The United States is giving $2 billion worth of military weapons and vehicles to modernize Afghanistan's national army, a U.S. general said Monday.
At a ceremony in Kabul, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said about 200 Humvees and 2,000 assault rifles -- the first part of the donation -- will be arriving by year's end, as the fledgling force contends with a resurgent Taliban resistance. A total of 2,500 Humvees and tens of thousands of M-16 assault rifles will be coming in the future. About 20,000 sets of bulletproof helmet and flak jackets will also be given.
"Without the support of the international community, we cannot modernize the army," Wardak said. "NATO and the U.S. have promised to help us and we are very happy. Thanks to the United States for the rebuilding of the Afghan national army."
The $2 billion also covers the building of a national military command center.
Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin said the donation is in addition to more than $2 billion already committed by the United States for military equipment and facilities to Afghanistan. "The equipment on display today represents an additional $2 billion that the U.S. alone will provide ... to continue with the equipping and building of the proper facilities and (to) continue to enhance the Afghan National Army to build towards the 70,000 force," he said. Afghanistan's army currently has about 38,000 men, according to the Defense Ministry.
Wardak said the new equipment will help modernize a military that is phasing out Russian weaponry.
The U.S.-led coalition has been heavily involved in training the Afghan army and the end result will be an army "that will be able to stand on its own two feet," Durbin said. "After four years of effort, the Afghan people have a national army that they should be really proud of," he said.
#1
Article: A total of 2,500 Humvees and tens of thousands of M-16 assault rifles will be coming in the future. About 20,000 sets of bulletproof helmet and flak jackets will also be given.
This is truly amazing. I had thought they were standardizing on Soviet equipment. Looks like they're getting the good stuff.
ONE of Britains top generals has been ordered to press Nato allies to send more helicopters to Afghanistan, where they are desperately needed by British and other troops engaged in fighting the Taleban. Lieutenant-General John Reith, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, is asking allies to fulfil the pledges they made when the participating countries agreed to expand the force last year. The Nato helicopter force in Afghanistan has a third fewer helicopters than it was promised. Nato governments were happy to agree with what was needed, but when the time came to offer helicopters we were faced with a big gap, one Nato source told The Times.
Another said: Nato members know that helicopters are a prize asset in Afghanistan, but they have just not been forthcoming. Lieutenant-General David Richards, Commander of the Nato force in Afghanistan, and General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, both said last week that they needed more helicopters. In a hostile country with few roads and vast distances, they are essential for transport, air cover and evacuations.
Yesterday the Government tried to play down public concerns about the safety of the 3,300 British troops in southern Afghanistan. In particular, there is unease that the force is too small and inadequately equipped to take on the Taleban, whose forces have recently killed five British soldiers in the province of Helmand.
The Taleban are similarly concerned that they're out-manned and out-gunned, since they've lost several hundred to the Brits. One thing about the Taleban, however, is that they don't spend a lot of time wringing their hands.
Tom Watson, a junior defence minister, told the Commons that no formal request had yet been made by British commanders in Afghanistan to send more troops, helicopters or fixed wing aircraft. Commanders have not asked for extra infantry or air cover, Mr Watson said. He said that the only requests were for support staff and engineering equipment.
But The Times has learnt that last week British military commanders and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development had their first stock-taking meeting in Kabul, where they had a long hard look at Britains deployment plan.
Nicholas Kay, the FCOs co-ordinator for southern Afghanistan, who headed the group, said yesterday: We have all recognised helicopters could be more plentiful. One explanation for the apparent contradiction in the government statements is that Britain has very few helicopters to spare. Britain has provided 16 helicopters for southern Afghanistan, made up of six Chinooks, four Lynxes and six Apache attack helicopters.
With the exception of one Chinook based permanently in the Falkland Islands, the rest of the RAFs twin-rotor helicopters are based at Odiham, Hampshire. Eight of them, the newest version, the Mark 3, adapted for special forces operations, are still grounded because of concerns over their air worthiness since being bought from the United States for £259million.
Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, referred to the unease of British commanders in Afghanistan and said it was absolutely vital that British forces succeeded in Afghanistan. Failure would be a catastrophic blow to the cohesion of Nato and would embolden our enemies, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 01:56 ||
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#1
What was that line about the Muslims not being afraid of the Russians, but being afraid of their helicopters?
#4
A squadron or two of Warthogs and / or AC-130s would be rather helpful, as well. A little extra punch with long loiter time for those, "Oh look. They're rather bunched up over there." and "I say, we seem to have more targets than ammo this morning." moments.
#5
Bright Pebbles:
From speaking to mates in any army anywhere, any time, you would likely hear that they were desperately short of everything. That doesn't make it untrue, but ....
#6
I gather that the British troops are significantly under-equipped compared to US troops, but this is aimed mostly at the other NATO countries who are not contributing, I would guess.
US assets are being used hard, by all reports. Time for others besides the US and the UK to use theirs, such as they are.
#7
Typical Brit situation. Looking to their European allies to pull their share of the load and not understanding that they're rooting for the enemy. Time for the Brits to leave Europe or join it. The third way is the worst of both worlds.
The Britts like most of the world does not have the rotary wing assetts like we do. Once a country works along side us for any period of time they quickly realize what an assett they are and lean on us for air support. When we start to reduce the number of aircraft in the AO is when they allies start to scream to their higher for support.
The story the other day about the Britts being left to fight the Taliban without A10 support was an eye opener for some. Tey had no support and were dependant on the US for help. Glad they finally got it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/04/2006 10:34 Comments ||
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#10
p155 looks to be leet. The key there is the alliteritive association with the word poor. As in Proper prior planning prevents P155 poor performance.
#15
Does make you wonder whether a squadron of Tornadoes would help. The Tornado may be on the verge of being obsolete, but that won't matter in Helmand. Heck, a squadron of P-47s would work just fine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 12:09 Comments ||
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#16
Well, where is this "Great" Britain we have hearing about with their media dissing of America?
