KABUL - All 96 Afghan citizens being held in the United States Guantanamo prison camp will be brought back to Afghanistan very soon, a top government official said on Wednesday. The group included 94 Afghan nationals and a Tajik and a Libyan who both had Afghan citizenship, said ministry of interior legal advisor Abdul Jabar Sabet, who has just returned from a visit to the camp last week.
Squeezed dry and low value.
Sabet did not give a date for their return but another official said the process could take a few months, with the prisoners returning in batches. The dear countrymen are assured that the Guantanamo prisoners will be repatriated very soon, Sabet told reporters. Most of the men were likely to be released on their return to Afghanistan, an official said after the press briefing, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Let's hope they don't do something stooopid like visit Uncle Blinky in Helmand province.
Perhaps they could go pay their regards to Abu Osama?
Sabet headed a government delegation that spent 10 days at the prison in Cuba, meeting the Afghan prisoners and getting information about their cases. It concluded that a number of them, taking into consideration the allegations against them... shouldnt remain in jail any longer, Sabet said. The other prisoners with relatively bigger charges -- the delegation decided that legal authorities must decide their fate after they are repatriated, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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good.
At WORST these guys go back to being cannon fodder in Helmand province, where they do less damage to us than they do imprisoned in Gitmo.
Lets see if we can get our heads around applying this to non-Afghans other than High Value detainees.
ABU DHABI Gulf Cooperation Council countries adopted a contingency plan yesterday in case of a blockage of shipping through the mouths of the Gulf and the Red Sea, the Wam reported. The move came amid tension between the United States and Iran over its nuclear programme, and a warning this month by Irans supreme leader that world energy flows could be endangered by any US wrong move against Teheran.
Wam said transport ministers of the six Gulf countries adopted an emergency plan to be implemented on (Gulf Arab) seaports if Hormuz and Bab Al Mandab straits are closed. The agency gave no details of the plan, agreed at a meeting here.
Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis remarks were interpreted by some oil traders as a hint that the Islamic Republic could deliberately disrupt energy shipments, using its strategic position on the Strait of Hormuz. Some of the oil heading westwards by tanker from the Gulf passes through Bab Al Mandab at the mouth of the Red Sea, which leads to the Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterranean pipelines.
Strait of Hormuz being blocked by Iran is a no-brainer, seeing that it's in their backyard. Bab Al Mandab is way over the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. The Iranian navy and air force have no chance of making it there alive, so the GCC must be worried about terrorist attacks coming from Yemen or Somolia region. An Iranian Q-ship being sunk in the narrow gap is also a possibility.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 09:30 ||
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But where will Iran get it's gasoline? It may be in Iran's nature for self destructive action (as in the story of the scorpion and the frog) but how will the country run without fuel?
Internet blogs are giving rise to a new breed of Arab activist as ordinary residents increasingly use them to press for more political rights and civil liberties in conservative Gulf states. Typical was a recent posting by a 33-year-old Saudi man. "Are we destined to just listen to the news of all the big changes around the world as we await a good deed from our king?" he questioned in his weblog, or blog. And in one notable case, blogs in Kuwait were used to rally broad support last month for street demonstrations in favour of election law reforms.
The bloggers write in Arabic, English or a mixture of both. They are eager to set themselves apart from both newspaper and web columnists writing for established sites as well as the hugely popular Internet bulletin boards that often have a militant Islamic bent. There are now about 1,000 Gulf Arab bloggers, up five times from 2004, according to Haitham Sabbah, a Bahrain-based blogger and Middle East editor for Global Voices, a programme launched last year by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School in the United States that tracks and collects blogs worldwide.
Ahmed Al Omran, a 22-year-old Saudi university student who has been blogging for two years under the name "Saudi Jeans," said his goal was not just to rant but to shed light on issues affecting his generation in the hope that change may come one day. "When I criticise something, my goal is to have it fixed," Omran, a regular contributor to Global Voices, told AFP in a telephone interview from Riyadh.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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When President Bush ordered Moazzam Begg's release last year from the Guantánamo prison camp, United States officials say, he did so over objections from the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. all of which warned that Mr. Begg could still be a dangerous terrorist.
But American officials may not have imagined the sort of adversary Mr. Begg would become in the war of perception that is now a primary front in the American-led campaign against terrorism.
"The issue here is: Apply the law," Mr. Begg told an audience earlier this spring at the Oxford Literary Festival in England, one of many stops on a continuing lecture tour. "If I've committed a crime, we say, take this to court. After all of that, if they can't produce something in court, then shame on them!"
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2006 00:37 ||
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Whether Mr. Begg is the potential threat the Pentagon claims or the harmless man he professes to be cannot be fully resolved from the available evidence.
But I think I know the Times call on that. You can almost see their starry eyes.
(KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on June 13 as regards the fact that the Japanese authorities are driving the DPRK-Japan relations to the worst phase in history by persisting in their moves to internationalize the "abduction issue" already resolved between the DPRK and Japan. This year alone, in April and May, they made a big fuss, deciding to beg countries having diplomatic ties with the DPRK for official cooperation in the settlement of the issue and sending Megumi Yokota's family to the United States and south Korea for "soliciting" help. As if this is not enough, they are trying to take the issue to the UN Human Rights Council and G-8 summit, says the spokesman, and goes on:
In trying to "internationalize" the "abduction issue," which had been solved, by deliberately bringing it into bold relief, the Japanese authorities seek to isolate the DPRK by taking advantage of the U.S. hostile policy toward it and craftily evade its obligation to settle their past crimes by distorting the keynote of the DPRK-Japan relations as if it is the "abduction issue." The relations between the DPRK and Japan are, in essence, those between a victim and an assailant. Therefore, the latter ought to make due apology and compensation understandable to the victim if the bilateral relations are to be settled.
