Riyadh/Amman/Brussels, 19 September 2005: Saudi Arabia should act decisively to defuse rising sectarian tensions. King Abdullah, who has shown a willingness to tackle this issue in the past, has the opportunity to take the required steps.
Perhaps we could propose the Republic of Eastern Arabia to the King. We and the USMC, of course.
The Shiite Question in Saudi Arabia,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, says the Kingdom must take action to extend rights and protections for the Shiite minority in order to prevent frustration escalating into violence. While the King has shown sympathy for the Shiite minority, reforms strengthening their rights will require a long-term investment and commitment to social and political integration. "This is an important test for King Abdullah", says Toby Craig Jones, Crisis Group Analyst for the Gulf. "The potential for instability will continue to grow unless he reins in anti-Shiite hostility".
I'll have extra butter on my popcorn, thanks
As a result of the war in Iraq, Sunni-Shiite distrust has deepened. Like their Iraqi co-religionists, many Saudi Shiites have intensified their push for religious freedoms and better representation in official positions. For their part, Sunnis have deepened their suspicions, and a rising number of jihadi militants have taken their cause to Iraq, fuelled by their opposition to U.S. policy and by the Shiites' increased role. Hundreds of battle-tested Saudi mujahidin will likely return to the Kingdom in search of a new battlefield -- like their predecessors from Afghanistan -- and threaten Western and government targets as well as the Shiite minority.
If they survive Iraq, that is
To avert a crisis, Saudi Arabia should increase Shiite representation in government, lift remaining restrictions on their religious rituals, encourage tolerance in mosques and schools, and muzzle statements and activities that incite violence against them.
Yeah, and the Skins will shut out the Cowboys tonight
In light of growing suspicion of Western hostility towards Islam, however, the U.S. and the EU would do well to temper their public messages on these issues and focus on broader reform, including expanding the rights and political participation of all Saudis.
We have a plan. We like it. You won't.
The Kingdom has an urgent challenge, but also a new opportunity. The 11 September 2001 attacks and al-Qaeda's subsequent terror campaign have had the opposite effect of the war in Iraq: they have prompted non-violent Islamists and reformers, both Sunni and Shiite, to join together and call for political and religious changes. "Saudi Arabia should counter rising militancy in the Kingdom and across its borders by taking advantage of this internal rapprochement", said Robert Malley, Director of Crisis Group's Middle East Program. "The strongest guarantee of stability in the Kingdom is to offer alternatives to extremism".
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 10:40 ||
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The dam is breaking and Abdullah is running out of fingers to plug the holes with.
Interesting conflation of cause, effect, the square root of -1, and the latest styles in ladies' underwear...
According to a report by the Washington based Center for Strategic and International Studies Saudi Nationals involved in the insurgency in Iraq, make up the smallest number of foreign fighters active there.
The study, which Asharq Al-Awsat obtained a copy of points out that the vast majority of foreign fighters are not former terrorists but were actually radicalized by the Iraq war itself. The same study found the majority of the Saudi fighters were inspired to go to Iraq by images that they saw on Arab satellite news channels. According to CSIS, as of august 2005, 352 Saudis are believed to have entered Iraq. Out of that figure, 150 are thought to be active, whereas 72 are recognized from Al-Qaeda lists of active militants in Iraq, with a further 74 presumed to be in detention, with the remaining 56 presumed dead. The study estimated the largest foreign contingent was made up of 600 Algerian fighters, Followed by 550 Syrians, 500 Yemenis, 450 Sudanese, 400 Egyptians, 350 Saudis, and 150 fighters from other countries who have had crossed into Iraq to fight. The study also points out that the majority of "Saudi Militants in Iraq were motivated by revulsion at the idea of an Arab land being occupied by a non-Arab country". This coupled with the images on satellite television and the internet became the catalyst for the Saudi insurgents, with many citing the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and images of Guantanamo Bay as chief motivators.
Another factor highlighted are the fatwas issued by religious scholars in Saudi Arabia, particularly a November, 2004 fatwa issued by twenty-six Saudi Imams. The report details the Saudi government's efforts in combating militant Clergy including, crackdowns on non-sanctioned Imams, new laws prohibiting the issuing of Fatwas from clerics who are not associated with the state sponsored Senior Council of Ulema, which the report reveals has put a stop to such fatwas being issued. Regarding the speculation on the number of Saudi nationals participating in the insurgency in Iraq Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman, Major General Mansour al-Turki told Asharq Al-Awsat "there is no accurate information available concerning the number of Saudis fighting in Iraq since that did not enter the country by official means, but some media elements have over exaggerated the figure".
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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The square root of -1 is i.
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
09/19/2005 9:05 Comments ||
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Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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First, I wouldn't put a lot of faith in an organization that includes Madeline halfAllbright, Wesley Clark, and a half-dozen other LLL "dignitaries" among its "alumni". Secondly, I find such a study that doesn't report a SINGLE Iranian to be so totally fraudulent as to be worthless. Thirdly, I have heresay (but trustworthy) evidence that the number of confirmed Saudis KILLED is in the mid-four-digits. I suggest the liberal use of salt in this report.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/19/2005 15:43 Comments ||
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A serious rift has opened between Tony Blair and Jack Straw over whether to retain the threat of military action against Iran if it refuses to halt its nuclear programme.
A day after Mr Straw declared that the crisis "will not be resolved by military means", Downing Street distanced itself from the Foreign Secretary.
It lined up behind President George W Bush, who has made clear that "all options are on the table" while wanting a diplomatic solution and insisting there are no plans to use force.
The Foreign Office made no attempt to hide the disagreement last night. "Jack's view is clear," said a senior official. "Military action is inconceivable."
Earlier, the Prime Minister's official spokesman played down any suggestion of a split but, when asked about the difference between Mr Straw's views and those of the US President, he emphasised that Mr Blair agreed with Mr Bush.
"On May 12âŠthe Prime Minister at a press conference said that what President Bush has said is perfectly sensible.
"You can't say you are taking options off the table. But he went on to say, I think very sensibly too, that nobody is talking about invasions of Iran or military action against Iran."
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/19/2005 20:49 ||
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Jack Straw can have a position independent of Blair's because he does not serve at Blair's pleasure, unlike a US Secretary of State, whose job security rests entirely on the President's continued approval.
A RUSSIAN interior ministry soldier was killed overnight by automatic arms fire in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic in the North Caucasus.
Unknown assailants opened fire on a group of soldiers patrolling the Gornaya suburb, killing one soldier and injuring another, the Interfax agency cited the interior ministry as reporting.
Two months ago two police officers were shot dead in the same area.
Kabardino-Balkaria is prone to instability as are other Caucasus republics bordering Chechnya.
President Valeri Kokov, who had led the republic for 20 years, resigned lasted week, officially for health reasons.
It was the latest in a string of attacks carried out in regions of Russia's unstable North Caucasus.
In the first incident, a Russian policeman and his Chechen assailant were killed late Thursday in a shootout in Dagestan, after two men driving in a car opened fire on a police roadblock near the town of Kizilyurt.
Late on Thursday, a bomb blew up close to an army vehicle near Nazran, the main city in the Ingushetia province, injuring two special forces soldiers.
Another explosion blew up a goods train in North Ossetia. The blast may have been aimed at a passenger train meant to be passing at that moment.
A third bomb, filled with metal shards, exploded near a Nazran courtroom, shattering windows in surrounding buildings. A mine also exploded as a military convoy passed through the village of Nesterovskaya in Ingushetia, but there were no victims, the official said.
Then a Russian policeman was shot dead in his home by unidentified assailants in the southern region of Ingushetia also bordering Chechnya late on Friday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:53 ||
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A platoon commander was wounded and later died on the way to a hospital after an armored personnel carrier hit a mine in Chechnya's Shali district, local police sources told Interfax by phone. The mine was planted at the side of the road linking Grozny and Vedeno on the limits of the Mesker-Yurt village, and detonated when an engineer platoon was combing the terrain.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:52 ||
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Off the AP wire, so no link. Never you mind how I get it ...
Text of the joint statement issued Monday by six nations at talks in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear program:
For the cause of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia at large, the six parties held in a spirit of mutual respect and equality serious and practical talks concerning the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on the basis of the common understanding of the previous three rounds of talks and agreed in this context to the following:
1) The six parties unanimously reaffirmed that the goal of the six-party talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning at an early date to the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) and to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards.
The United States affirmed that is has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons.
The ROK (South Korea) reaffirmed its commitment not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons in accordance with the 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, while affirming that there exist no nuclear weapons within its territory.
The 1992 joint declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be observed and implemented.
The DPRK stated that it has the right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
The other parties expressed their respect and agreed to discuss at an appropriate time the subject of the provision of light-water reactor to the DPRK.
2) The six parties undertook, in their relations, to abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and recognized norms of international relations.
The DPRK and the United States undertook to respect each other's sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize their relations subject to their respective bilateral policies.
The DPRK and Japan undertook to take steps to normalize their relations in accordance with the (2002) Pyongyang Declaration, on the basis of the settlement of unfortunate past and the outstanding issues of concern.
3) The six parties undertook to promote economic cooperation in the fields of energy, trade and investment, bilaterally and/or multilaterally.
China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and the U.S. stated their willingness to provide energy assistance to the DPRK. The ROK reaffirmed its proposal of July 12, 2005, concerning the provision of 2 million kilowatts of electric power to the DPRK.
4) Committed to joint efforts for lasting peace and stability in northeast Asia. The directly related parties will negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate separate forum.
The six parties agreed to explore ways and means for promoting security cooperation in northeast Asia.
5) The six parties agreed to take coordinated steps to implement the aforementioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of "commitment for commitment, action for action."
6) The six parties agreed to hold the fifth round of the six party talks in Beijing in early November 2005 at a date to be determined through consultations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 01:45 ||
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...I'll believe it when I see it. I don't see anything here that even remotely suggests that this is finally The Day. I'm just pretty convinced that within about 36 hours, the Norks will be all spittle and Sea of Fire again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/19/2005 7:05 Comments ||
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#2
I bet the Nork were violating this agreement while it was being read. Depose Kim and maybe you can have some honest talks.
#4
Hey! That's not the URL they gave me! lol. North Korea. I don't trust them as far as I can...well...I don't trust them!
Besides, what about the people and the conditions which they are forced to live? Please don't stop fighting for them. Remember Tienemnin Square? No one paid attention until that outrages and murderous day. That happens everyday in NK.
How are you doing? Well, I hope. Have a great day.
#7
Maybe he got caught red-handed, like Libya. Encouraging a light water reactor to produce energy so they aren't dependent upon ME oil either may be smart. I wonder if they can convert the weapons to fuel and burn them? If so, we may have a strategic reserve in case of a global oil crisis.