#20
If you are into irony, the following would be an excellent choice, since it is heavily armoured and armed : http://www.vectorsite.net/avil2.html. The Stormovik was not used by the Soviets in Afghanistan, so there may not be any left. Or it could have just been typical Soviet stupidity that excluded them.
One in six British Muslims believes the London Tube and bus bombers were motivated by a just cause, according to an opinion poll.
Sixteen percent of respondents to the poll conducted for The Times newspaper and ITV News felt the July 7 bombers' cause -- although not their actions -- was just.
Thirteen percent said the bombers should be regarded as martyrs, and 7 percent felt suicide attacks on British civilians were justified in some circumstances.
ITV said the poll showed that "a vast majority" of British Muslims did not sympathize with the bombings of last July 7, which killed 52 commuters and the four bombers.
More than three-quarters of respondents -- 78 percent-- said they would be unhappy if a member of their family joined al-Qaida. Thirty-five percent said they would be proud if a family member joined the police.
More than half of those polled -- 56 percent -- thought the government should do more to combat extremism within the Muslim community, although they were divided on how that should be done.
Forty-eight percent felt the intelligence services had the right to infiltrate Muslim organizations to gather information, while 47 percent disagreed.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents said their community had experienced hostility since the attacks. However, almost two-thirds -- 65 percent -- of respondents said the Muslim community needed to do more to integrate with the rest of society.
There was concern about discrimination, with just 34 percent saying anti-terrorism laws were applied fairly to their community.
Populus surveyed 1,131 Muslim adults between June 1 and June 16. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
#1
So one in six UK Muslims supports back pack bombings on public transport. And the UK choses to give their leader prior notification of police raids. Remember the shoes-off raid of the Finsbury terror center? Sorry, but Muslims have to go back where they came from. That is not racist because I would gladly replace them with Russian hockey players or Chinese launderers (as long as they don't lose my shirts).
#2
I would second it too. But between the people eligible to replace them I would also include any Afghan, Pakistani or Algerian who rejects Islam and Chariah.
#3
"More than three-quarters of respondents -- 78 percent-- said they would be unhappy if a member of their family joined al-Qaida. Thirty-five percent said they would be proud if a family member joined the police."
Requisite impartiality in full effect here. I guess the writer felt that 78% being uphappy if a family member joined al-Qaida sounds better than 22% would be doing backflips if a family member joined al-Qaida. And that's only 13 points off from the joining the police stat. The writer of that story must have figured that emphasizing the 22% would have stirred the "brainless masses" to action, instead of what the media normally tries to do -- shame them.
#7
#1"Sorry, but Muslims have to go back where they came from."
Don't be sorry, being sorry for things we shouldn't be is part of the problem with the West. Just send their asses back to where they came from, and them too.
#2"But between the people eligible to replace them I would also include..."
Why would you want to replace them? Why not offer incentives to your own indiginous population (you know, white people) to HAVE BABIES!!!
Stop importing cultures hostile to yours. I wish we could do the same here. Soon though, soon.
#8
One of the things I like about the US is that being Caucasian doesn't make one more American than everyone else. True Brits aren't white-skinned, Fur Trader, they are those who believe in and want to be part of the culture that made Britain great. On this page there is a tribute to a Muslim soldier who gave his life in England's service, and he will not be the only one, I'm sure.
Yes, there are Muslims who have turned to evil -- entirely too many. But seeing this war as an issue of skin colour turns away those who see all that is good in the West and want to be a part of it, not to take it from us as a farmer harvests grain.
#10
"One of the things I like about the US is that being Caucasian doesn't make one more American than everyone else."
Nor did I say it was. Your own knee-jerk bias is showing. I like the same thing you do, as a white man in a mixed ethnic marriage I don't see any racism in being pro-caucasian and wanting to see my ethnic group survive and advance. Neither does my wife. And I do not see any racism in her desire to see her ethnic group survive and advance.
"True Brits aren't white-skinned, Fur Trader, they are those who believe in and want to be part of the culture that made Britain great."
True enough, but again, not what I said. The true indiginous peoples of the British Isles are, however "white-skinned". And one has to be true to ones own kind, first. It can be done without decending into racism. My comment about not importing cultures hostile to your own is truer today than ever. Particularly when elements of your culture elevate the interests of the hostile culture over your own. Look around you, the cause/effect is everywhere to be seen.
"On this page there is a tribute to a Muslim soldier who gave his life in England's service, and he will not be the only one, I'm sure."
And? Your point?
"Yes, there are Muslims who have turned to evil -- entirely too many."
And I would say that most Muslims by the very nature of their ideology are steeped in evil. Look around you!
"But seeing this war as an issue of skin colour turns away those who see all that is good in the West and want to be a part of it, not to take it from us as a farmer harvests grain."
Again, you attribute something to me I have not voiced. As I said, your own biases are showing! Projection? Guilt maybe? Only you know.
Enjoy your Independence Day celebration, I have Baby Backs to smoke. Peace.
#11
Why not offer incentives to your own indiginous population (you know, white people) to HAVE BABIES!!!
That's what I responded to, Fur Trapper. I much prefer your follow on explanation. As for my own bigotries, no doubt others can determine that better than I. Have a great Fourth!
#13
I wonder what percentage of non-Muslim British back the 7/7/ bombings? Given the growth of the Death to Western Civ movement here in the US and in Europe, I suspect it might be pretty high.
LONDON - Powers to hold terrorist suspects without charge for 28 days might need to be extended in the future, although not to the 90 days police want, MPs said on Monday. But the all-party Home Affairs Committee argued such a move had to be handled tactfully to avoid upsetting British Muslims -- already complaining of feeling under siege -- and should not be introduced by the back door of secondary legislation.
