Bangladesh's ruling party has sacked one of its parliament members for accusing the government of sheltering and patronising Islamist militants.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia ordered the expulsion of Abu Hena, a member of parliament from northern Rajshahi district, from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said a party statement issued late on Thursday.
"She has cancelled Hena's primary party membership as a disciplinary action for his misconduct and for tarnishing the image of the party," it said .
Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar said Hena, a former bureaucrat turned politician, would continue to remain a member of parliament as per constitutional provisions. He gave no details.
In comments over the past week, Hena alleged the ruling party and the government had "not only turned a blind eye to Islamist militants but helped them to thrive in Bangladesh."
"The militants are backed by elements who opposed the country's 1971 independence from Pakistan but are now partners of the government," Hena said, apparently a reference to the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's biggest religion-based political party and a coalition partner of the ruling party.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP both deny any link to Islamist militants blamed for a wave of countrywide bombings that has killed six people, including two judges, and wounded about 120 since Aug. 17.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:25 ||
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The ruling BNP yesterday expelled its lawmaker Abu Hena from the party for his remarks against the rise of Islamist militants under the direct patronage of a section of the party and the government, terming his statement anti-organisational. The outspoken lawmaker from Rajshahi who recently in separate interviews with the media blamed a section of his party colleagues for patronising the Islamist militants however will not lose his membership in parliament. "Abu Hena is now an independent lawmaker. There is no possibility of losing his parliament membership as he did not violate party's decision or cast vote against the party," Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar told journalists at his office, explaining the constitutional provision.
A BNP press release yesterday evening said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has expelled Abu Hena, a lawmaker from Rajshahi-3, from the party and cancelled his primary membership for violating party discipline and tarnishing its image. In his instant reaction to the party decision, Abu Hena said the expulsion proved that the government and the BNP want to establish the rule of militants in the country. "The leaders who support the rise of militants have expelled me from the party," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:19 ||
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A respected Japanese scientist, who works with the World Health Organization, says 300 people have died of H5N1 bird flu in China, including seven cases caused by human-to-human transmission.
He says he was given the information in confidence by Chinese colleagues who have been threatened with arrest if they disclosed the extent of the problem.
The allegations, which he revealed at a meeting in Germany, contrast sharply with Chinaâs official position. It reports three confirmed cases of H5N1 in people: a boy in Hunan province who recovered, and two women who died in Anhui province, the latest of which was announced on Thursday. There may be another probable case in Hunan.
But Masato Tashiro, head of virology at Tokyoâs National Institute of Infectious Disease â a WHO-collaborating centre for bird flu â told the meeting of virologists in Marburg, Germany, on 19 November that "we have been systematically deceived". His comments were reported in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
He told the stunned meeting, called to mark the retirement of a senior German virologist, that there have been âseveral dozenâ outbreaks in people, 300 confirmed deaths and 3000 people placed in isolation with suspected cases.
Severe restrictions
Tashiro could not be reached for comment today. The newspaper reported that he said the numbers came from sources he trusted, while he was in Hunan province for the WHO, working with Chinese investigators on the recent H5N1 outbreak there.
He said five Chinese medical personnel had been arrested for trying to report these cases, according to the paper. China enforced severe restrictions on the investigation and reporting of suspected cases of bird flu in June 2005.
"These rumours have been investigated, and weâve been told by the Chinese Ministry of Health that thereâs no foundation to them," Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told New Scientist.
Emergency workers
Virologists consider the relative absence of human cases of bird flu in China unusual, given its widespread infection in birds. China has reported poultry outbreaks in twenty counties all across the country since mid-October, the latest being on Thursday.
The WHO told the official Chinese news agency Xinhua last week that the virus causing the outbreak in Hunan is the same as the one in Vietnam and Thailand, where H5N1 has caused 113 confirmed human cases and 55 deaths so far.
There are other unconfirmed reports of human cases in China. Boxun News, an independent Chinese website, reported this week that 77 workers brought in to help control rampant H5N1 outbreaks in poultry in Liaoning province in November have died of the virus, listing 14 names.
Boxun reported the extent of the outbreak in wild birds at Qinghai Lake in central China in May, and alleged then that 120 people had been put in stringent hospital isolation in a nearby town, possibly with bird flu.
#4
I am reminded of the first Australian rabbit plague.
That is, after rabbits were imported to Australia in 1859, they soon covered the country, so a disease found in South American rabbits was imported in the 1950s. It reduced rabbit numbers from an estimated 600 million to 100 million in two years.
Though modern humans are far better off than rabbits, I wonder how a billion of the world's, for want of a better word, peasants, would fare? There are several factors that matter.
1) Communicability and virulence. Pulmonary (coughing and sneezing) diseases for which there is no immunity are most efficient in transmission. Virulence cannot be too great or the disease will not spread as well. Optimally, minimum symptoms and maximum communicability for a long time, up to a week or more, followed by acute symptoms and death.
2) Vectors. In order, from most efficient to least efficient, are human, animal, water, and food. They are not exclusive, as flu, for example, is carried by both humans and animals.
3) Carriers. Carrying a disease includes several sub-factors.
a. Incubation period of the disease, and time during that period in which a person is contagious.
b. Method of travel during contagious period, and likelyhood of infecting other travelers.
c. Distance traveled and number of disease-free populations visited during contagious period.
d. Interaction with disease-free population on arrival.
e. Amount of contagion generated by a carrier. Literally, how much pathogen they are putting out in a way that can spread the disease.
4) Hygiene and quarantine. This strongly matters for both carriers and those who are disease-free. Many disease 'tendrils' can be stopped this way.
5) Public information. An informed public radically reduces disease spread except among the ignorant and stupid. A public somewhat familiar with good hygiene, and thus taking extra precautions, severely hampers the spread of a disease.
6) The disease "clock". Once the incubation period of the disease is known, efforts can be made to interfere with this strict timetable, which in turn breaks the transmission chain. Quarantines; immediately taking duration & severity medicines when first showing symptoms; public "holidays"--informal curfews; and reducing travel can have a significant effect.
7) Vaccines and anti-virals. Issued to medical, at-risk, or probable carrier persons and in outbreak areas. They act as a "fire-break" against the disease.
Each of these criteria and probably a few more, can be used to calculate how an area, country, region or continent will do in an epidemic.
#5
Elmenter Snineque1852: The Japanese scientist who first made the statement was contradicted by a senior WHO official, who said in essence that, "That information is not an official WHO statistic."
Well, of course it isn't. WHO is reliant on countries to submit statistics. Therefore, the "official" WHO statistic is what China reports. And if China is *lying*...
So go back to what the Japanese scientist said, that collegues of his who feared severe punishment had given him this information.
This raises several problems. First of all, China itself has acknowledged, since the SARS outbreak, that it has a horrible problem with a lack of physician and health department networking. That is, information does not flow between doctors like it must in a public health scenario.
That being said, either these Chinese "colleagues" who talked to the Japanese scientist have valid information, or they don't. In that they were mentioned in the plural, I doubt that they all came up with the same speculation on their own.
And that's the trouble with being a deceptive and secretive society committed to controlling the free flow of information.
If there *is* a major H2H outbreak in China, resulting in a horrific number of casualties in some city, then two things might result. Either the Chinese will broadcast it to the world, which I highly doubt; or they will claim some "other" disaster. A disaster that specifically requires the wearing of protective overgarmets by the Chinese military policing the area.
In a nation of 1.3 billion people, how many could they lose and still cover up? 100 million?
#6
Anonymoose: In a nation of 1.3 billion people, how many could they lose and still cover up? 100 million?
I would ballpark an outbreak killing 100,000 people spread out across the nation.* A hundred cases in a single hospital would certainly get the klaxons blaring - relatives would certainly spread the word after hearing about all the other patients there or seeing a bunch of armed men at the area hospital.
China today is not the hermetically sealed society of yesterday. Every foreigner who showed up in China used to get a personal minder. Now that millions of foreigners are being allowed in annually, there's just not a big enough budget to keep all of them under surveillance. Note also that millions of Chinese tourists, businessmen and officials travel abroad annually, again without minders.
And then there's the cheap telecomms factor - the internet is readily available, and English language traffic is pretty much left alone. The internet is readily buggable because text data take up no space, but phone lines in China are not. Did you know that it costs a nickel a minute to call China? How the heck are the Chinese authorities going to bug the millions of international phone calls that occur everyday? How are they going to monitor the millions of interactions between individual Chinese and foreigners, domestically and abroad, every single day?
* Perhaps a few thousand people died in Tiananmen Square and it was big news. And China was a lot more closed off in 1989 than it is today.
#7
Elmenter Snineque1852: what I propose is not that a major metro area gets hit at first. The cities and towns most at risk are in rural poultry-producing areas and wild bird routes. They might be fairly large, but not on the well-traveled routes.
The Chinese government could easily fabricate some disaster tale, cut off communications in the area, and prevent travel. Beyond a certain size, they couldn't keep it a secret forever, but that is where disinformation comes in. For example, they could claim a major toxic chemical spill with a severe vapor hazard. Piedmont, NM happens.
