A British soldier died after being sent into combat in Afghanistan with a lack of basic equipment, a coroner said on Friday. Captain James Philippson of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery was shot in the head in a gunfight with the Taliban in June 2006.
The 29-year-old from Hertfordshire was the first casualty after troops were deployed to the violent southern province of Helmand, where the Taliban remains strong. Assistant coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker said he died after an unforgivable "breach of trust between the soldiers and those who govern them". The inquest at Oxford heard that troops had repeatedly complained about a lack of proper equipment, in particular standard night-vision kits. Four kits had to be shared between as many as 30 men, the inquest heard.
The Taliban were armed with multiple rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other firepower, it heard. "They (the soldiers) were defeated not by the terrorists but by the lack of basic equipment," Walker was quoted by the BBC as saying at the end of the inquest. He said sending troops into a combat zone without basic kit was "unforgivable and inexcusable."
Well, how on earth could the UK be expected to equip their troops where there are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wives of indolent immigrants to take care of? I mean, let's get real. Who's more important, stupid old Tommy or our upstanding and vehement imams and preachers of hate?
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[8 views]
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#1
Assistant coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker said he died after an unforgivable "breach of trust between the soldiers and those who govern them".
A rather bold and political statement for an assistant coroner to be making. Someone is running for public office.
#2
I don't care about the details. In the end, they were defeated by the terrorists. This is why Western forces depend on technology. Forget this basic premise and the rest is out the window. Get to work.
#4
England has long sabotaged its own efforts on the battlefield, usually by being chintzy.
Its rule of Afghanistan started in the mid-19th Century with an effective and realistic use of gold bribery to warlords to keep the peace. But by the late part of that century, with the empire in decline, the government foolishly began to shortchange the warlords, and soon they were kicked out of the country, brutally.
Even in World War I, Americans were surprised to see the British army "cleaning" the battlefield after a fight, to recover any scrap or useful equipment that could be recycled, to save money. Even though out of tons of waste, only a few pounds could be preserved. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Spies, collaborators, traitors and the like who helped Britain in exchange for money were more often then not "lost at sea" to save the expense of paying them for their services. Unlike America, which has an extraordinarily good reputation of paying its small debts to such people to the penny. If the wanted poster says the US will pay $25M for Osama, whoever rats him out will someday fart through silk. America will actually seek him out to pay him.
Right now, Brussels hopes that England will turn its navy, what's left of it, over to them. So England, true to form, has no reason to have a navy, if it has to pay for it. The same with its army.
Until the English army quits, just refuses to perform at all, it will be cut back. It won't be a mutiny, in the traditional sense, just incapability.
#7
Bright Pebbles: Let's see, the "British" army has English in it, and Ghurkas. Well, since Nepal isn't part of the "British Empire", I guess that would leave the English.
Calling it British anymore is just silly. Britain is no more.
In a speech on national television and radio, President Deby said the nationwide state of emergency would help restore security. The state of emergency began Friday, and is set to last 15 days. In his broadcast speech, Mr. Deby said, what he called the "exceptional measures" were necessary to "assure the regular functioning of the state."
Under the constitution, the state of emergency allows the government to control movement of people and vehicles, ban meetings, and control what is published in the media. A midnight to dawn (6:00 a.m.) curfew has been imposed across the country.
Olivier Bercault, of the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, says the government must do all it can to ensure security, but that basic human rights should not be violated in the process. And he says in Chad, they have been. "It is really amazing that we are going back to the time of Hissene Habre when the country was run by a dictator and I hope that the situation is going to improve very, very fast," he said. "Civilians [are] start[ing] to get their old reflexes, and [are] afraid to talk publicly, and to be seen with more than three or four people in the streets." Human rights activists accuse Habre, Chad's former leader, of ethnic massacres, political killings, and torture. He denies the accusations.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Deby. Sashes and Sprockets. You need some. Bsdly...
Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft. In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.
The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read. Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.
Laughed at his privates, did she? Well, she might have if she'd seen 'em. Probly would have, in fact. Sounds guilty to me ....
Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened. The US-based group is asking the Saudi ruler to void Ms Falih's conviction and to bring charges against the religious police who detained her and are alleged to have mistreated her.
Its letter to King Abdullah says the woman was tried for the undefined crime of witchcraft and that her conviction was on the basis of the written statements of witnesses who said that she had bewitched them. Human Rights Watch says the trial failed to meet the safeguards in the Saudi justice system. The confession which the defendant was forced to fingerprint was not even read out to her, the group says.
Also Ms Falih and her representatives were not allowed to attend most of the hearings. When an appeal court decided she should not be executed, the law courts imposed the death sentence again, arguing that it would be in the public interest.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
On the bright side, Saudi "civilization" has advanced hundreds of years - from the seventh century to the sixteenth.
Trial of three out of the five cases relating to series bomb blasts on August 17 in 2005 began on Thursday as the court recorded the statements of three prosecution witnesses of the cases. The court fixed tomorrow for next hearing of the cases.
Judge Mahbubul Alam of Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court at Satkhira recorded the statements of the three complainants of the five cases in presence of 11 out of 19 charge-sheeted accused.
Rakib Hasan Russel, a teacher of Baluaghata Girls High School in Jamalpur, was brought from Mymensing to Satkhira jail as he was awarded death sentence in another case and was detained there.
Soon after simultaneous blasts at five places in the town on August 17 in 2005, police filed the five cases with Sadar Police Station.
Pickpocket Rawshan Ali, who was standing on the premises of Women and Children Repression Prevention Court on August 17 in 2005, saw Nasir Uddin Dafadar leaving a bag there and it blasted five minutes later. Rawshan informed the police of the matter that eventually led to the unearthing of JMB's involvement in August 17 blasts. The investigation officer of the cases, Assistant Superintendent of Police Munshi Atiqur Rahman of the Criminal Investigation Department submitted on April 4 in 2006 charge sheet against 19 people.
This article starring:
ABUL KHAIR
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ANISUR RAHMAN KHOKON
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ASADUL HAQUE
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ATAUR RAHMAN SUNNY
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
BILLAL HUSEIN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
FAKAR UDIN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
GIAS UDIN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ISMAIL ALIAS HABIBUR
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Judge Mahbubul Alam
MAHBUBUR RAHMAN LITON
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
MANIRUZZAMAN MUNNA
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
MONOWAR HUSEIN UJJAL
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
MONTAZ ALIAS MOMTAZ
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
MUNSHI ATIQUR RAHMAN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
NAIIM
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
NASIR UDIN DAFADAR
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
NUR ALI MEMBER
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
RAKIB HASAN RUSEL ALIAS HAFIZ MAHMUD
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Rawshan Ali
SHEIKH ABDUR RAHMAN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
SIDIQUL ISLAM BANGLA BHAI
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
SYED ALIAS ASADUZZAMAN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Planned job cuts could undermine the UK's intelligence performance, former top security officials have warned. A reduction of 121 posts has been proposed for the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) which analyses information from GCHQ, MI6 and the MoD. John Morrison, former Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence, said the losses would be "ludicrous" and mean giving up large areas of the DIS's work. The MoD insisted intelligence capability would not be compromised.
Priorities, please — there are polygamous preachers to support here!
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Going by the latest news from UK, this seems to be an empty threat.
Good government emphasizes and performs the two most important functions of any government -- foreign and domestic defense. The importance of any other activity of government is far behind these two priorities.
Bad government neither understands nor is able to bring about adequate levels of defense against foreign and domestic threats. So it concentrates on unimportant micromanagement of its people, while ignoring its primary duty. It is a "Bread and Circuses" government, deeply concerned about its popularity, and generous with largesse.
Terrible government is so inefficient and incapable that it becomes intensely micromanaging, yet even that is far below the standards it promises. This indicates that the government is so weak and brittle that it is about to fall. If it does not fall, it threatens the existence of its nation, to foreign or domestic threats.