#8
Interesting semantics. SKor removes nuclear wepaons - US parks Tridents off the coast. China and Russia push for the pacification role. Give Kimmie some fuel and energy and we'll keep him from moving his army south. Now moving West, China and Russia stand to gain substantial oil reserves by getting in good with the soon to be nuclear armed and oil wealthy Iranians. Neither country will commit troops to stop Iran's ambitions, let the US exhaust themselves with another politically and militarilty costly venture while we exploit the spoils. Russia and China, long term also need to be concerned with a nuclear Iran. North Korea's nukes are for the preservation of a moonbat, Iran's are for the spread of a hateful ideology. Wake up boys!
#9
North Korea Demands Nuclear Reactor
Updated 9:02 PM ET September 19, 2005
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea demanded Tuesday that the United States give it a light water nuclear reactor before it rejoins the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and ends its weapons program.
The North's Foreign Ministry made the demand a day after it agreed at six-nation talks in Beijing to give up its arms efforts, rejoin the treaty, and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We will return to the NPT and sign the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the U.S. provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building to us," the ministry said in the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency....
Posted by: john ||
09/19/2005 21:23 Comments ||
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North Korea pledged to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties in a unanimous agreement Monday at six-party arms talks. The agreement was the first-ever joint statement after more than two years of negotiations.
The North âpromised to drop all nuclear weapons and current nuclear programs and to get back to the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty as soon as possible and to accept inspectionsâ by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the agreement by the six countries at the talks.
The North and the United States also pledged to mutually respect each otherâs sovereignty and right to peaceful coexistence in the agreement.
Earlier Monday, the top U.S. negotiator said talks seeking to convince Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program were in their âendgame.â
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the talks would wrap up after negotiators met to discuss a Chinese compromise proposal.
âWeâre at the endgame,â Hill said as he left his hotel early Monday.
Hill declined to reveal specifics of the proposal. Russiaâs envoy said earlier that it acknowledged North Koreaâs right to a peaceful nuclear program after disarming â but it was not known if that draft had been revised.
Washington had previously rejected allowing North Korea any atomic program, saying its decades of relentlessly pursuing a nuclear bomb means it canât be trusted.
Hill said North Korea âhas some demands and the question is whether anybody accepts those demands.â
âI think we have a pretty good arrangement on that, but I have to see what it looks like finally,â he said.
South Koreaâs main envoy, Song Min-soon, said Monday that it was âtime to make a decision.â
He added that a resolution depended on all six countries at the talks â China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.
âIt is not a situation where just one party decides whether to accept,â Song said.
The night before Hill said he was leaving at the end of Monday no matter what happened at the meeting for all six delegations to state their positions.
âEveryone knows each otherâs positions, everyone knows the agreement, everyone can almost recite it from memory at this point, so Iâm not sure we have to do too much talking,â he said Sunday evening. âI think we have to sort of ... put the cards on the table and see where we are.â
Hill described the proposal before the talks as âa good effort to try to bridge the remaining differences, which I believe are difficult but certainly not insurmountable.â
That was far more optimistic than his view Saturday, when he said the United States and several other countries had problems with the documentâs wording.
âItâs a good draft for all concerned, and I think itâs especially a really great opportunity forâ North Korea, he said Sunday.
North Korea had not commented publicly on the proposal, but after it was put forward Friday, a spokesman denounced efforts to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons program without concessions from the United States.
South Koreaâs main envoy, Song Min-soon, said Monday that it was âtime to make a decision.â
He added that a resolution depended on all six countries at the talks â China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.
âIt is not a situation where just one party decides whether to accept,â Song said.
The night before Hill said he was leaving at the end of Monday no matter what happened at the meeting for all six delegations to state their positions.
âEveryone knows each otherâs positions, everyone knows the agreement, everyone can almost recite it from memory at this point, so Iâm not sure we have to do too much talking,â he said Sunday evening. âI think we have to sort of ... put the cards on the table and see where we are.â
Hill described the proposal before the talks as âa good effort to try to bridge the remaining differences, which I believe are difficult but certainly not insurmountable.â
That was far more optimistic than his view Saturday, when he said the United States and several other countries had problems with the documentâs wording.
âItâs a good draft for all concerned, and I think itâs especially a really great opportunity forâ North Korea, he said Sunday.
North Korea had not commented publicly on the proposal, but after it was put forward Friday, a spokesman denounced efforts to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons program without concessions from the United States.
Participants have offered economic aid, security guarantees from Washington and free electricity from South Korea in exchange for dismantling its weapons program.
North Korea has demanded to be given a light-water nuclear reactor for generating electricity before disarming, promising to open that facility to co-management and international inspections.
The Pyongyang regime was promised two light-water reactors â believed to be more difficult to use in diverting radioactive material for making nuclear bombs â under a 1994 deal. But that agreement unraveled in late 2002 when U.S. officials said the North admitted it was building atomic bombs, leading to the current diplomatic effort to find resolve the standoff.
âThere is still a chance of reaching an agreement,â Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae said Sunday evening, also sounding more positive than a day before.
Meanwhile, the head of the Pyongyang office of the United Nationsâ World Food Program said Sunday that a decade of emergency aid shipments to North Korea would end by January at the request of the countryâs communist government.
âThey claim they have enough food coming in from other sources,â Richard Ragan told The Associated Press, indicating that included aid from South Korea and increased trade with China. âThey didnât want to create a culture of dependency.â
Since starting emergency aid in 1995, the WFP has distributed about 4 million tons of food worth $1.5 billion to North Koreans. That has included donations from the United States, despite the continuing nuclear standoff and Pyongyangâs constant saber-rattling at Washington as its main enemy.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 01:04 ||
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More on Norks throwing in the towel
Don't count (or bet) on it. Didn't they already break one agreement?
North Korea pledged to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties in a unanimous agreement Monday at six-party arms talks. The agreement was the first-ever joint statement after more than two years of negotiations.
The North "promised to drop all nuclear weapons and current nuclear programs and to get back to the (Nuclear) Nonproliferation Treaty as soon as possible and to accept inspections" by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the agreement by the six countries at the talks.
The North and the U.S. also pledged to mutually respect each other's sovereignty and right to peaceful coexistence in the agreement.
"This is the most important result since the six-party talks started more than two years ago," said Wu Dawei, China's vice foreign minister.
"All six parties emphasized that to realize the inspectable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the target of the six-party talks," the statement said.
The talks, which began in August 2003, include China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/19/2005 00:43 ||
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Well if Kim waited until April he would lose the element of surprise ...
If he lets us verify the disarmament (which appears to be part of the argeement) the way that Muammar did, we're good to go. My guess, if this true, is that the Chinese made Kim an offer he couldn't refuse which, combined with US pressure, made him to decide to take the out and keep his little Oceania dystopia.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 2:07 Comments ||
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#4
All the Nukes are on Subs at sea, the Norks got nothing.
#8
Kimmy probably has made pact with Iran. The Iranians are going to supply him with what he needs because its just another indirect attack against America. Kimmy can have his cake and eat it too. See no program here. He gets the aid, stays in power, and gets nukes.
Meanwhile the Adminstration screws around with the Europeans, the UN, and Iran contiues to build and build. See what being nice gets you.
#11
Frank Gaffney, a bona-fide Non-Idiotarian, unlike the CSIS crowd, just now said on Fox that it's simply a replay of the scam they ran on Mad Halfbright and the Clintoon fools. Same old, same old.
Kimmie's a One-Trick Pony. He hopes we have zero memory.
As Gaffney said so succinctly:
"You want it bad? You get it bad."
But this is one is certified and tied with a bow by the foreign Ministry of The Peoples Republic of China, the Next Superpower-TM.
Kimmy undoes the deal, it means major loss of face to the PRC. To whom face certainly matters, I think.
One assumes the reason Kimmy signed was cause teh Chinese basically told him they had him by the balls, (their motive for doing so to be seen as a great, responsible, indeed indispensable power) and he cried uncle.
#15
in any case this buys time. If you truely, honestly, deep in your heart believe that in, say, 12 months time we're going to see real light in Iraq, and US troops available for redeployment, etc then theres something to be said for kicking the can down the road a bit.
#17
I'm with LH up to a point. One of the arguments regarding going in to Iraq has been "why aren't we doing anything about North Korea and Iran". While it doesn't actually knock one of the legs out from this argument, it does weaken it and should buy both time and some silence.
But I don't think there'll be 12 months of time bought.
#18
I will believe this when I see it really happening. My 2 cents: Norks are up against the wall. The Chicoms, with some help from the SKors are keeping Kimmie's Magic Kingdom afloat. Now the NORKS are becoming a pain in the Chicom's side. So they put the screws on Kimmie and Co. Now the Norks may not get nukes for a while, but they have the knowledge and some wherewithal. The Chicoms and SKors will keep Kimmie in power. So we ***may*** have NORKS disarmed from their nukes for a while, but the NORK govt is still in power, and the North Korean people are again F*cked Over. They again lose, big time. Thank you PRC and SK for bailing out your little pit bull.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2005 23:35 Comments ||
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PARIS, Sept 19 (AFP) - French police probing a ring that allegedly recruited Muslim fighters for the anti-US insurgency in Iraq arrested six men in the Paris area Monday, an official close to the investigation told AFP. The suspects were aged in their 20s and 30s, the source said without identifying them further. He did not say where exactly the arrests took place.
"Ye filthy ink-stained scribes don't need that scuttlebutt. Yarr!"
The swoop was organised by France's counter-espionage agency, the DST, as part of a year-long investigation carried out with the intelligence-gathering unit of the police under instructions from three anti-terrorist judges, Jean-Louis BruguiÚre, Jean-François Ricard and Philippe Coirre. French authorities believe young immigrants from Muslim north Africa were enlisted to join the ranks of the rebels in Iraq often on an individual basis in prayer rooms or through family members.
Eleven people were arrested in Paris in January and three of them remain in detention pending criminal probes against them for criminal association with a terrorist enterprise. France has recently stepped up its cooperation with EU partners and Middle East countries to identify would-be insurgents on its territory and place them under surveillance.
According to officials, three French citizens fighting US-led forces were killed in Iraq last year and three others have been arrested.
"String em up from the yardarm! Arrrrr!"
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 13:36 ||
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I heard Jack Chirac surrendered to the recruiters. Anybody else hear that??
A member of staff has been injured in a suspected letter bomb attack inside the British embassy in Zagreb, Croatia. The worker - a local man - received "very minor injuries" after a device exploded in a post room at about 0630 BST, the UK Foreign Office said. A spokesman said he was unaware of any threats to the embassy but security at the building has been stepped up. In a statement, Croatian President Stipe Mesic condemned the explosion as a "terrorist attack".
