political issue. I didn't know that it was going to be in the Nation (my fault, should have asked), I'd rather it had been on the front page of USA Today or the cover of Time Magazine. Something that has a better reputation than the obviously far-left leaning The Nation. Our sole purpose of getting this story out was to show the American people that we as a nation must take care of our Veterans. We owe it to every American hero.
Lastly, I would like to apologize for one thing. I remain unnamed for selfish reasons, I need to feed my children and I just don't trust the Federal Government.
#1
JP: It is the kind of rumor the anti-war people would make up. It is also a very dangerous rumor, particularly if it is discovered that it was [true]. I still don't know, but this is the kind of story that caused great trouble in [ancient] Gaul and Africa among the [Roman] Legions. Threatening pensions and benefits of those with what amounts to a monopoly on the means of violence is never an intelligent thing to so.
This is silly. The US military is neither monolithic nor a praetorian guard. It is bound to protect the constitution, not its pensions and benefits. MacArthur, a Medal of Honor winner, broke up the Bonus Army right after WWI. This is after a war that killed 100,000 US personnel.
#2
Unfortunately, it has taken a while for the medical profession to understand the long term impact of even simple but severe concussion, let alone that of overt brain injury, on cognitive function and what turns out to be resultant emotional state. However, now that it has, there are several important research hospital complexes working flat out to discover the extent of the impacts and figure out the best methods to diagnose and treat -- or at least ameliorate -- these previously unrecognized injuries.
While it is shameful that these veterans had not been properly treated until recently, in fairness troops are surviving injuries that not so long ago would have been an immediate death sentence. And, again, it is only as the result of the unrelenting advocacy of the family/friends/comrades of some of those injured since the 2003 invasion of Iraq that the neuropsychiatrists even started doing the kind of testing that revealed that the problems are real, and are clearly caused by trauma. The public advocacy of that reporter who was injured as a result of the vehicle he was in being hit by a roadside IED helped to drive the issue as well, but he's only been at it for less than a year (I saw him on one of the late night talk shows -- with Jon Stewart or Jay Leno, I suppose -- a few months ago, talking about the book he'd written about his experience including the impact on his own cognitive ability).
"On March 10, 1783, an anonymous letter, written by Major John Armstrong, was circulated among the officers at Newburg; the letter condemned Congress for failure to honor its promises to the army and incited the veterans to defy Congress if the accounts were not promptly and equitably settled. Major John Armstrong circulated a second anonymous letter two days later which implied that Washington supported his efforts. A revolt began to percolate which threatened destroy a very new and fragile democracy.
On March 15, 1783, Washington personally addressed a regular meeting of the officers at Newburgh. He stood before them, a commander-in-chief whose strength of personality had held together a rag tag army for eight years; a commander who, when the revolution seemed lost, had led them to improbable victories at Trenton and Princeton, rallied them at Monmouth, shared their misery at Valley Forge, and finally had led them to victory at Yorktown, and then independence. Washington advised moderation, patience, and promised expeditious congressional action on the salary and pension demands of the soldiers. He asked them to abandon their talk of rebellion, but their distresses were severe, dissatisfaction ran deep, and Washington's first words had no effect. Finally, Washington fumbled for his glasses to read a crumpled note from a Congressman which he said would show Congress's good faith to pay its soldiers. He then spoke a few powerful words: "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country." Further words choked in his throat and he turned and left. This humble statement by their commander-in-chief, who had done so much, brought shame to their souls and tears to their Eyes. The threat to democracy at Newburgh evaporated."
I don't think we have another individual of Washington's stature available today. Don't poke the 800 lb gorilla.
To deal with more detentions, the US is building facilities and adding military police.
WASHINGTON - As the Baghdad security plan under Army Gen. David Petraeus moves forward, US and Iraqi forces are apprehending hundreds of insurgents, terrorists, and other criminals. Many of them are quickly being transferred to the Iraqis for detainment. There's just one problem: The Iraqi judicial system, which is responsible for processing such detainees, isn't yet up to the task. This is forcing the Americans to build more detention facilities to hold all the detainees and bring in more US military police to guard them.
The Iraqi judicial system has been hobbled by the four years of war, as well as the loss of judges and lawyers who either fled the country or were murdered. As a result, the judicial system simply doesn't have the capacity to process many of the new detainees.
This is posing a key challenge as American and Iraqi forces try to bring stability to some of Iraq's most dangerous neighborhoods. Thus US forces are beefing up their facilities, and also helping the Iraqis build their own detention centers. In addition, on Monday, the Pentagon formally announced the deployment to Iraq of more than 2,000 additional US military police, who will join the roughly 3,000 MPs already there.