The first case is the situation of a new government. It is often authoritarian, but only on the two big issues. It ignores the activities of the people as long as it has taxes to sustain its two priorities. It has very high growth and considerable liberty.
The second case is the situation of a mature, but undisciplined government. It begins to consume progressively more public resources in its pursuit of lower priorities demanded by the public. From there, it degenerates to some variety of welfare state. It becomes a case of "the public voting itself the treasury."
The best example of the third case was the old East Germany. Its military was decrepit, and its secret police so obsessed with minutiae on law abiding citizens that it ignores serious criminals. Its infrastructure decayed and collapsed, yet the government continued to make endless rules for its people to obey, most of which were unknown to the public.
Britain is rapidly approaching the state East Germany was in before it collapsed. And while Brussels hopes to absorb Britain into its control, it is just as ineffectual in its own way. It has pretense to being a new government, but in truth it is near collapse itself.
I thought this had been ongoing longer, in my comment on the cartoons protest.
COPENHAGEN (Rooters) - Gangs of rioters set fire to cars and garbage trucks in northern Copenhagen on Friday, the sixth night of rioting and vandalism that has spread from the capital to other Danish cities, police said on Saturday.
Five youths were arrested in the capital on Friday after 28 cars and 35 garbage trucks were burned, Copenhagen police duty officer Jakob Kristensen told Reuters. Several youths were arrested in other Danish towns.
Scores of cars and several schools have been vandalized or burned in the past week. Police could give no reason, but said that unusually mild weather and the closure of schools for a winter break, making them easy targets, might have contributed.
Social workers said the reprinting of a two-year-old cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers might have fuelled the riots.
Police arrested two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan descent on Tuesday for planning to kill the cartoonist, and 15 Danish papers reprinted the drawing on Wednesday in protest against the alleged plot to murder him.
Several hundred Muslims gathered in central Copenhagen on Friday to protest against publication of the cartoon. Most Muslims consider depictions of the founder of Islam offensive.
The publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons of Mohammad two years ago -- including the one reprinted this week -- led to protests and rioting in Muslim countries in which at least 50 people were killed and three Danish embassies attacked.
In October police arrested more than 400 people in Copenhagen after demonstrators evicted from a youth centre earlier in the year tried to occupy a new building.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
02/16/2008 11:01 ||
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Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Reprint it every Saturday until they get it through their thick skulls. There is no law against it in Denmark, if you don't like it FOAD.
#2
agreed, but up teh consequences. Catch and release doesn't do it. Crack some skulls, then deport the entire family of anyone caught rioting
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 12:20 Comments ||
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#3
As I have said a hundred times...the muzzies are going to cross the line somewhere, somehow and it's going be a 21st century version of the "Nazis shipping the German Jews to Poland" all over again.
#4
Anymouse,
I think its time for a special Danish Nakbah
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 12:56 Comments ||
Top||
#5
since they are into burning the garbage trucks, stop collecting the rubbish in their neighborhoods... let them have their own little slice of Gaza and see if maybe that changes their tune.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
02/16/2008 13:15 Comments ||
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#6
Abu,
What will change their tune is wholsale deportation back to the Saudi sand dunes.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 13:19 Comments ||
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#7
Golly Jakob why don't you round them up and send them home, or are they merely buring the cars and garbage trucks that native Danes are too prosperous and lazy to burn themselves?
Posted by: regular joe ||
02/16/2008 17:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I have no idea why they are not checking their Danish equivalent of the Green Card, and putting them on the next flight to whatever ME country they came from.
#9
in Denmark, they could very well be ex-north africa trash
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 17:49 Comments ||
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#10
Er, why deliver them all the way to their country of origin?
Let them swim the last ten miles.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/16/2008 21:04 Comments ||
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#11
Denmark needs to issue their police officers automatic rifles and an endless supply of ammunition. Then broadcast on all channels that anyone caught rioting, for any reason, will be immediately shot. Carry through, and the riots will end. Of course, Denmark will need a couple of F-16s on the alert apron with a full bomb load, for when the EUnunchs begins squawking.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/16/2008 22:40 Comments ||
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BERLIN - Leaders of Germanys ruling coalition will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the countrys military mission in Afghanistan, a government spokesman said on Friday. The government is considering renewing its mandate-which expires in October-for more than the usual year to prevent it running out just after Germanys next general elections in September 2009, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters.
Members of the coalition will meet to discuss the upcoming mandate in order to align their positions, Jaeger said. The actual date for renewing that mandate will be in the middle of October 2009, when the next German government will be very new.
And just as unwilling to commit their soldiers to anything of risk.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Dozens of Kurdish protesters armed with stones battled with Turkish police Friday in a southeastern city to mark the ninth anniversary of guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan's capture.
The demonstrators threw rocks at police and smashed windows of shops that did not join the protest by shuttering their stores in the city of Hakkari near the borders of Iraq and Iran. Police fired warning shots in the air to disperse them. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Several shops shut down their doors elsewhere in the Kurdish-dominated southeast on Friday after being reportedly threatened by Ocalan's rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, which faces closure on charges of ties to the rebel organization, put up a black flag outside its office in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they consider offensive. The cartoon depicts the Prophet with a bomb in his turban.
The reprint came after the murder plot against the cartoonist was made public. The plotters were Rosicrucians.
The Rosy Crescent?
The Rosy Moon-Shaped Thingy ...
All major Danish newspapers decided to republish it after Danish intelligence said it had uncovered a plot to kill one of the cartoonists. Protestors marched in the capital's streets shouting "God is Great!" and "Freedom of speech is like a plague!".
How can you argue with that kind of logic?
Many carried the black and white flags of Hizb ut-Tahrir - the radical Islamic party that calls for the creation of a caliphate. Earlier, at Friday prayers, Danish Muslims from many backgrounds expressed frustration that one of the cartoons they find so offensive could have been printed again.
"Those dhimmis don't learn, do they? Mahmoud! Get the signs!"
Weary resignation
Many said they simply could not understand the motive unless it was hatred for Islam.
I never really felt any hatred toward Islam until the Mohammedans started killing large numbers of people. Now I don't like it much.
But the overwhelming mood was not so much anger but weary resignation; a sense that they have been through this crisis once before and nothing has been learnt.
We were rolling-our-eyes tired of it within moments of the start of the last round of riots.
Some Danish Muslims said they felt the problem was not the Danish people who were, if not well informed about Islam, at least generally liberal. Instead, they pointed the finger of blame at the Danish media, saying it had stirred controversy instead of trying to help mend community relations. On Tuesday, Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service said it had uncovered a plot by three Muslims in Denmark to kill one of the cartoonists.
... and those bastards refused to sweep it under the rug.
Two of the men, who are not Danish citizens, are due to be expelled to Tunisia rather than put on trial.
"Get øut ånd ståy øut, turbån bøi!"
Many Danish Muslims criticised this decision, saying it would be better to examine the evidence and punish the men if they were really guilty.
This article starring:
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#2
I say, give them a fair trial,hang them,then deport them.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
02/16/2008 3:17 Comments ||
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#3
Weary resignation does not result in angry street demonstrations threatening violence.
However, the government could squelch a lot of future trouble making by surrounding the demonstrators with lots of obviously plainclothes police, taking their pictures, even audio recording them. And, of course, if the demonstrators try to interfere with this, they are scooped up and disappear for a few days.
#4
Actually, there's been over a week/10 days of small scale riots in Copenhague and it has spread to other cities as well. This has been reported in a few french-language websites/blogs, from news agencies & dailies, and in english by the Gate of Vienna (the first days of rioting were attributed to the autonomists by english sources). Nothing as widespread as frenchifada, for example, only 100-200 rioters and 50 cars torched in Copenhague, but it has all the trademarks : stone pelting of firefighters came to extinguish the fires, ambushes of police by mobile groups, torching of city bus and mail trucks,... and cries of "islamophobia" and "oppression" from the "racist" host society, even before the republishing of the mo' cartoons (this was initially caused by police activity deemed police harassment).
