#1
Sounds like a red herring to distract attention. Sounds like the DOJ doesn't feel like they can countrol the N. Mex prosecutor and the case if it goes forward in N. Mex.
[Dawn] Pakistain condemned the killing on Tuesday of Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... younger brother as "an act of cowardice". Snicker-snicker...
Although relations between the neighbours have been strained by accusations over cross-border attacks in recent weeks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... telephoned Karzai to express his condolences. Chortle-chortle...
Gilani's office said he expressed "shock and grief" over Ahmed Wali Karzai's liquidation.
The younger Karzai, who was long accused of involvement in corruption and Afghanistan's drugs trade, was a key ally of the president and US-led NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces in the south of the country, the headquarters of a Taliban insurgency.
Pakistain was a key ally of the Afghan Taliban regime until siding with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks and ultimately implanted Karzai in power.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So nobody in the ISI or anything bribed or otherwise seduced Mr. Karzai the Younger's longtime clansman cum bodyguard to quietly take Mr. Karzai out of the room and shoot him? How un-byzantine of them.
#2
One has to remember that for all the Poppy Fields in Kandahar Province..all those red poppies blowing in the bright breezes...it all has to be harvested and trucked to be PROCESSED in ( wait for it ) PAKISTAN. That's where the Heroin Processing factories ARE.
Now, If Karzai's little brother was in charge of Karzai getting HIS cut of all that transport, protection, crop management, tools and seed...a little dip of the beak on just about every motion in the entire sweeping dope economy...then WHO would want Karzai's little sibling to take a little too long in the john?
The taliban might want Karzai's junior to bite one if they wanted to get control in their hands and out of his. "Its only good business." as old Uncle Tattaglia once observed. Nothing personal, Mikey. Get in the car.
And Gilani who is a big man down south and is known as the "Gucci Muj", he might just benefit from his Dari friends... after all they drive the trucks.
What is apparent is that no one will really MISS Karzai's younger brother. Maybe, not even Karzai...were they ever really that close. ( one has to ask ).
His name was Achmed Wali...well there you have it, folks. Another dead Moslem, a brief glitch in the dope dividey-uppy, and we are back to normal in the Religion of Peace. Hey, you know WHERE most of that dope GOES? Iran.
One in every sixteen Iranians does the "stuff". And guess who makes sure they get all the dope they need? Now dont be shocked...it pays for our drones and a lot of informers for the CIA. Big sick circle and everybody gets a sniff and a smoke.
Hell yass, y'all, and they give big parties in Georgetown on the Potomac.
How do you think the real world works, Chuckie ?
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/13/2011 5:27 Comments ||
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#3
You nailed it de Medici. May tens of thousands more follow him into eternity.
(I'm glad he's dead poster still around?)
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again ||
07/13/2011 7:52 Comments ||
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#4
Well, there's gotta be some reason why all those NATO troops haven't made any attempt to eradicate the poppy crop. They'd do it if they got the order but they haven't gotten the order, have they?
#5
I find it interesting that StrategyPage claims that Afghanistan's share of the heroin market has recently dropped below 80%, with Burma increasing their share to 12%. The writer's explanation for this is a little incoherent (their people have clearly been hired for their knowledge and analytical skills rather than raw writing talent... sort of an anti-New York Times), but he seems to be suggesting that the Surge made things too uncomfortable for the usual cozy protection arrangement.
[Tolo News] Some parliamentarians on Monday warned that Azizi Bank, Afghanistan's second-biggest private financial institution, is on the brink of collapse.
But the allegation was dismissed by governor of Azizi Bank.
An investigation into Azizi Bank by International Monetary Fund has been impeded by some government officials for several times, some politicians claimed.
Governor of Azizi Bank Mirwais Azizi denied having any connection with International Monetary Fund.
On Monday the Afghan House of Representatives, fearing Azizi Bank would have the same fate as that of Kabul Bank that sank the country into crisis, discussed the bank and warned of possible bankruptcy.
Hossain Fahimi, Afghan MP, said: "I want to announce to all Afghans from here that Azizi Bank would face the same fate as the Kabul Bank."
"Azizi Bank is facing collapse. Most clients of Onyx Construction Company have taken loans from Azizi Bank. Loans should be based on regulations," another member of parliament, Monawar Shah Bahaduri, said.
Some parliamentarians accused "certain politicians" of receiving cash to keep their mouth shut regarding the issue.
"Today early in the morning, they brought me one million dollars and asked me to keep quiet," Abdul Zaher Qadir, Afghan MP, claimed without elaborating further.
But Governor of Azizi Bank Mirwais Azizi told TOLOnews: "We totally dismiss this allegation. Azizi Bank has only one building and all the other physical assets belong to the bank. The bank has no other property to sell."
Mr Azizi further said that "around $200 millions of $550 millions of deposit in Azizi Bank are paid in loans and the remaining 300 to 350 millions of dollars are available in cash in the bank and in the central bank."
Legislators asked the acting governor of the central bank to update the house this weekend about the current state of Azizi Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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PARIS: FranceÂ’s lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday to extend military operations in Libya. The National Assembly voted overwhelmingly to grant further funding for the military operation, with 482 deputies voting in favor and 27 against.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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BRUSSELS: NATO said on Tuesday it would keep bombing Libya even in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan if Muammar QaddafiÂ’s forces continued to threaten civilians, but it wanted a pragmatic solution to the war as soon as possible.
“We need to wait and see whether the Qaddafi forces continue to shell and inflict harm on the people of Libya,” NATO military spokesman Wing Commander Mike Bracken said, when asked if the campaign would continue during Ramadan, which falls in August this year.
“If they do and we believe that there is risk to the lives of the Libyan people ... NATO would use the mandate it has to protect those lives.”
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance hoped QaddafiÂ’s forces would end their attacks, not just in Ramadan, but immediately, and wanted to see progress at a meeting of the Contact Group on Libya on Friday in Istanbul.
“As we’ve said from the start, there has to be a political solution to this conflict and the sooner it comes, the better.
“The Contact Group can make a critical contribution to the search for a political solution which responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people,” Lungescu said.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will attend the meeting together with foreign ministers from Western and Arab governments and leaders of the Libyan opposition, hoped it would come up with “realistic and pragmatic” ideas, she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Cultural sensitivity of Europeans is the wonder of the World.
#2
but it wanted a pragmatic solution to the war as soon as possible.
More ovens?
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again ||
07/13/2011 8:03 Comments ||
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#3
RAMADAN
versus
* TOPIX > OBAMA: US MAY BACK RUSSIAN MEDIATION PLAN [democratic transition]ON LIBYA IFF GADHAFI GOES.
* SAME > FRENCH PROPOSAL WOULD SEE GADHAFI REMAIN IN LIBYA.
* SAME > GADAFFI LACKS CASH AFTER TURKISH MOVE, [US]INTEL SAYS. Uncle Muammar has allegedly been issuing more + more Letters of Credit to pay Debtors = Vendors, espec Fuel Importers, + also may run out of Fuel in a month's time.
versus
* DAILY TIMES.PK > TURKEY SAYS EU TIES WILL "FREEZE" IFF NO CYPRUS SOLUTION. The Ankara Govt. doesn't like the idea of a GREEK CYPRIOT in charge of Cyprus' takeover of the EU Presidency in 2012.
* SIASAT DAILY > IRAN THREATENS TO ATTACK REBELS [PJAK Group] ACROSS IRAQ BORDER, in or near Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan.
