The Military Sealift Command has chartered a ship that may have won the competitive bid primarily because its green technology reduces fuel costs. Very interesting. The MSC press release.
For the first time, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command has chartered a kite-assisted, fuel-saving cargo ship to carry military equipment.
MV Beluga SkySails departed Newport, Wales, Oct. 5 after the first of three European port calls to load U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force cargo before the ship's month-long voyage to the United States.
The 400-foot Beluga SkySails is the world's first cargo ship to use a sky sail - a giant, computer-controlled kite that can rise 100 yards into the air and uses wind power to help propel the ship during long ocean transits. Though MSC frequently charters commercial ships to meet mission requirements, this is the first time the command has chartered such a ship.
Facing a spreading Taliban insurgency, the White House has begun a comprehensive review of policy towards Afghanistan. A National Intelligence Estimate, representing the considered view of America's 16 spy agencies, is now being prepared.
Its conclusions are thought to be deeply pessimistic, stressing the systemic weakness of Afghanistan's central government and the damage caused by the burgeoning narcotics trade, which may account for about half of the country's entire economy.
This assessment is expected to be completed after next month's presidential election – and may remain classified. But officials told yesterday's New York Times that its conclusion was that Afghanistan was in a "downward spiral".
The assessment stresses two key trends: the increasingly sophisticated nature of the Taliban insurgency and the structural weakness of Mr Karzai's government. Taliban fighters are now thought to have a permanent presence in 17 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
As well as conducting a classic insurgency – notably by killing 10 French troops in an ambush outside Kabul in August – they have also branched into urban terrorism against high profile targets. This year, attacks have been launched against the Serena Hotel and the Indian Embassy in the capital, Kabul.
But Mr Karzai's government, mired in corruption, has little control over large areas of the country. The Afghan National Army (ANA) will have 86,000 troops by next summer and should eventually deploy 134,000 soldiers.
Yet foreign troops still bear the brunt of counter-insurgency efforts. In Iraq, US forces managed to pacify large areas by arming local militias. They may decide to do the same in Afghanistan, despite the danger that this will simply undermine the ANA and further weaken the central government.
Moreover, Afghanistan's security is inextricably linked with the situation in neighbouring Pakistan. At present, Taliban fighters enjoy a haven in the Tribal Areas on Pakistan's north-west frontier, where they are able to rearm and regroup before launching cross-border attacks. Pakistan's lawless enclaves may also host al-Qaeda's core leadership, possibly including Osama bin Laden.
American officials believe that Pakistan's authorities have failed to cope with this threat and some elements of their security services, notably the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, may be covertly helping the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
"Unfortunately, what we've seen in the last six months is the Taliban getting more organised and to some extent having more co-operation with al-Qaeda," said a senior US official.
He added that the "dangerous elements are very entrenched" and Pakistan's security agencies were not fully engaged in the struggle, despite assurances from President Asif Ali Zardari.
"Getting all the people and all the instruments of government to line up in that direction is not as simple as giving a speech," said the official. "We are not at the point where every instrument of national power in Pakistan is lined up to fight terrorism."
seriously, how can it be otherwise if the opium trade is allowed to flourish unhindered?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/09/2008 12:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A country this big geographically probably needs at least a couple of hundred thousand regular troops to hold it together, never mind defend it from invaders. Afghanistan's problem is that it doesn't have the revenues to pay for those troops.
#3
Being told what to do IS a lot easier than self-determination. I don't really see how that feckless lack of individualism can be fought, with or without guns. If people would rather be owned by a warlord, what can we do?
I'll be interested to see what Patreus has to say about the situation when he gives his first briefing.
#5
I don't understand. If the report is still over a month from being completed, how can there be conclusons to leak? Is this possibly going to turn out to be as deeply misleading as the leaks about the NIE about Iran?
#6
TW, it's probably the same "folks" doing the leaking this time so the reliability is suspect. Of course this IS the New York Slimes in the midst of the election!
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday asked defense ministers from southeastern Europe to send more troops to Afghanistan, a message that he is likely to forcefully echo at a NATO summit this week.
"As the situation on the ground in Iraq continues to improve, I urge you to consider sending your military forces to Afghanistan, where there is an urgent need for trainers as they expand their army," Gates said at a meeting of the South-Eastern Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM), a 12-member organization composed of both NATO members and countries such as Macedonia that want to join the military alliance. "Your assistance will not only help Afghanistan better protect and care for its citizens, but will also reinforce your important role in ensuring peace and stability around the globe."
