Saudi Arabia must build additional capacity in an effort to reduce the vulnerability of its oil facilities from Iranian attack. A study conducted by energy researchers at Rice University, warned that oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia could be destroyed by Iranian medium- and intermediate-range missiles. The most vulnerable facility was said to be the Saudi oil processing facility at Abqaiq.
The Rice University study, conducted for the Washington-based Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, also warned that Iran could block Saudi oil exports through the Persian Gulf. The study urged the kingdom to upgrade the trans-Saudi Petroline, which would allow 11 million barrels of oil a day to be sent to ports on the Red Sea. The project was estimated at $600 million. "Assuming the worse -- a complete closure of the Straits of Hormuz -- this bypass system is estimated to be capable of reducing the economic impact to the U.S. to a loss of only one percent of gross domestic product," the report said. "This figure could be reduced even further if additional pipelines were built from Abu Dhabi to ports in Oman."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Pipelines are easy targets too.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 8:16 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
..."Some call us countries on the path to development, others undeveloped. I choose to say developed, exploited, dominated, [Hugo Chavez] said in his address"...
Does it get any more pathetic than leftists whining about being victims? Sounds like Al Sharption has been giving Chavez pointers...
Hugo, STFU and see a doctor about that chin-jutting twitch of yours!
A terrorist attack with the use of strong poisons was prevented in the North Caucasus. The cache with poisons was discovered on the Chechen-Ingush border. Two terrorist leaders were put on the wanted list, a spokesman for the Regional Operative Headquarters (ROH) for the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus reported on Wednesday. One of them is Abu Mujaid, supposedly a Jordanian citizen, the emissary of the Moslem Brothers and Al Qaeda terrorist organizations in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
The other is Russian citizen Alash Daudov, 35. According to the law enforcement bodies, he was involved in the terrorist attack on the Dubrovka theater center in Moscow in October 2002 when terrorists seized over 900 hostages (130 of them were killed). Moreover, Daudov participated in attacks on Ingushetia in June 2004 and on the Chechen capital in August 2004. In September 2004 Alash Daudov took part in preparations for the terrorist attack on the school in Beslan (North Ossetia). This barbaric crime left 330 people, including 176 children killed. According to the ROH spokesman, terrorists intended to use two types of poison. One of them is a cyanide poison and the other is still unknown. Experts believe that the use of minimal doses of these poisons in public places could have led to many victims. Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev and Abu Mujaid are suspected of being the masterminds of the poison attack. Alash Daudov was supposed to perpetrate the terrorist act.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:37 ||
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Russia will seek the inclusion of organizations involved in terrorist acts on Chechen territory in UN black lists. "The United Nations has already put over 100 organizations linked with Al Qaeda on the black list on our initiative or under our support. Three of them are involved in crimes on Chechen territory," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the State Duma (lower house of parliament) deputies. "We have other lists which Russia wants to add to the UN black lists," he noted. Among terrorist organizations inflicting the greatest damage on Russia are the Supreme Military Council of Mujahedins of the Caucasus (leader Shamil Basayev), the Congress of Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan (leaders Shamil Basayev and Movladi Udugov), and the Party of Islamic Revival (run by Hizb-ut-Tahrir al-Islami international network).
The Russian Federal Security Service prevented 70 sabotage and terrorist acts during its preventive operations. FSB director Nikolai Patrushev who also addressed the deputies today did not specify the period of these operations. According to Patrushev, the FSB ceased the activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Russia, arrested leaders of sabotage terrorist units and seized a great number of extremist books, weapons and explosives.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:36 ||
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A Bush administration expert on North Korea says that Pyongyang wants to become what he called "the Pakistan of Northeast Asia" and that Washington is expecting the North to conduct a nuclear weapons test.
Posted by: john ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#2
Won't be long now! The US will soon have to reach for the ankles, and at that point will realize the only viable option would be to introduce counter nukes to South Korea (provided they don't freak out from the prospect of 'Detente' having to quickly take shape)!! The stock market will fall atleast 2 to 3 hundred points in one day, when their Trinity Test occur! Japan will damand a US umbrella coverage within the first week!! You heard it here first!!
#3
smn (Skid-Mark Nitwit) - Well, well - you're now officially a troll - congratulations, moron. Posting the exact same "comment" on two separate threads is the hallmark of a dud. Your apparent happiness about the NorK situation is just icing on the cake - only an asstard could be happy about them having a deliverable nuke, negating every positive comment you've ever posted - and invites this comment. Your prediction is no more that a brain fart and makes little sense. Piss off, 'tard.
#6
No, smn, I heard it here first:
http://rantburg.com/poparticle.php?HC=1&D=2005-05-12&ID=118951
Spare us your cut-and-paste hype.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 8:20 Comments ||
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#7
Just wait n watch ! America can't win this global war. 21st century is not just for United Snakes of America. There are many more big snakes are comming up ahead.
#11
Oh boy Paki-waki with out the turbans and MMA. How un-attractive. I suggest close talks with Japan with the transfer of nuclear weapons technology following.