See this article in french from a belgian newspaper, and this short Evil Youtube clip.
#5
I'd say,
Put police cars on street patrols and if you see moslem arsonists shoot to kill !
If you dont resist now you'll be destroyed from within by these fifth column Arabs.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 13:30 Comments ||
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What in the world are advisers to both Senators Obama and Clinton doing in Syria in the middle of a presidential campaign and why are the two campaigns so unforthcoming about the details of the visits? The same week that a terrorist mastermind harbored by the Baathist regime in Damascus was assassinated by a car bomb, both one of Mr. Obamas foreign policy counselors, Zbigniew Brzezinski, a long-time critic of Israel, and one of Mrs. Clintons national finance chairs, Hassan Nemazee, were meeting with President Assad.
A different article stated and showed a picture, the day after they met with Assad, the Iranian Foreign Minister met with him. You gotta wonder about the overlap time -- and what might have happened during that overlap.
Note to our esteemed contributors: please embed any links so that they are clickable. Raw URLs mess up the page formatting.
h/t FaithFreedom.org
The new taxi bill of rights for Metro Vancouver introduced earlier this week could pit the rights people who rely on guide dogs against the rights of drivers whose religious beliefs prohibit them from contact with the animals, a Muslim leader said.
Among the provisions listed in the taxi bill of rights announced on Wednesday by Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon are the right for passengers to travel with a guide dog and a new enhanced trip refusal regulation that could see drivers fined $288.
That combination could mean problems for some Muslim drivers who believe it's against their religion to come into contact with dogs, said Aziz Khaki, the vice-chair of the Muslim Canadian Federations. "It's a clear, clear case of discrimination and insensitivity on behalf of the authorities to try to punish the person without understanding the person's own belief," Khaki told CBC News on Thursday. boo hoo
#1
I'd suggest avoiding muslim cabdriver/canine interaction as well. The dog will come away unclean
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 11:27 Comments ||
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#2
How about coverting Guide dogs to Guide pigs ??
Posted by: Slong De Long ||
02/16/2008 11:30 Comments ||
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#3
And the law makes it illegal for me to express my Norse pagan urge to burn down every mosque within driving distance. So, you know, we all have to compromise.
#5
Next they'll want the right to check all passanger luggage for susspected Ham sandwitches
(A big NO NO for devout Moslems)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 13:48 Comments ||
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#6
The cabbies are supposed to drive the car, not have contact with sodomize the passenger's pet. Does the koran have a >10 foot rule about dogs, or do the dogs have restraining orders against muslims?
HT to Don Surber Portsmouth rules!
A plane carrying hundreds of Marines from Iraq to Maine was forced to make an unscheduled landing in New Hampshire early Monday morning.
A spokesperson at Pease International Airport in Portsmouth told WBZ a World Airways MD-11 with 318 Marines was flying from Iraq to Bangor, when high winds caused problems with the plane's air flaps around 2:30 a.m.
The plane landed at 3 a.m. No one was hurt. The crew was planning to re-fuel in Bangor before heading on to Camp Pendelton in San Diego, California.
Wal-Mart and the Greenland House of Pizza brought in food for the Marines. Remember those businesses, patronize them
Whaleback, a local technology company, is providing free phone service for them so they can call their families. Children have also brought in gift baskets.
"It's comforting to know that back here... people like this go out of their way to do stuff like this because we weren't planning on having food and water," said Cpl. Jesse Aguilar.
The soldiers were touched and very appreciative for the help they have received over the past day. One Marine told WBZ's Karen Anderson "Many of us didn't know where Portsmouth was on the map before this but we sure do know now."
Lance Cpl. Robert Sullivan's family rushed up from West Roxbury for an unexpected reunion. "It's pretty awesome to see my family in transit home. It feels pretty good."
The Marines are staying in a hotel tonight, and are expected back on a plane very early Tuesday morning.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 20:28 ||
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#1
as much as I hate Walmart, I thank them for supporting the stranded Marines.
Posted by: Jan ||
02/16/2008 21:42 Comments ||
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#2
Jan --- an honest question here.... one I really don't understand every time I hear it, "I hate WalMart."
Usually, I just ignore that I've heard that comment, even when told by one in my office, "I don't shop at WalMart."
You and I have been here awhile, and I totally respect your opinion, and in the sense of "really wanting to know" dialogue, I want and will respect you answer. Why do you so hate WalMart? I'm open ...... really.... not even looking for a discussion of WalMart, just wanting to understand this, "I hate WalMart."
#3
Pelosi had time to issue contempt citations against two people protected by executive privilege (another going-nowhere effort) and wanted to throw a sop to their Trial Lawyers contributors at our national security expense. Then the bitch had to get out of town for her daughter's wedding - which had a higher priority, ya know? Run this incompetent asshole out of congress!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 4:54 Comments ||
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#4
It's deliberate sabotage, not (simply) incompetance.
#5
With those accidental [clears throat] cable outages that means communications originating from one foreign location and arriving at another foreign location are most likely now transiting US routers/servers. This means that, thanks to our judiciary who've meddled into the conduct of warfare during wartime, we can not "lawfully" listen in. Thanks Donks. We'll remember. But heaven forbid the Trunks spend one penny of communicating this to the general public. Why they've got to save their carryover slush money for the month or two before the election when we're all inundated with noise. And then hold on to the horde for the next try, two months before the elections.
#6
It's deliberate sabotage, not (simply) incompetance.
Yeah, I figured that some time ago. I kept trying to tell myself it was just blind stupidity, and there is plenty of that too. But at some point you can't help but realize that they're deliberately sabotaging the Nation for personal and political gain.
I hope there are a lot of folks keeping score, I know I am. Someday...
First the traitors, then the enemy!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 16:30 ||
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#1
Well all the Billions of $$$ we've given them in the past sure hasn't helped to "stabilize" the country.
Maybe it's time to try something else. And as far as the damned nukes go, why don't we let India worry about them. They're the ones in range, not us.
Screw them all, I hope they all die of typhoid.
#2
my only point with the "cut off aid" note is that only a moron (that definitely includes Slow Joe) would say that prior to such a possibly important role.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 19:04 Comments ||
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A showdown is shaping up in Pakistan's turbulent northwest between secular-minded ethnic Pashtuns and those who support Taliban-style Islamists a conflict that is likely to sharpen regardless of which side wins Monday's elections. Politicians and analysts fear the vote for a provincial assembly, which is being elected at the same time as the national parliament, will produce a coalition powerless to curb the frontier region's slide toward domination by Islamic militants.
Five years ago, hard-line religious zealots swept to power in North West Frontier Province's regional government. They capitalized on Pashtun anger over the U.S. invasion that toppled the Pashtun-dominated Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan as well as President Pervez Musharraf's move to sideline mainstream political parties opposed to his military rule.
The result, in effect, was an open door policy for al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban fighters. Their move into the province, especially its autonomous tribal belt, allowed them to regroup and recruit followers among religious Pashtuns on this side of the border. Today, al-Qaida operatives move more freely through the tribal areas than Pakistan's army.
Taliban fighters are edging ever closer to the provincial capital of Peshawar. Two weeks ago, Pakistani troops battled Taliban militants here in Badaber, 12 miles from Peshawar.
Taliban fighters are edging ever closer to the provincial capital of Peshawar. Two weeks ago, Pakistani troops battled Taliban militants here in Badaber, 12 miles from Peshawar. Many people in Badaber say they are terrified of the militants, but also of government forces. Many soldiers are ethnic Punjabis who ignore the region's customs and whose presence fires up ethnic resentments that are never far beneath the surface in Pakistan.
But with security worsening and no improvements in public services, many people in this largely Pashtun province have become disillusioned with clerical rule. That discontent has improved the election prospects for the secular nationalists of the Awami National Party and a breakaway faction of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, which are challenging radical religious parties like the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami, or Party of Islamic Clerics.