The U.S. commander in Afghanistan has said he needs three more brigades -- 10,000 to 12,000 more troops -- to confront a resurgent Taliban and a general deterioration in the security situation. The U.S. currently has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, with 22,000 of them part of a NATO force of 48,000 soldiers.
There are more than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan from the countries attending the meeting here, including NATO members such as Italy. The meeting's host, Macedonia, has 136 troops in Afghanistan, including a medical team. The country also has a special-forces platoon and an infantry platoon in Iraq, and a U.S. diplomat said Macedonia is considering shifting those forces to Afghanistan. "The Macedonians have indicated an openness as their Iraq deployment comes to an end to look at augmenting the forces already in Afghanistan," said Philip T. Reeker, the U.S. ambassador to Macedonia.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
ION NOSI > AFGHANISTAN: A MANHUNT [Osama Bin Laden, AL-QAEDA] OR A VITAL WAR [Saving the future of an Entire Region]?
ALso, YAHOO > US INTELLIGENCE WARNS IRAQ WAR COULD EXPLODE AGAIN [unresolved multi-tensions].
(AKI) - The United Nations' refugee agency says over a quarter of a million Afghans have returned home this year from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran due to security and economic worries.
It's actually quieter and better run than Pakistain...
Since January this year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has assisted 248,951 registered Afghans to repatriate from Pakistan and 2,929 from Iran.
"Many said they returned to Afghanistan because they could not afford the high cost of living in exile amid the current food and fuel crisis," the agency said in a statement. "Others cited security uncertainties as a reason for leaving Pakistan's North West Frontier Province."
Most of this year's returnees -- some 63 per cent -- have gone to eastern Afghanistan, while another 13 per cent have returned to the capital, Kabul.
More than five million Afghans have returned home since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, including over 4.3 million that have been repatriated with UNHCR assistance, mostly from Pakistan, Iran and other countries.
In an effort to address some of the longer-term needs of the returnees, UNHCR and the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs will co-host an international conference in Kabul on their return and integration on 19 November.
The UNHCR-assisted voluntary repatriation operation from Pakistan will be temporarily suspended at the end of this month and will resume in March 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
The problem is how to get the Afghans living in Austrlia and other nations, Afghans that showed up as refugees from the Taliban, how to get them to return to their homeland and help rebuild rather than trying to recreate it in the west.
Eritrea lashed out at the United States on Wednesday for having imposed an arms ban over concerns that the Red Sea state was aiding terrorists in the region. Washington announced the ban Monday, accusing Asmara of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia. "This unwarranted measure is purely prompted by the frustration of the US administration with the misguided policies it has been pursuing in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Sudan," the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Washington has in the past threatened to add Eritrea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. "US authorities could not substantiate the unfounded accusations they leveled against Eritrea in the past as a sponsor of terrorism. In the event, they have concocted this indirect ruse as a last-ditch effort to cover up their blunder," the statement added.
Ties between the two have been frosty over the past few years, with Asmara accusing the US of helping arch-foe Ethiopia to ignore arbitration rulings in its border dispute with Addis Ababa. "In our region, groups and elements that the United States often dubs as terrorists are in reality those that Washington itself, and its surrogates in the Horn of Africa, employ for subversive activities," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
Last year, Eritrea banned the US Agency for International Development from operating in the country and imposed curbs on US diplomats. In response, Washington closed Eritrea's consulate in Oakland, California.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Their consulate in Oakland!
That's fitting. Prolly right down there on 64th.
Two doctors went on trial on Thursday accused of being part of an Islamist cell trying to murder people "wholesale" by carrying out car bomb attacks in central London and at a packed Scottish airport last year.
Iraqi Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Jordanian Mohammed Asha, 28, were part of a small group that tried to set off bombs outside a busy London nightclub and, when that failed, rammed a car into Glasgow Airport terminal in a dramatic suicide attack, the prosecution said. The men wanted to punish the British people for their country's perceived persecution of Palestinian Muslims and those in Afghanistan and Iraq, the court in east London heard.
"These men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the top security Woolwich Crown Court. "Apart from the shocking nature of the activity these two defendants were engaged in, the extraordinary thing about this case is that both these defendants are doctors," he said. "They turned their attention away from the treatment of illness to the planning of murder."
Their plans failed only because, by a mixture of good luck and technical mistakes, the devices did not explode, he said.
The first in a series of "spectaculars" was planned for central London, Laidlaw said. Two cars packed with gas canisters, fuel containers and nails were driven down from Scotland and, early on June 29, 2007, left in the busy West End area of the capital.
