(SomaliNet) The Swede and Danish man who were kidnapped in Somalia on Saturday have been flown to safety to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Both men were working with a United Nations landmine removal project for the Swedish Rescue Services when they were taken captive by islamic extremists on Saturday morning in the city of Hudur, around 400 kilometers northwest of the capital Mogadishu. The men were later released on Saturday afternoon.
The Swedish man, named Ulf Flink, is currently recovering in the Kenyan capital. It is unknown when he will return to Sweden.
The Swedish Rescue Services has been running a landmine project since spring last year and had thought to finish end of September this year. Altogether, nine people are currently working on the project.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Two former militant supporters confessed on Saudi state television on Tuesday night how they organised the Internet operations of al Qaeda's campaign against the Saudi government, media said on Wednesday.
"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" began a campaign to destabilise the U.S.-allied Saudi government in 2003 with two suicide bomb attacks on foreign housing compounds in Riyadh. The violence was brought to an end by Saudi security forces in cooperation with foreign experts in a counter-insurgency campaign that won plaudits in the West. The last major attack was a failed attempt to storm the world's largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in February 2006.
Abu Azzam al-Ansari and Umm Osama -- both Egyptian -- explained on Saudi television how they set up the online magazines Sada al-Jihad and al-Khansaa promoting jihadist thought and carrying news of the militant campaign. Ansari was arrested last year, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said on Wednesday, but Sada al-Jihad has continued publishing. It was not clear when Umm Osama was arrested.
Internet monitoring has become a key part of the government's campaign against militant groups and the TV confessions appeared to be part of an ongoing efforts to keep Saudis away from militant ideology. Hundreds of sites are blocked by state censors.
The head of the judiciary in England and Wales said Thursday that Islamic sharia law could play a part in the legal system here. Lord Chief Justice Lord Nicholas Phillips's comments came after the head of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, sparked outrage in February by saying Britain would likely adopt parts of the Islamic code.
"There is no reason why sharia principles, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution," Phillips said in a speech at the East London Muslim Centre. "It must be recognised, however, that any sanctions for a failure to comply with the agreed terms of mediation would be drawn from the laws of England and Wales."
There are already about a dozen sharia courts in Britain which are mainly used to resolve family disputes but they have no formal legal status.
Phillips said there could be "no question" of physical punishments like flogging and stoning being handed down. He stressed: "So far as the law is concerned, those who live in this country are governed by English and Welsh law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts."
Williams faced calls for his resignation after saying that the adoption of some parts of sharia law alongside the existing legal system "seems unavoidable" in some circumstances.
Phillips defended Williams on the issue, insisting his comments were "not very radical" and saying that the current system "goes a long way towards accommodating the Archbishop's suggestion." "It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law," the Lord Chief Justice said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office said of Phillips's remarks: "We think that British law should be based on British values and determined by the British Parliament." There are around 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2008 15:25 ||
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#1
Fuck you traitors.
I'm learning how to tie knots in hemp rope, just for people like you.
Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling party defended itself in the country's highest court Thursday against charges that it had sought to undermine the secular system and should be closed down. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and Bekir Bozdag, a senior lawmaker from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), arrived at the Constitutional Court at 0700 GMT to present their case to judges in a closed session.
On Tuesday, chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya had argued before the 11-judge tribunal that the AKP should be banned for threatening one of the basic tenets of the republic. Yalcinkaya launched proceedings in March, accusing the AKP, which was re-elected to office last year with 47 percent of the vote, of gradually seeking to replace the secular system with Sharia law. He also asked the court to bar 71 party officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, from party politics for five years.
The AKP, the offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement, rejects the charges and says the case is politically motivated.
Japan and the United States said Thursday they will launch a cargo-screening project to detect nuclear and other radioactive materials at Yokohama port to prevent nuclear terrorism. Under the U.S.-led Megaports Initiative, the two countries will introduce the joint pilot project as part of efforts to enhance antiterrorist measures and thwart nuclear proliferation, they said.
Japan and the United States 'share a common concern for the need to increase our individual and joint efforts to detect, deter and interdict illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive material, including terrorist attempts to disrupt global trade and to abuse commercial shipping to further terrorist schemes,' the two governments said in a statement.
The two governments will set up equipment at Yokohama port, southwest of Tokyo, to detect radioactive materials and exchange data on illicit movements to prevent the smuggling of radioactive materials. Cargo exported to the United States as well as those imported to Japan will be screened to prevent nuclear terrorism in the two countries.
The Megaports Initiative is part of U.S. efforts to prevent inflows of nuclear materials by tightening cargo inspections at the ports of exporter countries. The United States has so far inked similar deals with 27 countries or regions under the initiative, and the cargo screening was implemented by nine of them, including Greece, Singapore and the Philippines, as of May, according to the Japanese government.
The alleged leader of a Melbourne terrorist cell was merely standing up for his religion when he spoke to his followers about holy war and other acts of defiance, the Victorian Supreme Court has been told.
Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, of Dallas in Melbourne, is charged with directing a terrorist organisation. Along with 11 other men he is also charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation that was preparing or fostering a terrorist act. But his counsel, Remy Ven de Wiel QC, told the court Benbrika was merely a man who defended his religion.
"The Muslims in Australia have a sense of powerlessness and political impotence and they express themselves," Mr Van de Wiel said. When Benbrika made various comments about holy war and of Muslims being under attack, it was "in accordance with his religion - with his belief".
"He is a man who says 'I am standing up for my religion and jihad is part of my religion and I will continue talking about it," Mr Van de Wiel said.
On the first day of closing defence arguments in what is Australia's biggest terror trial yet, Mr Van de Wiel told the jury the men had been under surveillance from ASIO and their phones had been tapped. In the knowledge that their conversations were being recorded, and in a reflection of the seriousness with which they took themselves, the men referred to themselves as the "A1 terrorist group".
"They are laughing," he said. "They're no different to you and I - they can send up a situation." Mr Van de Wiel also accused ASIO of adopting "terrifying Nazi tactics" by raiding the men's homes in the early hours of the morning.
He also asked the jury to consider the evidence of a secretly recorded conversation in which one of the accused men, Shoue Hammoud, questions Benbrika about the surveillance. "But we haven't done anything," Hammoud said in the tape played to the court. Mr Van de Wiel told the jury there was no suggestion any of the men had actually engaged in an act of terror. "There is no evidence that they have done anything," he said.
SAN ANTONIO (Rooters) - Three American defense contractors landed late on Wednesday in Texas, hours after they were freed from years of captivity in the jungles of Colombia. A plane carrying Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes touched down at around 11:15 p.m./0415 GMT at an air force base in San Antonio. The three were then whisked by helicopter to a military medical facility at Fort Sam Houston, an Army post in San Antonio.
Two helicopters landed minutes later at Fort Sam Houston and the three men and several others climbed out of them into the warm Texas night. They then walked briskly onto a waiting bus that took them to the medical facility. None appeared to need any assistance and no comments were made to the waiting media.
