There was no manger, Christ is not the Messiah, and the crucifixion never happened. A forthcoming ITV documentary will portray Jesus as lefty libtards Muslims see him.
With the Koran as a main source and drawing on interviews with scholars and historians, the Muslim Jesus explores how Islam honours Christ as a prophet but not as the son of God. According to the Koran the crucifixion was a divine illusion. Instead of dying on the cross, Jesus was rescued by angels and raised to heaven.
The one-hour special, commissioned and narrated by Melvyn Bragg, is thought to be the first time the subject has been dealt with on British television. Lord Bragg said: "I was fascinated by the idea ... Jesus was such a prominent figure in Islam but most people don't know that." He denies the programme will divide communities. Raised as an Anglican, he describes the documentary as thoughtful and well researched. "I hope it will provoke among Muslims the feeling they are included in television."
The director and producer, Irshad Ashraf, said the film was an attempt to shift the focus away from extremism to the spiritual side of Islam. "Jesus is loved and respected by Muslims and he's one of the most important prophets in our religion."
Representatives from mainstream Anglican and Catholic organisations were invited to take part in the film, to be broadcast on Sunday, but nobody was available, Mr Ashraf said.
Philip Lewis, the Bishop of Bradford's aide on inter-faith matters, urged believers on both sides to take advantage of a "worthwhile contribution to understanding a complex issue".
Predictable, I s'pose.
However, Patrick Sookhdeo, an Anglican canon and spokesman for the Barnabas Fund, which works with persecuted Christians, accused broadcasters of double standards. Mr Sookhdeo, who was born a Muslim and converted to Christianity in 1969, said: "How would the Muslim community respond if ITV made a programme challenging Muhammad as the last prophet?"
They'd shrug and call for more tea, of course. Doesn't everybody?
#1
I call for seething and burning of ITV offices and Moskkks!!...or not. NASCAR's on today, so I'll have to pass
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2007 10:45 Comments ||
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#2
I hope they spend time on the Islamic version of Jesus's ancestry. The Koran makes him the son of Miriam (sister of Moses and Aaron).
Of the few Moslems who know this and the fewer still who will discuss this soberly with an infidel, the typical answer is that the reason the timeline looks goofy is that Christians and Jews have distorted the bible.
#3
Philip Lewis, the Bishop of Bradford's aide on inter-faith matters, urged believers on both sides to take advantage of a "worthwhile contribution to understanding a complex issue".
Don't tell that to all the prophets and disciples who for over 1600 years all made the predictions and then who witnessed those predictions come true of God's Son mission on Earth. A simple issue.
#4
I either believe in Christ and am therefor a Christian, or I do not and I am not (I happen to believe) If I believe, then it is a settled issue for me, and the "worthwhile contribution" is in fact just so much hooey...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/19/2007 14:04 Comments ||
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#5
Fair enough ... When might we expect the sequel: Mohammed as seen by the rest of the civilized world.
#6
Wonder if director and producer, Irshad Ashraf will included the part where Jesus (Issa) comes back to earth and wipe out the Jews and Christians (kill all pigs and break all crosses)? More UK taxpayer funded taqqiya.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2007 15:54 Comments ||
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#9
"Jesus was rescued by angels and raised to heaven" > IMO, makes Jesus at minima equal to Mohammed, iff not superior. Iff Mohammed was alegedly taken to heaven on a winged horse sent by God, as various srticles all over the Net have described ala Islamic beliefs, IS NOT AN ANGEL A SUPERIOR ENTITY TO A HORSE???
#10
Seriously, we need seething and rioting, and people with signs about how outraged we are....
oh wait...we are actually educated, reasonable, civilized people, not barbaric cretins from the 7th century pretending we belong to a real religion and are actually educated instead of mind controlled from birth.....
silly me
#11
Always to the point, JosephM. For many the documentary will be an eye opener, incomplete though it is. Shortly after 9/11 the PTA brought in a speaker from the nearby (Saudi-built) mosque. One of the teachers just couldn't get past the fact that Muslims do not regard Jesus Christ as one third of the holy trinity of Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that is as divine rather than a mere man, however holy. Not many Westerners doubt the crucifixion happened, and when faced with Islam's insistence that their god deliberately fooled people, many will wonder how a religion that claims to supercede Christianity can have any validity when it insists God is a liar.
#12
touche', TW! I say we go ALL the way back to the root of the entire problem....Isaac vs. Ishmael.
Isaac (the rightful son of Abraham by Sarah, his wife) was in God's chosen lineage, and thus, is the one portrayed as being *almost* slain by his father, when God steps in. He is the descendent of the Judeo-Christian line of beliefs.
Ishmael (the "bastard" son of Abraham, by Hagar, Sarah's nurse-maid) is run out of Dodge and is said to be a donkey of a man, whose descendants would always be at war with Isaac's descendants. He is the one the Muslims claim that Abraham almost killed before God stepped in, and thus, he is on the "loosing" side, as he is NOT the chosen lineage of God (yet, he is the descendant of most Arab people and the Muslims in general).
Granted, this is a "simplified" version of events, yet we see that even now, the descendants of Ishmael are still warring against those of Isaac. How d'ya like them apples, Mr. Melvyn Bragg?
Posted by: BA ||
08/19/2007 22:29 Comments ||
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The BBC has abandoned plans to screen a fictional terrorist attack by Muslim suicide bombers in the primetime drama Casualty after internal clashes over whether the highly sensitive subject matter would cause offence.
Sigh.
Not as much offense as the actual kabooms caused. But Beebs saw fit to ignore that.
A source close to next month's new series of Casualty, the long-running BBC1 hospital drama, said that it was to start with a two-part special in which a young Muslim runs into a bus station and blows himself up. Another Muslim is wearing a suicide vest but fails to detonate it; instead he is injured and the vest has to be carefully removed. The source said that senior figures in the drama department supported the idea but were blocked by editorial guideline staff, who oversee the corporation's editorial and ethical standards. The drama staff were overruled because of concerns that the story would perpetuate stereotypes of young Muslims in Britain.