The concept is not so much to keep it a secret forever, but to "information manage" it in whatever way the central government sees fit.
First of all, they don't want chaos and panic, and I can't really blame them for that. Second, they don't and can't really have the resources to do as much as they want to--but they don't want criticism for this weakness. They don't want to take a popularity hit while they are trying to get the situation under control.
Third, even during the SARS epidemic, all sorts of problems in their health care system, bureaucracy, and government came to light. They have pushed very hard and threatened serious consequences to anyone who tries to conceal an outbreak or other such typical bs. But it is terribly un-Chinese to do so.
Their society has some grievous problems and some serious fractures. They don't want it to collapse because of this disease. They have said they intend to close their borders when H2H is confirmed. What excuse they might use to shut down communications in much of the country is anybody's guess.
#8
WOT * Perhaps a few thousand people died in Tiananmen Square and it was big news. And China was a lot more closed off in 1989 than it is today.
I've always wondered what would have happened if they'd waited 10 years.
#9
Tiananmen Square resulted in one of George HW Bush Sr.'s most important victories, one that few people even know about.
After the crackdown happened, the US congress demanded all sorts of punishment to China, but Bush said nothing. They gave him a lot of grief over it.
Then, with the passage of time, Bush sent a couple of high-level diplomats there. They were discovered and great harumphing followed about China again. However, they had accomplished their mission, which they never discussed.
Later, out of the blue, Bush renewed China's MFN trade status. Congress blew up for a third time, and Bush took the heat. However, two weeks or so later, something very strange happened.
China, which had always sworn it would never do so, suddenly signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement.
Every US President since Nixon would have given his left arm to get them to do this. But Chinese relations with both the US and Russia were at a low point when the treaty was created, so to be contrary, they had made it a point of national pride not to sign on.
However, the Chinese could not admit that they had signed on in exchange of keeping their MFN status, because it would have cost them a lethal amount of face. And while they haven't been terribly scrupulous about following the treaty, had they not signed, they could have proliferated nuclear weapons far worse than Pakistan ever did.
In a way, I suppose there is irony in all of this. Though the Tiananmen Square protestors didn't get the democracy they wanted, with their lives they made a major contribution to world peace. With the help of George HW Bush, Sr., of course.
#10
Thanks be to God that China no longer is preliferatin. If things had gotten worse it's very likely that Burma (name today here) or Canada would have gotten the Bomb.
Since China has signed the NPT, one of their client states/tribute kingdoms, North Korea, has gotten the bomb, and Burma (which is another) is trying. As far as I can tell they aren't following the treaty; they're subsidizing their tribute kingdoms' adventures in nuclear science, in much the same way Russia is with Iran.
Posted by: Phil ||
11/25/2005 18:03 Comments ||
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#13
at least you'd 4 signs in advance
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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The U.S. Navy will suspend the operation of the atomic reactor of the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to base in Japan while it docks at a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, sources at the U.S. Navy and the Japanese government said Wednesday. The aircraft [carrier], believed to be the George Washington, is to replace the Kitty Hawk when the aging conventionally powered carrier is decommissioned in 2008.
#1
..Actually, a pretty good - and face-saving - compromise: GW can run off shoreside power quite easily, and the reactors can be kept at high readiness that will allow them to be brought online fast.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/25/2005 0:11 Comments ||
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#2
And how many nuke reactors are the Japanese using for domestic power production?
#5
What's kinda weird is that the Japanese had a major incident in the past couple of years where four people died, and they're worried about foreign reactors?
#11
Godzilla, Mothra ... have we all forgotten about Rodan and Dagora?
Pshaw ... Gamera can take 'em all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2005 14:14 Comments ||
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#12
I'm confused. Nuclear ships always shutdown when tied up at the pier and always go on shore power. So, if the writer thinks that the reactor is shutdown while in Yokusaka harbor, I don't think so. Something that big can't be handled just by tugs. The ship'll need its own engines to be properly handled in harbor.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
11/25/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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#13
Pshaw ... Gamera can take 'em all.
Gimme a break! Ghidra has three electricity-shooting heads and can fly!! How could any of the other monsters compete with that? When he got beat, those movies lost all their credibilty, IMHO. =)
#14
Ghidra has three electricity-shooting heads and can fly!!
And just who do you think is supplying the shore power? Why hasn't anyone seen any gigantic radioactive foam rubber monsters rampaging Tokyo lately? It because they've hold out to the MAN, I tells ya.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2005 16:25 Comments ||
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The operation, carried out during the night and on Wednesday morning, resulted in eight arrests in the province of Alicante (in Torrevieja), two in Granada and one in Murcia. Searches were made in ten private homes and businesses - at least two telephone call centres and a mechanical workshop - belonging to suspects in the three provinces.
The Ministry of the Interior said that Civil Guards had seized, among other things, a kilo of cocaine and 35,000 euros in cash, the profits, according to sources involved in the investigation, from drug trafficking operations, robbery and the forgery of bank cards. This was how, said the sources, some of those under arrest obtained funds that were then handed over to terrorist cells. A large amount of documentation was also discovered during the searches, as well as bank cards and the material for forging them.
The investigators consider that the cell was in charge of financing and logistics for GSPC, a radical branch of the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and sent documents to the latter in Algeria to facilitate the entry of members into Europe and their movement from one country to another within the continent. GSPC is the Al Qaeda associate with the greatest presence in Europe, along with the GIA, the alleged instigator of the March 11th attacks in Madrid last year.
Civil Guards suspect that the gang arrested forms part of a group that exists further afield, at an international level. Data have, therefore, been passed on to five other countries - Germany, Holland, the U.K., Belgium and Denmark - about links between the people under arrest and North Africans living in these countries so that it can be established whether they form part of the same Islamic network.
The Minister of the Interior said that nothing made the forces of law and order suspect that the group arrested were âplanning a terrorist attack in the short or medium term in Spainâ. He explained that the arrests constituted a preventative measure against the real threat of Islamic terrorism, in order to âcut offâ these infrastructure groups âat the rootâ and thus to prevent them from maturing and developing into operative terrorist cells.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:09 ||
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PARIS, Nov 24 (AFP) - French lawmakers on Thursday backed government plans to allow greatly increased video-surveillance of public places, a key provision of a new anti-terrorism bill drawn up following the London transport bombings.
After a first reading of the bill, the lower house national assembly approved the articles allowing video cameras to be set up in public locations including on the transport network, in places of worship and in shops. Companies would also be allowed to film the outskirts of their premises and police would be able to access the footage under the new law, which will be put to a final vote in parliament on Tuesday.
State-appointed regional governors, or prefects, would also be able to ask for surveillance cameras to be installed on sites considered at risk of an attack -- such as transport hubs and industrial or nuclear plants. France currently has just 60,000 video cameras in public places compared to four million in Britain.
Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who drew up the legislation following the attacks on London's transport network in July, was reportedly inspired by British investigators' use of video footage to identify the perpetrators. Sarkozy has insisted the bill strikes the right balance between security and the respect of personal freedoms -- despite protests from Green party deputy Noël MamÚre that it paves the way for an "Orwellian" society.
The interior minister warned as he presented the bill on Wednesday that France faced a "real" threat of an extremist attack, and that it needed to raise its defences.
The country is particularly concerned about the threat posed by young French Muslims who go to fight alongside insurgents in Iraq -- of whom intelligence services know of 22 so far -- and return to France with a radicalised agenda. France has also been singled out as a target by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Algerian insurgent group with links to the Al-Qaeda Islamist terror network.
The national assembly was to vote on the bill's provisions one by one, before putting the full text to the vote on Tuesday. If approved, it will then need to be ratified by the upper house senate in order to become law.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier recently said that "Our [CC-130 E/H] Hercules fleet right now is rapidly going downhill. We know that three years and a little bit more than that, the fleet starts to become almost completely inoperational and we will have to stop supporting operations - or else, not be able to start them." The CC-130 aircraft are used in a wide variety of roles, from tactical transport to aerial refueling and even search and rescue. The Canadian Forces do not own any other aircraft in a similar class.
With an election imminent, the minority-government Liberal Party of Canada has now announced that it will move forward with the competitive procurement of a new tactical airlift fleet for the Canadian Forces. The program is valued at between C$ 4-5 billion (USD $3.5-$4.3 billion), and will see the purchase of at least 16 new aircraft including a 20-year in-service support contract.
Plotting the potential contenders... The multi-national EADS Airbus A400M is due to enter service in late 2008 at the very earliest, and multiple deliveries would have to take place by early 2009 at the very latest in order to qualify for the Canadian contract.
Barring an extremely creative proposal, which is possible under the performance-based framework, Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III (USD $180-200 million per aircraft) is unlikely to fit within the program's budget parameters.