Yet, while secular candidates are expected to fare better than in 2002, some politicians and analysts worry that whatever regional government is seated won't be strong enough to face up to pro-Taliban extremists. "This will be a 'hodgepodge' of two or three parties in a coalition that will not be able to take any decisions or resolve anything, and it will help the Islamists," said former interior minister Aftab Sherpao, who has survived two assassination attempts. "It's a very dangerous situation."
Hard-liners in Tehrik-e-Taliban, a coalition of militant groups fighting government forces in the region, say they don't care who wins the election, which they consider irrelevant.
Hard-liners in Tehrik-e-Taliban, a coalition of militant groups fighting government forces in the region, say they don't care who wins the election, which they consider irrelevant. Spokesman Maulvi Umer told The Associated Press that fears the umbrella group would try to disrupt the voting were "totally baseless."
Nevertheless, more than 35 people have died just this week in attacks on campaign rallies in the province. Tehrik-e-Taliban's chief, Baitullah Mehsud, has been accused by U.S. and Pakistani officials of masterminding the Dec. 27 suicide attack that killed Bhutto. Although the government has mounted a major investigation into Bhutto's assassination, bombings and suicide attacks in the tribal areas are rarely investigated, Sherpao said. "When we don't resolve these cases it encourages others to carry out attacks. But it's also a `no win' situation for the police, who are scared for their lives. How can we expect them to give up their lives for the 6,000 rupees ($100) a month they earn," Sherpao said.
Afrasiab Khattak, provincial leader of the Awami National Party, said the fight against extremism is difficult because "the state is contaminated from within. These militants have their sympathizers in the government, in the military, the intelligence agencies. It is very dangerous."
Many Pashtuns trace the crisis in the northwest to the events that unfolded after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Musharraf threw his support to the United States, reversing Pakistan's alliance with the Afghan Taliban. Sherpao said the Musharraf government, in which he served, failed early on to counter the propaganda of Islamic militants, who convinced many Pakistani Pashtuns that fighting American troops in Afghanistan was a religious duty. Militants used the 14,000 madrassas, or religious schools, across Pakistan to fan the flames of anti-Americanism and turn many Pashtuns against the national government in Islamabad. "We haven't been able to counter this," Sherpao said.
And didn't even try.
With unrest growing in border areas, Pakistan's army was sent to restore order in districts that had been ruled by tribal leaders. But the army's heavily Punjabi element fanned ethnic rivalries, and pro-Taliban hard-liners convinced many people the troops were part of a plot against the Pashtun people along both sides of the border. "A lot of people here have a soft spot for the Taliban. They have sympathy for them and when the army came in, they believed it was a Punjabi conspiracy to pitch Pashtun against Pashtun," said Kamran Arif, a human rights lawyer in Peshawar. "People like me have less and less space," he said. "I am more careful of what I say now than I would have been, say, five years ago. I remember when the mullah (cleric) was the lowest of the low. Suddenly they are a force to be reckoned with. People are afraid to even speak out against them."
Fear of the extremists is pervasive. One of Peshawar's largest video store owners, who didn't want to be quoted by name for fear he would be killed by extremists, said he received threats last year from Islamic militants who told him: "Shut down or we will kill you and your family." He said he turned to the police, but they advised him to stay closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan is a Punjabi supremacist state. Sindhis and Balochis live under master-race oppression. Pashtos and Waziris benefit from the Inter Services Intelligence agencies support for anti-India jihadis. That spills over into at least tacit support for Taliban/al-Qaeda. However, if the jihadis challenge Punjabi dominance, they will be crushed.
Let's not forget that Pashto terrorism is fueled by the heroin industry. Karzai is doing nothing to end that.
Leader of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Adnan alias Hafees, the man who allegedly planned and coordinated terror activities in North Karnataka, has escaped with arms and explosives, giving the state police sleepless nights.
Investigation into the terror cases has revealed that Adnan played a crucial role in organising terror activity in the region. The police are clueless about his whereabouts. A resident of Station Road in Bijapur, Adnan is the son of a KSRTC driver. His brother stays in Annasandrapalya in Bangalore.
Adnans role
He organised and motivated several youths including arrested terror suspects Mohammed Asif, Asadullah Abubaker, Shakeel and Allabaksh to take up jihad; organised regular meetings; introduced Pakistan-trained Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse to the arrested terror suspects and to other people; and supplied explosive materials to the activists.
Based on the information of Asif, the police recovered a hand grenade, 100 gelatin sticks and 100 electrical detonators from the Dharwad-Uttara Kannada forests. Adnan had given them to Asif and helped him hide them in the forests. Asif has told the investigators: "He gave me the explosives and told me that it was my share. I do not know how many people he has distributed it to." Besides, he had hidden four pistols in Asifs hostel room (58) at KIMS in May 2007.
Adnan is missing after the arrest of Ghouse and Abubaker at Honnali in Davangere. Before fleeing, he went to Asifs room and collected the pistols. "His phone is switched off from January 14. We do not know where he is," said a CoD officer.
How he organised
Adnan had taken Asif to Madhya Pradesh and introduced him to SIMI leaders. During April-May 2007, Adnan had organized a meeting at Castle Rock, a picnic spot on the Karnataka-Goa border. Thirty two members from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala attended the meeting. Iqbal from Uttar Pradesh and Sibli from Kerala, both national-level leaders of the banned SIMI, attended the meeting along with Asif, Asadullah Abubaker, Mirza, Shakeel and Munna. The leaders spoke on total Islamisation of the world and how it can be started from India. The provocative speeches focused on the plight of Muslims in Palestine, the Gujarat riots in India and the Babri Masjid blast and asked for defying man-made laws.
During the meeting, Iqbal was elected the national president of SIMI, while Adnan was made in charge of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The meeting resolved to go in for vigorous recruitment, which everyone took and pursued seriously. Adnan along with his friends organised the second meeting in October 2007 in the farmhouse of arrested terror suspect Shakeel on Haliyal road.
Around 15 to 20 members attended it. Third meeting was held during the end of October at a dargah on Dharwad-Savadatti road. This time there were around 15 members. During the same time, Adnan brought Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse and introduced him to his members. It was the confluence of SIMI and LeT. The trained Ghouse planned to send these youth to Pakistan for training.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Pakistans envoy to Afghanistan, who went missing in the Khyber Agency four days ago while on his way to Kabul, is not in Khyber Agency, a radical leader has claimed.
Lashkar-e-Islami chief Mangal Bagh, who wields considerable influence in the agency, said Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin was not in the tribal region. He said it would be unjust of the government to conduct any military operation in the agency to locate him. He also told Dawn News channel that Azizuddin had not been kidnapped from the agency, contrary to media reports.
Security forces on Thursday launched a crackdown against tribesmen in the Khyber Agency after they failed to trace Azizuddin, who was reportedly kidnapped from the region on Monday. NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said Azizuddin was in the Khyber Agency, as authorities had found important clues there. Political authorities said the search was currently focused on the Peera Valley and Zakakhel areas.
As part of the crackdown, security forces have arrested 12 tribesmen. Ten Khasadar militia manning a checkpost passed by Azizuddins car have also been detained on charges of negligence.
This article starring:
Lashkar-e-Islami
Mangal Bagh
Lashkar-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) cleric has issued a decree claiming that casting a vote in favour of rival party candidates is haram. Cleric Abdul Mateen, who is caretaker of a madrassa and former JUI-F district chief, said that since JUI-F is struggling for enforcement of Shariah, its candidates deserve to be voted (into power). Since, rival candidates do not struggle for Shariah, they do not deserve to be voted into power.
The decree has, however, been questioned by an Islamic scholar Dr Farooq, who says the voter is the best judge to determine the best candidate. This is his (clerics) personal opinion, he said. Who will guarantee that JUI-fielded candidates are perfect and meet all [the] requirements Shariah demands? The people observed the JUI-Fs actions during its five-year rule, he added. The people will not vote them [into power] again. The JUI-F has been tested and there is no need to test them again.
