Kuwait's ruler yesterday accepted the resignation of the health minister ahead of a parliamentary no-confidence vote that had sparked fears of the assembly's dissolution, officials said. Kuwait's ruler Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah "accepted Health Minister Mohammad Al-Jarallah's resignation," the Council of Ministers confirmed in a statement after its weekly session. Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah will assume responsibility for the portfolio in place of Mohammad Al-Jarallah until a new health minister is named. Yesterday's session also named Justice Minister Ahmad Baqer as minister of state for municipal affairs, a new portfolio. Jarallah became the third member of the current Cabinet effectively forced to quit by MPs. He submitted his resignation on Tuesday after 10 parliament members tabled a no-confidence vote accusing him of squandering public funds and mismanagement.
The background here is that the local Islamists are trying to turn the Kuwaiti parliament into the same kind of circus the Paks have.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Tell ya what, Abdullah, for mere $500MIl I'll tell ya how to do it. That y'don't have 1/2Bil to spare? OK, free advice then: Sack Islam. I guarantee it will work. No Islam, no deviations from it, 's that simple.
Kyrgyzstan's parliament set July 10 as the date for the country's presidential election today and formally accepted the resignation of its ousted leader, Askar Akayev. Parliament also set July 10 as the date for the next presidential elections. Last week it cancelled its own earlier decision to hold the vote on June 26.
The parliamentary speaker, Omurbek Tekebayev, said today that the MPs' decisions were "of historic importance". "We have legitimised the upcoming presidential elections, so that there will be no reason for any arguments and no post-election complications," he said.
MPs voted 38 to 10, with 16 abstentions, to accept Mr Akayev's resignation after mass protests forced him to flee the country last month. Formally ending his rule was a key step to bringing legitimacy to the new leadership. Mr Akayev ruled the former Soviet republic for 15 years, until opposition supporters stormed his office on March 24. The 38 votes in favour of accepting Mr Akayev's resignation, however, represents the slimmest of majorities in the 75-seat parliament after MPs initially rejected his April 4 offer to step down.
The MPs themselves are in question, as it was criticism that Mr Akayev had abused his position to put his friends and relations into parliament that in part brought down his regime. Some MPs have failed to take up their seats, including Mr Akayev's son and daughter, both of whom have fled the country.
"And don't come back!"
Last week, parliament stripped Mr Akayev of special privileges and guarantees he would have enjoyed as president, such as lifetime membership of the nation's security council, a right to address parliament and government, free access to the media and immunity from prosecution for his family. As former president, Mr Akayev himself - who is now living in exile in Moscow - retains immunity in accordance with the Kyrgyz constitution.
Also today, the country's supreme court overturned opposition leader Felix Kulov's corruption conviction, removing the last obstacle he faced in becoming a presidential candidate. Mr Kulov, a former vice president and security chief, spent more than four years in prison on charges he says were politically motivated. He was freed immediately after Mr Akayev was overthrown. Mr Kulov, who was also cleared of an embezzlement conviction last week, is expected to be the main challenger to the acting president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, in the election.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2005 5:49:03 PM ||
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via DhimmiWatch
The campaign for what promises to be one of the most bitterly contested parliamentary seats got off to an explosive start yesterday when the MP Oona King was pelted with eggs and vegetables as she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead.
Miss King, 37, the black Jewish Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, was attacked as she joined mourners to commemorate 60 years since the Hughes Mansions Disaster, when 134 people, almost all Jewish, were killed by the last V2 missile to land on London.
The eggs missed her, but one hit a war veteran, Louis Lewis, 89, in the chest and an onion struck Richard Brett, a bugler from the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade who sounded the Last Post at the ceremony.
Miss King, who enraged many of her Muslim constituents when she openly supported the war in Iraq, told the crowd that the attack was one of the "saddest" things she had ever witnessed. Clearly angry, she said: "I think they were aimed at me but the sheer ignorance never mind the lack of respect is shocking. They have no idea where their freedom came from and who gave it to them. "They don't know they are lucky to be here. That is truly one of the saddest things that I have ever seen. There were people who helped save this country, having eggs pelted at them at a time when they are remembering those they had lost. It is disgusting."
The incident demonstrated how high feelings are running in the east London constituency, which has 55,000 Bangladeshi Muslims, more than half its electorate, most of whom bitterly opposed the war in Iraq.
Such is the resentment that George Galloway, one of the leading anti-war MPs, has targeted the seat for himself and his newly formed Respect party. Even though he has no connections to the constituency - his former seat is 400 miles away in Glasgow - he hopes that personal animosity towards Miss King will help him overturn her 10,000 majority.
Yesterday's display of hatred proved he may be on to something. Even a police van called in to make sure the ceremony remained peaceful was pelted with eggs. The incident also showed the changing face of the East End. Back in 1945 when the bomb struck, the area was predominantly Jewish. But since the war most of those have moved out, and been replaced by Muslims.
Yesterday's mourners, many who had lost friends and family in the attack, wholeheartedly supported the MP. Unfortunately for her most of them now lived in the suburbs. One of the few who remains, Irene Rosenthal, 80, a grandmother, who lives in the East End with her husband Leslie, 79, a taxi driver, said: "She is lovely. I will be voting for Oona. I don't like George Galloway. He knows nothing about the area."
But many of the Muslims, especially the young men, now living in Hughes Mansions resented her presence. Ibn Alkhattab, 21, said: "It will be all about the war. There is enormous anger. No one will vote for her." His friend added: "She represented these people and then voted for the war. We all hate her. She comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people and then they come to our back yards. "It is out of order. What do they expect?"
Later Miss King, the daughter of the black American civil rights activist, Preston King, who was brought up in north London, and Mr Galloway, a factory worker's son from Dundee, traded insults at a constituency event organised by BBC London 94.9FM at a local arts centre. Both candidates, who were vocally supported by large sections of the audience, took every opportunity to attack their opponents.
Miss King, who said she would not trust her opponent to "deliver a pizza" far less effective policies, attacked him for his close association to Saddam Hussein and in particular when he flew out to visit the dictator. "When I come across someone who is guilty of genocide I do not get on a plane and grovel at his feet," she said to whoops of delight from her supporters.
He hit back when asked how he felt about challenging one of just two black women MPs in government. "Oona King voted to kill a lot of women in the last few years," he replied. "Many of them had much darker skins than her."
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 9:28:33 AM ||
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His friend added: "She represented these people and then voted for the war. We all hate her. She comes here with her Jewish friends who are killing our people and then they come to our back yards. "It is out of order. What do they expect?"
If "his" people are being killed, there's no one stopping him from finding his way to Iraq to help them out.....and losing his life in the process. The UK would be better off as a result.
#3
LH -- she's apparently very much in the mainstream of the Labour party:
I agree that this is an outrage, but take a look at Oona King's web site at www.oonaking.com and read her comments about Israel. She considers Ariel Sharon a war criminal, calls for an economic boycott of Israel and in general parrot's the traditional dhimmi line that blames Israel for all the ills of the Middle East.
Still think she's all that admirable?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/11/2005 12:37 Comments ||
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I especially liked the how Galloway played the race card. Ms. King, as a black Jewish woman Labourite who supports the war, must have given many a severe case of cognitive dissonance. The cure for that obviously is to egg an 89 year old WWII veteran.
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 16:03 Comments ||
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#7
RC 1. thats NOT the labour party line on Israel.
2. It sounds like shes desperately trying to hang on in a batty constituency. Still by supporting Iraqi liberation she has gone further than is politically good for her. She thinks Arik is a war criminal, but at least shes not willing to say all US and UK policy in the region is part of conspiracy of neocon "likudniks" as even the good Dr. Cole, so beloved of much of the liberal blogosphere in the US, seems to think. As the bible says of noah, he was righteous IN HIS generation.
#8
among many things on Israel with which I DO NOT agree, Ms King says the following:
"Israel, too, has certain rights. The right to live with secure borders, and without the threat of terrorist attack. "
How many of her constituents agree with that? Does George Galloway agree with that?
RC, I am represented in Congress by someone whose stated position on Israel is similar to Ms King's. I voted Republican for Congress for the first time in my life recently for that reason. But my congressman represents the Virginia suburbs of Washington, not the East End of London.
#10
Galloway's a bellwether. We can expect more and more leftists to find electoral gold in pandering to young jihad-supporting muslim voters. Within a generation I predict that most left-leaning political elites in Europe will owe their office to stridently anti-jewish politics.
#11
thibaud - what makes you think it will take that long? A lot of them already do. Not that they have a problem with it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/11/2005 18:27 Comments ||
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Yes but they don't owe their very political careers to jew-baiting. That would represent a huge leap downward, and will take some time to achieve. All depends on the demographics.
#13
Oona King is an anachronism. Labour have allied themselves with the Muslim block vote - becoese they are more numerous. Jews are no longer wlecome in the party.
#14
Labour have allied themselves with the Muslim block vote - because they are more numerous
I'm making a distinction between "allied" for tactical political advantage and a deep, fundamental shift that puts the new group at teh very center of the party's power base and long-term strategic direction.
At 10% of the electorate, a minority group like the muslims are a swing group that affects close races at the margin. The parties will shade their policy platforms accordingly but not necessarily add the minority group's hot-button issues to the top of the list of party priorities.
At 20%+, they become a core constituency that isn't merely appeased at election time. At that point their priorities become the party's enduring core priorities.
#15
Muslims only make up ca. 3% of the national vote, but they tend to vote en bloc which makes them more important a constituency than most others. The Jewish vote has become relatively insignificant, and is regarded by the Left as expendable, at best.
Additionally, Muslim political aactivists are known to be highly successful criminal voting factors. Labour's efforts to increase postal voting have been seized upon by corrupt local Labour representatives to promote Muslim politicians running for Labour. The Labour/Muslim alliance is a mutually beneficial symbiosis.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2005 19:54 Comments ||
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My point, LH, was that you should be more careful about who you voice admiration for. She may have the right stand on Iraq, but that hardly makes her an admirable figure.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/11/2005 21:04 Comments ||
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Liberalhawk, are you represented by Jim Moraon? I pity you. I'm in the next district over, thank G-d.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/11/2005 21:51 Comments ||
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Failed terrorism prosecutions in Germany and the Netherlands this week have highlighted Europe's patchy record in securing convictions and prompted some to ask if laws need to be tightened. Ihsan Garnaoui, a 34-year-old Tunisian, was acquitted in Berlin Wednesday of trying to form a terrorist group, even though judges considered it proven that he had planned to carry out at least one bomb attack in Germany at the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. The same day, Dutch teenager Samir Azzouz was cleared of planning attacks on Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, a nuclear reactor and government offices. He had been found in possession of machinegun cartridges, mock explosive devices, electrical circuitry, maps and sketches of prominent buildings and chemicals prosecutors said could be bomb ingredients. Legal experts and security analysts said such cases raise a difficult question: in the absence of an actual attack, how close must a suspect be to detonating a bomb before prosecutors can demonstrate guilt? "We cannot wait until attacks have been carried out and the dead are lying on the street," prosecutor Silke Ritzert said in her summing-up of the Garnaoui case.
Maxime Verhagen, Christian Democrat leader in the Dutch parliament, said tougher laws might be needed. "I ask myself whether the men who flew into the twin towers could have been convicted in the Netherlands if their plans had been intercepted in good time," he said, referring to the al Qaeda attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Hundreds of terrorist suspects have been arrested in Europe since 2001, but only a small proportion successfully prosecuted. Some visible successes have come in Belgium, which jailed a Tunisian for 10 years in 2003 for plotting to blow up a NATO military base, and France, which convicted 10 men last December for planning to bomb Strasbourg Christmas market and another six last month for conspiring to blow up the U.S. embassy in 2001. Elsewhere, some prominent cases have collapsed for lack of evidence, like the trial of nine Moroccans accused of plotting to poison the water supply to the U.S. embassy in Rome in 2002. Prosecutors have often encountered the problem that intelligence which forms the basis for arrests may not amount to legal proof or may not be useable in court for fear of compromising secret sources.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/11/2005 4:19:34 AM ||
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"We cannot wait until attacks have been carried out and the dead are lying on the street," prosecutor Silke Ritzert said in her summing-up of the Garnaoui case.