One was parked outside Tiger Tiger, a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus packed with more than 500 revelers, and the second nearby. This was a "secondary device" to catch those fleeing from the first explosion at the club, Laidlaw suggested. Despite repeated attempts to set off the mobile phone detonators in the cars, neither vehicle exploded.
The bombers then dramatically changed their plans, aware that the police and security services would quickly trace them through clues left in the cars, the prosecution said. "... the next attack was to be a suicide attack. There was to be no repeat of the failure of the devices in London," said Laidlaw. "... the ultimate purpose...remained to kill and maim."
The next day, the bombers drove to Scotland. A vehicle packed with fuel containers and gas canisters was driven at speed into the international terminal at Glasgow Airport on its busiest day of the year. The vehicle became stuck in the terminal doors and despite attempts to detonate it with petrol bombs, it failed to explode.
Driver Kafeel Ahmed, 28, died from his burns, while Abdulla who was in the passenger seat survived. Laidlaw said Abdulla was a central figure in the plot while Asha, who was in neither London nor Glasgow, was an important member of the cell. Both men deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. The trial is due to last three months.
Posted by: ed ||
10/09/2008 09:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
Imagine the damage they could have caused in one of their own hospitals. Just mixing up doses and things. Kicking out power plugs. Do it all in one night, timed along with some other attack nearby to make sure the hospital was as confused as possible when victims from the other strike arrived.
#2
When a government is no longer able, or willing, to perform the functions of government, it ceases being a government.
The only two critical functions of government are the defense of the nation against a foreign power through force of arms, and the defense against a domestic enemy through force of law.
All other functions are far subordinate to this, to the point of being arbitrary.
#4
Moose makes a very pertinent point. When governments refuse to carry their obligation to function by enforcing standing laws, they have failed. They are over. Anarchy reigns. This situation throughout Eurabia is far worse already than Americans realize. Go over to Atlas Shrugs. She tracks this diligently. The Muzz have reached a mass sufficient that they are demanding takeover already. The dhimmis are hiding and submitting, as they already allowed their socialist leaders to disarm them. There apparently is street fighting and mob rule from Sweden, Denmark, Fwance, and the Low countries, Belgium and Denmark. Stabbing is endemic throughout what used to be British Isles. The Brits are being savaged in their former homeland. We must retain our arms. Hussein will move quickly with StretchFace to begin limiting our Second Amendment rights if we don't stand firm. Some Demo jerk is already working on a proposal to ban ammunition of 30 caliber and over. Get ready for a battle. Join the NRA if you are not already a member. Your weapons will be your only allies one of these days.
#5
Adolf Hitler: "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country." Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition (1973), Pg. 425-426. Translated by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens.
#8
I believe the Scots are not subject to the Common Law of England, but to Scottish Law which is different, see Arlen Specter. Perhaps some of our British brothers (or sisters) could amplify or correct.
Muslim prisoners are being given fresh clothes and bedding after sniffer dogs search their cells -- because they view the animals as unclean. The inmates say their bedclothes and prison uniforms must be changed according to Islamic law if they have come anywhere near dog saliva.
I take it the concept of 'prison' is different there ...
Government rules mean warders are having to hand out replacement sets after random drug searches to avoid religious discrimination claims. The dogs have also been banned from touching copies of the Islamic holy book the Koran and other religious items.
Prisoners are handed special bags to protect the articles.
Now some staff and other prisoners are incensed by what they claim is special treatment. A source at Dover prison said: "It seems ridiculous that staff have to go out of their way to treat these prisoners differently. Some of the other inmates are not happy that they have to make do with the same old bedding."
#7
More dhimmi attitudes. Go in and beat the shit out of these assholes. Break every bone in their face until they can only moan, not talk. Then let the hounds come in and piss on them as they try to crawl on the floor. Idiocy.
A Muhammad look-a-like competition is slated to take place during the Frankfurt Book Fair, and it has already offended and outraged people far beyond Germany. But Titanic, the monthly satirical magazine behind the inflamatory event, insists: "It will be a blast."
Titanic, the German satire magazine, is never far from polemics, but its latest action takes its reputation for controversy to new heights: It is staging a Muhammad look-a-like competition -- and has invited the Turkish President Abdullah Gül to take part.
Turkish newspapers were quick to react to the "unbelievable competition," which is to be held parallel to the Frankfurt Book Fair, where Turkey will be the guest country this year. The popular Turkish daily Sabah drew parallels with the infamous Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005, which sparked death threats and protests across the Muslim world, with some escalating into violence.