Lockheed, of course, can offer the C-130J Hercules or even the stretched C-130J-30. Indeed, that option has been dangled in front of the Canadian Forces before. In another potential deal, Britain had offered to lease Canada its nearly-new C-130Js, which would have left the RAF with stretched C-130J-30s and freed up funds for more C-17s. There is another potential contender... the Russian Ilyushin IL-76MD/TD Candid, which also comes in a stretched IL-76MF version
The C-130 replacement program may even be a harbinger of additional efforts to shore up the severely weakened Canadian armed forces. One is always wary of politicians making promises on the eve of elections, yet documents like the 2003 National Defence Strategic Capability Investment Plan, the 2005 defence budget increases, and recent Canadian defence policy statement suggest that this trend just might be real. Watching the progress and execution of the CC-130 replacement program will offer Canadians - and the broader world - a useful indicator of just how real.
#1
Time to subsidize the Canadian armed forces? I wish there was some way to get them about 20 C-17s. Unlikely. I also wish that there was some way to get the USAF about 120 more C-17s, even less likely.
#2
There's panic in the zoomies lounge as the B/C-17s are starting to make advances towards Iraq. Nothing like hovering with a high flying transport and pushing JDAMs out the back. Don't need any top guns flying CAP anymore. Just some jokers who'd otherwise be flying rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong, opening the back door and having the Loadmaster kick another gift out to Hadji.
#3
We have plenty of older C-130s in the boneyards in Arizona and New Mexico. The Canadians can have 'em, cash and fly away. No warranty, caveat emptor, etc.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2005 14:17 Comments ||
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#4
Doc Ima think there're no flyable C-130s in the boneyard. They're gold. Maybe wings, the odd fitting, but C-130s are like liquid.
#6
Based upon the Canadian MoD's experience with procuring recycled subs I'd shutter to think of piloting a recycled aircraft. Shhhsh...at least when the sub goes tango uniform you can surface. Surfacing an aircraft creates a new set of problems.
#9
When a sub goes TU you HOPE you can surface. My dad spent four war patrols in a sub during WWII and got depth charged in the East China Sea. Scary, that.
An angry former Secretary of State Colin Powell is blasting the Bush White House for attacking Rep. Jack Murtha, who undermined troop morale and encouraged al Qaida last week with his call for an immediate U.S. pullout from Iraq.
"To attack him the way he was attacked, accusing him of being a Michael Moore, was disgraceful and was not worthy," a Powell told the New York Post's Deborah Orin, who described him as "livid."
"Jack Murtha is great friend of mine," Powell declared. "He's a great patriot.
"I don't agree with his position," the former top Bush diplomat said. "But he has started a debate which is a good debate to have as to how long we should be there."
Hours after Murtha called for an immediate pullout last Thursday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan compared him to Michael Moore. Two days later, however, both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney went out of their way to describe Murtha as "honorable." Still, Powell focused instead on the earlier remark, and said nothing about the olive branch offered by Bush and Cheney.
The one-time chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also suggested that the war on terror wasn't quite as serious as other challenges the U.S. has faced. "We're not facing a world war anymore," Powell told the Post. "We have pretty much convinced the world that democracy is a better system than communism or fascism or totalitarianism." Colin continues to slink into Neverland. At what point does a retired Marine and retired general become normal humans again, not beyond reproach?
I don't see the problem comparing a Democrat to Michael Moore -- after all, the Dems put Mickey right next to Jimmuah Carter in a seat of honor at their last national convention. And I haven't heard of any national Dem repudiating Mickey.
PS: no source for this article, CA -- please provide!
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/25/2005 12:55 ||
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#1
Colin continues to slink into Neverland. At what point does a retired Marine and retired general become normal humans again, not beyond reproach?
Quite. I'd expect a former US Marine (Murtha) or soldier (Powell) to be more likely than a civilian to understand a military situation. But it's only 60/40, not a lead-pipe cinch. And Powell always was squishy. Always. And never entirely clear to me how his record up til that point translated into his elevation into the Joint Chiefs of Staff position.
#2
He's sounding more and more like Jimmy Carter. Is there a cardigan under that suit?
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
11/25/2005 13:25 Comments ||
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#3
his boy Armitage is now widely understood to have been the original Plame -outer to Woodward...thanks for standing up, Colon
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2005 13:41 Comments ||
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#4
"We're not facing a world war anymore," Powell told the Post. "We have pretty much convinced the world that democracy is a better system than communism or fascism or totalitarianism."
Except for 1.2 billion Muslims who fervently believe that Islam is better than everything else and are determined to kill everyone who disagrees.
But nooooooo, that doesn't qualify as a "world war," no sir...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/25/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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#5
Veterans are just like everybody else - no one is beyond reproach. Powell is probably on the Saudi payroll, like a lot of ex-generals and State Department people who used to cover the region. It's kind of weird that Powell thinks terrorism's not such a big threat, given that more civilians have died on American soil from it than from any other international conflict in history. I guess he thinks big threats are ones that endanger the US military.
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/25/2005 18:41 Comments ||
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#9
When the only media that covers you is NewsMax, you've really sunk low, especially when you're stidking up for a MSM hero. Somebody should stick a fork in Colin so he knows he's done.
#10
Is Collin posturing for a run for the prez on a Dem ticket? Or is he back to smoking crack.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
11/25/2005 19:19 Comments ||
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#11
Shipman: Note it's from anonymous Woulda Shoulda1066 nitwits.
It's politically incorrect (among conservatives) to say it, but veterans are citizens like other people - they are not beyond criticism. Shipman thinks we should regard them as gods on earth, but I don't. Powell's defense of Murtha is unworthy because Murtha is advocating a military withdrawal that could result in thousands of American civilian deaths when the terrorists come calling, emboldened by their victory in Iraq. To people like Murtha and Powell, civilian deaths don't count - the only ones that matter are military ones. The fact is that 9/11 occurred because the military failed to deter the Arab world thanks to people like Powell, who engineered the humiliating withdrawal from Beirut after the bombing of the Marine barracks that resulted in the deaths of 200 Marines. I guess to Powell, they were just Marines. Powell's State Department plotted and leaked against this administration domestically, while not only failing to make its case to foreign countries, but actively disparaging it as well. If he were white, this saboteur would have been booted out in GWB's first term.
#12
I'm sorry and I'm sure I'll be attacked and accused of lying, but I don't care.
I spent over 21 years on full active duty.
I knew many senior officers in charge of me and junior enlisted I was in charge of who may have dedicated their lives to the military. Here's the bad part. Not all were deserving of my respect. Any honest person who served for long periods will admit that serving should not be a free pass for respect (unless your talking to extreme leftists). Even some who were, by circumstances, placed in a position that brought praise upon them, were not someone I would trust with my life most of the time.
While I don't know Murtha's whole life experience, I do know that he was considered a Marine officer during my entire career, and yet he never was active, in a war or peaceful operation, during that entire time. He was a "fortunate son" rep during that entire time and yet he continues to use that time as a reason for credibility, and for a higher retirement pay. This is a whole different world, militarily, than when he was active duty. And yet his opinion is given more weight than the majority of the officers and enlisted on the ground. The same, unfortunately, goes for Colin Powell. Doing a good job in one circumstance does not translate into an expert in all circumstances. I respected him for some specific jobs he did, but overall, in my opinion, he has been a detriment to many of our operations.
And Shipman:
I could give my true name and it would mean absolutely no more than yours or any one else's name on this site, so get of your high horse.
My belief:
Judge people by what they do, not by what they've done.
In a bow to the rise of Internet-era secrets hidden in plain view, the agency has started hosting Web logs with the latest information on topics including North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il's public visit to a military installation (his 38th this year) and the Burmese media's silence on a ministry reshuffling. It even has a blog on blogs, dedicated to cracking the code of what useful information can be gleaned from the rapidly expanding milieu of online journals and weird electronic memorabilia warehoused on the Net.
The blogs are posted on an unclassified, government-wide Web site, part of a rechristened CIA office for monitoring, translating and analyzing publicly available information called the DNI Open Source Center. The center, which officially debuted this month under the aegis of the new director for national intelligence, marks the latest wave of reorganization to come out of the recommendations of several commissions that analyzed the failures of intelligence collection related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
They pointed to decentralized and insufficient efforts to tap into the huge realm of public information in the Internet era, as well as a continuing climate of disdain for such information among spy agencies. "There are still people who believe if it's not top secret, it's not worth reading," said an outside expert who works with government intelligence agencies.
By adding the new center, "they've changed the strategic visibility," said Douglas J. Naquin, a CIA veteran named to direct the center. ". . . All of a sudden open source is at the table." But, in an interview last week at CIA headquarters, he added that "managing the world's unclassified knowledge . . . [is] much bigger than any one organization can do."
Today's Open Source Center began life as the Foreign Broadcast Information Service -- FBIS to insiders -- in 1941, when it was charged with monitoring publicly available media and translating it. Its pastel-hued booklets became a familiar presence throughout government. At the height of the Cold War, it was FBIS translators who pored through the latest issues of Izvestia and Pravda from the Soviet Union, providing the little hints such as a word change that might signal something broader for the CIA's Kremlinologists.