Defense officials see the US moves as a sign that General Petraeus is confident he'll clean up the streets using the right amount of resources, with the aim of avoiding another detention fiasco like Abu Ghraib.
Nabbing criminals, insurgents, and others, and holding them for as long as it takes, is "very sound operational planning," says Mike Newton, a law professor at Vanderbilt University and a retired Army lieutenant colonel who has been to Iraq four times as a legal consultant.
"If you have military forces on the ground as part of a surge, that helps, but if you do that and you know there are bad guys in the neighborhood, they'll just wait you out," Mr. Newton says. "You've got to pick them up."
But indeed, this means building the capacity to hold some detainees until the Iraqi judicial system for centuries, the pride of Iraq can be restored to its former glory. For the past several years, the United States itself has held about 13,000 individuals captive and now holds about 18,000 captives. But as the Baghdad security plan also known as Fard Al Kanoon moves forward, Petraeus is planning for the possibility of holding as many as 40,000 captives. Most are being held at two facilities, one at Camp Cropper in Baghdad and another at Camp Bucca, south of the city.
To deal with more detentions, the US is building facilities and adding military police.
WASHINGTON - As the Baghdad security plan under Army Gen. David Petraeus moves forward, US and Iraqi forces are apprehending hundreds of insurgents, terrorists, and other criminals. Many of them are quickly being transferred to the Iraqis for detainment. There's just one problem: The Iraqi judicial system, which is responsible for processing such detainees, isn't yet up to the task. This is forcing the Americans to build more detention facilities to hold all the detainees and bring in more US military police to guard them.
The Iraqi judicial system has been hobbled by the four years of war, as well as the loss of judges and lawyers who either fled the country or were murdered. As a result, the judicial system simply doesn't have the capacity to process many of the new detainees.
This is posing a key challenge as American and Iraqi forces try to bring stability to some of Iraq's most dangerous neighborhoods. Thus US forces are beefing up their facilities, and also helping the Iraqis build their own detention centers. In addition, on Monday, the Pentagon formally announced the deployment to Iraq of more than 2,000 additional US military police, who will join the roughly 3,000 MPs already there.
Defense officials see the US moves as a sign that General Petraeus is confident he'll clean up the streets using the right amount of resources, with the aim of avoiding another detention fiasco like Abu Ghraib.
Nabbing criminals, insurgents, and others, and holding them for as long as it takes, is "very sound operational planning," says Mike Newton, a law professor at Vanderbilt University and a retired Army lieutenant colonel who has been to Iraq four times as a legal consultant.
"If you have military forces on the ground as part of a surge, that helps, but if you do that and you know there are bad guys in the neighborhood, they'll just wait you out," Mr. Newton says. "You've got to pick them up."
But indeed, this means building the capacity to hold some detainees until the Iraqi judicial system for centuries, the pride of Iraq can be restored to its former glory. For the past several years, the United States itself has held about 13,000 individuals captive and now holds about 18,000 captives. But as the Baghdad security plan also known as Fard Al Kanoon moves forward, Petraeus is planning for the possibility of holding as many as 40,000 captives. Most are being held at two facilities, one at Camp Cropper in Baghdad and another at Camp Bucca, south of the city.
#1
First - Bucca is in the south of the COUNTRY, not just a bit south of B'dad.
This is good news. MNF-I had to have been considering this as part of any move towards fighting the war (as opposed to pretending to train the Iraqis to fight the war, as previously).
But there's a key error here (not in the article so much as the reality it correctly describes). These attempts to maintain some high standard of quasi-judicial procedures have been a mistake, and have always met with difficulties due to not just the limited capacity of the judicial system but the incapacity of that system due to intimidation.
Mike Newton, quoted in the article, and with whom I worked a bit over there, would know better, but it seems to me that from the outset we/Iraq should have proceeded under emergency laws for times of internal conflict that set a very low judicial bar on detentions, while at the same time working to set up the best review system feasible under the circumstances. It's nice to see the Central Criminal Court coming out with convictions of jihadis, but I'd rather have many, many more military-age males in detention and no judicial proceedings at all, if needed.
There's a pure detention challenge as well, as noted. Our intention last year was to get down to just Cropper and Bucca (high-value types are at Cropper). Don't see how current facilities can handle the flow of detainees absolutely certain to flow from any serious offensive actions.
There's much silly talk about "fighting a 21st century war". Well, it's no different from fighting any other war, of course. But you actually have to FIGHT IT. Mass detention - including some on the preventive side - has always been a neccessary part of any Iraq operations that actually aim to have an impact on the situation.
#2
Ok, if we can't lock 'em all up, let's just kill every other one. That'll take the pressure off, and very da$$$d few of those killed would be innocent, anyway. What's so hard about that?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/06/2007 21:44 Comments ||
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#3
Simple - don't take captives.