Funny, I seem to recollect Europeans advising Israel to wait and "respect human rights" on numerous occassions --- while there were dead lying on our streets.
#3
Failed terrorism prosecutions in Germany and the Netherlands this week have highlighted Europeâs patchy record in securing convictions and prompted some to ask if laws need to be tightened.
#5
Common sense still exists among the people, if not among their judicial and political betters. Such foolish decisions only make polarization and civil strife more, not less, likely in Europe.
How long before ordinary Europeans vent their disgust with such stupidity and start acting directly against the jihadist menace?
#6
european peasants with pitchforks and torches assault the monster's lair? Sounds familiar...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2005 17:26 Comments ||
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I'd bet that the most "tolerant" European nations will soon become the most intolerant: watch the ordinary folks in the smaller multi-culti nations like Holland and Denmark to go berserk first
#8
I'd always be careful to call a decision of a judge "foolish". A judge applies the law as it is. A judge can believe that a defendant is guilty, but that's not enough, his guilt must be proven "beyond reasonable doubt". (I bet Judge Ito did not believe that O.J. was innocent)
In this case the evidence was not good enough, and the law says "in dubio pro reo".
In those cases this is painful and the law will need to be adapted for better security. Where does "planning" start? Buying a map and drawing a circle around the White House?
I would not be so quick to condemn European courts. You might actually get similar results if you submitted terrorist cases like that to regular US courts, with regular lawyers etc. The judges might very well apply the same high standards of judging evidence.
How's that Moussaoui case going in Alexandria?
The German case is not over btw as the Federal Prosecutor will appeal.
#9
TGA a Dutch jury of dutch citizens not lawyers/judges would have put him away.
That is the problem. The state will not trust the people to decide on guilt or innocence. It's a pannel of Judges who don't have to worry about it. No one will ever hold them accountable for good or bad decisions.
If you want law go to the courts of law. If you want justice look some other place. There is little if any justice in a court of law. Jury trials moderate the excesses of the law.
#10
A jury didn't put O.J. away if I remember well.
The difference? O.J.'s aquittal was final. Had this case been tried by German judges (actually in penal cases two "assistant judges" chosen from ordinary people) co-decide the case with the professional judge, so the people has its say) the prosecutor would have appealed.
A jury is not our legal tradition. In some cases that's bad but not in all. Lawyers don't get to inflate their ego as much as in America. Often, the better lawyer wins in the U.S.
#11
TGA, I respect your points as regards the German case, but I was speaking mainly of the Dutch one. The evidence in that case was more than enough to convict under any reading of criminal/terror conspiracy law. I find it hard to believe that Dutch law is so lax or weak as to let the defendant off in this case.
A KLM plane from Amsterdam to Mexico was refused access to US airspace today and had to turn back, because it was carrying two passengers who were on a terrorist watch list.
And when the plane got back to the Netherlands, Dutch authorities let the two passengers walk away.
Posted by: 3dc ||
04/11/2005 12:50:15 AM ||
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One man's terrorist is another's innocent victim of "neocon" islamophobia
#2
"And when the plane got back to the Netherlands, Dutch authorities let the two passengers walk away."
Given that kind of Dutch mindset, why do we even trust dutch passenger lists to include the bad guys?
Just to be sure, we need to decertify all KLM flights from US airspace. At least until the dutch get serious.
Posted by: Dave ||
04/11/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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Spot-on, Dave. If they don't care about security, then all flights originating from or stopping (and adding passengers) in the Netherlands can forfeit landing rights. The other carriers will snarf them up instantly.
#5
Who says the Ductch didn't follow the guys home, tap their phones and will pick them up in two weeks for traffic violations when the MSM has lost interest?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/11/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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Upon their return to the Netherlands, the two passengers who were on the US no-fly list flew via England back to Saudi Arabia, their land of origin, where they were not refused entry either. ...
So the two were Saudi subjects, not Dutch citizens.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/11/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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I wonder if this wasn't aimed as much at Mexico as at KLM. A suggestion to Sr. Fox that we don't appreciate his porous border.
Posted by: too true ||
04/11/2005 15:38 Comments ||
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A suggestion to Sr. Fox that we don't appreciate his porous border.
Given GWB's behavior so far, there's no reason to believe that this is anything other than a pipedream.
#9
In all fairness to KLM, they weren't told that these guys weren't wanted until they were airborne, and were coming up on Canadian airspace. A communications breakdown occurred, because we have always been able to tell them before a plane went airborne if there were undesirables on board. In the past, they have refused to allow passengers who were on our watch lists.
Also, even if the passengers were the biggest slimeballs in the al-Qaeda stable, if they didn't do anything to violate Dutch law, and there weren't any warrants they could extradite them to another country on, they had no choice but to let them go. That doesn't mean they weren't watching them, or that they didn't pass on some info to us.
#10
One other thing. At least they took them back to Schiphol instead of Canada or someplace closer. I'd rather have an ocean between us than some very badly patrolled border crossing.
Hell, Air France would have dropped them off in Quebec & given them cabfare.
#11
I have read Dutch reports about this. Usually the US "no fly list" matches the ones European airlines have (and vice versa). Obviously somebody messed up. That can happen easily with Arab names. It could even be an error.
The Dutch couldn't do anything different. A "no fly list" is not an "do arrest" list. There are people living in the US who are redflagged, but they are not arrested (hear that Senator Kennedy?).
I'm sure the Dutch would have arrested the Saudis had the US made a request. Since the Dutch had nothing on them, they had to let them go (although I wonder how they made it out of the country being on a no fly list). I guess some real mean cavity searches were done and other precautions I will not name.
It would NOT hurt checking flight lists BEFORE flights take off btw. Somebody went for a long coffee break methinks.
Btw KLM makes a refuelling stop in Houston en route to Mexico. Thats why they had to turn back. They could have changed route and not cross Canadian or US airspace but they don't have enough fuel for that.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Sunday the European Union wants a long-term economic relationship with Russia and hopes to cement it at a summit in May.
In building ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Schroeder has favored pressing him discreetly over his increasing control over Russian business and politics as opposed to the United States' blunter approach.
"To foster security and prosperity in Europe and beyond, Russia and the European Union must work together closely and, in particular within the European Union, Germany must work closer and closer with Russia," Schroeder said at a trade fair in Hanover, where he greeted the Russian leader warmly. He noted that Germany is Russia's top trade partner.
Putin sought to allay investor fears, meanwhile, saying speculation that the country would revise its privatization program was "groundless." He also said he was forging ahead with reforms.
"We do realize the future of growth and diversification of the whole economy directly depends on the economic freedom in the country and the government's ability to ensure transparent conditions for business," he said.
Schroeder said he was confident about a key Russia-EU agreement expected to be signed on May 10. The pact focuses on Russia-EU cooperation in four key areas: the economy, external security, justice matters and cultural affairs, including research and education.
"We want a stable, long-term invested cooperation," Schroeder said. "I am optimistic that we can lay the foundation at the EU-Russia summit on May 10."
Chechnya's Kremlin-backed President Alu Alkhanov also came to the event, an indication Putin is using the trip to underline his contention that the shattered region is now in a rebuilding phase.
Posted by: .com ||
04/11/2005 5:02:36 AM ||
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What a carnival of losers. Schroeder's given his nation 5 million unemployed (after promising to step down if the number exceeded 4 million) and is now whoring with any dictatorship he can find, from Moscow to Tehran to Beijing, to scare up some export revenues for his anemic industries.
via DhimmiWatch
Link address: http://jewishtribune.ca/tribune/jt-050407-02.html
MONTREAL — For many years, it was the norm that English was the dominant second language throughout Quebec's primary and secondary francophone schools. But if recent school enrolment trends continue, that linguistic status wil no longer be the case. English will be replaced by Arabic. And it could happen as early as next year.
According to figures that were released last week by Quebec's Ministry of Education, there has been a sharp increase over the last five years in the number of students enrolled in Quebec's French schools whose mother tongue is Arabic. It increased from 12,731 students in 1999-2000 to 18,084 in 2004-05. On the other hand, the number of English-speaking students increased from 17,313 in 1999-2000 to only 18,649 in 2004-05.
The explanation for this growing trend is twofold: the province's immigration policies — which benefits applicants from francophone countries — and provisions from the language law Bill 101, which makes it mandatory for children of newly-arrived immigrants to Quebec to attend French schools. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 6:35:25 PM ||
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Makes sense - that way they can communicate with the new rulers when they cross the Atlantic to visit Francistan.
Canada's spy agency admits it shared information it obtained from a Canadian teen being held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay with U.S. intelligence services, documents show.
The transcripts of a cross-examination obtained by The Canadian Press also show the agency did not ask for guarantees the United States would not use the information in any prosecution that could result in the death penalty for Omar Khadr.
"We did not seek those assurances," William Hooper, assistant director of operations for the Canadian Intelligence Security Service, told Mr. Khadr's lawyer during the closed-door hearing last month.
Mr. Hooper's admission came despite the agency's assertion that the interrogations were not intended to help the United States prosecute the 18-year-old detainee, whose family was intimately connected to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Mr. Hooper said he did not know whether the United States had made information-sharing a precondition to allowing a CSIS agent to see Mr. Khadr and refused to provide details of what it contained.
However, he denied that several CSIS interrogations in February, 2003, and again in September, 2003, were designed to help the United States.
"We were not down there to proxy anybody else's interest," Mr. Hooper said, according to the transcripts, now filed with the Federal Court.
"We're down there in our own investigative interest."
The Toronto-born Mr. Khadr is accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan in July, 2002, when he was 15. He has yet to be charged or to stand trial.
His lawyers are seeking a Federal Court injunction to forbid CSIS from interrogating Mr. Khadr further, and to force Ottawa to extend "substantive" consular service to the teen. Although it says it has no immediate plans to see him again, CSIS is contesting the injunction request, arguing it needs to be able to talk to him as part of its fight against terrorism.
The agency says Mr. Khadr initially provided extensive information on people associated, or believed to be associated, with al-Qaeda. He later recanted, saying he had been tortured.
Among other things, his lawyers say he has been shackled in painful positions for long periods and threatened with rape. The documents also show the Department of Foreign Affairs quietly sent one of its intelligence officials to interview Mr. Khadr because the United States refused to allow consular access to him.
"I'm not sure we misled [the United States]. I wouldn't use the word misled," Serge Paquette, director of emergency services at Foreign Affairs, told Mr. Khadr's lawyer.
"Basically, we have to satisfy their requirements for a visit."
Mr. Paquette said the purpose of the visit was to ascertain Mr. Khadr's well-being. He is believed to be the youngest of about 550 detainees at the U.S. prison in Cuba.
Mr. Khadr's Canadian lawyers, who have not had access to him, have criticized Ottawa's "silent diplomacy" on their client's behalf as ineffective.
"[Foreign Affairs] is suggesting that the visit was actually for [Mr. Khadr's] benefit, but this is not the case," lawyer Nate Whitling said. "The fact that a [Foreign Affairs] representative went there and offered him chocolate bars does not constitute a consular visit by any stretch."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 3:58:09 PM ||
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I thought the Supreme Court struck down capital punishment for minors. So it looks like the death penalty wouldn't even be on the table.
And if his lawyers haven't been given access to him, how do they know that the Foreign Affairs guy only offered the murderous brat chocolate? Or that he's been tortured?
#2
Thats easy DB. They got the info from the ACLU who either made it up or got it through FOIA they should have never been given access to. OR they short cut that and made the facts up themselves.
Want Justice, don't go to a court for it. Courts don't know justice. Courts deal only with the law. 99% of the time law is an ass.
Iran yesterday accused Canada of complicating matters in the case of an Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in detention in Tehran, after Ottawa asked to conduct its own autopsy on her body. "Canada has adopted a bad approach since the beginning and has complicated things even more," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. The declaration came after Ottawa demanded that the remains of Zahra Kazemi, who died in custody in July 2003, be handed over following allegations from an exiled Iranian doctor that she had been raped before dying. "They should have first accepted the fact that Zahra Kazemi was an Iranian citizen," Asefi added. Iran does not recognize dual nationality and therefore feels it is not obliged to hand over the body.