* TOPIX > IRAN ACCUSES KURDISTAN OF SETTING UP REBEL BASES FOR IRAN ATTACK.
CAIRO: Three Egyptian ex-ministers were sentenced Tuesday to up to 10 years in jail for profiteering in a case involving the purchase of car number plates, a judicial official said. Former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly was sentenced to five years, while former Finance Minister Yussef Boutros Ghali got 10 years in absentia and ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was given a one-year suspended sentence.
The three were charged with misusing public funds and unlawful gains valued at 92 million Egyptian pounds ($15 million), the official said.
Several years ago, Egypt changed the format of its vehicle number plates. The ministers, along with a German businessman, were accused of profiteering from a deal to import the new number plates, which they bought directly without a public tender as laid down by the law. They also bought the number plates for higher than their market price.
El-Adly has already been sentenced to 12 years, then five years on corruption charges, and Ghali was sentenced to 30 years in a separate case.
The trials are part of a broad probe into corruption by the country's new military rulers who took power after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising in February.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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Soon to appear on the video of a Predator flying over North Wazoo...
JEDDAH: Another group of prisoners were released from the Prince Muhammad bin Naif Center for Counseling and Care after their successful completion of rehabilitation programs to help them abandon their extremist ideologies last Wednesday.
The 22nd batch of 46 detainees was received by their relatives after they had completed the three-month program. Each one of them has also been granted subsidies of SR10,000, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday, quoting an official statement.
The program stressed the right understanding of Islamic teachings. They were instructed on different aspects of extremism and factors that breed terrorist ideologies from social, psychological and historical angles. They were also lectured on social issues, law, psychology, self-improvement methods and management of small projects.
During their stay in the center, the detainees were allowed calls and visits from their relatives. Married men were allowed to spend time with their wives.
The statement added that six of the released youths were permitted to write secondary school examinations in 2011 while three others were permitted to continue their university studies. The center will also assist them in finding jobs or continuing their studies.
The 21st batch of 22 prisoners was freed last month, according to an earlier statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Kinda makes you wonder what goes on during the 'rehab.'
"We liked it. It was better than 'Cats.' We're going to go again and again."
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/13/2011 18:13 Comments ||
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#4
Hoogo is going to be in big trouble. He blames it on Capitalism of course. In my opinion some degree of shock will take effect. He was the big show. He had the control. Now life shows him he is as frail as anyone else. What has he built. What has it all been for. The pictures will weather and fall. The statues will come down. The family will want to stay in power but others too eager will move in. Maybe real hope and change.
Yes, in my opinion he will not last long. If anyone deserved a colostomy bag this guy did. His ball and chain. With his ego what a pain he will be. Think of it, site infection, medication, diet change, exhaustion from chemo and being told what to do about so many things. He will be a frail shadow of his former self.
#5
Of course if the exact kind of big C was known, some real meanie could publish the invention of a highly effective treatment for it, only available at the Glenn Beck Institute at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople.
I can imagine Hugo arranging a secret visa with Hillary, then sneaking into the US, only to discover that the USND is somewhat harder to find than expected.
Can't blame Hillary, she doesn't know squat about what exists in "flyover territory", where people cling to their Bibles and guns.
#6
Yea, Anonymoose "Of course if the exact kind of big C was known". I have a dream. We shall see. My gut tells me he has it bad. What little information has dribbled out and knowing something of ethnic food proclivities the odds aren't good for him.
[An Nahar] Anger mounted in Cyprus on Tuesday over the deaths of 12 fire brigade and service personnel in a huge munitions blast that sparked severe power and water cuts.
Frustrated Cypriots were using social networking sites and mobile texting to organize protests against what they perceived as government negligence in not preventing the Mediterranean island's worst peacetime military accident.
A large protest was being organized in the capital Nicosia on Tuesday evening.
Huge blasts in a seized Iranian arms cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base on the south coast killed 12 people and injured 62 on Monday, triggering power and water outages at the height of summer.
The commander of Cyprus's navy, Andreas Ioannides, was among the dead, as was the commander of the Evangelos Florakis naval base, Lambros Lambrou.
Four other members of the armed services and six firefighters also died. Cyprus entered its second day of national mourning with flags on public buildings at half mast and all government events cancelled.
But the media were in no doubt that the blast was avoidable and the government had a lot of unanswered questions to address.
Although Defense Minister Costas Papacostas and Greek Cypriot National Guard commander Petros Tsaliklides resigned shortly after the disaster, President Demetris Christofias also came under fire.
There were informal protests and candle-lit vigils late on Monday in which the government was called on to resign and Tuesday's newspapers produced some chilling headlines.
"It's a crime," screamed the front-page headline in pro-opposition daily Alithia.
It said small kabooms were recorded at the arms cache several days before the killer blast but pleas to navy commander Ioannides to remove the containers were ignored.
The English-language Cyprus Mail called it a "criminal error," while squarely putting the blame on Christofias.
The paper said in an editorial that it was a "disaster that could have been avoided if our country was run by a less incompetent president".
The independent Politis daily ran with the headline "Criminals: 12 dead and the economy in darkness because of criminal apathy."
A picture of buckled containers exposed to the sun only 300 meters from the island's largest power plant was splashed over its front page.
Relatives of the victims have been asking why the explosives were piled high in the open air without any protection.
Top selling newspaper Phileleftheros summed it up with the words: 'Crime and tragedy'.
The Vassiliko plant, which accounted for almost 60 percent of the island's electricity supply, was devastated by the force of the blast and is expected to remain out of operation for months or even years.
The Electricity Authority of Cyprus announced on Tuesday that various areas across the island would receive two-hour power cuts "because of a lack of capacity".
The authority's chairman Charis Thrassou warned that it would take a long time to repair the power station with the cost likely to run to well over a billion Euros.
Loss of supply also prompted the closure of desalination plants which had allowed the gradual abandonment of summer water rationing over the past two years.
Cypriots are being urged to save energy and water to ensure businesses, hotels and industry can keep going.
A mobile generator is scheduled to arrive from Greece to help the resort island cope with the peak holiday season.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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Project Castaway may or may not have a component Project Gunwalker (Fast and Furious). But, it is this Tampa office that was sending guns to Honduras. Bilirakis wants answers
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (Republican of Florida) sent out a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding answers on Operation Castaway. There are reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Tampa Field Division, ran a gun-running investigation that was walking guns to Honduras using the techniques and tactics identical to Fast and Furious. 1,000 of those guns were sold to MS13 buyers.
Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) wrote a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth Melson expressing “deep concern about reports that [ATF and DOJ] have participated in multiple acts of ‘gun walking,’ purposely allowing firearms to pass from straw purchaser into the possession of criminals and other dangerous third party organizations.”
“These reports,” Bilirakis writes, “raise troubling questions about the motives, intentions, and competency of the ATF and DOJ.”
"In recent days,” he notes, “it has come to light that the ATF and DOJ may have participated in the act of ‘gun walking’ beyond the acts conducted within the scope of “Operation Fast and Furious’…and that similar programs included the possible trafficking of arms to dangerous criminal gangs in Honduras with the knowledge of the ATF’s Tampa Field Division.”
Click to site to read the six questions Rep Bilirakis asks Holder
#2
there's a big difference between Ops Gunrunner and Fast and Furious
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2011 13:33 Comments ||
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#3
Frank__
As I understand it, "Gunrunner" was the original program and F&F was an offshoot funded by the Gunrunner program. Question is still what did he know and when.
