KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A French aid worker captured by the Taleban over a month ago was released on Friday, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said. Eric Damfreville of Terre dEnfance agency, an organisation helping children in southwestern Afghanistan, was kidnapped in early April along with three Afghan colleagues. Douste-Blazy said the Afghans were still being held hostage. He told a news conference Damfreville had been handed over to French embassy representatives and would undergo medical tests before returning to France. A French female colleague kidnapped along with Damfreville was freed last month.
Sarkozy said in April he saw no long-term presence for French troops in Afghanistan.
Taleban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said Damfreville was freed as a response to payment gesture to new French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Taleban Shura (leadership council) decided to free him for the newly elected French president ... had said in his utterances that France will deliberate over withdrawing French troops from Afghanistan, Yousuf told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location.
Sarkozy said in April he saw no long-term presence for French troops in Afghanistan. It was certainly useful that we sent (the troops) in the context of the war against terrorism, but the long-term presence of French troops in that part of the world does not seem to me to be decisive, he said. France has some 1,100 troops in Afghanistan after withdrawing some 200 elite forces, which had operated under US command, earlier this year.
This article starring:
Eric Damfreville of Terre dEnfance agency
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy
President Nicolas Sarkozy
QARI MOHAMAD YUSUF
Taleban
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(AKI) - Computer science, which has relatively low investment costs, could be key to Afghanistan's development, Afghan robotics researcher Solaiman Shokur told Adnkronos International (AKI), citing the example of emerging south Asian economic giant, India. "The high-tech boom that has been driving India's economic development could form a model for Afghanistan, where telecommunications - especially use of mobile phones and Internet - have been developing very rapidly," he said.
Shokur is a speaker at the "Near and Far" conference in the northeastern Italian city of Udine through Sunday. The event, linked to the Tiziano Terzani literary prize, is examining cultural identity and differences in times of war. Shokur's talk described his experience of integration in Europe as an Afghan immigrant.
Students at Lausanne Polytechnic (EPFL), where the 27-year-old Shokur is completing his PhD in the pioneering field of neuroprosthetics and robotics. He and other students at EPFL have been working on a project to send recycled computers to developing countries. Afghanistan could benefit from such a project, he said. Investment by companies in offshore computer science centres located in Afghanistan is crucial, Shokur argues. "I believe that there should be connections between education, research and industry. For example industries should invest in education to train qualified staff."
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"It is also clear that a development of education without a development of industries means those who decide to do part of their studies out of the county have no motivation to return after graduation," he said.
Now imagine what happens when your entire education consists of memorizing an outdated hate-filled book full of violent exhortations. That's a surefire formula for industrial success.
(SomaliNet) A high level delegation headed by the United Nation special representative to the general secretary Francois Lonseny Fall have on Friday reached the Somalia capital Mogadishu for supporting the peace process in the war-torn country. Mr. Fall who has received a warm welcome in Mogadishu met senior Somali government officials including President Abdulahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Gedi at the presidential palace.
Speaking to the reporters after the meeting, Mr Fall praised the governments efforts of restoring peace and stability in the capital. Now Mogadishu is calm and its peace is reliable one, I urge the transitional government to maintain its role of working out peace and security, He said he had discussed with government officials over how the coming national reconciliation conference will be succeed and fruitful. I appeal to all parties in Somalia to attend the conference in June that was announced by President Yusuf, I believe that the coming gathering is an opportunity for all Somalis to gain better future in the country, said Fall.
Mr. Fall also met with the chairman of the national body of the reconciliation conference Ali Mahdi Mohamed (former Somalia president). They both discussed over the reconciliation issues and how the UN will put pressure on deploying the other African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia. It was for the first time that Mr. Fall arrived in Mogadishu since the Ethiopian forces defeated the Islamic Courts and ousted them out of the country late December last year.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fall and his delegation are said to fly to the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia to negotiate with the Puntland officials over the release of the two foreign aid workers worker who are hostage to freelance armed militiamen somewhere in Puntland state.
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(AKI) - People displaced by the recent fighting in Somalia - the worst in 16 years - are gradually returning to parts of the capital, Mogadishu, but fear is preventing others from going back to areas where the military still has a strong presence, the United Nations refugee agency reported on Friday. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva that families who used to live in neighbourhoods affected by the fighting are still reluctant to go back, mainly because of the reported presence of soldiers from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and allied Ethiopian troops. "Civilians fear that should they go back, they might be caught once more in the crossfire if the fighting resumes," he said. "Our team reports that, even though fighting has ceased in Mogadishu, the situation remains very tense."
Some of the estimated 250,000 people who were internally displaced within the city by the previous conflicts that had been raging in Somalia since the central government collapsed in 1991 have not been able to return to their homes because their houses have been destroyed by mortar shelling, or because they can no longer access the place where they used to live because of insecurity. "Many of these people were living in former public buildings such as ministries or police stations, but the TFG recently announced that people had to vacate these buildings in the coming weeks," Spindler said. "UNHCR is negotiating with the TFG to make sure that these people are relocated to other parts of Mogadishu where they can have access to basic services and infrastructure."
Meanwhile, UNHCR continues to deliver assistance to the numerous families who remain in Afgooye, 30 kilometres away. More than 40,000 people fled to the Afgooye area during March and April as heavy fighting raged in Mogadishu. In recent weeks, the agency has distributed relief items such as plastic sheeting to some 50,000 people in and the area. "Assistance is also being provided to poor, rural residents of Afgooye, many of whom live in the same places as the displaced families who fled Mogadishu and it is extremely difficult to distinguish between them, as they are all equally in need," Spindler said.
Almost 400,000 people have fled Mogadishu since the beginning of February, when the last round of fighting began, According to data provided to UNHCR by a network of aid agencies. People who have returned to Mogadishu mainly lack food, water and medicine. Spindler said UNHCR will be appealing for more funds shortly to help Somalis displaced within the country and in surrounding countries.
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Ten people were injured on Friday when Muslims and Christians clashed in a village south of the Egyptian capital, police said. The violence erupted when Muslim residents of Bamha village, some 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Cairo, objected to suspected efforts by Christians to build a church on a piece of public land next to the town mosque, according to a Cairo police officer who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
Residents fought with their hands and also threw sticks, stones and Molotov cocktails before police and security forces restored order to the scene, arresting 15 people, the official reported. He said three houses were burnt down and 20 shops were damaged in the melee.
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(AKI) - Yemen has recalled its ambassador to Libya to protest what is says is support given by Tripoli to Shiite rebels. A report on the Internet site of Yemen's ruling Congress Party accused Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime of aiding rebels led by Iman al-Houthi that have been clashing with government troops over the last three months. On Thursday, Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh attended a session of the Congress party called to discuss the uprising by the Shiite rebels. Some 12 people have been killed in recent clashes.
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London, May 11 (DPA) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Friday hailed outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a 'hero' of the liberation of Iraq and said he was 'sorry that British boys and girls' were dying in Iraq. Talabani, after talks with Blair in London Friday, also said that progress had been made in some areas of Iraq, and he invited Blair to visit 'to see the realities of all parts of Iraq.'
"Terrorists want to weaken our will, but we must redouble our efforts to beat them" -- Tony Blair
At a joint news conference, Blair defended his decision to send British troops to Iraq, but conceded 'things could have been done differently' after the toppling of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. 'But I don't think that alters the basic point of what is happening in Iraq today,' Blair added.
Talabani described the removal of Saddam Hussein as a 'big historic achievement' not only for Iraq, but also for the whole of the Middle East and Europe. Terrorism was the 'enemy of all countries,' added Talabani, naming Morocco and Saudi Arabia as examples.