By the 1990s, the office had fallen on hard times. Some advocated abolishing FBIS, saying it was irrelevant in the age of 24-hour cable news. It survived, but had its personnel slashed 60 percent, according to Naquin. Sept. 11 gave it new purpose, as "open source" became an intelligence buzzword. Across government, policymakers began to debate how to find the nuggets of genuine information hidden in the Internet avalanche.
"We weren't going to be just a translation service anymore," Naquin recalled. Now, with the new name, FBIS is "repositioned," he said. "Our definition of open source is anything that can be legally obtained," whether how-to-build-a-bomb manuals or inflammatory T-shirts.
Even before the Open Source Center's debut, the office had retooled its Internet efforts earlier this year. It added a new video database that makes all its archives available online, and it rolled out an upgraded Web site with the blogs and homepages for key intelligence topics, such as Osama bin Laden, Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, China and even avian flu.
The center also sees itself as a repository of what Naquin calls "open-source tradecraft" in a self-conscious echo of his clandestine colleagues. It teaches courses to intelligence analysts across the community, with titles such as "Advanced Internet Exploitation."
Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's special bin Laden unit, said he had long believed that "90 percent of what you need to know comes from open-source intelligence." He considered FBIS to be "the crown jewel of the American intelligence community," though he said it was perpetually short of funds and personnel, and often focused on low-priority tasks such as extensive updates on Northern Ireland.
Several outside experts who have dealt with the center said it is still far from offering cutting-edge expertise in how to glean information from the Internet. This is especially so when it comes to a top priority of the moment -- the rapid proliferation of al Qaeda-affiliated Web sites and password-protected chat rooms, and the many creative uses to which the Internet is being put by those who utilize them.
"There's some really hard questions that need to be sorted out" about the role of the Open Source Center, said one outside expert who works with government intelligence agencies. This expert and others noted they often receive complaints from government officials who say they find out faster about new statements and video coming from Iraq insurgents such as Zarqawi through private services. "It's just hilarious how little these people know," said another outside expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because discussions with the agency were confidential.
Naquin acknowledged the complexities of trying to monitor a fast-adapting enemy at a time when many government agencies are lurking about in jihadist chat rooms and may or may not even be aware of the presence of other U.S. officials. The center's piece of it, Naquin said, is "open Internet exploitation" as it monitors 150 to 300 jihadist Web sites it considers most significant. That means "we don't break into sites," he said. "We can sign up with password-protected sites but we don't post as somebody beside ourselves. . . . It's a fine line."
Perhaps the toughest challenge for the new Open Source Center is proving its mettle inside a skeptical intelligence community, in which the stolen secret has long been prized above the publicly available gem. Clearly there are skeptics. Although the center's Web site is unclassified and available across the government, at the moment it has just 6,500 users with active accounts, Naquin said.
"Rarely is there the 'aha!' The 'oh-you-solved-this or you-prevented-this' " moment, Naquin acknowledged.
"The reluctance to use it is astounding to me," Scheuer said. "Nobody wants to go back in response to an assignment and say 'oh, my Open Source Center found this on a server in Belgium.' "
The culture clash isn't likely to disappear anytime soon -- especially with an intelligence community that still takes steps to classify material found easily on the Internet. Not long ago, recalled a former senior government terrorism analyst, he was teaching a class to future CIA intelligence analysts that included a PowerPoint presentation on al Qaeda's post-Sept. 11 evolution, with various images taken from the Internet.
Two men in the back of the class came up to the instructor after the presentation. Where, they asked, did he get a particular image from Iraq? It's classified, they insisted. The former analyst laughed. He had taken it from a gruesome Web site that compiles terrorist atrocity videos along with pornography.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:14 ||
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#4
"The war taught us this lesson--that we had to collect intelligence in a manner that would make the information available where it was needed and when it was wanted, in an intelligent and understandable form. If it is not intelligent and understandable, it is useless. President Truman, 55 years ago.
The US government is poised to propose rules that could restrict the ability of Chinese and other foreign nationals to engage in high-level research in the country, a plan that is generating fierce opposition from companies and universities.
The move comes amid growing fears in the US that its relatively open rules allowing foreign nationals to work with sensitive technologies leave the country open to espionage.
does sort of seem like a lot of that has been uncovered lately
Law enforcement and intelligence officials fear China in particular could be using some of its more than 150,000 students in the US to spy on behalf of Beijing.
In a few weeks, the commerce department is expected to respond to a report by its inspector-general, which warned of the espionage risks last year. The inspector-generalâs proposal called for an expansion of the rules that restrict the sharing of advanced technologies with foreign nationals.
Under existing law, companies or universities are required to seek a government export licence if they allow citizens from controlled countries, most prominently China, to engage in research involving technologies with potential military uses. But licences are not required if a Chinese national becomes a citizen or a permanent resident in another country â such as Canada or the UK â which is not subject to stringent US export controls. There are particular concerns about the tens of thousands of Chinese who have taken out citizenship in countries that exchange technology freely with the US.
The proposal under consideration would expand the so-called âdeemed exportâ requirement to cover anyone born in China or other controlled countries such as Iran and North Korea, even if they had taken out citizenship in another country. The idea has particularly angered US universities, which have seen the enrolment of foreign students drop sharply owing to the stricter visa requirements imposed after the September 11 2001 terror attacks.
International student enrolment at US colleges and universities has fallen by 1.3 per cent in the last academic year, following a 2.4 per cent fall the year before. âThe most alarming outcome of this proposed rule will be the substantial negative impact on attracting the best and brightest people from round the world to participate in the conduct of basic and applied research, which is of extraordinary social and economic value to the nation,â wrote Robert Goldston, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics laboratory, in one of hundreds of comments sent to the commerce department in the past six months.
Lawyers and lobbyists following the debate in the US government say the administration might opt for a less restrictive rule than that proposed in the inspector-generalâs report.
A senior commerce department official said that whatever rule was adopted would âstrive to protect national security while meeting the needs of industry and academiaâ. âControls on the release of technology to foreign nationals in the US must â and can â protect national security while allowing business and the academic research community to employ the worldâs best minds, no matter their nationality.â
#1
WTF this is definatley one of those rules that you just thought was already on the books becuase it is "common sense".
I would hope that common sense would say for any scientist working on sensitive tech would be US citizen and if only a convert, 1st gen, or even 2nd gen, they would be heavily monitored continously something that if they are real patirots would not mind everyone gots to do thier time right. I also believe the ones that are citizens even many generations should be heavily checked out and also with random checks and monitoring.
#2
and if only a convert, 1st gen, or even 2nd gen, they would be heavily monitored continously something that if they are real patirots would not mind
It seems to me that it might irk the real "patirot" even more, when their "patirotism" is questioned in such a degree as to discriminate against them and against their children, and against their children's children.
Restrictions against non-citizens, okay. But I think that dividing your own citizens between trustworthy and untrustworthy classes is the best way possible to ensure that the latter *truly* become such. A self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
#3
dividing your own citizens between trustworthy and untrustworthy classes
It's done all the time and should be done all the time. Do you think a person who keeps failing polygraph tests should be handling top secret documents at the CIA? In addition, there are those supposedly *trustworthy* citizens who would sell their country for 30 pieces of silver.
The problem is, how do you separate the two classes? You don't. Everyone is given the benefit of the doubt...until they screw up.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/25/2005 3:05 Comments ||
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#4
Everyone is given the benefit of the doubt...
That is, everyone without a criminal record or some other discrepancies in their background.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/25/2005 3:08 Comments ||
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#5
General prejudice is useless. A Chinese used-car dealer is no threat now, and almost certainly wouldn't be a threat even if and when the US gets into a conflict with China. Chinese people will invariably suffer because of idiots after hostilities, though. Unjust, but unavoidable.
That being said, however, the Chinese government has built enclaves in many US cities, often under the guise of "cultural centers", that are only thinly veiled espionage centers.
We are also aware of *hundreds* of Chinese front companies, who are legitimate businesses, but are also used to glean restricted information. These have got to be supressed.
And while there are a vast number of Chinese students in the US, several reasonable changes have to be made. First of all, academic exclusion of non-Chinese by Chinese is as repugnant and unacceptable as any other racist exclusion. It is highly unlikely that *every* acceptable graduate student for a program has been Chinese for 10 years.
The government must create a very long list of sensitive positions in government, industry and academia. Prioritized, the top of the list is marked "no ethnic Chinese", plain and simple. The next level is "no naturalized Chinese". The third is "no Chinese citizen". The fourth just excludes ethnic Chinese without typical security clearances, like everybody else.
A separate list must also be created for removal of Chinese from sensitive positions in the event of projected hostilities. Again prioritized, but based on degree of hostility, and anticipated timetable for hostile action. If it is a slow build up, then only slowly act; if hostilities commence quickly, with little warning, then pink slips go out immediately, passwords and door locks are changed.
#6
But I think that dividing your own citizens between trustworthy and untrustworthy classes is the best way possible to ensure that the latter *truly* become such. A self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
Yep, each time a gas station makes me pay in advance, I never shop there again, I notice that now that prices are coming down, those stations are deserted while the other "Honest" stations are buisy.
Looks like others feel the same way I do.