Asefi said Ottawa's requests for another autopsy and for an independent enquiry would "have to be examined by the judiciary which will decide whether to accept them". Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi who represents Kazemi's mother, has asked the head of judiciary to "appoint a special examining judge to discover the truth in Kazemi's death", the state news agency IRNA reported yesterday. "The lower and appeal courts have not been legally competent to examine the Kazemi case," Ebadi said . The Nobel winner and human rights lawyer asked that the special judge be independent of Tehran judiciary, who had Kazemi arrested and whose role was questioned in the photographer's death.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Good luck Canada.
Iran will never give you the body.
You are infidels.
Paul Bremer, former presidential envoy to Iraq, delivered a lecture titled "Iraq and the War on Terrorism" to a sold-out crowd at Bowdoin College's Morrell Gymnasium on Friday.
Named presidential envoy to Iraq on May 6, 2003, Bremer served as the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq before handing over power to an interim Iraqi government on June 28, 2004.
During Friday's lecture, Bremer shared his perspective about issues leading up to and including what he calls "the liberation of Iraq." He described the state of affairs that Saddam Hussein left behind and the steps that coalition leaders took to rebuild Iraq's economy, government and social structure.
Bremer started his talk by looking back to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"I was very shocked, but not surprised," he said.
Bremer asserted that the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks were sponsored by nations — including Iraq — that were developing weapons of mass destruction for use in an international terrorist network. He went on to define the root cause of the new terrorism as "a hatred of who we are as the West; not what we do, but who we are. ... Islamic extremists are at war with the West. They want to convert or kill all non-Muslims."
Bremer also shared his belief that "the hatred is reflective of Islamic society's failure to conquer Europe."
Bremer went on to address the working conditions he found in Iraq. He spoke about the intense heat he dealt with on a daily basis, as well as the lack of electricity, running water and telephones.
To build a stable and peaceful Iraq, Bremer found that there were three main areas that needed to be addressed: political reform, the economy and security.
After asserting that torture and rape were routine elements of Saddam Hussein's style of government, Bremer pointed to the lack of universal suffrage, women's education, free press and democracy in Iraq as other signs of Saddam's oppression of his people.
"It was a great and noble thing to free 27 million Iraqis," Bremer said.
Less than two years after Saddam's government was ousted, he said, Iraq now has a modern constitution with a broader government, sovereignty and elections for the first time in its history. The constitution also established a balance of power, a broad range of rights — including the freedom of religion and press — and a rule of law consisting of an independent judiciary, according to Bremer.
He compared the Iraqi movement for independence with the founding of the United States. "While we took seven years to win our independence and 12 to write our constitution, the Iraqis did the same in two years," he said.
Focusing on the Iraqi economy under Saddam, Bremer said that the World Bank found that from 1979 to 2002, the per capita gross domestic product in Iraq dropped more than any other country in the world. "Saddam destroyed the economy through corruption," Bremer said.
He asserted that the only way to fix Iraq's economy was by increasing consumption and adopting more sensible macroeconomic policies. To that end, Bremer repealed Saddam's prohibition on foreign investment, established the first central bank and figured out what to do about currency.
The final area that Bremer vowed to improve was security. He found that coalition forces were fighting against Saddam's loyalists and al-Qaeda. The loyalists had a simple vision, hoping to seize power by force, while al-Qaeda strove to turn power over to a government similar to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Bremer said.
He concluded his lecture by calling for patience in assessing progress in Iraq. "Much like the fight against Soviet communism, this fight needs to be fought with patience. The good news is that we can do it. Everything in our history shows that we can," he said.
In the question-and-answer session that followed, Bremer was asked why his statements sound so self-assured. He responded, "If I sound self-assured, it's because I am sure. I've studied terrorism for 30 years."
He defended himself when asked how he can say that the war isn't motivated by a neo-conservative agenda, including advancing corporate interests in oil fields.
"I'm not a neo-conservative," he said. "Oil had nothing to do with any discussions. When you take your next trip to Iraq, I would be glad to get together with you."
As for when we can expect U.S. troops to come home, Bremer said, "This can be answered schematically, when two lines cross. When the number of terrorist incidents goes down and when the quality of Iraqi security forces goes up."
Reaction to Bremer's talk was mixed.
The most memorable comment of the night for sophomore Zach Linhart, the director of media affairs for the Bowdoin College Republicans, was "when a student tried to tell Ambassador Bremer that he was wrong about what is happening in Iraq and Bremer simply responded, 'When is the last time you were in Iraq?' Of course, the questioner had never been to Iraq and was contradicting Bremer purely on propaganda read in the liberal media."
Rachel Kaplan, president of the Bowdoin College Democrats, had a different reaction.
"Bremer failed to address the complexity of issues regarding the war that students really questioned," she said.
Professor Shelley Deane of the college's government and legal studies department found the Bremer talk interesting in the sense that "what was left unsaid was as important if not more important than what was said. I would have liked to have heard the 'real answer' to the question he delicately danced past, namely what had he learned and what he would do differently. A more fulfilling answer to this question might well have appealed to as well as won over skeptics."
Deane currently teaches a class on Middle East politics.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 3:49:01 PM ||
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Paul Bremer has nothing to defend. He has made of Iraq far more than MacArthur made of post-war Japan, and proportionally more can be expected of Iraq in the future because of it. It will dominate the entire middle east through a combination of a triple-A gold plated financial system and an ordered, rational and transparent government, the likes of which is unique in the world. Bremer was able to pick and choose the very best of what makes a modern nation, setting the Iraqis up for unimagined prosperity, development, and sustainability. It will not be long before they are classed as 1st-world power, perhaps even becoming the heart of a future "middle-east common market" bloc.
#3
He defended himself when asked how he can say that the war isnât motivated by a neo-conservative agenda, including advancing corporate interests in oil fields
Sigh.... more utter horseshit from the clueless MSM. Again, repeat after me: the oil companies wanted to do business with Saddam, not overthrow him. The policies urged by Wolfowitz et al were exactly counter to what every oil company on the planet was urging. The neo-cons have zero interest in advancing the agenda or interests of the oil majors.
When will this biggest of Big Lies finally be put to rest?
Note Date and Time of filing. Barry must be channeling Jeane Dixon. AP has been here / done this before. Don't try this at home, kiddies, they're professionals. Monday Apr 11, 1:58 AM EDT Bush Nominee for UN Ambassador Faces Test
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton faced tough questioning Monday from Senate Democrats on his nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Republicans were looking for swift approval from the Foreign Relations Committee. Template dogmatic setup boilerplate...
President Bush's selection of Bolton last month has stirred controversy because of his expressions of disdain for the United Nations and the blunt criticism he has leveled at North Korea and other countries and arms control treaties.
Bolton, 56, has served in the past three Republican administrations and been one of his party's strongest conservative voices on foreign affairs issues. He is now the administration's arms control chief.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended Bolton by saying that "not everybody is given to subtlety and indirection." She said Bolton is a good negotiator and would be great in the U.N. environment. Support point - or a subtle smear of Rice for defending him?
Republicans control the Foreign Relations Committee by 10-8, but most if not all panel Democrats are expected to oppose the nomination. One of them, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Bolton has not been an effective arms negotiator and speaks to people in a condescending, inflammatory way. We could rewrite this convoluted statement more clearly: Republicans control the Foreign Relations Committee by 10-8, but his confirmation margin will be greater than that because not all panel Democrats are expected to oppose the nomination.
Makes more sense, no?
"That's not the kind of representative of America that we want in the United Nations," Nelson said. So they feature a nay-sayer from the tiny marginalized minority. Who'da thunk it, eh? No AP spin here, nosirree.
Committee Democrats also have circulated a portion of a 2-year-old Senate Intelligence Committee report questioning whether Bolton pressured a State Department intelligence analyst who tried to tone down language in a Bolton speech about Cuba's biological weapons capabilities. So they've been unable to pin this on him for 2 years, but still they trot it out in classic Dhimmidonk style. And what was the imaginary offense? Bolton "pressures" a State analyst who tries to tone down a Bolton speech? Huh? Parse that for a few minutes and see if there's really any meat. A difference of opinion, okay. But who's giving the speech? What did the WH think? State DOES work for the President, last time I looked at the phreakin' org chart...
On television talk shows Sunday, committee Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joe Biden of Delaware and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia cited the alleged pressure and other alleged incidents as among reasons they will oppose Bolton's nomination. Just being charged with not being a State patsy is enough for these brave Dhimmi warriors.
Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., hopes for a vote on Bolton's nomination Thursday. A tie could keep the panel from recommending Senate approval. And, from the opening where we rewrote the sentence to make sense, does this leave much chance of a tie? No, but it makes good copy to speculate and pretend there's real tension and mystery, if you're AP.
The outcome could depend on moderate Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I. Chafee spokesman Stephen Hourahan said the senator was leaning toward supporting Bolton "unless something surprising shows up" at the hearing. Such as the 2-yr old charges about a speech where State Dept Separate Agenda specialists tried to tell Bolton what to say, and he refused? H'okay.
In preparations for the hearings, Democrats led by Biden have questioned Bolton's views on intelligence. They were granted access to four State Department officials and were permitted to examine some of its documents. Quiet: Chia Pet Detective At Work.
But Biden's spokesman, Norm Kurz, complained the Democrats were not given everything they requested and were allowed only limited time for the interviews and only Friday to look at the papers. How can you properly develop a good political hit with lots of good TV face time and snarky sound bytes under such circumstances? Tell the bear in the shooting gallery to stand still, damnit! And we get unlimited ammo and time!
Carl W. Ford Jr., a former chief of the department's bureau of intelligence and research with whom Bolton apparently clashed, was scheduled to testify on Tuesday. And, of course, if anyone ever disagreed with Bolton, then Bolton must be unfit. Whatever happened to honest differences of opinion? That old view was flushed with the advent of BDS. With Rockefeller, Biden, and Dodd, there is only one goal left in life: hurt Bush. Q.E.D.
Since his nomination, Bolton has promised to work closely with other countries and members of Congress and said he has always supported "effective multilateral diplomacy." Anti-Idiotarians welcome.
As assistant secretary of state for international relations under the first President Bush, he helped organize the alliance that forced Iraq out of Kuwait. So, um, let's get this straight... He's not qualified because he isn't a mealy-mouthed State Dept elitist, but he has actually done this sort of thing, before, but now he isn't qualified because he's Bush's nomination and, gasp!, Bush wants him to forcefully represent the US at the UN? Does that about cover it? Horrors!
Critics, though, recall his 1994 comment that it would not matter if the top 10 stories of the 39-floor U.N. headquarters building in New York were lost. Calling a spade a spade is, indeed, verboten. So wash your mouth out with soap, Bolton, to make the wankers happy -- and we'll let you push the plunger, heh.
He has said there is "no such thing as the United Nations," and asserted that the United States is the only real authority the world has. He has also questioned whether the organization undertakes too many peacekeeping missions. Oops! More of that telling it like it is, since the UN can't actually enforce anything without the US... Johnny, my boy, you've got to take it easy on the reality-deniers. They can't handle it straight, y'know. You can tell when you've upped the amps a little too much - they turn purple and go running for the nearest MSM TV crew.
In February, he sharply criticized China for selling missile technology to Iran and other countries. He has been critical of Europe's efforts to reach an agreement with Iran to curb that country's nuclear program. Yep, he's e-vil, all right. More of that truth stuff, more hearts fluttering.
During administration efforts two years ago to seek an agreement with North Korea over its nuclear program, Bolton called that country's leader a "tyrannical dictator." North Korean officials refused to deal with him. And he keeps up this relentless honesty! No wonder the Dhimmis see him as unfit for Govt service!
Bolton helped lead U.S. opposition to the International Criminal Court and the United States' eventual withdrawal from the treaty creating the court. The bad good news keeps on a'comming...
His opponents have accused him of claiming without evidence that Syria and Cuba were trying to develop biological weapons. Well - have they resolved this one way or the other? Or is it just another festering "charge" that you're trotting out?
Bolton would replace John Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, who resigned after half a year as U.N. ambassador. All the accusations, none of the proof, all hit, all spin, all bullshit, all the time, AP - Asshole Press... Burma Shave.
Posted by: .com ||
04/11/2005 4:53:02 AM ||
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"Thatâs not the kind of representative of America that we want in the United Nations,"..yes we do.