Blair said as long as 'outsiders' were determined to 'destroy' Iraq, Britain would support the country to defeat terrorism. 'Terrorists want to weaken our will, but we must redouble our efforts to beat them,' Blair said.
Talabani said that Iraq had embarked on plans to achieve 'real national reconciliation' that would lead to 'real national unity.' The Iraqi president praised Blair, who will be leaving office at the end of June, as a 'great leader of a great people.'
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THE HEADLINE ON the cover of the April 13, issue of the Evening Standard read, '"The US Embassy Siege." Inasmuch as Britain had just endured the unfortunate saga of the 15 marines and sailors captured by Iran and then released with goody bags, one might have assumed this was a feature about the truly terrible Iranian hostage siege in 1979 that ultimately brought down the Carter administration.
One would have been wrong to do so: the subtitle of the article read "How the Residents of W1 Saw Off the Yanks." Aha! This was to be yet another piece about the Americans besmirching Grosvenor Square.
There has been an American presence in the Square since 1786, though the actual Ambassador lives in Winfield House in Regent's Park, a home donated by Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton.
The much-beloved Ambassador during World War II, John Gilbert Winant, was adored by Londoners from the East End to Mayfair to Clapham to St John's Wood. His personal generosity and solidarity with Britain during the darkest days of the Blitz endeared him to the country for a generation. One of the many legends about Winant was his insistence on distributing luxury foods to Londoners sheltering in tube stations during the nightly bombings. After the war, when he visited London, theatregoers would run over to him to greet him, tears in their eyes. He was given the Freedom of the City by various British municipalities.
Sixty years on, the attitude of Londoners towards Americans is radically different. After September 11, 2001, the U.S. Embassy building in Grosvenor Square was supplied with large concrete barriers and bollards to ward off a car or truck bomb. Armed policemen patrol day and night and unsuccessful efforts were made to turn some streets into no-entry zones.
Now, after years of protests that the Embassy is the number one terrorist target in the world, the Mayfair Residents association has finally succeeded in driving the Embassy from its historic residence. The U.S. Navy Department has already moved from its beautiful offices; shortly after 9/11 a friend who had been activated to Reserve duty in London told me that her uniformed colleagues were fearful of going out for a walk because several had been at the receiving end of stunning verbal abuse. This I can believe, because no sooner had 9/11 happened than I was being lectured on the cowardice of the Yanks and how their support for Israel had left the world in turmoil. (One cab driver told me that British pilots and passengers would have seen off all four sets of hijackers.) As early as September 13, 2001, retired American Ambassador Philip Lader was foot-stomped and shouted down by a hostile London audience on the BBC's "Question Time."
So, here we are in 2007, and Mayfair residents have staged hunger strikes and loud protests at meetings with representatives of the Federal government in an effort to shut down the embassy. The reasoning presented by Mayfair protestors was that the local residents have been in mortal danger since 9/11. Another obvious reason is the depreciation of local property and the cost of home insurance. In the end, the present ambassador, Robert Tuttle, instructed real estate agents Knight Frank to put the site on the market. It is believed the Embassy staff will be moved to Kensington Palace or Greenwich, if the local residents there do not go on hunger strike as well.
What is so objectionable about the fury shown by Mayfair residents is that the attitude and actions have been so hostile and at times so extreme. One Embassy staffer is reported to have said he would welcome a transfer to Manchuria, and the former Ambassador Bill Farish is reported in the Evening Standard article to have loathed every minute of his posting save those with Her Majesty the Queen. The city that endured the relentless bombings and rocket attacks by Hitler night after night for years is now furious that the presence of the Americans will make London a target. When the July 7, 2005, bombers struck, did they single out locations popular with Americans? How nice it would have been if Mayfair residents had shown generosity of spirit and solidarity with America instead of staging ugly protests to remove them from their environment, as if they were the Taliban or worse.
Had Britain been attacked in 2001, and had she then waged a war that evolved into an internationally detested conflict, it is doubtful Washingtonians would have raised such a fuss about the British Embassy in the nation's capital. If, in fact, the British Embassy had been considered a top target in Washington, it is likely the authorities would have laid on extra protection. The vitriol of many Londoners towards the Yanks was driven home when I attended a dinner party after the Easter holiday. Someone brought up the topic of the American Embassy and CIA leaving Grosvenor Square. The otherwise elegant, upper- class dinner host spat out, "Actually, I wish someone had wrecked that building and the bloody CIA long ago!' True story.
In the same week the Americans were officially banished from Grosvenor Square after 221 years, the head of Arsenal football club, Peter Hill-Wood, declared that hell would freeze over before an American, tycoon Stan Kroenke (mistakenly identified as a Jewish tycoon in the Evening Standard) would be allowed to buy a major share in the club. Mr Hill-Wood said Americans know 'sweet FA' about British football, and, besides, "We don't want your sort here" he said to Kroenke. That is the sort of thing bigots said at the turn of the twentieth century about Jews and other migrants from Europe. Interestingly, long-time Arsenal funder David Dein, indeed Jewish, was unceremoniously bundled off the Board last week amid rumours he had brought Kroenke into the picture.
Anti-Americanism has become nasty in Britain these days. It is all-pervasive and creeps into the social discourse as if picking on Americans is the new Jew-baiting.
Well, I have some observations to make about those who detest Americans and what they have to offer the world. In the past fortnight I have made two train trips. I have had to drag my suitcase up and down hundreds of stairs at various train and tube stations. This is because Britain has yet to realize that it would be awfully nice for people with luggage and wheelchairs to have the use of a lift, as we do in Washington.
Today we have been told that this year people will die on the London Underground because of heat stroke. This is because (unlike the American subway systems and buses, fitted with air conditioning since the year dot) there is no air conditioning in any tube trains or buses. What is even more bizarre is the redundancy of Bob Kiley, the American who was brought in at staggering expense to transform the London Transport system. He is now confined to home ill; did he find it unbearable trying to accomplish something with a team that did not want to cooperate with his Yank ideas?
Americans might know 'sweet FA' about football but Mr Hill -Wood might like to find out why it is that 99 percent of sports events in the USA throughout the year are violence -free family outings. A stadium full of 100.000 people on a hot night will go home happy and sober, without one incident of loutishness.
Britons in the USA enjoy a good life and the unconditional love of the native populace. Instead of hunger strikes and tirades to see Americans off, it would be nice if the affection shown to all Britons in the States could be reciprocated here.
#1
These people are no different than San Francisco Democrats, self-absorbed hedonistic self-righteous twits that believe that the protection afforded them by America is their natural due. People like this are why the sun set on the British Empire. Too many good men lost in WWI, WWII, and Korea thinned the bloodlines. These Mayfair swells are the progeny of the men who didn't go to war, the ones unwilling or unfit to defend their way of life.
I turned toward the vicar R and told him that I was pleased to discover that the family of R , contrary to mine, was still living at Saintes. I also added, by way of an explanation, that the wife of my first ancestor, Etienne Gellineau who came to America with his 12 year-old son on 1658, shared the same family name as he did (Hugette R ) and that she died in the parish of Saint-Eutrope.
After I had finished my explanation, I held out my hand to the vicar R... He drew his hand away and put them behind his back. Surprised by this gesture, I froze before him. The face of the vicar was suddenly transformed - all congested and red with his eyes looking as though they were coming out of their sockets! I wondered, what had made him suddenly so sick to the point of having an attack?