Munch all you want Use all the bullets you want - we'll make more.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/06/2007 22:53 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - A ministerial meeting between Iraq, its neighbours and world powers to follow up earlier talks aimed at stabilising the country has been postponed until the first week in May, Iraqs foreign minister said on Thursday.
Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the meeting would be held outside Iraq, declining to give the location or elaborate on the reason for the delay. The meeting had been expected to take place in Istanbul in early April. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wanted it held in Baghdad, but Iraqi officials had said some countries were worried about security. All I can say at the moment is that it will be held in the first week of May and outside Iraq, Zebari said.
Iraq called the meeting of senior officials in March to enlist the support of its neighbours to help end bloodshed. But it also provided a rare opportunity for the United States and its adversaries Iran and Syria to sit at the same table.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Damn right some countries were worried about (their) security in Baghdad. We could scoop up some more IRGs.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/06/2007 4:20 Comments ||
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Palestinian Authority officials on Thursday expressed fear that the United Nations may formally declare the Gaza Strip a dangerous zone - a move that would result in the evacuation of the remaining foreign nationals from the area and drastically hamper international humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
"We're moving very quickly toward such a scenario," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, member of the PLO executive committee and a close aide to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "The Gaza Strip is full of thugs and gangsters who are responsible for the ongoing anarchy. Soon the Gaza Strip may be declared a dangerous zone, which means that all international organizations would have to leave." The UN has yet to issue any formal statement to such effect.
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that a "dangerous zone" declaration would increase the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called on the PA security forces to start working to end the state of lawlessness and anarchy. "The Gaza Strip has become worse than Somalia," a prominent human rights activist in Gaza City told the Post. "Thousands of gunmen continue to roam the streets and the new government hasn't done anything to restore law and order. Every day you hear horror stories about people who are killed and wounded. The situation is really intolerable."
Muhammad Dahlan, who was recently appointed PA National Security Adviser, said it was time to admit that a "curse has hit" the Gaza Strip. "Anyone who does not admit that there's a curse in the Gaza Strip does not know what he's talking about," he said.
Dahlan expressed concern over the wave of kidnappings in Gaza, noting that a local engineer who was abducted several months ago was still being held by his captors. He said that the National Security Council was now preparing a security plan that would end the state of anarchy in the PA-controlled areas. "The Palestinian security establishment needs to undergo major surgery," he added. "The situation is catastrophic and many young men prefer to work for clans and not the security forces."
Dahlan met earlier with the British consul-general in Jerusalem, Richard Makepeace, and briefed him on the PA's efforts to release kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was snatched by masked gunmen in Gaza City three weeks ago.
The new PA government is expected to hold an emergency meeting in Gaza City on Saturday to discuss ways of restoring law and order. But many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed pessimism, saying it was too late to talk about ending the state of chaos. "There are too many gangs and weapons out there," said the human rights activist. "No government will be able to create a new situation."
He pointed out that at least 46 civilians had been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in the past four weeks. The latest kidnappings took place on Thursday, when unidentified gunmen abducted three people, including one woman, in separate incidents. Most of the kidnappings were related to family feuds and rivalries between political groups, particularly Fatah and Hamas.
#1
STRATEGYPAGE > HAMAS is reportedly trying to form a 10,000-man dedicated armed force, which FATAH is trying to match. StratPage also denotes that everybody, West thru Muslim nations, may have finally [deservedly] given up on the Paleos and now believe that the Paleos MAY JUST HAVE TO FIGHT A DE FACTO CIVIL WAR IN ORDER TO RESOLVE THEIR INTERNAL SECTARIAN DIFFERENCES, vv Israel, PA State + ME Peace, etc.
#2
Muhammad Dahlan, who was recently appointed PA National Security Adviser, said it was time to admit that a "curse has hit" the Gaza Strip. "Anyone who does not admit that there's a curse in the Gaza Strip does not know what he's talking about," he said.
Well, Muhammad, not sure how to break it to you, but do you think it is possible that the Gaza curse you mention may be Paleostinians?
#10
PA fears UN may order all aid workers out of lawless Gaza
Sounds good to me, let them clean up their own mess, or sink in sewage, all the same to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/06/2007 12:48 Comments ||
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#11
a "curse has hit" the Gaza Strip
and it was in Arabic
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 13:04 Comments ||
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#12
Never gonna happen: for the UN to "...formally declare the Gaza Strip a dangerous zone ..." would be tantamount to admitting that Israel and the US were right and that cannot happen.