#2
Diplomats are still living in the 19th century when an insult could trigger a war. It's time to get out of that mealy-mouthed mode and tell it like it is. When something doesn't work anymore you fix it or throw it out if it can't be fixed.
#3
In preparations for the hearings, Democrats led by Biden have questioned Boltonâs views on intelligence.
Unlike the Demi-donks actually questioning Dr. Rice's intelligence in her confirmation hearings, eh? Man, this just drips w/ hypocrisy! Maybe Bolton will question Biden's "intelligence" if you know what I mean! I prefer Bolton's "views on intelligence", like, he has some!
Posted by: BA ||
04/11/2005 8:45 Comments ||
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Great catch, .com.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/11/2005 11:52 Comments ||
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prolly just due to daylight savings time and all...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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THE anti-Patriot Act de ception [sic] campaign continues at full throttle. The hearings on the law's reauthorization, now under way, offer the Bush administration an important opportunity to set the record straight. In particular, it's time to put the "slippery slope" argument to rest.
Right- and left-wing libertarians have joined together in a new group, "Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances," dedicated to dismantling major portions of the law. They routinely argue that any commonsensical reform of the law-enforcement status quo will send the nation hurtling toward government tyranny.
Yet the Patriot Act's most controversial provision — section 213, which lets the government delay notice of a search — exposes this argument as false.
Say the FBI wants to plumb Mohammad Atta's hard drive for evidence of a nascent terror attack. If a federal agent shows up at his door and says: "Mr. Atta, we have a search warrant for your hard drive, which we suspect contains information about the structure and purpose of your cell," guess what happens next. Atta tells his cronies back in Hamburg and Afghanistan: "They're on to us; destroy your files — and the infidel who sold us out." The government's ability to plot out that branch of Al Qaeda is finished.
To avoid torpedoing preemptive investigations of terrorist or criminal plans, section 213 lets the government ask a judge for permission to delay notifying the target of a search that his property has been examined. The judge can grant the delayed notice request only if revealing the search would risk the destruction of evidence, or put a witness's life at risk, or seriously jeopardize an investigation, among other reasons. The government can delay notifying the subject only for a "reasonable" period of time; eventually officials must tell Atta that they inspected his hard drive.
The crusade against this commonsensical rule has been unrelenting. And the favorite conceit used against it is the slippery slope, the cornerstone of libertarian thought. "Give power to government, and it will be misused," explained the American Conservative Union's David Keene on NPR's "On Point" (during a debate in which I participated).
Well, no it won't, as the unknown history of 213 demonstrates. The power to delay notice of a search does not originate with the Patriot Act. For decades, federal judges across the country have granted government agents in criminal cases the leeway to delay notice under exceptional circumstances. Section 213 merely codifies those judicial precedents in statutory form.
If allowing delayed notice opened the way toward tyranny, the government by now would have taken its delayed notice power and done away with notice entirely. Every search would be permanently secret. And the libertarians would have examples aplenty of the government abuse that has flowed from the delayed notice capacity. But they have no such evidence. They have pointed to no case of misuse over the last two decades of the notice authority.
In short, their argument against section 213 remains purely speculative: It could be abused. But there's no need to speculate; the historical record refutes the claim.
There is a slippery-slope problem in terror investigations — but it runs the other way. Going back to the 1970s, libertarians of all political stripes have piled restriction after restriction on intelligence-gathering, even preventing two anti-terror FBI agents from collaborating on a case if one was an "intelligence" investigator and the other a "criminal" investigator. By the late '90s, the bureau worried more about avoiding a pseudo-civil liberties scandal than about preventing a terror attack. No one demanding the ever-more Byzantine protections against hypothetical abuse asked whether they were exacting a cost in public safety. We know now that they were.
The libertarian certainty about looming government abuse is a healthy instinct; it animates the Constitution, after all. But we shouldn't take it too far. If all public power led ineluctably to authoritarian control, we should not risk forming a government. It turns out, however, that checks and balances actually work. And history does not always repeat itself. Government can learn from its mistakes.
The FBI's institutional culture has changed radically from the freewheeling 1950s and 1960s, something the anti-government fear-mongers never acknowledge. Criminal and terror investigators have internalized the norms of restraint and respect for privacy. Robert Mueller's FBI bears zero resemblance to J. Edgar Hoover's.
The debate about reauthorizing the Patriot Act should be full-throated and vigorous. Defenders of the act should also affirm that government power to protect citizens is fully compatible with liberty and need not lead to abuse, thanks to the constitutional framework that retains its vitality to this day.
Posted by: .com ||
04/11/2005 4:09:11 AM ||
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The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said in an interview that al Qaeda and other extremist groups had sought to obtain a nuclear weapon, Norwegian television has reported.
"They were actively looking into acquiring a nuclear weapon and other weapons of mass destruction," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview in Vienna with Norway's commercial TV 2 channel on Saturday.
TV 2 said that ElBaradei's remarks referred to the al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, and other extremist groups.
Its website quoted ElBaradei as saying that proof had been found in Afghanistan, where U.S.-led-troops toppled the Taliban government in 2001 after it refused to hand over al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
"I would be surprised if they did not try to acquire nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. That would be the most horrible scenario because these extremist groups -- if they have the weapon, they will use it," ElBaradei said.
He said there was a "race against time" to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and plug gaps in the security of atomic weapons and materials.
"The more nuclear weapons that exist, the more threat we are facing. And the more countries that have nuclear weapons, the more danger we are facing," ElBaradei said in a rare display of a honest to god job preservation effort.
"We can't afford one single lapse in the system of security of nuclear material or nuclear weapons," he said.
I agree 100%! That's why we went to Iraq. So, who's next?
Posted by: Sobiesky ||
04/11/2005 12:41:26 AM ||
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"We canât afford one single lapse in the system of security of nuclear material or nuclear weapons," he said.
A steamy pile of male bovine feces.
By not detecting and exposing AQ Khan's dealings, the IAEA already stubbed its toe. Badly.
The United States has expressed concern about militant training activity on Mindanao in the southern Philippines, warning that the rebellion-torn region could become the "next Afghanistan".
The number two official at the US embassy in Manila, Joseph Mussomeli, says Mindanao is becoming "the new Mecca for terrorism".
Mr Mussomeli has urged the Philippines, a US ally, to do more to stem the flow of Islamic militant recruits into Mindanao.
He says recruits train in bomb-making in Mindanao and some have conducted bombing campaigns in the country.
"Personally, I'm worried that we're not worried enough," he told SBS television.
"I think the real danger here and the danger that has been here since the mid-90s is that we're not focused enough on the threat here."
The mission posted the transcript of the interview on its website in Manila.
"It's not the sort of threat that [we] should be worried about coming here on a day-to-day basis," Mr Mussomeli said.
"The threat is more long-term: that ... certain portions of Mindanao are so lawless, so porous the borders, that you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation."
Mr Mussomeli said both governments were aware that certain individuals or factions within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had links with both local and foreign militant groups.
Philippines officials concede militant factions within MILF are giving sanctuary and even training facilities to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Abu Sayyaf (ASG), both said to have links with Al Qaeda.
Mr Mussomeli said Washington had "firm" information that such camps were still up and running on Mindanao. He refused to elaborate.
"The threat remains and frankly in some ways it is growing. The number of JI that are there, the links between JI and MILF factions and ASG may even be increasing," he said.
Mr Mussomeli denied Washington was trying to derail the peace talks, saying: "We certainly do not believe or at least we don't have clear evidence yet that the MILF as an institution, as an organisation, have links with the JI or ASG."
However, he said, "it has to be a genuine peace process and not a farce".
"There can't be real peace unless the links with JI and ASG are severed. That's the reality," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 4:01:51 PM ||
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The Philippines are facing two problems. One is significant corruption in the military. The second is the leftist faction of the government that pretty much restricts what action, if any, can be taken.
EFL
The details would show that despite the stepped-up counter-terrorism measures taken by the Thai authorities, the organisation or organisations responsible for the incidents have managed to maintain a continuous series of attacks at regular intervals, without, however, causing any mass casualties. The terrorists have been following a modus operandi of targeted killings of Buddhist civilians, many of them monks and teachers, and policemen and other members of the security forces involved in counter-terrorism duties as well as attempts at indiscriminate killings of civilians through the use of explosive devices. The targeted killings have generally involved the use of hand-held weapons. The weapons used were not very sophisticated. They were mostly revolvers, pistols and what in India we call country-made weapons, that is, weapons crudely fabricated locally. There have been hardly any reports of sophisticated hand-held weapons such as the AK series of rifles, which are used in large numbers by the jihadi terrorists in India and Pakistan. One has also not seen the use of hand-grenades and landmines, which are frequently used by the jihadi terrorists in India's Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as well as by the Maoists in India and Nepal. Hand-grenades are also used by the jihadi terrorists in Bangladesh.
An often repeated modus operandi (MO) for targeted assassinations of individuals is for two terrorists to travel in a two-wheeler and for the one in the rear to take out a weapon and kill the target. This helps in rapid get-away after the killing without being captured by the bystanders or the police. This MO is often used by the jihadi terrorists in Pakistan, particularly by those of the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Of significance is the large number of terrorist incidents involving the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). While the explosives used were not of severe destructive quality and could have been procured locally, the techniques used in assembling the IEDs and having them triggered off indicate some sophistication involving special training, either locally or in foreign countries.
There is so far no confirmed evidence of any centralised command and control emanating from outside southern Thailand, though there is evidence of inspiration and assistance for jihadi terrorism emanating from outside---more from the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami of Bangladesh (HUJI-B) than from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) of South-East Asia. Individuals from southern Thailand, in ones and twos, continue to go to Bangladesh for studying in the madrasas run by the HUJI-B and for training in jihadi terrorism. The Rohingya Muslim cadres of the HUJI-B, recruited from the Arakan area of Myanmar and trained in camps in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, are also playing an increasing role in the recruitment, motivation and training of the volunteers from southern Thailand. Bangladesh continues to be the web of terrorist funding not only in Thailand, but also increasingly in other countries of South-East Asia.
An analysis of the Thai terrorist incidents indicates the following:
* The terrorists emulate the post-June, 2003, example of the Iraqi resistance-fighters, who operate in small autonomous cells without the need for a noticeable organisational infrastructure and consciously refrain from claiming responsibility for their successes. In this respect, the MO of the Iraqi resistance-fighters differs from that of the pro-Al Qaeda foreign terrorists, who do not hesitate to claim successes.
* The post-January, 2004, terrorists in Southern Thailand seem to belong to a mutation different from those of the 1970s and the 1980s. They are impervious to control by the traditional leaders of the Muslim community either in southern Thailand or in the adjoining areas of Malaysia. Exercises such as encouraging a group of personalities of the Nahadatul Ulema of Indonesia to tour southern Thailand in order to exercise a moderating influence on the angry Muslim youth, though laudable, are unlikely to produce results in the short and medium terms.
* As has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the use of a highly-militarised counter-terrorism approach by the Americans has added to the Muslim anger and driven more youths into the welcoming arms of jihadi terrorist leaders and organisations, the apparent emulation of the American militarised approach by the Thai counter-terrorism authorities is fuelling the jihadi fire. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, in southern Thailand too, counter-terrorism as practised by the security forces has itself become a root cause of aggravation. While the recrudescence of terrorism in January, 2004, might have been due to classic reasons such as feelings of alienation of the local Muslim youth due to ethnic, economic and social factors, the counter-terrorism methods used by the Thai forces have provided a new motivating and sustaining factor.
* Jihadi terrorism in southern Thailand is still in the early stages of its evolution and does not as yet command the kind of expertise and specialised capabilities which one finds in South and West Asia. There is no effective use of the Internet by the terrorists and very little evidence of the use of sophisticated PSYWAR techniques involving virulent propaganda campaigns against non-Muslims and the security forces. While the motivation of the new breed of jihadi terrorists is strengthening, it is not comparable to the level of their co-religionists in South and West Asia. The absence of confirmed instances of suicide terrorism can be attributed to this.