#5
Mercutio - correct. The Gunrunner was a project to catch the straw buyers (admirable). F&F was to let the straw buyers take the guns across the border without regard for the deaths and injuries that would cause...
Pretty obviously they were trying to build the case to back their "90% of the guns come from the US" claim so they could invoke more gun control.
We aren't even yet into their Tampa op to arm MS-13. Ever wonder why they supported Zelaya so much?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2011 16:03 Comments ||
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#6
And we haven't even mentioned what's going on in Houston and Columbus, NM
The weapons found at the Jaime Zapata murder scene were from Texas. The busts in Dallas and Columbus NM are in the area of operations of the Houston Field Division. Understand that: they were not Fast and Furious busts. Yet no one in Houston has come forward like John Dodson. We have the evidence presented by Carter's Country in Houston that they were being told to let the firearms walk, yet no one in local or national media has apparently asked the hard questions of the Houston Field Division ATF management personnel.
Here's one: "If Houston is the largest single source of civilian market firearms in Mexico, then is the Houston Field Division SAC and all his silent-as-a-Mexican-grave employees merely grossly, impossibly, hopelessly incompetent or were they too walking guns?"
Federal documents state a gun smuggling operation allegedly run by three public officials from a tiny New Mexico border town had ties to Mexican drug cartels and some of the weapons were used in several murders.
Last week, federal agents raided Columbus in Luna County arresting Mayor Eddie Espinoza, Village Trustee Blas Gutierrez and Chief of Police Angelo Vega, along with several others. In total, 11 people are accused of smuggling guns into the Mexican cities of CÃudad Juarez and Palomas.
Palomas sits just across the border from Columbus.
For the first time the federal arresting agencies have officially said Espinoza and Gutierrez helped traffic firearms to Mexican drug cartels. Vega and eight others are charged as conspirators.
Prosecutors said the smuggling operation helped the cartels wage their bloody turf wars with shocking efficiency. Federal documents track the guns from New Mexico to the streets of CÃudad Juarez and Palomas and the crimes committed with the weapons
The Village of Columbus has voted to eliminate their police department after a gun smuggling investigation involving the former police chief, mayor, and a council member.
Columbus will not be patrolled completely by Luna County SheriffÂ’s Office. The village's board of trustees voted on the change last Thursday. Council member Blas Gutierrez resigned the following day. He was the last of the three accused officials to leave his post.
All three are among a dozen people accused of smuggling guns to Mexican cartels.
#8
Columbus, New Mexico. Some Generals' names keep poping into my head when I hear that village mentioned...Who could they be and how did they handle the problem?
#9
And the jury is still out on how closely Holder or O'Bumble can be directly tied to Fast & Furious/Gunwalker. Good theater for next summer, if Issa has the goods.
#10
the cspan video seems pretty cut and dried to me; thadmin controlled every word spoken so you know that script had to be blessed by Obumble. may not be able to prove it, but you know it. and seems to me that Odgen better hire on some good security; accidents happen.
Obstruction of justice?
Attorney General Eric Holder is being asked to respond to allegations that he allowed witnesses to be prepped for congressional hearings into Operation Fast and Furious.
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, grilled Holder about the new developments in a Monday letter.
Issa and Grassley asked Holder why the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has provided potential witnesses with access to a shared digital hard drive containing documents, details and information about the now-defunct Operation Fast and Furious. The shared drive is "replete with pertinent investigative documents" and official ATF emails, Issa and Grassley said.
"Although our staff has been advised the Department has since terminated access to this document cache, we write to seek additional information relating to this egregious decision," Grassley and Issa wrote to Holder. "We also ask that you promptly self-report this matter to the Office of Inspect General (OIG)."
In the letter, the two legislators also write that the shared drive likely contains documents and information that they have not yet had access to. Issa and Grassley worry about what kind of effects this information could have on the impartiality of potential witnesses.
"This practice harms not only our investigation, but also the independent investigation that you instructed the Inspector General to conduct," the letter reads.
Grassley and Issa are looking for specific answers regarding which ATF and Justice Department employees had access to the hard drive and when, which employees still have access to the drive, a log of all the documents on the drive and when the documents were posted, and a log of any other documents relating to their investigation that those employees had access to.
Allowing witnesses access to such documents could taint their testimony by allowing them to tailor their responses to what they think the Committees already know. Additionally, witnesses who gain access to documents they have not previously seen could alter their recollection of events. This practice harms not only our investigation, but also the independent investigation that you instructed the Inspector General to conduct. Tampering with witnesses?
One witness who had access to these documents informed us of this questionable practice:
Q: What other documents have you gone through other than your emails?
A. A couple of the things that have been produced. They put a link on our computer, some kind of drive that I can click on and read things that have been produced. So I do that every once in a while, but not normally.
Q: And what is the purpose of that, to your knowledge?
A. Just to refresh my recollection about what is out there, you know.
Q: So you have a link on your computer so that you know what we have been provided by Justice?
A. Yes. There is a link in our computer for Gunrunner, Fast and Furious produced to Congress, and there is updates every once in a while of those documents that are being produced.
Holder's Dirty Dozen?
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, ripped Attorney General Eric Holder again in another Monday letter.
The top Republicans investigating the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Operation Fast and Furious also blasted Holder for allegations that he allowed his Justice Department to skew potential witnesses by prepping them with access to background information.
In this new letter, Issa and Grassley name 12 senior Justice Department political officials they believe may have been involved in the decision which allowed guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. They asked Holder to provide all records relating to communications between those 12 individuals regarding Operation Fast and Furious.
"As our investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has progressed, we have learned that senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including Senate-confirmed political appointees, were unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program," Grassley and Issa wrote to Holder. "Therefore it is necessary to review communications between and among these senior officials."
Obama administration officials Issa and Grassley named in their letter were:
--Former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden
--Deputy Attorney General James Cole
--Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer
--Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco
--Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein
--Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Keeney
--Associate Deputy Attorney General Matt Axelrod
--Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Siskel
--Gary Grindler in the Office of the Attorney General
--Brad Smith, in the office of the Deputy Attorney General
--Kevin Carwile, section chief of the Capital Case Unit
--Joseph Cooley, in the Criminal Fraud Section
The records Issa and Grassley are requesting include emails, memos, briefing papers and handwritten notes. They also requested any records concerning any large weapons trafficking cases within ATF or in Phoenix. The deadline they gave Holder is July 18 at noon.
#1
Federal agents canÂ’t account for more than 1,400 guns after a widely criticized operation aimed at tracing the flow of weapons to Mexican drug gangs, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN.
Of 2,020 guns involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives probe dubbed “Operation Fast and Furious,” 363 have been recovered in the United States and 227 have been recovered in MexicoThat leaves 1,430 guns unaccounted for, the sources said. .
Ht to Weasel Zippers
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2011 14:05 Comments ||
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#2
...363 have been recovered in the United States and 227 have been recovered in Mexico...
Was that before or after they were used in the commission of crimes?
Congressional Republicans ask the attorney general's office to hand over emails and other material to determine the Obama administration's role in the operation that allowed U.S. semiautomatic weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
Believing that the Operation Fast and Furious scandal reaches into the highest levels of the Justice Department, congressional Republicans asked the attorney general's office to turn over a sweeping trove of emails, documents and other material to determine Washington's role in the "reckless" operation that allowed U.S. semiautomatic weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
"As our investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has progressed, we have learned that senior officials at the Department of Justice, including Senate-confirmed political appointees, were unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program," they said in a letter to Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. made public Tuesday. "Therefore, it is necessary to review communications between and among these senior officials."