Foreign Minister Ben Bot is demanding an explanation from the Iranian ambassador to the Netherlands following the alleged intimidation of a Dutch MP at Tehran airport on Monday. The minister's spokesman said Bot will write a letter to his Iranian counterpart demanding an explanation. Green-left GroenLinks MP Farah Karimi claims she was "threatened and intimidated" while questioned about her contacts with Iranian human rights activists. Her address book, notebooks and diary were briefly confiscated and possibly copied. The MP, of Iranian ancestry, is enraged by the "scandalous treatment" and had urged Minister Bot on Tuesday to lodge a protest with the Iranian government.
During her 10-day visit to Iran — her fifth visit to the Middle East country — Karimi met with human rights activists, including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. She also spoke with reformist politicians, journalists and others campaigning to reform the dictatorial regime in Iran. The visit passed without incident until Karimi checked in for her return flight to the Netherlands on Monday night. Public servants with the Information Ministry then questioned her and indicated they were displeased with her initiative to set up a satellite broadcaster in Iran. They warned that in future visits, Karimi might be restricted to just visiting family. After her passport was checked, Iranian soldiers twice inspected her three carry-on bags and took her notebooks, diaries, two mobile phones and address book to another room. She was given her belongings back, but Karimi fears they have been copied.
"I am very concerned about the people I spoke with in Iran. The Ministry of Information knew of my contacts and discussions, but the army, prosecutors and police form a parallel structure and can arrest people because they spoke with me," she said. Karimi said she chose to go public with her story because her contacts in Iran said only political pressure from outside Iran can help. Meanwhile, Liberal VVD MP Hans van Baalen said Minister Bot must condemn the intimidation and demand guarantees for the people listed in Karimi's address book. He'd also said the Iranian ambassador must be called to explain the incident and the Dutch ambassador to Iran be recalled for consultation. Co-initiator of the plan to set up a satellite broadcaster to support free Iranian media, Van Baalen said the intimidation of Karimi was "unacceptable". "Iran violates human rights and threatens to develop nuclear weapons. Actions such as these make it clear where Iran stands," he said.
If she was a reporter rather than a Member of Parliament, she wouldn't make it home alive.
#2
Do you think Tehran is afraid of the Dutch? She is a woman and an "Iranian" as far as the Turbans are concerned (worthless meat). They aren't done with with their nuke yet so they are playing it cool, that is all.
#3
But they're close enough for the SOBs to swagger and intimidate everyone they can.
Posted by: too true ||
05/12/2005 5:57 Comments ||
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...Nice one, Yer Worship. Go into a fanatical dictatorship with the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all your contacts written down. Jeebus...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/12/2005 7:27 Comments ||
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#5
She's luckier then the Canadian journalist... Ziba Kazemi, raped and murdered.
Was Kazemi raped? I hadn't heard that, I thought she was just beaten senseless.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:07 Comments ||
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Google 'Kazemi raped' and you'll get lots of hits. Here is testimony of a physician who escaped to Sweden and claims to have examined Kazemi. DOCTOR SAYS ZAHRA KAZEMI WAS TORTURED AND RAPED IN PRISON Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was savagely beaten, tortured and raped while in Iranian custody in 2003, according to Dr. Shahram Aâzam, an emergency-room doctor who examined her before she died.
...
The account of Ms. Kazemi's condition in the days before her death by Doctor Aâzam, the first by a medical eye witness, confirms what the majority of Iranians knew, that she was tortured -- far more brutally than even critics of Iran's hard-line theocratic regime had believed.
"Her entire body carried strange marks of violence", Dr. Aâzam said. "She had a big bruise on the right side of her forehead stretching down to the ear. The ear drum was intact, but the membrane in one of her ears had recently burst, and a loose blood vessel could be seen. Behind the head, on the left-hand side, was a big, loose swelling. Three deep scratches behind her neck looked like the result of nails digging into the flesh. The right shoulder was bruised, and on the left hand two fingers were broken. Three fingers had broken nails or no nails".
But the ranian clerical-led authorities said Ms. Kazemi's death was "accidental".
Dr. Aâzam's account of his examination goes on to describe severe abdominal bruising, stretching over the thigh down to the knees. Though male doctors in Iran are not allowed to carry out vaginal exams, Dr. Azam's emergency-room nurse thoroughly examined Ms. Kazemi and found the bruising to be the result of "a very brutal rape".
âThe nurse told me that the entire genital area had been damaged", Dr. Aâzam said, adding that there was also evidence Ms. Kazemi had been whipped.
Posted by: ed ||
05/12/2005 9:26 Comments ||
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#7
Time for a preemptive nuke for Tehran and a few other festering Iranian dunghills.
Posted by: mac ||
05/12/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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#8
You mean Qom, first holiest nuclear crater in Shiite Islam?
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 15:14 Comments ||
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Yes Tom.
If it ever comes down us or Israelis glassing Mecca & Medina, Qom should be included. An evil trinity. For excellent treatment of Qom read "Among the Believers" by VS Naipaul.
Two former officers of an Islamic charity were indicted on federal charges accusing them of lying to authorities investigating the charity's alleged ties to terrorist organizations. Emadeddin Muntasser, the former head of Care International, and Muhammed Mubayyid, the group's former treasurer, were arrested Thursday following their Wednesday indictment on charges of concealing information from federal agencies, conspiring to defraud the United States, and making false statements to the FBI. The charity is now defunct.