Japan has imposed upon the Korean people immeasurable human, material and mental pain in the past. Nevertheless, Japan has not yet made any honest apology to the Korean people with a humble bow. On the contrary it has neither admitted its criminal acts nor thought of compensating for them. In the light of the order for the settlement of those crimes and from the moral point of view, Japan should begin with apologizing and compensating for the most hideous crimes it committed against humanity in the last century.
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Just becuz NORTH KOREA recently admitted to kidnapping yet another citizen which Japan wasn't aware of of course has nothing to do wid anything, let alone be NK's fault.
#2
"Now, now, now, let's all be friends. C'mon, big group hug, no more bickering and arguing about who kidnapped who. Everybody happy? Let's all sing together, Kum-ba-yah, m'Lord, kum-ba-yah. . . ."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/15/2006 13:36 Comments ||
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#3
That's right dimwits. Just keep agravating the Japanese. We're watching. We're waitng. Can't wait for the hot popcorn to arrive as events commence.
The Canadian representative of a powerful Iraqi cleric has issued a fatwa on his behalf asking all Muslims to act in the best interests of the countries in which they live.
Sayed Nabil Abbas delivered the message at a news conference Wednesday in Montreal on behalf of Grant Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most senior Shia cleric in Iraq.
Mr. Abbas gave the message of tolerance, which he says the cleric wanted heard after the recent arrest of 17 presumed terrorists in Toronto.
He said all Muslims must respect the laws of their new countries and not commit any acts that would put anyone in danger.
He also called on the Canadian government to investigate any acts that could harm fellow Muslims or citizens.
#1
The tide appears to be turning, although apparently fatwas are advisory rather than mandatory, even for the Shiite followers of Ayatollah Ali al Sistani.
#2
The quote in this story is not complete. See Jihad Watch: "The Ayatollah Al-Sistani orders Muslims of Canada to respect the laws of their host country, 'insofar as religious values are not ridiculed.'"
This is not a "let's make nice with the Canadians" story. It is a "obey the laws, unless we disagree with them" story.
#5
In Judaism you are obliged to obey the laws of the country "dina de malchuta dina" BUT if the state says, eat pork, or dont go to shul, or kill an innocent fellow citizen, you are NOT exempt from going to shul, or allowed to eat pork. Or to kill an innocent fellow citizen. These are not practical worries in the USA or Canada, but a statement that said "obey the laws of the state, whatever they are" would not be halachakily correct.
I presume the legal situation is the same in Shia Islam, and so Sistani could NOT say "obey the laws WHATEVER they are".
This was a show vote, debate will occur next week and then they'll have another vote. But it doesn't look good for the anti-war, pull-out-now crowd. Cindy Sheehan must be crying in her beer.
Note: the link also has a big chunk about the House debate; I snipped that to focus on the Senate since the House story is ping-pong (back and forth) right now.
WASHINGTON -- The Senate rejected a call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq by year's end on Thursday as Congress erupted in impassioned, election-year debate over a conflict that now has claimed the lives of 2,500 American troops.
The vote was 93-6 to shelve the proposal, which would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in 2007.
The vote came alongside a daylong debate in the House, where Republicans defended the war as key to winning the global struggle against terrorism while Democrats excoriated President Bush and his policies.
The Senate voted unfolded unexpectedly as the second-ranking leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced legislation he said was taken from a proposal by Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and war critic. It called for Bush to agree with the Iraqi government on a schedule for withdrawal of combat troops by Dec. 31, 2006.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said if the United States withdrew, "I am absolutely convinced the terrorists would see this as vindication." He predicted terrorism would spread around the world, and eventually reach the United States.
Democrats sought to curtail floor debate on the proposal, and the vote occurred quickly. Kerry and other Democrats accused Republicans of political gamesmanship, and promised an authentic debate next week. He and five other Democrats were in the minority on the vote _ Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Barbara Boxer of California, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
I hope the Repubs play Sen. Byrd's (D-KKK) vote throughout West Virginia. Can't help him any at all for his re-election. Six votes? That all? Heh.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 14:16 ||
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Politics are permeating election-year debates on Iraq in the House and Senate, where Republicans and Democrats alike are carefully staking out their positions on the increasingly unpopular war.
Seeking an advantage, House Republicans aim to force Democrats to go on record supporting President Bush's wartime policies by staging a vote as early as Thursday on a GOP resolution that praises U.S. troops and rejects setting "an arbitrary date" for withdrawing them from Iraq.
"The fundamental question in this debate is: Are we going to confront the threat of terrorism and defeat it, or will we relent and retreat and hope the problem goes away?" House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, providing a preview of the possible GOP line of attack should Democrats oppose the resolution.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Ask the Dems for a timetable for pulling out of Japan and Germany. It's only been about 60 years now and more then enough times when they had both the White House and Congress to make it happen in that period. So how about it, where's the plan?
#2
Why do I get the feeling that AP-Ipsos polls are full of shit? A manipulated, cherry picked, tool for the libs to try the ol' Jeddi Mind Trick on people and convince them that the left is making a raging comeback.
#3
Because they are. Rantburg had a discussion last year on Ipsos, the French polling firm, and their questionable methods of pushing public opinion in the service of French elites.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2006 9:05 Comments ||
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#4
IPSOS has zero cred. It is a DIY polling service where you tell them the results you want, and they give you those results.
Essentially, it is outsourcing responsibility, because if a US pollster gets too obscene, there are ways it can be sanctioned. But the French, they do not give deux merdes.
Americans can expect steady progress in Iraq but it would be unrealistic to hope for "zero violence," President George W. Bush said on Wednesday after a surprise trip to Baghdad to bolster the new Iraqi government.
Bush, facing weak public support for the war, offered a mostly upbeat assessment of the situation in Iraq but was cautious about prospects for reducing U.S. forces following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda there.