The investigation is led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The request for carte blanche access to "emails, memoranda, briefing papers and handwritten notes" could spark a political and legal fight over what, if anything, will be turned over.
A top Justice Department spokesperson, who asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, declined to say how the Obama administration would respond, other than, "We will review their request."
An official from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the agency would not comment on an ongoing investigation.
Nevertheless, as one congressional investigator said Tuesday evening: "We've got questions. Lots of questions."
choice quotations
US President Barack Obama is the most anti-Israel president in the history of the state, without any question.
The problem is that we [USA] havenÂ’t had an adequate discussion of national security issues for two and a half years.
If Israel is not prepared to strike, then get ready for an Iran with nuclear weapons.
Israel’s proper response to the move [Paleo bid for statehood], he said, is “not to pay any attention to it, and to care no more about it than the grass you tread beneath your feet.”
[Dawn] The security forces have called upon the elders of Bhetanni tribe to cooperate with them for maintenance of peace in Frontier Region of Lakki.
"Reports regarding presence of anti-social elements in the region have raised concerns. The tribal chiefs should play their role to expel such elements from the area," security officials told a jirga in Tajori on Monday.
FR Lakki Political Agent Mohammad Fayaz Khan Sherpao and Political Tehsildar Bakhtiar were also present on the occasion. Tribal elders Malik Zaitullah, Malik Sher Afzal, Malik Tilla Mohammad, Malik Aqal Jan and Malik Saifullah attended the jirga.
"The tribal elders should ensure that Islamic fascistiwill not infiltrate into the tribal area nor will they use their soil for carrying out subversive activities," the officials said.
They said that rustics should be vigilant and keep an eagle eye on the activities of anti-social elements. "It is the prime responsibility of elders to play their role and use their influence for maintaining peace and tranquility in the tribal region," they added.
They said that government and army were paying special attention to the development of tribal areas. They said that development was impossible without restoration of peace in the area.
"Peace and tranquility are inevitable for progress," they told the jirga, adding the quarters concerned would be able to accelerate the pace of development if there was complete peace in the region.
The tribal elders assured the officials that they would assist security forces in action against Islamic fascistito maintain peace in the region. They shed light on the problems being faced by tribal people and pledged that they would stop infiltration of Islamic fascistiat all costs and would launch action against them at their own.
"We will ask the administration and law enforcement agencies to help us in action against Islamic fascistiif we need it," they added.
PROTEST: The activists of Awami Mafadaat Committee, a local welfare organization, and some sacked employees of Lucky Cement Factory staged a protest demonstration in Darra Pezu here on Monday against the factory management.
Led by AMC office-bearers Haji Naser Jan and Haji Khursheed, ANP leader Fazalur Rahim Khan and sacked employees` union president Ismail Khan, the protesters marched through Pezu bazaar and rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud.
They demanded of the factory management to provide free electricity facility to Darra Pezu town and rural areas in the radius of 10 kilometres of the power plant of the factory.
They also demanded of the management to set up an English medium high school, a technical college and a health facility in the town. They said that the poisonous smoke, dust and chemical waste of the factory were main causes of different diseases in the area.
"The management of Lucky Cement Factory should allocate special funds for eradicating these diseases," they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times]
The Pakistain military said on Monday that it was capable of fighting without American assistance while the US administration responded that its "uneasy ally" needed to make a greater effort in the fight against terrorists.
"The army in the past as well as at present, has conducted successful military operations using its own resources without any external support whatsoever," Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Major General Athar Abbas, ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... said.
A top US diplomat had, in a televised interview on Sunday, confirmed that "the United States has decided to withhold almost a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad".
Abbas wrote to a foreign news agency that the Pakistain defence forces had not been informed officially of a US decision to suspend $800 million worth of aid. "We have not received any official intimation or correspondence on the matter."
He also referred AFP to an extraordinary statement from Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... on June 9 recommending that the US military aid be redirected towards civilians.
Soon after the ISPR director general's statement, the US administration, while defending its decision to suspend $800 million of military aid to Pakistain, said its "uneasy ally" needed to make a greater effort in the fight against terrorists.
"When it comes to our military assistance, we're not prepared to continue providing that at the pace that we were providing it unless and until we see certain steps taken," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The US was particularly "looking to improve our cooperation in counter-terrorism, in counterinsurgency", she told journalists.
"The United States continues to seek a constructive, collaborative, mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistain," she stressed, adding, "We've been talking to Pakistain at all levels about the issues behind these decisions."
Nuland further said, "We are working together on how we can improve our relationship particularly in the categories of counter-terrorism and counterintelligence."
She recalled that on May 25, Islamabad demanded that about 100 US advisers leave Pak soil, effectively halting military training, adding, "We obviously can't do that in an environment where Pakistain has asked our trainers to go."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
CNN AM said it best > PAKISTAN TELLS US: KEEP YOUR [****] MONEY!
[Dawn] The UN refugee agency says it is ramping up its aid operation for people fleeing fighting in Pakistain's northwest tribal region of Kurram. ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... A front man for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says some 84,000 people are believed to have decamped their homes amid a military operation against forces of Evil in Kurram.
Adrian Edwards told news hounds in Geneva on Tuesday that UNHCR is providing tents and emergency supplies to local authorities.
He says camp planners are being sent to help prepare for new arrivals at the New Durrani camp located 20 miles from the conflict zone.
Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced across Pakistain because of simmering conflicts between the central government and local tribal groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The decision to suspend more than one-third of American military aid to Pakistain could end up hurting Washington more than Islamabad as the US seeks to navigate an end to the Afghan war and defeat al Qaeda, former Pak officials and analysts warned Monday.
Holding back the $800 million in aid is unlikely to pressure Pakistain to increase cooperation with the US and could strengthen those in the government who argue that Washington is a fickle ally who can't be trusted, they said.
"If you still need the relationship, which clearly the United States does, then it really doesn't make sense to take action at this time because it leaves the United States with less, not more, influence with the Pak military," said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pak ambassador to the US "Cooperation cannot be coerced by punitive actions."
Despite billions of dollars in American aid since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the relationship has long been tense because of Pakistain's reluctance to target Talibs on its territory who stage cross-border attacks against NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... troops in Afghanistan.
The relationship took a nose dive on May 2 when US commandos staged a covert raid to kill al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... in a Pak garrison town not far from Islamabad. The raid humiliated the Pak military, which ordered US trainers out of the country and reduced bilateral cooperation.
President Barack B.O. Obama's chief of staff, William Daley, said Sunday that the US was suspending $800 million in aid to the Pak military until the two countries can patch up their relationship.
But Tariq Fatemi, another former Pak ambassador to the US, said he thought the American strategy to pressure Pakistain was destined for failure.
"I think it is unwise to expect the Paks to buckle under what is a publicly delivered snub," said Fatemi. "It will strengthen those elements in the armed forces that have always had grave misgivings of the relationship with the United States."
Many Paks have never forgiven the US for slapping sanctions on the country in 1990 because of its work to develop a nuclear weapon. The decision came only a year after Pakistain and the US were successful in a decade-long quest to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
The sanctions left many Paks with a sense that the US was only interested in a "transactional" relationship that it could abandon once its interests were served.
Fatemi, the former ambassador, said the US decision appeared to undercut claims by B.O. regime officials that the US was interested in a long-term relationship that encompassed much more than counterterrorism cooperation.