"Organizations that conceal their true activities to abuse our tax laws, and in this case fund their support of the mujahideen and jihad, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.
The indictment was disclosed the same day Muntasser was scheduled to have a hearing in federal court on his application for U.S. citizenship. U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel held off on ruling on Muntasser's application for citizenship. Muntasser's attorney, Jeremiah Friedman, declined to comment after a brief closed-door hearing in Boston.
Muntasser, 40, the owner of the Logan Furniture chain and a Libyan national, was a founding president of the Boston-based charity Care International. Mubayyid, 40, Care's treasurer, has been employed by a Quincy software firm that was in the news two years ago after federal agent searched its offices as part of an investigation into funding of terrorist groups. No charges were ever brought against the software company or its officers. Mubayyid donated $360 to the Alkifah Refugees Center in New York, according to a receipt obtained by The Investigative Project. The New York organization was named by federal prosecutors as the center of the conspiracy to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993.
Care International says in its promotional materials that it was formed to help war orphans, widows and refugees in Muslim nations. The organization, which is not affiliated with the global relief group CARE International, has been scrutinized because of its links to groups that support terrorism.
This article starring:
EMADEDIN MUNTASER
Care International
MUHAMED MUBAIYID
Care International
Muntasser's attorney, Jeremiah Friedman
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan
U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel
Alkifah Refugees Center
Care International
Posted by: ed ||
05/12/2005 21:23 ||
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WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The organizer of last month's Minutemen border protest says more than 15,000 people have volunteered for future citizen patrols along the Mexican border. "We considerer this a mandate from the citizens of the United States," Chris Simcox will tell a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee Thursday, according to a copy of his prepared testimony obtained by United Press International.
The Minutemen recently held a month long protest in Arizona, with volunteers patrolling the border and reporting suspected illegal crossers to authorities. They say they deployed 857 volunteers along the border, facilitating the apprehension by the Border Patrol of 335 people illegally crossing into the country. Simcox's prepared testimony indicates the Minutemen have begun "the task of recruiting, training and deploying" the thousands of volunteers it will need to patrol all four states that border Mexico.
"We now consider the movement to be a revival of the Civil Defense movement of the World War II era," Simcox plans to say. "While our troops are fighting on foreign soil ...we the people will take up the slack" by patrolling the border.
Well said.
There's an argument that will go over well, particularly if the organizers take care to exclude the milita wingnuts and the like. Really hard to argue against "we're sacrificing to help defend our country just like our brave soldiers are doing overseas."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 8:57:23 AM ||
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I await the ACLU's first lawsuit. Probably something about an illegal assembly.
#4
Actually, the tradition goes back a lot further than WWII. Back in the Civil War many military units were raised as private companies, and elected their officers by vote. When such units were organized, then they would be inducted into the Union Army or Confederacy as a group. This lasted until the time of Teddy Roosevelt, when it was decided that these "militias" needed more skilled officers, and should evolve into Reserve units. However, what the Minutemen are proposing is not necessarily the raising of militias for military purposes, but more properly "posses", to augument law enforcement. This is more than a semantic difference, as both militias and posses have distinct rules. Technically, if the Minutemen are to continue this effort, it might be to their advantage to become "deputized" by a sympathetic Sheriff in whose county they operate, as this affords them some legal protections. Some interesting historical precedents and case law to consider here.
#5
"While our troops are fighting on foreign soil ...we the people will take up the slack" by patrolling the border.
Thing is, there's no real "slack" to take up, since it is unlikely that American soldiers would have been deployed at the Mexico border for patrol purposes anyway, war or not.
#7
The Minutemen did it right, in spades, in AZ. If they pass on the procedures and people keep their heads, this will be the "shame them into acting" effort that will force the entire political structure to address the issue.
And the light shone on it will be bright, too, given all of the competing factions and sentiment that the immigration and security issues generate. I would note here that the two, immigration and security, are not of equal weight - security trumps. No moronic mass legalization legislation would stand a snowballs' chance in Hell.
They'll actually have to figure this sombitch out and choose rational actions, skating down the center of the road between the minefields of the interests. Beaucoup compromises will have to be made by the pro-immigration folks because Red America outnumbers them and is interested more in security - and probably fed up with scofflaws getting their way. Some here have suggested this is a Republican Achilles heel... I think that this may boomerang on the Dhimmis if they don't realize that security trumps and continue their stonewalling BS or try to make a total circus out of this bomb.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush was not told for nearly an hour while he finished a bike ride about a breach in White House airspace on Wednesday that prompted the highest alert since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the White House said. The White House said the Secret Service held off informing the president because he was not in danger and White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was satisfied with how the situation was handled.
Bush was about a half-an-hour into his ride at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland when an unidentified Cessna airplane came near the White House, sending the Secret Service scrambling to evacuate Vice President Dick Cheney and move First Lady Laura Bush to a secure location. McClellan said the president's Secret Service detail was informed about the plane at about 11:59 a.m., when the decision was made to raise the threat level at the White House to "yellow."