Standing in the White House Rose Garden and looking animated despite an overnight flight from Baghdad, Bush insisted U.S. troops will stay until Iraqis can secure their own country. "I made it very clear to the Iraqis -- and I'm going to make it clear to them again right here -- that we'll stay with them and help them succeed," said Bush, whose hopes for progress in Iraq got a boost with the killing of Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike last Wednesday.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a security crackdown in Baghdad, Bush tempered hopes for a quick end to a bloody insurgency that has raged since the 2003 invasion and claimed the lives of nearly 2,500 U.S. military personnel. "I hope there's not an expectation from people that all of a sudden there's going to be zero violence," Bush told a news conference. "That's not going to happen."
President Bush, just back from Iraq, dismissed calls for a U.S. withdrawal as election-year politics and refused to give a timetable or benchmark for success that would allow troops to come home. "It's bad policy," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference Wednesday, about six hours after he returned from Iraq. "I know it may sound good politically. It will endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission."
The news conference was arranged to capitalize on Bush's stealthy 5 1/2-hour trip to Baghdad Tuesday. The visit marked his first meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the president said he was impressed with the new leader's plans and character. "I sense something different happening in Iraq," Bush said.
He defended the decision not to tell the prime minister that the U.S. president was in his country until five minutes before they met and denied that it was because of any concern about al-Maliki's inner circle. "I'm a high-value target for some," Bush said. "I think if there was ample notification that I was coming, perhaps it would have given somebody a chance to plan, and we just didn't want to take that risk."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Unlike Saint Bill, Dubya's willing to put his neck out there for his cause, God, and America. THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE-DILIGENCE, NOT THE EASY WAY OR THE MOST CONVENIENT. MUCH THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR LEADERSHIP. The Devil is pretty and easy, while God-Faith/Cause are hard and full of obstacles.
A federal judge has thrown out the claims of several Muslim men who say the government was wrong to hold them on immigration violations and treat them as terror suspects following the September 11 attacks.
In a 99-page ruling released yesterday, Judge John Gleeson of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn rejects the allegation of seven Muslim men and one Hindu man that, although they were here illegally, their constitutional rights were violated when they were rounded up and held for months following the attacks. "After the September 11 attacks, our government used all available law enforcement tools to ferret out the persons responsible for those atrocities and to prevent additional acts of terrorism," Judge Gleeson wrote. "We should expect nothing less. One of those tools was the authority to arrest and detain illegal aliens."
On the first page of the decision, Judge Gleeson compared the detention of these men to that of a dangerous suspect who has been pulled over for a minor violation, such as changing lanes without signaling. "Similarly," he continues, "the government may use its authority to detain illegal aliens pending deportation even if its real interest is building criminal cases against them.
#2
"If there is another attack and it is followed - as it will be - by another roundup, this decision says 'go ahead - round up Arabs and Muslims based on nothing more than religious, ethnic identity and lock them up as immigrants for as long as you want,'" said a Georgetown University law professor connected to the Center for Constitutional Rights, David Cole.
Didn't Georgetown recently receive a large donation from one of the Saudi princelings?
#8
"This decision says 'go ahead - round up Arabs and Muslims based on nothing more than religious, ethnic identity and lock them up as immigrants for as long as you want." Sounds good to me what part am I supposed to disagree with? This statement only show how far OUTSIDE the "mainstream" these people are. If after 9/11 the government began rounding up Arab or Arab looking men and detained some of them AFTER they found out they were here illegally I call that GOOD WORK.
#11
Thank you judge, for a little common sense. The system of law is stymied without common sense. Every time some idiot lawyer files these nonsense cases, they should be struck down and thrown out within 48 hours. We need a special Tribunal for Stupidity which would be dedicated to these cases.
Prosecutors rested their case against a Fayetteville man accused in federal court of plotting to join a recognized terrorist organization. Jaber is charged with knowingly attempting to provide material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The prosecution rested after playing for the jury a series of songs encouraging martyrdom, the killing of infidels and celebrating resistance to the U.S. occupation of Fallujah, Iraq. The songs are in Arabic and feature the sounds of bombs going off and machine gun fire. They were found on Jaber's computer. Jaber also had a copy of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad emblem on his computer.
At the conclusion of the government's case, attorneys for Jaber asked U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren to throw out the most serious charge in the case, arguing the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction. John Wesley Hall Jr. argued the government has nothing beyond speculation or conjecture Jaber intended to act. "It takes more than showing up at an airport," Hall said. He added Jaber had a round trip ticket to Palestine when arrested and had a job in Kuwait lined up.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Johnson argued Jaber's own words should convict him.
A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged, to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of cold-blooded murder.
Attorney Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Times that Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, briefed Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Nov. 19 killings of 24 Iraqis in the town north of Baghdad. Mr. Murtha later told reporters that the Marines were guilty of killing the civilians in "cold blood." Mr. Murtha said he based his statement on Marine commanders, whom he did not identify.
Mr. Puckett said such public comments from a congressman via senior Marines amount to "unlawful command influence." He said potential Marine jurors could be biased by the knowledge that their commandant, the Corps' top officer, thinks the Haditha Marines are guilty. "Congressman Murtha will be one of the first witnesses I call to the witness stand," Mr. Puckett said yesterday.
#4
Interesting strategy, but I don't think it'll fly. UCI is pretty narrowly defined as a commander directly pressuring subordinates to reach the conclusion s/he wants. Even if Murtha gets on the stand and says, "Hagee told me he thinks they're guilty," that doesn't amount to direct pressure on the jurors, all of whom are told it's their legal duty to reach an independent conclusion based on their own judgment. The defense has many arguments far stronger than some flimsy claim of UCI. Going after Murtha is tangential and arguably makes the defense look like it's grasping at straws.
In any case, I doubt very much Hagee thinks these guys are guilty, I doubt he ever said as much, and I don't think testimony from Murtha would reveal anything we don't already know, i.e, that he's a disgraceful opportunist.