Commenting on CNN as the men got off the helicopter, Amanda Howes said her uncle looked good. 'He looks healthy. He looks tired. He looks just as I remember him,' she said. 'I can't wait to see him.'
George Gonsalves, the father of Marc Gonsalves, added: 'Marc looks, he looks pretty thin. Not to mention he looks completely exhausted. But he's alive.'
French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, the three Americans and 11 other hostages were freed on Wednesday in a bold rescue from leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. The Americans all worked for U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman and were captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungles while on a counternarcotics operation.
Amanda Howes said the return of the three showed 'there's always hope. There's always hope for everyone.'
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit by an Islamic organization that accused the Bush administration of illegally wiretapping its telephones without warrants. The U.S. branch of the now-defunct Al Haramain Islamic Foundation claimed federal officials illegally eavesdropped on their telephone calls without court approval required by the administration's so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program.
At the heart of their lawsuit was a top secret call log that the Treasury Department accidentally turned over to Al Haramain's lawyers, who say it shows government terrorist hunters listened to their phone conversations with foundation officials living in Saudi Arabia. The government has designated the former Saudi Arabia-based Islamic charity as a terrorist organization.
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker barred the foundation from using the top secret document in the case and dismissed the lawsuit. He gave the foundation 30 days to refile its lawsuit with other evidence proving it was a surveillance target.
Al Haramain lawyer Jon Eisenberg told Walker last year that the lawsuit was dead without the use of the call log to prove illegal surveillance. But public disclosures about the surveillance program in general and about the charity's role in particular since then could help foundation lawyers prove their case, Eisenberg said after the ruling was issued.
Government lawyers did not immediately return a call for comment.
Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also barred the foundation lawyers from using the call log as evidence after the Bush administration argued that to do so would harm national security interests.
But the appeals court sent the case back to Walker to determine if the administration's claim to state secrets privilege is trumped by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act, known as FISA, requires government investigators to obtain a warrant from a secret court in Washington to conduct electronic eavesdropping of suspected terrorists inside the country. Walker ruled that FISA does have precedence over the state secrets privilege, but said Al Haramain's lawyers are barred from using the call log they accidentally received.
President Bush will soon decide whether to close Guantanamo Bay as a prison for al-Qaeda suspects, sources tell ABC News. High-level discussions among top advisers have escalated in the past week, with the most senior administration officials in continuous talks about the future of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay--and how it will be dramatically changed and/or closed in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling that gave detainees there access to federal courts.
Sources have confirmed that President Bush is expected to be briefed on these pressing GTMO issues--and may reach a decision on the future of the naval base as a prison for al Qaeda suspects--before he leaves for the G8 on Saturday. An announcement, however, is not expected before he leaves the country.
High-level administration officials say the Court's decision dramatically changes the legal landscape--and raises questions about whether the government has solid evidence to present to federal judges to justify ongoing detentions. That evidence, much of it classified and obtained by military and CIA personnel on the battlefield, is not the standard kind of proof judges are accustomed to seeing in regular criminal cases here, administration officials say. The documents do not contain the kind of detailor include sources of that informationthats typical in criminal cases, sources say.
Late last month for example, a federal appeals court in Washington said the government failed to prove its case with one detainee from China. The administration fears that's a sign of things to comein light of the Supreme Courts ruling giving other detainees even broader habeas corpus rights to challenge their detentions in court, sources tell ABC News.
And since most Federal district court judges generally don't have a clue when it comes to understanding national security and the military, and since the USSC didn't exactly provide any specific guidance as to what would be proper, the Bush administration is right to be worried that these mooks will end up released.
Of course, there is generally wide agreement--from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and even Bush himself--that GTMO should eventually be closed. But the Court ruling could well hasten that move, since it undercuts the main reason to keep the detainees there. A key reason for imprisoning the detainees at GTMO in the first place was the belief that they would not have access to the courts, since they were not on U.S. soil.
The recent discussions---which have involved numerous meetings with the most senior advisers to the President--the Principals--are about how to handle the some 260 detainees still imprisoned at GTMO. Should they be brought to the United States, and where, of course, to put them if they are to be imprisoned in this country?
Bush has not decided whether he will announce that GTMO should be closed, sources say. But at the very least, sources say, he will soon announce a host of these legal and policy changes that will force Congress to come up with a solution--including where to imprison those detainees if GTMO does, in fact, shut its doors.
Ice Station Zebra is looking better and better ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Here perhaps is the most troubling and substantive part of negative Bush ledger (excluding fiscal insanity and bizarre hostility to the rule of law and fairness in immigration).
It's not just the literally unbelievable fiasco unfolding - the utterly despicable outlaws of jihadi terrorism not being brought to justice after years and years of delay - it's the potentially lasting damage to the US constitutional system.
Treaty power as the province of the executive (with Senate consent). Gone (see Hamdan). Oh - common sense pretty much out the window, too. When an illustration is needed of "making shit up", the majority's ludicrous crap WRT Common Article 3 should be the standard reference.
Executive discretion in war-making, and ennumerated powers of the legislative branch in limiting court jurisdiction. Gone (see Boumedienne).
Will the (brain-dead, whining, clueless, unworthy) public actually get upset if KSM is released, ya think? Would that unimaginable debacle stir the administration to do something?
Even though the race-hustling, ignorant, arrogant twink from Chicago will likely lose to his unimpressive opponent, much of this damage is done. McCain's tough but seems to excel at shredding the constitution, not protecting it (in a governmental, not military, role).
Are we five years from the earliest possibility of having an adult in charge again?
With Gates and Rice as players, it is not possible to imagine a thoughtful or sensible solution to emerge. Barf. Happy Fourth of July, chumps.
#4
Then Gitmo would be a word that equaled freedom rather than the tainted rep it has now (earned or not one must admit it's a bad name around the world).
A top U.S diplomat has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to increase anti-terror coordination saying they must extend their governments' authority to their border regions in order to check rising militant activities. Speaking at the end of his three-day trip to Pakistan, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher also supported Afghan and NATO concerns that al-Qaida and Taliban militants are freely using sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border.
U.S-led coalition forces fighting Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan have suffered their highest monthly death toll in the month of June since launching military operations in the country in 2001.
Coalition commanders and Afghan officials blame militant sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border for the rise in insurgent attacks.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Pakistani leaders, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said that al-Qaida and Taliban threat is growing in tribal regions of Pakistan. He reiterated that Afghan and coalition forces must tackle militants on their side of the border while Pakistani troops need to act on their side. "We know that suicide bombers get trained there and they are coming in both directions," he said. "They come to kill innocent Afghans and they come to kill innocent Pakistanis. We can do a lot on the Afghan side in terms of stabilization and stopping people from trying to come across the border but in the end the Pakistanis have to take actions on the Pakistani side to get at these militants who are harming all of us."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
WORLDNEWS > ADVISOR: MCCAIN FAVORS A MUCH LARGER ARMY.