Fighter planes were immediately scrambled to intercept the plane, and the threat level at the White House was raised all the way to "red" before the "all clear" was given at 12:14 p.m. McClellan said Bush was informed about the incident around 12:50 p.m. at the end of his ride. He left the reserve around 12:57 p.m. and returned to the White House at around 1:30 p.m., well after the security scare had ended.
"The president was never in danger and the protocols in place after September 11 were followed," McClellan said. "The president has a tremendous amount of trust in his security detail and they were being kept apprised of the situation as it developed." Bush had left the White House at about 11:03 a.m. and had arrived at Patuxent for the bike ride at 11:34 a.m. "Given such circumstances and the fact that the plane turned away from the White House, the decision was made to inform the president upon conclusion of his bike ride," McClellan said.
McClellan later added, "there is always a review of the response to a situation of this nature."
President Bush wasn't anywhere near the White House, wasn't in danger and wasn't told about the incident till after the danger had passed. Obviously, he's neglecting his duties and placing the country at risk. This never would have happened if Haliburton hadn't stolen the election.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 8:49:46 AM ||
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Oh crap, I forgot to tell Bush that I weeded my vegetable garden last evening. What time will Reuters be calling me for the story?
Posted by: Tom ||
05/12/2005 12:49 Comments ||
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Well, seeing that they figured out it was just a couple of idiots lost in a Cessna in approximately 15 minutes...
1. What's Reuters point?
2. Who gives a shit?
Citizen (LT) Smash has been following this closely
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A U.S. sailor who refused to board a warship bound for Iraq because he objects to the American invasion on moral grounds was convicted in a court martial on Wednesday.
Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes, who refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it was preparing to sail from San Diego in December, was convicted by a Navy judge on a charge of missing his deployment.
Paredes, 23, a rallying point for opponents of the war in Iraq, was driven by conscience, an international law specialist testified on Wednesday.
U.S. Navy Judge Robert Klant dismissed a second charge of unauthorized absence from his post.
Paredes faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a bad conduct discharge, loss of two thirds of his pay and a demotion. The sentencing phase of the hearing was set to continue on Thursday.
"We got one of the charges knocked down and, as exciting as that was ... we still don't know what will happen in the sentencing," Paredes said after the hearing.
Outside the San Diego Naval Base, a handful of demonstrators rallied in support of Paredes and in support of his prosecution.
Paredes reported to the Navy pier the morning of Dec. 6, but refused to board and was told to go away. After 45 minutes on the pier, he did.
"He was left with absolutely no idea what to do next," said defense attorney Jeremy Williams. "He expected to go into custody at that time but they didn't do that. They gave him back his ID and told him to leave."
Paredes, a New York native who has been in the Navy for nearly five years, surrendered to military authorities on Dec. 18 after applying for conscientious objector status. The Navy denied his request. That ruling is being appealed.
Fellow crewmembers testified that seeing Paredes stay behind was embarrassing and difficult for their families, who had to watch them leave.
But Thomas Jefferson School of Law Professor Marjorie Cohn, an international law specialist, said Paredes had acted from principle.
"He said, 'I don't want to be a war criminal,"' she recalled. "He was very concerned about the deaths of more than a thousand American servicemen and women, and of thousands of Iraqis."
The USS Bonhomme Richard stopped in Guam and was diverted to help victims of the Asian tsunami before continuing to Iraq, according to testimony at the court martial.
#1
When you sign the contract, you go where they tell you. You don't get to pick and choose. And here it is again "International law". What the heck does "international law" have to do with a soldier deserting? Keel haul him.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/12/2005 12:25 Comments ||
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Heh--LTC Smash, conveniently located in San Diego, has been following Pablo for some time now. He's impressed by the brief, 40-minute deliberation for the guilty verdict.
Posted by: Dar ||
05/12/2005 12:30 Comments ||
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#3
Viya con dios, Pablo. We'll make a Big Giant Puppet in your image for our next parade...
#5
Towing an M-88 is not very easy - I'm surprised that anything except another M-88 would be used. It would be like towing a cadillac with a volkswagen beetle.
#6
You know I might excuse a Seaman 1, 2, or 3 but when you are an NCO I expect a little better loyalty. I never was in the Navy, but I can't imagine someone standing on shore while their shipmates sail off to war without you. Since they were able to leave port and navigate all the way to Iraq (with a stop in Indonesia) without PO Paresdes I am guessing he wasn't missed too much. I wonder how his shipmates feel about him and if they want him back? No mention about anybody testifying FOR him, that says a lot about him. What a putz!
#7
The great thing is his ship actually spent time helping typhoon victims, something I assume his tranzi 'tard friends think should be the Navy's main goal. Certainly makes arguing against him easier.
#8
the second charge was dismissed because it was lesser to what he was actually convicted of. No great moral victory, there, asshole. I hope this puke spends every day wishing he was dead
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 15:55 Comments ||
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#9
He did this during war time. He should get the yard arm. Screw thei TRANZI "international law" bull shit.
#10
A federal felony conviction will now follow the lad for the rest of his life. Guess he'll get work in Hollywood as a minor celeb.