Who else in Britain has self-detonated on public transporation? Name one other group. If only one bunch does it, it's not a stereotype; it's a characteristic.
The link details a different movie about a suicide bomber being produced by Channel Four.
#1
The drama staff were overruled because of concerns that the story would perpetuate stereotypes of young Muslims in Britain.
I would be much more worried that a third of their audience would be rooting for the bombers.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/19/2007 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
Not 30% - nowhere near Joe.
Datapoint: the piece of filth (a Doctor!) that tried to detonate the Jeep at Glasgow and got burned to a crisp for his trouble was at a hospital near where I work. Lotsa cops, some tooled-up, helicopter etc.
Some responses I heard: "dunno why we're spending money on him", "I'd pour salt/bleach/etc into the wounds", "the doctors should keep him alive, but in a lot of pain". This from a lot of people from a very wide cross-section of society (Profs to cleaners). Only one person tried to "see things his way"...
I know we're not going to be fortunate all the time, and so I expect to see more 7/7 type events. My mind was made up way back in early 2002 through 2003 - seems the British people are getting that way too.
ps the BBC is very out of touch with the general populace.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/19/2007 10:45 Comments ||
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#3
Tony -- what's the asian population in Red Ken's London?
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/19/2007 10:51 Comments ||
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#4
Dunno for sure - London has a high %age of all ethnic 'minorities'. Some figures say about 30% of London is ethnic, which now includes Poles, East Europeans and a lot more than just the Asians - Pakistanis/Bangladeshis mostly.
As for that PoS Livingstone, I remember him from the GLC days and his feting of IRA sympathisers. Swine.
London isn't Britain, in the same way that the East and West coast intelligentsia is not the US (and lets not consider the loony-bin that's Washington). And I've already mentioned the hive of villainy that is the BBC (unrepresentative and biased).
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/19/2007 11:08 Comments ||
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The Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in a rare message on Saturday called on Afghans to shun their differences and join the militant Islamic movement's campaign to drive Western troops from Afghanistan. Omar made the appeal through a Taliban spokesmen, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, on the eve of the 88th anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from Britain. He said Afghanistan was once again "occupied by colonialist forces", referring to foreign troops in the country. "We have to ... put aside all of our internal, regional and linguistic differences and get united against the enemy," said the message, which was read to Reuters over the telephone by Yousuf from an undisclosed location.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Eritrea responded angrily on Saturday to a threat by U.S. Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazer to place it on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Frazer said on Friday the United States was considering putting the Red Sea state on the terrorist list for allegedly funnelling weapons and aid to Somali Islamist insurgents battling the American and Ethiopian-backed interim government. "We have tried our best to act with restraint with Eritrea," Frazer told reporters in Washington. "We cannot tolerate... their support for terror activity, particularly in Somalia."
Asmara said the accusation was baseless. "We are very, very grateful to Ms. Jendayi Frazer (for) exposing her ill-will towards the Eritrean people," Information Minister Ali Abdu said icily.
A U.N. monitoring group last month accused Eritrea of sending large quantities of weapons to Islamists in Somalia -- a charge Asmara denies.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Like a funner, it goes through Eritria. Right here. Still a thousand imprisoned Christian ministers from what I hear.
The human cost of the war in Afghanistan to British soldiers can be revealed today as figures show that almost half of frontline troops have required significant medical treatment during this summer's fighting.
In a graphic illustration of the intensity of the conflict in Helmand province, more than 700 battlefield soldiers have needed treatment since April - nearly half of the 1,500 on the front line. The figures, obtained from senior military sources, have never been released by the government, which has faced criticism that it has covered up the true extent of injuries sustained during the conflict.
The Ministry of Defence releases the number of soldiers taken to hospital, a fraction of those who require treatment on the battlefield. The new figures relate to the number of soldiers patched up and sent back to the front line and who do not appear in official casualty reports.
By contrast, US official figures take into account soldiers treated on the front line. In their figures, wounded troops include those away from the front line for 72 hours or more.
One British army official said the 700 cases include a 'handful' of officers who suffered injuries and chose to carry on fighting. The injuries include shrapnel wounds, cuts, burns, acute heat stroke and diseases such as 'DnV' - diarrhoea and vomiting that can incapacitate a man for days. Of the 700 cases, 400 combat troops were described as being so ill they were forced to 'lay down their bayonets'.
Official casualty figures between April and the start of August stood at 204, with about half stemming from the battlefield.
The number of soldiers requiring front-line treatment was discussed at military briefings in Helmand during intensive fighting this month and relate to the current deployment, which began in April. An army spokesman said official casualty figures between April and the start of August stood at 204, with about half stemming from the battlefield.
Military sources said the willingness of soldiers to carry on fighting while suffering was indicative of the bravery being routinely displayed.
'The courage of the soldiers has been remarkable. Many are getting patched up and just want to get on with it. Most do not want to leave their comrades,' said the source in Helmand. Last week, details were released about how 26-year-old Captain David Hicks, of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, refused morphine after being mortally wounded by shrapnel so he could keep a clear head to lead his men. He later died of his injuries.
The MoD said the figures should not be confused with its published 'casualty' figures, claiming that cases treated by frontline medics often related to minor ailments and complaints that were not considered life-threatening or serious. The spokeswoman went on to say that, in serious cases, troops were not given the option to carry on fighting.
However, the number of serious injuries is rising. A spokesman for the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association said that 27 British soldiers had lost limbs serving in Afghanistan and Iraq during the past 12 months.
Many young infantrymen intend to leave the army because the firefights they have survived in Helmand could never be surpassed
The frenetic nature of the conflict in southern Afghanistan is underlined by the fact that many young infantrymen intend to leave the army because the firefights they have survived in Helmand could never be surpassed. In terms of soldiering, the conflict has offered some of the most intense fighting for 50 years, with two million rounds of ammunition so far fired by British forces.
'You could be in the army for decades and you will never get anything like that again. Will it be bettered? I can't see it,' said one soldier. Commanders are understood to be concerned that the Helmand conflict could precipitate an exodus of combat troops who feel military life will never offer the same challenge again.