Police are investigating the blast, which comes after several embassies received threatening letters this year. Ambassador Sir John Ramsden is understood to have attended the embassy in the capital as the investigation got under way. Eyewitnesses said there was no visible damage. Sniffer dogs were being used as Croatian officers carried out searches of the building. The EU postponed entry talks with Croatia in March over the country's failure to co-operate fully with the United Nations war crimes tribunal.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 08:41 ||
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Well, let's see. Another bunch of muslims we have tried to help in the past that stick it in our ass the first chance they get.
AN explosion rocked the small town of Poso in Indonesia's violence-torn Central Sulawesi province, police said amid reports that four people were injured. "The explosion took place close to midnight yesterday in Lawanga," said Second Sergeant Sofyan, who was on duty at the time.
Sofyan declined to say whether the blast at a private house was caused by a bomb, adding that police were still investigating. The Poso police chief could not be immediately reached.
Is he out chasing the bad guys? Collecting his payoff? Laying in pieces at the blast site?
The Detikcom online news service said that four people were lightly injured in the blast that had also caused heavy damage on the house.
Despite the agreement, sporadic shootings and bombings have continued. In the latest violence there, two men were shot dead early last month. The town has also seen several home-made bomb explosions in the past month which caused minimal damage and no casualties.
In nearby Tentena town, two bomb blasts killed 22 people at a market in May. Police said the Tentena bombings were the work of Islamic militants with possible links to Jemaah Islamiyah, the reputed Southeast Asian arm of the Al-Qaeda network. Others say the attack was politically motivated.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:55 ||
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He (Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov) is really pissed off with them (the Iranians)," one Russian diplomat explained to NewsMax's Stewart Stogel.
The frank assesment came after a private 30 minute meeting on Sunday between Lavrov and newly minted Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Both are attending the annual General Assembly which opened Saturday.
Lavrov was concerned about statements coming from new Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran felt no reluctance to offer "peaceful, civilian" nuclear technology to other nations.
While some of the technology Ahmadinejad spoke about was developed in Iran, a substantial amount comes from Russia.
Russia, a key "guarantor" of the (nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has become extremely sensitive on the issue of technology transfer, especially to Islamic third world countires.
Iranian nuke plans hitting a little close, heh, Russia?
The Russian Federation has been engaged in a nasty war with an Islamic revolt in the province of Chechnya.
Nonetheless, Moscow continues to "finishing touches" on two new "light-water" nuclear power plants in Bushehr on the Iranian Persian Gulf coast.
Question: If Russia presumes that their nuclear technology deal with Iran is for peaceful purposes, why would they get so upset with the possibility of Iranian transfer to other Islamic countries, heh?
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/19/2005 20:11 ||
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Your customer is now your competition?
Posted by: john ||
09/19/2005 20:59 Comments ||
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#2
Russia seed it's products as export items and doesn't want Iran competing for customers along with it duties under the NPT to control exports of such technology.
#3
One good thing about having something built by Russians. Guaranteed that at some point in the future, all some other Russian has to do is push a red button on a small transmitter and the whole building will fall down.
#4
It would be pretty funny if the Iranians hand over a working bomb to the Chechens, who then detonate it in Red Square. Actually, not so funny, since the Russians might automatically suspect American perfidy, and launch all their nukes.
#5
Y'all keep referring to "the Russians," as if there is such a thing as a unitary center of power in Russia that is under Putin's control. Not so. The Russian government doesn't really govern. Russian foreign policy is the sum of the behavior of multiple actors, private and public (and public officials acting in a private capacity), and is without coherence, logic or strategic direction. A northern version of Nigeria + the Pakistani ISI.
From al-Guardian: An extraordinary sense of foreboding has developed among Syria-watchers over the last few days - a feeling that momentous events are just around the corner. Some even suggest the regime of the president, Bashar al-Assad, could fall within a matter of months. The reason for this is the unfolding drama in Lebanon that surrounds the UN investigation into the murder of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
It is now almost beyond doubt that by the time the chief investigator, Detlev Mehlis, completes his work next month, he will have direct evidence that the assassination was orchestrated from Damascus. If so, the killing of Hariri will probably count as one of the most disastrous own goals in the history of international politics. Though Mr Mehlis has been discreetly silent about the whole affair, it is not difficult to see where his investigation is heading.
The political context of Hariri's murder, and the most likely motive for it, was set out very clearly in the preliminary UN report last March: Hariri had rebelled against Syrian hegemony in Lebanon and received various threats as a result - one of them allegedly from President Bashar himself. The Syrian government dismissed the report as being biased, but four Lebanese generals who were in charge of security at the time of the assassination have since been arrested on suspicion of involvement. All, in effect, were working for Syria at the time, and it is clear that if they did organise the killing of Hariri, their orders would have come from Damascus. A decision last week to open up their bank accounts, along with those of five Lebanese politicians, is expected to cast more light on their dealings with Syria.
According to the Lebanese daily as-Safir, the investigators also have a witness statement giving details of a flat in the village of Bshamoun where Syrian officials allegedly met the four generals to plan the assassination of "a prominent Lebanese figure". Mr Mehlis's team searched the flat last month. Amid mounting evidence of a Syrian connection, the question is: where in Syria could the order to assassinate Hariri have come from?
If normal procedures were followed, Rustom Ghazaleh, the former head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon, would probably have delivered it to the Lebanese generals. It is very unlikely, however, that Ghazaleh would have given the order off his own bat: in Syria decisions of that nature have to come from the top - which, in practice, means the inner circle around the president.
Besides President Assad himself, the inner circle at the time is believed to have consisted of:
· Maher Assad, the president's younger brother, who has various military and security functions, including overseeing the presidential guard
· General Ghazi Kenaan, the interior minister, who previously spent 19 years as head of military intelligence in Lebanon
· General Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law (married to his elder sister, Bushra) who is head of military intelligence. His relations with the president's younger brother have not always been good, and it was reported in 1999 that Maher shot him in the stomach following a quarrel
· General Bahjat Suleiman, the hardline head of the internal security division of the General Intelligence Directorate, who reportedly went into semi-retirement last June
· Abdel-Halim Khaddam, vice-president and the only Sunni Muslim among the inner circle (the others belong to the minority Alawite sect). Khaddam was on good terms with Hariri and had business dealings with him. He was also the only Syrian official to pay his respects to the family in Beirut after the assassination. In June it was reported that Khaddam was stepping down from the vice-presidency. It is unclear whether he has actually done so, and no successor has been announced.
All national leaders rely to some extent on an inner circle of trusted advisers, but in Syria's case the inner circle is especially important: Bashar is often regarded as a weak president (largely as a result of the way he came to power in 2000 after his father's sudden death) and there are doubts about how much control he really has. Earlier this year, when urged by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon as soon as possible, he reportedly replied: "I do not decide everything by myself."
For what it's worth, rumours circulating in Damascus a few months ago and reported by the blogger Joshua Landis of syriacomment.com suggested that among the inner circle, Maher, Shawkat, and Suleiman had favoured assassinating Hariri while Bashar and Kenaan were against.) This is, it should be stressed, rumour rather than established fact.
The 15 Syrians Mehlis hopes to interview shortly in connection with the assassination include at least two from the inner circle - Maher and Kenaan. He also plans to meet Bashar, though Syrian officials maintain that this will be "an audience" rather than an interrogation.
In Bashar's case, the key question will be what exactly he meant during a 10-minute altercation with Hariri last year when he is alleged to have threatened to "break Lebanon over the heads" of Hariri and the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt rather than see his word in Lebanon broken. Was it a threat or just a crude warning?
According to Arab newspaper reports last week, Hariri secretly taped the conversation using a recorder disguised as a pen, which the French president, Jacques Chirac, is said to have given him. Whether this is true or mere disinformation, circulation of the tale was clearly intended to turn up the heat on Damascus ahead of Mehlis's visit.
From Syria's point of view, the least unsatisfactory outcome would be for Mehlis to pin the blame on Ghazaleh, its former intelligence chief in Lebanon, and to sacrifice him as a scapegoat. But already Damascus seems to be working on the assumption that Mehlis will go further and implicate Maher, if not other members of the inner circle. This would bring the matter to crisis point, since it is very unlikely that Bashar would agree to hand over his own brother, who is also the man responsible for his personal security, for trial.
Last week the president's brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, was in Paris, apparently trying to negotiate a deal. The general idea seems to be that in exchange for letting Maher off and keeping the regime intact, Damascus would offer greater cooperation on controlling the border with Iraq and perhaps make further sacrifices of Syrian interests in Lebanon.
This is reminiscent of the negotiations with Libya that resolved the standoff over the Lockerbie bombing and other attacks. In the post-9/11 world, however, it may not be so easy to go down that route. The UN security council has already formally declared that Hariri's assassination was an act of terrorism, a move that brings into play all sorts of international agreements created in the wake of September 11. A decision not to pursue suspects in the Hariri case with the utmost vigour would therefore blow a huge hole in President Bush's anti-terrorism strategy.
Although France is playing a key role behind the scenes, the ultimate decision will rest with Washington, where opinion at the moment appears to be divided. Some argue that the Hariri case has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be rid of the Syrian regime, regardless of other considerations; others say it would not be sensible to create a power vacuum or instability in Syria while there are so many problems in neighbouring Iraq, and that the best course in the meantime is to keep up the diplomatic pressure on Damascus.
The trouble with that is that no one really knows how much pressure the Syrian regime can take, or how it will respond. We could wake up one morning and find that it has simply fallen apart.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 11:35 ||
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Oh no! Not the dreaded instability! Anything but that!
#7
"The biggest danger with an implosion of Assad's regime is the probability that Hamas would be installed as an official government."
Quibble, actually the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, ideologically close to Hamas, but not the same organization.
actually theres some question how united the Syrian MB is. From what I gather they have a range of Sunni Islamist opinion, from "moderates" of the Erdogan stripe, all the way to AQ supporters. So if the MB takes over, the game is far from over.
and the MB isnt the only player - minorities - Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Kurds would all have something to say.
#8
Syrian collapse... Kurds in the North... Kurdistan with a Med port would work for me. I'll take southern Turkey, too, come to think of it. In exchange, I'd wager they'd deal with PKK and either kill it or moderate it... They've never had it so good and I don't figure they'd want to waste this golden moment in time, thanks to the US - the only major entity who hasn't screwed them, and finally gain a true homeland.
As for Hamas being a govt, I'm not sure they could manage a lemonade stand - unless it also sold AK's from under the counter - I'd buy it if they were very quickly "sponsored" by some "state" with infinitely deep pockets - thinking Mad Mullahs, of course. They'd miss their proxy rather badly, methinks, as it helps diffuse the negative attention. But the MM's will have their hands full soon... I predict they'll be a might distracted.
As for dealing with Hamas / SMB - it's not as if they aren't a major pain in the region already - this should be viewed as an opportunity, methinks, to rub the bitch out - whack the lot. That the MM's would dearly miss them is something like icing on the cake. Just musing aloud, mind you...