According to its Web site, however, Titanic is going ahead with its look-alike contest: "Come along to the most dangerous event of the Frankfurt Book Fair ... It will be a blast," it wrote. The competition, to be held on Oct. 18, is set to take place on a specially built stage at the state-funded Caricatura Museum in Frankfurt. Achim Frenz, head of the museum, said it was designed to test of the boundaries of "jokes and fun." The museum's Web site comments: "Of course it is a sin to represent the prophet. For this reason, we are trying to do something exceptional."
Nine participants are expected to take part, including Osman Engin, a Turkish-German satirist, and Hans Zippert, a prominent columnist for the conservative daily Die Welt. During the competition there will be readings from the Koran and participants will be encouraged to mimic the Muslim prophet. "Of course you can never create a picture of the prophet," the magazine claims in a flyer advertising the event, "but you can try to emulate him."
Titanic, the German equivalent of Britain's Private Eye, has a track record of inflamatory stunts, including hoax bribery faxes sent in 2000 to delegates of the FIFA soccer world championship committee, urging them to support the German bid for the 2006 World Cup. In return for their votes, Titanic offered gifts of a cuckoo clock and Black Forest ham. Titanic also founded its own political party, Die Partei (the party), which lists the rebuilding of the Berlin Wall as one of its goals.
#3
Okay, it's against Islamic law to create an image of Mohammed but I don't think anything says you can't have a contest to see who looks like Mohammed.
Of course with no image it's hard to say what he looks like but since the bulk of the Islamic world has cultivated a very similar 6th century style it's not hard to guess.
Turkey's Parliament on Wednesday extended the government's mandate to order strikes against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq as an attack on a police bus in the country's southeast killed four people. The assault came just days after rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) killed 17 soldiers in a daytime attack on a military outpost near the border with Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
JOHN M. MURTAGH
Fire in the Night
The Weathermen tried to kill my family.
JOHN MURTAGH WAS ALSO ABOUT THE AGE OF BARACK OBAMA WHEN HIS FRIEND'S TERROR GROUP TRIED TO KILL MURTAGH'S FAMILY. AYERS AND DOHRN WERE JUST A NICE COUPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD? "THEY ONLY HOSTED MY CAMPAIGN KICKOFF BUT THAT'S ANOTHER MATTER." I'LL GET BACK TO YOU. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS DON'T MATTER? SO BARACK OBAMA, YOU EITHER DIDN'T CARE ABOUT WHO YOU HUNG OUT WITH OR YOU WERE JUST A HAPLESS DUPE; A USEFUL IDIOT? Continued on Page 49
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a judge's decision to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo Bay into the U.S. In a one-page order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued the emergency stay at the request of the Bush administration. The three-judge panel said it would postpone release of the detainees for at least another week to give the government more time to make arguments in the case.
It comes after U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina on Tuesday made a dramatic decision ordering the government to free the detainees by Friday. Urbina said it would be wrong for the Bush administration to continue holding the detainees, known as Uighurs (pronounced WEE'gurz), since they are no longer considered enemy combatants.
"We are pleased that the Court of Appeals granted our request for a temporary stay, and we look forward to presenting our case," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in response to the appeals court decision.
The Bush administration had asked the appeals court to block Urbina's order no later than Wednesday. The detainees were scheduled to arrive in Washington early Friday and appear in Urbina's courtroom for release to local Uighur families who have agreed to help them settle into the United States.
The government says the detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba had admitted receiving weapons training in Afghanistan and were a national security risk.
Earlier Wednesday, lawyers for 17 Chinese Muslim detainees urged the appeals court in filings not to interfere with Urbina's decision, which is the first court-ordered release of Guantanamo detainees. The detainees said they have been cleared of wrongdoing and have waited long enough for their freedom after being held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years. "The government would prolong by months, and perhaps years, an imprisonment whose legal justification it has conceded away," the detainees' lawyers wrote in filings.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration said it was continuing "heightened" efforts to find another country to accept the Uighurs, since the detainees might be tortured if they are turned over to China. "There are extensive efforts. We oppose the idea of their release here," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Albania accepted five Uighur detainees in 2006 but has since balked on taking others, partly for fear of diplomatic repercussions from China.
The Justice Department criticized Urbina's decision as undercutting immigration laws that dictate how foreigners should be brought into the country. It also cited security concerns over weapons training the Uighurs received at camps in Afghanistan. Such a potential security risk outweighs the inconvenience the detainees might suffer in waiting a while longer at Guantanamo, government lawyers contended.