Campaigners have frequently argued that British troops are paying a higher price on the battlefield than has been made public. Casualty figures are expected to rise in the coming months as the current tour, from April to October, finishes, when regiments that have experienced the brunt of fighting push on to gain ground before they leave.
#1
Only adding to the shame and sorrow of what's happening to the UK military - not a question of courageous and able practitioners, but a rot in their home country's understanding of its responsibilities and the way the world works. The US is not immune to these, of course. Don't want any of my discouraging words to be construed as disrespect for the British military. The political class and electorate that fails to support them, that's another story.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/19/2007 8:06 Comments ||
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#4
Shock toll of British injured in Afghan war
It's nothing compared to the First Anglo-Afghan War. On January 1, 1842 following some unusual thinking by Elphinstone an agreement was reached that provided for the safe exodus of the British garrison and its dependents from Afghanistan. Five days later, the retreat began, The departing British contingent numbered around 14â16,000, of about 4,500 military personnel, and over 10,000 civilian camp followers; the military force consisted mostly of Indian units and one British battalion, the 44th.
As they struggled through the snowbound passes, the British were attacked by Ghilzai warriors.The evacuees were harassed down the 30 miles of treacherous gorges and passes lying along the Kabul River between Kabul and Gandomak. and massacred at the Gandamak pass before reaching the besieged garrison at Jalalabad. The force had been reduced to fewer than forty men by a retreat from Kabul that had become, toward the end, a running battle through two feet of snow. The ground was frozen and the men had no shelter and little food for weeks. Only a dozen of the men had working muskets, the officers their pistols and a few unbroken swords. The only Briton known to have survived was Dr. William Brydon.
Lady Butler's famous painting of Dr William Brydon, reportedly the sole survivor, gasping his way to the British outpost in Jalalabad, helped make Afghanistan's reputation as a graveyard for foreign armies and became one of the great epics of Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Afghan_War
#5
Al-Guardian - I might have known. Just another BS-filled piece of enemy propaganda from Britain's internal enemies masquerading as "news". Look, dipwad, soldiers don't go "looking" for combat, and it's not the only thing that keeps them serving. Obviously the closest the "reporter" has ever come to a military unit is watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The idiot's own words contradict what he writes. The officer that refused to leave his men, the soldiers that have been "nicked" but not seriously injured continuing to fight, etc., shows a military with high morale and cameraderie - something this dipwad wouldn't understand in a thousand years. The British military may not be as well-equipped and well-trained as some of the US troops (mostly special operations types), but they punch well above their weight, and deserve the respect of those at home. Sadly, it doesn't seem as if the British "elite" feel obligated to point that out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/19/2007 16:53 Comments ||
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Al Qaeda uses Bosnia as a transit point, receiving help from Islamic veterans of Bosnia's 1992-95 war, US diplomat Raffi Gregorian said in an interview with a Sarajevo daily published Saturday. "Certain intelligence agencies consider Bosnia-Hercegovina as one of the Al Qaeda's transit points", Gregorian told the Dnevni Avaz newspaper. "There are sympathisers in the country who are ready to help Al Qaeda with hiding agents, providing financial support or providing false documents," he added.
Gregorian is the principal deputy to Miroslav Lajcak, the top international representative here. Asked whether there were so-called 'sleepers' in the Balkans country, Gregorian replied "No, there are more likely helpers". Bosnia came under the spotlight after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States due to the presence in the former Yugoslav republic of former fighters from Islamic countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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KOLKATA, India - Security was stepped up for the exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Saturday after the controversial author was issued with a death threat, police said. The move came after radical Muslim cleric Majidulla Khan Farhad on Friday accused Nasreen of defaming Islam and announced an unlimited financial reward to anybody who would kill her, according to the Press Trust of India.
The Indian coppers need to pay a 'visit' to Farhad.
Police in plainclothes have been posted in and around Taslimas flat in the wake of the threats of Muslim clerics after Friday prayers at a city mosque, city deputy police commissioner Gyanwant Singh told AFP.
The death threats against the author came just over a week after Nasreen was physically attacked by radical Muslims in Hyderabad during the launch of a translation of one of her novels. Other murderous clerics in Kolkata backed the call of Farhad, who is from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, and accused the author of insulting Prophet Mohammad in her writings. Muslims in the country will not tolerate an insult to the prophet, said Syed Nuroor Rehman Barkati, cleric of the Tipu Sultan Mosque in the heart of the city.
Taslima is fanning communal passions in India by her writings. We will hold protests if she does not leave the country within a month, Barkati told AFP by telephone. Our fatwa (religious edict) against her is a death threat. We have given her a months time to avoid it, he said.
However, on Saturday, the home ministry extended Nasreens visa for another six months.
Nasreen remained confined to her home on Saturday. Though she was shocked by the attack on her by the Muslim group in Hyderabad, Nasreen has said she has no intention of leaving India, which she described as her second home and a good place to live in. She has said she would like now to become an Indian citizen.
She should come to the U.S. She's an American born in the wrong place.
The author was forced to flee her homeland in 1994 after radical Muslims decried her writings as blasphemous and demanded her execution. Nasreen has incensed conservative Muslims for writing a novel Lajja or Shame depicting the life of a Hindu family facing the ire of Muslims in Bangladesh. The book is banned in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
Nasreen, who is also a doctor, has also lived in self-exile in Europe and the United States but has lately been living in India.
It was the second death threat against the author in just a few months. In March All India Ibtehad Council, a splinter group of the influential All India Muslim Personal Law Board, offered a 500,000-rupee (12,000-dollar) bounty for the extermination of the notorious woman.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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An Afghanistan expert has said that most of the legitimate community representatives from Pakistan's tribal areas and Afghanistan may not embrace central government control, but they reject the militant radicalism that is ravaging their communities.