* The jihadi terrorists of southern Thailand, who were till now avoiding attacks on tourism targets which could lead to deaths of foreigners and possibilities of the induction of foreign counter-terrorism expertise, as happened in Indonesia after the Bali explosion of October,2002, have since started attacking tourism targets such as an airport, a hotel frequented by foreign tourists, a departmental store of French origin etc.But their attacks are still confined to the Muslim majority provinces of the South and their vicinity where they are confident of local support and sanctuary. They have not so far ventured into other areas such as Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket probably because they are not confident of similar support from the local Muslim community.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/11/2005 4:32:55 AM ||
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My God! Our Origami has no effect on them! Can anything stop them!
Top Lebanese officials agreed on Monday on the make-up of a new pro-Syrian government that had been threatened by last-minute squabbling over the electoral law and key cabinet portfolios, a senior political source said.
The line-up would include 30 mainly pro-Syrian ministers, the source said, charged with leading the country to elections due in May but likely to be delayed while a new electoral law is drafted and passed by parliament...
A Hezbollah political leader told a delegation of former European and American officials last month that the Bush administration approached the organization for talks following September 11, 2001, and that the group would be open to new discussions.
According to a former CIA station chief in Islamabad who attended the meetings in Beirut, Milton Bearden, the representatives of Hezbollah, which has long been implicated in terrorist attacks, said the Bush administration approached them shortly after the Twin Towers were destroyed.
The White House denies having made an approach.
Mr. Bearden recalled that the leader of the Hezbollah delegation said: "The Americans came to us after 9/11 wanting to open a dialogue, at a political level. ... 'It came through the Israeli gate,' meaning the Israelis brokered it." Mr. Bearden added that the representative said his organization would "be open to a direct approach from the Americans."
Another former CIA operations officer who was there, Graham Fuller, told The New York Sun the message was delivered by Hezbollah's chief of international relations and top political adviser, Nawaf Mousawi.
"I would view Mousawi's presence as important," Mr. Fuller said. "I would assume this would go directly to Sheik Nasrallah. "The sheik is the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, and Mr. Fuller said Mr. Mousawi is "his chief political adviser."
A spokesman for the National Security Council, Frederick Jones, said: "There was no envoy or outreach to Hezbollah following September 11."
The catastrophe in New York and northern Virginia did spur the White House to open new channels with Hezbollah's two chief state sponsors, Iran and Syria, and other states and entities it had previously shunned for ties to terrorism. For example, the CIA began a liaison relationship with Syria's intelligence service focused narrowly on apprehending Al Qaeda operatives.
The Israelis, too, have worked with foreign governments in the past to help negotiate with Hezbollah. For several years, Israel has worked with German intelligence to arrange exchanges of hostages and dead bodies with Hezbollah. Messrs. Bearden and Fuller are said to have been the only two former CIA officers, acting as private citizens, in a 12-person delegation that met with Hezbollah and other groups March 21-22. The delegation included the head of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Robert Muller, as well as academics and former European spies and government officials. They met with leaders from Hamas, Hezbollah, Pakistan's Jemaat Islamiya, and the Muslim Brotherhood. The first three groups are designated as terrorist organizations by the State Department, while the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was once led by Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The meetings were arranged by a former British MI-6 officer, Alastair Crooke, who served as the European Union's liaison with Hamas between 2001 and 2003, before he was recalled to London.
Mr. Fuller, who did not serve under President Bush, said he believed it was plausible that Mr. Mousawi was telling the truth about the American approach, though he had no direct knowledge.
"After 9/11 there was a great deal of panic and a willingness to reach out to anyone and everyone who might be allies," he said. "My personal hunch is that, as the fear in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 subsided, the war on terror grew in its breadth and the Bush administration began to include more and more organizations under the umbrella of terrorism."
And while it may appear to Mr. Fuller that the Bush administration has widened the circle of American enemies, in recent weeks the president has sent a message of possible reconciliation with Hezbollah, the group responsible in 1983 for the truck bombings of the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut.
On March 16, five days before the parley between the ex-spies and current terrorist leaders, Mr. Bush told reporters he viewed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but he left open the possibility it could shed the designation. "I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they're not, by laying down arms and not threatening peace," he said.
Following those remarks, the European Union and the United Nations began publicly encouraging political talks among Lebanon's various parties, including Hezbollah. Last week, the U.N. envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said disarming Hezbollah was "not on the action agenda," indicating that the world body would be willing to let the group keeps its arms until after the Lebanon elections scheduled for next month.
"With Hezbollah and Hamas, whatever one may think of the organizations and their tactics, the fact is it is analytically absurd to lump them into the same category as Osama bin Laden, taking on the United States," Mr. Fuller said. "These organizations are fighting highly discreet local wars and are not targeting the world or the West."
Mr. Crooke, who arranged the meetings, generally agrees with that analysis. An opinion piece he wrote last December 10 in the Guardian newspaper of England put quotation marks around the word terrorist and recommended negotiations with the groups.
The former British M16 man is no stranger to meeting with what he called "violent political actors." Before Mr. Bush's June 24, 2002, speech that washed America's hands of Yasser Arafat, Mr. Crooke had met with Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, who was killed in an Israeli air strike March 22, 2004.
At the time, Israel argued that the organizations of Arafat and Yasin were coordinating their activities, and documents captured by the Israel Defense Force appear to prove that. Last week, a think tank associated with Israeli intelligence, the Center for Special Studies, published an English translation of a June 24, 2002, communique from the head of external relations for the Gaza Preventive Security service, Suheil Jabr, to the deputy of the group, Rashid abu Shbak. The document, which the center says IDF troops captured from the Palestinian Preventive Security compound in Gaza, includes an account of the conversation Mr. Crooke had with Yasin and other Hamas leaders.
Mr. Crooke said the document's account of his conversation with Yasin, which portrayed the British spy as sympathetic to Hamas's gripes with the Israeli presence, was inaccurate. Mr. Crooke said that his job as liaison to Hamas was largely to negotiate a ceasefire.
In an interview, he said he stressed to Yasin, "There were some actions that were unacceptable to anyone in Europe and America. Nobody believed that blowing up children eating pizzas, that these children were responsible for the plight of Palestinians." But he added that he drew a distinction between "terrorism" and "resistance," offering that his family had been involved in fighting the Nazi occupation in France in World War II.
A former adviser on Palestinian affairs for the ministry of defense who was familiar with Mr. Crooke's diplomacy, Reservist Brigadier General Shalom Harari, said the former MI-6 officer had "become addicted to Hamas."
"I'm not saying he is not very knowledgeable, because he is," Gen. Harari said. "What happened to Crooke is what happened to many researchers who make research on biology. He fell in love with the microbes he was researching."
The meeting last month that Mr. Crooke arranged through the Conflict Forum was publicized in the British and Arabic press. Al Jazeera and the BBC covered the talks, along with the Beirut Daily Star. The London Sunday Times bluntly said Mr. Crooke was opening the door for American negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah. Mr. Crooke disagreed with the account in the Sunday Times.
In an interview Friday, he said the purpose of the talks was to hear out the two organizations, which long had been categorized as foreign terrorist organizations by America and more recently the European Union.
"We did not touch on the policy issues, we were not there to resolve particular issues," he said. "Hezbollah gave us a clear vision of a party that was acting in a Lebanese context as a Lebanese party. They were dealing with an extremely complex and complicated situation and dealing with it in a way that will bring about a resolution."
Hezbollah has a dozen members of parliament, and it wields a great deal of influence in government. In January 2002, Lebanese police confiscated 600 DVDs from the Virgin Megastore in Beirut after a Hezbollah senior cleric, Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, gave an interview criticizing some Western films. Nonetheless, Hezbollah's terrorist wing has been responsible for a number of attacks on Americans, Israelis, and Jews. After the 1983 truck bombings, Hezbollah kidnapped a string of American diplomats, spies, journalists, and military officers, only to release them after America and Israel sold arms to Iran.
The September 11 commission concluded last year that some Al Qaeda operatives had trained in a Hezbollah compound in the Bekaa Valley. A staff report released by the commission in June speculates that Hezbollah and Al Qaeda, along with Iran, may have collaborated on the 1996 bombing of an American Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia known as Khobar Towers. A former FBI director, Louis Freeh, in sworn court testimony last year, implicated former senior Iranian government officials in the attack. Hezbollah's attacks against America through the years led a former deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, to say the organization owed America a "blood debt," promising that its "time will come" in a press conference on September 5, 2002, in Brussels.
That blood debt in particular is owed by Imad Mugniyah, who is regarded as the chief architect of the 1983 truck bombings and is one of the FBI's most wanted men. Mr. Bearden said he pressed the leader of the Hezbollah delegation about Mr. Mugniyah.
"I hit him pretty hard on the Mugniyah business. His first reaction was the 1982-to-1985 period was difficult and undisciplined. He was trying to walk away from it that way," Mr. Bearden said. "He paused and said that blood is not on Hezbollah's hands. The thought to me is he has some formulation in his mind that allows him to say that with a straight face. My sense was that he was saying Mugniyah was never our guy, but Mugniyah was Iran's guy."
Mr. Fuller said any potential for improved ties between America and Hezbollah would depend on addressing the issue of Mr. Mugniyah.
Some former CIA officers with experience in the Middle East said the initiative will not work.
The founder of the CIA's counterterrorism center, Duane Clarridge, said: "To have a modicum of success, the agendas of both parties have to be beginning to intersect. I'm not so sure that Hezbollah and Hamas are ready for that."
Similarly, a protege of Mr. Clarridge who worked for years at the CIA to find Mr. Mugniyah, Robert Baer, said: "America and Hezbollah are too far apart on the issue of Jerusalem right now."
Mr. Baer also said, however, that it was significant that Hezbollah would be meeting with former CIA officers and would say it was open to talks with America.
"Hezbollah is convinced the CIA set off a car bomb that almost killed Fadlallah. I don't think they did. I know the Lebanese who did this, but this is the kind of suspicion Hezbollah has to overcome."
The vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said last week that he was concerned the outreach could be a "stalking horse for the European Union."
"Does this give them a legitimate way to deal with Hezbollah before they have taken any steps to reduce terrorist activities?" he said. "It gives the appearance that this is more than an unofficial study group - the nature of the participants gives it the appearance that it is much more official."
Mr. Crooke insisted that the initiative was strictly a private matter and that there had been no formal government coordination for last month's talks.
General Harari, however, said the meetings indicate a new desperation for the terrorist groups involved.
"The American army is still in Iraq. Syria is under big pressure as a sponsor in Lebanon. They see European state after state putting Hamas and Hezbollah on the blacklist," he said. "They see how the Russians understand the terror better after the terrible events in Beslan. They see what happens in Saudi Arabia - the main source of money will dry up. They see in Jordan the regime is strengthening its hold on the Islamic movement. The overall view is that they are going to have a very tough process between two and three years from now. This is a way for these groups to whiten their image and say they are not terrorists."
Mr. Fuller said that Hezbollah leaders were open to future meetings with the delegation of Americans and Europeans, and that future meetings were being considered.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 3:59:51 PM ||
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#1
What is with these moronic appeasement stories?
A "deal" that spares Saddam?
A "deal" with Hezbollah?
Both are insane non-starters.
No negotiations with murderers - unless you call "Drop it or Die scumbag!" negotiations.
#3
deal for Hussein is silly - just the DT passing around rumors, G-d bless 'em.
A deal with Hezb doesnt see impossible - they ARE a powerful force in Lebanon, and disarming them IS important. They killed a couple of hundred Americans - yup, and you may have noticed the Bush administration has no compunction about asking Israel to negotiate with Fatah, which has killed plenty of Israelis over the years. We insisted Fatah change, but certainly didnt ask them to handover everyone involved in every terrorist act. Even every act against civilians, much less every act against soldiers. And Im not against that Bush policy (unlike some here) but I dont see why this shocks you.
These people won't give up their perceived power, their status, the "romance" of it all. They're mercenaries who enjoy privilege and luxury and power - relatively speaking - and no deal they ever make will ever be honored because they have none.
The United States is openly attempting to promote democracy in Iran for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, budgeting $3 million for groups there that are willing to work toward that goal.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said non-governmental educational and other groups inside Iran are eligible to compete for the funds. Humanitarian groups also may compete, he said.
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the plan "a clear violation" of a 1981 U.S-Iranian agreement, according to USA Today, which first reported the story.
That agreement, signed in Algiers, freed the 52 U.S. Embassy employees who were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days.