So, if Syria collapses... Issue-fest, lol...
1) Hamas / SMB -- and their Mullah sponsors
2) Kurds
3) Alawites, Christians, Druze
4) No more state-sponsored Iraq jihadi support system
#10
Any thoughts on what might happen to all those weapons buried in the Bekaa valley - the ones that where shipped out of Iraq early in the war?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/19/2005 16:01 Comments ||
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historically the Alawites made common cause with the other minorities in Syria, out of common fear of the Sunni majority (the kurds are sunnis, but like in Iraq, are out of the Sunni arab mainstream) Syrian Orthodox, and Kurds, were favored by the regime - Kurds were a weapon against the Turks and Iraqis, Syrian Orthodox and Druze were part of the claim on Lebanon, and for "Greater Syria" in general.
But that was under Daddy Assad, who had real political skill. Baby Assad and associates have really messed things up - theyve managed to alienate the Kurds for sure. And the Lebanese Druze - not sure of the current position of the Syrian Druze. At this point even the Alawites have to be looking to make some kind of deal with the Sunnis, so they dont go down with the regime. Unlike the Sunnis in Iraq, the Alawites are regional pariahs, and would be ill advised to count on winning an insurgency.
#19
LH said: "From what I gather they have a range of Sunni Islamist opinion, from "moderates" of the Erdogan stripe, all the way to AQ supporters."
What LH should have said: "From what I gather they have a range of Sunni Islamist opinion, from "moderates" who want to drive the Israel into the sea, all the way to AQ supporters who want to drive Israel into the sea until they reach international waters."
Posted by: Scott R ||
09/19/2005 21:01 Comments ||
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BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- A hand grenade exploded in the Kuwaiti information office in Beirut on Monday killing a Lebanese employee who had been playing with it, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Lebanon said. The explosion killed 35-year old Ayyas al-Alayli, the office's security officer, and wounded two other Lebanese employees, a senior Lebanese security source said. "This was not an act of terrorism," Ambassador Ali Suleiman al-Sauid told reporters. "Unfortunately one of the employees was playing around with some old explosives ... when it exploded, according to his colleagues who are now at the hospital".
"Hey, watch me do thi.......KABOOM!"
Another security source had earlier said the explosion was apparently caused by a booby-trapped package.
Nope, just a boob
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 09:11 ||
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Must've been one of those "Take a number" grenades....
#2
Speaking outside the 15-story building where the explosion occurred, Ambassador Ali Suleiman Saeed said: "Regrettably, it happened when one of the employees, with the knowledge of his colleagues, was playing with some old explosive materials left over from the (1975-90 civil) war. It exploded, hitting him and two of his colleagues."
Ayas al-Alayli, 36, took the grenade from a shelf and threw it to the floor to show Mirna Mugharbel, a secretary, that it wouldn't explode, an employee in the office said. Al-Alayli was killed and Mugharbel and another office worker, Hussam al-Jamal, were injured.
Mugharbel suffered shrapnel wounds to her legs, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to speak to the press. Blood stained the floor as well as the desk and chairs in Mugharbel's office.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 11:35 Comments ||
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"Here, hold my beer." Definitely Darwin Award material, but not an individual citation. The Darwin guys have a thick, thick file of "playing with old weapons" incidents.
Iran last night invited private firms to join its nuclear programme, further escalating tensions with the West.
The country's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the United Nations general assembly in New York that Tehran held the 'inalienable right' to develop a nuclear capability fuel cycle. His invitation to companies to share its nuclear secrets will prove antagonistic to the US, which earlier yesterday had issued a warning that Iran's atomic ambitions threatened world peace.
Ahmadinejad, who was elected in June, claimed that the involvement of the private sector in its nuclear enrichment programme would prove that Tehran is not producing nuclear weapons.
Hours earlier, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had warned Iran to abandon 'forever' its nuclear weapons ambitions. But Ahmadinejad rejected accusations that the regime was seeking to build nuclear weapons, claiming that its 'religious principles' prevent it from so doing.
He also called for a UN committee to be set up to investigate which countries had given Israel the technology to develop nuclear weapons.
Last night's speech in New York by Ahmadinejad follows US-led attempts to gather support for Iran to be referred to the UN security council and face possible sanctions if it did not halt is nuclear ambitions. Tomorrow, the International Atomic Energy Agency will vote on the action it will take over Iran.
The debate over nuclear weapons took a further twist last week when senior diplomats told The Observer that the failure of last week's UN summit to deliver an agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was jeopardised by the US.
Officials involved in the negotiations have confirmed that the Bush administration's refusal to countenance any form of disarmament blocked efforts to push measures that would prevent regimes seeking to develop a nuclear capability. The news contradicts some reports that the US had been furious that plans to crack down on nuclear proliferation were stripped out of the final UN document.
Iran last month spurned a European package of economic, security and technology incentives for it to abandon sensitive nuclear work and reactivated a factory converting uranium ore into gas.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 02:00 ||
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Can you say proliferation? I knew you could.
This is a slap at the UN and a sop to the EU as Iran is whoring to it's commercial interests as France and Germany both will fight to sell what ever they can.
Folks get us the hell out of NATO and the UN. It's totally adverse to our national interests to remain entangled in what will become an even greater CF than we already have.
Hugho Chavez is putting the down payment on his first nuclear weapon as we speak.
#5
The debate over nuclear weapons took a further twist last week when senior diplomats told The Observer that the failure of last week's UN summit to deliver an agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was jeopardised by the US.
Does this have anything to do with not wanting any international obstructions to developing our own tactical neutron bombs or even new sources of energy research, would it? We certainly don't need to be hamstrung by the UN!
#6
Sneaky, by getting other nation's citizens inside their plants they've got a ready made, close at hand hostage pool.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2005 11:39 Comments ||
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Hours earlier...Condoleezza Rice had warned Iran to abandon 'forever' its nuclear weapons ambitions.
I take that as definitive US threat of force. So at least a bluff is in play. I think the Iranians are going to call the bluff unless they see much stronger bets on the table. Does the administration have plans to raise the ante or will they blink? A nice raise would be some armored brigades on the Iranian border or a couple of carriers in position. Its getting time to pick a fight.
#8
I don't think Bush, Rice and Rummy are bluffing. They will however play the talking game for as long as they humanly can. We are talking about action that puts the fear into G d fearing if carried to conclusion.
#10
d'you suppose I should ask Mr. Wife to give me a shiny, new Iranian nuke for our next anniversary?
I'd feel better if I knew you had control of it rather than, say .com.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/19/2005 19:26 Comments ||
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Heh - go ahead, make fun, s'alright...
I'm watching eBay. I'll get one soon enough. And I'll return it, activated, to whomever mfg'd the damned thing, lol. So you can expect a boom or two, sooner or later, in Puttyputz's back yard. ;-)
Salt requirement probably in the Debka range â we're talkin' Arab press on a roll...
The chief of the UN team investigating the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri, Detlev Mehlis, told the Syrian government that he will question Maher Assad, the Syrian President's brother, "which provoked disturbance in the government and was considered as an offense to Syria's sovereignty," according to Kuwait's As-Siyassah newspaper yesterday.
That's common in countries where there are some people above the law, especially when investigators are getting close to the truth...
The paper said "Mehlis has informed the government of his intention to interrogate eight top Syrian officials, including Maher Assad," the head of the Syrian Republican Guard and intelligence. It added that in a bid to gain France's support, Syrian President Bashar Assadsent military intelligence chief Assef Shawkat to Paris "to offer the French officials an interesting deal," which he believed would discharge Syria from its suspected involvement into Hariri's death.
The Frenchies are, of course, always the weak link in any kind of diplomatic initiative. Everybody with a hyphen in his name thinks he's Talleyrand or Richelieu...
The paper said Shawkat met with his French counterpart and an official from the bureau of French President Jacques Chirac. According to the newspaper, the deal included a Syrian pledge to "deploy 50,000 along the Syrian-Iraqi borders to help maintain security, to withdraw the remaining and secret intelligence officials from Lebanon, to hold diplomatic relations with Israel, recognize it as a state and renounce its calls for regaining the Golan Heights." The pledge also included "extradition of terrorists detained in Syrian prisons," added the newspaper.
Toldja Assad will be gone by 9-11-06. But a.) I'm not convinced he's offered that â it'd be a surrender to the U.S. if he did; and b.) even if he offered, it's doubtful he'd stay bought. For one thing, the Medes and the Persians have too many of their own connections to the internal Syrian levers of power...
In return, Assad would be discharged from his suspected involvement in Hariri's killing.
If that's the deal, the evidence is just there, waiting to be picked up.
The Syrian president has been accused by opposition politicians of being behind Hariri's murder. These views were compounded after the Paris-based Intelligence Online specialized newsletter has said on its internet Web site that Hariri managed to record the elimination threat made by Assad at their last face-to-face meeting in the Syrian capital on a spy pen provided by a Western secret service.
This is where the salt requirement spikes. That sort of thing does happen, here and there, but the incidences are few and far between and seldom as dramatic is the dictator openly threatening the rebellious pol...
Hariri had provided copies of the threat to U.S. President George W. Bush, Chirac and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shortly before he was assassinated, said the newsletter that specializes in intelligence affairs.
What we had at the time was that Hariri and Jumblatt had received warning that one of them was in danger of being bumped off. That warning was reported to have come through the UN, my guess would be based on information from the French intel service. That's their stomping grounds.
The Assad-Hariri meeting was held in Damascus a week before Syria forced the Lebanese Parliament virtually at gunpoint to extend President Emile Lahoud's term in office for three extra years on September 3.
Even though Tom Clancy wouldn't use such a plot device because it'd be too obviously melodramatic, that's actually what happened...
"It is useful for you to know that Lahoud's term will be extended no matter what. ... I shall not allow you to replace him with anyone else," the recording pen quoted Assad as telling Hariri.
No doubt in a sinister, kind of Peter Lorre-ish voice. While dressed in a Nehru jacket, petting his cat...
"You have to bear in mind that I am capable of destroying Lebanon, you included. If I am forced to leave Lebanon, I will leave it a pile of rubble. Your ally Walid Jumblatt must realize the fate awaiting him. The death of his father is the best lesson for him."
Villains talk like that. Real-life pols don't, not even Middle Eastern hereditary dictators...
Intelligence Online said the pen-recorder was probably made available to Hariri by the French foreign security service DGSE, when he told Chirac that he feels threatened.
No doubt they called on M to have Q fix one up for them. If you fiddled with it, it would explode. There was also a secret button that would turn it into a snare drum for disguise purposes...