However when one raise his right hand and swears an oath "I Pablo Paredes, do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion..." and then breaks said oath, the man's word is now worthless before all witnesses. Anyone who extends a contract of any form to this individual, does it with forknowledge that such contract is not honored by Mr. Paredes.
VIENNA, Austria - A U.N. drug body warned Thursday that Iraq is emerging as a transit point for drugs, with traffickers working with insurgents and terrorists, and called on the international community to tackle the problem before it's too late.
Drug traffickers from Afghanistan have begun crossing Iraq to get to Jordan, the exit point for Asia and Europe, said Hamid Ghodse, the president of the International Narcotics Control Board. Afghanistan is the world's main source of opium and its derivative heroin. And we invated that country too? Is a pattern emerging?
Ghodse said traffickers cooperate with terrorist and insurgents, thereby worsening the situation in Iraq. He urged the international community and Iraqi leaders to act before the trafficking route becomes entrenched. All efforts to support Iraq must give due focus to the drug problem, he said.
"You cannot have peace, security and development without attending to drug control," he said. The board had only anecdotal evidence of the new drug trafficking route, Ghodse said, adding that it's the board's duty to warn the world of emerging problems.
"The pattern (in Iraq) is similar to what we have seen in other post-conflict situations," he said. "Whether it is due to war or disaster, weakening of border controls and security infrastructure make countries into convenient logistic and transit points, not only for international terrorists and militants but also for drug traffickers."
The board had no figures or estimates of the quantity of drugs passing through Iraq, but noted that last month, officials seized 3 million pills of Captagon — an amphetamine-like medication — on the Iraqi-Jordanian border. Significant quantities of cannabis resin and chemicals needed to process opium into heroin also have been seized, the board said.
"There is enough evidence of a problem there that we are alarmed," Ghodse told reporters.
Though the board did not know much about the drug situation in Iraq before the war, the country then was "not one of the hottest spots," Ghodse said.
He lauded Iraq for cooperating with the board, and for trying to battle the drug trafficking problem. 'Political will is there, but they need assistance," Ghodse said.
Koli Kouame, the board's secretary, said international organizations and donor countries could help Iraq battle drug trafficking problem by supporting programs that strengthen border controls and law enforcement.
The board said in March that the drug trafficking problem was so severe in Afghanistan that the country's existence was threatened. Ghodse said there have been some "encouraging signs," since then, but he urged continued efforts to curb opium cultivation.
The Vienna-based board is an independent body that monitors implementation of U.N. drug conventions.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2005 15:13 ||
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#1
the UN always knows what too do but never does a damn thing. When is someone with power just gonna tel,l them too shut the fuck up?
Hussein rewarded two veteran UK and French politicians by allowing them to collect profits as middlemen in oil sales, a new US Senate report claims.
The Senate names British MP George Galloway and former French minister Charles Pasqua, but gives no evidence either actually received money. Saddam Hussein "used the programme to reward his political allies like Pasqua and Galloway," Sen Norm Coleman said.
Mr Galloway and Mr Pasqua both deny being involved in Iraqi oil sales. "I have never traded in a barrel of oil," said Mr Galloway, formerly a Labour member of parliament but re-elected as a MP for his own Respect party last week after campaigning against the Iraq war. He told the BBC it was "patently absurd" to think that, as an MP being closely watched by UK security services, he could have become an "oil billionaire" on the sly. And he blasted the Senate investigation, which he said had never written to him, spoken to him, or responded to his offers to testify. "This cannot possibly be called an investigation," he said. "This is a lickspittle Republican committee, acting on the wishes of George W Bush."
Both Republican and Democrat senators signed the report, which followed a year of inquiries by the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations. Mr Pasqua - a French senator who served as interior minister in the 1980s and 1990s - has not yet commented on the document. But when a former aide was questioned over the scandal last month Mr Pasqua said that he had never taken part in any sales. Mr Pasqua is currently a French senator, granting him immunity from criminal prosecution.
The report by a Senate committee investigating the oil-for-food scandal says Saddam Hussein's regime was keen to gain allies with influence abroad. It alleged that Baghdad had given Mr Pasqua the right to buy 11 million barrels of oil, while Mr Galloway had received an option on some 20 million. Middlemen could collect commissions of 3 to 30 US cents per barrel of oil, the report says. The committee says it has evidence from documents drawn up by the Ministry of Oil under Saddam Hussein and interviews with "high-ranking Hussein regime officials".
The oil-for-food programme was a $60bn (£32bn) scheme set up in 1996 which was supposed to allow Iraq to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies with the proceeds of regulated oil sales. The programme aimed to relieve the suffering of Iraqis under the sanctions and was formally ended in 2003 after the US-led invasion of Iraq. Questions over the way the programme was conducted emerged in early 2004, after an Iraqi newspaper published a list of about 270 people including UN officials, politicians and companies it alleged may have profited from the illicit sale of Iraqi oil.
US Senate investigators later found that Saddam Hussein's regime made $17.3bn from abuses. About $13.6bn allegedly came from selling oil to neighbour states keen to breach the sanctions. The programme has already been the subject of several corruption investigations. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been criticised over his son's work with the programme, but he himself, in an interim report by a UN committee issued in March, was cleared of wrongdoing. Mr Galloway won a libel suit against London's Daily Telegraph newspaper over an article relating to his alleged role in the oil-for-food programme. The Senate report said the documents it used to make the allegations "have no relation" to those discussed in the Daily Telegraph piece.