Mustn't upset the darlins', they might start killing MPs.
The growing number of cases and the increase in suspects monitored by the police and security services make it entirely possible, and perhaps increasingly likely, that there will be cases that do provide that justification, it said in a report. We therefore believe that the 28-day limit may well prove inadequate in the future, it added.
We are convinced that the nature of the threat has changed, and so therefore has the response, said committee chairman and Labour parliamentarian John Denham. Earlier arrest, which means longer detention, is serving an important new function in disrupting and preventing terrorism.
Endorsing the 28-day pre-charge detention period but rejecting the 90-day proposal, the committee said any extension would have to be carefully considered by an independent body and that each case must be scrutinised.
Which is another way of saying that they don't have the stones to implement the change.
A revolt by Labour members of parliament last November torpedoed Prime Minister Tony Blairs bid to force through a new law allowing police to hold a terrorism suspect for up to three months without charge, limiting it instead to one month.
Because the lefties in Labour see the U.S. as a bigger threat than the Islamicists, despite the 7/7 bombing.
Police and the government want to increase that period. We made the case for 90 days and our view about the need for that period has not changed, Blairs spokesman said on Monday.
He also rejected criticism from the committee that the government had been ill prepared when it proposed the 90-day law and that it had never critically examined the case made by the police in the wake of the July 7 attacks. On an issue like this, the trust and confidence of the public and the Muslim community specifically is absolutely crucial. We cannot afford divisive arguments, Denham said.
Any new legislation should not propose longer than 28 days detention unless the evidence is compelling, and we propose a new independent body to keep this under review, he added.
The committee proposed that banned telephone tap evidence should be allowed in terrorism cases, and that in cases where preventative measures were necessary but charges not possible other avenues should be explored. It supported the use of control orders, tagging and bail to disrupt conspiracies and protect the public.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Meanwhile, in the world turned upside down
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/04/2006 1:08 Comments ||
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#2
Yah, ya don't wanna upset your Muzzies, now do ya. Be way too much spittin' and seethin'. Like I said, find a nice remote, uninhabited rock off Scotland, well out in the North Sea and park their ass there for a while. Bound to cool them right off.
#3
Don't the Brits have a sew Islands spotted here and there remotely around the world that would make a great Gitmo equivalent?
Falklands comes to mind, or perhaps Pitcairn.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 7:54 Comments ||
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#4
Sheesh, "FEW Islands"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 7:55 Comments ||
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#5
Ascension Island would make a great holding area for Brit muzzies causing trouble. It's a long swim through shark-infested waters to ANYWHERE else. Besides, the eastern side of the island is sunbaked, dry, and inhospitable - they'd feel right at home.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2006 23:13 Comments ||
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Sounds good. That means they're not incompetent or suicidal.
Britain's internal intelligence agency M15 is spying on some 8,000 sympathisers of the Al-Qaeda terror network in a bid to identify future terrorists, The Independent newspaper reported Monday. Operation "Rich Picture", also aims to recruit agents within the Islamist movement, the report said. The nationwide investigation follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country.
"Undercover officers are gathering information from all over the country, including at colleges, mosques and internet websites where extremists may try to "groom" or radicalise those sympathetic to the aims of Al-Qaeda," the paper said. Of the estimated 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain, counter-terrorist sources have disclosed that they believe up to 0.5 per cent - about 8,000 - support Al-Qaeda's aims, and have links to Islamist extremists. The operation was begun shortly after the July 7 suicide bombings last year on the London public transport system which left 56 people dead, including the four bombers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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"also aims to recruit agents with the Islamist movement"??????????
Is this, like a job fair or something? What can the Independent be thinking? Oh yeah, why stop there, how about the names of the recruits!
This week, for the very first time, a court in Europe sentenced nine members of the same family for the honour killing of a female relative. The general practice so far has been to sentence only the actual murderers. Last Tuesday in Denmark, however, a jury of the Østre Landsret ruled that not only the man who pulled the trigger was guilty, but every family member who collaborated in punishing Ghazala Khan, an 18-year old Danish-born woman of Pakistani origin, who was shot by her brother, 30-year old Akhtar Abbas, on 23 September 2005, two days after her marriage.
Ghazala had married an Afghan man, 27-year old Emal Khan, against the wishes of her father. An aunt, the youngest sister of Ghazalas mother, who had told the young couple that she would try to reconcile them with her family, asked them to come to Slagelse train station. Her brother Akhtar shot her dead in front of the station and wounded Emal Khan, who survived the murder attempt.
On Wednesday a Danish judge sentenced Akhtar Abbas to 16 years in gaol, and the father, 57-year old Ghulam Abbas, to life imprisonment (which, if one behaves well in gaol, is reduced to 16 years). The aunt and two uncles were given 16 years as well. Other members of the family and friends who had helped to track down Ghazala received sentences of between 8 and 16 years. Two Pakistanis who do not have the Danish nationality will be expelled from Denmark after serving their prison term.
The Danish verdict is historic, not only because the entire clan was punished but also because the head of the family, who ordered the killing, was given a heavier sentence than the actual murderer. Families often choose a family member who is still a minor to carry out an honour assassination because, being a minor, he is likely to get a more lenient sentence under Western law.
#1
a-frigging-men! About time. WTG Denmark, there may be hope for you yet. Nice long jail terms too, now make em serve out the full duration
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 12:19 Comments ||
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#2
Damn ! Finally waking up. Thank you Denmark for being the clarion for the return to sanity. Crack down on these useless bastards. Don't let up. If they don't like it, let them pack their dead, useless asses back to the holes they crawled out of.
#3
Well, that's a turn up for the books. Wonder if the 'measured response' from the Islamic world over the mohammed cartoons had anything to do with it? Hmmmm, interesting thought no?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/04/2006 12:58 Comments ||
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#4
I wouldn't get too excited boys. They are just as likely to overturn it on apeal.