Uighurs are from Xinjiang — an isolated region that borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations — and say they have been repressed by the Chinese government. The Uighur detainees were captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
We got them in Afghanistan, therefore we should send them back to Afghanistan, in the little finger of land that connects it to China. If they want to walk back to China, fine. Otherwise, they stay in the little finger of land.
#6
..preferably by the legal mechanism for doing so.
Constitutionally, Congress can impeach them for 'bad behavior'. Now the judiciary will claim authority define what is 'bad behavior'. However, it's within Congress' venue to do that. If Congress acts upon the definition with the same restraint, i.e. living Constitution, it can interpret whatever it feels it takes to get enough votes. The only question is 'will'. Congress is basically a coward preferring to play at power but never really wanting what it is granted in the Constitution. It's safer for congresscritters to point the finger at the judiciary and say 'they made me do it' than it is to hold the judiciary accountable for stupid judge tricks and the ever increasing assumption of unaccountable power.
Congress is weak by nature, not by law. If anyone really reads the Constitution, the legislative branch with the power of the purse and impeachment can make itself the single most powerful branch of government. However, the nature of human behavior and self interests override those advantages.
They wrote a document not set upon establishing a utopia or perfect/perfected society, but one what acknowledged the imperfections of man. They accepted certain imperfections and ineffectiveness as protection against tyranny. That's why American Democracy and European Socialism are fundamentally incompatible.
(APP): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman Wednesday said that if Pakistan has any knowledge of Osama's location within our borders, it goes without saying that, we will take action ourselves. "If our allies share intelligence with us over high-value targets we will pursue them on the ground. However, we will not allow anyone to challenge our sovereignty and no country should violate Pakistan's territorial integrity," the minister said talking to news channels on comments by US Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama over Osama Bin Laden.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
sounds like they plan on harboring him like the taliban.If they ever caught him he would just get put up like AQ Khan
(APP): The head of a visiting delegation of Pakistani senators has called for the immediate release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui from US detention after a long meeting on Tuesday with her in a Texas facility where she is undergoing psychological evaluation.
"Vell, Doctor! Haff you finished your evaluation off der patient?"
"Yes, Doctor!"
"Und your diagnosis?"
"She's a loon! The symptoms are classic!"
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told APP by telephone that the four-member delegation had 2-1/2-hour meeting with Dr. Siddiqui, the US-educated Pakistani neuroscientist, at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
"Dr. Siddiqui? It's us. The delegation of Pak senators!"
"Welcome, Senators! And how is Josephine?"
Ms. Siddiqui, 36, who was shot in the abdomen by an American agent after allegedly grabbing a US soldier's gun during questioning in July, was brought to New York on August 4 to face charges of attempted murder and assault.
"You're charged with attempted murder and assault! How do you plead?"
"Ha! You can't put me on trial! I just won the Battle of Austerlitz!"
"I guessed that, from the uniform."
US District Judge Richard Berman last week ordered that Ms. Siddiqui must undergo a month-long medical assessment, treatment and psychological examination before a special competency hearing to determine if she is "medically fit and mentally competent" to stand trial.
"Why do I get all the loop-loops?"
"I dunno, Judge. What should we do with her horse?"
"We call for her immediate repatriation to Pakistan," Mushahid said, pointing out that no terrorism charge has been brought up against her.
"Attempted murder ain't terrorism. We do it all the time back in Pakistain! It's a national passtime!"
He said her human rights were being violated.
"She's got a human right to fight the Austrians at Marengo!"
The Pakistani MPs delegation included Senator S M Zafar, Senator Saadia Abbasi and Senator Talha Mahmood.
Of course they're trying to get her sprung. She inducted them into the Legion of Honor.
Mushahid thanked Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, for facilitating the meeting with Dr Siddiqui and for sending a senior diplomat Faqir Asif Hussain to accompany the delegation. He also thanked the Pakistan Embassy in Washington for the efforts it has been making to ensure Dr. Siddiqui's fair trial and in seeking urgent medical treatment for her.
"She's being poisoned, you know!"
"Right. And what might the symptoms be?"
"Her food taster's dead."
In Washington, Faqir Asif Hussain said that Dr. Siddiqui, who was pleased to meet the delegation, appeared in a good state of mind and in better physical health than when he met her in August in New York. But she was anxious that her rights were protected and she received a fair trial and have an attorney enjoying her confidence. Dr Siddiqui told the delegation that charges pending against her were not true.
"Lies! All lies!"