Pakistain army front man Maj. Gen. Abbas said Sunday that the military had received no official notice from the US that aid was being suspended. He also said that the loss of aid would have no effect on military operations against Islamist hard boyz in the country because they were being conducted with Pakistain's own resources.
"I think it hurts Washington more than it hurts Islamabad," said Lodhi, the former ambassador. "Assistance is influence, and when you withhold it or suspend it, you deprive yourself of influence."
Pakistain army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... seemed to pre-empt the effect of the aid cut in a speech after the bin Laden raid -- saying all US military assistance now should be diverted to improve the country's economy and help common Paks.
"They want to end any impression that they are some kind of hired help," said Lodhi.
Some analysts have predicted that the suspension of military aid could hurt the military's war against the Pak Taliban over the long run, especially since the country is suffering an economic slump.
But Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pak defense analyst, said that Pakistain's close relationship with China could offset the impact. Pakistain has long purchased military equipment and missiles from China at lower-cost rates and bought fighter aircraft from the country last year, she said.
The Pak military is "trying to go the Chinese way," said Siddiqa.
It is unclear what other actions Pakistain will take in response to the suspension of US military aid. It could be less helpful in targeting al Qaeda gunnies within the country and in pushing Afghan Talibs with whom it has historical ties to negotiate an end to the Afghan war.
Pakistain is also believed to secretly support US drone strikes against hard boyz in the country's mountainous tribal region. That support has been shaken in the wake of the bin Laden raid and could be further imperiled by the suspension of aid.
One of the most high-profile points of leverage that the Paks have with the US is the shipment of a large percentage of non-lethal supplies through the country to NATO troops in Afghanistan. Pakistain temporarily closed the border to NATO supplies last year after an accidental US helicopter strike killed two Pak troops. It is unclear if the suspension of aid could provoke a similar response.
"When you take this kind of action, you reinforce the transactional nature of the relationship," said Lodhi. "The moment you do that all bets are off because the response will not be a very positive one."
But Lodhi also noted that Pakistain and the US do share common interests in combatting terrorism and fostering a stable Afghanistan -- even if the details don't always match up.
"The common interest is there, but the question is can we walk back from the brink and find common ground to rebuild trust step by step?"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pak ambassador to the US "Cooperation cannot be coerced by punitive actions."
Worked before and is probably the only thing that really works since enlightened self interest is not an Islamic concept.
The United States threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the stone age" unless it cooperated in the US-led war on terror, President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview. "The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the stone age'," Musharraf said in the interview with the 60 minutes investigative news programme to be broadcast Sunday.
#2
See also PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > PANETTA DOCTRINE: "DECLARE VICTORY, BUT DON'T GO HOME".
IIUC ARTIC = Among other, infers that the US is covertly anticipating a scenario whereupon those MilTerr factions whom are not defeated 2011-2014 [2017?] may elect to abandon AFPAK = Pakistan post-2014 for elsewhere in CENTRAL, EAST, + SOUTH ASIA, ostensibly to rebuild + refurbish for future new Jihad, hence the US need post-2014 to still maintain a viable Troop Presence + espec DRONE STAGING BASES in AFGHANISTAN [Pak?] TO DEAL WID ANY POSSIBLE BREAKOUT OF MILTERR TROUBLES IN SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE OF AFPAK.
As per PANETTA, in addition to SPECFORS/SPECOPS-led ground search missions the US will continue to use Afghan- andor PAK-based? UAVS to help hunt down + destroy remaining Al-Qaeda + other targeted MilTerr Leaders OUTSIDE OF AFGHANISTAN = AFPAK.
Yoohoo, "CROWN PRINCE" HAMZA BIN LADEN, I'm a'lookin at you kid.
#3
Look at it this way: We STILL have the $800 million dollars in our pocket. And the Pakis were just going to steal most of it anyway.
They aren't our friends, Chuckie, they never were.
"Washington is a fickle ally who cant't be trusted."???
Pakistan needs to turn that rumpstick around. They really do.
We are talking Brillkreme Moslems here who take it under the table. We are taking MOSLEM values taken to the nth. We are talking an entire greaser CULTURE of gimme and bird of paradise fly up your nose. We are talking Osama living right next door to the paki equivalent of West Point and Sgt. Schultzing us with a straight face.
You want to go on sucking a bunch of paki Goons? And handing them your wallet with a smile? Lets play for real. Give us what we want or we cut your belt off and pull down your pants and give you to Mustapha the Organ there. How bad do you want it to feel?
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/13/2011 5:44 Comments ||
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#4
The "Experts" are just afraid of the gravy train pulling out. It's not like the aid money was actually buying something.
#5
Let their old friends the communist Chinese give them a hand with something other than electronic bomb technology and components. We're tapped out!
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again ||
07/13/2011 7:57 Comments ||
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#6
I think that all this threat of holding back aid money is just posturing. I will believe it when I see it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2011 11:27 Comments ||
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#7
There's only problem with holding back one third of aid. It means we're still handing them two thirds of the aid with no quesitons asked as they lie to us and assist our enemies.
#10
"Or three manageable states and a very large car park."
Or no states and an extremely large car park, Steve.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/13/2011 18:11 Comments ||
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#11
I keep saying, we need to utterly CRUSH Pakistan, and divide it between India and Afghanistan along the Indus River. There's absolutely no need to KEEP Pakistan. Let the dope-heads all congregate in Quetta under Afghanistani control. Run the Sindhs into the ocean. Flush the Punjabis. No great loss, the lot of them. It would solve the Kashmir problem - the Kashmir is on the Indian side of the Indus. It would solve the Pashtun problem - they'd all be in Afghanistan. There wouldn't be any more Pakistanis to flood the US and Europe, especially Britain. Those there would have to declare new citizenship. Britain should make sure it's NOT British. I don't see any drawbacks, except for the Pakistanis, and who gives a ^%$&^ about them?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2011 20:45 Comments ||
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#12
Or no states and an extremely large car park
We would need a lot of popcorn for that, Barbara.
Still, it might be a more productive use for the land. After the radiation dies down, I mean.
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought comments from the local administration over detention of an accused after he was granted bail in a case of attack on former President Gen (retired) Pervez Perv Musharraf. ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
IHC Chief Justice Hameedur Rehman was hearing a petition filed by Mehmoodul Hassan, a relative of accused Jamshed Raza alias Chacha, seeking implementation of bail ordered by an Anti Terrorist Court (ATC).
The judge directed the deputy attorney general to coordinate with the administration of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) for its stance over Jamshed`s detention.
Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal, counsel for Mehmood, told the court that Jamshed was not involved in any activity "prejudicial to integrity, security, defence of Pakistain." He said Jamshed was falsely involved in the case — FIR 934 of December 12, 2003 — under various sections of PPC and ATA. The FIR was registered in connection with a failed attempt to assassinate Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 near Jhanda Chichi in Rawalpindi.
According to him, Jamshed was involved in the case afterwards and he was tossed in the slammer in 2009, adding that he remained on physical remand but no incriminating material was recovered from him.
The case is still pending before the court of Special Judge ATC, Rawalpindi.
He said on May 31 this year Jamshed moved a bail petition before the Special Judge ATC. The counsel said the judge allowed Jamshed "post arrest bail" but added that the ICT administration citing "breach of peace" is continuing to detain him. Jamshed`s detention order issued by the additional district magistrate on June 17 this year stated, "The recent liquidation of Federal Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and recent kaboom at Silk Bank, I- Markaz, Islamabad show that myrmidons like you have reassembled in the Capital."