For his part, Mr Galloway said: "These are the same false allegations which are still the subject of a libel action with the Daily Telegraph - so far I'm £1.6m up".
The BBC was kind enough to post the entire 22 page Senate report in .pdf format here: Report on Oil Allocations
#1
According the the BBC, congressional investigators say they are not the same allegations. They even point to where the money was laundered. Unlike some French Ministers, Galloway isn't immune. I hope you like pound you in the ass prison George. That's where you'll be going. I hope it's in Iran, that's where you belong. George Galloway took food and drugs from Iraqi Children by taking oil vouchers from Saddam, he belongs in an Iraqi prison.
Enjoy your short stay back in the commons you will be kicked out soon enough, you communist git.
#2
Galloway's free to come over to the US to protest the accusation. He should be aware, however, that barring a Congressional summons, he's likely to be arrested for his role in OFF as soon as he steps off the plane.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/12/2005 7:41 Comments ||
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#3
British libel laws are interesting and tailor made for slimeballs like Galloway to profit from. The original Iraqi bribery docs were found by a Telegraph journalist in the oil(?) ministry just after the fall of Baghdad. The libel trial, seemed to hang on whether Galloway was given adequate opportunity to respond before the bribery documents were printed in the newspaper, not whether the docs were genuine or not. Truth is not an absolute defense in the UK as in the US. Galloway wins libel case against Telegraph Galloway was in Saddam's pay, say secret Iraqi documents
Posted by: ed ||
05/12/2005 7:57 Comments ||
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#4
Let's hope the Senate has compiled a solid case and get it out in all detail to the public as soon as possible. Galloway's a slimeball that needs to be known for what he is rather than his bs rhetoric.
#5
Galloway's a slimeball that needs to be known for what he is rather than his bs rhetoric.
Unfortunately I think most people in britain realize Galloway is a slimeball. He was elected anyway because in his district there are people who think that slime is OK if he also criticizes Israel and the US.
#8
Not only the Mariam Appeal for the public , but a Judy Lonchan Lopez Shagfest Appeal in Cuba privately , but sponsored by the unknowing British public.
Do us all a favour and arrest him in New York , or whatever part of America he will tarnish when he lands .
[10 May 2005] at 0430 UTC in position 13:05.7N - 080:21.0E, Chennai Anchorage, India. Five robbers boarded Ro Ro ship from stern and attempted to steal ship's stores. Alert crew raised alarm and robbers escaped empty handed in their boat. Port control and police informed.
[10 May 2005] at 0850 LT at tanker anchorage, Jakarta, Indonesia. Six robbers boarded a tanker at anchor from two fishing boats. They broke open aft locker and stole ships equipment. Robbers escaped in an easterly direction. Port authorities informed.
[9 May 2005] at 0445 LT at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Two robbers boarded a container ship at anchor. Duty crew raised alarm and robbers jumped overboard and escaped in their boat. Port control informed.
[5 May 2005] at 0135 LT at Port Au Prince Anchorage, Haiti. Robbers armed with knives boarded a bulk carrier. D/O raised alarm and robbers escaped empty handed.
[5 May 2005] at 2320 LT in position 21:16N - 091:31E, 60 nm SSW of Chittagong, Bangladesh. One fishing boat approached a tanker underway. Boat came close to starboard quarter and persons inside attempted to board. Master took evasive action and boarding was averted.
[4 May 2005] at 2025 UTC in position 01:46.3S - 117:07.2E, Makassar Straits, Indonesia. One pirate in a speedboat boarded a bulk carrier underway using hooks attached to a rope. D/O raised alarm, sounded ship's whistle, crew mustered and activated fire hoses. Pirate jumped overboard and escaped in speedboat waiting with four accomplices.
[4 May 2005] at 2255 LT in position 01:23.07S - 117:06.57E, Makassar Straits, Indonesia. Pirates in a six metre blue and black hull coloured speed boat attempted to board at stern of a tanker underway. Master raised alarm and took evasive manoeuvres. Pirates followed the vessel for 15 minutes and moved away.
[3 May 2005] at 0700 LT at Tg. Priok Outer Roads, Indonesia. Six boats approached a ship and six robbers armed with steel bars from two boats boarded. A further two boats remained nearby whilst remaining two boats approached another ship in vicinity. Alert crew mustered and robbers left empty handed. Attempts to contact port authorities and patrol boats by VHF received no response.
[28 April 2005] at evening hrs at Port Au Prince anchorage, Haiti. Robbers armed with knives boarded a refrigerated cargo ship. They stole ship's stores and escaped. Earlier on 27.04.2005 robbers had boarded another vessel and stole ship's stores.
#2
I just love these piracy reports, and the Worldwide Threat to Shipping. I'm surprised, on reading these, at how often pirates are thwarted just by the crew turning out and sending up the alarm.
This week's threat to shipping has an interesting item (#K10, about 80% of the way down) about a whole cargo of tin (tin?) being stolen in Indonesia. "Crew and ship owner complicity cannot be ruled out..."
