[Daily Caller] President Donald Trump issued a full pardon Monday to former Army First Lieutenant Michael Behenna, who served five years in prison after being convicted of murdering a suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist.
In May 2008, Behenna was questioning Ali Mansur Mohamed, a suspected terrorist who had allegedly been involved in an IED attack that killed two U.S. soldiers. The interrogation ended when Behenna fired two rounds into the terrorist ‐ which the 1st Lt. claimed was in self-defense after Mansur lunged for his pistol.
A military court convicted Behenna of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone in 2009. The prosecution said Behenna was not acting in self-defense, but in retaliation for the deaths of his fellow soldiers, and killed Mansur while returning him to his hometown.
In a statement released Monday announcing the pardon, the White House noted that Behenna’s 25-year sentence was greatly reduced following certain concerns about the case. Behenna was released from prison on parole in 2014.
[Libya Observer] Khalifa Haftar ...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... 's Dignity Operation command has issued a statement threatening to punish all journalists, media figures, activists and political analysts who oppose its offensive against Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , describing them as "inciting hate and crime against the army forces and supporting terrorism."
The statement on Sunday said the command is following closely those who appear on the media of the Moslem Brüderbund Group or those who go on social media for their incitement of crimes and terrorism against the army forces who are fighting "the remnants of gunnies in Tripoli."
It says those people will be punished by law after the criminal gangs and gunnies are defeated.
"Our forces are legitimate and are appointed by the Libyan House of Representatives to eliminate terrorism and anyone who provokes violence against those forces is liable to punishment by the Libyan law." It further added.
Haftar and his forces describe all their opponents as gunnies and say they are against the building of the army and security institutions.
Many activists and journalists who oppose Haftar's military operations in Tripoli were targeted by random arrest campaigns in areas under his forces' control, including federalist Osama al-Arebi and head of oil workers' syndicate Saad al-Fakhiri.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] The grandparents of two children stranded with their French jihadist mother at a camp in Kurdish-held Syria are to file a lawsuit Monday at Europe's top rights court over La Belle France's refusal to allow them home, lawyers said.
It is the latest challenge to the French government's opposition to returning the children of suspected jihadists in Syria or Iraq.
The four-year-old girl and three-year-old boy are among the estimated 500 children of French citizens who joined the Islamic State
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Cyprus’ president is calling The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... ’s bid to drill for natural gas in waters off the island a "second invasion" and a violation of international law.
President Nicos Anastasiades says Turkey’s behavior creates "insurmountable problems" in efforts to restart talks aimed at reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus. He said Monday there can be no talks while the island remains under threat.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
Turkey doesn’t recognize Cyprus as a state, and it says the Cypriot government’s own offshore gas search infringes on its rights and those of breakaway Ottoman Turkish Cypriots to the island’s hydrocarbons reserves.
Cyprus says all potential gas proceeds will be shared equitably after a reunification acco
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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[WSJ] Ruling AKP says balloting was marred by fraud and irregularities, but outraged mayor's party calls situation a matter of wanting to preserve control.
Turkey's national election board canceled results of the Istanbul mayoral race that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party lost five weeks ago and ordered a rerun, sparking outrage in opposition ranks and fueling investor concerns over heightened economic volatility.
Ruling on complaints filed by Mr. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the election board said a new vote was necessary because fraud and irregularities had material influence on the March 31 results in Istanbul. The ruling is final and can't be challenged in court.
Mr. Erdogan had thrown his weight behind the AKP's fraud claims, calling for a rerun.
Ekrem Imamoglu was handed the mandate to govern last month, lifting the spirits of Erdogan’s opponents, despite vague accusations of cheating and election fraud by the AKP and its loyalists.
Mr Imamoglu’s victory marked the first time in 25 years that Istanbul, a city of 16 million, fell out of the hands of Mr Erdogan’s political party. The AKP also lost control of the capital, Ankara, for the first time in 25 years but with a much larger margin.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] According to the understandings that led to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,, Jerusalem will allow a transfer of $30 million from Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... to the Gazoo Strip very soon, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The cash shipment will be delivered "very soon," the report says, adding that, until now, the periodical transfer was only $20 million. Israel is also expected to open the border crossings.