You think like thieves, you lose.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/25/2005 8:30 Comments ||
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#7
The government must create a very long list of sensitive positions in government, industry and academia. Prioritized, the top of the list is marked "no ethnic Chinese", plain and simple. The next level is "no naturalized Chinese". The third is "no Chinese citizen". The fourth just excludes ethnic Chinese without typical security clearances, like everybody else.
#8
Geez! How are FBI agents gonna meet hot chinese babes now?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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#9
moosey cut way down on the msg plz.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/25/2005 15:35 Comments ||
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#10
Shipman: it is the same ugly problem that was presented at the start of the WoT. That is, that enemy combatants and the people who support them cannot be allowed to proceed through the normal judicial system. It is too hard to prove criminal acts quickly enough to prevent disaster. That is why we have Gitmo and other such places.
Now, this is not so extreme as talking about concentration camps or things like that, but the same principal applies. Call it racial profiling if you like, but when the US absolutely, positively needs security in tens of thousands of critical jobs overnight, we do not have the resources to constantly and intently survey perhaps hundreds or thousands of people who might be spies, just because they are Chinese.
And, as opportunity presents itself, only a tiny handful of Chinese spies would not be ethnically Chinese. So by removing ethnically Chinese people from just certain jobs for the duration of hostilities, we get much better national security.
Now, this does not mean that they would be forbidden to work, or even to work in their field. Just that they could not work in particular, sensitive jobs, or at critical, essential facilities.
Now, for the tiny number of ethnically Chinese whose only expertise is in nuclear submarine electronic countermeasures, or anti-satellite ground based high energy weapons, things are just tough all over. And unless they are so irreplaceable that we are willing to have them spied upon constantly, which in some cases we just might be willing to do, they need to cross-train their specialty anyway.
I wrote that there would be a need for several security levels. This is just the harshest. The next level, that of naturalized American citizens of Chinese ethnicity, could on the surface be seen as far more reasonable from a security standpoint, and yet, practically speaking, how different is it from the most stringent job exclusions? Not very.
If there is a slow build-up to hostilities, America will be a very different place. The vast number of Chinese students attending school in the US will drop to nothing. "Chinatowns" around the country, and Americans who are ethnically Chinese will be under a lot of pressure. There will be crackdowns on Chinese "Cultural Centers" and businesses that front for Chinese "concerns".
China, for its part, will be far more repressive in those times and circumstances.
#11
Someday Frank, you and I are gonna have a long discussion on the meaning of "hot chinese babes". That and vision test standards for FBI agents. Katrina Leung
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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#12
Now, this is not so extreme as talking about concentration camps or things like that, but the same principal applies.
#13
I know a guy, with access to really top secret stuff who has a chinese girlfriend that he enjoys photographing with other women. It's not really a secret from those who work with him and they like sharing their pictures. I'm sure he just thinks he's a fun and sexy guy. Nobody seems to put two and two together on this one - and I'm not in any position to do anything about it cause I heard it all second and third hand. But it just amazes me that something so obvious can hide in plain sight. Sigh. Security clearances are a joke too. We need to take this stuff much more seriously.
The European Union will use a summit in Barcelona Sunday to seek to trumpet its âsoft powerâ in promoting reform in the Middle East, amid growing questions over more forceful US tactics, notably in Iraq. But critics claim that the Euro-med summit's relatively unambitious agenda â and the gaps on the top table, in terms of Mideast leaders showing up â reflect the EU's continuing battle to punch its weight in the region.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will co-host the two-day gathering of the 25-nation European bloc with 10 Mideast and Mediterranean states to fete the 10th anniverary of the Euro-Med partnership with Europe's southern neighbours. Sceptics argue that the pact â also known as the Barcelona process â has achieved little over the last decade.
I think "little" might be overstating the case. "Nothing" would be closer.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"Soft Power"? This reminds me very little of the reporter who asked Goerge Burns about senior sex. The venerable comedian replied, "Sex at age ninety is like trying to shoot pool with a rope."
#2
And the proof positive of the LR success of that alleged "soft power" are the PARIS RIOTS and spreading "Radic Islam/Global Jihad State = includes France/Europe", besides of course Euro-Socialism's perennial "Baby Bust". NO LONGER COLD WAR "WEST vs EAST", or CAPITALISM vs COMMUNISM, DEMOCRACY vs TOTALITARIANISM, ETC. BUT NORTH VS SOUTH, amongst other precepts. Iff the USA loses the WOT and is suborned andor militarily destroyed, do Americans and Westernists realize that the post-American/Western SECULAR SOCIALIST world, other than Commie Russia + Commie China, etal. > devolving into Commie Russia vs, Commie China, may potens be divided into gener three-four large, ORIENTAL/MONGOLOID-dominated, ANTI-DEMOCRATIC, DESPOTIC global regions or "sub-Empires", i.e BROWN vs YELLOW vs BLACK??? The post-American/Western GLOBAL SOCIALIST WORLD(S) will literally be a WORLD OF DARKNESS, REGRESSIONISM, and ANARCHIES. "DYING EUROPE" > YOU WILL BE "ASSIMILATED", BY FORCE ANDOR BY NECESSITY.
#16
I wouldn't say the EU Mr. Softees have accomplished nothing. They have done a fine job of getting themselves colonized and paying for the priveledge.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2005 16:30 Comments ||
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#17
Soft power ... Any questions?
Yeah, is Viagra illegal in Europe? They could use some.
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a procedural motion that blocked debate on a European Union-sponsored draft resolution expressing concern at Sudan's human rights record. The no-action motion presented by the 53-member African Group was adopted by a vote of 85 in favor, 79 against and 12 abstentions.
The EU draft expressed concern at "the protracted humanitarian crisis in (Sudan's strife-torn) Darfur and the recent upsurge in violence perpetrated by all parties to the conflict. It also slammed "the continuing climate of impunity in the Darfur region, particularly in the area of violence against women and girls" and the "forced relocation of displaced people, particularly in the peri-urban settlements around Khartoum." It also condemned "continued violations" of the April 8, 2004 ceasefire accord agreed by Sudanese parties in N'djamena, Chad and the November 9 2004 Abuja accords to improve humanitarian and security conditions.
Introducing the draft on behalf of the EU, Britain's UN envoy Emyr Jones Parry said: "There can hardly be a situation of human rights in more urgent need of the world's attention than the situation in Sudan."
But since the General Assembly gives equal representation to all the dictators and kleptocrats in Africa, nothing will ever get done about it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Can we resign our membership and kick it off our soil now?
#2
"Earlier this week, a monthly UN report on the situation in Darfur region spotlighted an upsurge in killings of civilians, including children, and rape of women during the month of October."
BAGHDAD â Officers who served in Saddam Hussein's military forces have been flocking to join the Iraq Army. U.S. officials said that over the last month, thousands of Saddam officers have applied to join the Iraq Army. They said after a screening most of the applicants were accepted.
The Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq reported that as of Nov. 20, 3,769 Saddam officers applied to join the Iraq Army, Middle East Newsline reported. MSTC-I said the Defense Ministry accepted 2,662 officers. In October, the Defense Ministry called for junior and mid-level officers of Saddam's army to apply for jobs in the new military force. Officials said the campaign was meant to overcome a serious shortage in experienced junior and mid-level officers in the Iraq Army, which now numbers about 100,000.
The ministry has established six recruiting centers throughout Iraq. Officials said the recruiting drive would continue into December. "The expectation is that the goals will be exceeded," a U.S. Defense Department statement said.
Officials said the recruitment effort has sought officers ranking from lieutenant to major. They said members of the Special Republican Guards or Baath Party members from Level 4 and above would not be accepted. "Experience and professional competence, not ethnicity, are the focus of the recruitment effort," the Pentagon statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2005 14:33 ||
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#1
And only three years late. Better late than never, I guess.
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
11/25/2005 15:24 Comments ||
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#2
Some of these former Saddam-era officers are going to be moles for the Baathist branch of the "insurgency" [spit]; nonetheless, this is going to go a long way toward splitting the Baathists from the al Qaeda types and making the "insurgency" [spit] all foreign and thus all unacceptable to the Iraqi people. I smell a major political victory here.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
11/25/2005 15:28 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, I think the timing is right. The officers will need serious re-education in many ways, and would not have made a good core for the new army.
We have spent the time well, the new officers are disciplined, far more honest and intolerant of dishonesty, they are not political hacks and tribal appointments, they are versed in American/NATO rather than Russian tactics and training, they are "effective" combat experienced, and they overwhelmingly outnumber these old officers.
Most of these guys will have to go back to school, be closely supervised in leadership and managerial skills, be scrutinized for honesty, be disciplined to not abuse or mistreat their subordinates, be trained to be "national" soldiers rather than "ethnic or tribal" soldiers, and get lots of training in tactics, strategy, training and operations. It will be teaching old dogs new tricks.
The biggest plus is that it restores them to a position of honor in society, providing them jobs appropriate to their station, and it also gives their family a vested interest in good behavior. It takes them out of the hands of the insurgency, and right at a time when much of it seems to be crumbling anyway.