This is the first time that the JUI-F has issued such a decree. The right-wing conservative party is facing tough rivals in both provincial and National Assembly seats in next weeks parliamentary elections. The text of the decree, or fatwa, states that casting a vote in favour of unqualified candidates is haram in the presence of a qualified and good candidate of the JUI-F. The decree does not clarify what voters should do if no JUI-F candidate is contesting for either the provincial or National Assembly in a constituency.
This article starring:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Abdul Mateen
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That old Mullah made a fatwa, E-I-E-I-O.
And in his fatwa he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O.
With a "Can't do this",
And a "Can't do that",
And a "Can't do anything I don't want you to",
That old Mullah made a fatwa, E-I-E-I-O.
The leader of a banned militant group is standing in the general elections, and says he will fight for the reinstatement of his group if he wins a seat in parliament. Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of the outlawed Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, has a good chance of winning a seat on Monday in Jhang that has been a group stronghold for years. This is our seat and well win it. No one can snatch this seat from us, the bearded cleric told Reuters in an interview at a supporters house in Jhang as his heavily armed guards looked on.
Millat-e-Islamia, or Nation of Islam, was formed in 2002 by members of the notorious Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a Sunni organisation that was for years involved in tit-for-tat killings with militants from Shia sect. President Pervez Musharraf banned the SSP and several other militant groups in January 2002 after joining the US-led campaign against terrorism following the September 11 attacks on the United States. The US also put the SSP on its watch list of terrorist groups. Its supporters regrouped with a new name but Musharraf, under pressure from the United States to tackle militants, banned the Millat-e-Islamia in 2003. Ludhianvi, who is running for parliament as an independent candidate, denied that his supporters were involved in militancy.
The SSP and Millat-e-Islamia have never had any link with terrorist activities. Weve always distanced ourselves from terrorism, he said. As far as the ban on my party is concerned, I think it was a repressive act, Ludhianvi said. He said he was fighting the ban in the court and would also make his case in the National Assembly. After winning, I will raise my voice for the reinstatement of my party in parliament, he said.
Election Commission officials say Ludhianvi could not be prevented from taking part in the election unless a complaint was lodged against his candidacy. Ludhianvis main rival in the election is Sheikh Waqas Ahmed, a candidate for the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, who ridiculed the government crackdown on militancy, saying it was a show put on for the West. Its just a gimmick, he said. They tell the goras (Westerners) that they are eliminating terrorism and extremism but the organisations banned for extremism are operating freely, Ahmed said, pointing out the flags of the Millat-e-Islamia fluttering across the town. Ludhianvis predecessor as head of the militant group, Azam Tariq, contested the last general election in 2002, while he was in jail and had won the vote.
In parliament, after he was released from jail, he backed a pro-Musharraf coalition but the firebrand pro-Taliban cleric was gunned down on the outskirts of Islamabad in 2003. His supporters blamed Shias for the killing.
This article starring:
MOHAMAD AHMED LUDHIANVI
Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan
Sheikh Waqas Ahmed
Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Number of Marines [and soldiers] killed because the enemy took heart to continue the fight with all the 'support' by the Donks in Congress to cut and run?
#3
At the risk of being a wet-blanket, seems the author of this 'study' has a bit of an agenda.
Yes, they might have saved lives. Question is - how many might die later because there wasn't enough transport to lug these BUHFs quickly to the next, post Iraq action? Or, because post-Iraq, you spent bucks buying these BUHFs and now they'd be either on blocks, turned over to the Army, or given away to the Iraqis? Then we'd end up with another round of accusations of money being wasted, etc.
And yes- we should have had Buffaloes (or the British equivalent).
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki proclaimed on Friday that Al Qaeda had been routed in Baghdad thanks to a security plan launched a year ago, and would soon be defeated throughout the country.
Let's not get too cocky ...
Thank God, we destroyed the cells of Al Qaeda. They have been chased out of Baghdad and this has opened the way for their defeat throughout Iraq, Maliki said at a ceremony marking the launch on February 14 last year of the Baghdad security plan, known as Operation Fardh Al Qanoon (Imposing Law). Today our forces are locked in battle against outlaws in Nineveh and we are chasing them, he added, referring to the northern province where Iraqi officials say Al Qaeda has regrouped after fleeing Baghdad.
The prime minister thanked all those who helped make the security plan a success and who saved the country from the miserable situation it was in due to Al Qaedas violence and terrorism.
To mark the anniversary of the launch of Fardh Al Qanoon, he laid a wreath at the monument to the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad at a ceremony attended by the defence and interior ministers and other Iraqi officials. The launch of Fardh Al Qanoon coincided with the start of a surge of an extra 30,000 US troops in Iraq, which has helped reduce the number of bombings in the capital, while the streets are no longer theatres for violent clashes between insurgents and the security forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Unfortunately, iff there's any place INSIDE IRAQ for the USA to be militarily defeated or destroyed by Radical Islam + OSAMA's-MOUD'S "HIDDEN IMAM/MAHDI" etc., BAGHDAD TAINT IT.
From Seafarious' comment.
The 5.3-magnitute earthquake that jolted Israel on Friday shook open a large hole on the Temple Mount plaza, near the Dome of the Rock.
In the religion bidnid, we call it a "pit." They're usually inhabited by demons and efrits and things like that.
Al-Aqsa mosque officials belonging to the Islamic Movement's Northern Branch covered the hole with wooden planks following afternoon prayers.
Good idea. Once the demons get out, you've had it.
The officials, who also said the quake caused cracks in several local residential buildings, said the hole was a meter deep, two meters long and meter and a half wide.
I'm not too sure about that "deep" figure. Usually they go all the way down, at least to the bank of the River Styx.
The Islamic Movement blamed Israel for the hole, saying Israel is digging tunnels in the area that undermine the stability in the area of the Al-Aqsa mosque. The organization urged Islamic states to take action to stop Israeli excavations in the area.
Maybe you should think about taking some sort of action to persuade God not to strike the al-Aqsa mosque with earthquakes. My advice would be to become Lutherans and turn it into a church hardly anybody attends. That usually does it. When was the last time you heard of Lutherans getting struck by an earthquake?
The earthquake shook Israel early Friday afternoon and was felt mostly in the Coastal Plain.
How many pits opened up there?
Magen David Adom emergency medical services said that no injuries were reported.
This is known in the bidnid as a "divine warning."
A Tel Aviv resident, living on the second floor, said: "We felt the earth move. The bed was rocking, the doors were moving, and the chandeliers were swinging."
"I said, 'Oh, Myra! Oh, Myra!' My wife said 'Oh, Irving, don't stop!'"
#3
Yup,
T'was us the third earthquake-generating division of the IDF military engineering task force.
Wait till you see our new Mark IV Death Ray Generator.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#4
You've got three earthquake divisions in the IDF, Elder of Zion? I knew Israel was dangerous, but goodness!
With regard to the wooden planks, when Mr. Wife was working with a supplier in Egypt, he took photos of their safety methods. Holes in the floor of the second mezzanine were covered with cardboard, bags of caustic and acidic powders were carried hither and yon atop heads, that kind of thing. To get the men in his own plant to wear safety shoes, he had to tell them the raw materials caused impotence when absorbed through the skin of the feet.
Wooden planks, presumably actually capable of bearing the weight of a human being or two, is a vast, vast improvement. Especially over a 3 ft. deep hole.
#9
Of course, the endless excavations the Muzzies have been carrying out in order to destroy all the archaeological evidence tying the Temple Mount to Judaism have NOTHING to do with structural problems.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/16/2008 21:03 Comments ||
Top||
GAZA (Rooters) - Hamas screened purported confessions on Saturday that it said proved Palestinian rivals had plotted to kill the Islamists' leader in the Gaza Strip. But aides to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the allegations as lies produced under torture.