Lieutenant General Henry "Trey" Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, announced today the completion of a successful intercept test for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile defense element at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
This test involved the successful intercept of a "mid endo-atmospheric" (inside earths atmosphere) unitary (non-separating) target representing a "SCUD"-type ballistic missile launched from a mobile platform positioned off Kauai in the Pacific Ocean.
The interceptor was launched from the THAAD launch complex at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. This was the 26th successful "hit to kill" intercept for elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System since 2001, and the third successful THAAD intercept in the current program phase.
The target missile was launched at approximately 8:42 p.m. Hawaii Time, April 5 (2:42 a.m. EDT April 6). Approximately three minutes later the THAAD interceptor missile was launched and approximately two minutes later the intercept occurred over the Pacific Ocean.
Soldiers of the U.S. Armys 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas operated all THAAD equipment during the test, conducting operations of the launcher, fire control and communications and radar.
Their interaction with the complete THAAD system provided valuable test and operations experience for the soldiers and enhanced the operational realism of the test. This was the first THAAD interceptor mission that was considered a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) test, meaning that more than one element of the BMDS participated in the test.
One of the objectives of this test was demonstrating successful beyond-line-of-sight communications with a radar aboard a U.S. Navy Aegis ship, as well as communications links with the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system and the U.S. Air Force Space-Based Infrared Sensors (SBIRS) system.
#1
Love the pockets and layout of the new uni. Camo pattern is probably OK at night and in urban areas. Stands out badly in jungle terrain (Thailand). Newer patter may ar may not be the answer. But keep the pockets where they are!
Gotta agree with him on one thing: Velcro just sucks the way they are using it.
#4
How much of this effort is really devoted to assisting soldiers and how much is devoted to assisting the BX's cash flow? If a new fitting out is needed, that's a lot of greenbacks. I can only speak for my Navy experience, but I went through at least 3 complete dungaree / dress blue reconfigurations, and at a pretty fair expense. call me cynical but i think the uniform board is just trying to justify their job.
ACU for field use, and the old OD Greens (Gomer Pyle) uniforms for garrison and stateside. Allows for the discipline of spit and polish, starch and creases in garrison (and the old OD's were cheap too), and the full functionality in the field of something like the ACU. Throw away the old Class A and Class B completely (along with the "every gets one" beret and the c**t caps), they look like busdriver uniforms. Wear pressed OD instead for office use, and go with the Dress Blues for a full dress uniform - including the saucer cap. Reserve berets to special units - give black back to the Rangers, maroon stays with the airborne, green with the SF. Everyone else wears the OD field cap with rank on it. (no USAF baseball caps).
No need for a REMF in Fort Pentagon to go around looking like a ranger. Nor a Ranger to be as shined up as a REMF when in the field. Nor any soldier to EVER look like an office clerk or busdriver.
In the semiconductor industry there is a non-fibrous form of Velcro used to suspend laminar flow curtains and other temporary partitions. Marketed under the trade name "Dual Lock", this genderless closure is less prone to packing with foreign material or lint, unlike tradition hook and loop Velcro.
Imagine two opposing fields of small mushroom-headed plastic pins that interlock with each other. This is the principal of operation and it provides an amazingly strong closure. Slight adjustments to the polymer durometer (flexibility and softness), plus modification of head diameter and spacing can yield up a closure system that will make a minimum of noise and avoid any unnecessary stiffening of the uniform wherever these closures are applied.
Dual Lock is just one of many ways that this problem could be overcome. If the Uniform Board is fixated on Velcro, they should all be fired.
#9
One thing I can not understand is why we need a single camoflage pattern. The Marines do just fine with 2 (desert and woodland). The old 3 color desert camoflage pattern worked fine. The new pattern stands out almost anywhere.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/06/2007 17:57 Comments ||
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#10
I still have my DCUs in ripstop. The layout of the ACU is 100000000000000 times better in terms of pockets where you need them, drawstrings for adjusting, velcro where it is needed (think of internal seams in the shirt under a vest - like the front closure), the "Chinese collar", etc.
But the closures on the cargo pockets suck, and having so much Velcro thats exposed (like the unit insignia and so on) is asking for it to be clogged.
As for the patterns, the ACU completely kicks ass at night over all the other patterns. And since thats when we tend to operate, that's why it was chosen. It does OK in the stony/rocky ground and in urban areas in Iraq/Stan. Forest/mountain is OK, "woodlands" is so so, tropical jungle it is pretty bad and arctic is just sucks. Thing is none of the other patters worked as well over all either.
May just as well have gone with the old Werhmacht Feld Grau and added in combat smocks of the right type for each environment.