It is incumbent on every Muslim across the world to fight alongside Afghan Muslims against America, Jaish-ul-Islami Pakistan (JIP) Bajaur Agency commander Wali-ur-Rehman said on Wednesday.
Rehman said it was not un-Islamic to go to Afghanistan for jihad and to defend Afghan Muslims in the war against the United States-led allied forces. Addressing a press conference at an undisclosed location, he said jihad against the US and NATO forces would continue until they (allies) were driven out of Afghanistan.
He attributed the worsening law and order in Pakistan and its Tribal Areas to the flawed policies of President Pervez Musharraf, which had made Pakistan and its Tribal Areas prone to the US-led allied forces attacks. He said that America was the major terrorist in the world and the biggest enemy of Islam and Pakistan.
Spies: Rehman said those spying for America would be strictly punished and would be publicly hanged to teach others a lesson. He said one of the spies arrested following the bombing of a Damadola madrassa in May by the US, had been beheaded. He said the JIP had sentenced him to death under the Islamic laws.
Rehman said the death sentence awarded to Afghan citizen Jan Wali was not a human rights violation as several innocent people had lost their lives because of his espionage. He handed over the body of Jan Wali and custody of his 12-year-old son, kept in JIPs custody for the past one month, to Walis family on the occasion. Jan Walis son Muhammad Tahir told reporters that his father was punished for the sins he had committed and he did not feel sad for his death.
This article starring:
Wali-ur-Rehman
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Killing this guy should be the "obligation of all Americans".
Following the successful implementation of security operation Seerat-e-Mustaqeem, residents of Bara are once again free to leave their heads bare.
Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh, prior to the operation, had strictly enforced the wearing of caps and offering of prayers.
In fact, several mujahids used to police the region and ensure that people in the Bara market were offering their prayers and wearing caps.
A Bara resident who studies at the University of Peshawar said that he used to travel with a cap in his pocket and would put it on whenever he crossed the border into Bara from Peshawar to appease Baghs men.
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07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The military action launched in Khyber Agency is a sheer violation of human rights, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday. Talking to Human Rights Watch International (HRWI) Executive Director Kan Ethreth at his Jati Umra farmhouse, Nawaz said that the PML-N preferred political dialogue to bring normalcy to the Tribal Areas instead of a military operation, which was not a viable solution to the problem.
Nawaz said that a wave of anger and resentment is not only prevailing in the Tribal Areas but also in the entire country due to killings of the countrys own people in the name of the war on terror. He warned that PML-N would take chalk out a line of action independently if any such future operation were launched in the Tribal Areas.
The PML-N is the second major party in the ruling coalition so the foreign states must take it onboard while reviewing their policies on Pakistan, he added. Our partys viewpoint is crystal clear on the issue of restoration of sacked judges, freedom of judiciary, supremacy of constitution and the parliament, and we will never compromise on our principled stand on these matters, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The government has decided to continue President Pervez Musharrafs policies regarding madrassas, Ministry of Religious Affairs sources said on Wednesday. Sources said that the government had agreed to follow the previous governments policies, which include a change in syllabus and streamlining of all religious madrassas, and that the prime minister has sought the registration and reforms record of madrassas. Religious Affairs Adviser Hamid Saeed Kazmi has been assigned to hold meetings with clerics of various schools of thought for the promotion of moderation.
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07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh on Wednesday offered to hold talks with the government, while declaring that the security forces leave the Khyber Agency and go back to barracks.
Bagh told Geo TV on Wednesday that he had no plan to capture Peshawar, adding that he had never challenged the government. Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat Khan stressed that paramilitary action in the agency would continue until the states writ is firmly established. A tribal jirga has been sent to Tirah Valley to hold talks with Bagh, Hayat told reporters. In another development, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud directed Swat-based Taliban to resume peace talks with the NWFP government, the channel reported.
Mehsud has directed the Swat-based Taliban to continue negotiations with the government, TTP Swat spokesman Muslim Khan told the channel. The security forces are damaging the peace of the area by targeting the civilian population, Khan said.
Purposeful operation: Meanwhile, Ansarul Islam, (AI) favouring the ongoing paramilitary action in the Khyber Agency, said the operation should not be eyewash. AI demanded the government take purposeful measures to curb militancy in the region.
We favour the operation, but it should not be limited only to razing houses and offices of religious outfits in the agency, it should be purposeful, key member of Ansarul Islam Haji Muhammad Amin told a news conference in Peshawar.
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BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered that campaign materials in upcoming provincial elections can only feature pictures of candidates, in an apparent attempt to keep followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from using his image to court voters.
The decision would also affect other Shiite parties that often use pictures of popular clerics in political campaigns. The government this week also banned candidates from campaigning in mosques or other places of worship, said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.
Shiite politicians flooded the country with posters of the country's main Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and others during elections in 2005, capitalizing on their prestige to win power.
That led to a backlash among other religious groups and more secular-minded Shiites alarmed over clerical influence in Iraqi society.
Pictures of al-Sadr, who comes from one of Iraq's most esteemed Shiite families, line the streets of places like Baghdad's Sadr City. The powerful cleric has built a large following among disgruntled Shiites in Baghdad and southern Iraq who haven't benefited from the rise of a Shiite-led government in the country.
The upcoming elections will choose governing councils in Iraq's 18 provinces and are seen as a key step in repairing the country's sectarian rifts. The councils have gained power since the first round of elections from specific provisions in the constitution, which wasn't yet ratified by January 2005.
Al-Sadr's followers hope to use the elections to loosen the grip on power that their Shiite rivals have enjoyed since the 2005 elections, which the Sadrists boycotted.
The group does not plan to run a separate list of Sadrist candidates, but will instead have them join other tickets and represent the movement on an individual basis.
They could benefit from the Iraqi government's decision, also made Tuesday, to run provincial elections according to an open-list system, allowing voters to choose individual candidates rather than simply picking a party.
Many voters criticized the government's decision to run the first provincial elections with a closed-list system, possibly pushing them to make the change.
The Sadrists now believe the 2005 boycott was a major political blunder, enabling Shiite parties that have cooperated with the Americans to wield power in the oil-rich Shiite heartland.
For months, the Sadrists have been complaining that their Shiite political rivals in the government have been targeting their movement ahead of upcoming elections, arresting many of their followers under the pretext of security crackdowns.
The vote is scheduled to be held by October, but there is considerable uncertainty whether it will happen on time because parliament has not approved a new law providing for the elections.
Most Sunnis also boycotted the 2005 balloting, enabling Shiites and Kurds to win a disproportionate share of power, even in areas with a substantial Sunni population.
The Sunnis are fully participating in the new round of elections and could benefit from an Iraqi government's decision to allow internally displaced Iraqis to vote. More than 2 million Iraqis have been displaced inside the country by violence, most of them Sunnis.