Boucher denied that the funding violates of the agreement.
Under the accord, the United States pledged "not to intervene directly or indirectly, politically or militarily in Iran's internal affairs."
It is not clear whether approval of the funding was linked to Iran's presidential election in June. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will step down after two terms in office.
The United States does not consider Iran's elections a fair test of public sentiment because only devout Islamists are allowed to run for office. It also has maintained consistently that U.S. pro-democracy activities abroad are nonpartisan and do not constitute intervention.
These activities normally include voter education and workshops on electoral rights.
Some governments have contended that such activities have the effect of supporting the opposition. These include Venezuela and the government that ruled Kyrgyzstan until last month when it was deposed.
Hostility between the United States and Iran has not abated since the hostage crisis of 1979. U.S. suspicion that Iran is developing nuclear weapons is just one of many sources of friction.
Aside from Cuba, Iran is the only country with which the United States does not maintain a political dialogue.
Iran has not been a U.S. aid recipient, although the Islamic government did accept U.S. assistance following a major earthquake in 2002.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 4:04:41 PM ||
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ahhhh yess. I seem to remember Beirut '83 and Khobar towers, if he wants to speak about violating agreements. We have a bill due for the mullahs
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2005 17:47 Comments ||
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I say 'F- the agreement'. It was made under duress with a terrorist organization and terrorist state.
Russia is likely to delay shipments of enriched uranium fuel to Iran to start up a Russian-built atomic power plant there until the autumn, a source in the Russian nuclear authority said on Monday.
In February Moscow and Tehran signed a fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington, which believes that Iran could use Russian know-how to make nuclear weapons. At the time officials said fuel shipments to the Bushehr plant may start as soon as April. "It's difficult to say when they (shipments) are going to start but I think we are going to do this in the autumn," the source in Russia's Atomic Energy Agency told Reuters.
Russia's nuclear ties with Iran, which date back to the early 1990s, have been marked by many delays that diplomats have linked to Moscow's reluctance to blatantly push ahead with a plan in a way that can seriously hurt its ties with Washington. But the source, speaking on condition on anonymity, said the latest delay did not have any underlying political reasons. "There is really no need to start shipments until autumn," the official said.
For Bushehr to come on stream, Russia needs to supply the fuel -- currently held at a storage facility in Siberia -- at least six months in advance. That means the fuel does not have to be there until early next year because the plant is tentatively due to start operating some time later in 2006.
The Iranian embassy in Moscow and the state nuclear fuel company were not available for comment.
A key part of the February deal obliges Tehran to return all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into bomb-grade plutonium, to develop weapons. Iran, OPEC's second largest oil producer, has long denied charges it is secretly seeking nuclear weapons and has received strong backing from Moscow, which sees cooperation with Iran as a way to strengthen its role in the Middle East.
Once operational, Bushehr will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Initiated before Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and badly damaged during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the project was later revived with Russian help and has cost about $1 billion.
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 10:47:06 AM ||
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BEIRUT, Lebanon - As its Syrian backers leave Lebanon, Hezbollah is seeking to transform its image domestically and in the West - from guerrilla group condemned as terrorist by the United States to political party respected for playing a serious, productive role in Lebanese politics.
Productive?
As part of this attempted makeover, Hezbollah sent a senior representative to a meeting in Beirut last month with American and British intellectuals, including former government and intelligence officials, to talk about the group, which Washington accuses of killing hundreds of Americans in terror attacks in the 1980s. "It was an opportunity for us to present our views and break the stereotypical image that Israel has propagated of the group," said Nawaf al-Mussawi, Hezbollah politburo member in charge of international relations, who fielded questions for three hours at the meeting.
Among those who attended were about eight Americans, including Graham Fuller, former deputy head of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, and Robert Muller, head of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, as well as about six Europeans, who also included former officials, said Alastair Crooke, director of the Britain-based Conflicts Forum. The gathering was "not intended to produce recommendations and conclusions," said Crooke, whose group organized the meeting. "It was about listening."
Oh sure, a bunch of has-been listeners. They had nothing else to do that day, so they listened.
The decision to attend the meeting by Hezbollah is part of the strategy to gain international legitimacy and domestic recognition as a major player in Lebanon's complex politics after decades during which the faction focused mostly on fighting Israel.
"We're Mr. Big here now, and you have to listen to us!"
Jamal Khashoggi, media adviser to Prince Turki, the Saudi ambassador to London, who was present at the Beirut discussions, said the meeting offered the chance to "build tiny useless bridges" with factions the West rarely talks to, Khashoggi said. "Nobody knows where it will lead," said Khashoggi.
Whether Hezbollah's attempt is genuine or just political opportunism remains to be seen. But even President Bush suggested Hezbollah could change its image when he called on it last month to lay down its arms and prove it was not a terrorist group. The US government blames Hezbollah for numerous attacks since the 1980s, including the bombings of a US Marine barracks and US Embassy in Beirut. The group has also been accused of striking the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish cultural center in separate bombings in Argentina in the early 1990s that killed scores. Hezbollah denies the claims.
In public addresses, Hezbollah's belligerent anti-Israel and anti-US rhetoric has not abated. But away from a domestic audience, the group's shrewd, savvy murderous leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has said he is ready to discuss the current arrangement the party has had for years with the Lebanese army, a formula that has allowed it to continue bearing arms under the slogan of protecting Lebanon from Israeli aggression. "We don't carry arms as a hobby, but we feel responsible toward the country we are occupying our country," Nasrallah said last month.
One solution could be incorporating members of Hezbollah into the army and deploying them in the south - which could satisfy the U.N. call for disarmament while also retaining Hezbollah's firepower.
Even Israel has noted a change in Hezbollah's tactics, with one Israeli security official saying recently that the militant group is scaling back its support of attacks against Israelis by radical Palestinian groups. The official said the rollback in Hezbollah activity is linked to Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. He said the Palestinian factions realize that resumption of attacks against Israelis could delay or scuttle it.
Some analysts say the group wants to ensure a significant presence in any new Cabinet formed after Lebanese parliamentary elections expected before the end of May. The Syrian pullout has left Hezbollah with its greatest political challenge since it was formed as a resistance group with Iranian backing in 1982. With Syria gone, Hezbollah will field the only armed group in Lebanon outside the military, but that power can also play against it.
In Lebanon and the Arab world, Hezbollah has gained hero status for driving Israel out after an 18-year occupation. But Hezbollah has been on the State Department's list of terror groups since the list's inception in 1997. Washington has been pushing Syria to disarm the group, and a price for a rapprochement between the two countries - and indeed for an improvement of relations between Iran and the United States - could be the disarming of Hezbollah. Both Syria and Iran back Hezbollah, with Tehran reportedly providing the group with an estimated $10 million (Ã7.8 million) to $20 million (Ã15.6 million) monthly. The political turmoil that followed Hariri's death - including anti-Syrian protests, and the resignation of the government - has presented Hezbollah with an opportunity to project itself as a capable conciliator and an indispensable player.
Or as a band of rapacious thugs, take your pick.
Last month, cowardly security-conscious Nasrallah, who is rarely seen in public, visited political and religious leaders to try to defuse the tensions and to reiterate that his group won't be drawn into a civil war. Al-Mussawi said the meeting with the intellectuals aims at "boosting Hezbollah's political role." "It's also an attempt to open a hole in the wall with a people for whom we harbor no enmity," he added.Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2005 12:09:13 AM ||
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Article: As part of this attempted makeover, Hezbollah sent a senior representative to a meeting in Beirut last month with American and British intellectuals, including former government and intelligence officials, to talk about the group, which Washington accuses of killing hundreds of Americans in terror attacks in the 1980s.
Hezbollah claimed credit for killing hundreds of Americans. It's got nothing to do with the US accusing them of it. You gotta love AP - all anti-American propaganda, all the time.
#2
Its a Shiia speciality to combine armed cadres, social welfare and a political party into the same organization. Hamas is the same.
I am reminded of the IRA slogan of a few years ago - 'A ballot paper in one hand and an Armalite in the other.'
As a political party with elected representatives you have to deal with them as you would any other political party, but at the same time you have to resist their armed activities (whether terrorism or not). Unfortunately, past actions by the USA and Israel amoungst others have led to a situation where Hizbollah can justifiably claim the model works. The solution is the one that appears to have worked with Tater in Iraq - keeping whacking the armed element until it no longer seems like a good idea. It remains to be seen who will do the whacking of Hizbollah.
#3
Hezbollah still has to answer for the 241 dead Marines.
Hezbollah want legitimacy because they know that Lebanon politics will run them out of the country, and then the Mullahs will have no standing in Lebanon, i.e. no geographic place to attack Israel from.
I think this important feature article from the Chicago Tribune shows an aspect of the social changes Afghanistan is undergoing. It shows the rapid changes changes that happen when the freedom of expression is enshrined and the opposition to it. If this post is too long, please page71 it. The two men spend several minutes debating which came first, the chicken or the egg. They argue over whether people dream in color. This hardly seems like the most controversial TV show in Afghanistan. But in between the polite chitchat, these men--the Afghan version of MTV veejays--play music videos, which sometimes feature heaving bosoms, dancing women and sexually suggestive lyrics.
Such videos have turned the show "Hop" into one of the most popular programs on the Afghan capital's most popular new television station, Tolo TV. They also have drawn the ire of the country's clerics and the scrutiny of the government. "Watching a woman with half-naked breasts and a man and a woman sucking each other's lips on TV, like on Tolo, is not acceptable," said Abdul Malik Kamawi, spokesman for the country's Supreme Court.
The debate over programming on the five private TV stations in Kabul highlights a major difficulty facing the new Afghanistan: trying to balance democratic freedoms and a largely conservative Islamic society. The constitution protects freedom of expression and prohibits anything that is against Islam. That inevitably leads to conflict, because what is against Islam often depends on who is watching.
Several new stations are pushing the limits in the land where the Taliban once banned TV sets and forced women to be hidden. They are playing Indian movies, which mostly focus on love and sexy couples dancing and singing. Some have shown movies from the United States, such as "Conan the Barbarian," with sex scenes.
Tolo TV, which premiered in October, features women as veejays on "Hop" and as commentators on other programs. At some point, the women will take off their head scarves--shocking in a country where women still cover their hair with scarves or wear burqas, which cover everything, even a woman's eyes.
Even moderate government officials question the speed at which TV is moving. "Our advice is, we need to be careful," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said. "Some media tend to take the radical route. It always pays to take it a step at a time."
On Tolo, people Rollerblade and fly kites at a New Year's celebration. Men and women talk to each other, even laugh together. Jennifer Lopez videos are shown frequently, and commercials tout the benefits of chicken bullion and dandruff shampoo. In many ways the station shows a vision of Kabul not as it necessarily is, but as many young people would like it to be.
A short makeover feature takes ordinary Afghans off the street and turns them into fashionable young people who would blend into any Western city. Think of it as "Hip Eye for the Traditional Afghan Guy." On one recent show, a young Afghan man with a beard, an uneven haircut and the typical Afghan knee-length shirt and matching pants got a shave, a haircut and a shower and was dressed in jeans and a modern shirt.
`Sense of hope' for young
Station director Saad Mohseni said Tolo TV--"tolo" means "dawn" in the Dari language of Afghanistan--offers something for everyone. He said Afghans, tired after 23 years of war, want change. "It's important for us to provide young people with some sense of hope," said Mohseni, an Afghan-Australian. "At least, deceive them that things are going to get better."
But the mullahs are demanding change of a different kind. They want the TV stations to stop showing cleavage, women singing and dancing, and anything resembling sex. The national Ulema Council, a government agency of religious scholars, recently issued a statement accusing Tolo TV and private station Afghan TV of "broadcasting music, naked dance and foreign films, which are against Islam and other national values of Afghanistan." The council asked the government to stop what it called immoral and un-Islamic broadcasts.
Mullahs also complained about "Hop" to the ministry responsible for licensing TV stations, said S.A.H. Sancharaky, deputy minister of information and culture. "It has put a lot of pressure on us," he said. "But we have not censored or banned that program yet."