#6
REMF? Worse than that, he was a Senior Intelligence Officer with NO intelligence background. In his own Bio he states that he was a Reserve logistics officer that went to Vietnam as an Intelligence Officer, if true that was one great leap of faith on the part of the Marine assignments personnel. Now I can say the in the Air Force officers often used work outside their field specialty to get the whole person (or well rounded) concept for aspiring officers. But it seems very skeptical that they would send a non-intelligence type to what arguably was a very important intelligence billet in Vietnam. I doubt very much that Murtha had any positive impact on the intelligence effort and was just a warm body keeping a billet. I really would like to hear from some of Murthas former comrades especially any that served with him in Vietnam.
AMSTERDAM The main pre-condition set by the Netherlands to host the trial of Charles Taylor was met on Thursday when the UK announced it would jail the former Liberian president if he is convicted of war crimes. "I was delighted to be able to respond positively to the request of the United Nations secretary-general that, should he be convicted, Charles Taylor serve his sentence in the UK," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said.
The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone requested in March that the trial be moved to The Hague shortly after Taylor was captured while trying to flee Nigeria. It was feared holding the trial in Sierra Leone would lead to
further unrest. Taylor faces charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and violations of international human rights. They accuse him of sponsoring and aiding rebel groups who perpetrated murder, sexual slavery, mutilation and conscription of child soldiers in Sierra Leone's civil war, in exchange for a share in the diamond trade.
The Dutch authorities set three conditions for the trial to be moved to The Hague. A spokesperson said the UN Security Council would have to pass a resolution backing the change of venue and Taylor would have to leave the Netherlands once the court delivered its verdict. In addition, the Dutch said the International Criminal Court in The Hague had to make arrangements for the provision of a court room and a cell to hold Taylor during his stay in the Netherlands.
"With the British offer to take Taylor to serve a possible sentence there, all conditions set by the Dutch government have been met. The next step is a UN Security Council resolution which I expect to be drawn up in the next few days," a spokesperson for the Dutch foreign ministry said.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 14:01 ||
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The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a call this afternoon for withdrawal of most American combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year as the debate in both houses of Congress mixed high emotion with calculated maneuvering.The 93-to-6 vote came after a maneuver by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the second-ranking Republican, who introduced a measure that he said was taken from a proposal by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, calling for President Bush to agree with the new Iraqi government on a timetable to withdraw most troops by Dec. 31.
Mr. Kerry has not yet offered his own measure because, he said, language is still being worked out. He and other Democrats accused Republicans of gamesmanship by engineering a surprise vote today, according to The Associated Press, and said they would push for an authentic debate next week. The vote today was to table a proposal that only those forces essential to completing the mission of "standing up" the Iraqi security forces remain in the country in 2007, and it reflected a deep reluctance in both parties to commit to a firm withdrawal schedule.
The six "no" votes were cast by Senators Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy, also of Massachusetts; Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Barbara Boxer of California, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, all Democrats.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/15/2006 16:50 ||
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#1
Good ole Babs! Can always count on her to be on the wrong side of history.
#3
Kerry voted for a pullout. He will vote for a pullout again. He's trying to build up street cred as being consistantly against the war.
By the time the 2008 elections roll around the troops will mostly have been withdrawn (as their mission is done) and Kerry will position himself as the reason the troops were brought home. This againt Hillary who will be in record as voting twice to keep the troops in Iraq.
I'm not saying Kerry planned this vote, but it does work in his favor. Of course all of this is balanced by the fact that he's a loser candidate with little chance of getting the Dem nod a second time no matter what he does (short of his wife paying off voters in a dozen primary states).
#6
Kerry is working out the language for a more nuanced resolution, ya see. Lingusitically cunning, ya see.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2006 21:32 Comments ||
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#7
buncha cunning runts, are they, AP?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2006 21:44 Comments ||
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#8
"The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but as I said, it is not new. It has been with us since the end of that war, and particularly in the last four years we know after Operation Desert Fox failed to force him to reaccept them, that he has continued to build those weapons. He has had a free hand for four years to reconstitute these weapons, allowing the world, during the interval, to lose the focus we had on weapons of mass destruction and the issue of proliferation."--Oct. 9, 2002
"Yea."--vote on authorizing military force to liberate Iraq, Oct. 12, 2002
"Even having botched the diplomacy, it is the duty of any president, in the final analysis, to defend this nation and dispel the security threat. . . . Saddam Hussein has brought military action upon himself by refusing for 12 years to comply with the mandates of the United Nations."--March 18, 2003
"The vote is the vote. I voted to authorize. It was the right vote, and the reason I mentioned the threat is that we gave the--we had to give life to the threat. If there wasn't a legitimate threat, Saddam Hussein was not going to allow inspectors in. Now, let me make two points if I may. Ed [Gordon] questioned my answer. The reason I can't tell you to a certainty whether the president misled us is because I don't have any clue what he really knew about it, or whether he was just reading what was put in front of him. And I have no knowledge whether or not this president was in depth--I just don't know that. And that's an honest answer, and there are serious suspicions about the level to which this president really was involved in asking the questions that he should've. With respect to the question of, you know, the vote--let's remember where we were. If there hadn't been a vote, we would never have had inspectors. And if we hadn't voted the way we voted, we would not have been able to have a chance of going to the United Nations and stopping the president, in effect, who already had the votes, and who was obviously asking serious questions about whether or not the Congress was going to be there to enforce the effort to create a threat. So I think we did the right thing. I'm convinced we did."--Sept. 9, 2003
"Nay."--vote on $87 billion to fund operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Oct. 17, 2003
"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."--March 16, 2004
"The president made a mistake in invading Iraq."--Sept. 30, 2004
"No."--answer to Jim Lehrer's question "Are Americans now dying in Iraq for a mistake?," Sept. 30, 2004
" I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi resolution."--June 13, 2006
No wonder Kerry says you can't have it both ways--as nuanced as he is, he's had it at least half a dozen ways!