The short duration of this time was upsetting, but I did not know why. When the silence was finally broken, a torrent of insults of an unknown nature rained down upon me.
You can rest assured, sir, that we are not of the same race! My family never contracted to marry your family or anyone else of your race! Your race has lived off of the blood of Europe and of France! Thanks to Germany, during the last war, Europe and France were purged of the people of your race! The people of your race who survived, all left for America and you can stay there - we dont need you here! Europe and France are better off without people of your race!
(He repeated the last insult several times, in a persistent manner) etc.....
After such an effort, the vicar R seemed to be exhausted. I noticed that in addition to his explosion, his face was red with deep-seated anger and he had a dazed look.
After his sudden burst of anger, the vicar R suddenly left us and drew back behind me. He went down a corridor in the back of the rectory, crying out the insults until he disappeared. Then there was nothing but silence!
I turned my head and I saw the old priest slumped in a chair, holding his head between his two hands. Slowly, the old priest got up and came toward me. Tears were filling his eyes. His took my hand in his, and looked at me with great sorrow. He begged me, in the name of Jesus Christ, to forgive the vicar R...
#4
During a family trip to Lady Besoeker's relatives near Manchester in 1986 many of the WWII generation were still alive. Time for these dear people was told in terms of "before the war" or "after the war." Most men and many of the ladies had been in the services at some point. They were a great generation and most definately pro-American. Twenty years changes things and oftentimes not for the better. I suggest we move the embassy to a sprawling estate near Windermere and the District and leave Mayfair to the National Trust.
#5
Three years ago my daughter went to London on their honeymoon. Found anti-American sentiments widespread. Americans are seen as the cause of the problems of the world, & everything would be fine if we would alll just go home and stay there. 1938 worldview again.
#6
Yes, there are a lot of Britishers who hate us. I think it's because they know how far they have fallen both morally and physically, and they simply can't bear to face the reality of what they have allowed to happen to themselves and their country. It's much easier to take out their cowardly rage and anger on their friends than to face their dangerous internal demons and vanquish them. The men who fought at Lucknow, Sevastopol and Rorke's Drift would despise the character of today's Britain, and honest Britons know, and are ashamed, of that fact.
Posted by: Mac ||
05/12/2007 7:51 Comments ||
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#7
Mac, your analysis sounds like Victor Hanson's discussion on global jihadism (see Opinion post today), but without the violence.
#8
I think an intellectual inferiority complex has been tweaked. They are ashamed to be of the same Anglo-Saxon strain and have such weed-grown, stammering kin. It's Sophistication Syndrome gone awok. In WWII, no one had the luxury of such pretensions and foci when bombs were raining down on their homes-all that mattered was a decent heart and courage. What, besides violence, can push the Brits back into common sense and graciousness towards friends?
#9
This leaves me once again shamed to be English. For what it is worth, I apologize on behalf of my selfish, blinkered countrymen. If we fall to the scimitar we will only have ourselves to blame.
#10
No worry, Excal. Plenty of Americans send money to the IRA to sate their Anglophobia. Part of the strength of our mutual culture is that we tolerate such nonsense until the chips are really down. The bad news is that we've farther to fall before we get there.
#11
I think part of becoming "EUropean" is hating Americans. I blame the State Department for encouraging this. Things like this are why I am rapidly becoming convinced that our policy of extending a defense umbrella to the world is not tenable in the long run. It is not only expensive in men and money, it is making foreigners hate our guts. It is time to bring our men back from far-flung locations and have them employed in free market vocations that will strengthen our economy and make America a better place. It is time to let foreigners do their own fighting and dying.
#12
NS: Plenty of Americans send money to the IRA to sate their Anglophobia.
That would be Irish Americans only. Mainly from the New England area.
I'm no Anglophobe, but I'm tired of carping from Brits after losing a few hundred men in Iraq. We lost about half a million men during during the two World Wars pushing the threat back from British shores. Against a country that did not attack the US.
#13
*ahem* NS - can you name one? Otherwise your observation is false as well as being dated. Jeebus. Anglophobia?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 10:37 Comments ||
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#14
ZF, I just had a long conversation with a Kool-Aid drinking Frenchman who was telling me all about how global warming was going to kill us all. He had a novel approach, however; it was the West's fault that there was so much pollution in China and India because we had "driven" the manufacturing industries there. He was of the opinion that we had to "force" those countries to "stop polluting the world."
After I asked him if France wouldn't have been better off keeping some of those "polluting" industries so as to diminish a bit of the banlieue's 40% unemployment, I told him he needed to lose the idea of "forcing" China and India to do anything. He got quite offended when I told him that I would be happy to provide him statistics showing that not only the Chinese PLA but the Indian Army would currently whip France hands down in a stand-up fight.
I'm afraid I didn't do much of a job hiding my amusement at the idea of the EU "forcing" anyone anywhere outside of the EU to do anything. I suspect this guy won't be talking politics or economics to me anymore. Oh well, c'est la vie!
Posted by: Mac ||
05/12/2007 10:47 Comments ||
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#15
Zhang Fei: Of course, the Anglosphere did not include US public opinion until after Pearl Harbor. Until then it was a George W. style FDR doing his best to fund and equip the British, the Canadians, the Australians, the Kiwis and the Indians against Nazi Europe.
#16
No apologies needed, Excalibur, your eyes are focused on the real goals we all need to reach for international security.
Now, after years of protests that the Embassy is the number one terrorist target in the world, the Mayfair Residents association has finally succeeded in driving the Embassy from its historic residence.
... no sooner had 9/11 happened than I was being lectured on the cowardice of the Yanks and how their support for Israel had left the world in turmoil.
These stupid pommy asstards seem to have forgotten what it is like to be an island of freedom surrounded by hostile forces. Israel is the ONLY democratic nation in a sea of tyrannical Arab cesspits. Anti-Semitism is still well and alive in Europe and represents a fundamental societal flaw in European thinking. If this is what allows them feel so closely aligned to their Muslim colonizers then they can be damned right along with Islam.
I'm far more confident that European anti-Semitism is really a streak of sublimated yet abiding racism that will finally re-emerge when the charnel house doors are once again flung wide open to engulf their Muslim population in another, perhaps more deserved, bout of incredible slaughter. Europe seems unwilling or incapable of implementing sane measures that would forestall such carnage and instead is doomed to repeat the same grotesque set piece of the World Wars all over again.
#17
"I suspect this guy won't be talking politics or economics to me anymore..."
It's a terrible loss, Mac... but I imagine yuu'll be able to bear up.
Myself, I wonder how much of this British anti-Americanism was just always there (because historically there always was a certain level of resentment among certain classes of Brit, about those crass and vulgar Yanks) and how much is a very new and ugly kind of scape-goating. They can't really bring themselves to face that which they really fear, and which could hurt them a lot... so they lash out at a handy substitute.
#20
FRANK, *ahem* NS - can you name one? Otherwise your observation is false as well as being dated. Jeebus. Anglophobia?
dittos,
My family were colonists who fought in the Revolution against King George. But hey, the revolution was over before i was born Nimble, and inspite of my Irish blood and a few Catholics in my family I have always considered the IRA to be a terrorist org. Absolutely No Simpatico whats so ever from me.
The English have contributed far to much to civilization to be discounted because of a certain % of bad apples.
I'm a big fan of Newton, Churchill, Bill Shakespeare, Benjamin Disraeli, Maggie Thatcher, Mark Steyn, Monty Python etc. and the the Brits general. ;-)
One more 7/7 attack and the British silent majority will rise up and cull the shitheads, immigrants and native born.