No outcry yet from Human Rights Watch about Hamas torturing people?
"I was told that if I blew myself up against ... Haniyeh, they would take care of my family," a young man named as Ahmed al-Dbaki and described as a would-be suicide bomber said in a film clip shown at a televised Hamas news conference in Gaza.
Among nine others whose edited video statements were screened to journalists by Hamas's security chief, one described as a senior security officer for Abbas's secular Fatah faction spoke fluently for several minutes of how he oversaw a plot to kill Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza. "I was ordered to form an armed cell to strike the Hamas movement," the man, named as Hassan al-Zant, said. "I was instructed to find a martyr to carry out the task."
Other detainees were younger and appeared pale and hesitant.
No independent assessment was available of allegations first made last month when Hamas announced a number of arrests.
The conflicting accounts and bitterness in the opposing camps underlined the depth of the split among Palestinian leaders since Hamas defeated Abbas's Western-backed forces in Gaza in June, leaving Abbas's rule limited to the West Bank.
Saeed Seyam, a former interior minister who now runs security forces in Gaza, accused senior presidential aide Tayeb Abdel-Rahim and Abbas's intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi. "This dirty crime was plotted at the highest level of leadership within the Palestinian Authority," Seyam said. "It proved they did not want dialogue and wanted civil war when they planned to kill an official like Ismail Haniyeh."
A senior Abbas spokesman, in a statement issued in the West Bank, dismissed Seyam's news briefing as "comedy theatre":
"Hamas is known for making up lies and using any method to make themselves look real, including torture," he said. "These lies will persuade no one. Quite the reverse -- these lies will strengthen the belief that Hamas is ... beyond the law."
Seyam denied the detainees, who were not presented in person to reporters, were abused. "They were not subject to any torture or psychological pressure," he said.
Several of those whose edited segments of testimony were shown said the plan was to place suicide bombers in a mosque where Haniyeh, once Abbas's prime minister, often prayed or at an event last month when he welcomed pilgrims home from Mecca.
At a Gaza City news conference Saturday, Hamas broadcast videotaped confessions of alleged suspects, including several who said they received instructions from Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior Abbas aide, to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Tsk, tsk, tsk
Sderot residents can put away the protest tent in Jerusalem: The political leadership has already decided to embark on a wide-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. However, preparations have not yet been completed, which is why the operation is delayed.
A limited group of ministers who are party to the decision, just like the IDF and Shin Bet, require more time in order to create the conditions that would ensure that the operation's objectives are achieved within a reasonable period of time.
Good preparation, they believe, will minimize casualties among our forces, shorten the duration of the rocket counterattack to be delivered by Hamas at the start of the operation, and prevent undesirable developments on other fronts.
The decision in principle to embark on the operation was taken even before the Winograd report's publication. The secrecy and compartmentalization were meant to maintain the elements of surprise as much as possible. Even though Hamas in Gaza already knows that the operation is approaching and is preparing for it, it can still be surprised in some areas.
If it works, it would be possible to show success and minimize casualties in the first and critical phase. Surprises in terms of methods, means, and operational zones could also shorten the duration of the IDFs stay in the Strip.
What has already been leaked to the media and published is damaging, and enables Hamas to focus its preparations. Therefore, Olmert and Barak are right when they refuse to share with the cabinet the details of the plans and secret military and diplomatic preparations undertaken these days. The IDF too adopted strict compartmentalization, and this is a good thing.
However, the Israeli public, which will have to bear the burden of casualties and the economic price of an ongoing campaign, must know and realize, in general terms, what it faces.
A clear and accurate definition of campaign targets is of the utmost importance. A significant part of the Second Lebanon War's failures stemmed from a negligent and unrealistic definition of the objectives of the military move, which started as an aerial operation and ended as war.
This time around, the targets have already been defined, and they are clear. Some of them are tactical: 1. The facilitation of operational and intelligence-gathering freedom of action for the IDF and Shin Bet all across the Strip, as quickly as possible. This is a crucial basic condition for achieving the other objections. 2. A drastic reduction of rocket and mortar fire as quickly as possible. 3. Destruction of most military infrastructure, arms arsenal, and means of production. We are not only talking about Hamas infrastructure, but rather, also that of the other organizations and crime families. 4. Blocking the Philadelphi Route in a manner which would curb, by at least 60%, smuggling into and out of the Strip. 5. Avoiding, as much as is possible, harming Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the fighting, and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis.
The strategic objectives are as follows: 1. Removing Hamas from power and establishing a stable Palestinian regime in the Gaza Strip, with international monitoring and assistance. 2. Demilitarizing the Strip for an extended period of time in terms of rockets and the infrastructure to produce such weapons. 3. Effective Israeli security and monitoring for years to come of crossings into the Strip, including Philadelphi (either independently or through an agreement with the Palestinians, the Egyptians, and international monitoring parties.)
In order to achieve this ambitious list of objectives, or at least most of it, Israel must secure the "operational environment." Simply put, Israel must create, in advance, international understanding and backing for the Gaza campaign and elicit the willingness (of NATO or other international parties) to by party to the agreement to follow in its wake, which would enable the IDF to exit Gaza. This matter is an important component in the preparations ahead of the campaign. Another important condition for success is to prevent escalation on other fronts during the fighting.
Hizbullah and its patron, Iran, may attempt to open a second front in the north, in order to mitigate the pressure on Hamas. Both of them, as well as Syria, must be made to understand in advance, in an unequivocal manner, that any intervention on their part may cost them dearly. The IDF must also prepare for a terror wave in the West Bank; meanwhile, the police must prepare for possible riots among Israel's Arabs.
In addition, we must prepare for the possibility of Hamas attempting to organize mass marches of civilians towards Israel's borders and within the Strip.
In order to address all of the above, large forces (including reservists and police) must be prepared in advance, in a manner that would enable them to quickly join the fighting or prevent massive riots. Plenty of diverse equipment should also be prepared in order to handle riots.
Once the military operation starts, this equipment must already be waiting at regional warehouses near possible trouble spots, or even in the possession of the forces. The home front must be prepared as well. Western Negev residents will surely have to sustain heavy Qassam and mortar barrages in the first week or two (in a good case scenario.) But they are not the only ones who must be ready residents on the Lebanese border and even south of it must be ready for rocket barrages.
The implication of this is that it would be necessary to place a significant part of Israel's security forces on high alert, at least in early stages of the campaign. This is on top of the unusually large scope of forces to take part in the fighting itself. The Israeli and international experience in asymmetrical combat against guerilla and terror forces proves that chances of success grow in direct relation to the size of the force that takes part in the campaign.
The larger the force that takes part in the operation, the greater the shock on the other side and the smaller the number of casualties among our forces this was proven in the first and second Intifada and also in Iraq. The problem with a large force comes during the static stay in the field. This is where losses start to mount, and therefore this matter should also be considered in advance.
As noted, in order to secure the objectives, the IDF and Shin Bet must quickly reach a situation of freedom of action, similarly to the situation created in the West Bank in the wake of operation Defensive Shield. Indeed, operational and intelligence freedom does not require soldiers to constantly stay across the Strip, yet the troops need time. Months or even a year will pass before its possible to see genuine results.
Operation Defensive Shield was followed by other operations and two years passed before the number of attacks was drastically reduced. In Gaza, should all go well, it would take much less time. Yet we must not expect instant results. To that end, the Israeli public and politicians must show all the restraint and patience they are able to draw on. The public must also internalize the realization that a Gaza campaign would exact a human toll and an economic price.
We can draw encouragement from the fact that the preparations undertaken these days by the IDF and Shin Bet, and also on the diplomatic front, are being undertaken thoroughly and secretly. Defense Minister Barak, who has been overseeing the preparations, is applying the experience he gained in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, where operations are sometimes prepared for six months and even longer.