BASED ON US intelligence, Cotabato is being used as a "doormat" for terrorists, outgoing US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said yesterday.
Ricciardone said this to explain the US decision to suspend a road project that would traverse Cotabato City, and which was to be launched last month.
"Cotabato has been becoming a gateway for investment and trade, and business of all legitimate source. But in recent months, we've also heard that it is being used as a doormat by some killers," Ricciardone said during the Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) press conference in Makati City.
Ricciardone's three-year tour of duty in the Philippines will end on May 13.
"We think we better get a grip on that because we need to understand what's going on down there and make sure that these evil people cannot use Cotabato," he added.
Ricciardone further said: "Put it this way, we don't want to these people will use in coming in and out of Cotabato. We want to build a road that farmers and business people and truck drivers, tricycle drivers, and taxi drivers will use to get rich and prosper. We don't want to build a road that's going to make it easier for bombers to sneak in and out in the dead of night and elude the Armed forces of the Philippines."
Ricciardone also said that Washington was still trying to "identify the real" Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"We are still wondering why some MILF leaders would talk about peace and development on one hand but on the other, there are others still communicating with world class murderers," he said.
Ricciardone said Washington was trying to identify those who are supporting the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group and Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani.
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema recently led an "indignation rally" against the United States as a result of the deferment of the road project.
Michael Yates, Philippine Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), had written Sema a letter informing the mayor of the project's suspension allegedly because international financiers of terrorists are reportedly passing through Cotabato City, with the mayor's supposed "knowledge and support."
Yesterday, however, Ricciardone said the mayor could also be unaware of the reported activities of terrorists and their supporters.
"I think Mayor Sema does not really know, nor do I think people in Cotabato as well," Ricciardone said.
The US ambassador also gave an assurance that the road project would not be cancelled.
He also praised the recent developments in the peace talks between the Arroyo administration and the MILF.
There have been unverified claims that Washington is set to include MILF leaders in its list of terrorists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:38 ||
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The Treasury Department ordered U.S. banks on Thursday to block any financial assets found in this country belonging to three Indonesians believed to be connected to Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group in Southeast Asia.
The government said it believes that Rusdan replaced Abu Bakar Bashir as the leader of the terrorist group, which has ties to al-Qaida, after Bashir's arrest. The government also says it has information that Pitono is a top bomb maker for the group and that Zulkarnaen is a member of the group's central command and head of its military section.
The United States also is forwarding the names to the United Nations for possible inclusion in its blocking list, which is adhered to by member countries.
This article starring:
ABU RUSDAN
Jemaah Islamiyah
JOKO PITONO
Jemaah Islamiyah
ZULKARNAEN
Jemaah Islamiyah
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:29 ||
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The United States is considering tagging some members of the Philippines' mainstream Muslim separatist rebel group, currently in peace negotiations, as terrorists for allegedly working with known terror groups, the US ambassador said Wednesday. Francis Ricciardone said Washington supports peace talks to end three decades of armed struggle for self-rule by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but wonders why some members are "cooperating with world-class murderers...If we are able to push forward the identification of those people and, in some way, make it harder for them to travel internationally and to move money back and forth, then I think we'd like to do that," Ricciardone said. "We have serious questions about the MILF," he told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. "Evidently, some elements of the MILF are, at a minimum, tolerating — we think doing more than tolerating — cooperating with world-class murderers. We're talking about people who are involved in the Bali bombings and who are proud of it."
"Yeah. If only all those heavily armed, masked, camouflage-wearing young men would let us visit those secret training camps and ammo dumps deep in the jungle, we'd have a better idea what to call them. But we don't want to rush to conclusions. Don't want anyone's feelings to get hurt, see."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The place is a very delicate can of worms.
Posted by: bk ||
05/12/2005 9:49 Comments ||
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Top Iranian cleric Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjaniyesterday formally registered as a candidate for the June 17 presidential elections, pledging to save the country from "extremists". But the pragmatic conservative, seen as a clear frontrunner in the race to replace incumbent reformist President Mohammad Khatami, also moved to dismiss any suggestion of tensions at the top of the regime.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"I have always been against extremists," Rafsanjani told reporters after completing his application at the Interior Ministry. "If I am elected, there will be people in my government from all tendencies," said 70-year-old Rafsanjani, seen as a figure who favors closer ties with the West and eager to liberalize the Islamic republic's economy. When asked if he had spoken to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before deciding to launch his presidential bid, Rafsanjani simply replied that the nation's No. 1 "does not intervene regarding personalities".
"He's the guy in charge. He doesn't care who has the title, as long as he says what goes."
"In any case, we see each other regularly," Rafsanjani added, in an apparently coded response to speculation that Khamenei has been opposed to his election bid. Rafsanjani told reporters that "Iran can have a positive influence in the region and prevent extremism" and he also weighed into ongoing nuclear tensions by urging "patience" on both sides. "There is not an impasse. The situation is difficult, but the only solution is to talk forever or until we're nuclear-armed continue with the negotiations," he said. "The Europeans should be patient and we should be patient in building confidence." His comments came as Iran appeared determined to back away from a November 2004 deal with Britain, France and Germany and end its suspension of some nuclear activities linked to the sensitive process of enriching uranium.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Rafsanjani Pledges to Save Country From âExtremistsâ
So, does this mean he'll kill himself if he's elected president?