#11
Zenster---geeze louise! Gay Velcro? Ima flabbergassed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2007 21:38 Comments ||
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#12
Don't think of it as gay, Alaska Paul. Try ambidextrous instead -- you'll feel more comfortable in your anorak that way. ;-) Actually, I think the term genderless closure is absolutely wonderful; I simply must find a way to work it into my next dinner party conversation! Thanks so much for that, Zenster dear -- you are a positive font of new information for me.
Kevin Garrad of the 3rd Infantry Division is an iPod user for lifewhich incidentally got extended thanks to Apple's little music player. He was on patrol in Iraq when he met an armed insurgent carrying an AK-47. Both opened fire, and the bullet heading toward Kevin hit his chest right where his iPod was, which was enough to slow down the bullet to not pierce entirely through the body armor.
The fact that he had a 20GB (older and thicker) iPod probably helped slow down the bullet more than if he had one of the newer (and thinner) 30GB ones. In that sense, an Archos would probably be enough to stop a tank shell.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/06/2007 08:32 ||
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#1
A good story and you gotta admit it could only happen in the US Army.
My only question is why did this kid have an iPod on him while he was walking patrol? I was under the impression that (by the book at least) you weren't supposed to carry anything unneccessary with you.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/06/2007 9:00 Comments ||
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#2
EU constitution would do a better job for cheaper.
I know 2 people who have come home because of that stuff - one even took 8 rounds of 7.62x39 steel core across his chest and abdomen. Not a scratch (but he was sore).
And I've worn it - its lighter, thinner, more flexible and more comfortable than the issue stuff. And stops rounds better even without a chicken plate.
Still don't know why the military (Other than SOCOM) hasn't started using this. I'm not a shill, don't know anyone at the company or have stock in it - I just know their stuff works - and Pinnacle seems to have a genius for putting together body armor that will bring you home without getting in your way. If you are on a position that you will need to wear that stuff, bet your life on dragonskin.
The US naval chief said Thursday he thought US military personnel would have fought against Iranian forces and not been taken prisoner as were 15 recently freed Britons.
Asked if a situation like the one faced by the British sailors and marines who were just released after being held by Tehran could have happened to US sailors, Admiral Michael Mullen, chief of Naval operations told CNN television: "My expectation is that American sailors are never seized in a situation like that. "Individuals and units are guided by the right of self-defense, they don't have to ask permission to take action to protect themselves. And they go into operations like this, and missions like this, with that understanding," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Pueblo? EP-3 on Hainan? The Brit Frigate should have moved to protect the smaller craft, but we should be careful about casting stones.
#3
Dunno, RWV. Seems like apples and oranges, keeping in mind we don't have all the facts re the Iran incident (at least I don't). Pueblo was alone and not really able to defend herself - P-3 was similarly not designed to defend itself, and was nearly destroyed by an aggressive Chinese pilot. In contrast the British patrol damn well should have had clear options for a situation where an Iranian vessel messed with them - it had happened before and was an obvious possibility (actually, the only likely hostile scenario in those waters).
If you're referring to post-incident behavior, that's a bit more complicated. Pueblo case is vague (resistance of the crew in captivity, and the "Hawaiian good luck sign" photo, were positives if I recally clearly). I was not impressed with our reaction to the P-3 incident.
#4
I understand the sentiment, but I've read that the transfer to/from a small rubber boat, as the Brits were doing, is a very vulnerable time for the crew doing an inspection. Sounds like they got jumped and didn't have an oversight force package in place.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2007 2:32 Comments ||
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#5
HOT AIR.com [Michelle Malkin?] > Possible new AQ tape coming out - UNCONFIRMED as of this post. Tape may, or may NOT, allegedly feature OSAMA, or ZAWAHIRI > contents allegedly may warn of NEW ATTACKS BEING PLANNED AGZ USA. US CENTCOM investigating???
#6
Verlaine, I agree. And I will throw stones. The whole British affair must be reviewed. The two vessels should never have been tasked in such a manner as to not have adequate protection.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/06/2007 4:26 Comments ||
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#7
Are they operating in the mode that they don't want to get too close to another ship in case it attacks them? In any case, they should be able to do better or not send the dinghies at all.
#8
BTW: Pueblo was on its own out of necessity. It would have looked funny for it to be escorted by a destroyer.
The P3 was accidentally taken out by a hot-dogging Chinese pilot. The Chinese just jumped on the opportunity. Again, there wasn't a need and still isn't a need for a fighter escort.
There is a thing called Ruales of Engagement. If you cause a major diplomatic incident for your nation or even carry it into a war because you shot gainst orders then you deserve to be discahrged or jailed.
If your ROEs allowed to defend yourself and you didn't then in the good old times you could be executed for cowardice.