On behalf of the embassy, Asif Hussain assured her that Ambassador Haqqani and his team of diplomats are striving for her repatriation to Pakistan on humanitarian basis. She thanked the embassy for the support extended to her.
"We thank the delegation! As soon as Perfidious Albion has been driven from the Peninsula there will be choice dukedoms for each of you!"
The embassy representative said the mission was working with the Justice Department and other US authorities to ensure that her rights were protected and would pursue her need for medical treatment.
"We're talkin' a pretty significant dosage increase here."
According to Faqir Hussain, the stomach infection she complained of was gone and her bullet wound was on the mend.
"On the other hand, being dropped on her head doesn't seem to have helped her a bit."
Asked as to what was Dr. Aafia's biggest concern, Faqir Hussain felt she wanted to go back to Pakistan at the earliest and was concerned about her children. She is also concerned about strip searches.
"She dudn't want nobuddy to see the Imperial pee-pee."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#3
She wanted to mess around with a US biological research facility. The ONLY way she's going to be released to anyone is if we remove her brain first.
Hell, they might even build her, her own cell block at the ADX in Florence, Colorado.
#4
Keeping these loons locked up is costing too much money. Let's take 'em back to where they came from, or at least half-way. Thrown out the back of a C-141 about halfway between Savannah and Dakar sounds reasonable to me.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/09/2008 12:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
There's a lot more to this story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aafia_Siddiqui
I'm guessing she knows some ISI names of interest.
Swat rebel cleric Mullah Fazlullah announced a 'conditional amnesty' on Wednesday for public representatives and government officials from 'target-killing' if they gave up supporting the security forces carrying out an operation against him.
The Taliban chief in Swat made the offer in an announcement through his illegal FM radio station from an undisclosed location after a two-day Shura (council) meeting. The radio station can be heard in the whole Swat valley.
But is somehow impervious to radio direction finding...
The cleric also announced 'amnesty' for social workers, other clerics and political workers in the violence-hit district of the NWFP if they gave up their differences with the Taliban.
The Taliban had began killing pro-government leaders and social workers and destroyed their houses and offices after the military operation began. Fazlullah said that dialogue with the provincial government would not resume until the Taliban's reservations against the new shariah law were not addressed and other demands that he did not specify were fulfilled.
Meanwhile, the security forces arrested 18 suspects during a search operation in Guljaba area of Kabal tehsil. The security forces also demolished five houses of Taliban leaders in Guljaba.
Suspected Taliban bombed four houses of brothers of union council nazim Jamsheed Ali in the Manglor area. A house of another civilian also came under attack and a woman was killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TNSM
#1
And here I thought the islamic penchant for overblown rhetoric was a dying art.
Posted by: ed ||
10/09/2008 9:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well at least someone is Pakistan is trying. From Reuters: A military official said jet fighters carried out two airstrikes on a hideout and a training facility used by fighters loyal to militant commander Mullah Fazlullah, who emerged at the head of a revolt in the northwest valley of Swat late last year. "Twenty militants, including important commanders were killed but Fazlullah escaped. He was present there," the official said. The targets of the airstrikes were around 6 miles northwest of Mingora, the main town in Swat.
Posted by: ed ||
10/09/2008 9:26 Comments ||
Top||
#3
[online poker has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: online poker ||
10/09/2008 11:05 Comments ||
Top||
The Iraqi Parliament Speaker says Baghdad is determined to discuss matters of regional concern with key neighboring states such as Iran.
In a Wednesday meeting with Iranian government officials, Mahmud Mashhadani said major issues concerning regional security such as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) should be consulted with neighboring countries.
"Any such decisions should be ratified by the Iraqi government and Parliament before referral to the country's presidency council for approval," he added.
He said that Baghdad is keen on establishing closer relations with the Islamic Republic as a pivotal part of its political agenda.
The proposed Iraq-US security plan provides a legal basis for the presence of US troops in Iraq after their mandate under the United Nations expires later this year.
Iraqi political and religious leaders have voiced serious concerns over 'the longevity of the agreement and whether it will allow a permanent American military presence, capacity for US troops to carry out military operations, and the possibility of American military action outside the borders of Iraq.'
Saeed Jalili, who was attended the meeting, for his part, urged the Iraqi nation not to allow any third country infringe on Iraq's sovereignty through this agreement. "The Iraqi people are the heirs of a great civilization and should not permit foreign interference to jeopardize their sovereignty," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
"The Iraqi people are the heirs of a great civilization and should not permit foreign interference to jeopardize their sovereignty,"
Well said, but if you could quit murdering each other for two seconds we'd go home right now.