STRASBOURG, France (AP) - The lead European investigator looking into allegations that Poland and Romania hosted secret CIA prisons said Monday that neither government has responded to calls for their own inquiries into the matter.
Swiss Gadfly Senator Dick Marty implicated the two countries in a report last month as possibly having hosted the secret detention centers for terrorism suspects in the past. Both countries have denied the allegation.
"Go away. You're bothering us."
Marty, investigating on behalf of the Council of Europe human rights watchdog, offered no clear, direct proof in his report that CIA detention centers were set up there - an allegation made by a human rights group last year. Instead he relied on circumstantial evidence based on flight logs provided by the European Union air traffic agency.
He doesn't have proof. Proof is irrelevant. He has his feelings. That's what matters.
In his report, Marty alleged European nations aided the movement of 17 detainees who said they had been abducted by U.S. agents and secretly transferred to detention centers around the world. Some said they were transferred to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and others to alleged secret facilities in countries including Poland, Romania, Egypt and Jordan. Some said they were mistreated or tortured.
Right out of the al-Q handbook.
Marty and the EU's top justice official, Franco Frattini, have both called for immediate domestic probes in Poland and Romania into CIA activities there and the two countries' governments possible collusion in human rights violations.
"We have not received a single response, single information that these inquiries have been carried out," Marty told the European Parliament committee that carries out a parallel investigation into the allegations.
Don't hold your breath. On second thought ...
Marty's report was slammed by Polish members of the European Parliament, who said Thursday it was foolish nonsense based on hearsay and offered not one scintilla no proof of any wrongdoing.
Poland and Romania have said they carried out internal investigations when the allegations surfaced in November. But details of the investigations - both lasting just a few weeks - were never made public.
And won't be.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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NTSA. This guy had his 15 min and it's up. Europeans have as bad a case of BDS a any group can get. Couple that with their rabid and ancient hate of our Constution, Bill of Rights, and our representative democracy and you get this nonsense.
#4
Explain to me why I shouldn't want such activities to take place?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/04/2006 1:15 Comments ||
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It looks to me like the CIA prisons thing was a "barium mean" -- a story spread to a certain source to find a leak. And the leak was found in Ms. McCarthy. Am I wrong here?
Thousands of people marched through Paris on Saturday to protest plans to tighten restrictions on immigration and step up deportations of immigrant families with children who are in the country illegally. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's new immigration law, which passed in parliament Friday, makes it harder to gain residency permits and ends the practice of automatically granting papers to illegal immigrants who can prove they have lived in France for 10 years. Sarkozy also has vowed to send home at least 25,000 illegals this year, up from about 20,000 in 2005.
Many leaders of the Socialist opposition attended Saturday's march, including former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and former Labor Minister Martine Aubry.
Polls suggest illegal immigration is a top concern ahead of next year's presidential elections, with many in France fearing that immigrants poach jobs, soak up rich state welfare payments and commit crimes. In October, Sarkozy temporarily suspended plans to deport thousands of school-age illegal immigrants and their families until the end of the academic year on July 4. With that date fast approaching, some activists say they are ready to hide families from police.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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French people want to worry about emigration. London is stuffed with French people fleeing socialist-success-punishments (income tax).
The National Park Service has granted the Ku Klux Klan's request to hold a rally and protest the Iraq war at the Civil War battlefield where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
Gordon Young of the World Knights of the Ku Klux Klan obtained the permit Wednesday for about 100 people to participate in a Sept. 2 event at Gettysburg National Military Park. The purpose will be to demonstrate opposition to the Iraq war and to speak on "white unity between the north and south," the permit said.
Park Superintendent John A. Latschar said in a statement Monday that the permit was granted in light of rights to free speech and assembly...
Young's group and other white supremacist organizations held a similar event last month at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Md. Musical performances by Prussian Blue and the Dixie Chicks.
#2
Can we get a KLAN hunting permit?
One day season should suffice.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 11:07 Comments ||
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#3
Isnt this country great. One doesnt just have to be an over degreed academic professor or instructor to be a bigot or racist. Why should the elites get all the fun. In the great tradition of America, anyone one at any station in life can seethe and scapegoat others for ones choices and failings in life.
#6
The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry (reenactors) shoudl stage a counter-demonstration . . . loaded with live Minié balls.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/04/2006 11:48 Comments ||
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#7
The far left and racists converge
They always were one. They are the spawn of the Salem Witch accusers. That's why Teddy is so secure in ol' Massachusetts - despite migration, they still permeate the populace.
#8
Will John Kerry be there? What about Murtha? Speaking of blowhard legislators, don't forget to invite Bobby Byrd; maybe he can help KKK with recruiting.
#14
I personally think the 82nd Airborne should take part, using live ammunition and a full TOE. The survivors (if any) can get one of those snazzy t-shirts that say "I survived the Second Gettysburg" - complete with bulletholes.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2006 23:29 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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a must read!
I liked this:
Sur-prise! Sur-prise! Sur-prise! Gomer Pyle used to yell that when he found out his sergeant was out to cheat or fool him. The problem was Gomer never realized it was intentional so the sergeant did something new to him each week as long as Gomer never caught on. There are too many Gomers in Canada and the US, at our colleges, trade unions and churches who arent even half as smart as Gomer Pyle.
heh, Gomer is the perfect metaphor for tranzi dupes.
AMMAN - The United Nations investigator on torture said he believed the US Guantanamo Bay prison could be closed by the end of the year following a US court ruling striking down military tribunals created to try its prisoners. Manfred Nowak said a majority of the inmates, suspected by Washington of terrorist activity, could be repatriated or sent under a UN monitored system to member states in the EU and countries like Chile and Argentina that accept refugees.
Oh sure, the Argies will be more than happy to draw attention to themselves. And the only ones the Chinese want are their own western Muslims.