Instead the government is asking Tolo to "improve" the show. Sancharaky said the videos are too racy and the veejays talk too casually. In one episode, he said, a male veejay complimented a female veejay's shoes. "He says, `Your shoes are very good. Can you hold up your legs so everybody can see how good your shoes are?'" Sancharaky recalled. "`Hold up your legs' has a very bad meaning in our language." A government commission is investigating whether TV stations are complying with the country's laws. In February, members singled out "Hop" for criticism but took no action.
In reality, the clerics are trying to dam a river with a pencil. Satellite dishes are allowed in Afghanistan. Cable TV includes stations from India. There are pornographic DVDs and messages sent on mobile phones featuring cartoon couples having sex.
Post-Taliban backlash
After living under the Taliban, many Afghans are tired of being told how to live. "We should not see Islam through the hole of a needle," said Daulat Khan Abidi, 32, who helps run a perfume shop in Kabul. "Islam is a big religion."
In Kabul, the generation gap is visible in fashion. Older people often wear traditional dress. Many young men wear jeans. A good number of young women wear jeans or black, flared pants, knee-length coats and head scarves. They wear makeup. They even send text messages by mobile phone to Shakeb Isaar, one of the "Hop" veejays, proclaiming, "I love u my dear" and "Will you marry me?"
Isaar, 22, is the closest thing to a celebrity in Kabul. He frequently is mobbed by fans. He believes the mullahs are his enemies and taunts them. "Why shouldn't we be like this and have all the freedom like other people in other countries?" asked Isaar, sporting spiky hair, a German soccer T-shirt and jeans.
Most people on the street say Tolo TV is their favorite Afghan station. They like the news and the investigative reporting--new to Afghanistan. They like "Moments," a prank program similar to "Candid Camera." But most people, young and old, say their favorite show on Tolo is "Hop," which features videos from India, Iran, Turkey, the U.S. and Afghanistan. "It's a good program," said Walid Shahbaz, 22, who was out shopping. "Mullahs are usually talking about things that are against Islam. But I don't think `Hop' is against Islam."
The TV station is planning to air a new program, one that station workers are certain will be a hit. It shows just how much the clerics are up against, and how much Afghanistan has changed since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. That show, modeled on a popular U.S. program, will feature men and women singing their way to fame. "Afghan Idol" will start shooting in a few weeks.
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 7:31:51 PM ||
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The election of Ibrahim Jaafari as Iraq's prime minister could be an opportunity for Iraqi political parties to break links with the Iranian regime, according to Arab Ahwazi representatives.
Jaafari was chosen by the Shia-dominated United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which won 51 per cent of the vote in January's election. The UIA includes the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Jaafari's Da'awa party, both of which were bankrolled by Tehran and continue to have links to the regime.
Arab Ahwazis, the oppressed indigenous people of the Iranian province of Khuzestan, have urged the Jaafari administration to protect the human rights of thousands of Ahwazi refugees living in Iraq.
The Ahwazi Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) has warned of the "dire situation" faced by the refugees, who are registered with the UNHCR and the Red Cross. There are as many as 10 people to a tent, with the situation of over-crowding and disease worsening following the outbreak of the Iraq War two years ago.
Since the Iraq War, Ahwazis have been expelled from their camps in the Kut and Al-Amarah areas of southern Iraq; their homes and businesses were looted and burned by armed militias under the control of Iranian security forces in southern Iraq. Their daily food rations from ICRC have been denied and they have been barred access to education. It was unclear if this was done with or without the knowledge of the government of Iyad Allawi.
Daniel Brett, Chairman of the British Ahwazi Friendship Society, said: "Prime Minister Jaafari must now work towards ethnic and religious harmony in Iraq and the region. But he can only do this if the rights of all minorities are respected and he acts as a neutral leader, working neither for Tehran nor Washington but for Iraq.
"We call on Mr Jaafari to show solidarity with all groups suffering persecution in the Middle East. The Ahwazis, Kurds, Turkmen and other minorities are experiencing the kind of violent repression meted out to his own people under Saddam Hussein and we hope he shows solidarity with them.
"At the very least, Mr Jaafari should give adequate protection for those fleeing persecution in Iran. We hope that he will also promote secularism, human rights and democracy throughout the region." One of those stories that gets lost in the mix.
#1
A few good deeds in this area by the new govt could make for a lot of support for Iraq in the Arab league. Of course, that and $3 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Half of the women in the Arab world are illiterate and more than 10 million children in the region don't go to school, according to a report released on Monday. The report on the status of children and women, produced by the Arab League and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said many Arab countries have made progress on child rights and protection, but that more still needs to be done. "More than 10 million children in the Arab world are out of school, most of them in Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Sudan," said the report, although it gave no figures for the total number of school-age children in the region.
It said although many countries have established a basis for a child's right to education, they still fall short of the UN's millennium development goals for primary education, especially for girls. "More than half of the women in the Arab world cannot read or write," said the report, arguing that this was preventing them from obtaining vital information on such issues as pre- and post-natal health, leading to high infant and child mortality rates. Mortality rates among under-fives in the region stand at around 60 for every 1,000 births compared to just six in industrialized countries. Many of those deaths occurred in the first year primarily due to "pre-natal complications," exacerbated by ignorance.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 6:31:06 PM ||
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Egyptian police said they have unearthed an Islamist trail behind last week's bombing in a busy Cairo bazaar that killed three foreigners, identifying the attacker as a teenage Islamist student.
The bomber who blew himself up in the attack was identified as an 18-year-old Islamist, the interior ministry said, after DNA tests by police. It named him as Hassan Rafaat Hassan, an engineering student from Zagazig, northeast of Cairo.
There is no way you can travel in a straight line from anywhere to get there.
The blast, the first attack in the capital for seven years, killed two French nationals and an American.
According to initial findings, a homemade bomb made up of TNT and nails exploded last Thursday as Hassan tried to plant it in an alleyway of ancient Islamic Cairo, near the famed Khan el-Khalili souk popular with tourists.
The interior ministry said there was still "no information on whether or not the perpetrator was connected to others" but said he had recently embraced "extremist ideas" which resulted in problems with his family.
Jaw fragments from the bomber's body were flung up on to a balcony by the force of the blast and his right arm was found some 20 metres (yards) away.
Police said three unnamed suspects "with Islamist leanings and motivations" had been arrested and appeared before an investigating magistrate on suspicion of helping to prepare the attack.
The group do not belong to any known Islamist organisation, said a police source, declining to be named. "The four individuals do not figure on any list of terrorists."
Prosecutors have described the attack as an "isolated act", indicating they believe the suspects were not working in concert with an extremist network like Al-Qaeda.
The blast was widely condemned and revived old fears of a fresh wave of terror attacks in Egypt, whose economy is heavily reliant on tourism.
An Internet statement issued on Friday by a previously unknown group called the Islamic Brigades of Pride in Egypt said it carried out the attack. Its authenticity could not be verified.
Egyptian fundamentalist group Jamaa Islamiya, which was behind a string of deadly attacks against foreigners in the 1990s but has since in theory renounced the use of violence, condemned the attack as irresponsible.
A founder of the movement, Nabil Naim, issued a statement from his prison cell to warn that such attacks could "damage the reputation" of Islam and send Egypt sliding into "a spiral of chaos and confusion". But Egyptian experts on Islamist groups said a new generation of militants could be taking over the reins, while Jamaa itself warned of the frustration stirred up among Muslims by events in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
This article starring:
HASAN RAFAAT HASAN
Islamic Brigades of Pride in Egypt
NABIL NAIM
Jamaa Islamiya
Jamaa Islamiya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 3:46:09 PM ||
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Islamic militants bent on overthrowing the Algerian government are set to intensify attacks to try to scupper an amnesty proposal to end more than a decade of civil war, analysts said on Monday.
In the deadliest attack on civilians in six months, suspected rebels shot dead at least 14 people on Thursday and burned their bodies at a fake roadblock near the town Larbaa, 25 km (15 miles) south of the capital Algiers.
"Some terrorists don't want to surrender and will do all they can to sabotage an amnesty," said an Algerian security analyst, who declined to be named.
"I expect the surge in violence to continue as the project gets under way," he said. The Larbaa ambush came shortly after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said security had been re-established in oil-rich Algeria.
Some 50 people, half of them soldiers, have been killed near Algiers in recent weeks -- most blamed on Algeria's main rebel organisation the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Bouteflika is calling on Algerians to back a general amnesty to end a conflict, which has cost 150,000 lives and $30 billion in damages since 1992.
The amnesty is expected to be offered to rebels and security forces members this year following a national referendum.
Violence has sharply fallen in recent years, and 2004 was the least violent year since the conflict began with 700 deaths, including 400 rebels. A state of emergency has been in force since 1992.
The security risk remains high, according to diplomats and security analysts, because some of the 300 to 500 rebels still operational have no desire to surrender. Some are accused of contraband trafficking and running racketeering operations.
"The fresh attacks are a way for the terrorists to say 'no' but it's also a way to say 'we are still here and we can influence the politics of the country'," said Mahmoud Belhimer, a university professor and deputy editor at El Khabar.
It is unclear whether the GSPC, which is on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist groups and has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda, was behind Larbaa, as they normally do not kill civilians.
Experts fear hardline elements of the GSPC, the now-defunct Armed Islamic Group and another minor group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Daawa, had instead joined forces.
The Larbaa attack came only hours after Bouteflika said in a speech to mark one year since his re-election that "security had been largely re-established across the territory".
The president repeated that an amnesty was the only way to turn the page on a bloody chapter in the country's young history. He is credited with improving Algeria's image and bringing back foreign investment to a country still scarred by a violent 1954-1962 war of independence against colonial France.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 3:53:00 PM ||
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Originally tried to post this to Opinions, but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment.
"A thing without a name escapes understanding," warns preeminent Islamic scholar Bat Ye'or of jihad and dhimmitude—the Islamic institutions of, respectively, war and perpetual servitude imposed on conquered non-Muslim peoples. Both, Ye'or notes in an essay entitled "Historical Amnesia," are in the process of globalization.
This is not the benign economic globalization that most Westerners laud. Islamic jihad and dhimmitude trade in every available means—military, political, technological and intellectual. And if the towering collection of 63 essays (including Ye'or's) contained in the new book The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims is to be believed, these specific Islamic processes are globalizing at a disturbingly rapid pace. The book, courageously assembled by JihadWatch director and FrontPage columnist Robert Spencer, provides historical and contemporary profiles of jihad and dhimmitude.
In six sections, the book delineates how Islamic ideology has affected non-Muslims both historically and in the contemporary world. The first three sections cover the myth vs. historical realities and Islamic law and practice regarding non-Muslims. The last three sections cover how the myth of Islamic tolerance has affected contemporary geopolitics, power politics at the United Nations and, finally, academic and public discourse. It is Ibn Warraq's forward and the latter 400 pages in which this book really shines. He explains:
Islam is a totalitarian ideology that aims to control the religious, social and political life of mankind in all its aspects; the life of its followers without qualification; and the life of those who follow the so-called tolerated religions to a degree that prevents their activities from getting in the way of Islam in any way. And I mean Islam, I do not accept some spurious distinction between Islam and 'Islamic fundamentalism' or Islamic terrorism'.
The September 11, 2001 murderers acted canonically. They followed Sharia, a collection of theoretical laws and ideals "that apply in any ideal Muslim community." This body of regulations, based on divine authority, according to devout Muslims "must be accepted without criticism, without doubts and questions." It sacrifices the individual's desires and good to those of the community. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/11/2005 9:03:02 AM ||
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Yep. You don't get much more totalitarian than telling people which hand to wipe their asses with...
The US is reportedly building a permanent military base in Morocco, despite American assertions that its forces are only on humanitarian mission in the North African country. "Rabat has already given Washington the go-ahead to construct the base in Tan-Tan," well-kept Moroccan sources told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, April 10, on condition of anonymity.
The site was chosen to host the American base due to its proximity to a harbor on the Atlantic Ocean, which will facilitate the delivery of military provisions and reinforcements, they added. "The city is also located near the Western Sahara, seen by Washington as a hotbed for fleeing Al-Qaeda members," the sources said.
Moroccan, European and American newspapers have been reporting on the ongoing construction of the American base in Tan-Tan. They believe that Washington is trying to undermine the French military presence in Africa and protect untapped oil resources in the continent.
It's not like the French can protect the oil.