Also according to the truce agreement, the Hamas terror group that rules Gazoo has committed to reigning in
...the writer meant reining in, but never mind...
Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , which initiated the recent two-day flareup.
Additionally, the weekly border protests and riots will be scaled down and held farther away from the border fence with Israel, the report says. Terror groups will also stop the launching of balloon-borne arson devices into Israel.
[IsraelTimes] A balloon-borne arson device launched from the Gazoo Strip sparked a fire today in a wheat field in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, Fire and Rescue Services says.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze earlier in the day. Afterward, Sherlocks were able to determine that the cause of the fire was an "arson balloon," a fire department front man says.
He adds that there was another blaze in the area today that was not caused by an arson attack from Gazoo.
The apparent attack comes despite an unofficial ceasefire since this morning that has seen no rockets fired from the Strip or Israeli Arclight airstrikes after a two-day flareup.
[IsraelTimes] After admitting that the threat of anti-tank missiles to roads near the Gazoo Strip was underestimated, leading to the attack yesterday that killed 68-year-old Moshe Feder, security authorities have decided to build a wall to protect the road that was targeted, Channel 13 reports.
The wall is planned to be two meters (6.56 feet) high and 600 meters long, blocking off the currently exposed area.
Plans for the wall’s construction have already begun, the report says.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian Authority to receive $300 million for health and education initiatives, remainder to finance humanitarian and UN programs.
Mahmoud Abbas’s Go Limp strategy is blocked without costing Israel a penny... and it remains to be seen how much of the Qatari pledge will actually be paid out.
Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... pledged to send $480 million in aid to Paleostinians in Gazoo and the West Bank, Qatar’s foreign ministry said overnight Monday.
The Paleostinian Authority would receive $300 million for health and education and $180 million would finance humanitarian initiatives, electricity and United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... programs, Rooters reported.
The announcement comes after two days of intense fighting between Israel and Gazoo-based murderous Moslems that saw nearly 700 rockets fired at Israel and four Israeli civilians killed.
Six months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to allow the monthly transfer of $15 million in cash from Qatar to cash-strapped Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,, a decision which apparently led to the most recent flareup in violence.
This week’s exchange of fire followed several weeks of relative calm between Israel and Gazoo amid an unofficial armistice, which appeared to be breaking down as murderous Moslems in the Strip stepped up their violent activities along the border in the days preceding the outbreak of fighting. Gazoo terror groups said their actions were retaliation for Israel not abiding by the ceasefire agreement by halting the transfer of Qatari money into Gazoo ‐ a charge Jerusalem denied, blaming the delay on Qatar and the United Nations.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the $480 million announced on Monday would go to Gazoo, or how the transfer would be carried out.
Gazoo suffers from abject poverty and unemployment in the coastal enclave stands at 51 percent. Hamas, a Jihadist terrorist group which aims to destroy Israel, pours its funding into military infrastructure rather than improving the overall situation in Gazoo.
The weekend’s excitements are over, so it’s time to get back to work.
[AnNahar] The Israeli forces have resumed the construction and expansion of the military road leading to Hunin military site by lifting earth mounds with bulldozers, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.
NNA added that two trucks worked on transporting earth to the opposite side of the town of Merkaba - Marjayoun.
Earlier on Monday, Israel conducted intensive overflights above the southern area of Nabatieh, Iqlim al-Toufah, and Sidon, said the agency.
al-Qassam Brigades released video of barrage of its S-40 missiles that it fired on Israel during Saturday and Sunday fighting. #Gazapic.twitter.com/KDQWtYhJQp
[YNETNEWS] Benny Gantz warns agreement gave terror groups what they wanted and will only lead to further violence, while Likud challenger Gideon Sa'ar says deal gives Israel nothing.
[IsraelTimes] A security source says the army’s assessment, which has been presented to the government and is supported by intelligence officials, is that without increasing diplomatic efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gazoo Strip, the current ceasefire will only hold for several days or weeks.