Alex Their, who has spent 14 years working on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the US Institute of Peace that while a communique from the recently held grand jirga in Kabul signalled commitment to fighting terrorism on both sides of the border, implementation will be hard. The Afghan and Pakistan Taliban groups have guns, funding, and international support, and both the Afghan and Pakistani governments are weak in these areas, he added. He said the idea for the peace jirga emerged over a year ago, and negotiations over location, representation, and agenda were tense given strained Pak-Afghan relations. President Pervez Musharraf was reluctant about the jirga all along, and he cancelled his participation in the opening ceremony in Kabul at the last minute, embarrassing both Presidents Hamid Karzai and George Bush, who had helped to broker the agreement for the meeting. However, due to significant international pressure, he did attend the closing of the jirga and made a remarkable speech acknowledging, for the first time, Pakistan's partial culpability for the ongoing insurgency in Afghanistan.
Asked what Bush and Karzai discussed at Camp David during the latter's visit, Their replied that the two presidents focused on the headline issues in their talks: the fight against the Taliban (including the role of Pakistan) and the booming narcotics trade. Significant progress has not been made on either front, and their shared priorities must be to stop the backsliding over the past year and a half of the security situation in Afghanistan, he added. He expressed the fear that despite continued international support abroad and bipartisan support in Washington, Afghanistan is in danger of being dragged down with Iraq. The insurgency in Iraq is also spreading bad news to Afghanistan in the form of increased suicide bombings and other tactics, such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), hostage-taking and beheadings. There is a real danger as well that the American public will increasingly lump Afghanistan in with Iraq, and calls for withdrawal will follow apace, in his view.
Asked if the US could be influential in repairing the breach between its two allies in the region, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Thier answered that the US has a tremendous amount of influence with both countries. In many ways, Pakistan is a more complex problem for the US than Afghanistan, because its relationship with the Musharraf government and the Pakistani people is less stable. Washington has relied heavily on Gen Musharraf to support the US agenda after September 11, but the Pakistani government has also failed to deliver on critical items on the US agenda, such as removing militant safe havens, shutting down radical madrassas, and reinstating democracy. US military and financial support to Pakistan being significant, Islamabad is unlikely to risk that during a tense domestic period.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Popular appeal is not necessary, as long as it's an excuse to kill, it'll do...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/19/2007 8:53 Comments ||
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Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Hillary Clinton warned Democrats not to ``oversell'' plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, setting a cautious tone on the war that was echoed by the party's two other leading presidential candidates.
Clinton and her main competitors for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards, agreed in a debate this morning that pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq can't be accomplished in just a few months and that any withdrawal must be balanced by security concerns.
``It is so important that we not oversell this,'' Clinton said at the ABC News-sponsored forum in Des Moines, Iowa. Edwards concurred, saying it ``would be hard'' to move troops out within six months, as suggested by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, while Obama said U.S. options are limited.
``George Bush drove the bus into the ditch and there are only so many ways you can pull that bus out of the ditch,'' the Illinois Democrat said.
The debate was the first among the Democrats running for president held in the state that traditionally kicks off the official nomination contests with its party caucuses in January.
The candidates continued a discussion about whether Obama has enough experience to be president, and Clinton, of New York, was questioned about whether polls showing more than 40 percent of the public views her unfavorably suggest she is too polarizing a figure to lead the party to victory in 2008.
In a previous debate, Obama said he would be willing to meet unconditionally with hostile foreign leaders during his first year in office.
Debate on Experience
In today's forum, Clinton said no president ``should give away the bargaining chip of a personal meeting with any leader,'' and Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware said he stood by an earlier statement that Obama isn't ready for the job.
``To prepare for this debate I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair,'' Obama, 46, said, drawing laughter from the audience. Critics aren't arguing with ``the substance of my positions,'' the first-term senator said. ``I think that there's been some political maneuvering taking place over the last couple of weeks.''
Clinton, 59, took her turn on defense when the candidates were asked whether Democrats should be worried that nominating the former first lady will hurt the party.
Lobbyist Donations
The nation needs someone who ``can break out of the political patterns that we've been in over the last 20 years,'' Obama said. Edwards, 54, a former senator from North Carolina who is trailing Clinton and Obama in national polls and in raising money, suggested her ties to lobbyists will prevent her from being able to change Washington.
``These people will never give away power voluntarily,'' he said, renewing his call for Clinton to foreswear lobbyist contributions. ``We have to take their power away from them.''
Clinton said her critics are making an ``artificial distinction,'' because while Edwards and Obama don't take money directly from lobbyists they accept donations from law firms that hire lobbyists. ``It's the people who employ the lobbyists who are behind all the money in American politics,'' she said.
She said comments made last week by Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's political adviser, that Clinton enters the primary season with higher negative poll ratings than any previous frontrunner show she is the best candidate to beat the Republicans next year. More people hate her, so she's the best candidate?
Nuclear Weapons
Clinton also defended comments she made in a Bloomberg News interview in 2006 that she would rule out using nuclear weapons against Iran. She criticized Obama for a recent comment that he wouldn't use nuclear weapons against terrorists.
``This was a brush back against this administration which has been reckless and provocative,'' she said of her earlier statement, whereas Obama's remark was on ``hypotheticals'' that shouldn't be addressed by a presidential candidate.
On the war, Richardson was alone in saying U.S. troops should withdraw from Iraq in six to eight months, leaving no residual forces behind to protect civilian personnel.
Biden led the other Democrats in disagreeing. ``It's time to start to level with the American people,'' Biden said. ``If we leave Iraq and we leave it in chaos, there'll be regional war. The regional war will engulf us for a generation.'' Whoa, Joe!
Clinton said Biden is ``absolutely right,'' cautioning that ``this is going to be very dangerous and very difficult'' and ``a lot of people don't like to hear that.''
Edwards said a timetable of nine or 10 months is more reasonable. Obama said Biden is right and that ``this is not going to be a simple operation.''
When the eight candidates were asked whether there was a major issue where they didn't tell the whole truth, Clinton and Edwards cited their votes to authorize Bush to use military force in Iraq.
Clinton said while she thought at the time that her vote was an ``appropriate approach.'' Looking back on it ``I wouldn't have voted that way again,'' she said. ``Obviously for me that is a great regret.''