In my opinion its fair to now call for a plan of action. It might be under UN mediation where EU countries and others countries of origin could take up the majority who have no indictments, he said.
He's delusional of course.
It will speed up the closing of Guantanamo Bay by year end, Nowak, the special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on torture told Reuters in a weekend interview in Amman.
By year's end we'll have converted our old weather facility at Ice Station Zebra to house the thugs.
A minority estimated between 5 to 10 percent of the existing 460 inmates with enough evidence to indict them should face ordinary criminal tribunals but not military tribunals in the United States, he added.
Because it would only take 5 to 10 percent of them to tie our legal system in knots.
Nowak who was on a recent visit to Washington said efforts were being stepped up by EU member states to help the US administration to close the facility, housing largely inmates captured in Afghanistan. I see many negotiations that are going on, silent diplomacy. I know that, said Nowak.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Not so fast. Congress might deliver the laws needed to deal with Gitmo terrorists, and the debate has yet to begin. Only a handful of legislators are sufficiently depraved to confer rights on terrorists who left their home countries to make jihad abroad.
#3
Obviously he doesn't grasp that this is going to be one of the topics of the election in Novemeber and he is on the losing side. Mr. Nowark meet Mr. Jackson, Andrew.
PESHAWAR: The United States Consulate in Peshawar confirmed on Monday that it withdrew an invitation to NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan to attend US independence day celebrations on July 4 because he allowed the house to offer fateha (funeral prayers) for Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The speaker called the move "shocking" and "a breach of privilege" and warned he would take up the issue in the next session of the provincial assembly. "I sent a letter to Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan expressing deep shock for allowing fateha for al-Zarqawi, and informing him that I was unable to welcome him to our official reception on July 1," US Consulate Principal Officer Michael Spangler said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: The decision to launch a movement against the government was taken in by the Supreme Council of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, MMA President President Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Monday. Mr Ahmed told a press conference here that Qari Gul Rehman, an MNA of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq) had handed his resignation to the MMA president along with all Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentarians, and these would be sent to the National Assembly speaker "at an appropriate time".
Mr Ahmed said that the MMA's anti-government drive aimed to restore true democracy. Public gatherings would be held all over the country to pressure the government, he said. If the army uses force to suppress the movement, "I will be the first to take a bullet in my chest," he said. He said Gen Musharraf was an unconstitutional president, and it was also unconstitutional for the present assemblies to elect him for a second term. He said the MMA would support the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD)'s no-confidence move against the prime minister, adding that he would meet Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto if he visits London. "President Musharraf should resign from both his offices and hand over power to the real representative of the people," Mr Ahmed said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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The Ittehad Tanzeem Deeni Madaris (ITMD) secretary (coordination), Qari Hanif Jalundhari, termed the new Pakistani visa policy that seeks to keep out foreign students as immoral, brazen and unconstitutional.
We vehemently condemn the act of withdrawal of the visa facility for the students of Islamic seminaries, he said, adding, We reject the ban on the entry of foreign students in Pakistan since it is an anti-Islamic act, Jalundhari said.
Under the new visa policy announced last week, Pakistan has sought to curb the entry of foreign students and move away from its image of being a producer and exporter of Islamist militancy worldwide. There are 700 foreign students at the madrassas who have not left despite orders issued last December, according to official figures. However, these figures do not include thousands of Afghan youths from the refugee camps located in Pakistan and foreigners of different nationalities who are sponsored by the Al Qaeda.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar who announced the visa policy said the idea was to project a soft image of Pakistan and attract foreign tourists. According to Nizam-i-Mustafa Party secretary-general Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi, who opposed the new policy, one million students are getting free education, lodging and boarding at over 12,000 religious institutions of four schools of thought in the country. The administration is even providing them with free of cost clothes and shoes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: ed ||
07/04/2006 15:11 ||
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After spending the week brooding over Times leaks and Supreme Court follies, it's nice to read about some of our less publicized successes - especially on Independence Day. Good post ed, thanks.
BAGHDAD: Iraq's dominant Shiite leaders appeared divided on Monday over Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's much-touted national reconciliation plan that aims to curb violence by offering amnesty to rebels. Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the powerful head of parliament's largest bloc, told AFP he favoured extending an amnesty to insurgents who may have killed US troops, an idea strongly opposed by Maliki.
"Yes they should be covered regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations," Hakim said when asked if he would support extending the reconciliation and amnesty plan to those who may have attacked or killed US-led troops. Hakim's comments came a day after the Iraqi government issued a new list of 41 "most wanted" terrorists including exiled members of the family of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. His position contradicts the stance of Maliki, who said on Wednesday there would be no amnesty for those who killed US troops, foreigners and journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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How about some sniper drills him in the head and we grant him amnesty?
#3
That's not at all an unreasonable expectation. This is a war, and the American troops are the enemy - to those we are fighting. In wars the enemy's soldiers are fair game, and when the war is over amnesty is given for killing them. Without that, every war would be a war of extermination, not surrender. The amnesty is linked to the surrender.
The amnesty would only apply to deaths caused under the generally accepted rules of war. One could include Iraqi Army & Police as legitimate targets as well, and even civilians killed as collateral damage in attacks aimed at 'legitimate' targets. Where amnesty would not be granted is in cases where the targets were illegitimate - markets, mosques, NGOs, family members, etc. That still leaves a lot of killers to deal with.
GAZA - Faced with the threat of Israeli assassination, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and many of his top ministers meet in secret, sleep in safe houses, and communicate by fax and email instead of by cellphone.
Israel has jailed more than a third of Haniyehs cabinet. Many of the others have gone into hiding, including deputy Prime Minister Naser Al-Shaer, who has not been seen since last week.
Check Amman, Cairo and Vienna.