The order added: "You are found involved in terrorist activities and there is likelihood that you along with some other myrmidons may cause damage to the government key installations and places of public importance resulting in breach of peace within the ICT."
The detention order was extended after 15 days.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The country's top military commanders, on Tuesday, reiterated the resolve to fighting the menace of terrorism in national interest using "our own resources".
The reaffirmation of the decision came during the 140th Corps Commanders' Conference at the General Headquarters. The military had, on Monday, said it could do without US assistance by depending on its own resources.
During the conference, which was chaired by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... , the highest military forum was briefed in detail about the security situation in the country in general and ongoing operations in Kurram and Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal areas in particular. Matters of operational preparedness were also discussed.
As the relations between the United States and Pakistain have been on the downward spiral after the unilateral American raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... in Abbottabad without informing Islamabad beforehand, Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar in a televised interview on Tuesday threatened to pull back troops from the Afghan border in response to US aid cuts.
"If Americans refuse to give us money, then okay. I think the next step is, the government or the armed forces will move the soldiers from the border areas," Mukhtar said, adding, "If at all things become difficult, we will just get our armed forces back."
"We cannot afford to keep our military... it costs you extra amount of money when you are having soldiers in the mountains, so we will definitely use that tool."
Mukhtar later told Rooters that Pakistain wanted the money spent on the maintenance of its army in the Tribal Areas. "This is what we are demanding," he said. "It is our own money."
Although Mukhtar has previously made statements that did not come to fruition, his remarks are significant at a time when public relations between Islamabad and Washington are at an all-time low since the war on terror began.
At the corps commanders' conference, General Kayani appreciated the conduct of the ongoing military operations and the support of locals in flushing out beturbanned goons from their area.
Referring to Mohmand Agency, he instructed that all efforts must be utilised in coordination with the civil administration for safe return of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Kayani said that the aim of the operation in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... was to clear the area of myrmidons involved in terrorism, kidnapping, killing of locals and the blocking of a road connecting Lower Kurram with Upper Kurram.
The US had, on Sunday, confirmed that it had decided to withhold a third of its annual $2.7 billion security assistance to Islamabad, bringing relations to a new low. Cuts of $800 million reportedly include about $300 million used to reimburse Pakistain for some costs of deploying more than 100,000 soldiers along the Afghan border.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Read, Pak "Big Brother" + BFF CHINA.
This will not end well, for either the US or China, as China = Russia = its better for their interests to have the US-NATO in AFPAK fighting the Militants than other.
Many Bloggers correctly believe that the rise of LEON PANETTA = US PREPPING TO MILPOL ESCALATE AGZ NUKE-HAPPY IRAN, but as per POLITICAL JIHAD a break in US-PAK relations will likely result in an increased Islamist influence in the Pak Govt, iff not ourright dominance of same, which in turn may ultimately lead to an alignment of already Nuke-armed Pakistan [China?] wid Iran agz the US, + sovereign rapid transfer of Pak Nuctechs to SYRIA or other anti-US Muslim Govts-States???
ISLAMIST DOMINOES.
Instead of US-VS-IRAN only, it will be US-VS-ISLAMIST-NUCLEAR-ALLIANCE???
Iff the MilTerr Groups aren't inspired now, they will be then.
#2
A big war would create a lot of jobs. And NATIONAL SURVIVAL ( fighting for your very life) does tend to unite a country in a spectacular way.
The Left would open its mouth and then disappear as fast as the Bund ( does anyone remember the Bund? No? ) That's what happens to some people.
If Iran and Pakistan united in a Nuclear alliance... they would over reach in very short order. They would actually push it. And then there might be a big surprise...we can reach farther than they can. We can hit them where they cant hit us. They can throw a nuke at Saudi Arabia, say, or hit an American Carrier.
And our response? These things escalate very fast once they start. Is war such a bad idea? Wars DO settle things. Sometimes WAR IS THE ANSWER. If you win a war even if millions die in it, as long as most of the dead are Moslems and its largely fought in THEIR yard...and FINISHED in their yard. Smoking holes finished and entire nations obliterated. We CAN do that...they dont have the ability, not yet, and it will be a generation before they do match our reach and our kill capacity.
There is no nice way to win a war. And there is absolutely NO future in losing one. Pre-emptive attack is not a bad idea. Aggression is not a bad idea if you MEAN BUSINESS. Remember that scene in The Unforgiven when William Muney ( Clint Eastwood) said he was coming out of that saloon in the rain at the end of the film? Think about it. "Anybody shoots at me, I will kill them, I will kill their family and then I will kill all their friends." He meant it. Hold that thought.
Killing people is what Wars do. General are not Professors ( get rid of those ) and use your military power ruthlessly and efficiently. Take THEIR resources. Take their Gold Reserves. Take their mommas and their dog too. Dont "occupy" them, dont rebuild them. Cook them. Hand of God every son of a bitch who can squeal.
Win IT!
And nobody will curse your name or complain because they will all never write a single history book.
WE already HAVE that kind of Power, now. What we dont have is the WILL to win. If you are too soft to fight, you deserve what happens to your little girl.
I think we will have to fight sooner or later. Give it thirty years?
Dont lie to yourself about Human nature, yours or theirs. We live on blood, the human race always has. History is one long endless litany of blood. REALITY is being willing to pull the trigger if the bugger so much as moves. You think I sound crazy? You know what Harold McMillan said?
yeah? Now there was a ( very very stupid) crazy son of a bitch.
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/13/2011 6:36 Comments ||
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#3
Leftists/Collectivists do just fine starting wars for national unity; in fact I'd call it SOP for stage 3 collectivism - the whisker being the EU but could count Balkins, now Libya.
Agree an official Iran/Pak alliance would grab the attention of S.A., India, Iraq. Probably why it is not official. Yes, plenty of local US targets just gonna guess that the military folks are on top of that; but hey we apparently traded east Europe missile defense for a promised train ride from the Russians, what firmer bedrock for policy could there be than that?
#5
"Sounds good, except for that Shia-Sunni exterminate each other thing."
You're right, EP - that does sound good.
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/13/2011 18:18 Comments ||
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#6
Sounds good, except for that Shia-Sunni exterminate each other thing.
One step at a time, Eohippus Phater7165. First they defeat their joint enemies, then they can turn on one another at leisure. After all, Turkey is currently Iran's other bestest friend ever.
[Pak Daily Times] Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Tuesday said the government was plotting against the armed forces, the ISI and institutions responsible for the national security in collusion with the United States.
He said this while addressing a joint meeting of the MQM Coordination Committee in London and Bloody Karachi. The office-bearers of various wings of the MQM were also present on the occasion. Speaking about national security, national self-esteem, conspiracies against institutions responsible for national security, mounting US pressure on Pakistain and reprehensible conspiratorial attitude of the government, Hussain said that the present government was contriving against political opponents and the MQM.
He said that despite the fact that the MQM stood by the government in its difficult times and proved to be its most trusted and strongest ally, but the manner in which the government had stabbed MQM in the back was known to the people of Pakistain and the international community.