#5
Good plan and good timimg. The Major and below ranks are still young enough to have been isolated from the corruption. They are also idealistic, ready for change and not ground into any one system. Sounds to me like the Iraq govt is taking lessons learned from other countries. Good move!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
11/25/2005 19:03 Comments ||
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Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers have said they had ended their boycott of the former Iraqi leader's trial and would go to court on Monday for the next session, despite continuing fears for their safety. Two defence lawyers were killed within days of the trial opening on 19 October, leading Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, to suspend all contacts with the court.
The team, which numbers around a dozen, has since been in negotiations with US officials to discuss their demands for proper protection. There appeared to be some disagreement among the lawyers on Thursday over whether US authorities had met those demands. Court lawyers "Few of the security concerns have been met to my knowledge, but Khalil Dulaimi is forced to attend to defend our client on 28 November and to foil any attempt to appoint court lawyers," said Issam al-Ghazzawi, a member of the Amman-based defence team.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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TEL AVIV â Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has drafted a plan for Israel's withdrawal from virtually all of the West Bank by 2008. Political sources said Sharon has begun briefing senior U.S. officials of his intention to withdraw unilaterally from more than 95 percent of the West Bank. They said Sharon, who quit the ruling Likud Party on Nov. 21, would seek a U.S. and international security presence in the area as well as a commitment for the dismantling of Palestinian insurgency groups.
One: the withdrawal won't include East Jerusalem and the parts of the West Bank inside the Security Fence.
Two: American soldiers will not be part of the security presence. I'll bet on that.
On Wednesday, Haim Ramon, a Cabinet minister who joined Sharon's new party, said the prime minister plans to withdraw unilaterally to what would constitute Israel's final borders, Middle East Newsline reported. Ramon said Sharon does not plan to discuss this before the parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 28. "His decision [to quit the Likud] stems from his desire to bring the state of Israel to permanent borders during his term of office," Eli Landau, a longtime confidante of Sharon, said. "He knows that this step will be a dramatic one."
The sources said Sharon's plan was based on an assessment that the Palestinian Authority was not prepared to sign a formal peace agreement with Israel. They said that under this scenario Sharon would order a unilateral withdrawal from more than 90 percent of the West Bank, but retain control over air space.
The pullout would be accompanied by a pledge from Sharon of an additional pullout and full Palestinian independence should the PA dismantle insurgency groups and maintain security cooperation with Israel. The sources said a version of the plan has already been drafted by Israel's National Security Council.
On Nov. 21, Sharon pledged to lay the "foundation for a peace in which we set the permanent borders of the state, while insisting on the dismantling of the terror organizations." He did not elaborate, but stressed that this plan would be within the parameters of the so-called roadmap announced by U.S. President George Bush in 2002.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2005 14:40 ||
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#1
This would seem to be a statement of a three-year party platform for his new party. Unlike in Labor or Likud, it clearly states a position that the Israeli on the street would either be for or against. That is a very good strategy. Voters love that kind of clarity.
By being limited to one issue at the start, it also maximizes the number of people who will be interested. That is, nobody will really know how his new party stands on other issues, whereas the other two parties have lots of baggage.
What is critical now is that he attract as many moderates from the Labor party as from Likud. If none of their leaders jump ship, then he will have to take the harder course to try and sway the rank and file.
#2
My opinion is that the threat of such a unilateral move (to include the annexation of the areas west of the wall) is in part for negotiating purposes - Sharon says to the Pals, you get your house in order, OR I do this. I think he's not excluding the possibility that this gambit will succeed, and he wont have to do a unilateral withdrawl, but can get a negotiated settlement on good terms (less territory, but a Pal signoff on the end of the conflict that can be used to get recognition and trade from the arab world) instead.
#4
Can't agree with you, LH. The Pals will never honor any agreement they sign, and nobody knows that better than Ariel Sharon. No, Gaza was part A and the West Bank will be part B of Sharon's legacy: Israel's final and defensible borders.
#5
I can't believe he will unilaterally pull out of the Jordan valley, which is Israel's effective border with Jordan. Israel has to retain control of who and what goes into the West Bank until they have a agreement with the Pals that can be monitored.
#6
Not only won't any agreement be honored, Israel still has the problem of a million muslims within the country. In addition to a muslim population subverting it from inside, Israelis will have the problem of an out of control external enemy on their long border lobbing rockets and sending terrorist attacks.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2005 17:02 Comments ||
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#7
Written on the back of the map is part B, "Do anything bad, and we will kick your @ss. This time for good. You had your chance."
#8
MoO, judging from Israeli response to rocket attacks post Gaza pullout, I beg to differ.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2005 17:29 Comments ||
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#9
I dont agree with the stradegy I am more of a increasing punishment untill surrender kind of guy, like everytime thire is a attack more territory was siezed pernamently until the border cities and such were encompased with the Muslim pops being displaced further back. Of course the world would flip but as long as the US didnt get to crazy it would be fine.
However with the plan they got going now I somewhat understand, I see the advantage Jaruselam the jewel of jewels and the solidification of the border and strategic areas even thou a lot of settlements would be lost of course unless you were willing to go with my option they never really were viable anyway thou, but the down side I think the PA will not anytime soon if ever be a able to control thier territory so the Israli's will forever be responsible for "oppressing" the terrorist and thier unfortunate neighbors.
I would suggest if this retreat would be the goal it should be by giving the Gaza back to Egypt, and West Bank to Jordan, both are stable nations that could stabalize the territories if nessecary. In return they get the extra territory the butload of International aid that would pour in as soon as they were turned over. Then let them if they want turn it into a nation.
The shadowy regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) did exist in Southeast Asian countries, an Indonesian man claimed himself to be a former key JI member said Monday. Nasir Abas, the "former militant", told local media in the southern Java town of Yogyakarta that JI network spread over Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. "But I don't know if JI still exists today because I'm no longer a JI member," Nasir was quoted by the Detikcom online news service as saying.
For JI members, suicide bombings remain a contentious issue, some supported them while others strongly opposed, said Nasir, who claimed he used to be the leader in the JI area three covering Malaysia's Sabah, Philippine's Mindanau and Indonesia's Poso. Nasir, who joined JI from 1987 to 2003, said bombings on civilian targets were heresy for JI members but "some others agree to target civilians."
Nasir is the brother-in-law of Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas, who led the October 2002 bomb attacks on Bali nightclubs that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. Mukhlas has been convicted and already in death row along with two other bombers. "Azahari was also a JI member," Nasir said, referring to the master bomb-maker from Malaysia who was killed in a shootout in an East Java town earlier this month.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:32 ||
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A leading American expert on Indonesia's terrorist groups has been expelled from the country for a second time, officials said Friday. No explanation was immediately given.
Sidney Jones, the project director for the International Crisis Group in Jakarta, said she was refused entry to the country Thursday on return from a trip to Taiwan.
"I received no explanation and no warning that it was going to happen," she said Friday from Singapore.
Jones' Brussel-based think tank opened an office in Indonesia in 2000 and has released detailed and well-researched reports on the activities of the al Qaeda linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
The regional terror network has been blamed for at least four deadly bombings in Indonesia, including last month's triple suicide attacks on the resort island of Bali that killed 20 people.
Jones was also expelled from Indonesia in 2004 under the administration of President Megawati Sukarnoputri for allegedly publishing false reports damaging to the country's image.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government allowed her to return in July.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said he was told by immigration officials that Jones had been barred from the country, but was given no reason.
Jones said when she arrived in Jakarta after attending a Time magazine awards ceremony honoring her think tank she was told that an Oct. 7 letter banned her from entry.
"I don't understand," she said, adding that she has been in and out of the country several times in the last six weeks.
"If there was a problem, you would have thought they would have called me in or raised the question while I was in Jakarta, giving me some ability to respond," Jones said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:12 ||
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#2
"I received no explanation and no warning that it was going to happen," she said Friday from Singapore.
Jones' Brussel-based think tank opened an office in Indonesia in 2000 and has released detailed and well-researched reports on the activities of the al Qaeda linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
she doesn't read her own press, apparently
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/25/2005 17:50 Comments ||
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#3
I'm in a wait and see mode. The countryâs politics make Byzantine intrigue look tame. My guess would be that Yudhoyono will straighten it out in a week or two -- unless theyâve got info that sheâs being targeted for assassination by islamofascists and they donât have a way to protect her.
Individuals in the Middle East and Asia sent couriers to ferry thousands of dollars in cash to extremist Islamic groups in Indonesia, a top intelligence official was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying in a report.
State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Syamsir Siregar said that an estimated 75,000 usd worth of funds have flowed to local groups in recent years from the individuals but the financial support has now been stopped, the Jakarta Post reported.
'The 75,000-dollar figure was worked out as the result of an investigation held this year,' he reportedly said, without elaborating on which countries were involved.
However as a result, he said BIN is considering deploying its officers to the Philippines, Thailand and some countries in the Middle East.
'But whether the plan is feasible, we will see how this goes with the foreign ministry,' he was quoted as saying. Neither Siregar nor his spokesman could be immediately reached for further comments.