The Moroccan weekly Al-Sahifa said on April 6 that construction works are in full swing in Tan-Tan under watertight security measures. It added that the area, which used to be a tourist hub, has almost turned into military barracks.
The Spanish ABC newspaper earlier said the base will be a transit for American forces in the Middle East.
Washington was quick to deny the reports on the construction of a military base in the Arab-African country. Col. Brandi Kerne, the commander of the US forces in Morocco, ruled out any intention to build a base in the area. He said on April 8 that American forces will leave the country after the end of the joint military drills, scheduled for April 1-10.
On April 5, a representative of the US embassy in Morocco told reporters the marines were carrying out humanitarian projects in the county. Local Moroccan authorities earlier said the Americans were building five school classes in Tan-Tan. The state-run news agency also spoke of the humanitarian nature of the marines' mission.
Local residents in Tan-Tan have, however, ridiculed the claims that US troops are only serving humanitarian purposes. "Is it conceivable that American troops have been staying here for months only to build four classrooms and distribute school stationery among children?" Ahmed Ismail, an employee in Tan-Tan, asked. "Even if this was true, would it take US soldiers the whole summer to build the classrooms!"
The New York Times reported on July 5, 2003, that the US military wants to expand its presence in Africa, where it sees potential havens for alleged terrorist groups. The Pentagon is seeking to enhance ties with allies like Morocco and Tunisia, gain long-term access to bases in Mali and Algeria and build on aircraft refueling agreements with Senegal and Uganda, the US daily said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 12:19:29 AM ||
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The key to this article is: Washington is trying to undermine the French military presence in Africa and protect untapped oil resources in the continent
It must be about the oil!
Iraq's new president called Sunday for extending amnesty to Iraqi insurgents who had killed combatants, possibly including U.S. and Iraqi troops, as part of a drive that he said could help end attacks within months.
Jalal Talabani, speaking on his first day of work in the white and gilt presidential offices after his inauguration Thursday, excluded clemency for al Qaeda and other foreign armed groups operating here.
As for killings by Iraqi insurgents, Talabani said, "There are two kinds of killing: In battle or in action, this could be covered by the amnesty. Those who are involved in killing innocent people, detonation of car bombs, killing people in mosques and in churches, these would not be covered by the amnesty."
Talabani did not say specifically whether the amnesty would apply to fighters who had killed U.S. troops, other foreign troops or Iraqi security forces. Nor did he elaborate on how an amnesty program would work.
Iraq's new assembly speaker, Hachim Hasani, said last week when Talabani broached the topic of amnesty in his inaugural speech that the president was speaking about an amnesty by presidential order, after consultation with the new government.
The interim government put in place after U.S.-led troops routed President Saddam Hussein in March 2003 offered an amnesty to Iraqi insurgents that excluded rapists, kidnappers and killers.
Talabani said amnesty must be only a part of a program that draws Iraqi insurgents into efforts to build democracy, strengthen the economy, diminish public support for insurgents and block their attacks militarily.
"With a comprehensive policy, we can eradicate terror in the country within months," said Talabani, a Kurdish former rebel leader and Sunni Muslim elected last week by the new National Assembly.
Leaders in the government increasingly have drawn a line between Iraqi insurgent groups, with which they will seek common ground, and foreign groups, with which they won't.
"It is essential that we separate those who came from outside the country, like all those organizations affiliated with al Qaeda, from Iraqis," Talabani said. "We must seek to win over the Iraqis to the democratic process going on in the country and fight the criminal gangs" from outside the country.
Talabani also said he would work to secure the release of hundreds of people loyal to Moqtada Sadr, a firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric, from U.S. detention. Sadr's followers, who have twice fought U.S. troops, have pledged to follow peaceful and democratic ways, Talabani said, and have asked for his help with the detainees. "I will do my best to release them," he said.
Talabani spoke in the audience room of his new offices. A white-haired man in his early seventies who has given up the rebel trim of his youth and middle age, Talabani waited for a reporter on a chair in the presidential offices and pulled an already knotted tie over his head for the interview.
Many Iraqi Kurds backed the U.S. drive to topple Hussein, and Talabani, unlike the majority of Iraqis in opinion polls, said he was in no hurry to see U.S. troops leave.
"The war was not the best way, but it was the only way to liberate Iraq," Talabani said. "For that, I am grateful for those who came and sacrificed their lives for this thing. If there was not a sacrifice, you would see me in the mountains, not here in Baghdad! In the caves! You know, the airplanes would come bombard us."
Talabani's election by lawmakers Wednesday makes him the first member of Iraq's long-oppressed minority to fill the presidency and the highest-ranking Iraqi Kurd in a half-century.
Talabani and his two vice presidents have veto authority and other powers, although their duties are largely ceremonial. Their first job Thursday was naming Ibrahim Jafari, a Shiite former opposition leader, prime minister.
Jafari's appointment sealed one of myriad deals by which Iraqi politicians are doling out posts in an intended national-unity government meant to bring together the Shiite majority, Kurds, Sunni Muslims and secularists.
Negotiators met with former interim president Ayad Allawi on Sunday in an effort to bring his 40-seat secular bloc into the governing coalition, said the interim deputy prime minister, Barham Salih.
Kurds and other secular politicians hope that the inclusion of Allawi's group would offset any religious tilt by Shiite lawmakers, who won the largest share of seats in the 275-seat parliament.
Talabani said Sunday that he would oppose any move to substitute Islamic law for the current civil code on marriage, divorce, inheritance and other family matters. He said he welcomed the influence Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, had had on building the government so far, including drawing out the Shiite vote.
Talabani also said he thought any renewed effort by the new government to remove members of Hussein's Baath Party from the government and military should spare the hundreds of thousands who committed no crime or abuses.
But the new government cannot ignore the suffering of the victims of Hussein's Baath-led institutions, particularly Shiites and Kurds, he said.
"They were poisoned and they were massacred. There are hundreds of thousands of victims from these two groups," he said. "Of course these people are hating very much Saddam's Baathists. We must also take into consideration the desire of these people in dealing with these criminals.''
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/11/2005 12:17:34 AM ||
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The United Nations and the African Union said on Friday the names of a militia leader and his collaborators who destroyed a village in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region this week will be turned over for possible UN sanctions and prosecution by the International Criminal Court. A joint statement issued by the top UN envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, and the top AU envoy, Baba Gana Kingibe, expressed "utter shock and disbelief" at Thursday's daylong attack on the South Darfur village of Khor Abeche by armed militia from the Miseriyya tribe of Niteaga under the command of Nasir Al Tijani Adel Kaadir. The statement said the names of Al Tijani and his known collaborators will be turned over to a UN Security Council committee charged with deciding which Sudanese are thwarting peace efforts and should be subject to a travel ban and asset freeze. Al Tijani is the first Sudanese publicly identified as a possible war crimes suspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 12:06:50 AM ||
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Iraq's outgoing prime minister has agreed that his parliamentary bloc will join the country's new government, and he is in negotiations on what Cabinet posts it will receive, spokesman said on Sunday. "Iyad Allawi decided that his bloc will take part in the new government because he believes in making the political and democratic process in Iraqi successful," spokesman Thaer al-Naqib told Reuters. Allawi's supporters had previously said they would not join the government, preferring to act as opposition in Parliament.
Allawi's bloc has 40 seats in the 275-member Parliament, behind the Shiite Islamist-led alliance that secured a slim parliamentary majority and a Kurdish coalition that won 75 seats. Including the bloc in the new Cabinet will mean Iraq's government has more claim to being a national unity administration, with no major parliamentary groups not represented in the Cabinet. The Shiites and Kurds have also offered key posts to representatives of the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule but fared poorly in the January 30 elections because many Sunni Arabs boycotted the polls or were scared away by violence in Sunni areas. Allawi, a secular Shiite, has built ties to some leading Sunni Arab politicians. The participation of his bloc in government would calm the fears of some secular Iraqis that the main Shiite alliance would seek to impose Islamist policies.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Iraq's new president Jalal Talabani has restated his support for a continued US military presence in Iraq, one day after large demonstrations by supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded US troops leave the country. "I think we are in great need to have American and other allied forces in Iraq until we will be able to rebuild our military forces," Mr Talabani told CNN.
Branding Sadr a "criminal" who should be arrested, Mr Talabani said he opposed setting a timetable for the US military's exit from the country. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Sadr's followers marched through Baghdad chanting "No, no, USA," in what is believed to be the largest demonstration since US troops entered the country. The protesters also demanded the establishment of a government based on Islamic law when the new government begins rewriting the country's constitution. The protest marked the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad after the US invasion of the country in 2003.
You're welcome.
Mr Talabani, an Iraqi Kurd who was elected president on Thursday after lengthy negotiations between ethnic and tribal factions in the Iraqi Parliament, predicted Iraq would be able to to reconstitute its armed forces within two years. However, he suggested that even after that, the country will maintain a close security relationship with the United States. "We will remain in full consultation and coordination, cooperation with our American friends, who came to liberate our country," he said. Mr Talabani also rebuffed the calls to establish an Islamic state under the new constitution, which he predicted could be completed by the August 15 deadline. Iraq's Governing Council already ruled against an Islamic government, Mr Talabani said, even while recognising Islam as the country's principal religion.
Mr Talabani, who for many years led the Iraqi Kurdish minority's resistance to the regime of deposed president Saddam Hussein, also suggested he did not support an independent state for the Kurds. "We think that, of course, the Kurdish people have the right to self-determination, like other peoples of the world," he told CNN. However, he said, the Kurds have accepted becoming part of a federation within the framework of a democratic Iraq.
That means they don't want to be invaded by wild-eyed holy men, intent on cutting people's heads off.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/11/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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WaPo: Many Iraqi Kurds backed the U.S. drive to topple Hussein, and Talabani, unlike the majority of Iraqis in opinion polls, said he was in no hurry to see U.S. troops leave.
More WaPo BS. Polls are showing that majorities of Iraqis are in no hurry to see US troops leave.
In a major breakthrough the government has agreed to withdraw security forces deployed between Dera Bugti and Sui as a first step of confidence building and implementation of the Shujaat-Bugti agreement. This was announced in a press release issued here late Saturday by Pakistan Muslim League Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed who was a member of the official dialogue team to resolve the stand-off between the government and Bugti tribe. The press release said the government had decided to open the route between Dera Bugti and Sui which was closed after the March 17 incident. It has also been agreed that all check-posts except those set up for security purposes, will be abolished soon.
The step is part of an arrangement to save the agreement as Nawab Akbar Bugti and his representatives had been complaining that the agreement was not being implemented, sources said. Parts of the agreement between the ruling PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Bugti tribal chief and Jamhoori Watan Party President Nawab Bugti, which had remained a guarded secret so far, were made public through the press release.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"You're really Bugti-in' me, man!"
-- Larry St. Dubois
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.
Iran yesterday accused Canada of complicating matters in the case of an Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in detention in Tehran, after Ottawa asked to conduct its own autopsy on her body. "Canada has adopted a bad approach since the beginning and has complicated things even more," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. The declaration came after Ottawa demanded that the remains of 
The two men spend several minutes debating which came first, the chicken or the egg. They argue over whether people dream in color. This hardly seems like the most controversial TV show in Afghanistan. But in between the polite chitchat, these men--the Afghan version of MTV veejays--play music videos, which sometimes feature heaving bosoms, dancing women and sexually suggestive lyrics.
Egyptian police said they have unearthed an Islamist trail behind last week's bombing in a busy Cairo bazaar that killed three foreigners, identifying the attacker as a teenage Islamist student.
Iraq's outgoing prime minister has agreed that his parliamentary bloc will join the country's new government, and he is in negotiations on what Cabinet posts it will receive, spokesman said on Sunday. "
Iraq's new president 
In a major breakthrough the government has agreed to withdraw security forces deployed between Dera Bugti and Sui as a first step of confidence building and implementation of the Shujaat-Bugti agreement. This was announced in a press release issued here late Saturday by Pakistan Muslim League Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Syed who was a member of the official dialogue team to resolve the stand-off between the government and Bugti tribe. The press release said the government had decided to open the route between Dera Bugti and Sui which was closed after the March 17 incident. It has also been agreed that all check-posts except those set up for security purposes, will be abolished soon.