Addressing intellectuals, analysts, anchor persons and people belonging to different walks of life, Hussain said that the government was not only taking anti-people actions and resorting to dictatorial policies towards the MQM but it was also conspiring against the armed forces, the ISI and other institutions responsible for national security. He said harming the institutions responsible for national security was equal to harming the country. It was, therefore, the responsibility of the intellectuals, analysts, and anchorpersons to inform the people about the conspiracies against the armed forces and institutions responsible for national security, he said. The MQM chief said that the nation should prove with their unity that they were with the armed forces and the national security institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
the government was plotting against the armed forces, the ISI and institutions
Will everyone in Pakistain who is NOT plotting against someone please raise their hand? ..... Yeah, that's what I thought.
[Dawn] Over tea in Lahore with the man who some see -- wrongly he says -- as a front man for the Lashkar-e-Taiba orc group, one subject dominates the conversation. It's not jihad, not Kashmire, but the economy.
"The first condition to bring peace in Pakistain is prosperity," said Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, front man for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD), the humanitarian wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is banned in Pakistain.
"Already people are being killed by price hikes. In such circumstances, we can't afford kabooms."
It is an official line from an organization blacklisted by the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... over its links -- denied by the JuD -- to LeT, the orc group blamed by the United States and India for the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai that killed 166 people.
But the choice of subject is nonetheless indicative of the extent to which worries about the economy are gripping Pakistain, where even the military -- the former patron of the JuD/LeT -- cites these before its old obsessions about India and Kashmire.
Pakistain army chief General Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... has begun to talk about the weakening economy as a security threat, as the country battles a Pak Taliban insurgency, rising corruption and chronic power shortages. It needs stability for economic growth.
Mujahid, who denies links with the LeT but was described in a UN blacklist as the head of the LeT's media department with an influential role in its central leadership, said Pakistain must find a way to end the frequent gun and kabooms.
"We believe security agencies of Pakistain should control the situation through any means, through negotiations, or any means. It is their duty to find a way for peace and, whatever they think is proper to keep peace in Pakistain, they should do it."
With growth forecast this year at just 2.4 per cent and inflation running at 14 per cent and likely to rise further with increasing oil prices, ordinary Paks are far more likely to worry about the economy than the Islamist snuffies who so preoccupy the United States and the rest of the outside world.
Mujahid, who insisted the JuD severed its links with the LeT in 2001 -- an assertion security analysts dispute -- picked up that theme, echoing a complaint frequently made by Paks when he bemoaned the growing energy crisis:
"You get electricity and petrol cheaper in western societies. People are looking for basics -- transport, electricity."
Preaching Through Welfare
The JuD, which follows an Islamic tradition known as Ahle Hadith -- a purist or Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... faith whose adherents say they emulate the ways of the companions of the Prophet Mohammad -- has always stressed the need to help the poor.
It runs schools, hospitals, ambulances and dispensaries and argues like many other Islamist groups that a Mohammedan society purged of modern evils, from corruption to music, would be both fairer and stronger.
"We believe in preaching through welfare," said Mujahid. "Pakistain should be a welfare state where people could get every basic necessity of life easily."
But JuD has been inextricably linked to armed jihad since its origins in the campaign against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan -- the purification of society it seeks is meant to make Mohammedans stronger when fighting their enemies.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba, once nurtured by the military to fight India in Kashmire, has also been the army's most loyal proxy, even now eschewing attacks within Pakistain itself. It has also been kept on a tight leash since Mumbai, for fear of a fresh attack that would invite retribution on Pakistain.
So does Mujahid's stress on the economy suggest at least a shift in emphasis, or perhaps even an echo of the military's own thinking that its old habits of using orc proxies to bleed India are currently taking too much of a toll on Pakistain?
Few can agree on the answer.
Pak analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, author of a book on the Mighty Pak Army, said that, far from reining in its old orc proxies, the military was building them up, including by setting up camps in the south of Punjab province and in Sindh province.
"I think they (the army) have over the years developed a strategic dependence on these proxies," she said.
Others argue that it does indeed want to close them down eventually, and ascribe a decision by the authorities to allow JuD/LeT founder Hafez Saeed and others to operate openly as a means of keeping control of the group.
"It now seems that Pakistain is indeed anxious to neutralise and if possible destroy krazed killer organizations and networks, but can't make up its mind how to do it," said Brian Cloughley, a defence expert who has written two books on the Pakistain army.
Home For Armed Cadres?
As with everything in Pakistain, the same set of evidence can be given different explanations depending on perspective.
Mujahid, who like other members of the Ahle Hadith sect wears his trousers above the ankle in the tradition of the companions of the Prophet, was insistent that the JuD and its leader, Hafez Saeed, no longer had links to the LeT.
"It is highly deplorable that people in the media still call me a front man of the Lashkar-e-Taiba," he said.
But the fact that the JuD is so active despite its U.N. blacklisting -- its members were visible in relief efforts during last year's devastating floods -- is cited by some as proof Pakistain will never act against either it or the LeT.
"The JuD is best regarded as the parent group of the LeT, which is its armed instrument," said Ajai Sahni, executive director of India's Institute of Conflict Management.
"The distinction is real, because the JuD also engages in a much wider network of activities, including charitable work ... while the LeT's activities are restricted to terrorism and terrorist mobilisation."
But analysts argue the JuD can be used a front for LeT to collect funds or recruit volunteers for a jihad that it can ill afford to abandon without losing support to other Islamist groups.
"I see it (the LeT) continuing to be aggressive in India and Afghanistan and spreading its social networks in Pakistain," said South Asia expert C. Christine Fair at Georgetown University.
Yet the JuD's humanitarian activities also serve a purpose, since they would provide a useful repository into which to channel LeT cadres, were they ever to be disarmed.
"Interlocutors within and close to the Pak security establishment have suggested ... that if the Kashmire issue is settled 'appropriately', then over time LeT could be steered towards non-violent activism," Stephen Tankel, author of a book on the group, wrote in a New America Foundation paper in April.
"In other words, the above-ground JuD and its array of social welfare activities provides a possible means for demobilising its orcs," he wrote.
Mujahid said only that the fate of Kashmire should be decided by its people. "We should not talk of Pakistain or India. India should give the right of self-determination to the Kashmiris. A peaceful solution in Kashmire is good for the whole region."
The United States is so far unconvinced of Pakistain's willingness to eventually disarm the LeT, which it described in a report last month as "a formidable terrorist threat."
The army itself has said it cannot take on all orc groups at once, and will give priority to those who are killing its own people. Most analysts, therefore expect the LeT to be the last to be tackled.
But the jihad in Kashmire, which once provided the reason for Pak military backing for the LeT, has lost support both among the Kashmiris and in public opinion in Pakistain.
The army's focus is now on domestic stability and the JuD, by talking about the economy, appears to be following its lead.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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Jerusalem police arrested a group of 11 Arab teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 for frequently throwing stones and Molotov cocktails in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan over the past few weeks.
According to the police, the youth would buy firecrackers and explosives from a store in Ras Al Amud, and the gas from a local gas station in Silwan. They would assemble the Molotov cocktail and throw them at the Beit Yehonatan apartment, a heavily fortified seven-story apartment building that houses seven Jewish families.
The owner of the store in Ras Al Amud was also arrested for selling explosives to minors. The police, who arrested the group over the past few days, are expected to indict the group this week.
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- On World Population Day 2011, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the total population of the Palestinian territory stood at 4.2 million people. Some 2.6 million live in the West Bank and 1.59 million in Gaza, the PCBS report said. Among the other findings: More than one-fifth of participants in the Palestinian labor force are unemployed and 7.8 percent of females are illiterate, a rate more than three times higher than for males.