Other possible targets -- Interior Minister Saeed Seyam and Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar -- have not appeared in public since last Wednesday. Ministers are taking the Israeli threats very seriously, said a Palestinian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trying to keep what remains of his cash-strapped government functioning, Haniyeh has shifted the responsibilities of many of the jailed ministers to others. Minister of Information Youssef Rizqa, who has limited financial experience, has assumed responsibility for the ministry of finance and religious affairs after Israel detained ministers Omar Abdel-Razeq and Nayef al-Rajoub.
Since they don't have money, how much experience does he need? Anyone can tote a suitcase.
Atef Odwan, the minister of refugee affairs, has temporarily stepped in for the jailed ministers of prisons and Jerusalem affairs. Some ministers are telecommuting, using the Internet and faxes to avoid going to offices that could be bombed. Most of the ministers have switched off their mobile phones and are not coming to their offices, a Palestinian official said.
Israeli intelligence monitors cellphone communications and can use the signals to track their movements.
So could we until the New York Times published the details.
For the first time since the cross-border raid, Haniyeh met on Sunday with some of his ministers inside his partially wrecked compound. Odwan said he had no doubts Israel could kill Haniyeh or any other minister it wants. He said the Hamas-led government will not collapse even if it ends up with only one minister left.
I dunno, let's find out.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Note to the boys: Safe houses lately? Not so safe...
#4
These guys are like cockroaches when the lights come on. Not a whole lot of solidarity there. I can see them diming each others' location out, hoping that'll take the heat off them.
They're talking jihad against the Tamil Tigers. With allies like that, I'm not sure the government needs enemies.
As violence rages between Sri Lanka's government and ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels, the island's Muslim minority says it is caught in the middle, and there is talk of an armed "Jihad" group emerging if war returns.
The third-largest group on an island dominated by Sinhalese Buddhists, Sri Lanka's Muslims -- who share the language of the Hindu and Christian Tamil minority -- have long had a difficult relationship with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the 1990s, the Tigers kicked thousands of Muslims out of the northern town of Jaffna, while in the east Muslim areas were attacked and dozens killed. In the town of Kattankudi, one of the mosques still bears the bullet damage from a 1990 massacre. "We can't live separately," says Mohammed Sharif Deen, 56, who survived the mosque attack by playing dead. "They have to come and work here, we have to go to their side and sell our things. But if war comes we will fight and then we will die." A 2002 ceasefire halted Sri Lanka's two-decade war after some 64,000 had died. But now violence has surged again, killing more than 700 people this year -- and again the Muslims, dominant in the island's business community, fear being dragged in.
The Tigers were blamed for a grenade attack on a mosque in November that killed several people, and there have been other smaller attacks. Some Muslims fear the Tigers see their community as standing in the way of its goal of a separate ethnic Tamil homeland.
With their businesses still recovering from the 2004 tsunami, which hit the east hard, most Muslims say they simply want peace. "We Muslims are not fighting," said 31-year-old fishing co-operative owner Kalender Bashir outside the ruins of his tsunami-damaged house. "But between the LTTE and the government we are caught in the crossfire."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Too bad, it was paradise before 1985
Posted by: bk ||
07/04/2006 14:38 Comments ||
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IIUC - Sri Lanka's muslims are not militant and got along with the Sinhalese.... a model community for others that will, of course, be ignored.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 14:43 Comments ||
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Guess we'd better hire a lawyer, we're next, though I didn't realize it was possible to defame Lahoud.
BEIRUT - A Lebanese investigative judge on Monday referred an anti-Syrian journalist and a former prominent diplomat for trial over a newspaper article he said defamed President Emile Lahoud, a staunch toady ally of Damascus.
Beirut judge Abdel-Rahim Hammoud said the charges against Fares Khashan were related to an article published in the newspaper Al Mustaqbal (The Future) on Feb. 24, which quoted disparaging remarks about Lahoud made by Johnny Abdou, a former military intelligence chief and ambassador to France.
The dailys editor-in-charge, Tawfik Khattab, will also appear before Beiruts Publications Court, Hammoud said in a statement faxed to Reuters. Al Mustaqbal is owned by the family of former Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri, who was assassinated in a February 2005 bomb blast in Beirut.
That helps to make this clear.
Both Khashan and Abdou are abroad and are likely to stay there. If convicted, each could face up to two years in jail or a maximum fine of about $65,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Prominent Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt lashed out at Damascus on Sunday, saying he "feared the current Syrian regime is trying to turn Lebanon into another Iraq by exporting Al-Qaeda fighters into the country." Jumblatt, who is the head of the Progressive Socialist Party and a member of the anti-Syrian March 14 Forces, said that Syrian President Bashar Assad had warned that some members of the terrorist Al-Qaeda group "have been fleeing Syria toward Lebanon." Jumblatt said: "When Assad spoke of Syria pursuing Al-Qaeda members, leading them to flee toward Lebanon, this reminded me of what is going on in Iraq, and the Al-Qaeda members fleeing Syria toward Iraq and killing Iraqis and causing chaos." Assad had given an interview published last Monday in pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat - an interview which Jumblatt described as a "long, repetitive and boring conversation."
"Assad says that he has security fears?" asked Jumblatt. "Well, I say take your security fears away from Lebanon. The further these fears are, the more comfortable we will feel in Lebanon." Jumblatt, who said he had cut off his relations with the Syrian regime after Syria pushed to extend Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's term in 2004, also advised Assad not to interfere in Palestinian internal affairs. "Let the Palestinians sort their own things out. [Assad] is trying to divide Hamas, and stop the dialogue between Hamas and Fatah," said Jumblatt.
He addressed the issue of the occupied Shebaa Farms, saying Syria has to set things right, acknowledge that the territory is Lebanese and demarcate the borders with Lebanon. "Why is he [Assad] refusing to demarcate the borders?" asked Jumblatt, before answering his own question: "This is only to stall for more time, but eventually he will have to agree on demarcating the borders with us."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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Nah. Can't be true. Just a rumor. Didn't see it in the NYT.