See article about a fire balloon launched from Gaza today.
The security establishment cannot promise that the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror group will not try to disrupt daily life in Israel ahead of the Eurovision contest next week, the source adds, according to Hebrew-language media.
The government demanded that the flareup reach its end as quickly as possible and "with the most achievements possible," the source says.
The source says the prevailing assessment in Israel is that one of the reasons Islamic Jihad agreed to the ceasefire was that for the first time since 2014, its targets were struck as well as Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,’s sites.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel has to develop a means to destroy the Hamas interior tunnels.
I'm sure they are working on a number of ways to do this but until they do, there is no good way of really disabling Hamas's rocket capability.
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/07/2019 6:56 Comments ||
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#2
Netanyahu is not the kind of person to let 900 missiles go from Gaza into Israel without a response. I think that he is looking at Iran. So is President Trump. Iran is smarting from the sanctions and is getting aggressive. There will be some big actions coming, IMHO.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2019 18:42 Comments ||
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[Jpost] The United States received information from Israel concerning an alleged Iranian plot to attack American interests in the Gulf, Axios reported on Monday.
National Security advisor John Bolton publicly warned on Sunday that Iran will face "unrelenting force" if it attempts to harm the US, in an unusual statement.
In the same statement the US announced that it would deploy the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln to the region.
According to the report, intelligence provided by Israel's Mossad agency was at least part of the reason for the warning and the move to deploy the aircraft carrier. The information was allegedly passed to a U.S. team headed by Bolton two weeks ago by an Israeli delegation led by national security adviser Meir Ben Shabbat.
It wasn't clear what Iran's plans would have been, but it might have attempted to hit a US target in the Gulf, or one of its allies in the region such as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... or UAE.
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates a hard line on Iran, said he had heard of a "spike" in intelligence in recent days about planned attacks.
He believed Iran had given the green-light to the missiles out of Gazoo by Hamas and allied movement Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... The strikes sought "to tie down Israeli forces and create a crisis to distract the US and Israel from IRGC plans elsewhere," he said, referring to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2019 00:27 ||
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Doesn't make any sense.
Posted by: gorb 2019-05-07 01:31
...Seems to me their only real option would have been to scream as loudly as they could that they didn't do it, nobody saw them do it and we can't prove they did it, and get the Usual Suspects to tut-tut in advance about any possible retaliation.
They seem to think that Obama fella is still in charge, or that DJT is so hamstrung by those idiots in the House that he won't be able to do anything about it.
They may be wrong.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/07/2019 4:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Saudi refineries? Oil field? US bound oil tankers?
#5
My suspicion -- to stir up anti-Trump nuts in the US, to weaken him, and set the stage to a new president who will go back to bribing Iran.
Valerie Jerret is still alive, after all.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/07/2019 7:25 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Map depicts Iranian S-300 anti-aircraft missile sites and range fans. The S-300 are protecting other missiles aimed at potential targets in the Gulf.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iran on Monday dismissed as old news a US announcement it is sending a naval strike group to the Middle East in order to deliver the Islamic republic a message, Tasnim news agency reported.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Sunday that the United States was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force as a "clear and unmistakable message" that it will retaliate against any attack on its interests or its allies’ by Iran.
"Bolton’s statement is a clumsy use of an out-of-date event for psychological warfare," Iran’s supreme national security council front man Keyvan Khosravi said, quoted by Tasnim.
According to the front man, Iranian armed forces had observed the carrier entering the Mediterranean Sea 21 days ago. Bolton "lacks military and security understanding and his remarks are mostly meant to draw attention to himself," Khosravi added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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[JPOST] The rationing of food and essential goods might be coming back to Iran, for the first time since the Iran-Iraq war of (1980-1988), due to the sanctions being imposed on the Islamic republic - which may cause the government to have a larger role in the rationing of such products.
The war left nearly two-million people dead and maimed on both sides of the fight, and it took years afterwards for the government to end this type of rationing.
Many are worried, including economic experts, that issuing the vouchers would bring more government interference into the already highly controlled country markets.