The CIA Factbook on Gaza and the West Bank, for comparison purposes.
World Population Day has been observed every July 11 for two decades as an occasion to draw attention to the significance of population trends and related issues, the UN Population Fund says. This year, the world population is expected to surpass seven billion people.
"Whether we can live together equitably on a healthy planet will depend on the choices and decisions we make now. In a world of 7 billion people, and counting, we need to count each other," the fund said Monday.
#1
IF YOU were a Palestinian, what would you do for yourself or for your families future welfare and prosperity?
Can you even GET out of Palestine these days? Would you immigrate to Brazil, if you could? Sunny Brazil, somewhere on the coast, open a restaurant and set up an awning and a few chairs.
Nothing fancy, cook down home like Momma, maybe get Momma to do the cooking herself. All the kids could wait tables. Learn to speak Bahia or whatever the locals jargon along on maybe. Forget the Jews, how many nasty Jews are in Bahia, after all?
OR you can stay in "Palestine" and eat what is between your toes until you die. Your choice there, Achmed.
No wonder Palestinians kill themselves so much and so often. Wouldn't you? If it's bad DOWNWIND of Jenin, think about what's its like to live next door to a whole camp of Palestinians IN the Camp...like for the last seventy years or so...and nobody has a toilet or a job. ya Allah and remember what Yasser Arafat always said,....." So long, suckers."
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/13/2011 5:04 Comments ||
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#2
F YOU were a Palestinian, what would you do for yourself or for your families future welfare and prosperity?
Many families have at least one member out in the world working to send money home, Mr. de Medici. And many more have emigrated altogether over the decades -- Christian
Arabs started the trend back in Ottoman times. Google "Palestinian diaspora" for details, or just read the Wikipedia article to learn all sorts of things useful for the right sort of dinner party conversation.
[An Nahar] Former premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. stressed Tuesday that "nothing will be changed in the indictment" issued last month by the Special Tribunal for Leb along with arrest warrants for four Hizbullah members in the liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, "even if (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed (Hassan) Nasrallah holds 300 pressers."
"I will return to Beirut as soon as possible," Hariri, who is currently in Gay Paree, announced in an interview on MTV, when asked whether his next interview will be broadcast from the Lebanese capital.
"At a certain point, I wanted to go away and watch things from afar and it was my own choice," Hariri noted.
Asked about the timing of his televised appearance, Hariri said: "I have not decided to speak in order to break the silence, but rather to end the distortion of facts concerning several issues, topped by the indictment and the STL."
"We are not the ones inciting the international community, the other camp's pressers are inciting the international community against Leb," the ex-PM charged.
"The STL mentioned individuals, but Sayyed Nasrallah threw his support behind those individuals. We only want justice through this international tribunal," Hariri added.
He warned that Leb's non-cooperation with the tribunal "puts Leb in danger," stressing that "no one can terminate the STL."
"There won't be stability without justice and the accused are not bigger than their country. Leb witnessed liquidations all through 30 years and this is the first time in Leb that a tribunal is established to try the murderers of political figures," Hariri, the son of the slain premier, added.
He reassured that the indictments and the STL were not "against a certain sect," noting that "the murderers are individuals and do not represent the Sunnis or the Shiites."
Asked about the fact that he is not in power anymore, Hariri said: "I don't want to be in power and today I'm satisfied that I'm not in power."
"I was clear regarding reconciliation and forgiveness, but some people think that they are bigger than Leb," Hariri said of the unsuccessful Saudi-Syrian initiative to break the deadlock in Leb, which preceded the toppling of his government on January 12 by Hizbullah and its allies.
"When I got engaged in negotiations, I knew that I would lose politically and popularly , but others do not want to make concessions, they only want to get rid of Saad Hariri. But anyway, why would those who got rid of Rafik Hariri want the presence of Saad Hariri," Hariri went on to say.
The opposition leader and the former premier stressed that "the main problem in the country is the issue of weapons, which has become our problem with Hizbullah and the problem of Hizbullah itself."
"Does it want to maintain its hegemony over the Lebanese?" Hariri said of Hizbullah.
"We, in March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... , will not remain silent and Saad Hariri will not remain silent. They are mistaken if they think that we will abandon our allies and we will keep on opposing weapons. The rift over the issue of arms is a major rift," the ex-PM stressed.
Asked about accusations that the March 14 camp was seeking to harm the country's stability, Hariri said: "March 14 does not possess weapons and therefore it can't threaten stability. Do they want us to apologize for the death of our deaders?"
Asked about whether he was willing to meet with Nasrallah, Hariri said: "I'm not against dialogue, but this time witnesses should be present in the meeting."
The former premier noted that there is no political dispute between him and incumbent Prime Minister Najib Miqati, but criticized the new government as being "Hizbullah's government."
"The decision to topple Saad Hariri was taken by Sayyed Nasrallah and (Syrian) President (Bashar) Assad," Hariri noted.
He accused the rival camp of being in the service of Hizbullah's "mini-state."
"The other camp does not want to be in the service of the State, but rather in the service of the mini-state," Hariri charged.
Asked about his current relation with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid JumbIat, Hariri said: "I thank Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... for the entire previous period as he was the one who stood up for the blood of Rafik Hariri on March 14 (2005) and I respect him and respect his supporters, regardless of our political differences."
"When I said that I was betrayed, I was honestly referring to (Finance Minister Mohammed) Safadi and PM Miqati, and actually Leb was the one betrayed," Hariri added.
"We will remain in the opposition camp until the government is toppled or until we win the elections," he noted.
Asked about the means his camp would use to oust Miqati's government, Hariri said: "We're seeking to topple the government with the democratic means and street action might be one of the options, but we won't shut down an airport, burn tires or jeopardize the economy."
He also said he did not believe the current government would last till the 2013 parliamentary elections, describing the March 14 camp as a "strong opposition movement."
Asked by his interviewer to address a message to the embattled Syrian president, Hariri said: "No one is bigger than their country and the Syrian people are the backbone of the state in Syria."
Addressing President Michel Suleiman, Hariri said: "We were hoping that he would remain true to his inaugural speech and I believe that what's going on today is not part of that speech."
"We want you a partner in this country, not a partner in harboring the accused individuals," Hariri said, addressing Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... .
He also noted that he respects the "popular representation" of Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... . "I would've liked him to be among the ranks of March 14, but unfortunately he has chosen to be a Hizbullah 'second-class officer'," Hariri said of Aoun.
Addressing the supporters of the March 14 forces, Hariri said: "The rift in the country is political and not sectarian. Don't be frustrated and rest assured that Leb's future will be like you want it to be because we won't abandon Leb and we will continue our path towards making Leb the democratic jewel of the Arab world."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms" the attacks against the U.S. and French embassies in the Syrian capital, Damascus. ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... The statement which was approved by all 15 council members said the attacks damaged the embassies and injured diplomatic personnel.
The council called on Syrian authorities to fulfill their obligation to protect "the inviolability of diplomatic missions" and staff as required under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Pak Daily Times] 
Kurram.
The decision to suspend more than one-third of American military aid to Pakistain could end up hurting Washington more than Islamabad as the US seeks to navigate an end to the Afghan war and defeat al Qaeda, former Pak officials and analysts warned Monday.
Pervez 
Mohmand
Punjab
Jerusalem police arrested a group of 11 Arab teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 for frequently throwing stones and Molotov cocktails in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan over the past few weeks. 
Najib Miqati
Walid 
Michel Aoun