MEK wouldn't be the most unbiased source, but then, we don't have a lot of unbiased sources on Iran, do we?
Iranian opposition sources reported a sharp increase in civil unrest throughout the country. The sources said Iranian authorities have encountered labor strikes, protests and ethnic clashes over the last month. "The growth in number of uprisings in the Azeri provinces was such that hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets," Muhajadeen Khalq, the leading opposition force, said on June 28. "The situation in other provinces was not any different."
Muhajadeen reported more than 480 demonstrations, strikes, protests, and clashes throughout Iran in June. In a statement, the opposition group said the unrest rocked such cities as Kerman, Mashhad, Qom and Teheran.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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I was hoping for air strikes....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 0:29 Comments ||
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Frank...did you mean, "Rockets red glare? Bombs bursting in air?" (over the mad mullahs)
EFL - the new meme - nice for the MSM to start it on the Fourth
Herold Noel had nowhere to call home after returning from military service in Iraq. He slept in his Jeep, taking care to find a parking space where he wouldn't get a ticket.
"Then the nightmares would start," says the 26-year-old former Army private first class, who drove a fuel truck in Iraq. "I saw a baby decapitated when it was run over by a truck _ I relived that every night."
Across America on any given evening, hundreds of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan like Noel are homeless, according to government estimates.
The reasons for their plight are many. For some, residual stress from daily insurgent attacks and roadside bombs makes it tough to adjust to civilian life; some can't navigate government assistance programs; others simply can't afford a house or apartment.
They are living on the edge in towns and cities big and small, from Washington state to California and Florida. Some of the hardest hit are in New York City, where housing costs "can be very tough," says Peter Dougherty, head of the federal government's Homeless Veterans Program. Studio apartments routinely exceed $1,000 a month _ no small sum for veterans trying to land on their feet. Same in San Diego - Rents are typically $1600 a month for a 3 bdrm
As a member of the National Guard, Nadine Beckford patrolled New York train stations after the Sept. 11 attacks, then served a treacherous year in the Gulf region.
But when she returned home from Iraq, she found her storage locker had been emptied of all of her belongings and her bank account had been depleted. She believes her boyfriend took everything and "just vanished." that's a personal trust violation, not America's failing
Six months after her return to America, she lives in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, sharing a room with eight other women and attending a job training program. Her parents live in Jamaica and are barely making ends meet, she says.
"I'm just an ordinary person who served. I'm not embarrassed about my homelessness, because the circumstances that created it were not my fault," says Beckford, 30, who was a military-supply specialist at a U.S. base in Iraq _ a sitting duck for around-the-clock attacks "where hell was your home."
It was a "hell" familiar to Noel during his eight months in Iraq. But it didn't stop when he returned home to New York last year and couldn't find a job to support his wife and three children. Without enough money to rent an apartment, he turned to the housing programs for vets, "but they were overbooked," Noel says.
While he was in Iraq, his family had lived in military housing in Georgia.
In New York, they ended up in a Bronx shelter "with people who were just out of prison, and with roaches," Noel says. "I'm a young black man from the ghetto, but this was culture shock. This is not what I fought for, what I almost died for. This is not what I was supposed to come home to."
There are about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States, according to government figures. About 10 percent are from either the 1991 Gulf War or the current one, about 40 percent are Vietnam veterans, and most of the others served when the country was not officially at war.
no doubt many vets suffer setbacks after wartime experience. The VA and America should be there for them. This is, however, likely a start of the new anti-W, anti-Iraq War meme
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 14:14 ||
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Regarding the "Viet Nam memes" (not that I don't think hardships like that are unknown to returning vets, of course) : Dropping The Bomb on Vietnam Myths
"Four months later the study came out. The unemployment rate in the economy at the time among all males was 6%," he said. "But among the men who went to Vietnam it was 3.9%--the lowest unemployment rate of any major group in America.
Burkett looked into the apparently high suicide rate among Vietnam veterans and found it was not even remotely true.
"Vietnam veterans have one of the lowest suicide rates in America. The two years after the war there was a slightly elevated rate that was only modestly higher then our peers who never went into the military. It fell off dramatically after that," he said.
Widespread Vietnam Veteran homelessness is another myth.
"Back, around the late 70's Teddy Kennedy had a $10 million government grant to have a building in Boston for all the homeless Vietnam veterans. Several of guys gave testimonies about how they ended up on the street after Vietnam, but I got the military records of those individuals and virtually none of them were Vietnam veterans," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 15:21 Comments ||
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I would like to add a personal note, however. After Gulf War I, I played host to a Marine discharged because of a cranky back.
He was fresh out, with little more than his duffle bag and caught in the predicament of not being able to get a job because he didn't have a place to live, and not being able to get a place to live because he didn't have a job.
The guy was actually living in a small cave near town for a few days while looking for work.
I gave him a section of floor with a loaner blanket, a bunch of black coffee and a dozen donuts and within a week he had a job paying well enough to get an apartment. Within a few months he had moved from a security guard to be a self-taught computer guy at an airport.
Last I heard, he passed the MSCE test and had moved to Seattle. This was a couple of years after he was just an ex-Marine who needed some floor for a week or two.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 16:19 Comments ||
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My thanks, Anonymoose. We need more of exactly that kind of friendship for the returning vets - across the range, as needed, from a place to crash to introductions and references. Your friend was obviously a self-starter, LOL. I'll wager he passed your efforts forward.
I did similarly for a few Vietnam vets back in the day. Good guys who needed to unwind - and I had a place appropriate for depressurizing. Plus, hell, they were interesting guys who were excellent company, for the most part. One has been a solid friend since - 37 years.