#21
E: Zhang Fei: Of course, the Anglosphere did not include US public opinion until after Pearl Harbor. Until then it was a George W. style FDR doing his best to fund and equip the British, the Canadians, the Australians, the Kiwis and the Indians against Nazi Europe.
But hey better late than never.
No offense - Germany was a threat to Britain, not the United States. Both times.
#22
E: Zhang Fei: Of course, the Anglosphere did not include US public opinion until after Pearl Harbor. Until then it was a George W. style FDR doing his best to fund and equip the British, the Canadians, the Australians, the Kiwis and the Indians against Nazi Europe.
But hey better late than never.
In fact, it would be interesting to see the British response to an attack on the US from a neighboring country that involved millions of troops and hundreds of thousands of dead on the US side. I bet the Brits would just sit back and laugh at the silly buggers having a go at each other. In fact - didn't Britain support the Confederacy during the Civil War?
Human rights groups called on Bosnia on Friday not to deport foreign-born Muslims who fought in the Bosnian war to countries where they might face rights abuse, torture and punishment. We urge you to take appropriate steps to safeguard the fundamental rights of every person in Bosnia and Herzegovina subject to removal, including those whose citizenship is under review, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Bosnian branch of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said in a letter to Bosnias security minister.
In April Bosnia revoked the citizenship of 367 foreigners, most of them Muslim volunteers from Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey who came to fight alongside the Bosnian Muslims in their 1992-95 war against Serbs and Croats, and ordered their deportation. They can appeal but will be deported if their appeals fail. The rights groups said they feared that those facing deportation might be jailed when they reached their countries of origin. The Bosnian action is seen as part of an anti-terrorism drive requested by the United States, which called for the ex-fighters deportation during the late 1990s and again after the Sept 11 attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden. The 70 acre complex is surrounded with "No trespassing" signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats.
I seem to recall the MSM had a dim view of the far right-wing 'Christian' militas. Let's see what they do with this.
The entrance to the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to navigate even on a bright sunny day in May. The road, dubbed Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created by torrential downpours. On a wintry day, few, save those with all terrain vehicles, could venture forth from the remote encampment.
A sentry post has been established at the base of the hill. The sentry, at the time of this visit, is an African American dressed in Islamic garb - - a skull cap, a prayer shawl, and a loose fitting shalwat kameez. He instructs us to turn around and leave. "Our community is not open to visitors," he says.
Behind the sentry and across a small stream stand dozens of inhabitants of the compound - - the men wearing skull caps and loose fitting tunics, the women in full burqa. They appear ready to deal with any unauthorized intruders.
The hillside is blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air.
The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's legal."
On the other side of the hill where few dare to go is a tiny village replete with a make-shift learning center (dubbed the "International Quranic Open University"); a trailer converted into a Laundromat; a small, green community center; a small and rather squalid grocery store; a newly constructed majid; over forty clapboard homes; and scores of additional trailers.
It is home to hundreds - - all in Islamic attire, and all African-Americans. Most drive late model SUVs with license plates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The locals say that some work as tollbooth operators for the New York State Thruway, while others are employed at a credit card processing center that maintains confidential financial records.
There's a company whose finances and ownership should be explored thoroughly and quietly.
While buzzing with activity during the week, the place becomes a virtual hive on weekends. The guest includes arrivals from the inner cities of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and, occasionally, white-robed dignitaries in Ray-Bans from the Middle East.
Venturing into the complex last summer, Douglas Hagmann, an intrepid investigator and director of the Northeast Intelligence Service, came upon a military training area at the eastern perimeter of the property. The area was equipped with ropes hanging from tall trees, wooden fences for scaling, a make-shift obstacle course, and a firing range. Hagmann said that the range appeared to have been in regular use.
Islamberg is not as benign as a Buddhist monastery or a Carmelite convent. Nearly every weekend, neighbors hear sounds of gunfire. Some, including a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, have heard the bang of small explosives. None of the neighbors wished to be identified for fear of "retaliation." "We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," one resident said. "They own the mountain and they know it and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy a property near that?"
The complex serves to scare the bejeesus out of the local residents. "If you go there, you better wear body armor," a customer at the Circle E Diner in Hancock said. "They have armed guards and if they shoot you, nobody will find your body."
At Cousins, a watering hole in nearby Deposit, a barfly, who didn't wish to be identified, said: "The place is dangerous. You can hear gunfire up there. I can't understand why the FBI won't shut it down."
Islamberg is a branch of Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," Gilani, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or "community of the impoverished except for the luxury SUVs," an organization that seeks to "purify" Islam through violence.
A violent, Islamic organization in the foothills of New York? You don't say.
Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in New York and openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in hamaats or compounds, such as Islamberg, where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority. Additional hamaats have been established in Hyattsville, Maryland; Red House, Virginia; Falls Church, Virginia; Macon, Georgia; York, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee; Buena Vista, Colorado; Talihina, Oklahoma; Tulane Country, California; Commerce, California; and Onalaska, Washington. Others are being built, including an expansive facility in Sherman, Pennsylvania.
Nice, out of the way places.
Before becoming a citizen of Islamberg or any of the other Fuqra compounds, the recruits - - primarily inner city black men who became converts in prison - - are compelled to sign an oath that reads: "I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah's sake."
In the past, thousands of members of the U.S. branches of Jamaat ul-Fuqra traveled to Pakistan for paramilitary training, but encampments, such as Islamberg, are now capable of providing book-camp training so raw recruits are no longer required to travel abroad amidst the increased scrutiny of post 9/11.
Over the years, numerous members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra have been convicted in US courts of such crimes as conspiracy to commit murder, firebombing, gun smuggling, and workers' compensation fraud. Others remain leading suspects in criminal cases throughout the country, including ten unsolved assassinations and seventeen fire-bombings between 1979 and 1990. The criminal charges against the group and the criminal convictions are not things of the past. In 2001, a resident of a California compound was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of a sheriff's deputy; another was charged with gun-smuggling' and twenty-four members of the Red House community were convicted of firearms violations.
By 2004 federal investigators uncovered evidence that linked both the DC "sniper killer" John Allen Muhammed and "Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid to the group and reports surfaced that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded in the process of attempting to obtain an interview with Sheikh Gilani in Pakistan.
That's all I need to advocate shutting each of these camps down and putting all their members back in prison.
Even though Jamaat ul-Fuqra has been involved in terror attacks and sundry criminal activities, recruited thousands of members from federal and state penal systems, and appears to be operating paramilitary facilities for militant Muslims, it remains to be placed on the official US Terror Watch List. On the contrary, it continues to operate, flourish, and expand as a legitimate nonprofit, tax-deductible charity.
If the MSM really wanted to contribute in a positive way they could ask Albert Gonzales about this rather than the eight fired prosecutors.
#3
The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's legal."
They're making Soylent Green.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/12/2007 15:07 Comments ||
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#4
The hillside is blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air.
The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's legal."
Just the above two paragraphs involve a host of various code violations. There is no reason that this terrorist training camp could not be shut down yesterday. Our government betrays us each day this Islamic cesspool is allowed to operate.
#5
Perhaps Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, et al, can explain to the rest of NY and the US why they aren't pushing for this to be exposed and stopped? Too busy posing on the war?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 15:40 Comments ||
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#9
Mr. Ship, Sounds and smells like a little piece of Gaza right in Upstate
The Muslim paramilitary compound in upstate NY has a Whiff of Gaza about it just like the mother of all Whiffs, The Infamous Paleo Sh*T Tsunami earlier this year.
..........