Now about the whiole mess:
1) Dinghis don't go tens of miles away from the mother ship. First because of that thing called the sea who can sink them, second because they don't carry the fuel, third because when sending a boarding party you need the big ship as a deterrence against any attempt to resist before (dinghis are vulnerable to bullets) or after the boarding. That means that the whole thing happenned in sight range from the frigate.. Thus the frigate commander either had previous orders not to fire gainst Iranians or he radioed to higher authority and some pussy at Whitehall, the MOD, his chain of comand or Blair himself told him to hold fire. Or he decided from hios own authority.
2) One thing is allwing to be captured because such are the orders and another thing is teh deisgarceful behaviour of those "Marines". Collaborate with enemy's propaganda agsint own country is an act of trason and should be punished as such.
British are no more, the British islaes are now inhabited by Euros.
#10
In June 2004, Iran took eight British marines and sailors from their patrol boats, keeping them for three days, saying they had breached the maritme border. Seems like the Brits either didn't learn the first time...nor changes their ROE to prevent a second event. Fool me once...shame on you...fool me twice...I must be a Brit!
#11
Read one story saying that the ship they wanted to search was in water too shallow for the frigate to approach. They think now it was a trap to lure the Brits away from any support. And the boarding party only had a few handguns, no heavier weapons.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2007 7:31 Comments ||
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#12
Read one story saying that the ship they wanted to search was in water too shallow for the frigate to approach
Too shallow for so far that the frigate had to remain beyond horizon not to mention outside teh range of her weapons?
#13
Well, with the ROE, they could've (carefully) sailed between their sailors and the maurading Iraninan boats. Except the water was too shallow to maneuver.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2007 8:06 Comments ||
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#14
The Cornwall has the 114 mm Mark 8 naval gun. That gun has a range of 12 nautical miles according to Wikipedia. There is no way the boarding party was out of range of that gun.
#15
RVW,
You're right to ask about both those incidents, and I'd like to add a bit to Verlaine's response (if I may).
The Pueblo had two single-mount .50s for armament, and her crew was only barely trained to use them. In addition, under the ROE imposed on her crew, the weapons were secured (wrapped in tarps, IIRC) and the ammo was stowed belowdecks. Pueblo's crew also thought they had standing protection, and therefore CMDR Bucher simply tried to keep his crew safe until the help could get there. They were badly outnumbered and outgunned. In addition, the water temperature that morning was cold enough that without survival suits the crew's survival time would have been measured in minutes. Let me respectfully suggest you take a look at the similar ordeal of the crew of the frigate Philadelphia in 1804, where William Bainbridge faced a similar choice. There are eerie parallels between the two stories. As fr as the EP-3 goes, Gorb speaks truth - an idiot Chinese pilot decided to get froggy and made himself a hero. Though the US government may not have handled things well, by all available accounts the EP-3s crew did exactly what they were supposed to do. Time constraints kept them from destroying everything aboard the plane but they did their best, and the crew conducted itself well. They were absolutely unarmed, so any shiow of resistance would not only have been futile, it could have led to unnecessary fatalities.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/06/2007 8:56 Comments ||
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#16
Also depends a lot on who is in power. I would bet you if this was 1993 and it was US troops that the Iranians were trying to get, the exact same result would have happened under Clinton and the Dhimocrats. 1996, maybe would have been different since Clinton needed something to take away the press from a Blue Dress.
#19
Fox just had the Brit Sailors and Marines live. They stated they were very quickly surrounded by Iranina boats that were faster and very heavily armed. It was a trap. They were definately in Iraqui waters but had almost nothing with which to defend themselves. Seems it was very well planned and executed by the Iranians.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/06/2007 10:35 Comments ||
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#20
sinse, the P-3 was under Bush.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/06/2007 10:44 Comments ||
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#21
I suppose we'll get an inquiry (either with results announced or leaked) on the facts of the situation, in due course. The behavior of the captives is a separate matter, but one that on the surface at least is at least as worrisome, if not more so.
#22
I heard that the US Navy flew over the only Iranian refinery leaving contrails, prolly spelling out 'U R SCREWED'. Then, the tide turned and the Brits were set free. Now we should repeat the flight and spell out 'TELL THE WORLD THAT YOU SET A TRAP IN IRAQI WATERS JUST TO MAKE DINNER JACKET LOOK GOOD AND TUFF'.......'OR ELSE, U R SCREWED'. 'P. S. NUKE INSPECTORS WILL B THERE IN AM'.
I mean, when you got 'em by the balls, why not extract payment ?
#23
The P-3 needed to ditch, not deliver itself to the PLA. IIRC in reading, the seas were rough, so there was some hazard in ditching due to heavy seas.
The Pueblo incident was a great screwup. Same thing, we delivered our secrets to the NORKS, FOB.