Meanwhile, al-Dabbagh also announced Tuesday that Jordan's King Abdullah II plans to visit Iraq soon. It would be the first trip by an Arab head of state to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was deposed in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion.
The announcement is a boost to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has been seeking more support from his Arab neighbors.
Sunni Arab countries have been wary of Iraq's Shiite-dominated government and its ties with regional power Iran. Arab leaders have avoided the country and embassies have been closed or staffed with lower level officials because of security concerns.
The Jordanian government, which recently named an ambassador to Iraq, declined to comment.
Al-Dabbagh said Abdullah will hold talks with al-Maliki next week, but Iraq's ambassador to Jordan, Saad al-Hayyani, said a date has not been set.
"The Iraqi government and people welcome this visit, and we believe that such a visit would stimulate other Arab senior officials to visit Iraq to enhance bilateral relations," al-Dabbagh said.
Al-Dabbagh also said Thursday that al-Maliki would visit several European and Mideast countries, including Italy, Germany and the United Arab Emirates, this month. He will visit the Emirates on Sunday, and the European trip will occur later in the month.
BAGHDAD (Rooters) -- Iraq will have time to hold provincial elections before the end of the year if parliament passes a new electoral law this month, the U.N. special representative to Baghdad said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said the polls, seen as crucial to national reconciliation, will be held on Oct 1. But legislators said last month there was little chance of getting the law passed soon enough to allow preparations for a vote by then.
'We can indeed have elections before the end of the year if parliament approves the electoral law before the end of July,' U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters after meeting Maliki. 'There is no reason for this electoral law not to be approved because most of the issues can be solved. We still have one month but it is a crucial month.'
Parliament is scheduled to take a summer recess in August.
The electoral commission has said it needs three months to prepare once the law has been passed. The United Nations is providing technical assistance to the commission.
Washington says the elections will promote reconciliation by boosting the participation of minority Sunni Arabs in politics. Sunni Arabs boycotted the last local polls in January 2005. Analysts say the elections will also be the battleground for a fierce power struggle among majority Shi'ites.
Lawmakers have said debate on the provincial elections law has bogged down over a dispute between Arab and Kurdish lawmakers over what to do about voting in the disputed oil rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. Minority Kurds, who control the northern Kurdistan region, see Kirkuk as their ancient capital and want a constitutionally mandated referendum to be held to decide its status. Arabs encouraged to move there under Saddam Hussein want the city to stay under Baghdad and have been wary of a vote.
In a statement, Maliki said it was necessary to hold the elections on time. The issue of Kirkuk should not hinder the process, he said.
The separate referendum on Kirkuk's status was supposed to have been held before the end of 2007 but was delayed for six months because few preparations had been carried out. The latest deadline for the referendum has also elapsed.
The United States is using spy satellites to monitor the movements of the U.S.-backed Iraqi army, the Los Angles Times said Wednesday. The surveillance reflects breakdowns in trust and coordination between the two forces, according to the report.
U.S. officials said it was part of an expanded intelligence effort launched after U.S. commanders were surprised by the timing of the Iraqi army's violent push into Basra three months ago.
The use of the satellites puts the United States in the unusual position of employing some of its most sophisticated espionage technology to track an allied army that U.S. forces helped create, continue to advise, and often fight alongside. Experts said the move showed concern by U.S. commanders about whether their Iraqi counterparts would follow U.S. guidance or keep their coalition partners fully informed.
But the development was also seen as a sign the Iraqi army has reached a level of independence and competence that U.S. military planners had hoped it would achieve.
#1
BFD. It overwatches it's own troops too. Its supervision not spying. Now MSM, that's spying.
"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are."
William Tecumseh Sherman
(VOI) Iraq's former intelligence chief on Wednesday revealed during a court session on the 1991 al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya case an alleged 1990 Iranian intelligence proposal to hand over Iraqi opposition leaders in return for leaders of the Iranian Mujahideen Khalq (People's Mujahideen) opposition group. "In October 1990, the then Iranian intelligence deputy chief visited Iraq and personally met me to offer the proposal on behalf of the Iranian government," Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan said after meeting separately with Judge Mohammed Araibi al-Khalifa.
According to al-Hassan, who is also a half-brother of former President Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government rejected the proposal on "religious and tribal grounds."
Established in 1965, the organization is based in Camp Ashraf near al-Adheem area, Diala province (57km northeast of Baghdad), and close to the Iraqi-Iranian borders.
Earlier today, the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court, headed by Justice al-Khalifa, resumed sessions on the 1991 al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya case. The 1991 incidents, known in Arabic as the al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya, or the Shaaban uprising, were a series of rebellions in southern and northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The revolts in the predominantly Shiite cities of Basra and al-Nassiriya broke out in March 1991, sparked by demoralized Iraqi army troops returning from Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War.
Another uprising in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq broke out shortly thereafter. All of the 15 defendants in the case, who are former Iraqi regime officials, attended the session.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I'll see your 25 terrorist and raise you 5 freedom fighters and a brigand.
Bethlehem - Ma'an - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit on Thursday described Wednesday's storming of the Rafah crossing by thousands of angry Palestinians as 'a ridiculous and irresponsible attempt to destroy the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.' As I remember, this was the guy who mentioned 'leg breaking' as a possible deterrent to crashing the border.
Have the Paleos toss a few more rocks and Ahmad will be discussing 'head-shooting' ...
Seven thousand Palestinians stormed the Rafah crossing on Wednesday and were pushed back by Egyptian security. Egypt had promised to open the crossing, in response to an appeal from Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on his recent visit to the country. The crossing was to be opened to let approximately two hundred Palestinians stranded in Egypt back into Gaza but many more attempted to cross.
'We will not accept any breach of the Egyptian territories. We will not accept a forced breakthrough into Egyptian territory,' Al-Gheit said, adding, 'Palestinians are dear brothers who we allow to cross according to their needs and well keep on doing this.' Of course we love our Pali brothers. As long as they stay where they belong...
That's what tunnels are for ...
An Egyptian security source confirmed that Egypt will 'respond strongly' to any further attempts to storm its borders with the Gaza Strip, adding that Wednesday's events were 'a violation of the agreement between Egypt and Palestinians.'
Jerusalem border police ordered the family of Husam Taysir Dwayat - the man who perpetrated the deadly bulldozer terror attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday - to dismantle a mourning tent which they were erecting in memory of the man on Thursday.
According to reports, officers who had been stationed in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Bahir following yesterday's attack observed members of the Dwayat family beginning the process of establishing the tent, this despite explicit instructions from Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco forbidding the act.
The latest development regarding the Dwayat family comes amid comments made by ministers - including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - over what punishment, if any, should be carried out against the family.
Earlier on Thursday, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said that Sur Bahir, the hometown of Husam Taysir Dwayat, as well Jebl Mukaber, the village of the Mercaz Harav terrorist, should be treated like any Palestinian village; they should be separated from Jerusalem and all of their residents should be stripped of their Israeli identity cards.