"white-robed dignitaries in Ray-Bans from the Middle East".
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 18:29 Comments ||
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#13
Perfect, we've been looking for a place to test snipers. This will provide the necessary security problems and retaliatory considerations for real time sniping.
Posted by: semper fi ||
05/12/2007 18:35 Comments ||
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#14
Bush said if we don't win in Iraq, the jihadists will follow us home. It looks like they are already here.
The building and health code violations are an interesting angle, though. Never happen, of course, because it would be too dangerous. Politically, that is.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/12/2007 23:57 Comments ||
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The U.S. Army has, for the last decade, been making more of an effort to send entire units overseas, instead of individual replacements. This is the "cohort system" and the army is extending its use from combat, to combat support units. It's not been an easy transition.
From the end of World War II, until the late 1990s, the "individual replacement" system was used. Combat losses were replaced on an individual basis. Same thing in peacetime. When a soldier leaves, usually at the end of his enlistment or tour of duty, a single replacement is brought in. This means that units lose over five percent of their troops each month. Where this hurts is at the lowest level. An infantry fire team, of four or five troops, is only as effective as it is coordinated. Take one guy out and replace him with a new soldier, and it takes weeks, or months, for that team to get it's combat edge back. Same with a tank or artillery crew. Or even a team of clerks or mechanics.
The alternative is to form units, keep them together through training, then send them overseas, or hold them ready for an emergency, for about a year. While some troops are lost to normal attrition (illness, disciplinary problems, or combat casualties), the unit is largely intact. This approach has worked wonders on the battlefield. Troops know the people they are working with, and and appreciate waiting until they are back home to incorporate new people. The battlefield is not the place to do that.
Now the army is using the cohort system for combat support units in non-combat assignments. Patriot anti-aircraft missile battalions will now be rotated to South Korea as complete battalions. Formerly, individual batteries had been sent over, and these functioned more effectively than batteries that used individual replacements. It follows that the entire battalion will be more effective if all the troops are sent over at once. All the weapons and equipment for the battalion stay in South Korea, with just the troops moving.
#1
I doubt that unit cohesion is that important in the combat service support units, the REMFS that primarily consist of individuals doing individual tasks in offices (paymaster, QM, rear comms, MI analysis sections, depot level maint, etc).
It is vital in combat arms, and probably combat direct support units.
#2
I doubt that unit cohesion is that important in the combat service support units, the REMFS that primarily consist of individuals doing individual tasks in offices (paymaster, QM, rear comms, MI analysis sections, depot level maint, etc).
Dunno about that. Even in an office setting, a cohesive team helps.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/12/2007 23:58 Comments ||
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#1
my heart bleeds....nope - it was the O-Club chili *urp*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 11:04 Comments ||
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#2
Save enough money for a plane ticket back to Turkey. Then go, and don't come back.
Posted by: Mac ||
05/12/2007 11:09 Comments ||
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#3
Holy Smoke!!! Cause and effect. He will never get it. IMA VICTIMâ¢!!! It's not fair!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/12/2007 11:56 Comments ||
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#4
Sometimes good parents have bad kids. Sometimes good parents have twisted kids. Granted it's the New York Times, originator of modern truthiness, but it sounds like the father cut off the son went he became a zealot two years ago... the story about bringing a zealot friend in to eat and being told not to come back has turned up in previous accounts. The son is twenty-three, legally adult, and cast off for his choices; with no further knowledge of his activities, I don't see how the father shares responsibility for the son's actions.
It would help if he denounced the plan and the participants. But he's still lost the business.
#7
I read about the guy and have some empathy, but it's over. He claims the kid was off in Philly being radicalized and he didn't know anything at all about it . Yet this kid was making deliveries on the fort at the same time. Hmmm. Don't buy the fact that he didn't know the kid was spouting jihadi BS on daily basis. Take the whole pack of them, and there are probably 100 extended relatives they've brought in, and put them on the slow freighter back to their paradise. There's more than plenty other pizza shops. We ain't gonna miss ya. This message has to get out to Muzzies. You don't discipline yourselves, we'll handle it and you're oughta here.
#8
New York Times bullshit headline: "A Fathers Pain and an Empty Pizzeria." The father had alternatives. Besides, how did these people get into this country. Three of them were illegals and the others were friggin idiots and ingrates. I do not feel any pain for the father of these wanna-be jihadists. We don't need these losers in this country. If his business goes under, the father will hate the U.S. for all his problems. Not my fault he brought a little bas*tard(s) into the world.
#13
wasn't this kid the one who would use his delivery status from his Father's pizza business to smuggle in guns to do the killing? His anger and disappointment is misdirected. If his son was successful, Ima guessing his business would've been firebombed and he imprisoned as an accessory. Where did these yahoos get the urging? Just on the web? I doubt it. Someone should cut the tracking of Dr Steven Hatfill, Person Of Interest, and take a look at their known associates and places of worship. Helllloooo, FBI? Roll em up!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 19:15 Comments ||
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(AKI/DAWN) - The administration of Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) on Thursday urged the lawyers' community to convert their anti-government efforts into a struggle for enforcement of Sharia law, adding that the judiciary's independence was a 'temporary cause'. "Enforcement of Sharia has a wider perspective which also covers the freedom of judiciary," deputy in-charge of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi told Dawn.
He was referring to the current stand off between the government and the judiciary, lawyers and opposition movement, following President General Pervew Musharraf's decision to suspend the country's chief justice.
Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi said that the real Islamic system provided more powers to a judge than did the current system.
Therefore lawyers and political parties should join hands with Lal Masjid for enforcement of Sharia in the country, he said.
The solution to all problems is there in the Islamic system and once Sharia is enforced, all major and petty problems will be resolved automatically, he said.
Lal Masjd Imam and Jamia Hafsa in-charge Maulana Abdul Aziz said the struggle against the regime would continue till the end of the regime and total implementation of Islamic Sharia.
In a statement, he called upon people, including the lawyer community, to speed up their efforts for the implementation of Sharia and rid themselves of the shackles of the despotic form of the government.
He urged the government to establish the writ of Allah Almighty instead of its own as the country was suffering from different ills due to the governments failure.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
If I were in the Oval Office, it wouldn't matter what the "lawyers" or "holy men" in Pakiwakiland did - they'd still glow for 1000 years. The entire country needs to be fumigated. Maybe move in some Mongols (Christian, Buddhist, or animist, no muzzies) or other reasonable inhabitants.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/12/2007 22:50 Comments ||
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The ruling Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain ruled out any possibility of riots during the MQM rally in Karachi today (Saturday). He hoped that the rally would prove successful beyond expectations. While talking to a private TV Channel he said that the situation was in control, therefore there was no need to implement emergency in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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The commander of US forces in northern Iraq said yesterday that he did not have enough troops to bring stability, sharpening the debate in America about the effectiveness of George Bush's war plan.
Major General Benjamin Mixon told a video press conference that his region was a haven for militants fleeing a crackdown by US forces in Baghdad, and that the local Iraqi authorities were virtually non-functioning. "I am going to need additional forces in Diyala province to get the situation there to an acceptable level," he said. There are 3,500 troops in the region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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FREEREPUBLIC > CoSArmy CASEY > US ARMY MUST BE READY FOR "PERSISTENT" [Global]CONFLICT.
#2
Would it be possible to descend on that place like locusts and wipe them out? Or would it take more tips than they are likely to get before they melt away again?