It has already been proven that the more thorough the preparation process, the more successful and smooth the operation tends to be. Let's hope that this rule will also apply to the upcoming major Gaza campaign. Sounds like Israel is preparing to solve the Hamas problem, once and for all.
#3
Avoiding, as much as is possible, harming Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the fighting
One of their favorite things to do as "civilians" is to stand between the IDF and their own terrorists. In my mind, that makes them combatants.
Also, I don't know if Israel has anything like six months to prepare considering where they are going to be getting their supplies from. They want it to be over and done with by the time the next president takes office. Just in case.
#5
Six months yes, but when did they start?
My guess is at least 4 months ago.
I'm going to enjoy watching this,
call me a ghoul if you must but the paleos and ham-ass have got it coming.
#12
Hezbollah won't cross the border IMHO. They may push civilians willing human shields across and will definitely rocket N. Israel. Israel needs to get out front with a widespread release: "approach the border and you'll be shot. Allow Hezbollah to rocket from civilian postions, and they are subject to attack. Get out now!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 19:08 Comments ||
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Thousands of Gazans on Friday protested against the reprinting of Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. "What Denmark said is heresy," demonstrators chanted in a Hamas march in the Jebaliya refugee camp. "It is shameful that Denmark should renew its offence against the prophet," Hamas official Mushir al-Masri told reporters at the Jebaliya protest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
"The issue of Jerusalem will not be postponed until the end of negotiations," Ahmed Qurei, head of the Palestinian negotiating team was quoted by Israel Radio as saying Friday. Qurei was responding to statements by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier this week. Asked about reports that Qurei personally confirmed that there had been secret talks about Jerusalem, Olmert said: "With all due respect, [Qurei] doesn't decide the agenda for the talks. We established a rule that Jerusalem would be discussed last and that's clear to both sides."
However, Qurei said Thursday evening that all 'core issues' would be on the table without exception and without giving precedence to any of them.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Ok, go ahead and tell them to piss off now then. Instead of the end of the week.
Hamas said on Friday it has told Egyptian officials it would consider a ceasefire with Israel if it lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip and ceased military operations in all Palestinian territories.
Hamas also discussed with Egyptian officials this week the possibility of a prisoner deal that could lead to the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, seized by Hamas in a 2006 raid, in exchange for Israel freeing several hundreds of Palestinians from its jails, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Sources close to Hamas said Egypt, which brokered a year-long truce between the Islamist group and Israel in 2005, had wanted to explore Hamas's position before holding any possible talks with Israel.
Leading Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar travelled to Egypt on Thursday to resume talks with the Egyptian government about the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which Hamas militants smashed open last month seeking relief from an Israeli blockade. "Hamas said it has no objection to studying the issue if the Israeli occupation would stop all forms of aggression against our people and lift the siege," Abu Zuhri said, reiterating Hamas's position on a possible ceasefire.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I think Israel has another arrangement in mind.
And one Israeli is probably worth several hundred paleos.
#3
Lebanon's western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said that Lebanon has no interest in declaring an "open war" on Israel as this would harm Hezbollah in addition to the Islamic and Arab causes, Lebanese reports quoted him Saturday as saying.
So what would you rather do? Wage a subversive war? And why are you so afraid defensive of Hezb'Allah?
Syria vows to strike back at Israel for Imad Mughniyeh's killing in Damascus and "repeated encroachments" DEBKAfile's military sources report: Thursday night, Feb. 14,
Syrian officials fanned out among Arab broadcasting stations with a warning: Damascus will attack Israel shortly following a decision by Syrian leaders to end its policy of restraint against its territorial violations.
Israeli land, sea, air and homeland defense units were earlier ordered to prepare to defend the country's northern borders against attacks by Hizballah, including rocket strikes, and Syria. Reinforcements were rushed to the north.
Israel has received a stream of intelligence confirmations that Iran, Syria and Hizballah have determined not to let Mughniyeh's death pass without an immediate response. They are working together to mount a revenge operation.
Western sources watching the funeral of the Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh earlier Thursday noted the absence of Hizballah's entire command echelon and the Revolutionary Guards officers serving at Iran's Beirut embassy. They were assumed to have gone to ground to plan a combined offensive against Israel whom they accuse of the Mughniyeh killing. Hassan Nasrallah's threats ('If Israel wants open war, so bit.") were broadcast by video
DEBKAfile's intelligence sources note that the way Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki stood at Thursday's Beirut funeral between Hizballah's Dep. Sec. Gen Naim Qassem and the slain terrorist's father and accepted condolences, confirmed Mughniyeh's high-value role in Tehran's foreign terror system. It also informed the thousands of Shiite mourners that Iran will be part of prospective retaliation for his death against Israel.
Iran and Syria have also linked their probes to find out how a hit-team penetrated the heavy security surrounding Imad Mughniyeh in an upscale Damascus neighborhood, planted a bomb in his SUV and detonated it by remote control.
Since Wednesday night, according to our sources, a visiting Iranian team of investigators has been hard at work in the Syrian capital to identify the Mughniyeh's killers. It is headed by Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the al Qods Brigades, the Revolutionary Guards foreign terror arm.
Its other members are Adm. Mohammad Fadavi, Dep. Commander of the IRGC Navy, who set up the near-clash between Iranian speedboats and US warships in the Strait of Hormuz in January; and Gen. Morteza Rezai, former chief of the IRGC intelligence branch.
They are working with the Syrian team led by acting interior minister Gen. Bassam Abdul Majid.
#2
g(r)omgoru; they're going to kill each other whether we're there or not. Why stand in the way of a bullet meant between two neighbors? Obama would let Israel settle the score (with support [logistics, armament etc.]) if needed, put the US's troops on the border; beef up the FBI, and train the billions in savings at building and improving the infrastructure of America. Sounds good to me!
#7
bigjim-ky, exactly who do you think we'll be waving the white flag to??? With America turning inward toward it's own betterments and conditions, you have nothing to worry about with your nearly 400 million brothers and sisters 'watching our fate (remember how we came together after Pearl Harbor, the Iranian Hostage incident of the 80's, and 9/11)!! Or are you afraid of a fat wallet and people going about their business of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Should Syria, Hizbullah, or Iran attempt to invade or otherwise 'step on' the US...I'll be the guy next to your side covering your back. Your not heavy!!
Hizbullah has sent security officials to Damascus to help investigate the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the organisation's military commander, it emerged today. Arab media reported that Hizbullah was cooperating with the Syrian and Iranian authorities to trace the killers of Mughniyeh - hailed as a "martyr" of the resistance by the Lebanese Shia group and condemned as a terrorist by Israel and the US.
Tuesday's deadly car bombing was deeply embarrassing for Syria, both as a breach of its normally tight security and as exposure of the hospitality it grants to militant groups. The Palestinian movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad also have offices in Damascus.
Lebanese sources said last night that several suspects, mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, had been arrested.
Paleos you say! Is there a country in the world where they're not wanted?
Underlining the concerns of Hizbullah's two staunchest allies, Iran's foreign minister, Manuchehr Mottaki, discussed the killing with Syria's vice-president, Farouk al-Shara.
Israel has denied being behind the killing but experts say it has the hallmarks of a Mossad operation. Israel has a track record of liquidating dangerous enemies, including a previous Hizbullah leader, Abbas Musawi. That was followed in 1992 by the car bombing of Israel's embassy in Argentina. Two years later Israel's capture of a top Hizbullah commander brought the bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires.
In 2006, Nasrallah vowed to act to free Lebanese prisoners in Israel, and then staged a daring cross-border raid to kidnap two Israeli soldiers to use as bargaining chips. Hizbullah then fired thousands of rockets in the resulting month-long war in which 1,200 Lebanese were killed.
Diplomats said that one consequence of the Mughniyeh killing would be an end to any hopes of a deal involving the two Israeli soldiers or their remains, if, as is widely believed, they are dead. Germany and the International Red Cross had been trying to broker a swap. "Nasrallah's rhetoric at the funeral ceremony was very harsh," said one senior western official. "They will be cautious about attacking across the border for fear of the consequences in Lebanon. But the fear is that Hizbullah will now start bombings and kidnappings again.