"One of the central reasons for the ease with which yesterday's attack and the murder in Mercaz Harav were perpetrated is the fact that these are Palestinian villages that for some reason are called 'Jerusalem' - Jebl Mukaber and Sur Bahir," Ramon told Army Radio. "They must be treated as if they were Ramallah, Bethlehem or Jenin."
"These are Palestinian villages that were never part of Jerusalem; they were annexed in 1967. No Israeli was there and no one goes near there," Ramon continued. "If the fence were west of the two villages; those that for some reason we call neighborhoods of Jerusalem, it would be far harder to carry out such attacks. They must not have blue identity cards - how many more Israelis must die before this is decided."
Ramon voiced disagreement with the view of Olmert and several other ministers, claiming that demolishing the terrorist's house would do nothing to prevent further attacks. However, he said, the demolition must be carried out regardless - if the law allows it. "We must adapt the law to policy and not give up," he said. "Whatever can be done must be done as soon as possible."
Hours after three people were killed when a terrorist in a bulldozer went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the attacker's east Jerusalem home must be destroyed.
Olmert held consultations in his office following the attack and Jerusalem officials said that the prime minister was expected to discuss the possibility of destroying the terrorist's home with Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. He is also set to discuss taking away National Insurance Institute (NII) rights from the terrorist's family.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak also said that Israel should demolish the terrorist's home. In a telephone conversation with Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, Barak reportedly said that he did not understand why the house of the terrorist who perpetrated the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack on March 6 had not yet been demolished, and promised that he would push for the structure to be torn down.
#1
My idea is best, that there be a graveyard of shame for such offenders, and that it be a foul place where dead pigs are also buried, and the ground is made to stink with rancid pork fat.
This is not done gratuitously, but for a very good reason. It is such a horrifying prospect for Muslims that it *does* change their behavior.
General Pershing to a great extent ended the Philippine Insurrection by taking several Muslims, executing a few and having their remains thrown in a pit with dead pigs, in front of their comrades, then releasing the others to tell the tale.
Despite a frantic and panicked outcry, they stopped their insurrection out of fear of meeting the same fate.
Seconds before being crushed to death by a bulldozer, 33-year-old Batsheva Unterman succeeded in unbuckling her 5-month-old baby from the car-seat and passing her out through the window to safety.
'Just as I took the baby out, he reversed on top of the car. The baby is okay, but not the mother,' Jeremy Aronson, the man who helped save the baby, told The Jerusalem Post quietly as he sat alone in the waiting room of Hadassah-University Hospital in Mount Scopus.
Unterman, who was a kindergarten teacher at Ganei Homat Shmuel, initially had difficulty conceiving a child and had undergone two years of fertility treatments, friends told the Post at her funeral late Wednesday night in the Givat Shaul cemetery. 'She was a unique person,' said a parent of one of her students.
Another victim in Wednesday's terror attack was Elizabeth Devorah Goren-Friedman, 54. She was also killed when her car was crushed by the bulldozer. Goren-Friedman was a mother of three who had survived a serious illness and was a teacher for the blind in Jerusalem. She died on the operating table in Shaare Tzedek Hospital and was buried late at night in the Givat Shaul cemetery, surrounded by hundreds of family, friends and students.
'You were a good friend and a good mother. You made sure we were all happy,' her son Issachar eulogized, adding, 'You have taught us that volunteering is part of a person's life.'
'A sinful murderer destroyed a brave life that was filled with your courage to fight back. In spite of the difficulties you encountered during your life, you overcame everything with a smile on your face,' Goren-Friedman's husband said during the eulogy. Goren-Friedman was survived by two sons, Issachar and Tzvi, and a daughter, Yael.
The third fatality in the bulldozer attack was Jan Raluay, 68, a resident of the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem, and soon-to-be grandfather. The eldest from a family of seven, Raluay lost his mother only months after he was born. He, his father, and his sister moved from Iran to India, where they lived for nine years before continuing on to Israel in 1949. Raluay was survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son.
The bulldozer attacker's father, along with the family lawyer, claim that the driver who murdered three Jooooos was not a terrorist. Hussam Duwiyat's father Taysar dissociated himself from his son's attack. "How could he do such a thing?" he said. "Is my son a dog? He is not a terrorist. He is a drug addict. He has given us nothing but problems."
The lawyer for the family of the bulldozer operator predicatably claimed he was temporarily insane and was not a terrorist. Attorney Shimon Kokosh maintained that Duwiyat would not have been able to stand trial because of his mental condition. A soldier on leave killed the bulldozer operator before he could continue his rampage.
The Duwiyat family is trying to fight efforts to demolish the terrorist's house in eastern Jerusalem.
The attacker shouted Ala Akbar (Allan is the Greatest), a common slogan used by terrorists during an attack. Kokush explained, "He probably said it after he was shot, wounded and fainted. He then regained consciousness" and made the remark as an instinctive reaction. Because, when you're shot three times in the head at point blank, you have time to do that, and prolly a bit more too. I've even heard of one such case where the guy completed his sudoku before croaking.
The attacker shouted Ala Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), a common slogan used by terrorists during an attack.
Kokush declared, "There is no proof that he was a terrorist, beyond the dead guys and the general havoc wrecked. The Prime Minister and Defense Minister have to prove he was a terrorist before they can order that his home be destroyed." He based his claim on reports by security officials that Duwiyat acted on his own and that no known terrorist organization took responsibility for the attack. Instant Jihad, just add water.
Police said that the attacker had a criminal record and served two years for raping a Jewish woman whom he knew. Sexual Jihad, the sweetest and easiest of all.
Four hours after the terrorist attack, his sister-in-law walked on the porch of her home and shouted, "Shahid! (martyr)." So, demolish the house, and everybody will be a Shahid! Everybody win!
#1
You've got a Golani Brigade soldier who jumps on a running bulldozer and takes a terrorist out with three caps to the head.
You've got Olmert and his cabinet, including the head of the Army, Ashkenazi, willing to give back Samir Kuntar and a raft of other murderers for the BODY PARTS of two kidnapped soldiers.
Reconciling the bravery of the first and the complete cowardice of the second is brain-numbing.
May God damn Olmert and his bunch of sycophants to Hell for their abject betrayal of their country. The blood of every Jew killed by a terrorist from now on is on their hands and heads.
#2
Hey Dad -- Yes. He's a dog, a terrorist AND a rapist, apparently. And now he's dead, shot down like... a mad DOG. Your boy is dead, Pops. And now your house is going to get knocked down by a D9. How's it feel Pops? Are you proud of your boy? How did it feel when you saw the video of a skinny young Jew putting a 5-inch hole in the middle of you son's forehead with three quick shots? Your raping worthless murderer dog of a son. You obviously did a hell of a job raising the boy, and teaching him how to be a decent human being. If, as an Arab, you actually do value Honor, (as is so commonly claimed) I suggest you kill the rest of your cursed clan, burn down the house yourself, and then kill yourself. Such actions may help redeem some tiny shred of honor for your worthless family, and yourself.