I understand they have software that tracks people now. Would that work here? Just go through and ID everyone you find. Do that until you start seeing patterns. Thumbprint checks at every opportunity even for no real reason until you get a big picture. Would that work?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 11:03 Comments ||
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#6
I appreciate Gen. Mixon's honesty. But he's screwed. Where are the troops coming from? They have a plan for 65,000 more in the fall including some from Germany, but I doubt this comes to fruition. What really pisses me off is that Gen. Casey, now back at Pentagon is demanding a troop increase immediately of 60,000. Yet for three years while he was in charge , on station, he repeatedly recited the mantra that he had plenty of troops and did not see a requirement for more. What a pathetic ass-kissing liar. We needed many more troops from day one. Now the window of opportunity is closing. A day late & a little more than a buck short General.
#7
There is something fishy about this. Per Bill Roggio, the plan has always been to reinforce Diyala province in mid-June.
Why is this General complaining to the press about reinforcements he knows are on the way?
Either this is inaccurately reported or the guy is kissing up to the Democrats for future considerations.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/12/2007 13:32 Comments ||
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#8
Coulda, shoulda, woulda don't work now. Such language sounds like what the BDS folks like to spout.
Rummy did this, Casey did that.....BS, folks.
I do question Mixon in view of Roggio's writings. But with two of the additional battalions earmarked for Anbar, he is probably stating his case for shifting some of that to Diyala and quick.
Why is he making his case in public though?
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/12/2007 15:57 Comments ||
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#9
Why is he making his case in public though?
'video press conference'? He probably forgot who he was talking to.
#10
Diyala ain't the NORTH - its more of a border area between Baghdata and Iran. The true NORTH of Iraq is Kurd area, and these Shia radicals and Sunni Fundies are headed to their deaths if they set foot in Kurd areas - the Peshmerga does not play around, and unlike the Madhi Army, they don't run and hide in Iran when confronted.
(AKI) - Militias in Iraq affiliated to the party of hardline Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will only hand over their weapons if all other militias in the country are also forced to demilitarise, a parliamentarian in al-Sadr's faction has told Adnkronos International (AKI). But parliamentarian Fawzi Akram said the main armed group linked to al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army, should be exempted. "The goverment must immediately adopt measures to disband the militias and integrate their members in the military and civil institutions, without bias or delay," Akram told AKI.
However, Akram said that the definition "militia" did not apply to the main group linked to al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army. This group, unlike the militias "had accepted the political process and is contributing to the disbanding of all the armed groups," he said.
"The al-Sadr faction in its attempt to rid the country of the occupier (the US led multnational force) has adopted the political process after it had in the past followed the military process and appeals for a time table for the withdrawal of the occupying force from Iraq".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.
In an interview with Jerusalem Radio Friday evening Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he never considered resigning, and that doing so would have been irresponsible. "Resigning is not a show of responsibility, it is a show of irresponsibility," the prime minister said.
In discussing his reaction to the Winograd Committee's interim report, Olmert described how he felt the evening after its publication. "Of course it was not the easiest or simplest moment," Olmert said. "I got home in the evening, and I can't say that I was happy. Aliza said that Shaul, our son, who's in New York, was getting on a plane and flying to Israel. That really touched me, it's really helpful to have family like that during hard times."
Asked whether the Jerusalem issue constitutes an obstacle to peace, Olmert said that although he remained optimistic it has remained a difficult problem. "I am an optimistic man," the prime minister said. "I believe that in the end we will succeed, but I agree that we still have perhaps the most difficult and complex problem to solve - complex because it touches on our deepest sensitivities."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Oh, I see, Ehud! You wanna hang on by tooth and nail, until people defenester you.
Tehran's imprisonment of a prominent American-Iranian academic illustrates the Iranian government's increasing fear that the U.S. is using pro-democracy advocates to plot regime change against it, analysts say.
Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, went to Iran on a personal visit to see her ailing mother last year. Now she is held in a notorious Iranian prison, her Washington-based institute said. Before her arrest on Tuesday, she was trapped in the country after masked men stole her luggage and passports as she tried to leave in December. In the intervening months, she was repeatedly interrogated by authorities for up to eight hours a day and questioned mainly on the activities of the Wilson Center, according to the organization.
"There is a paranoia of people with ties to Iran coming from the U.S.," said Jon B. Alterman, of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The sad thing is that when you start accusing women like Esfandiari, you are grasping at straws."
The 67-year-old Esfandiari, who has been living in the U.S. since 1980, has for years brought prominent Iranians to Washington to talk about social change. Some have been detained and subsequently questioned back home because of "Iranian concerns about people talking openly about dramatic change in the country," Alterman said. Tehran officials have not said a word on Esfandiari nor confirmed she is being held in Evin prison.
The arrest came amid increasing restrictions on domestic non-governmental organizations particularly women's rights groups by the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "The government is suspicious of consultancy groups, think tanks, there is a fear that these groups are mobilizing inside and outside the country for dissent," Mahan Abedin from the London-based Center for the Study of Terrorism, said. "Arrests such as this one are a heavy handed, sledgehammer approach to remove the threat."
Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said some of the Iranian scholars and analysts Esfandiari had brought to the U.S. for visits in the past were sympathetic to the Iranian government. "By detaining her, the Iranian government only eliminates an advocate for diplomacy and strengthens the voices of those in Washington who say the regime is too cruel to be engaged," he said.
BRUSSELS: Vice President Dick Cheney used the deck of an American aircraft carrier just 240 kilometers off Iran's coast as the backdrop Friday to warn the country that the United States was prepared to use its naval power to keep Tehran from disrupting oil routes or "gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."
Little of what Cheney said in the cavernous hangar bay of the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, one of two carriers whose strike groups are now in the Gulf, was new. Each individual line had, in some form, been said before, at various points in the four-year-long nuclear standoff with Iran, and during the increasingly tense arguments over whether Iran is aiding the insurgents in Iraq.
But Cheney stitched all of those warnings together, and the symbolism of sending the administration's most famous hawk to deliver the speech so close to Iran's coast was unmistakable.
It also came just a week after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked briefly and inconclusively with Iran's foreign minister, a step toward re-engagement with Iran that some in the administration have opposed.
Cheney's sharp warnings appeared to be part of a two-track administration campaign to push back at Iran, while leaving the door open to negotiations. It was almost exactly a year ago that the United States offered to negotiate with Iran as long as it first agreed to halt enriching uranium, a decision in which Cheney, participants said, was not a major player. Similarly, the speech Friday was not circulated broadly in the government before it was delivered, a senior American diplomat said.
"He kind of runs by his own rules," the official said.
When President George W. Bush ordered the two carriers into the Gulf late last year, senior administration officials said it was part of an effort to gain some negotiating leverage over the Iranians. At about the same time, American military personnel began capturing some Iranians in Iraq, and some of them are still held there.
American officials have also been pressing European banks and companies to avoid doing business with Tehran, in an effort to make it more difficult for the country to recycle its oil profits.
Oil seemed to be on Cheney's mind Friday, when he told an audience of 3,500 to 4,000 American service members on the Stennis that Iran would not be permitted to choke off oil shipments through the waters of the region.
"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages to friends and adversaries alike," he said. "We'll keep the sea lanes open. We'll stand with our friends in opposing extremism and strategic threats. We'll disrupt attacks on our own forces. We'll continue bringing relief to those who suffer, and delivering justice to the enemies of freedom. And we'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."
Some experts on Iran have questioned whether the threats that administration officials occasionally deliver to Iran aid or undercut the diplomacy with the country.
"The problem with the two-track policy is that the first track - coercion, sanctions, naval deployments - can undercut the results on the second track," said Ray Takeyh, an Iran scholar at the Council of Foreign Relations and the author of "Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic."