"If they do it's the end of the road. There will certainly be revenge for what happened. Whether it will be a one-off or a military target are questions to ask. They will be careful, but they'll do something."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[14 views]
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#1
IRAN-DAILY > Mugniyeh killing >ISRAEL HAS CROSSED THE RED LINE + HIZBOLLAH VOWS TO STRIKE [Israeli interests] OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL [& Lebanon]. No more nicey nicey in Israel-Lebanon only.
#2
High fives and cigars all around for Meir Dagan!! You just gotta know that Baby Assad is somewhere quaking in his patent leathers, over the timing and method!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/16/2008 5:06 Comments ||
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#5
I suggest they send their security officials incognito....
Who knows what the Mossad Has in mind next...
Can I see the snowball beginning to roll ??
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/16/2008 7:17 Comments ||
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#6
An announcement has just been made! A congratulatory pat on the back for Meir Dagan and a one year extension to his contract! They're letting the 'pitbull' run the field without a leash!
#10
And what if they're the notorious 'Mossad Honeys", you know, the beautiful women that can make love to you while driving an ice pick into your heart from the back, while gazing into your delightfully bewildered eyes...yes those agents!! Mr. Vanunu could enlighten us. Whew!
Irans influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday urged the hardline electoral watchdog to reinstate moderate candidates for next months parliamentary election.
The Guardians Council... should provide grounds for a lively election, where all supporters of the revolution with different leanings can run, Rafsanjani said in his Friday prayer sermon carried live on the state radio. Iranian vetting officials banned more than 2,200 candidates - mainly moderates and reformists - from the March 14 poll, but the Guardians Council, which has the final say on who can stand, reinstated 10 percent of them.
The move came after prominent conservative and reformist figures complained bitterly about the scale of the disqualifications, which reformist former president Mohammad Khatami described as a catastrophe. Rafsanjani also condemned an attack by a hardline website on Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Irans revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had criticised the mass disqualifications.
There is a movement now provoked from outside the country which seeks to break the pillars of revolution, he said. Iranian authorities blocked the Nosazi (Restoration) website, which backs President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, following angry condemnations by top clerics of its vitriolic attack on Hassan Khomeini. Tehrans prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said that five unnamed websites have been banned for poisoning the electoral sphere, and warned against smear campaigns ahead of the key vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/16/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
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The Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday denounced the reprinting of a blasphemous Danish cartoon, warning it could lead to confrontations between Muslims and Christians. "By reprinting these cartoons we are heading toward a bigger conflict and that shows that both sides will be hostages of their radicals," OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement.
Might be better to have that fight now, doncha think?
"It is not a way of improving your rights and exercising your freedoms when you use these rights for insulting the most sacred values and symbols of others and inciting hatred," he said. "This is a very wrong, provocative way - unacceptable."
This gets back to the whole idea of freedom of thought and freedom of expression. Mr. Ihsanoglu thinks that there is some right not to be offended. He's wrong, because such a right directly contradicts free speech. The Danish newspapers (and the rest of us) have every right to offend.
If some dipwad tosses a crucifix into a jug of urine and calls it 'art', I can be offended, but I'm not allowed to behead the 'artitst'. That's the point.
Several Danish newspapers on Wednesday republished one of 12 drawings, which had already caused bloody riots in the Muslim world in 2006, after police uncovered an alleged plot in the Scandinavian country to kill the cartoonist.
"The people who are doing this put themselves with the radicals, the fanatics and extremists who are using their beliefs as justification to hurt others," Ihsanoglu said. "This is not the way to improve relations between East and West, between Islam and Christianity."
If you were to question him closely (i.e., with #7 pliers) you'd find out that he too isn't much interested in 'improving relations' between East and West. He's interested in beating us down and ensuring that Islam is triumphant. That's his partcular job at the OIC, and since it has a nice per diem he's happy to be a warrior.
The drawing has triggered fresh uproar in Muslim countries. Thousands of supporters of the Hamas government protested in the Gaza Strip on Friday against the reprinting of the caricature.
Which proves what, exactly? In most western countries you can't get thousands of people to rally over stoopid nonsense (Berkeley excepted), because they're too busy having lives. Since having a life gets you killed in Gazoo all you have time to do is protest. Check out Rage Boy for an example.
The Hamas government which controls the coastal Palestinian territory, demanded that the Danish cartoonist be brought to trial and that an official apology be made to Muslims. It urged an end to organized campaigns to spread hatred of Islam. "We are all a sacrifice to the Prophet Mohammad (PTUI Peace Be Upon Him), our blood, our property and our families are all a sacrifice to him," a Hamas activist shouted through a loudspeaker after Friday prayers in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
"We urge Arab and Muslim countries to exert their efforts and to use all pressure tools under their control to stop these organized campaigns that spread hatred of Islam under so-called freedom of expression," a Hamas statement said.
Blah, blah, blah. Gazoo has a nice beath. Why don't you guys take the day off?
Posted by: john frum ||
02/16/2008 10:09 ||
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#1
That should read "Organization of the Islamic Nations Conference" (OINC).
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/16/2008 10:44 Comments ||
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#2
I like that "sacrifice" concept, condidering what a target-rich environment these conferenes always are.
#8
since it has a nice per diem he's happy to be a warrior.
How they get jihadis in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq... They may not have to pay in the West, which after all pays jizya for the privilege of being warred against. Separately, looking closely at Rage Boy, he appears more posed than angry. The expression around the eyes doesn't seem right. Perhaps a few more method acting classes?
#9
Well, Rage Boy is actually an Indian citizen, from the Indian state with the highest per capita income and best socio-economic indicators in all of India - Jammu and Kashmir
Posted by: john frum ||
02/16/2008 19:44 Comments ||
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#10
"By reprinting these cartoons we are heading toward a bigger conflict and that shows that both sides will be hostages of their radicals,"
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
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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.
In a speech on national television and radio, President Deby said the nationwide state of emergency would help restore security. The state of emergency began Friday, and is set to last 15 days. In his broadcast speech, Mr. Deby said, what he called the "exceptional measures" were necessary to "assure the regular functioning of the state."
BERLIN - Leaders of Germanys ruling coalition will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the countrys military mission in Afghanistan, a government spokesman said on Friday. The government is considering renewing its mandate-which expires in October-for more than the usual year to prevent it running out just after Germanys next general elections in September 2009, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told reporters.
Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they consider offensive. The cartoon depicts the Prophet with a bomb in his turban. 
Leader of banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) Adnan alias Hafees, the man who allegedly planned and coordinated terror activities in North Karnataka, has escaped with arms and explosives, giving the state police sleepless nights. 
A 
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki proclaimed on Friday that Al Qaeda had been routed in Baghdad thanks to a security plan launched a year ago, and would soon be defeated throughout the country.
GAZA (Rooters) - Hamas screened purported confessions on Saturday that it said proved Palestinian rivals had plotted to kill the Islamists' leader in the Gaza Strip. But aides to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the allegations as lies produced under torture.
Sderot residents can put away the protest tent in Jerusalem: The political leadership has already decided to embark on a wide-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. However, preparations have not yet been completed, which is why the operation is delayed.
Hizbullah has sent security officials to Damascus to help investigate the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the organisation's military commander, it emerged today. Arab media reported that Hizbullah was cooperating with the Syrian and Iranian authorities to trace the killers of Mughniyeh - hailed as a "martyr" of the resistance by the Lebanese Shia group and condemned as a terrorist by Israel and the US.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday denounced the reprinting of a blasphemous Danish cartoon, warning it could lead to confrontations between Muslims and Christians. "By reprinting these cartoons we are heading toward a bigger conflict and that shows that both sides will be hostages of their radicals," OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement.