#6
Treat the family like the son, as terrorists. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and the sins of the fathers are passed to the sons and all that.
Ditto on what Scooter said and I like Tu3031's idea.
Moshe Plesser, the yeshiva student off-duty soldier who killed the bulldozer-driver terrorist, explained how he and security guard Oron Ben-Shimon stopped the murderous rampage.
Moshe did not wish to speak with the media, but hours afterwards read a written statement. He began by calling the attack a "murderous attack on our holy and beloved land, part of the war in which we find ourselves." He then thanked all those who, he said, had a hand in helping him act correctly: "First of all, thanks to G-d, and secondly to the education and upbringing I received, beginning in the Morashah Talmud Torah in Jerusalem, and then the Dimona Yeshiva High School, and then the Yitzhar and Kiryat Arba Hesder yeshivot, and finally to my army training, for helping me act in the way every soldier and citizen should. I also wish to thank my brother-in-law David Shapira for serving as a personal example [Shapira was one of the two who killed the terrorist in Merkaz HaRav earlier this year - ed.] " So, it's a family tradition!
"As far as what happened," Plesser continued: "I was bicycling from the center of town [westward] towards my home, when I saw a bulldozer battering a bus lying on its side and a lot of commotion. I immediately realized that it was a terrorist attack. I threw the bicycle to the side, and I ran towards the scene, trying to get as close as I could to the bulldozer so that I could get on it and stop the driver. As I got closer I tried to somehow get a weapon. When the bulldozer stopped, a policeman climbed up, and I climbed up right behind him, screaming at him to shoot."
"Oron Ben-Shimon, with whom I was privileged to cooperate in stopping the terrorist, also climbed up, and he and the policeman tried to stop him with their hands. At first I could not shoot him, because the policeman stood in between us and the terrorist. The terrorist suddenly got up and started to drive again, screaming out Allahu Akbar, and Oron was able to turn the steering wheel so that the bulldozer wouldn't run over more cars. Finally, I was able to grab Oron's gun and shoot over the heads of the policeman and Oron, three bullets to his head. Then a Yassam policeman got on and fired again to ascertain his death."
Moshe can be seen in a blue shirt, outside the bulldozer cabin, in many of the videos of the attack being circulated.
Oron Ben-Shimon, a security guard at the nearby Kupat Cholim Leumit office, also took part in the save. He said that when he saw the shovel of the bulldozer mowing things down, "I ran towards it. When I got there, the bulldozer was stopped, I got up on it - Moshe helped me - and we tried to stop the driver, who looked like he was fainted on the steering wheel. But then he suddenly got up and started the bulldozer going again. I couldn't get to my gun, and also the policeman was in between me and the terrorist - so I punched him [the terrorist] and that stunned him... Then Moshe - who really deserves all credit; of all the people there, he was the one who responded the most correctly - quickly realized what was happening, and took the gun from my holster and shot the terrorist three times in the head. Then a Yassam policeman got on board, shot another bullet, and that was it."
The journalists listening to the accounts of Plesser and Ben-Shimon praised them highly, as well as the policeman and the Yassam officer. The fact that the policeman did not shoot and kill the terrorist, and the questions raised as a result, were not mentioned outright.
#2
The policeman showed courage as he was the first one in the loaders cab but police in Western society (including Israel) are trained to use minimum force required while the military is trained to kill the perp and sort it out later. In addition, he may have been knocked off balance and into a blocked position where he could not get to his gun. This is one case where judgment should be withheld until the facts are known.
Ma'an A delegation of the Nativity Church deportees, taken from Bethlehem by Israeli forces during the 2002 incursion and deported to Europe and the Gaza strip, met with Prime Minister of the de facto government Ismael Haniyeh on Tuesday evening to discuss the national dialogue and the issue of deportees.
One of the representatives of the group, Iyad 'Adawi, said in a phone call with Ma'an that the delegation includes all deportees affiliated with Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front and the Islamic Jihad movement.
"The deportees of the Church demanded Haniyeh to include them in the prisoners' swap so they can return to Bethlehem. They insisted that they dont want to return as prisoners, but they want their case to be separated from the exchange deal of Palestinian detainees where Haniyeh supported the issue of deportees," 'Adawi explained.
He called on the church deportees to support the national dialogue initiative of President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The coming days will witness several meetings for national unity and to support the interests of the Palestinian people," Haniyeh asserted.
In early 2002, an Israeli incursion into the West Bank city of Bethlehem left dozens of Palestinians seeking refuge in the Nativity Church. Israeli forces besieged the church for 70 days, and many of those inside were subsequently killed or injured. To end the siege, the Palestinian Authority and Israel negotiated a deal to deport 42 Palestinians who were still inside the church, sending 28 to the Gaza Strip and 14 to Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I take it these are the mooks that are stuck in Gaza and not the guys who got deported to Europe?
Ma'an/Agencies Ahrar Al-Jalil, a self-proclaimed militant group based inside Israel, claimed responsibility for the bulldozer attack in Jerusalem that left four people dead and more than 70 injured on Wednesday afternoon.
In a statement Ahrar Al-Jalil named the attacker as 30-year-old Husam Tayseer Dwayat from a village in east Jerusalem. They said he was married and had two children. The statement also said he was recruited to the Ahrar Al-Jalil on 5 February 2008. Ahrar Al-Jalil also calls itself the 'Imad Mughniyya Group' after the slain leader of the military wing of Hizbullah.
During the attack the bulldozer overturned a bus on Jaffa Road in West Jerusalem in what Israeli media have labeled a deliberate attack. The bulldozer left a nearby construction site and plowed into a crowded single-decker Egged bus, colliding with other vehicles and pedestrians on the way. The apparent attack took place near the old Central Bus Station and the headquarters of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
Television footage shows Israeli gunmen, apparently security officers, climbing the cab of the bulldozer and shooting the driver in the head.
Israel Radio said one woman was killed while driving a Toyota that was crushed by the bulldozer. The Israeli Magen David Adom ambulance service said that a total of 22 people were taken to Jerusalem hospitals, including two in serious condition. Four were moderately wounded and another 16 were lightly hurt.
The driver was a Palestinian from the Sur Bahir neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem in possession of a blue Israeli identification card. The driver was also reported to be in possession of a pistol, and had a criminal record.
The attack took place during a declared ceasefire between Israel, Hamas, and other Palestinian armed groups.
This article starring:
Husam Tayseer Dwayat
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday had a brief meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at a conference in Greece. The two shook hands when introduced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the 23rd congress of the Socialist International at the Lagonissi Grand Resort, about 40 kilometers south of Athens.
Abbas and Barak met on the sidelines of the conference. The agenda of the talks has not been announced, and neither made any statement entering the meeting hall Tuesday.