Iraq's government said on Wednesday it was ready to take over security responsibilities from US security forces in Baghdad as both countries say they are nearing a deal on a contested military pact. Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdel-Karim Khalaf said Iraqi police are capable of handling security duties across the capital, a responsibility now held by US troops. "We have the ability to take over the internal security responsibility in Baghdad if American forces pull out of the city," he said in a statement. "The Interior Ministry is able to take responsibility for protecting Baghdad."
His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Washington and Baghdad are now "very close" to an agreement on the presence of American troops in the country beyond this year. Zebari was speaking at a news conference with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte shortly after two bombs went off just outside the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, leaving at least seven people, including an Iraqi soldier, wounded.
At a news conference in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad commander General Jeffery Hammond, who commands 28,700 US-led foreign troops, said the improvement in security in the city of 6 million was dramatic but dangers remained. "Security has improved, let there be no doubt," said Hammond, noting that Baghdad is now averaging four attacks a day, which according to US statistics was 89 percent less than in 2006 and 83 percent lower than in 2007.
Khalaf said Iraqi security services lacked explosive detectors to prevent car bombs but otherwise had been effective in reducing the overall level of violence in the country, which is said to be at a four-year low.
"We have been successful in creating the conditions for sustainable security for the eventual transfer to Iraq security forces but let there be no doubt that challenges remain."
The Interior Ministry said there had been an increase in the number of car bombs and roadside blasts in Baghdad since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan but said this did not mean a breakdown of security. "An increase in car bomb attacks and IED [improvised explosive device] attacks, particularly since Ramadan [last month] does not mean that security forces failed," the statement said.
Khalaf said Iraqi security services lacked explosive detectors to prevent car bombs but otherwise had been effective in reducing the overall level of violence in the country, which is said to be at a four-year low. The ministry "is seeking [financial help from] some provincial councils to import such devices and technologies to cover all areas of Baghdad and other provinces," he said.
The US military has handed over security responsibility in 11 of the 18 provinces in Iraq since June 2006. The process started with the Shiite southern province of Muthanna, which borders Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
The SOFA will be signed before US election day, and Iraq will be completely different the day after election day.
If McCain wins, there will be a huge sigh of relief. If Messiah wins, the Iraqis will launch a barrage of demands that the US withdraw immediately.
Senior Hamas officials met Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a Palestinian unity government, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported. Suleiman's talks with the Islamist Hamas came after a string of meetings with a dozen Palestinian factions.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon eight days ago were arrested Thursday in Syria after they crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border with the help of smugglers, Syrian officials said.
Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23 were detained after they crossed into the country, the Syrian foreign ministry said. It said the two will be handed over to the U.S. Embassy following a completion of "necessary measures."
An official with the U.S. Embassy in Damascus confirmed two Americans are being held by Syrian authorities and added that the embassy was trying to confirm their identities. The embassy official spoke on condition of anonymity according to embassy regulations and refused to give further details because of rules of preserving privacy.
Smugglers are known to be active on the Lebanon-Syria border where they use unpaved mountainous roads to bring goods to both countries. Gangs are also known to smuggle people, mainly workers looking for jobs in Lebanon.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut announced Wednesday the two went missing during a vacation in Lebanon and have not been heard from since Oct. 1, when they headed to northern Lebanon en route to Syria.
Chmela and Luck had been working for the Jordan Times and were expected back in Amman on Saturday. The embassy said Chmela and Luck were reportedly headed for the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city where militants and Islamic fundamentalists are known to be active.
U.S. Embassy in Beirut earlier this week warned its citizens about potential violent actions targeting Americans in Lebanon and called on them to be more watchful. It said the threats were particularly high in the first half of October.
Chmela and Luck arrived in Lebanon on Sept. 29 from the Jordanian capital of Amman on vacation. They told a friend on Oct. 1 that they were traveling from Beirut to Tripoli through the coastal town of Byblos that day, the U.S. embassy said. From Tripoli, they planned to cross by land into Syria, it added.
Luck, of Oak Park, Illinois, has been a reporter at the Jordan Times for the past 18 months. He graduated last year from Beloit College in Wisconsin as an international relations major but also studied Arabic, the school's public affairs director Ron Nief said. He said the college awarded Luck a grant to return to Jordan for study.
Chmela worked as a clerk for The New York Times in Washington before leaving this year to study Arabic in Jordan, according to Times' Bureau Chief Dean Baquet. In a memo to staff about the disappearance, he said she later took an internship with the Jordan Times. She worked as an intern at the English-language daily for three months before leaving the job several weeks ago, the paper's chief editor, Samir Barhoumeh, said.