As-Siyassah's report comes as a Syrian newspaper has accused the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt of benefiting from Hariri's murder. "Jumblatt was, along with his servants, the planner of all that happened [in Lebanon] and the first to benefit from the assassination of Rafik Hariri," the weekly economic newspaper Al-Iktissadiyya said of the former Damascus ally yesterday.
On the other hand, the Syrian regime does tend to act like comic book bad guys, doesn't it?
The newspaper also claimed that Jumblatt was responsible for a backlash against Syrians in Lebanon that followed Hariri's killing, which Syrian officials say killed 37 workers and wounded 280 people. "Walid Jumblatt has a problem with the Syrian people, who will never forgive those who incite and encourage the killing of Syrian citizens," it said. Syrians "will not forget the Syrian blood that flowed in Lebanon because of [Jumblatt's] racist declarations, heinous insults and public incitements [to violence] against all that is Syrian in Lebanon," the newspaper said. "Jumblatt is not welcome in Syria," it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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No offense Fred, but the argument that the alleged statements can't be true because nobody talks like that may not necessarily hold water in the Middle East. Look at all these al-Qaeda communiques, or how Qadaffi acts, for instance.
I'm guessing the love of melodrama comes with the tendency towards authoritarianism, rather like fascination with secret identities and assumed names among jihadis. Is there anybody in the Middle East who doesn't have an alias?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 0:05 Comments ||
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"Is there anybody in the Middle East who doesn't have an alias?"
I don't. Really.
Posted by: Abdullah bin Jihad abu Ramadan al Andalus ||
09/19/2005 0:16 Comments ||
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I am surprised how far this investigation has gone and conclude they must have some pretty damming evidence. I wouldn't discount a tape of Assad making threats.
That was why I had to add the "on the other hand." If the report is true, if the tape exists, Assad should definitely change his alias to "Abu Dumbshit."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 10:53 Comments ||
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#8
I say take the deal. When the US verifies all parts are in place and working (which will never happen) we don't go after Assad. It would be worth it just to see Syria acknowledge Israel and give up on Golan. Must be damn good evidence if they are even talking about a deal like this.
#9
Has anyone else noticed the resemblance Bashar has to a younger De Gaulle at Vichy? Maybe the French would put him up in Paris. This actually sounds more like a melodramatic plot of Hezbollah to get rid of him so they can take over. Blame it on Assad and someone, anyone would take care of the problem.
#11
"to hold diplomatic relations with Israel, recognize it as a state and renounce its calls for regaining the Golan Heights."
Give up Golan. Yeah right. In other news, President Bush submitted a plan for national health insurance, saying Hilary Clintons didnt go far enough, Howard Dean called for the US to adopt a flat tax in place of the current system, and Sharon and Abbas nearly came to blows, each insisting the other take Jerusalem.
Tehranâs involvement may be linked to Britainâs hardening position on its nuclear programme.
THE violence that erupted on the streets of Basra yesterday was the result of a simmering struggle between British forces and the increasingly powerful Shia Muslim militias active in southern Iraq.
Attention has been focused on the Sunni Muslim insurgency against US-led forces further north, yet the British have been facing a sharp rise in attacks from an increasingly sophisticated and deadly foe.
There are strong suspicions that the bloodshed is being orchestrated with weapons and encouragement from Iran.
The clashes and the arrest of two undercover soldiers was almost certainly triggered by the arrest at the weekend of Sheikh Ahmed al-Fartusi, the leader of the Mahdi Army, a banned militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. He was seized by British troops in a raid that also netted his brother and another colleague. âThe operation is the result of an ongoing multinational force investigation that identified individuals believed to be responsible for organising terrorist attacks against multinational forces,â said a statement released by the British military on Sunday after the deaths of six British soldiers and two security guards over the past two months.
Al-Sadrâs supporters are known to dominate the local police and can mobilise gunmen or mass protests at short notice, as they did regularly during an uprising last year that swept across southern Iraq.
British officials are convinced that Iran is implicated in the upsurge in violence and suspect it may be connected to Britainâs hardening position against Tehranâs nuclear programme. Britain has been working closely with Iran over the past two years to reach a compromise. But with the victory last month of the hawkish President Ahmadinejad, Iran has hardened its position.
Britain is now actively lobbying to have Tehran referred to the UN Security Council, where it could face sanctions.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/19/2005 21:14 ||
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Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/19/2005 23:01 Comments ||
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Fear not, Mrs Ambassador Joseph Wilson's on the case. Of course, the CIA proxies are not subverting but working with the mullahs, helping them target Israeli command and control centers and so forth.
BASRA, Iraq (AP) - In a major show of force, British soldiers used tanks to break down the walls of the central jail in this southern city late Monday and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos, who had been arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen.
Now that has style
About 150 Iraqi prisoners also fled as British commandos stormed inside and rescued their comrades, said Aquil Jabbar, an Iraqi television cameraman who lives across the street from the jail. Earlier Monday, demonstrators hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at British tanks, and at least four people were killed. The fighting in the oil city of Basra, 340 miles south of the capital, erupted after British armor encircled the jail where the two Britons were being held. During the melee one British soldier could be seen in a photograph scrambling for his life from a burning tank and the rock-throwing mob.
Arab satellite television stations showed pictures of two Western men sitting on the floor of the jail building with their hands tied behind their backs. One of the men had a bandage covering most of the top of his head, the other had blood on his clothes. Television commentary identified them only as Britons. British military officials had declined to comment on reports the two arrested men were soldiers operating undercover, but the Ministry of Defense in London told Britain's Press Association that "two military personnel were detained by Iraqi authorities earlier today." British forces in Iraq are based in Basra and responsible for the city's security.
To the north, an estimated 3 million pilgrims - some carrying signs reading "We welcome martyrdom" - jammed the holy city of Karbala for a major Shiite festival Monday in defiance of insurgent declarations of all-out sectarian war. And an Iraqi court in Baghdad sentenced one of Saddam Hussein's nephews to life in prison for funding the country's violent insurgency and bomb-making after a previously unannounced trial. It was the first known trial of any of the former leader's family. Elsewhere Monday, militants continued bloody attacks, killing 24 police and civilians and wounding 28 others.
But there were no attacks in Karbala, where security was so tight that authorities had banned vehicles from entering for several days before the holiday. Pilgrims were forced to pass through seven checkpoints inside the city before reaching holy shrines. About 6,000 policemen and Iraqi army troops were deployed in and near Karbala, and two leading Shiite militias provided additional security around the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.
As the festival continued, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi purportedly issued a new vow, promising he would not attack followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other Shiite leaders opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed government.
Backed down, did he?
Last Wednesday, after insurgent forces were routed from their stronghold in the northern city of Tal Afar, al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born Sunni Arab, declared all-out war on Iraq's majority Shiites. In an Internet statement which appeared Monday night on a Web site known for carrying extremist Islamist material, al-Zarqawi now appeared set on trying to split the Shiite community.
"Any Shiite group that condemns the government's crimes against the Sunnis in Tal Afar, and which doesn't provide help to the occupation by any means, will be exempted from the attacks of the mujahedeen," said the statement, which could not be immediately authenticated. The statement singled out three radical Shiite clerics and their followers who were exempted from the declaration of war: al-Sadr and Baghdad-based anti-U.S. religious leaders Jawad al-Khalisi and Ahmed al-Hassani al-Baghdadi.
Trying to split the oposition. Being seen as being in good favor by Z-boy can't help them very much these days
The Karbala festival marked the 868 A.D. birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi, whose unexplained disappearance in the 9th century has led Shiites to believe he will reappear on doomsday to lead believers to a just Islamic state. Stomping on pictures of al-Zarqawi that were thrown onto the streets of Karbala, many pilgrims chanted praise for their own religious leaders while others rejected the al-Qaida threat. "Even if there were a million al-Zarqawis, we would come to visit the Imam Hussein (shrine)," a Shiite holy place named for the grandson of the prophet Muhammed.
Police said they seized weapons caches near the city, and arrested three "non-Iraqi Arabs" and a man armed with several hand grenades as he walked in the procession of pilgrims. Authorities were keen to avoid a repeat of past tragedies during mass religious gatherings in Karbala and other holy places where suicide bombers have mounted coordinated attacks that left hundreds dead.
On Aug. 21, nearly 1,000 pilgrims were killed in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge that began when rumors spread through the crowd that a suicide bomber was among the faithful.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 16:29 ||
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#7
It seems like I remember news stories talking about how polite the British were in Iraq, how they didn't wear helmets, and how we should use the shining shining example of good will in Basra as an example of how American troops should behave. Amazing how quickly things can change.
#8
I hope the commander of the British forces that staged this action got higher-up permission for it. He is going to get major flak from the British media, whether or not he did.
#9
The "higher up" has a ready-made explanation: "If we didn't go in with tanks, and free the prisonoers without killing anyone, the mates of the prisoners would have gone in and freed their comrades in an all-out bloodbath."
The "lesser of two evils" argument. 'Probably fairly accurate.
'Hope the 150 Iraqi escapees didn't include any particularly hard boyz.
#1
A case of too soft power, methinks. Why send tanks if you're gonna just sit in 'em and let asshat Taterites set them ablaze? Boggle.
This has been coming for a long time. All that nicey-nice hands-off shit with Tater's little Medhi Army is blowing up in your face. If you're going to arrest one of the top local Tater Boyz, no doubt a baby-step in the right direction, well, they've figured it out -- you're unwilling to use your armed forces as armed forces. The local commander gets to wear this mess - and if IIRC, he trashed the US troops for their methods.
Anyone wanna bet that it gets progressively worse in the South? I'll bet Tater's giggling like a schoolgirl.
KARBALA, Iraq (AFX) - Two suicide car bombers Monday struck checkpoints south of Baghdad on a road used by thousands of Iraqi Shiite pilgrims making their way by foot to the holy city of Karbala. At least 10 Iraqis were killed, including seven policemen and a soldier, when the suicide car bombers struck two separate checkpoints, half-way between Baghdad and Karbala, a defence ministry official said. At least 12 people, including a number of Shiite pilgrims, were wounded, he added.
Meanwhile, Iraqi demonstrators clashed with British soldiers in the southern city of Basra, setting two tanks on fire, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. The incident came shortly after British troops had fired warning shots at demonstrators who were throwing stones.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 10:52 ||
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The attacks on the Shiite pilgrims seems to me to be analogous to predator birds attacking hatched turtles on their crawl to the sea.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2005 11:15 Comments ||
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predator birds attacking hatched turtles on their crawl to the sea.
I've seen that movie. It doesn't turn out well for the birds.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 13:32 Comments ||
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Two notes: the soldiers prevented pilgrims from being killed. Probably a lot of pilgrims. Second, the AFP reporter just "happened" to be at the scene? Sounds like its time for that AFP repoter to "accidently" be at the scene of a shooting.