It seems to me that these screwups go back to ROE and mission planning
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/06/2007 11:55 Comments ||
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#24
I just heard Col. David Hunt (ret) on the radio saying that the Brits are part of Centcom and that Centcom probably told them not to shoot as well.
Of course that could be Hunt just shooting off his mouth.
#25
again a translation of the comments by the two officers who were in command of the boarding party made today in London. Not a shining moment for the Royal Navy and certainly not a shining moment for thier junior officers:
Translation:
They had guns and might have hurt some of us! So we decided to give up so we wouldn't get hurt. Then they were mean to us and scared us with maybe going to jail and being called bad names, so we said what they wanted on television so we could go home. We got presents and the mean man in charge smiled at us and gave us pretty suits to wear home. When we got home we got to put on our nice uniforms again and march around and act brave again. And the prime Minister said he was very proud of us for not getting hurt or hurting anyone. Now our government has decided our national policy will be not to do this anymore so nobody else might get hurt or have to be scared. Also we can park our boats so they won't get used and can look nice and cost less next year.
Captain Air, Royal Marines,
Lieutenant Carmen, Royal Navy
Posted by: Just AboutEnough ||
04/06/2007 14:10 Comments ||
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Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's second in command, has accused the government majority of not wanting an international tribunal, but wants to control Lebanon, instead. "They don't want the court, they want to control Lebanon," Qassem told a crowd in Dahiyeh, or Beirut's southern suburbs, Tuesday night on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed's birthday. "They hide behind the tribunal to prevent the opposition from taking part in decision making," he said.
Addressing the ruling team, Qassem said: "If they are threatening us with Chapter 7, this means they don't want the court, and that someone in the (U.N.) Security Council wants the court for political considerations."
He stressed that setting up the court under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter would be a "tribunal against Lebanon and not to try Hariri's killers." Chapter 7 clears the way for the formation of the tribunal without the explicit approval of Lebanon's government and parliament. Qassem also accused the ruling team of blocking "every solution we offer" in an attempt to end the political impasse that has gripped Lebanon for four months.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So "Majority Rule" is not in Hezbollah's 'best interest'?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/06/2007 14:11 Comments ||
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received a memorandum from 70 Lebanese parliamentarians asking him to act under the United Nations Charter and set up a special tribunal to try those alleged responsible for the 2005 assassination of the countrys former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a UN spokesperson confirmed today.
Mr. Ban is currently studying the memorandum, spokesperson Michele Montas told journalists, adding he remains concerned about Lebanons continuing political impasse, which has delayed a parliamentary vote on the tribunal proposal.
Ms. Montas said Mr. Ban hoped the relevant Lebanese institutions would take the necessary steps under the constitution to conclude the formal agreement to set up the tribunal, but also noted the difficulties described by the lawmakers in their memorandum.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt has criticized fellow legislators for hugging and kissing rival lawmakers during a recent rally in Lebanons Parliament over an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. "We could have done without the resounding hand-shake party with agents of the Syrian regime and followers of Iran who established the Hezbollah state to confront that of the Taef," Jumblatt said in remarks published on Thursday. "We could have done without these silly kisses with those whom we accuse of moral and perhaps technical partnership in the (latest) series of crimes "
"We could have done without the warm encounters with those who destroyed the economy and turned Beirut squares into (military) camps We could have done without the grins with those who represent the culture of death " Jumblatt added. He was referring to Tuesday's television footage which illustrated some pro-government deputies who kissed, hugged or merely shook hands with rival lawmakers, instead of the usual bickering and feuding.
Pro-government legislators and opposition deputies gathered in parliament avoiding a feared showdown over the U.N.-backed tribunal. But the hugs and kisses, which normally heal a broken heart, did not settle the dispute over the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, Mr. Feldman, we for our part could have done without the vicious and sickening comments celebrating the deaths of US soldiers sent to topple one of the most odious of the thugocracies you and your fellow Arabs are so good at creating, worshipping, and suffering under.
Don't have a ready link for the comment I'm talking about, suffice it to say bug-eyes could make my day by being vaporized in a car bomb.
#2
I'd give Wally a short-term pass, he's on our side, this week
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/06/2007 16:49 Comments ||
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#3
Well, to paraphrase the rodent himself, if he assumes room temperature through the diligence of his countrymen pursuing their national specialty, "we could only celebrate".
House Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he was deliberately not convening Parliament in an effort to "safeguard" what he termed Lebanon's "last constitutional institution." "I have information that if I convene parliament during this (tense) atmosphere more than 50 deputies will resign," Berri said in an interview with NBN television channel Wednesday evening. "What I'm doing now is safeguarding Lebanon's last constitutional institution," he added.