Edwards said that he had a ``huge internal conflict'' about the war authorization that he didn't express at the time.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2007 17:50 ||
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#3
Hillary knows that she has more room to say what she really feel and anticipate doing, American ASPs will have to accept her direction or...consider... a 'Black Man' in the job...Ohh my God, the Sky Will Fall!!!
BAGHDAD - Iraqs political leaders held cordial but candid talks on Saturday in an attempt to revive national reconciliation efforts and repair the fractured unity government. The five leaders, representing Iraqs majority Shia Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, met for about 90 minutes and are expected to meet again on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters. It was the first time they had met for two months.
The meeting was cordial but characterised by candid discussion of the issues and a sense of responsibility to resolve the political crisis afflicting the country, Salih said. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki attended the talks with President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, Shia Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
"Tea, Tariq?"
"Yes, thank you, Nuri."
"Jalal, can I get you some biscotti?"
"If it's not too much of a bother, Adel."
"Hot out, isn't it?"
Salih said the leaders discussed the results of preparatory talks that had been going on almost daily since July 15. The results included tentative agreements on a review of the de-Baathification law, provincial powers and frameworks for crucial issues dealing with militias, insurgent groups, detainees and powersharing, Salih said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Which is diplomatese for "they called each other sons of pigs and dogs but remembered to use the proper titles for one another."
Posted by: Jonathan ||
08/19/2007 18:06 Comments ||
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When America's top commanders in Iraq held a conference with their British counterparts recently, Major General Jonathan Shaw - Britain's senior officer in Basra - was quick to share his views on how best to conduct counter-insurgency operations. For much of the last four years, the Americans in the room would have listened carefully, used to deferring to their British colleagues' long experience in Northern Ireland. This time, however, eyes that would once have been attentive simply rolled.
Few were in the mood for a lecture about British superiority, when they fear that Downing Street's planned pull-out from Basra will squander any progress from their own hard-fought "troop surge" strategy elsewhere. "It's insufferable for Christ's sake," said one senior figure closely involved in US military planning. "He comes on and he lectures everybody in the room about how to do a counter-insurgency. The guys were just rolling their eyeballs. The notorious Northern Ireland came up again. It's pretty frustrating. It would be okay if he was best in class, but now he's worst in class. Everybody else's area is getting better and his is getting worse."
The meeting, called by General David Petraeus, the senior US officer who has the task of managing the surge, is emblematic of what is fast becoming a minor crisis in Anglo-American military relations.
In Britain, Gordon Brown's government has tried to depict a quiet process of handover to Iraqi troops in Basra, which will see the remaining forces in the city withdraw to the airport in November.
What US generals see, however, is a close ally preparing to "cut and run", leaving behind a city in the grip of a power struggle between Shia militias that could determine the fate of the Iraqi government and the country as a whole. With signs of the surge yielding tentative progress in Baghdad, but at the cost of many American lives, there could scarcely be a worse time for a parting of the ways. Yet the US military has no doubt, despite what Gordon Brown claims, that the pullout is being driven by "the political situation at home in the UK".
The short version is that the Brits have lost Basra, if indeed they ever had it.
A senior US officer familiar with Gen Petraeus's thinking said: "The short version is that the Brits have lost Basra, if indeed they ever had it. Britain is in a difficult spot because of the lack of political support at home, but for a long time - more than a year - they have not been engaged in Basra and have tried to avoid casualties.
"They did not have enough troops there even before they started cutting back. The situation is beyond their control.
"Quite frankly what they're doing right now is not any value-added. They're just sitting there. They're not involved. The situation there gets worse by the day. Americans are disappointed because, in their minds, this thing is still winnable. They don't intend to cut and run."
The officer predicted that the affair could have long-lasting implications. "There will be a stink about this that will hang around the British military," he said.
One US official said that recent US military intelligence reports sent to the White House had concluded that Britain had "lost" Basra, and that Pentagon war games were predicting a virtual civil war in the South once British troops left. He said: "When the White House makes the case for continuing the surge on the Hill they will say: 'Look what happened in Basra when the Brits went back to their barracks. We can't pull out now. Give us more time to get it right'."
He added that White House officials had expected Mr Brown to strike a different tone on Iraq to that of Tony Blair, but that they were disappointed not to win a firmer agreement to keep British troops in place. "They don't mind a change in rhetoric, but the bottom line for the president was to keep Basra as a British responsibility. He didn't get as much as he wanted. There was a whiff of double dealing about it all."
As The Sunday Telegraph revealed last week, plans have been drawn up to send thousands of American troops into southern Iraq to take over the supervision of the vital supply route north from Kuwait, a task the British will bequeath when they leave.
But the senior US officer warned that combat troops may also have to go into Basra itself to "protect the population" from violence between its numerous warring Shia militias - an extra burden as perilous as any in Baghdad.
US Marine Colonel Gary Anderson, who has conducted recent Iraq war games for the Pentagon, said the situation Britain would leave behind in Basra "could be the most bloody part of the transition". He said: "The primary issue in Basra will be a struggle between various Shia factions for control of the region, and frankly the regular government in Baghdad as well. It will be between pro-Iranian factions and those that are more nationalistic. It's going to be nasty."
This isn't Northern Ireland. They thought they had a pretty good model but Iraq is a different culture.
Basra has gone far towards revising the common American image of British soldiers ...
Col Anderson said British troops "did the best they could", but added: "I'm not sure they did as good a job as they did traditionally. This isn't Northern Ireland. They thought they had a pretty good model but Iraq is a different culture."
Michael O'Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, added: "Basra is a mess, and the exit strategy attempted there has failed. It is, for the purposes of future Iraq policymaking, an example of what not to do.
"Basra has gone far towards revising the common American image of British soldiers as perhaps the world's best at counter-insurgency."