EFL: In Baghdad, officials also announced that one of Saddam Hussein's nephews was sentenced to life in prison for funding the violent insurgency, and would stand trial on other charges. Government officials had not announced that Saddam's nephew, Ayman Sabawi, was on trial before revealing that he had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison "for funding militants and possessing and manufacturing roadside bombs."
Wonder if he was informed? Oh, well, it's not like I care. About his rights, I mean.
Sabawi, the son of Saddam's half brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, who served as a presidential adviser before the U.S.-led invasion, was captured in early May. The Iraqi Central Criminal Court in Baghdad said Sabawi would face a second trial - beginning Nov. 1 - for other, unspecified additional crimes to which he allegedly confessed during pretrial interrogation. His boyfriend colleague, Tareq Khalaf Mizal, arrested along with Sabawi, was sentenced to six years.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 08:55 ||
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This is bulldinkies! The ringleader should get the death penaly just the rest of these scumbags, lowlife, cockroach-eating, sons of a demon. That is just my opinion, though.
#3
This one isn't a leader, merely a financier. However, I suspect he's going to find prison life as nephew of the deposed Great Leader to be a good deal more interesting... and less amusing... than he'd planned. Remember, too, that life expectancies are a good deal shorter there than here.
Iraqi security forces are on alert in the city of Karbala as hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims gather for a major religious festival. Thousands of police and troops are on duty and soldiers from the US-led coalition are taking up positions outside the city, south of Baghdad. Cars have been banned from the city, to reduce the risk of bombings, and pilgrims are being searched. The festival marks the birth of a revered Shia leader, Imam Mehdi.
Is it that time, again? I always forget to send a card.
There are fears that Sunni insurgents who are trying to invoke civil war in the country may attack the festival, reports the BBC's Richard Galpin in Baghdad.
I think it's a given, only question is how many attacks
More than 260 people, mostly Shia Muslims, have been killed in an upsurge of violence that began on Wednesday. The militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has reportedly called for war against Shias ahead of next month's referendum on a new Iraqi constitution.
Anyone see the new article in Lancet about the horrible civilian casualties inflicted by the jihadis? Nope, I didn't either.
Pilgrims have been converging on Karbala for several days for the festival, which commemorates Imam Mehdi, the 12th and last Imam of the Shia Muslims. Some pilgrims told the BBC they were more determined than ever to attend the festival following the reported threat by Zarqawi. "He will not stop us from attending out rituals," said one man, as he set off from Baghdad. But the authorities are taking maximum precautions, our correspondent reports. Hospitals in the area and in Baghdad have been put on alert and there has been a campaign to get extra donations of blood from the population.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 08:51 ||
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From DEBKA: All the pilgrimsâ routes to the Shiite shrine town of Karbala south of Baghdad have been secured by Shiite militias, in a show of sectarian muscle unprecedented hitherto in Iraq. Tuesday, Sept. 20, hundreds of thousands of Shiites will converge on Karbala for celebrations marking the birthday anniversary of the Imam Mahdi. Rather than relying on Iraqi national forces, the Badr and âWolvesâ Brigades, the militias of prime minister Ibrahim Jaafariâs Dawa party and even renegade Moqtada Sadrâs Mehdi Army, have joined forces to guard the routes to the city and the event. Last week, al Qaeda declared all-out war on Iraqâs Shiites. In recent weeks, hundreds have been slaughtered in terrorist attacks.
The Shiite militia deployment is an Iraqi milestone for three reasons:
1. They are all operating for the first time under a unified command, a tipping point in the evolution of a Shiite national army.
2. US and Iraqi national forces are leaving the Shiite militias a clear field, an indirect form of acceptance of evolving Shiite autonomous government.
3. Should Abu Musab al Zarqawi send his car bombers against the pilgrims, as he has in the past, the Shiite militias are poised to storm Sunni regions in the vicinity and exact vengeance. This would take Iraq a step closer to civil war.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 11:18 Comments ||
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I'm still not 100% sure that some autonomous Shiite militias don't serve a useful purpose if they defend their own and exact justice on these Baathist scumbags who still dream they'll run a country wherein they are a minority of a minority. As long as Tater's not in charge, I could see this as a step towards ending what is a slo-mo civil war rather than a slippery slope towards one.
How do you conduct one during anarchy?
A worsening political crisis threatens to plunge Somalia back into war and open a new era of humanitarian suffering, experts say.
Trust collapsed between the two opposing wings of its divided government many months ago, triggering a mainly rhetorical struggle for power as both sides squabbled over where in the failed state their administration should be based.
That development failed to stimulate a forceful international response, due to growing disarray among interested foreign powers over how to handle the Horn of Africa country.
But recent events have taken emotions inside President Abdullahi Yusuf's government to new levels of acrimony, and foreign powers will find it hard to remain aloof if warlords start settling their disputes through armed force, Somalis say.
Worried analysts point to movements of pro- and anti-Yusuf militias, a huge increase in arms imports, assassinations of high profile Somalis in Mogadishu, the failure of a disarmament project in the capital, and increased activity by militant Islamists seeking to exploit a deepening power vacuum.
"The ill-will of the protagonists has brought our people to the brink of another bloody war," wrote elder statesman and former Prime Minister Abdirazak Haji Hussen in a paper circulated among Somalia analysts.
"Recent militia movements in the central region and reportedly from Ethiopia, and in Mogadishu, are clear signals that something ominous is about to unfold.
"I alert the world community to brace itself for another catastrophic humanitarian situation and a flood of refugees."
If the country tumbles deeper into anarchy, the only winners are likely to be warlords skilled at thriving on conflict and militant Islamists who have adroitly used the political crisis to carve out a bigger role in Mogadishu politics, experts say.
The government has been recruiting fighters across the country in recent weeks in what looks to many like the prelude to an attack on bases held by some cabinet ministers critical of Yusuf, many of whom are based in Mogadishu.
Yusuf, on good terms with regional power Ethiopia, said he would persuade rather than force his critics, who include some Mogadishu warlords and powerful businessmen, to cooperate.
But critics say the attempt by Yusuf, 70, to build a force is consistent with his past as a provincial warlord who has never shown flair for the diplomatic deal-making needed to build alliances among Mogadishu's fractious clan militias.
Ethiopia, Somalia's historic foe, denies giving Yusuf military help, but witnesses have reported Ethiopian officers helping train Yusuf's forces in several places in recent weeks.
Yusuf's opponents -- warlords and Islamists -- have reacted by reorganizing their own militias to form a united front strong enough to deter what they see as Yusuf's bid to impose his rule.
"Abdullahi Yusuf's militarist approach to reconciliation has produced an opportunistic solidarity among warlords in Mogadishu," said Somali analyst Abdi Ismail Samatar.
Some dismiss the effort to create a common front as a marriage of convenience to defend lucrative businesses including ports, airports, checkpoints, drug smuggling and weapons trading.
But so big are the spoils, the alliance could well last as long as it takes to rebuff any attack by Yusuf, experts say.
Yusuf's opponents want him and his prime minister, Mohamed Ali Gedi, to come and govern from Mogadishu. But Yusuf, whose political base is north-central Somalia, is working temporarily from provincial towns as he feels the capital is too risky.
Earlier this year the U.N. Security Council declared that any hostile military action by any party would be unacceptable.
But no major foreign government has bothered to repeat that message consistently at a senior level, partly because there is no consensus on how to restore the peace process, experts say.
Italy, China and Ethiopia are seen as closely allied to Yusuf. Eritrea, and some Arab states, are seen as allied to the Mogadishu group. Other major powers want to hold back funding for the government until it can agree where it should be based.
"It is incomprehensible that the international community is inattentively watching the two factions prepare for war," said Samatar.
Somalia has been without a central government since warlords ousted former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Most of Somalia has since been carved up between rival militias and hundreds of thousands of people have died from famine and war.
Any conflict would trigger yet more suffering, Somalis say.
The Food Security Analysis Unit, a project of the European Union and U.S. government, predicts the lowest cereal harvest in a decade in southern Somalia this year thanks to poor rains.
It said one million Somalis, including 377,000 displaced people, urgently needed food to stay alive. "The entire southern part of Somalia (is) on alert status due to unsolved tensions within the government and reports of military build-ups," it said. "If widespread combat were to ensue it would have a devastating effect on human lives and livelihoods."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:57 ||
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Best solution here is to turn Somalia into a Theme Park for civil war; think EuroDisney for treachery, violence and armed thuggery. Maybe Somalia will get some of the adventure tourist trade. Jihadis and jihadee-wanna-bes get somewhere to play without annoying the rest of us. Ethiopia can be turned into a parking lot for the park, giving them something approaching a national economy. And the Somalis can continue to kill each other. It's a win-win situation for all!
#9
Civil war in a location of total anarchy? Jeeze Louise. If it were true, then it would a step up from total anarchy. This might be good news. [/sarcasm]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/19/2005 11:12 Comments ||
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foreign powers will find it hard to remain aloof if warlords start settling their disputes through armed force, Somalis say.
#23
Phil, How much of Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe were encouraged by foreign powers? Perhaps you could say that it was Africa's misfortune to be liberated during the cold war after which it became a board of pawns, but that only explains so much. I suspect that before I die we will have seen all of sub-saharan Africa descend to a level of barbarity unseen there since the 17th century. And no one anywhere will lift a finger.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/19/2005 20:03 Comments ||
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The problem is, Mrs. D, we've been lifting fingers. It's like pouring dye in the river -- the Blue Danube is still brown.
#25
The problem is, a tipping point of the population has to insist on being civilized; otherwise outside help just makes things worse. Look how many millenia it's taken Afghanistan and Iraq (and whoever planned to mention Babylon might remember it was successful as a conquering power, but not as an empire).
#26
Which is the long way round of saying that of course you are right, Mrs.D. I think I'm a bit younger than you, but I think your statement will hold to at least the 2nd or 3rd generation. :-(
Iraqi Shi'ite leaders urged Sunnis on Sunday to take a tough stand against radical militants in the face of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's declaration of a war against Shi'ites.
Popular Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr led the calls for resistance to Zarqawi's militant Sunni networks, which have carried out the most spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Sadr spokesman Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji said the influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association should take more decisive action against those he said were trying to trigger civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis.
"We want them to issue a fatwa (religious edict) forbidding Muslims from joining these groups that deem others infidels," he said. "This will be crucial in ending terrorism."
Zarqawi said his declaration of war on Shi'ites was in response to an offensive mounted by U.S. and Iraqi forces against insurgents in the town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, according to an Internet audio tape on Wednesday.
"Al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq ... has declared war against Shi'ites in all of Iraq," said the voice on the audio tape, sounding like that on previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi. No immediate verification was available.
The calls for moderation by Sadr, who has gained support from Sunnis by staging two uprisings against U.S. occupation troops, could provide some relief for the government, which has watched the firebrand cleric forge ties with Sunni groups.