Abbas said his government would work to keep alive a June 19 truce between Israel and the militant Islamic group Hamas. "Israel will live in an island and sea of peace if Israel withdraws from Arab and Palestinian territories," Abbas told the conference. "We witness some steps in this direction which may stop this violence and bloodshed... Now there has been an agreement and we hope it will be kept. We want to keep this truce going."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
old antiwar meme: The "new" Iraqi "government" is maintaining the boycott of Israel - Bush overthrew Saddam for the benefit of Iran, and the neocon dreams of an Iraq friendly to the US and Israel were foolishness, the ideas of idiots who didnt understand the reason, and they actually harmed Israel
new (but even older) antiwar meme - This shows that 4000 Americans died for the security of Israel, the Jewish Neocons (thanks Joe Klein) put Israels interests ahead of America's, the Bush admin has submitted to the "Lobby"
#2
In other news, both Barak and Talabani were present at a meeting of the Socialist International. That's pretty depressing. Does Labor still consider itself a socialist party? I had gotten the impression that they had slipped onto the neoliberal side of the fence.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/03/2008 10:05 Comments ||
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#3
i forgot the consie meme, "OMG! Theyre SOCIALISTS!"
Labour is divided. Many of the guys who moved over to Kadima were among the more firmly neoliberal ones. Peretz, the Labour leader before Barak, was seen as more "left". But that didnt mean renationalizing privatized companies, it meant more funding for social services which were cut under the old Likud govt when Bibi was finance minister. Barak is more concerned about security issues, IIUC, than about economics. I dont see that the Israeli Labour Party is really out of place in a Socialist International that includes the UK Labour party, or the German SPD, none of which are eager to abolish the marketplace.
Hamas has agreed to an Egyptian request to transfer a video tape and a letter from kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit in the coming days, as part of the renewal of talks on Shalit's release, the Cairo-based weekly Al Aharam Al Arabi reported over the weekend.
The weekly, affiliated with the government mouthpiece Al Ahram, said Hamas had agreed to the move to provide a sign of life in order to move the talks ahead. The report gave no other details on whether the tape and letter had already been transfered to Israeli prisoner negotiator Ofer Dekel and the Shalit family.
Citing Egyptian diplomatic sources involved in the negotiations, the paper also said West Bank leader Marwan Barghouti, jailed in Israel for five life sentences plus 40 years, is on the list of prisoners Hamas is demanding to release as part of the deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday refused to extend praise to a Jerusalem rampage that led to the death of several Israelis as what the Islamic Jihad movement did.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, said his movement had no information about the reasons that motivated a Palestinian bulldozer driver to hit cars and bus in Jerusalem. Abu Zuhri, however, said if the attack was politically motivated, "then it will be a natural result of the continuation of the Israeli aggression against our people in West Bank and Gaza Strip."
Three Israelis, in addition to the Palestinian driver, were killed in the attack and more than 35 people wounded, said Israeli sources.
Hamas and Israel have been in a state of ceasefire in the Gaza Strip since June 19. According to the Egyptian-brokered deal, Israel stops its attacks in the Hamas-controlled territory and has also to ease the siege it imposes on Gaza, while Palestinians halt rocket attacks against Israeli communities near Gaza. The West Bank stays out of the ceasefire at the current stage.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), a small Palestinian faction in Gaza, expressed welcome to the attack, saying it was a natural response to Israeli military actions. "The enemy has to expect more attacks if it kept the occupation and the aggression against our land and people," the movement said in a statement. "If the occupation thought that Gaza lull will enable it to move free in West Bank, we say this is illusion," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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An Iranian diplomat accused Israel on Thursday of secretly imprisoning four Iranians who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982, and demanded that they be released.
Mojtaba Ferdoussi, charge d'affaires at the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon, said all the information Iran had indicated that the missing Iranians were still in Israel.
The Iranians were seized in Beirut in 1982 at the height of the Lebanese civil war. Teheran said they were kidnapped by right-wing Lebanese Christian militiamen who delivered them to Israel. Israel has long denied holding them.
Ferdoussi spoke at a news conference in Beirut on Thursday. A day earlier, Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Israel will provide the group with information on the fate of the four Iranians as part of a prisoner exchange.
#2
Mojtaba Ferdoussi, charge d'affaires at the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon, said all the information Iran had indicated that the missing Iranians were still in Israel.
Because my people carefully threw out anything which would have suggested otherwise before briefing me for this press conference.
Wait, did I say that out loud?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/03/2008 10:00 Comments ||
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#3
I always thought that the Israelis should trade like-for-like: if what Hezbollah is offering is the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers, the Israelis should offer to return the remains of 500 dead Hezbies. If they don't have enough Hezbie remains, make some.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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#4
the Israelis should offer to return the remains of 500 dead Hezbies.
Not 100% sure, but I've read (probably here, as this is my one-stop read) that the israelis supposedly had a bodycount in the 500 range, of KIA hizbullies during that "failed" (it was, in a sense, clearly) war with the nasrallahbots; those were killed by ground troops mostly I think, unless they included the tally of those snuffed in aerial targeted zappings, and the IDF published a list with the ID of 100+ or even more of those.
Can anyone confirm/infirm this? My recollation is not that clear (too much pr0n rots your mind, that's for sure).
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari warned on Wednesday that any attack on his country would meet with a fierce reaction and have severe consequences for the already volatile oil markets.
'For Iran, if there would be any kind of activity of any sort, it is not going to be quiet and it is going to react fiercely,' Nozari told reporters on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid. 'Nobody can even imagine what would be the reaction of Iran now,' he said, without specifying possible actions from his oil-rich country.
The United States and Israel have never ruled out the possibility of a military attack against Iran. 'We do not think that wise people in the world even think about any action like that,' Nozari said, adding any attack at this moment would severely affect the oil markets. 'Can you imagine if any action happens ... what would be the result in the oil market?' he asked.
On the question of whether Iran would stop oil exports if attacked, Nozari said, 'Iran has always been a reliable source of supply to the market, and Iran remains a supplier forever.'
OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on Tuesday that threat against Iran and a weakening U.S. dollar were the major forces behind the oil price hike. Nozari apparently agreed with Khelil, blaming the devaluation of the U.S. dollar for the oil price hike. '(The price of) 140 (U.S.) dollars you have seen nowadays is part of the devaluation trend of the dollar. If this trend is going to continue, it looks as if we have no other choice but to see higher prices,' he said through a translator.
Nozari said Iran stands ready to raise supply to the market if there is demand. 'We have some spare capacity for production, but at the same time we have to say that at this moment there is no need for more supply of oil to the market,' he said.
'The volatility of the market is not good, neither for the consumers, nor for the producers,' he said. 'But especially for the consumers - though it's very hard on us, too, our fingertips are sore and swollen from counting all that money'.
It's good to be a Freedom Fighter, it means never having to bother about any tranzi being concerned by your total lack of adherence to any kind of war convention whatsoever.
While confirming on Monday that Israel agreed to ransom two IDF soldiers Hizbullah is holding captive, the head of the terrorist organization, Hassan Nasrallah, taunted the Jewish State over the fate of the two men. Nasrallah mocked the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, at a well-attended press conference.