The chief also said that intelligence units -- accused in the past of kidnappings and violence against government critics -- should be empowered to arrest and interrogate suspects for up to three days.
In a major breakthrough for Indonesia, authorities tracked down master Malaysian bomb-maker Azahari Husin earlier this month.
He was killed during a stand-off with police but his main accomplice, Noordin Mohammad Top, remains on the run.
The two men are leading members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional extremist group, believed to have ties with Al-Qaeda, and are among key figures blamed by authorities for bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people in 2002 and for attacks there last month in which 20 died.
Authorities have also connected them with several other bloody attacks that began with coordinated bombings of churches in Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000.
Indonesia's police chief General Sutanto told a parliamentary commission earlier this week that Azahari's group was short of cash but had received funding from Saudi Arabia until 2003.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/25/2005 03:11 ||
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Syria on Thursday criticised the chief UN investigator in the probe into the assassination of a prominent Lebanese politician for refusing its offers on where and how to question Syrian officials implicated in the murder. Foreign Minister Farouq Sharaa also demanded chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis reach an agreement on the scope of Syria's cooperation with the inquiry.
But really, they're cooperating with the investigation...
The Syrian accusations and demands complicate the standoff with the United Nations, three weeks before the UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri is due to wrap up its work.
Do tell? I think the intent is to keep arguing until Mehlis' deadline passes, then point out that the deadline is past and they don't have to do anything. I believe they're going through what social scientists call "groupthink," assuming they're thinking at all.
The Security Council on October 31 warned Syria to cooperate with the investigation or face further action â a hint at possible sanctions.
And eventually Marines in Damascus.
Sharaa said Mehlis has turned down Damascus' offers to hold the questioning of six senior Syrian officials at the headquarters of UN peacekeepers in Syria's Golan Heights. Sharaa said the site would have been ideal, "but Mehlis rejected the venue and his rejection raised Syrian suspicions."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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"...eventually Marines in Damascus."
Dang it, Fred, you shouldn't post pr0n on this site! :)
Syria said on Thursday an agreement on a legal framework for cooperation with a U.N. inquiry would open the way for the quizzing of six Syrian security officials in the killing of a former Lebanese premier. Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said Syria was not looking for a showdown with the United Nations over the investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri but would not shy away from any confrontation "imposed on us."
"Negotiations on a (cooperation) protocol would open the field for agreement on issues including venue," he told a news briefing. "Syria is very keen on cooperation to conclude the investigation and close this file as soon as possible," he said. Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis had insisted on questioning the six top Syrian officials in Lebanon -- where he can detain suspects. But diplomatic sources in Beirut said recently he had suggested Geneva or Vienna as venues.
Shara did not comment on Lebanese media reports that Mehlis had given Syria until Thursday to agree to one of the venues. A draft cooperation agreement put forward by Damascus at the United Nations, and obtained by Reuters in New York this week, says Syria wants Mehlis to agree only to question witnesses and suspects inside Syria, and with their lawyers present. The draft, which Syria said was only a starting point of negotiations, would require the inquiry to share his findings with Syrian investigators. Mehlis and members of the U.N. Security Council, which authorized him to investigate the February 14 killing of Hariri in Beirut, had made clear that such restrictions would be unacceptable.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Thousands of Syrians gathered at Umayyad Square in Damascus Thursday to express solidarity with their mother country Syria under the current pressures she has been exposed to. US former senator David Duke, who participated in the protest, expressed total solidarity with Syria saying, "Israel is the state of terror not Syria".
Ummm... Duke was never a U.S. senator. I believe he was once a Louisianna state representative, and he ran for U.S. Senate and was soundly trounced.
The ex-senator added that the Zionism dominates the US administration as well as occupies some US medias in a step to mislead the US people, chanting "no war for Israel".
Duke currently spends his time in Russia and Ukraine, after pleading guilty to tax and mail fraud charges in the U.S.
Syrian parliamentarian Muhie al-Din Habboush underlined in a statement delivered among a great applause of audience that the whole world knows that assassinating Lebanese ex- Premiere Rafik al-Hariri means assassinating Syria noting, " we want the truth but not at the expense of our peopleâs dignity".
Break out the old dignity meter...
Damascus Chamber of Commerce also called for participating in the protest, which included many businessmen, parliamentarians and industrialists. Participants were wearing Syrian flags as scarf, chanting slogans "God, Syria and Bashar" and holding photos of President Bashar al-Assad as well as Syrian flags. Sit-in and Protests are going on all over Syria as long as the US pressures are exerted on Syria.
Right. No skin off our collective fore...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Everybody on the payroll showed up, eh? Hmmm, target-rich. Perhaps the day approaches when that will be possible, and you just know they'd show up to march around - they can't help themselves. Has anyone identified this in the genome?
#2
Duke ran for Governor and was defeated by Edwards. He never won a primary for Senate.
His website, which has evidence of substantial funding, claims he has a Ph d.
He takes an anti immigrant stance in regard to the muslims in Sweden, France, etc. However, it seems he is willing to cross dress if it gets him a gig in Syria and get to be an ex-Senator.
#4
I did some more looking. It turns out Duke does have a Ph d. It is from a Ukraining institute know for anti semitism and his dissertation was basically one of them.
#9
Fred you are one of millions among my faithful.
As on the Haaj they will all gaze upon the glory of the shag of enlightenment in the Jungle room of the holy temple of Graceland.
As to the dome of the rock and the mount of Olives the Muslim and Christian faithful gather, so shall ye all gather toward Sun Studios on Union and upon my blue suede shoes you may gaze.
Here is a link for all ye faithful to follow to explore your faith in the King.
If by Area 51 you mean areas around Highway 51 in Memphis, then you got me pegged. You can find me picking up aluminum cans in my old chevy truck off of Highway 51 if you watch real close.
Otherwise Vegas has gone too corporate for an old Memphis Mafia boy like me, we've still got good old fashioned Mafia controlled gaming on the River near my momma's house down in Tunica Mississippi and they hand out comps to the King like there's no tommorrow!
By Ammar Abdulhamid Although Syria has for long been hailed as one of the Arab world's most secular countries and the heart of Arab nationalism, its religious and ethnic diversity has always been more complex than this image suggests. The northeastern parts of Syria are inhabited mostly by Kurds and Assyrians, while the society's allegedly secular character has reflected, in reality, an informal though complex arrangement between the various religious groups in the country. In recent decades, the arrangement has involved, in particular, the majority Sunni population and the Alawite minority.
The arrangement was first introduced by President Hafiz Assad. It allowed, in essence, a core of Alawite officers to control the country's security, leaving management of the economy to a handful of Sunni, Christian and Druze officials and merchants. But the arrangement was by no means perfect and would have collapsed in the early 1980s had Assad not put down a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in the city of Hama. Memories of this event still loom heavily in the minds of many Syrians today.
The accession to power of President Bashar Assad in June 2000 threatened to dissolve this arrangement. Under the new leadership, the regime's main props narrowed to a clique centered on the president, his immediate family members and close friends. If the old arrangement was imperfect, its dissolution at the hands of the "new guard" was even worse. For the ruling elite did not offer any new vision for Syria's future. Transparency, reform, modernization and development were words often used by Assad and his advisers, but, for the most part, they remained just that: words. No programs, policies or action plans were offered. As later developments would show, this fact seemed to denote not only a lack of interest in such matters on the part of the new guard, but, more importantly, a lack of real understanding of the basics of governance and of the nature of the global geopolitical changes that took place following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Syria's old patron. As a result, the history of the last five years has been characterized by endemic corruption, adventurism and serious miscalculations paving the way for the regime's current international isolation.
Indeed, under the current regime, Syria seems to be heading toward disaster, a point recently highlighted by Assad's petulant defiance of the international community and his refusal to cooperate with the ongoing UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. But this is not surprising: a witness seems to have already implicated the president's brother and brother-in-law, and this fact could well point the finger at the very top of Syria's leadership.
It is safe to say, therefore, that in these circumstances, the Syrian regime is no longer really viable, and that a search for an alternative is now not only legitimate, but mandatory as well in order to preserve regional stability and prevent the creation of another haven for jihadists and terrorists. However, and since no one can rationally advocate recourse to another militaristic venture in the region, the downfall of the Syrian regime is better induced through a combination of diplomatic pressures, targeted economic sanctions and various activities and gestures meant to empower the internal opposition in the country and perhaps also the growing disaffection within the middle ranks of the army.
Continues at the link. Goes to reinforce my contention that Baby Assad will be history by next 9-11.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Assad may be weak, but if he falls, who takes over? Other Alewite/military types? Or does the country fall into a civil war? If a civil war, it would seem like an Iranian-supported faction of Islamists would have the edge. And maybe that Islamist element would attack Israel amidst the chaos of the civil war, using it as a means of uniting other elements behind it and also of justifying military 'support' from Iran.
#2
Remember that Assad's power, like Saddam's, is based in violence. In a people traumatized by decades of dictatorship, for a while you can get away with fewer secret police and crackdowns-being short handed with thugs. It takes a while for the people both to recognize weakness, and even longer for them to organize to do something about it.