#6
I've got a couple of friends who are both Viet vets and homeless. They live the way they do by choice. One rides a Harley anywhere he wants to go, lives off his medical disability (40%) and whatever odd jobs he can get. The other one lives somewhere in Tennessee, but regularly comes through Co. Springs during the summer. Most of the other Viet vets I know (from my own service, and also from being in the military for 25 years) are doing just fine. My son-in-law is a Gulf vet and has a steady job. I haven't met many out-of-service Iraq or Afghanistan vets, even though there are thousands of military and retirees in this town. I'd guess there are some war veterans from any war that have difficulty returning to normal life. I had trouble even in the military. I don't think any of it's permanent.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/04/2006 23:47 Comments ||
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About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq. heh heh that's enough reason to delay the return past next year
The demonstration marking the Independence Day holiday was organized by CodePink, a women's anti-war group that called on volunteers to abstain from eating for 24 hours from midnight on Monday. Wow! a whole 24 hours! Oh! The humanity!
Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th. the hard core will go 36 hrs
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she would drink only koolaid water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. bullshit. She'll be feasting when the camera's off
"This war is a crime," Sheehan told a crowd of clapping, cheering protesters. "We represent several people, maybe tens millions of Americans who withdraw their support from this government."
The demonstrators crouched in the muggy evening next to a piece of pink plastic, spread down the road as a table and table-cloth in one. It was covered with wilted pink sunflowers and plates of vegetarian curry, white rice, and beans.
The demonstration aimed at highlighting the costs of the war, in which more than 2,500 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqis have died, said CodePink spokeswoman and hard-core communist Meredith Dearborn. "We have to put our own lives on the line, and I'm willing to do that," said activist Diane Wilson, who pledged to fast until the United States withdraws from Iraq. bye Diane!
Dearborn said 2,700 other activists nationwide, including actors Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, would work as a relay team passing the fast daily from one to another. so basically everyone will fast one day then pig out. Pass the steak, baked potatos and salad...try the bread, it's delicious
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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She doesn't look like she's missed many meals. Pity party part 1,2094
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/04/2006 1:20 Comments ||
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Seems to me, not very many people will be paying attention to these dhimmis on the Fourth. I'll bet even obl doesn't give a damn.
#10
sounds yummy. I'll probably fast between breakfast and lunch, but there's too many yummy snacks to make the same committment in the afternoon. I still get to be one of Cindy's "fasting protesters", don't I?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 9:35 Comments ||
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I liken this to the contemptuous child who holds his breath until mommy buys him the toy he wants.
Footnote: I never did get that toy lo those many years ago...
#12
On a serious note, there is a rumor of some illegal and underground substance in Hollywood, that if you pay a small fortune and inject it, will rip most of the fat off of you in short order.
This is why there has suddenly been an explosion in the number of actresses who look like they have just come out of a concentration camp.
Of course it is probably incredibly dangerous to your health, so don't be surprised if when they hit their 40s and 50s, a lot of these women start to drop dead. It also might sterilize them.
#13
#12 'Moose: "Of course it is probably incredibly dangerous to your health, so don't be surprised if when they hit their 40s and 50s, a lot of these women start to drop dead. It also might sterilize them."
What's the downside?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/04/2006 10:34 Comments ||
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On a serious note, there is a rumor of some illegal and underground substance in Hollywood, that if you pay a small fortune and inject it, will rip most of the fat off of you in short order.
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 United States is giving $2 billion worth of military weapons and vehicles to modernize Afghanistan's national army, a U.S. general said Monday.
LONDON - Powers to hold terrorist suspects without charge for 28 days might need to be extended in the future, although not to the 90 days police want, MPs said on Monday. But the all-party Home Affairs Committee argued such a move had to be handled tactfully to avoid upsetting British Muslims -- already complaining of feeling under siege -- and should not be introduced by the back door of secondary legislation.
Britain's internal intelligence agency M15 is spying on some 8,000 sympathisers of the Al-Qaeda terror network in a bid to identify future terrorists, The Independent newspaper reported Monday. Operation "Rich Picture", also aims to recruit agents within the Islamist movement, the report said. The nationwide investigation follows intelligence suggesting there is a very small, but significant number of British-born and Britain-based Muslims, who are prepared to carry out bombings and other terrorist attacks in this country. 
STRASBOURG, France (AP) - The lead European investigator looking into allegations that Poland and Romania hosted secret CIA prisons said Monday that neither government has responded to calls for their own inquiries into the matter.
The National Park Service has granted the Ku Klux Klan's request to hold a rally and protest the Iraq war at the Civil War battlefield where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
AMMAN - The United Nations investigator on torture said he believed the US Guantanamo Bay prison could be closed by the end of the year following a US court ruling striking down military tribunals created to try its prisoners. 
PESHAWAR: The United States Consulate in Peshawar confirmed on Monday that it withdrew an invitation to NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan to attend US independence day celebrations on July 4 because he allowed the house to offer fateha (funeral prayers) for Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
LAHORE: The decision to launch a movement against the government was taken in by the Supreme Council of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, MMA President President Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Monday. Mr Ahmed told a press conference here that Qari Gul Rehman, an MNA of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Samiul Haq) had handed his resignation to the MMA president along with all Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentarians, and these would be sent to the National Assembly speaker "at an appropriate time". 
Ittehad Tanzeem Deeni Madaris
BAGHDAD: Iraq's dominant Shiite leaders appeared divided on Monday over Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's much-touted national reconciliation plan that aims to curb violence by offering amnesty to rebels. Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the powerful head of parliament's largest bloc, told AFP he favoured extending an amnesty to insurgents who may have killed US troops, an idea strongly opposed by Maliki.
As violence rages between Sri Lanka's government and ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels, the island's Muslim minority says it is caught in the middle, and there is talk of an armed "Jihad" group emerging if war returns.
Prominent Lebanese politician 
About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq.