'They don't know if they are alive or if they're dead, or if one is alive and one is dead,' Nasrallah mocked the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, at a well-attended press conference in Beirut on Monday afternoon. Saying that the Israeli determination that Regev and Goldwasser are dead is 'mere speculation,' Nasrallah noted that the Israeli intelligence assessment was based on 'information heard by a single Lebanese source.'
Chuckling, Nasrallah added, 'I don't know who that Lebanese source is, but, Allah willing, we'll get to know him soon.'
Trying to present a non-sectarian facade, the Hizbullah leader said that the deal with Israel for the return of Arab terrorist prisoners and dead bodies in exchange for Goldwasser, Regev, a report on long-missing navigator Ron Arad and body parts of other Israelis was an 'achievement' for all of Lebanon. 'I hope the Lebanese appreciate this achievement that if it is completed, Lebanon will be the first Arab country in the Israeli-Arab struggle to close the detainee file after liberating the land, excluding the Shebaa Farms and the Kafar Shouba hills,' Nasrallah said.
He also explained that the 2006 attack and kidnapping was carried out specifically to obtain the release of Lebanese Druze terrorist Samir Kuntar, held in Israel since 1979: 'On July 12 [2006, when Regev and Goldwasser were taken captive - ed.], I did not set a ceiling. As for Samir, the operation that was conducted back then was for the sake of his release. There was no need for us to set a high ceiling through the media.'
Regarding the issue of Palestinian Authority terrorists included in the deal, Nasrallah said, 'We agreed with Hamas not to tie our negotiations with Israel to theirs [over kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas in Gaza - ed.], because this will complicate things.... But we insisted on the Palestinian issue because of its symbolism. So, we accepted this agreement, and we think it is important. Today I officially announce that we accept the agreement. Palestinian detainees especially women and children will be released. The UN chief will issue something in this regard and so will Olmert.'
Asked if Hizbullah would undertake future operations to take Israeli soldiers captive, Nasrallah replied, 'No comment.'
Tzvi Regev, father of Eldad, said that he did not watch Nasrallah's speech, broadcast on Israeli TV: 'Whenever there is something on that devil I prefer not to listen.' However, he said he understood the speech to be yet another attempt to rattle the families, 'as he has been doing ceaselessly for the last two years.'
Miki Goldwasser, Ehud's mother, said that Nasrallah's press conference was part of Hizbullah's ongoing psychological war against Israel. 'We will be strong,' she said, adding that she still holds out hope that her son and Eldad Regev are alive in light of Nasrallah's refusal to confirm their deaths. Karnit Goldwasser refused comment on the Hizbullah leader's press conference.
Both Miki Goldwasser and Tzvi Regev said that they are anxious to see the exchange accomplished as soon as possible. A possible target date for the Israeli ransom to be delivered, confirmed by Nasrallah on Monday, is July 15, 2008.
Al Qaeda is re-emerging in strength in three different safe havens to conduct training, operational planning and recruiting Pakistan, Somalia and Algeria The Times quoted Western intelligence and defence sources in its recent report.
The core Qaeda headquarters in the Pakistans Tribal Areas pose the gravest threat to the United Kingdom, the report says. But in Somalia and Algeria, the organisation is recruiting energetically and its leaders are believed to have aspirations to hit Western targets, it says. There has been increasing evidence of Qaedas network rebuilding in Pakistan. The main figures are now well entrenched in the Tribal Areas, and although American Predator and Reaper surveillance drones, armed with Hellfire missiles and precision-guided bombs, remain in the region to eliminate Al Qaeda commanders, it seems the terrorist leaders can still communicate with each other, it says.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is fighting to prevent Al Qaeda from again using Pakistan as a safe haven, but the core Qaeda leaders have settled down in Pakistan and, from there, they keep in contact with their main franchises in Somalia and Algeria.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2008 00:00 ||
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The young soldier hadn't slept in 48 hours or bathed in 72. Now that he was finally back from Iraq, all Pfc. Justin Gindhart wanted was a hot shower and a soft bed.
But these days, Gindhart discovered, a soldier's homecoming isn't always that simple. To his surprise, there was a troop of motorcycle-riding Vietnam vets to greet him at the airport; a police-escorted motorcade, past blocked-off intersections and highway entrances, that backed up traffic for miles; an appearance at a support-the-troops rally; a gathering of neighbors and friends, alerted by fire and ambulance sirens, outside his family's house. And the biggest shock of all a reunion with a disabled comrade whose life he'd helped save in Iraq.
'Wow! I thought I was just gonna come home,' the startled private told the crowd that spilled across his lawn and into the street on Father's Day. 'I didn't expect anything like this!'
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) The Swede and Danish man who were kidnapped in Somalia on Saturday have been flown to safety to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Both men were working with a United Nations landmine removal project for the Swedish Rescue Services when they were taken captive by islamic extremists on Saturday morning in the city of Hudur, around 400 kilometers northwest of the capital Mogadishu. The men were later released on Saturday afternoon. 
Two former militant supporters confessed on Saudi state television on Tuesday night how they organised the Internet operations of al Qaeda's campaign against the Saudi government, media said on Wednesday.
Japan and the United States said Thursday they will launch a cargo-screening project to detect nuclear and other radioactive materials at Yokohama port to prevent nuclear terrorism. Under the U.S.-led Megaports Initiative, the two countries will introduce the joint pilot project as part of efforts to enhance antiterrorist measures and thwart nuclear proliferation, they said. 
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit by an Islamic organization that accused the Bush administration of illegally wiretapping its telephones without warrants. The U.S. branch of the now-defunct 
The military action launched in Khyber Agency is a sheer violation of human rights, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday. Talking to Human Rights Watch International (HRWI) Executive Director Kan Ethreth at his Jati Umra farmhouse, Nawaz said that the PML-N preferred political dialogue to bring normalcy to the Tribal Areas instead of a military operation, which was not a viable solution to the problem.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered that campaign materials in upcoming provincial elections can only feature pictures of candidates, in an apparent attempt to keep followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from using his image to court voters.
BAGHDAD (Rooters) -- Iraq will have time to hold provincial elections before the end of the year if parliament passes a new electoral law this month, the U.N. special representative to Baghdad said on Wednesday.
The United States is using spy satellites to monitor the movements of the U.S.-backed Iraqi army, the Los Angles Times said Wednesday. The surveillance reflects breakdowns in trust and coordination between the two forces, according to the report. 
The bulldozer attacker's father, along with the family lawyer, claim that the driver who murdered three Jooooos was not a terrorist. Hussam Duwiyat's father Taysar dissociated himself from his son's attack. "How could he do such a thing?" he said. "Is my son a dog? He is not a terrorist. He is a drug addict. He has given us nothing but problems."
An Iranian diplomat accused Israel on Thursday of secretly imprisoning four Iranians who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982, and demanded that they be released. 