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/15/2006 22:09 Comments ||
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Text of a document discovered in terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout. The document was provided in English by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie:
___
The situation and conditions of the resistance in Iraq have reached a point that requires a review of the events and of the work being done inside Iraq. Such a study is needed in order to show the best means to accomplish the required goals, especially that the forces of the National Guard have succeeded in forming an enormous shield protecting the American forces and have reduced substantially the losses that were solely suffered by the American forces. This is in addition to the role, played by the Shi'a (the leadership and masses) by supporting the occupation, working to defeat the resistance and by informing on its elements.
As an overall picture, time has been an element in affecting negatively the forces of the occupying countries, due to the losses they sustain economically in human lives, which are increasing with time. However, here in Iraq, time is now beginning to be of service to the American forces and harmful to the resistance for the following reasons:
#2
The last section is weird. Weird enough to be suspect to me.
Innocent Iran who has no desire for nukes, it's a Zak plot. It's Zak who makes Mamhoud Imadinnerjacket spout threats of death agains Israel. Iran just pretty perfect innocent by these claims. Everything Iran pursues and does isn't real - it a Zak plot.
Too pat. Too different in thought and expression from the sections above. Weird?
#4
Looking forward to reading further translated documents covering Zarq's favorite journalists and American politicians.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/15/2006 12:16 Comments ||
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#5
2. well of course ahmadinajads still a nutjob, but thats not inconsistent with Zarqo wanting a US IRan war, and possibly trying to make us think hes getting from Iran.
Now could this be fake? Yeah, but by whom? Maybe the Shiites in the Iraqi govt, who want us to think we're beating Zarq, but DONT want us to go to war with Iran? Mebbe. Im eager for Darlings take.
#6
1. To improve the image of the resistance in society, increase the number of supporters who are refusing occupation and show the clash of interest between society and the occupation and its collaborators. To use the media for spreading an effective and creative image of the resistance.
So the first course of action for al Qaeda is to co-opt the press. AQ has no doubt which side the "news" media is on. The US has Iraqi collaborators. Al Qaeda has the media as collaborators.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2006 12:30 Comments ||
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#7
I wonder about this document. That's pretty deep thinking for someone who supposedly was a school dropout and more concerned with killing than with strategy. I wonder if the "Spiritual advisor" wasn't the strategist behind Zark-boy, and Zark was just the implementer. It doesn't matter - we got them both with one shot - a nice 'two-fer'.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2006 14:41 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- The Iraqi government has unveiled on Wednesday details of a document which the Iraqi forces set hand at the house where the Al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and his aids were killed during a US air strike last Wednesday. It said that the "death and destruction" document uncovers the strategic relation between Saddam Hussein's henchmen and Zarqawi group. Identity of the party that authored the document was unknown, but the text distributed here by the Premiership's media office, a copy of which received by KUNA, indicates that it exemplifies the tendencies of Zarqawi and agrees with the statements which he made on his war strategy before he was killed.
The document indicates recognition of Al-Qaeda in the Euphrates region of the the recent drop of Zarqawi's influence and capabilities. It admits that the "position of resistance in Iraq requires reconsideration of the acts and incidents in the country, with the aim of reaching the best means for realizing the best results, in particular following success of the National Guard forces in forming a massive shield and effective arm in the interest of the US forces and this ultimately scaled down to a large extent the scope of losses sustained by the US forces".
It adds that the "time factor" has "negatively affected Al-Qaeda in Iraq due to many reasons including formation and enhancing the capabilities of the National Guards up to the level of launching attacks and carrying out mass arrests within the resistance controlled areas. This ended up in loss of many elements and launching an anti media resistance campaign ... and sowing schism in its fold ...".
Ultimately the document called for improving the image of the "resistance" in Iraq, luring new members and establishing weapons manufacturing workshops. It concluded that the "best way out of this crisis is implicating the US forces in a war against another state or against an anti-Qaeda force. We mean escalating the US-Iran tension and US-Shia tension and in particular the Sistani followers in Iraq."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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oh, I bet you'll see it. I saw it on Yahoo, either AP, or Reuters.
Very interesting document. Assuming its genuine, it really documents alot of what we've been saying - the resistance is under pressure, due to internal divisions, bad press (in Iraq), broken financial links leading to shortages of weapons, loss of havens, etc. Youd almost have thought it was written by coalition psyops -
EXCEPT - theres a huge portion going into how the best chance for the Zarqonauts, is for the US to get into another fight. After reviewing all the possibilities in Iraq, and recalling the benefits of the US fight with Al Sadr, he decides the absolute best thing would be a US war with Iran. He lists the benefits, and then goes into some detail how he can help provoke it, including framing Iran in his own operations.
#4
It really is not all that surprising if one looks at it as a Sunni versus Shia confrontation. Zarqawi even considered Iran as supporting the U.S., because of its support of Iraqi Shi'ite factions.
GAZA - Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al Zahar on Wednesday brought suitcases stuffed with $20 million in cash into the Gaza Strip through its border with Egypt, Palestinian officials said.
Now that's what I call a productive trip.
Zahar, returning from a fundraising trip for the cash-starved Hamas-led government, was at least the third known Hamas official to make the crossing carrying large sums of cash.
The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is controlled by Palestinian guards nominally loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Security sources said Zahar had 12 suitcases with him and refused to let anyone open them.
"What's in the bags, Minister?"
"Socks. Dirty socks. Don't open that, you'll be sorry."
Egyptian border officials informed Abbass office that Zahar was carrying $20 million in cash. We do not have a law that sets a ceiling for the amount of money that can enter the country. We dont know where that money is going to go, an Abbas aide said.
The Widows Ammunition Fund, where else?
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reached an agreement with President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday to remove a Hamas militia from the streets of Gaza and to integrate the force into the regular police. Haniyeh, speaking to reporters after the two leaders met, gave no timeframe for withdrawing the paramilitary unit and integrating it into the police. The 3,000-member force had previously withdrawn from the streets but redeployed soon after, exacerbating tensions with Abbas's Fatah movement.