"There are some in Tehran who will look at Cheney on that carrier and say that everything Rice is offering is not real. What's real, to their mind, are the coercive policies Cheney is describing. This is a case where we are trying to get through negotiations what, so far, we couldn't get through coercion."
The symbols of coercion were part of the backdrop on the Stennis: Cheney spoke in front of five F-18 Super Hornet warplanes.
Cheney also repeated his arguments about the danger of early withdrawal from Iraq.
The United States remains at odds with Iran over its uranium-enrichment program, which Iran says is for peaceful nuclear energy, but which America and its Western allies say is intended instead to produce atomic weapons.
Administration officials have also said that weapons are being smuggled into Iraq from Iran and that insurgents may be getting training in bomb-making and bomb-placing techniques in Iran. The Iranian government denies sponsoring or encouraging terrorism.
Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Graham Bowley contributed from New York.
#1
Good luck on keeping the sea lanes open. Last I heard the Mullahs had deeply dug-in missiles facing the Strait of Hormuz. Fire a couple of those at a supertanker, and watch world oil shipping tank. The Mullahs are probably dug in deeper than those missiles and they couldn't care less about what happens to the Iranian populace.
#2
Tow an inflatable "supertanker" up and down the straits and see where they shoot from. Drop 2000# JDAMs where the missiles come from until they get the idea.
#4
If the Iranians hit tankers in the Gulf to shutdown oil traffic, Khargh Island is a perfect retaliatory target : nearly all of Iran's oil goes out there. Plus, a naval embargo of fuels going to Iran would collapse their transportation network : the great majority of fossil fuels like gasoline are IMPORTED into Iran.
The last time the Iranians tried a Tanker War, they lost. It would not be any different this time; especially considering that oil is Iran's only major export - besides terrorism.
#5
Ima remember the last Tanker War, Exocets fired and hit..... any clue on the number of sunk superTankers? Zilch. Zero. Nil. Skary for the crew but bunkers in the sand don't work against ships.
#6
"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages to friends and adversaries alike, they have nothing to fear from an uninterested American public, and defeatist congress"
Might want to watch out for that lame duck President though, he'll kick your ass.
#8
"The problem with the two-track policy is that the first track - coercion, sanctions, naval deployments - can undercut the results on the second track," said Ray Takeyh Taqiyya
#9
If the MMs and proxies are smart [oxymoroon alert!] they would not have to lob missiles at tankers to succeed. They would keep at the job of wussifying the US. We can do it to ourselves, thankyouverymuch. We have the dems working for you. At least right now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/12/2007 12:02 Comments ||
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#10
They won't shut the straits and delay their oil shipments to ChiComs and Japan until the pipeline through Ubekizstan has come online. Anyone know the status ? I think it's 3-5 years away. This oil is their only revenue source other than pistacios o EU.
#12
We have no resolve. Osama bin Laden was right. The American public cares more about Paris Hilton's jail sentence than it does about whether we win the war in Iraq. The American media and the Democratic Party are traitors. Bush intends to do nothing about Iran -- nothing. This war is lost. All that remains is to negotiate the terms of our surrender. Unfortunately, this surrender will be a beginning, not an end. Having beaten us once, our enemies will be eager to do it once more. It's hard to imagine our ever commiting troops overseas again no matter what the provocation, especially if the Democrats take the White House. The future looks very gloomy. I especially wouldn't want to be an Israeli right now.
Posted by: Infidel Bob ||
05/12/2007 15:40 Comments ||
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#13
Cheney is ratcheting things up not only for Irants consumption. He's trying to inject steel in the spines of the other ME countries by showing our resolve.
For the donks he is demonstrating that for the Bush Admin, politics gets trumped by national security. And the dangers of ditching Iraq under such circumstances.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/12/2007 16:23 Comments ||
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#14
The American public believe that if we pull out of Iraq the bad guys will follow us home. The American public do not want their troops starved of the funds they need to win in Iraq. The American public don't think highly of President Bush, but they think even less of the members of Congress. Or at least that's what several thousand random Americans told several different polling organizations between late March and mid-April. I posted links here at the time.
#15
Trailing Wife, those polls are not jiving with the "etched in stone" elections last November. Don't be surprised when the other shoe drops in November 2008! A definite indication of that will come in November this year when the Republican 'Coat Tails' will take a beating for their "W" support. Another St. Valentine's Day Massacre in the works!!
Almost a year has passed since Israels bombardment of Lebanon, time enough to draw lessons from the conflict and reflect on its consequences.
Last week, Israels Winograd Commission published an interim report scrutinizing Israels conduct during what it called the countrys most recent military campaign. But the report failed to draw the most essential lesson from the July war and the wars that preceded it: military action does not give the people of Israel security. On the contrary, it compromises it. The only way for the people of Israel and the Arab world to achieve stability and security is through a comprehensive peace settlement to the overarching Arab-Israeli conflict.
It is in this vein that participants in the March Arab League summit in Riyadh called again for a peace proposal originally put forward at a similar gathering in Beirut in 2002. The Arab Peace Initiative, as it is called, was introduced by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by all the Arab countries. It offers Israel full recognition by the 22 members of the Arab League in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders, thus allowing the Palestinians to create a viable independent state on what is only 22 percent of historic Palestine.
This is a high price but one the Arabs are willing to pay, as it is the only realistic path to peace that conforms to all United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions addressing the conflict, and ensures the right of return of the Palestinian people. The Arab states are not seeking to wipe Israel off the map. Rather, we are seeking the legitimate goals of an armistice, secure borders and the ability of all of the regions people to live in peace and security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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YNETNEWS > ARABS GIVE ISRAEL A LIFELINE, via proposed peace plan; + ARABS DON'T WANT TO DESTROY ISRAEL articles.
(AKI) - In a widely expected decision, Syria's parliament has nominated President Basher al-Assad as the sole candidate in presidential elections scheduled for 27 June. Parliamentary speaker Mahmud al-Abrash described the unanimous decision as akin to "a wedding feast for all the cities of Syria". The Syrian constitution grants Assad's ruling Baath party and its allies control of parliament with the remaining seats held by independents linked to the government.
On election day, voters will be called to express their opinion by marking their ballots "yes" or "no" for Assad. Opposition parties are boycotting the election and have called for "real democratic elections".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd say it more closely resembled something that usually happens after the wedding feast, myself.
#5
Hopefully, it's a rigged election, otherwise... I mean, he looks like a guy who could be the only candidate, yet somehow manage to lose, doesn't he?
SPOKANE, Wash. - Thursday a U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that a grand jury issued a two count indictment against 23-year-old Travis Riehl of Spokane.
Enjoy the hoosegow, Travis.
The Indictment charges Travis Riehl with two counts of destruction of government property. Travis Riehl is alleged to have thrown a rock through the window of the United States Army Recruiting Station located on 29th Avenue in Spokane, on October 16, 2005. It cost in excess of $1,000 to repair the damages.
Additionally, Travis Riehl is charged with throwing a rock through the window of the Washington Air National Guard office located on North Washington in Spokane on October 16, 2005. He is alleged to have spray painted a window with the "A" anarchy symbol and the phrase, "Leave Us Alone." Damages there exceeded $1,000 as well.
Notice how anarchists who want to be left alone somehow never manage to extend the courtesy to others?
A conviction for destruction of government property carries a penalty of not more than 10-years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine and up to 3-year term of court supervision after release.