People in Iran used to refer to the 1980's as the "coupon era," where long lines formed just to procure simple things such as eggs or butter.
"Some goods might be rationed and distributed through vouchers or coupons," said Islamic Theocratic Republic Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri without much elaboration according to a Radio Farda report. "We might be forced to ration some goods and reintroduce vouchers for distributing them."
The state usually subsidizes many of these good through their annual oil sales and out of country exports, normally bringing in $60 billion a year for the Islamic Theocratic Republic - as well the government issues cash handouts from the government to purchase these goods.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Cutting off their nose to spite their face. Craziness.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/07/2019 13:58 Comments ||
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#2
Jihad Barbie dolls are already in short supply in most of Iran. This will not work out well for the mad mullahs or the brave citizens of Persia as a whole.
[AlAhram] Iran will restart part of its halted nuclear programme in response to the US withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal but does not itself plan to pull out of the agreement, the state-run IRIB news agency reported on Monday.
Citing a source close to an official commission which oversees the nuclear deal, IRIB reported that President Hassan Rouhani would announce that Iran would reduce some of its "minor and general" commitments under the deal on May 8- exactly one year after US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... announced the US pullout.
Trump subsequently reimposed tough sanctions on Iran, including on its lifeblood oil exports with the stated intent of reducing them to zero and starving Iran's economy.
"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran in reaction to the exit of America from the nuclear deal and the bad promises of European countries in carrying out their obligations will restart a part of the nuclear activities which were stopped under the framework of the nuclear deal," the source said, according to IRIB.
Similarly, the semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported that Iran on Wednesday will announce "reciprocal actions" to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, quoting "knowledgeable sources".
Some European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... leaders had been unofficially told of Iran's decision, the report said.
The United States acted on Friday to force Iran to stop producing low-enriched uranium and expanding its only nuclear power plant.
Trump, who was not in office when the nuclear deal was negotiated, said it was flawed in Iran's favour for doing nothing to curb its ballistic missile programme or its support of proxy forces in several Middle East wars.
Iran has said its development of ballistic missiles has nothing to do with its nuclear activity and is wholly defensive in nature, and that its support for allies around the Middle East is not Washington's business.
US DEPLOYMENT OF MIDDLE EAST
Under the 2015 deal, Iran restricted the capacity of its uranium enrichment programme - widely seen as a route to developing a nuclear weapon - in exchange for a lifting of most international sanctions. UN nuclear inspectors have repeatedly verified Iranian compliance with the accord.
Iran has denied ever pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The other signatories to the deal - European powers Germany, La Belle France and Britannia - and Russia and China remain committed to it. The EU has been looking into ways of preserving its economic benefits that Iran says must stay or it could abandon the deal.
The Trump administration is now deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in response to troubling "indications and warnings" from Iran and to show the United States will retaliate with "unrelenting force" to any attack, US national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.
Bolton - who has spearheaded an increasingly hawkish US policy on Iran - said the decision, which could exacerbate tensions between the two countries, was meant to send a "clear and unmistakable message" of US resolve to Tehran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also issued a warning to the Islamic Theocratic Republic on Sunday.
"It is absolutely the case that we have seen escalatory actions from the Iranians and it is equally the case that we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests," Pompeo told news hounds aboard a flight en route to an Arctic Council meeting in Finland.
If these actions take place, if they do by some third-party proxy, a militia group, Hezbollah, we will hold the Iranian leadership directly accountable for that."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
but does not itself plan to pull out of the agreement
Well, no.
Then they would have to give the money back, wouldn't they?
#7
Paleos must be following the broken window economic theory--that is that broken windows are somehow good for their economy. And Qatar goes along with it to keep the ME stirred up.
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.
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Cyprus’ president is calling 
[WSJ] Ruling AKP says balloting was marred by fraud and irregularities, but outraged mayor's party calls situation a matter of wanting to preserve control.
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
[JPOST] The rationing of food and essential goods might be coming back to Iran, for the first time since the Iran-Iraq war of (1980-1988), due to the sanctions being imposed on the Islamic republic - which may cause the government to have a larger role in the rationing of such products.