"The Sunni position is not clear. Why do they please him? People have to fear God alone and not Zarqawi. The resistance they talk about has died!," said Mahmoud al-Sudani, a Sadr aide.
"How many Americans have they killed and how many Iraqis? It's all about the seat of power, it is now apparent it has nothing to do with occupation," said al-Sudani.
Sheikh Mu'ayyad al-Aadhami, a member of the Muslim Clerics Association, said "we are not with Zarqawi" and the group issued a statement urging the al Qaeda leader in Iraq to retract his statement.
But Shi'ite leaders said they should take a harder line against the militant leader with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head.
"As for the government, servants of the crusaders headed by (Iraqi Prime Minister) Ibrahim Jaafari, they have declared a war on Sunnis in Tal Afar. You have begun and started the attacks and you won't see mercy from us," the Zarqawi tape said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:48 ||
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#1
perhaps Iraq should be three countries: Shititistan, Kurdistan and Sunnistan? Sunnistan the smallest with no oil of course.
#5
I Dunnow, I have a minds eye picture of a huge Rugby Scrum, with knives, guns, and Bombs.
With the coalition forces surrounding the field, and cheering as each "Player" is hauled off in a Coroner's Van.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2005 11:22 Comments ||
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Where is Izzy that Task Force 121 hasn't scooped him up?
My best guess is in a fancy apartment in Damascus, with hot and cold running servants and lots of secure communications capabilities. Maybe that's Step Three.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/19/2005 16:37 Comments ||
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A military court has imprisoned three military officers and ordered the dismissal of three others for having links with Al Qaeda, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. Col Khalid Abbasi, Major Adil Qudoos, Col Abdul Ghaffar, Major Attaullah, Capt Dr Usman Zafar and Major Rohail Faraz were tried by a military court in Panu Aqil Cantonment in August after they were arrested and then interrogated at Attock Fort, the source said.
The military court, comprising Major General Ahmad Nawaz and Brigadier Mumtaz Iqbal, sentenced Maj Qudoos to 10 years in prison, Col Khalid Abbasi to six months and Col Abdul Ghaffar to three years. Maj Attaullah, Maj Faraz and Capt Zafar were dismissed. Maj Qudoos, an officer of the Signal Battalion, was arrested on March 1, 2003 after Al Qaeda number three Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was arrested from his Rawalpindi house. Col Khalid Abbasi was posted at Signal Centre Kohat before his arrest on May 30, 2003. Col Ghaffar was serving at the Army Aviation Headquarter before his arrest on March 4, 2004. Daily Times asked Inter Services Public Relation for comment, but Maj Shahid Abbas of the ISPRâs Lahore Office said that only ISPR Director General Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan was authorised to comment. Gen Sultan is accompanying President Pervez Musharraf in the United States.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:14 ||
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Gunmen on a motorcycle fatally shot a schoolteacher yesterday in a tribal town in northwestern Pakistan where Islamic militants are believed to operate, an official said. The two masked attackers fled after opening fire on Taj Ali in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region, said Mohammed Wisal, a local government administrator. Ali, who was in his late 50s, died at the scene. He had taught at a school for the children of security forces and government officials in Wana. No one claimed responsibility, and Wisal would not speculate as to who was behind the shooting.
Who the hell do you think it was? (Who writes this crap?)
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2005 00:13 ||
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#1
I have started a modest campaign to inform my lefty friends about Waziristan (which none of them know of) by naming my fantasy football team North Waziristan. When anyone asks, I send a link to one of the many stories posted here. If they follow up (which is rare) it seems as if they think I am making it up - but maybe it will spur them to do a little research of their own.
#2
Ought to be a ten day waiting period to buy a bike in Waziristan. Might chill some of these folks out.
On second thought, maybe a ten year waiting period...
Didn't you hear, the real Seminoles went to the NCAA and stated that they had no problem with the name, and NCAA backwatered like a Mississippi paddlewheeler in full reverse.
The name Seminoles as a derogatory term is a non-issue now.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2005 23:31 Comments ||
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Police found 24 bodies shot to death and dumped in the Tigris River 50 miles north of the capital. Authorities reported finding two dozen more bodies on Sunday, men shot to death in the apparent ongoing tit-for-tat killings between Sunni and Shia death squads. Four of the dead were found handcuffed and shot in east Baghdad. Twenty more were dragged from the Tigris River near Balad, a city 80 kilometers north of the capital, police reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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People should have to wear bracelets or something so that when these reports come in we can know whether they are Sunni or Shiite. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Though I am beginning to think that the only good Arab is a dead Arab.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/19/2005 9:20 Comments ||
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Give them grease pencils and have them write their names and affiliations on various body parts, in case they get separated.
BAGHDAD - Insurgents assassinated a Kurdish member of parliament. Faris Nasir Hussein, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, was killed along with his brother, and their driver in an ambush 80 kilometers north of Baghdad. A second Kurdish lawmaker, Haidar Shanoun, was wounded in the attack near the town of Dujail.
Police and PUK officials said the men were murdered on Saturday night as they drove to the capital for Sundayâs session of the legislature which signed off on minor amendments to the countryâs draft constitution and delivered it to the United Nations for printing. The UN will distribute 5 million copies in advance of the Oct. 15 referendum.
Lawmakers sat for a minute of silence to honour their dead comrade. âThe terrorists have launched a war of aggression against all Iraqis (but) we are up to it,â said Deputy Speaker Hussain Al Shahristani.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday said Gazaâs border with Egypt is under control after days of chaos.
I'm not a big fat guy anymore, either...
âThe chaos that existed here is over,â Abbas said following a tour of the area.
My hair's all grown back...
Palestinian security forces said they sealed the border early Sunday, halting the flow of people into Egypt.
If anybody needs me, Patti Ann Browne and I will be shacked up at the Motel 6 until tomorrow afternoon...
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces are caught in the ultimate Catch 22. Expected to enforce law and order in the newly âliberatedâ Gaza Strip, they complain they are too weak to carry out the task.
Therefore they need more arms and ammunition. We know. We've heard...
Officers in the Palestinian Authority paint a picture of a force that has been battered by Israeli attacks during the five-year intifada and the defection of its own men into armed militias. They worry openly about the spectre of civil war following Israelâs historic pullout.
I think this apathy meter needs calibrated. It's reading in the red zone...
Colonel Jamal Kayed, head of security in the southern Gaza Strip, faults Israel for the weakness of his forces.
Who else could possibly be to blame?
âAll of the time, you (Israel) are preventing us from getting armed and trained and then you want us to fight the Islamic movements,â he says. âI feel the Israelis are looking for the Palestinian Authority to get into a civil war and whoever wins will be even weaker so Israel can dictate terms to them.â
Jamal's a bright boy; nothing gets past him.
Colonel Rifat Kolah, commander of preventive security forces in southern Gaza, accuses Israel of deliberately cutting off their weapons supplies.
Good Gawd! They did? Why would they do that?
âIsrael has insisted on weakening the security forces. The first two years of the intifada saw all the Palestinian security centres destroyed and attacked by the Israelis,â Kolah said. âUntil now, they donât allow the Palestinian Authority to start accepting new equipment.â
#1
Maybe the PA wouldn't be so weak if they hadn't funneled all their weaponry straight to the militants, who they were supposed to be fighting from day one. But then, if they had done the job they were meant to do, they couldn't whine about being victims of those evil Joooos. Effin' sub-human savages.
#5
You know, we've been going on about the Paleos 'resistance' to unreality, cause and effect and other natural laws for ages, and it's usually been a bit tongue in cheek.
Until now - these people really don't have a clue do they?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/19/2005 17:21 Comments ||
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What's all this complaining by the PA about insufficient armament? Hamas and Islamic Jihad don't seem to have any trouble getting their hands on that stuff....
Afghans streamed into polling stations for the country's first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years being held under tight security after Taliban militants vowed to disrupt the vote. Despite security concerns officials expected a high turnout among the nearly 12.5 million Afghans eligible to vote in the next phase of a difficult path to democracy launched after the hardline Islamic regime fell in late 2001. On the ballot papers voters will find a cross section of Afghanistan's strife-torn society, including warlords, drug kingpins, mullahs and -- marking a step forward for the conservative country -- women.
President Hamid Karzai, who won Afghanistan's first presidential election in October 2004, said the vote showed the country was leaving behind decades of ruinous conflict. "After 30 years of war, intervention and misery, today Afghanistan is moving forward," Karzai said as he cast his ballot at a special polling centre for senior officials in Kabul. "It is making an economy, making political institutions and today we are completing the whole process, completing the laying down of the foundation of the Afghan state ... That is why we are making history." The 26,000 polling stations, scattered from the parched southern deserts to the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains, opened at 6:00 am (0130 GMT) and were due to close at 4:00 pm.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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Nothing important here. Put on page A31 on the weekend edition. Let's put up more death notices.
Posted by: The MSM ||
09/19/2005 9:19 Comments ||
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Note the lady shown, plucked eyebrows, lipstick, curled eyelashes, nice complexion.
Is this a true Muslim, or a staged photo?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/19/2005 10:48 Comments ||
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That's the lady from the Iraqi elections. If she was Afghan she'd have unplucked brows and dirty nails.
But it's the same idea.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 11:18 Comments ||
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#4
If she was Afghan she'd have unplucked brows and dirty nails.
*ahem* and mustache?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/19/2005 11:34 Comments ||
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#5
EEeeeeeeeww!
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/19/2005 14:44 Comments ||
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#6
I have a friend in Winnipeg whose son is heading back to Afghanistan for his second tour in November. He sent some photos back, and some of the women are very attractive. Of course, after 30 years of hard physical work and having kids, most of them don't age well...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/19/2005 15:14 Comments ||
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Spot-on, OP. This pic immediately came to mind...
Israeli occupation forces on Sunday invaded the city of Nablus and blocked Al-Quds Street nearby Balata refugee camp. Eyewitnesses told KUNA that the occupation forces invaded the refugee camps of Balata and Askar and clashed with Palestinians there. They added that Palestinians threw stones on the invading forces, which responded with live ammunitions and rubber bullets. They noted that the forces also closed Hawarah Barrier between Nablus and southern areas, and established other barriers on all entrances to the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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Two children were killed Sunday in a rocket attack in eastern Afghan province of Kunar as President Hamid Karzai congratulated his countrymen over the successful conclusion of the historical elections. The tragic incident emerged in the province, bordering Pakistan, mounted the death toll to 11.