Berri, a close Hezbollah ally and a leading figure in the opposition, also said the government majority was using the international tribunal as a pretext for governing Lebanon. On the parliamentary majority's move in which it handed a petition to the U.N. requesting establishment of the court, Berri said: "It's not about the tribunal. It's about trying to impose their rule on Lebanon."
Legislature Saad Hariri on Tuesday delivered the petition which was signed by 70 lawmakers to the U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Geir Pederson, asking the world body to set up the court on the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. Berri charged that the petition was signed and ready to go since Sunday and wondered "why the government wants a parliament session when it has the (U.N.) Security Council by passing what (bills) it wants."
The speaker reiterated that he and Hezbollah, which spearheads the opposition, "want the (establishment of the) tribunal and are concerned about it, but we want to discuss it."
Berri also uncovered that Israel had asked France and the United States to "re-attack Lebanon soon."
"How can we confront such a situation?" Berri asked. "By national unity," he responded.
One local political analyst described Berris claim of mass resignations by opposition parliament members as another excuse by the Speaker . None of the MP s will resign the analyst said . This is just a typical Berri way of defending his position . It is a ridiculous excuse that lacks any kind of logic he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
On March 31, 2007, Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qaddafi called, in a speech in Niger to Tuareg tribal leaders, for the establishment of a second Shi'ite Fatimid state in North Africa, after the model of the 10th-13th century empire that ruled North Africa, Egypt, and parts of the Fertile Crescent. In his speech, Qaddafi denounced the division of Muslims into Sunni and Shi'ite as a colonialist plot, and rebuked the Arab League members for "hating Iran." 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour. Pelosi, the first woman House speaker, said she had not discussed King Abdullah's recent criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, focusing instead on praise for the king's Mideast peace initiative, and efforts to quell conflicts in Somalia and Darfur.
or Syria's president that was later clarified by Israel. Cheney harshly criticized Pelosi's visit to Syria this week and declared in an interview, "The president is the one who conducts foreign policy, not the speaker of the House."
Any person with the first, middle or last name of Muhammad automatically gets into the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) in the Homeland Security Administration/FBIs database as a potential or possible terrorism suspect. When a person with such a name travels, he is subjected to special scrutiny. A letter from Brigid Starkey of Catonsville, Maryland, in the Washington Post this week said, My son proudly carried his grandfathers name, Reza, as his middle name. Will this cost him opportunities or cause him embarrassment in the future? How about his friend Ali, a girl of Italian heritage whose nickname is short for Allensandra? She wrote that every American of ethnicity and faith should see this as a wake up call. She noted that entry on the lists of potential suspects maintained in US security agency databases could occur simply because a person had a middle name such as Muhammad, a name as common as Mike or John. We must end the witch-hunt that is ensnaring innocent people and trampling their rights. This is our America, the correspondent wrote.
Under growing pressure to restore democracy, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appears to be trying to reach a deal with the exiled former premier who heads Pakistan's largest political party.
Relatives of a Briton held in Pakistan over a plot to bomb transatlantic jets have begun legal moves to stop alleged plans to swap him for separatist rebels living in Britain, his lawyers said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON - As the Baghdad security plan under Army Gen. David Petraeus moves forward, US and Iraqi forces are apprehending hundreds of insurgents, terrorists, and other criminals. Many of them are quickly being transferred to the Iraqis for detainment. There's just one problem: The Iraqi judicial system, which is responsible for processing such detainees, isn't yet up to the task. This is forcing the Americans to build more detention facilities to hold all the detainees and bring in more US military police to guard them. 
Defense officials see the US moves as a sign that General Petraeus is confident he'll clean up the streets using the right amount of resources, with the aim of avoiding another detention fiasco like Abu Ghraib. 
BAGHDAD - A ministerial meeting between Iraq, its neighbours and world powers to follow up earlier talks aimed at stabilising the country has been postponed until the first week in May, Iraqs foreign minister said on Thursday.
Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt has criticized fellow legislators for hugging and kissing rival lawmakers during a recent rally in Lebanons Parliament over an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. "We could have done without the resounding hand-shake party with agents of the Syrian regime and followers of Iran who established the Hezbollah state to confront that of the Taef," Jumblatt said in remarks published on Thursday. "We could have done without these silly kisses with those whom we accuse of moral and perhaps technical partnership in the (latest) series of crimes
"
House Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he was deliberately not convening Parliament in an effort to "safeguard" what he termed Lebanon's "last constitutional institution." "I have information that if I convene parliament during this (tense) atmosphere more than 50 deputies will resign," Berri said in an interview with NBN television channel Wednesday evening. "What I'm doing now is safeguarding Lebanon's last constitutional institution," he added.