#3
Never thought much of their approach down south. But note - many of its flaws are/were embraced by many US commanders as well. I put most of it down to an aversion to action, risk, responsibility - usually cloaked in some rationalization about how COIN requires all sorts of odd approaches to prove you can eat soup with a spoon. Nonsense. The "unconventional" parts of COIN are simply common sense - using bribes, favors, etc. when needed, and avoiding gratuitous damage to locals and non-combatants.
It's pretty deep in the British officer class. Recall one former officer, a Sandhurst grad, seriously questioning the .50 cals on some of the convoy Humvees in Baghdad as "too big for an urban environment". Now, I myself wondered about the grenade launchers (Mk 14?) on some of the Humvees, but the .50 cal? As the primary job was to stop VBIEDs in their tracks, .50 cals were quite appropriate.
I've probably mentioned it before but the morale of the officers in our office was horrible. Every last one was getting out, some early - budget, political environment, everything was discouraging. The unbelievable incident in the Gulf a while back (incl. the bits at MoD) may have been a stark symbol of how bad things are. Great shame, of course, as well as yet another step towards total dependence of world civilization on the blood and character of a small volunteer segment of US society.
What were Churchill's famous words - "never have so many owed so much to so few" .... ??
#6
Upside is, when US forces have to come in to clean up the mess, the "insurgents" who have been playing patty-cake with the brits will get a really rude surprise...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/19/2007 8:52 Comments ||
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#7
yet another step towards total dependence of world civilization on the blood and character of a small volunteer segment of US society.
Just so.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/19/2007 9:12 Comments ||
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#8
The Brits were always stressed down in Basra, and while "just holding down the fort" was enough for most of it, there was little else they had the numbers and firepower to do. Hopefully, the situation will be settled enough elsewhere so that the US military can head down there in force to confront both the Shiite-on-Shiite action and the Iranian hanky-panky.
But spare us from advise on northern Ireland. The US has performed ten times as many effective modern counterinsurgency operations on the four corners of the world as had Britain.
When we move into Basra, we will do counterinsurgency the US way.
Damn those Brit Politicians, playing Army and Navy from London..
We need Allies that are cutting and running like we need Congress trying to emulate Downing Street & Whitehall....
IIRC Originally The Brits were knocked back on their ears, but eventually kicked some Basra butt, but then they quit too early, pulled way back into "Fort Basra Mode" and never fully regained leverage over the Badr Brigade, run by Hadi Al-Amiri and Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, deadly Shiite actors working with Iran and their rivals Muqtada al Sadr & the Mahdi Army and a few Sunni enclaves.
The Brits never acquired leverage over "The Al-Quds Force" which trains Iraqi militants in manufacturing improved explosive devices and finances and organises pro-Iranian militias in Iraq," noted the the British Ahwazi Friendship Society report. "According to SPC, the Iraq network is under the command of Jamal Jaafar Mohammad Ali Ebrahimi, who is also known as Mehdi Mohandes."
Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army,
Iranian run Sheibani and Qazali networks These are Shia terrorists which are trained, armed, funded and directed by Iran's Qods Force, and have connections to Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army. Sheibani networks
So gentlemen, how many USA units do you figure it will take to "fix" Basra?
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/19/2007 9:55 Comments ||
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#10
So gentlemen, how many USA units do you figure it will take to "fix" Basra?
None: one daisy cutter ought to do it. Forget about the hearts and minds crap -- these swine have neither.
Posted by: regular joe ||
08/19/2007 10:46 Comments ||
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#11
AC-130
Daisy Cutter
MOAB
Nuke
Is there any cliche too good for them?
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/19/2007 12:32 Comments ||
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#12
And, there's the supply line issue. The Basra area is our port of entry for a lot of material, equipment and troops. Not the place where you want to irradiate or destroy docks, highways and bridges wholesale.
#15
Real Generals thinker of logistics
Amateurs thinker of tactics.
Kinder Kz think of weapons.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/19/2007 12:51 Comments ||
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#16
Why be hard on the British? It's not their war. It's wasn't their premier city center that was destroyed by muslims. How many Ameicans fought on the British side the last time British territory was invaded?
The question is why waste so many resources and treat with such gentleness those who are indoctrinated to from birth to kill or enslave us and destroy our civilization? Those who think of us as pigs and monkeys and rape is an instrument of their civilizational advancement.
Posted by: ed ||
08/19/2007 16:20 Comments ||
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#17
Why the hell would the US military listen to the British military for COIN, if Northern Ireland is supposed to be their big "win"? The goddamned IRA WON! The Sein Fein is a LEGAL political party in NI, and is sharing power with the Protestants. The Sein Fein IS the IRA - just its more presentable political face. How is that a "win" for the British forces?
#19
Man, It must be a bi*** to try to due your job, while your brow sweats to the thought that a shiny 'crescent' missile is pointed at you from over your shoulder.
A MILITARY adviser to President George W Bush has warned that British forces will have to fight their way out of Iraq in an ugly and embarrassing retreat. Stephen Biddle, who also advises the US commander in Iraq, said Iranian-backed Shiite militias in the south would try to create the impression they were forcing a retreat. They want to make it clear they have forced the British out. That means theyll use car bombs, ambushes, RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] . . . and there will be a number of British casualties.
The comments coincide with British military estimates that withdrawal could cost the lives of 10 to 15 soldiers.
Some British officers believe they are facing a humiliating retreat under fire to Kuwait or the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. I regret to say that the Basra experience is set to become a major blunder in terms of military history, said a senior officer. The insurgents are calling the shots . . . and in a worst-case scenario will chase us out of southern Iraq.
Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who advised Bush on the troop surge, said Iran would use its influence with the Shiite Mahdi Army to exploit the situation. It will be a hard withdrawal. They want the image of a British defeat . . . It will be ugly and embarrassing, he said.
The Ministry of Defence said the British were not heading for defeat. Although the militias are trying to claim credit for driving us out, they are failing.
#3
If you're going to get 'routed' withdrawing through Kuwait etc., then withdraw northward instead. Through Teheran to Turkey. With maximum tactical and strategic air support.
#4
I can't wait to see 'The Poodle On The Run'! The Brits may spin it well enough to avoid comparisons to the hostage 15 debacle, a couple of months ago. I still don't know what happened to the Commander of the Cornwall, who 'turned his head' while his men were swooped down on...did they give him a medal?