A senior police official in Kunar said the rocket, allegedly fired from Pakistan's border area, hit a house in the Marawara district, killing two children on the spot while a young girl sustained injuries. The girl was shifted to hospital where her condition is stated to be serious. The police official did not mention age and names of the children but said they were youngsters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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American forces Sunday killed six Al-Qaeda militants and arrested four others in an operation in northern town of Tal Afar, the multi-national force (MNF) said. The force said in a statement The coalition stormed a house in Tal Afar used by ranking officials in Al-Qaeda. The US forces clashed with the terrorists and killed four of them and arrested four others. The clashes extended to include other house used as a hideout for terrorists, said the statement, and added that two other terrorists were killed in the other house. The ground forces called for air backup to destroy the houses.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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Iraqi security forces on Sunday dismanteled a booby-trapped vehicle in central Baghdad, arrested three gunmen, while insurgents tossed hand grenades an opened fire against a group of people killing two civilians in Baquba, northeast of here. Iraqi security forces cordoned the southern district of the capital on Sunday after the location of a booby-trapped vehicle, a press release by the US-led multinational forces in Iraq said. Special forces have been called in to dismantle an explosive device attached to the car, the statement read.
Another statement said an Iraqi citizen tipped off a force of American soldiers about three gunmen who were spotted planting an explosive device in northern Baghdad. American soldiers arrested the three gunmen and safely dismantled the device.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi civilians were killed and three others wounded when they were attacked by hand grenades in Baquba city, a police statement said. Undidentified gunmen tossed hand grenades against a host of civilians in a commercial area in the city killing two men and injuring three others. At the hands of unknown gunmen, three Iraqi civilians were killed in the same city yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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A French and two Afghan soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan Sunday, mounting the death toll in poll-related violence to nine.
If I remember correctly, Pakland's corpse count in their recent local elections was in the low to mid three digits...
The French soldier was killed in the Shorabak district of Kandahar, stronghold of the former student militia regime in Kabul. However, the coalition forces spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore did not confirm the report. When approached for comments, Moore referred the caller to French Embassy in Kabul. However, there was no one to confirm the incident. A senior police officer in Kandahar, when pressed for comments, confirmed the attack and admitted that a French soldier had been perished. He said the soldier died when the military vehicle, he was traveling in, hit a roadside bomb in Shorabak. Improvised explosive devices are the most lethal weapons used by Taliban against the coalition forces in eastern and southern Afghanistan.
In a separate incident in the eastern Kunar province, two Afghan soldiers were killed and five others wounded when a landmine flipped over their vehicle in the remote Nuristan province on Sunday. Officials confirmed the attack but confessed the killing of one soldier. However, residents and independent sources said two soldiers were killed in the explosion that hit the military vehicle delivering ballot boxes to a polling centre in Kamdesh district.
In Kunar, residents said a team of armed tribal youths assigned with guarding the polls, was attacked. Two of the youths were wounded but official did not confirm the attack. Meanwhile, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) denied the closure of more than 1,400 polling stations in remote areas of the country for a number of reasons, including forced closure by Taliban, non-delivery of polling material and non-arrival of security personnel in those areas. Although small number of voters visited the polling stations in Kabul with a number of complaints regarding stoppage of voting in the outskirts, JEMB officials said they were satisfied with the polling and expected turn out.
In an exclusive interview with KUNA, Bronwyn Curran, spokeswoman for the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), body responsible for organizing the elections, said only nine polling centres remained closed in Daikundi, Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces. Earlier, addressing a news conference, operation chief of the joint UN-Afghan body Peter Erben said voting remained smooth and peaceful all over Afghanistan. Asked about the closure of some polling centres, Erben said the centres were not opened following intelligence reports that explosive devices had been planted near them.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Why...it's an unofficial quaqmire! I blame George Bush.
However, the coalition forces spokeswoman Lieutenant Cindy Moore did not confirm the report. When approached for comments, Moore referred the caller to French Embassy in Kabul. However, there was no one to confirm the incident. A senior police officer in Kandahar, when pressed for comments, confirmed the attack and admitted that a French soldier had been perished
in a separate incident two afghan soldiers killed, five wounded ... but ....Officials confirmed the attack but confessed the killing of one soldier.
In Kunar.... Two of the youths were wounded but official did not confirm the attack
JEMB) denied the closure of more than 1,400 polling stations in remote areas of the country for a number of reasons, including forced closure by Taliban, non-delivery of polling material and non-arrival of security personnel in those areas.
ISLAMABAD: Six people carrying fake or incomplete documents have been pulled off three international flights. The immigration staff at the Islamabad airport arrested two Afghan nationals, Farzoona Malika and Habibullah, intending to board the Copenhagen-bound PK 771 flight for bogus travel documents. Syed Kaleem imam, deputy director of the immigration cell, said that during preliminary investigations, the male passenger confessed to involvement in human smuggling and forging documents for three years. Khalil Ahmed, a Jhelum resident, was offloaded from the Manchester-bound PK 791 flight for incomplete travel documents. Gul Haleem, Abdul Wahab and Saad Wali, residents of Peshawar, were not allowed to board the Beijing-bound CZ 6008 flight for not carrying protectors. They were sent to FIA's passport cell for questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2005 00:00 ||
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"Hey, this one's got a religion column?"
"Ooops, sorry. Try this one."
#4
Gul Haleem, Abdul Wahab and Saad Wali, residents of Peshawar, were not allowed to board the Beijing-bound CZ 6008 flight for not carrying protectors
Pocket protectors? Condoms? Rubber booties for their culy-toed slippers?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/19/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Riyadh/Amman/Brussels, 19 September 2005: Saudi Arabia should act decisively to defuse rising sectarian tensions. King Abdullah, who has shown a willingness to tackle this issue in the past, has the opportunity to take the required steps.
A platoon commander was wounded and later died on the way to a hospital after an armored personnel carrier hit a mine in Chechnya's Shali district, local police sources told Interfax by phone. The mine was planted at the side of the road linking Grozny and Vedeno on the limits of the Mesker-Yurt village, and detonated when an engineer platoon was combing the terrain.
North Korea pledged to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties in a unanimous agreement Monday at six-party arms talks. The agreement was the first-ever joint statement after more than two years of negotiations.
AN explosion rocked the small town of Poso in Indonesia's violence-torn Central Sulawesi province, police said amid reports that four people were injured. "The explosion took place close to midnight yesterday in Lawanga," said Second Sergeant Sofyan, who was on duty at the time.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- A hand grenade exploded in the Kuwaiti information office in Beirut on Monday killing a Lebanese employee who had been playing with it, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Lebanon said. The explosion killed 35-year old Ayyas al-Alayli, the office's security officer, and wounded two other Lebanese employees, a senior Lebanese security source said. "This was not an act of terrorism," Ambassador Ali Suleiman al-Sauid told reporters. "Unfortunately one of the employees was playing around with some old explosives ... when it exploded, according to his colleagues who are now at the hospital". 
sent military intelligence chief 
KARBALA, Iraq (AFX) - Two suicide car bombers Monday struck checkpoints south of Baghdad on a road used by thousands of Iraqi Shiite pilgrims making their way by foot to the holy city of Karbala. At least 10 Iraqis were killed, including seven policemen and a soldier, when the suicide car bombers struck two separate checkpoints, half-way between Baghdad and Karbala, a defence ministry official said. At least 12 people, including a number of Shiite pilgrims, were wounded, he added. 
In Baghdad, officials also announced that one of Saddam Hussein's nephews was sentenced to life in prison for funding the violent insurgency, and would stand trial on other charges. Government officials had not announced that Saddam's nephew, 
A military court has imprisoned three military officers and ordered the dismissal of three others for having links with Al Qaeda, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. Col 
Gunmen on a motorcycle fatally shot a schoolteacher yesterday in a tribal town in northwestern Pakistan where Islamic militants are believed to operate, an official said. The two masked attackers fled after opening fire on Taj Ali in Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region, said Mohammed Wisal, a local government administrator. Ali, who was in his late 50s, died at the scene. He had taught at a school for the children of security forces and government officials in Wana. No one claimed responsibility, and Wisal would not speculate as to who was behind the shooting.
Police found 24 bodies shot to death and dumped in the Tigris River 50 miles north of the capital. Authorities reported finding two dozen more bodies on Sunday, men shot to death in the apparent ongoing tit-for-tat killings between Sunni and Shia death squads. Four of the dead were found handcuffed and shot in east Baghdad. Twenty more were dragged from the Tigris River near Balad, a city 80 kilometers north of the capital, police reported.
BAGHDAD - Insurgents assassinated a Kurdish member of parliament. Faris Nasir Hussein, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, was killed along with his brother, and their driver in an ambush 80 kilometers north of Baghdad. A second Kurdish lawmaker, Haidar Shanoun, was wounded in the attack near the town of Dujail.
Afghans streamed into polling stations for the country's first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years being held under tight security after Taliban militants vowed to disrupt the vote. Despite security concerns officials expected a high turnout among the nearly 12.5 million Afghans eligible to vote in the next phase of a difficult path to democracy launched after the hardline Islamic regime fell in late 2001. On the ballot papers voters will find a cross section of Afghanistan's strife-torn society, including warlords, drug kingpins, mullahs and -- marking a step forward for the conservative country -- women.
Two children were killed Sunday in a rocket attack in eastern Afghan province of Kunar as President Hamid Karzai congratulated his countrymen over the successful conclusion of the historical elections. The tragic incident emerged in the province, bordering Pakistan, mounted the death toll to 11.
American forces Sunday killed six Al-Qaeda militants and arrested four others in an operation in northern town of Tal Afar, the multi-national force (MNF) said. The force said in a statement The coalition stormed a house in Tal Afar used by ranking officials in Al-Qaeda. The US forces clashed with the terrorists and killed four of them and arrested four others. The clashes extended to include other house used as a hideout for terrorists, said the statement, and added that two other terrorists were killed in the other house. The ground forces called for air backup to destroy the houses.
Iraqi security forces on Sunday dismanteled a booby-trapped vehicle in central Baghdad, arrested three gunmen, while insurgents tossed hand grenades an opened fire against a group of people killing two civilians in Baquba, northeast of here. Iraqi security forces cordoned the southern district of the capital on Sunday after the location of a booby-trapped vehicle, a press release by the US-led multinational forces in Iraq said. Special forces have been called in to dismantle an explosive device attached to the car, the statement read.
ISLAMABAD: Six people carrying fake or incomplete documents have been pulled off three international flights. The immigration staff at the Islamabad airport arrested two Afghan nationals, Farzoona Malika and Habibullah, intending to board the Copenhagen-bound PK 771 flight for bogus travel documents. Syed Kaleem imam, deputy director of the immigration cell, said that during preliminary investigations, the male passenger confessed to involvement in human smuggling and forging documents for three years. Khalil Ahmed, a Jhelum resident, was offloaded from the Manchester-bound PK 791 flight for incomplete travel documents. Gul Haleem, Abdul Wahab and Saad Wali, residents of Peshawar, were not allowed to board the Beijing-bound CZ 6008 flight for not carrying protectors. They were sent to FIA's passport cell for questioning.