#3
It would seem, on the face of it, that Iran would have a difficult time establishing itself in Syria other than providing the kindling for the uprising. With the dominance of Sunni...and Kurds...it would seem pretty difficult for the Shiites to actually get a foothold.
Rumsfeld reiterated at this meeting that the F-16I variant, built for Israel was on offer to India as well as the Patriot PAC3 system
India and the US will increase the tempo of military-to-military exercises and boost supplies of hardware to the Indian armed forces, a meeting of the apex body governing India-US defence relations has decided, reports our special correspondent.
Defence ministry sources said today after the seventh meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group that âboth sides emphasised the importance of service-to-service tiesâ.
The Defence Policy Group (DPG) is co-chaired by Indian defence secretary Shekhar Dutt and the US undersecretary of defence for policy, Eric S. Edelman. The meeting was held in Washington from November 21 to 23.
The latest edition of the DPG â that meets at least once a year to review relations and chart a programme for future exchanges â also included âan intensive exchange of views on the international strategic and security situation and on the further development of bilateral defence cooperationâ under the defence framework agreement signed in June this year.
This was the first meeting of the DPG under the Framework Agreement on Defence Cooperation signed during defence minister Pranab Mukherjeeâs visit to Washington on June 28. The agreement was criticised by the Left in India which alleged that India was dovetailing its strategic interests with those of the US.
A defence ministry statement issued here today said India and the US âview their bilateral defence cooperation as an important facet of the India-US global partnershipâ.
The DPG was presented the reports of its four sub-groups on military cooperation, joint technology, senior security technology and defence procurement and production.
The DPG noted that the joint exercises carried out this year were successful. It reviewed the Cope India 2005 air force exercises involving USAF F-16 fighter aircraft in Kalaikunda earlier this month.
Defence ministry sources said the DPG meeting also included a policy-level dialogue on the global strategic and security situation. Defence secretary Dutt had meetings with US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld, undersecretary of defence Lenneth Krieg and US deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch
Posted by: john ||
11/25/2005 05:27 ||
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PESHAWAR: Opposition members in the NWFP Assembly on Thursday criticised the provincial government for the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in the province and also staged a walkout from the house to protest against the NWFP law minister's "unbecoming attitude".
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:05 ||
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...the rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in the province
Maulana Ajmal Qadri has insisted that he led a Pakistani delegation to Israel last week.
"Really! I wuz there! I seen it with my own eyes!"
Talking to ARY Television on Thursday, Qadri dismissed claims that he had concocted his Israel visit to gain publicity. He said that he had travelled from Lahore to Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and then to Jordan, from where he entered Israel on a white paper issued to him by the Israel Embassy there. He said that the delegation, consisting of overseas Pakistanis, reached Israel on its own. He said that the purpose of his visit was to prepare grounds for an inter-faith dialogue between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. âWe are against religious extremism and were cementing ground in Israel for inter-faith dialogue, which will result in religious harmony and tolerance.â
Qadri said that the Quranic verse forbidding Muslims from befriending Jews and Christians was in a certain context and time. He said that Muslims can have trade and commerce relations with Jews and Christians, but cannot trust them. He said that his delegation had asked the Israeli and Palestinian administrations to arrange meetings with Prime Minister Sharon and President Mahmood Abbas. âBut these meetings did not materialise.â
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Me too, course it was in the middle of a stormy night after too much Kofi.
#2
He said that Muslims can have trade and commerce relations with Jews and Christians, but cannot trust them.
Translation: You can use, take advantage of, spy on, or undermine Jews and Christians but you can't have honest or fair dealings with them. And don't forget that, as "children of the book", Christians and Jews get treated better than other non-Muslims.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Pakistan has been engaged in slaughter from its founding..
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/05nov25/edit.htm#3
Fall of Mirpur
By C P Gupta
Mirpur, the erstwhile District Headquarter and Commercial Hub Center of Jammu and Kashmir State, now a part of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), fell to the cruel hands of raiders on 25th November 1947. The whole town having a population of 25,000 souls, was butchered mercilessly only because the noble sons of the soil of Mirpur, had unitedly decided not to allow the raiders to enter into the city even at the cost of their lives. It was beyond imagination that a man made earth quake would turn the entire city of Mirpur into to graveyard of dead bodies and excepting the sky, no body else would be there to cremate the dead bodies of more that 18,000 noble souls of men, women and innocent children and to hear the terrible cries of half dead wounded persons who were hanging in the cruel jaws of death; The terrible end calculated that out of the population of 25,000 persons of Mirpur city, more than 18,000 were killed on the spot and out of the remaining, 7000 about 3500 were made prisoners and the rest about 3500 could reach Jammu in a very miserable condition. The author who had witnessed the said terrible scene of naked dance of death at Mirpur was of the age of 16 years at that time. Soon, after the 15th August, 1947, Pakistan pushed her army and mercenary Pathans who laid seize of the city of Mirpur and chocked it by denying access to all essential commodities. The incessant firing and heavy gun operation forced the small and ill equipped State Forces to confine themselves in their pickets within the city. The State Forces were fully assisted by the young civil population of Mirpur city. The Garrison repulsed the enemy attacks on 6th, 10th and 11th November 1947. The residents of Mirpur city were confident that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and the Government of India would come to their rescue but alas! none of the two Governments sent any ammunition and the fighting force through Air Crafts or through Land Links. Due to irony of fate, the only Wireless operation which was in Police camp, went out of order due to some mechanical defect which led to description in radio link with the two Governments who remained mute to see the fate of the citizens of Mirpur. At the midnight of November 23, under a thick cover of artillery shelling and bursting of grenades which are normally used during an openly declared war, the Pakistan Army launched a major attack on the Eastern part of the city which was resisted by the depleting Garrison Forces, for six hours. This was the heaviest attack witnessed so far. The Post put up the most spirited resistance but the enemy came in wave after wave and after six hours of ceaseless fighting that portion of the defence was run-over by seven Pathans who entered the town at midnight. Alarmed by the worst critical situation, the internal flying Death Squads engaged themselves madly in hand to hand fight with the infiltrators and kept the other enemy soldiers at bay at the cost of many casualties to our young men who were on the Pickets. The Operation remained in action till the morning of November 24. In that critical situation, the State Administration clandestinely, decided to retreat to Jammu leaving behind the hapless citizens to face the warth of the marauders who like hungry wolves unlaced their dress of savagery and killed more than 18000 unarmed civilians. At about 8-30 A.M. on November 25, 1947 when the fully armed raiders entered the city from all the sides pushing the people into one corner of the city. Within half an hour, the old and beautiful city of Mirpur turned into a hell. The terrified men, women and children in utter chaos and confusion in the midst of heavy firing from all the sides and in the chocking atmosphere due to smoke coming out of the burning houses of the city, marched in a caravan to an unknown land. The people who had flourishing business and had a life of bounty and plenty suddenly became the prey of death. The curtain of tragic scene of naked dance of death, dropped with grave like silence where there was none to utter the mourning tune on the unprecedented turmoil, which brought the tragic ruin of Mirpur.
Posted by: john ||
11/25/2005 5:20 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.
The European Union will use a summit in Barcelona Sunday to seek to trumpet its âsoft powerâ in promoting reform in the Middle East, amid growing questions over more forceful US tactics, notably in Iraq. But critics claim that the Euro-med summit's relatively unambitious agenda â and the gaps on the top table, in terms of Mideast leaders showing up â reflect the EU's continuing battle to punch its weight in the region. 
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a procedural motion that blocked debate on a European Union-sponsored draft resolution expressing concern at Sudan's human rights record. The no-action motion presented by the 53-member African Group was adopted by a vote of 85 in favor, 79 against and 12 abstentions. 
Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers have said they had ended their boycott of the former Iraqi leader's trial and would go to court on Monday for the next session, despite continuing fears for their safety. Two defence lawyers were killed within days of the trial opening on 19 October, leading Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, to suspend all contacts with the court.
TEL AVIV â Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has drafted a plan for Israel's withdrawal from virtually all of the West Bank by 2008. Political sources said Sharon has begun briefing senior U.S. officials of his intention to withdraw unilaterally from more than 95 percent of the West Bank. They said Sharon, who quit the ruling Likud Party on Nov. 21, would seek a U.S. and international security presence in the area as well as a commitment for the dismantling of Palestinian insurgency groups.
Syria on Thursday criticised the chief UN investigator in the probe into the assassination of a prominent Lebanese politician for refusing its offers on where and how to question Syrian officials implicated in the murder. Foreign Minister 
Syria said on Thursday an agreement on a legal framework for cooperation with a U.N. inquiry would open the way for the quizzing of six Syrian security officials in the killing of a former Lebanese premier. Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said Syria was not looking for a showdown with the United Nations over the investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri but would not shy away from any confrontation "imposed on us."
Thousands of Syrians gathered at Umayyad Square in Damascus Thursday to express solidarity with their mother country Syria under the current pressures she has been exposed to. US former senator 