Under the agreement reached after more than two hours of talks, Haniyeh said members of the Hamas force would "begin their integration into the police so they can be part of the security institution".Scores of protesters stormed the Palestinian parliament building, pushing their way into the legislative chamber to demand long overdue wages from the Hamas-led government. A Western aid boycott since Hamas came to power in March has prevented the new government from securing enough funds to pay 165,000 government workers or to provide basic services.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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rrriigghhtt
how would you like these hamas guys in your fatah "proective service". I see excellent opportunities for perfidy :-)
hey! Hamas suckers guys! Did you hear that the $20 $100 million they brought in in cash is going to be paid out, but only to Fatah members?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2006 8:54 Comments ||
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A security officer testified on Wednesday in the case of six men standing trial at the State Security Court (SSC) charged with launching a rocket attack in Aqaba in 2005 that killed a Jordanian soldier. A total of 12 defendants are being tried in the case including seven Syrians, four Iraqis and one Saudi. Six of the defendants are being tried in absentia. The group is also charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and the possession and use of explosives. Eight of the 12 defendants face the additional charge of committing acts that undermine relations with a foreign country.
Major Nidal K. from the General Intelligence Department (GID) told the court yesterday that on Aug. 22, 2005, one of the defendants guided him to a forest area near the Queen Alia Airport highway where he discovered a petrol tank belonging to a black Mercedes car. The defendant told me he replaced the cars tank with a special one designed to fit the rockets in, the GID officer told the court.
According to the prosecution, the defendants smuggled seven rockets into Aqaba and stored them in a warehouse in the city along with timing devices. The intended targets of the rockets were two US warships docked in the port on Aug. 19, 2005. Four rockets malfunctioned, while the remaining three missed their targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Those killed in the 2002 Bali bombings had been destined to die by God, radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said today. The families they have left behind should now convert to Islam, he said.
Conversion would give the bereaved relatives "salvation and peace". "For the Bali bomb families, those who are non-Muslims, my suggestion is just convert to Islam so they can be saved and find some peace from Allah," he said at his home inside his Ngruki Islamic boarding school near the city of Solo in Central Java.
Bashir was released from a Jakarta jail yesterday after serving 25 months for his association with the 2002 Bali bomb blasts, that killed 202 people among them 88 Australians. But he denies any involvement in terrorism or allegations that he is the spiritual head of militant group Jemaah Islamiah.
He said the families of the dead should understand that they were killed by bombs, not bombers, and that it was "God's will".
So when the SAS whacks him it will just be 'God's will'?
Earlier Bashir called on Australian Prime Minister John Howard to convert to Islam or face eternity in hell.
Today in Canberra, Mr Howard told Parliament he had written to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono insisting that authorities closely monitor Bashir and abide by obligations resulting from the United Nations declaring the cleric a terrorist. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also asked the UN's World Food Program not to channel food aid for Indonesian earthquake victims through an Islamic group co-founded by Bashir.
In reaction, Bashir said: "I hope Australia will not interfere with Indonesia's internal matters."
"Please don't let them kill me!"
He also praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in a US air strike last week. "I didn't know him personally. But I heard he was a good leader," Bashir said of the man blamed for some of Iraq's bloodiest terrorist attacks.
In Jakarta, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said authorities could not arrest Bashir for "his thinking and opinions", but said they would act if he broke the law.
Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir lashed out at the United States just hours after his release from jail on Wednesday, as he headed to his hometown to resume teaching at an Islamic school, notorious for producing deadly militants.
Bashir was given a hero's welcome by about 150 supporters outside Jakarta's Cipinang prison after serving a 26-month sentence for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly young, foreign tourists.
Famed for his fiery rhetoric, 68-year-old Bashir is alleged by the US and Australia to be a founder and top leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaeda-linked terror group blamed for the Bali bombings, and a host of other bloody attacks and failed plots in Indonesia and elsewhere in South-east Asia.
"The United States is a state terrorist because it is waging war against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan," he told waiting reporters.
Bashir made the remark after he stopped for midday prayers in the town of Tegal, east of Jakarta, en route to his boarding school in the central Javanese city of Solo, where about 1 000 people waited to greet him.
Earlier he urged "all Muslims to unite behind one goal" and implement Islamic sharia law around the world, showing he'd lost none of his militancy while in prison.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2006 00:10 ||
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Dear Russia,
Hope you are doing well. There's a cleric we wish you would kidnap and administer truly Asiatic punishments to until he expires.
Hundreds of Muslim students, thrusting their fists toward the night sky and chanting "God is great" in Arabic, welcomed their revered spiritual leader, the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, home from prison on Wednesday night.
Mr. Bashir was escorted here from prison by police officers, after serving 26 months for immigration violations and criminal conspiracy.
He arrived late at night at Al Mukmin, the Islamic boarding school that he helped to found in this central Javanese city, and gave a fiery speech calling on Muslims to fight for Islam, which he called "the only truth," and for the formation of an Islamic state in Indonesia.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2006 00:09 ||
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Whack him. And don't be too subtle about it.
As the bent-nose boys would say, "Cowboy the motherf**ker."
#3
The six nations the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany have decided to treat Iran not as an errant child whose behavior must be modified or a rogue state that must be punished, but as a potential responsible negotiating partner.
Oh, for cryin' out loud...
Alright, well I guess we may as well start wondering which of our cities the Mad Mullahs will nuke first.
Damn fucking diplomats...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/15/2006 18:42 Comments ||
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They don't have to nuke anything if they get their way otherwise.
And that seems to be how things are shaping up.
New York, 15 June (AKI) - The head of the United Nations-backed investigation commission today has reported "considerable progress" in the probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, including critical forensics advances, but stressed the need for a more intensive effort to make headway in the cases of 14 other possibly-related attacks, the UN said in a statement released by its New York heaquarters.
"At present, the fundamental building blocks for the investigation into the crime, in particular concerning the explosion, the container/carrier and the means of delivery, are largely understood and provide the basis for investigative progress with regard to those who perpetrated the crime," according to the report presented to the UN Security Council by Serge Brammertz, the head of the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) into the 14 February 2005 killing of Hariri and 22 others.