Senior military commanders have told the Government that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay.
Last month Gordon Brown said after meeting George Bush at Camp David that the decision to hand over security in Basra province the last of the four held by the British "will be made on the military advice of our commanders on the ground". He added: "Whatever happens, we will make a full statement to Parliament when it returns [in October]."
Two generals told The Independent on Sunday last week that the military advice given to the Prime Minister was, "We've done what we can in the south [of Iraq]". Commanders want to hand over Basra Palace where 500 British troops are subjected to up to 60 rocket and mortar strikes a day, and resupply convoys have been described as "nightly suicide missions" by the end of August. The withdrawal of 500 soldiers has already been announced by the Government. The Army is drawing up plans to "reposture" the 5,000 that will be left at Basra airport, and aims to bring the bulk of them home in the next few months.
Before the invasion in 2003, officers were told that the Army's war aims were to bring stability and democracy to Iraq and to the Middle East as a whole. Those ambitions have been drastically revised, the IoS understands. The priorities now are an orderly withdrawal, with the reputation and capability of the Army "reasonably intact", and for Britain to remain a "credible ally". The final phrase appears to refer to tensions with the US, which has more troops in Iraq than at any other time, including the invasion, as it seeks to impose order in Baghdad and neighbouring provinces.
A senior British commander: "It was never that kind of battle, in which we set out to defeat an enemy."
American criticism of Britain's desire to pull back in southern Iraq has recently become public, with a US intelligence official telling The Washington Post this month that "the British have basically been defeated in the south". A senior British commander countered, "That's to miss the point. It was never that kind of battle, in which we set out to defeat an enemy." Other officers said the British force was never configured to "clear and hold" Basra in the way the Americans are seeking to do in Baghdad.
If the British withdraw, American troops will have to be sent south to replace them.
Immediate American discontent is said to centre on the CIA's reluctance to leave Basra Palace, an important base for watching Iran, which may explain why Britain has held on to the complex until now. But last week it was reported that US intelligence operatives were in the process of pulling out. Further ahead, the US is concerned over the security of its vital supply line from Kuwait, with some American commanders saying that if the British withdraw, American troops will have to be sent south to replace them. As the hub of Iraq's oil industry, Basra is also a tempting prize for the Shia militias battling each other for control.
There are fears that the bloody power struggle in Basra will escalate sharply if and when British troops depart, but commanders point out that up to 90 per cent of the violence is directed against their forces. They are understood to believe it was never the role of occupation troops to intervene in a "turf war" among factions from the same community, all of which have links to the government coalition in Baghdad.
Mr Brown will have to take these wider concerns into account, in reaching a decision that has political as well as military implications. At Camp David he stressed that "we have duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep" in support of the Iraqi government and "the explicit will" of the international community. The 15 September report on the progress of the security "surge" by the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the American ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, will be crucial to British as well as US military plans.
General Petraeus is expected to report mixed results, and to plead for more time for the surge to work. But the White House, under pressure from Republicans facing disaster in the 2008 elections, is likely to announce at least some troop reductions. British commanders, and some US commentators, believe that will enable the Prime Minister to spell out plans for a British withdrawal when MPs return in October, although the process may last well into next year.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has decided to sack civil servants linked to Hamas in the latest move against the rival Islamist movement since it seized power in the Gaza Strip. "This decision was proposed three days ago by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and finalised on Friday by President Abbas. It will remain in force as long as Hamas continues to control the Gaza Strip by force," a Palestinian official said on Saturday.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in a bloody takeover on June 15 ago after overrunning security forces loyal to Abbas in a week of vicious street battles, effectively splitting Palestinian society into two. The Palestinian official said the decision affected civil servants appointed after a power-sharing agreement in February paved the way for a short-lived national unity government headed by Hamas. Following the Gaza takeover, Abbas fired the Hamas-led cabinet and appointed his own headed by Fayyad whose power in reality only extends to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Sacked Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya refuses to recognise the Abbas cabinet and insists that he remains the legitimate leader of the Palestinian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Israel said on Saturday it will allow fresh deliveries of fuel into Gaza, after a freeze which plunged much of the impoverished Palestinian territory into darkness overnight. "Fuel deliveries will resume to the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning via the Nahal Oz crossing," a military spokesman told AFP. On Friday, the Israeli army confirmed it had barred deliveries via the Nahal Oz crossing for "security reasons." The Palestinian electricity company said on Friday that it had been forced to stop nearly all electricity production in Gaza because of the suspension of deliveries. "We are forced to stop three out of the station's four generators", its director Rafiq Maliha told reporters in Gaza. Gaza has a single 140-megawatt power plant that provides about three quarters of the territory's electricity needs. All of the fuel for the plant comes from Israel. The remainder of Gaza's electricity needs is supplied by Israel, Egypt and private electricity generators. Home to some 1.5 million largely impoverished people, Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated places.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Israel said on Saturday it will allow fresh deliveries of fuel into Gaza
#10
Alcohol is a much greater danger to internal combustion than a little sugar. Add 10% ethyl alcohol to diesel fuel (what most power plants use), and watch the pistons melt, the engine gum up, and valves become caked with carbon. It's also more soluble in diesel.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/19/2007 20:26 Comments ||
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#14
I thirds it, OP! Time for the Gazans to reap what they sow in my book. Any nation who's entirely running on four generators and still can't buy a cluebat about the cause-effect thingy is right dense, that's for sure.
Posted by: BA ||
08/19/2007 22:08 Comments ||
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Syria has begun delivery of the first batch of anti-aircraft missile and gun range land-based Pantsyr-S1E defense systems (SA-22 E in NATO terminology), the Web site of Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Saturday.
The report, based on wires from the arms-related branch of the Russian Tass news agency, cited a previously signed agreement between Syria and Russia for the purchase of 50 sets of the system for a total of about $900 million. According to other sources, however, the signed deal included only 34-36 systems.