Given the monetary cost a liberal judge might let him off, but I'm betting he gets a couple of months. Less then he deserves, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Isn't rock throwing like a political act man? Edgy to be sure, but gotta be covered on one of those Bill of Rites thingies.
#2
...When I was a USAF recruiter, one of my kids came down to check in and had with him a young gentleman who could best be described as 'goth with a serious attitude problem'. I remained polite of course, and then I noticed the anarchist symbol painted on the toes of his boots.
Thinking this kid was ripe for a little fun, I asked what the symbols meant and he launched into a long explanation of exactly what anarchy was. I listened, nodded, and then asked:
"But if anarchy means society with out a state or authority, doesn't the wearing of that symbol mean that you claim authority over others to demand they change the way of life they've freely chosen and support?"
Man, thought the boy's head was gonna explode.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/12/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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To amend his fool actions, offer to let him enlist and proceed directly to the front. His clarity of thought would make a remarkable recovery.
#4
You don't understand MikeMan, dressing alike is dee rigur for anarkists. Likewise is they mob chant, "Giver me some money you", it's all in the Big Golden Book of Acting 24 With A Philosophy Degree. It's a lifestyle choice.
We just might need a flying pig graphic around here ...
Last night, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste appeared on MSNBCs Countdown With Keith Olbermann. Batiste has been a CBS News consultant, but last night it was disclosed that he has been asked to leave that position due to his participation in an ad criticizing President Bush. Says Batiste in the ad: "Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril."
CBS News Vice President, Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason confirmed to me that Batiste was asked to vacate his position. When we hire someone as a consultant, we want them to share their expertise with our viewers, she said. By putting himself front and center in an anti-Bush ad, the viewer might have the feeling everything he says is anti-Bush. And that doesnt seem like an analytical approach to the issues we want to discuss.
She said that Batiste's appearance in the ad marked a violation of CBS News standards, in which we ask that people not be involved in advocacy. Added Mason: We might still go to the general to ask about things, but not as a consultant to CBS News.
General Batiste took part in a commercial thats being shown on television to raise money for veterans against the war, she said. It isnt just that he took an advocacy position. She also said that the decision would have been the same had Batiste appeared in a similar ad in support of the president.
All this makes you wonder if the General had something else going on we're going to hear about in the next couple of days. Lots of paid 'consultants' are on the air bashing the President -- just look at MSNBC.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2007 00:00 ||
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By putting himself front and center in an anti-Bush ad, the viewer might have the feeling everything he says is anti-Bush. And that doesnt seem like an analytical approach to the issues we want to discuss.
#3
I have no use for "flag officer" talking heads on TV. They've had their day in the sun, and most of them would have never let out so much as a whimper or a frown while still in uniform. Plenty of opportunity to carp or resign under Rumsfeld, but few if any did. We've grown a fine breed of "yes men." All the arm chair quarterbacking and media verbal assaults in hell won't produce a damn thing. It's mindless jibberish from men who should know better. On top of all that, with the exception of one or two, their wives dress them strangely.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 10:40 Comments ||
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btw - before you start liking Linda Mason for this one right thing, remember that she's the one in an interview who noted that Katie Couric's CBS News is sinking like a rock because she's a woman:
I'm just surprised at how, almost 30 years after I worked on the "Evening News" as the first woman producer, that Katie is having such a tough time being accepted by the public, which seems to prefer the news from white guys, and now that Charlie's doing so well, from older white guys. I guess they want the reassurance of a Walter Cronkite.
I had no idea that a woman delivering the news would be a handicap. And I'm afraid that Katie's paying a price for being the first woman. But I think it's a great trail that she's blazing, and I think if the broadcast continues to be as good as it has been, if we continue to break news, if we continue to tell interesting stories, people will start to watch. It takes time, I think. But I was surprised that there was an obvious connection between a woman giving the news, and the audience wanting to watch it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 10:51 Comments ||
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Dianne Sawyer did fine. My guess is that the CBS people can't bring themselves to admit that their fabrication of "news" to support the Dems in recent years has destroyed their credibility and devalued the brand. Being a woman has nothing to do with it. Being an airhead peddling politicized schlock instead of information does.
#8
It's not that she's a woman, it's that she lies constantly, twisting the "News to her own (Bosses) ends. the lies and twisting is why she's not doing well, I watched at first, after catching her in many outright fabrications, twists and slants, I stopped.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/12/2007 12:34 Comments ||
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like Couric's "My Diary" speech that turned out to have been knowingly written for her, but actually plagiarized from a second writer? She should've been fired on the spot
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2007 13:34 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(AKI) - Computer science, which has relatively low investment costs, could be key to Afghanistan's development, Afghan robotics researcher Solaiman Shokur told Adnkronos International (AKI), citing the example of emerging south Asian economic giant, India. "The high-tech boom that has been driving India's economic development could form a model for Afghanistan, where telecommunications - especially use of mobile phones and Internet - have been developing very rapidly," he said. 
(AKI) - People displaced by the recent fighting in Somalia - the worst in 16 years - are gradually returning to parts of the capital, Mogadishu, but fear is preventing others from going back to areas where the military still has a strong presence, the United Nations refugee agency reported on Friday. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler told reporters in Geneva that families who used to live in neighbourhoods affected by the fighting are still reluctant to go back, mainly because of the reported presence of soldiers from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and allied Ethiopian troops. "Civilians fear that should they go back, they might be caught once more in the crossfire if the fighting resumes," he said. "Our team reports that, even though fighting has ceased in Mogadishu, the situation remains very tense."
Ten people were injured on Friday when Muslims and Christians clashed in a village south of the Egyptian capital, police said. The violence erupted when Muslim residents of Bamha village, some 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Cairo, objected to suspected efforts by Christians to build a church on a piece of public land next to the town mosque, according to a Cairo police officer who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. 
London, May 11 (DPA) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Friday hailed outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a 'hero' of the liberation of Iraq and said he was 'sorry that British boys and girls' were dying in Iraq. Talabani, after talks with Blair in London Friday, also said that progress had been made in some areas of Iraq, and he invited Blair to visit 'to see the realities of all parts of Iraq.'
Human rights groups called on Bosnia on Friday not to deport foreign-born Muslims who fought in the Bosnian war to countries where they might face rights abuse, torture and punishment. We urge you to take appropriate steps to safeguard the fundamental rights of every person in Bosnia and Herzegovina subject to removal, including those whose citizenship is under review, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Bosnian branch of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said in a letter to Bosnias security minister. 
Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden. The 70 acre complex is surrounded with "No trespassing" signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats.
(AKI/DAWN) - The administration of Islamabad's radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) on Thursday urged the lawyers' community to convert their anti-government efforts into a struggle for enforcement of Sharia law, adding that the judiciary's independence was a 'temporary cause'. "Enforcement of Sharia has a wider perspective which also covers the freedom of judiciary," deputy in-charge of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi told Dawn. 
In an interview with Jerusalem Radio Friday evening Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he never considered resigning, and that doing so would have been irresponsible. "Resigning is not a show of responsibility, it is a show of irresponsibility," the prime minister said. 
Almost a year has passed since Israels bombardment of Lebanon, time enough to draw lessons from the conflict and reflect on its consequences.
(AKI) - In a widely expected decision, Syria's parliament has nominated President Basher al-Assad as the sole candidate in presidential elections scheduled for 27 June. Parliamentary speaker Mahmud al-Abrash described the unanimous decision as akin to "a wedding feast for all the cities of Syria". The Syrian constitution grants Assad's ruling Baath party and its allies control of parliament with the remaining seats held by independents linked to the government.