In the months ahead, the Commission will focus on identifying the perpetrators of the crime, Brammertz told the Council. The report points out that DNA analysis of human remains recovered from the scene provides no evidence that Ahmed Abu Adass, who claimed responsibility for detonating the bomb in a video sent to news outlets after the attack, had in fact done so. Of the human remains recovered, some 27 fragments indicate that it was likely that one person did in fact initiate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which was probably placed in a Mitsubishi truck that exploded as Hariris convoy drove by.
The IED contained at least 1,200 kilograms of TNT equivalent explosive, the report says, big enough to make sure it accomplished task. The large amount of explosives used elevated the attack to an almost guaranteed level, Brammertz said.
In regard to cooperation by Syria in the probe, the report presented today said that the level of assistance provided by its officials during the reporting period has generally been satisfactory, while interaction with Lebanese authorities continues to be excellent.
The Commissions report also describes progress in investigating 14 other bombings that occurred in Lebanon since 1 October 2004, on which the IIIC has been assisting Lebanese authorities under its expanded mandate. Patterns emerging among the six targeted attacks and eight bombs in public locations have not yet been confirmed by evidence, the report says, but in light of potential linkages between the Hariri investigation and the 14 other cases, the Commission is calling for a much more concerted and robust effort to move the cases forward.
For that reason, and to complete its work on the Hariri investigation, the Commission is supporting the Government of Lebanons request for a one year extension of its mandate as well as urging increased support from UN Member States and international organizations. UNIIIC was established by the Security Council in April 2005 after an earlier UN mission found Lebanon's own investigation seriously flawed and Syria primarily responsible for the political tension preceding Hariri's murder.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 08:48 ||
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We have established that Hariri is indeed dead, and now investigating whether a "foul play" was involved.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2006 00:25 ||
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Jihadi terrorism is a monster that inevitably turns around and devours those that seek to cultivate and harness it. Regimes like Assad's are too stupid to realize this. They cultivate the ideology with their anti-Israel and anti-US stance. They allowed the Jihadis to stage and cross into Iraq, trying to direct it as a weapon against the US in Iraq. Now the knife will be at their own throat.
CAIRO - The Arab League said Wednesday that Iran had the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as laid down in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We support Irans position on the peaceful use of atomic energy because this right is enshrined in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.
Not him again!
I thought he had a heart attack?
This right exists for all Arab and non-Arab countries which have signed the NPT and wish to achieve progress, Mussa added. But he stressed the region was not in need of a military nuclear programme.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
This applies to Iran and Israel and others, Mussa said.
"Especially Israel."
"Technically, mostly Israel."
The objective should be to clear the Middle East region of all weapons of mass destruction, first and foremost nuclear weapons, the Arab League chief emphasised.
"So that we can kill all the Jooooz without getting our asses kicked," he added.
Irans top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, during a visit last week to Cairo where the Arab League is based, urged all Muslim countries to follow in his countrys footsteps and develop a nuclear energy program. The nuclear issue affects the future of all Muslim countries, Larijani said on Saturday.
Like whether there will be Muslim countries in the future.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Iran has had the right to domestic energy since the Shah - SUPPORTING a VIOLENCE-ORIENTED REVOLUTIONARY GLOBALIST RADIC ISLAMIST AGENDA WHILE ALSO HAVING OFICIOS PROCLAIM HOW IRAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE PEACEFUL tends to make people wary or distrustful.
#2
This applies to Iran and Israel and others, Mussa said.
"Especially Israel."
"Technically, mostly Israel."
"Well, okay, it really only applies to Israel."
We should probable mention Israel, since in the final analysis, it *is* mostly about the Jooooos.
Let's do a little thought experiment and imagine that the Jews have finally gotten tired of their annoying, explosive neighbors and thrown themselves into the sea. What now for the Arab world? Your governments are still oppressive and medieval. Your people are still uneducated and non-productive. Your economies are based on exporting naturals resources, a Third World condition. The only difference is you still suck as countries, your people are still unhappy but now there is not a scapegoat in sight. Except for their leaders. No one will ever admit it, but the Arabs need the Jews.
#4
No one will ever admit it, but the Arabs need the Jews.
Good way to put it, SteveS!
Now if we could only get the proper parties to start internalizing this, we might make some progress. The proper parties being the Arab street. And many educated, too, I will add. Seems as thought it's difficult to get that childhood programming out of their system.
So who do you think the "leadership" would turn to for their next scapegoat if Israel were to throw itself into the sea? Or would they suddenly start acting civilized?
Posted by: grb ||
06/15/2006 19:15 Comments ||
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#5
those damn Copts
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2006 21:51 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2006 00:00 ||
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SPACEWAR.com > Iran has called for regional security co-oper wid PAKISTAN, which basically means CHINA is being surrounded by nuke-happy Muslim nations whilst RUSSIA has to wait until Europe becomes nuclearized] EURABIA - you know, why AMERICA AND ONLY AMERICA IS THE ENEMY!?
June 15, 2006: Anti-Americanism has reached a new low. FIFA, the international sports organization for football (soccer to Americans) refused to allow U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (and warships at sea) to view any of the current World Cup games being played in Germany. The U.S. AFN (Armed Forces Network) has no budget for sports programming, and usually gets a free feed for major sporting events, in the same spirit that movie studios and TV networks provide free access to their product for troops in combat zones. FIFA demanded money, and would not budge on that. While soccer is not a major sport in the United States, it's estimated that a quarter or more of the troops are fans, and would enjoy seeing some of the World Cup matches. However, once this situation became known, several wealthy Americans stepped forward to correct the situation. The first one to make a move was media magnate Robert Murdoch, who ordered his Fox Network to make arrangements, and pay whatever FIFA was demanding, to get the soccer games to the troops, as soon as possible. This was accomplished in 24 hours.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2006 10:22 ||
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WTG Murdoch, Shame on you FIFA. If FIFA wants the sport to grow in the U.S. it might to help by doing little favors like this for the U.S. I think they call it pullanka (sp) in Spanish which means to pull the lever it is synonymous with a bribe. A little pullanka in the U.S. goes a long way. But hey we only have the worlds largest economy and we can spend it on any sports entertainment we want.