Army Radio reported that Russian military officials agreed to the deal only after Syria vowed that the systems would not be resold or distributed to a third country, such as Lebanon or Iran. But in May, the reputable Jane's Defense Weekly reported that Syria agreed to transfer ten of the systems to Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
...the systems would not be resold or distributed to a third country, such as Lebanon or Iran.
It's not 'reselling' when it's Iran's money buying the stuff, is it?
#2
I wonder if they'll put them in the same area as the SA-6ers were located? I mean it's the same country, it would be a shame if IDF artillery leveled the front line batteries. I mean that's really not fair.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/19/2007 8:16 Comments ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday described arch-foe Israel "the flag of Satan," and said the Jewish state was destined to fall apart, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"The Zionist regime is the flag bearer of violation and occupation and this regime is the flag of Satan," Ahmadinejad told an international religious conference in Tehran. "It is not unlikely that this regime be on the path to dissolution and deterioration when the philosophy behind its creation and survival is invalid," he said.
Iran consistently refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist in the Middle East, and Ahmadinejad sparked outrage in the international community when he said Israel should be "wiped off the map" shortly after coming to power in 2005. In June, he said a "countdown" had begun that would end with Lebanese and Palestinian militants destroying Israel. His government last year hosted a conference on the Holocaust questioning the German Nazis genocide of the Jews during World War II.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Getting worried about the Great Satan ruining your dreams Nut Job?
France circulated a draft U.N. resolution Friday that would extend the mandate of the 13,600-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon and call for a permanent cease-fire and long-term solution to last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war. The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, emphasizes the need for greater progress in resolving these issues and reiterates the Security Council's intention "to consider further steps to contribute to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution."
Earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the council to extend the mandate of the force, praising the troops for helping to establish security in southern Lebanon following the conflict last summer.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2007 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
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Parts of an interview given by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to Iranian national television were censored by Iran's censors to avoid raising ire in Lebanon.
Hizbullah holds mass rally marking first anniversary of 'divine victory' in Second Lebanon War. Nasrallah accuses US, Israel of driving wedge between organization, Arab nations and the rest of the world
"We are ready to be torn apart, spliced into tiny pieces, so that Iran will remain exalted. I am a lowly soldier of the Imam Khamenei. Hizbullah youths acted on behalf of the Imam Khomeini."
"We are ready to be torn apart, spliced into tiny pieces, so that Iran will remain exalted. For if Iran remains exalted, we too shall be exalted. I am a lowly soldier of the Imam Khamenei. Hizbullah youths acted on behalf of the Imam Khomeini, with the aid of Imam Hussein, and sent their blessings to the Iranian people," said Nasrallah in an interview with reporter Bijan Nobaveh on the day marking the start of the Second Lebanon War according to the Persian calendar.
Nasrallah also thanked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and all the "brothers and sisters" in Iran.
From an internal Lebanese perspective, Nasrallah's words, which carry much weight, are tantamount to dissent. Nasrallah confirms that he serves supreme leader of Iran (Khamenei) and that his men fought for Iran last summer.
Nasrallah's opponents within Lebanon have long asserted that Nasrallah's loyalties lie with Teheran and that Lebanon is not first on his list of priorities.
Nasrallah himself since the beginning of the war declared himself a proud Lebanese patriot who's first and foremost priority was Lebanon. "Show me one incident in which I did something for another and against Lebanon," he reiterated constantly.
Meanwhile Nasrallah continued to celebrate Hizbullah's "divine victory" last summer. In a speech before thousands in Beirut he warned Israel: "If you are thinking of going to war with Lebanon I promise you a big surprise that will change the fate of the war and the region," he warned Israel and the US.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/19/2007 8:55 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I think Nasrallah was promised big bucks by Iran during or after last summer's conflict. He hasn't gotten the big bucks and he's both pissed off at Iran and also more dependent on them than ever.
#5
2009, Joe. February, IIRC. Which is to say, I agree, the Bush Presidency still has a lot of time. And he has said he will retire from politics after this gig- will never run for office again. Nothing to lose, everything to win.
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
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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 BBC has abandoned plans to screen a fictional terrorist attack by Muslim suicide bombers in the primetime drama Casualty after internal clashes over whether the highly sensitive subject matter would cause offence.
The Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in a rare message on Saturday called on Afghans to shun their differences and join the militant Islamic movement's campaign to drive Western troops from Afghanistan. Omar made the appeal through a Taliban spokesmen, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, on the eve of the 88th anniversary of Afghanistan's independence from Britain. He said Afghanistan was once again "occupied by colonialist forces", referring to foreign troops in the country. "We have to ... put aside all of our internal, regional and linguistic differences and get united against the enemy," said the message, which was read to Reuters over the telephone by Yousuf from an undisclosed location.
KOLKATA, India - Security was stepped up for the exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Saturday after the controversial author was issued with a death threat, police said. The move came after radical Muslim cleric Majidulla Khan Farhad on Friday accused Nasreen of defaming Islam and announced an unlimited financial reward to anybody who would kill her, according to the Press Trust of India.
BAGHDAD - Iraqs political leaders held cordial but candid talks on Saturday in an attempt to revive national reconciliation efforts and repair the fractured unity government. The five leaders, representing Iraqs majority Shia Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, met for about 90 minutes and are expected to meet again on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters. It was the first time they had met for two months.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has decided to sack civil servants linked to Hamas in the latest move against the rival Islamist movement since it seized power in the Gaza Strip. "This decision was proposed three days ago by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and finalised on Friday by President Abbas. It will remain in force as long as Hamas continues to control the Gaza Strip by force," a Palestinian official said on Saturday. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday described arch-foe Israel "the flag of Satan," and said the Jewish state was destined to fall apart, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Parts of an interview given by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to Iranian national television were censored by Iran's censors to avoid raising ire in Lebanon. 
From an internal Lebanese perspective, Nasrallah's words, which carry much weight, are tantamount to dissent. Nasrallah confirms that he serves supreme leader of Iran (Khamenei) and that his men fought for Iran last summer. 