Posted by: ed ||
10/09/2008 09:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"My baloney has a first name, it's S-P-I-E-S. "
#2
Moose - I disagree. #1 - Going U/C as a journo has long beem a no-go. #2 - age of the guy "Luck, 23 started working 18 months ago...". If true, doesn't really give him enough time to finish school and training and 3- The cover story of the chick working for the Gray Lady.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
10/09/2008 15:06 Comments ||
Top||
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his promise on Wednesday to avenge the assassination of his deputy Imad Mughniyeh, for which he blames Israel.
Mughniyeh, the Hezbollah operations chief, was killed in a Damascus car bombing in February. Israel has denied involvement in the incident.
The editor of the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar Ibrahim al-Amin quoted Nasrallah as saying "We have not abandoned our commitment to avenge the assassination, nor have we abandoned the big surprise that awaits our enemies." According to the report, Nasrallah made the remarks during a Hezbollah leadership meeting several days ago.
Nasrallah's remarks echoed the Lebanese militia's threat, published by al-Amin on Monday, that a "big surprise" awaits Israel should it decide to engage in another conflict with the group.
Al-Amin, who usually uses reliable sources from within Hezbollah, warned that Israel needs to seriously consider the ramifications of a future attack on Lebanon in an article published under the headline "Israel is threatening to destroy Lebanon. What will happen during wartime?"
The article was a response to comments made by senior Israel Defense Forces officers last week, who said that Israel will use "disproportionate force" in its next conflict with Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
A few tents and trucks dotting a green hill across the river are about all that is visible of a Syrian troop deployment on Lebanon's northern border - a buildup that has raised concerns of a possible Syrian incursion.
There was no sign Wednesday that the Syrian troops were preparing to cross the border. Syria says the deployment - first made public several weeks ago - is aimed at preventing smuggling from Lebanon.
But the United States and some anti-Syrian politicians in Beirut have warned that Syria could attempt an incursion, a concern raised especially after a Sept. 27 car bombing in Damascus killed 17 people.
In Washington, Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood on Monday said, "Any intervention by Syrian troops into Lebanon would be unacceptable."
Syria's secular government has said the Damascus bombers were Islamic militants who entered from another country, though it did not specify which. Syrian President Bashar Assad had warned days earlier that militants were setting up base in northern Lebanon and that they could threaten Syrian security.
Two days after the Damascus blast, suspected militants bombed a bus carrying Lebanese soldiers in the northern port city of Tripoli, killing seven people - the second such attack against the Lebanese military. But there was no immediate sign of a connection to the Damascus bombing, although also Islamic militants are suspected.
The head of the anti-Syrian bloc in parliament, Saad Hariri, rejected Assad's claims of militants operating in northern Lebanon, saying the accusations and the Syrian deployment were part of a series of intimidations against Lebanon.
Hadi Hobeish, a lawmaker allied to Hariri representing the Akkar region bordering Syria, accused Damascus of movement of saboteurs. It was the first confirmation of the deployment by Damascus mentioning specific troop figures.
The Syrian official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Since the initial deployment several weeks ago on the northern border near the Mediterranean coast, Syria has more recently reportedly deployed more troops nearby in a stretch of about 50 kilometers inland toward the northeast of Lebanon, according to Lebanese security officials.
The pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper has reported that the deployment included battle tanks and that troops dug trenches and blocked smuggling routes along the border with dirt mounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a judge's decision to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo Bay into the U.S. In a one-page order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued the emergency stay at the request of the Bush administration. The three-judge panel said it would postpone release of the detainees for at least another week to give the government more time to make arguments in the case.
(APP): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman Wednesday said that if Pakistan has any knowledge of Osama's location within our borders, it goes without saying that, we will take action ourselves. "If our allies share intelligence with us over high-value targets we will pursue them on the ground. However, we will not allow anyone to challenge our sovereignty and no country should violate Pakistan's territorial integrity," the minister said talking to news channels on comments by US Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama over Osama Bin Laden.
(APP): The head of a visiting delegation of Pakistani senators has called for the immediate release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui from US detention after a long meeting on Tuesday with her in a Texas facility where she is undergoing psychological evaluation. 
Swat rebel cleric Mullah Fazlullah announced a 'conditional amnesty' on Wednesday for public representatives and government officials from 'target-killing' if they gave up supporting the security forces carrying out an operation against him. 
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his promise on Wednesday to avenge the assassination of his deputy Imad Mughniyeh, for which he blames Israel. 