#2
Might've found another answer to the question posed yesterday...Soccer-Mad World Asks: Why Don't Americans Care?
I guess we can add "Because FIFA sucks!" to the list.
#3
Unlike many American communities, you go on to most military installations with noticable on base housing and you find a lot of kids' soccer leagues running full steam ahead. Consider it a major cross culture exchange for 50 years of major troop deployment in Europe.
You must not live around Chicago. We got more rugrat soccer leagues than you can imagine. I even coached for a couple of years (talk about the blind leading the blind).
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/15/2006 11:19 Comments ||
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FIFA, the international sports organization for football (soccer to Americans) refused to allow U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (and warships at sea) to view any of the current World Cup games being played in Germany. The U.S. AFN (Armed Forces Network) has no budget for sports programming, and usually gets a free feed for major sporting events, in the same spirit that movie studios and TV networks provide free access to their product for troops in combat zones. FIFA demanded money, and would not budge on that.
I wonder if FIFA provided World Cup feed for Canadian troops in Afghanistan? ..doubt it.
#8
Yeah I agree with a few up there, everywhere I've lived in America had AYSO AMerican Youth Soccer Organization. Soccer is big with kids because moms are less worried they'll get hurt and even out of shape kids can be goalie or a fullback.
By the time kids get into High School in America the ones playing soccer are generally not the cool athletes.
#9
While soccer is not a major sport in the United States, it's estimated that a quarter or more of the troops are fans, and would enjoy seeing some of the World Cup matches.
Umm, actually we were fans of watching women's curling during the Olympics in February to. The boys out there were also fans of the Masters in March so it doesn't really matter - put the damn sports on!!
#10
My daughter played youth soccer and even played a couple of years in high school until her allergies to grass got too severe for her allergy medicine to handle. Most of the kids around here play soccer and enjoy it. We also have huge t-ball and pee-wee football programs, too. It's something to get kids interested in instead of vegetating in front of the tv, and give them a bit of exercise. Soccer will never replace football as a primary sport, but it's a good addition to the year-round sports programs that give kids a chance to participate in team activities.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/15/2006 14:22 Comments ||
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My youngest son is in Youth Soccer, kids are more interested in it than football. But the bigger story is Mr. Murdoch, what a great American! It's nice to hear about Americans that jump up and do what's right without being asked or grandstanding after. Another reason to support FOX network.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/15/2006 16:17 Comments ||
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what a great American!
Sorry if I sound dense, but isn't Murdoch australian? Or was he naturalized?
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.
KABUL - All 96 Afghan citizens being held in the United States Guantanamo prison camp will be brought back to Afghanistan very soon, a top government official said on Wednesday. The group included 94 Afghan nationals and a Tajik and a Libyan who both had Afghan citizenship, said ministry of interior legal advisor Abdul Jabar Sabet, who has just returned from a visit to the camp last week.
Internet blogs are giving rise to a new breed of Arab activist as ordinary residents increasingly use them to press for more political rights and civil liberties in conservative Gulf states. Typical was a recent posting by a 33-year-old Saudi man. "Are we destined to just listen to the news of all the big changes around the world as we await a good deed from our king?" he questioned in his weblog, or blog. And in one notable case, blogs in Kuwait were used to rally broad support last month for street demonstrations in favour of election law reforms.
(KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on June 13 as regards the fact that the Japanese authorities are driving the DPRK-Japan relations to the worst phase in history by persisting in their moves to internationalize the "abduction issue" already resolved between the DPRK and Japan. This year alone, in April and May, they made a big fuss, deciding to beg countries having diplomatic ties with the DPRK for official cooperation in the settlement of the issue and sending Megumi Yokota's family to the United States and south Korea for "soliciting" help. As if this is not enough, they are trying to take the issue to the UN Human Rights Council and G-8 summit, says the spokesman, and goes on: 
President Bush, just back from Iraq, dismissed calls for a U.S. withdrawal as election-year politics and refused to give a timetable or benchmark for success that would allow troops to come home. "It's bad policy," Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference Wednesday, about six hours after he returned from Iraq. "I know it may sound good politically. It will endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission."
A federal judge has thrown out the claims of several Muslim men who say the government was wrong to hold them on immigration violations and treat them as terror suspects following the September 11 attacks.
Prosecutors rested their case against a Fayetteville man accused in federal court of plotting to join a recognized terrorist organization. Jaber is charged with knowingly attempting to provide material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi government has unveiled on Wednesday details of a document which the Iraqi forces set hand at the house where the Al-Qaeda operative 
GAZA - Palestinian Foreign Minister 
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reached an agreement with President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday to remove a Hamas militia from the streets of Gaza and to integrate the force into the regular police. Haniyeh, speaking to reporters after the two leaders met, gave no timeframe for withdrawing the paramilitary unit and integrating it into the police. The 3,000-member force had previously withdrawn from the streets but redeployed soon after, exacerbating tensions with Abbas's Fatah movement.
A security officer testified on Wednesday in the case of six men standing trial at the State Security Court (SSC) charged with launching a rocket attack in Aqaba in 2005 that killed a Jordanian soldier. A total of 12 defendants are being tried in the case including seven Syrians, four Iraqis and one Saudi. Six of the defendants are being tried in absentia. The group is also charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and the possession and use of explosives. Eight of the 12 defendants face the additional charge of committing acts that undermine relations with a foreign country. 
Those killed in the 2002 Bali bombings had been destined to die by God, radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said today. The families they have left behind should now convert to Islam, he said.
CAIRO - The Arab League said Wednesday that Iran had the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as laid down in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We support Irans position on the peaceful use of atomic energy because this right is enshrined in the nuclear 