#3
This nver missed a meal turbaned jerkoff is getting a bit gray but he used to look a lot like the fat guy in Laurel and Hardy. Tiddlywinks Ollie .....
QOM: Two of Iran's most senior dissident pro-reform Shiite clerics have hit out at the Islamic regime ahead of next month's presidential election, accusing hardliners of failing to deliver on revolutionary promises of fundamental freedoms. In interviews with AFP, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei also voiced pessimism over the prospect for a free and fair poll on June 17. "My point of view, and I cannot say more than this, is that things are not going in the right direction," said Montazeri, who is in his mid 80s and is one of the Islamic republic's most prominent dissidents. "At the beginning of the revolution the late Imam (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) and I gave promises of liberty, and these promises have not been lived up to," he said in a rare interview at his home in Qom, Iran's clerical capital just south of Tehran.
Once tapped as the successor to revolutionary leader Khomeini, Montazeri fell from grace after he became too openly critical of political and cultural restrictions. In January 2003 he was freed from five years of house arrest on health grounds, but his activities are still subject to tight controls. He said disdainfully: "I have no opinion regarding the elections. I have stopped giving my opinion, because every time I have given my point of view the reverse seems to happen."
Looking frail but cheerful and dressed simply in a loose-fitting white shirt and trousers, Montazeri complained he was still the victim of tough regime controls. "I am no longer under house arrest but the way they are treating me is not correct," he said. "My offices in Mashhad and in Isfahan have been closed by the special clerics court. I am only able to give small lectures in my home twice a week." The entrance to his narrow, dusty street also remains under close watch. His Qom lecture hall, situated next to his home, has also been sealed off for close to a decade. The centre sports huge portraits of Khomeini and his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - serving as a reminder of who is now in charge.
In a neighbouring street, Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei - a prominent pro-reform cleric and one of around a dozen grand ayatollahs in Qom - also had reserved harsh words for regime hardliners. "We cannot foresee the future. We do not know if we can trust the candidates to deliver on their promises and to what extent the rights of the people will be preserved and how much choice they will have," he said. The issue of choice has emerged as a contentious issue in Iranian elections, with the hardline-controlled Guardians Council - an unelected political watchdog — brandishing the power to screen all candidates for public office.. Ahead of the February 2004 parliament elections, the council disqualified thousands of candidates, most of them political moderates, handing certain victory to religious right-wingers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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British MP George Galloway says he is ready to face down US senators who claim he received oil rights from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Mr Galloway denies claims by a Senate committee that he and a former French minister were allowed to sell Iraqi oil to reward their support for the regime.
The committee said it would be "pleased" for Mr Galloway to appear at a hearing in Washington on 17 May. The MP accepted, declaring he would take "them on in their own lions' den". He told the BBC: "I'll be Daniel and I'll be triumphant".
Speaking shortly after the report was published on Thursday, Mr Galloway said he had "never profited from anything related to Iraq". He said it was "patently absurd" to think that, as an MP being closely watched by UK security services, he could have become an "oil billionaire" on the sly.
Saddam Hussein misused the oil-for-food programme to reward people he hoped would work against UN sanctions
He added that he had "written and e-mailed repeatedly" requesting the opportunity to appear before the committee and rebut the claims, but it had "yet to respond".
A spokesman for committee chairman Senator Norm Coleman, inviting Mr Galloway to the hearing, denied that allegation. "Contrary to his assertions, at no time did Mr Galloway contact the permanent subcommittee on investigations by any means, including but not limited to telephone, fax, e-mail, letter, Morse code or carrier pigeon," Mr Coleman's office said in a statement. So he's a liar, but we knew that already.
The Senate report also accuses former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua of receiving oil rights from Iraq. It claims both men were given potentially lucrative oil allocations as a reward for their support in calling for sanctions against the regime to be loosened. Pasqua issued a new denial after the report was published. It alleges that Baghdad gave Mr Pasqua the right to buy 11 million barrels of oil, while Mr Galloway had received an option on some 20 million.
Middlemen could collect commissions of three to 30 US cents per barrel of oil, the report said. However, there was no evidence in the report that either men personally profited.
Mr Pasqua - now a French senator, with immunity from criminal prosecution - said he had denied similar accusations in the past, and was denying them again.
Both Republican and Democrat senators issued the report, which followed a year of inquiries by the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations.
The committee says it has evidence from documents drawn up by the Ministry of Oil under Saddam Hussein and interviews with "high-ranking Hussein regime officials". Mr Coleman, the Republican senator who chairs the committee, is a sharp critic of the United Nations. The UN's oil-for-food programme was a $60bn (£32bn) scheme set up in 1996 to allow Iraq to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies with the proceeds of regulated oil sales. The programme aimed to relieve the suffering of Iraqis under sanctions and was formally ended in 2003 after the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Questions over the way the programme was conducted emerged in early 2004, after an Iraqi newspaper published a list of about 270 people including UN officials, politicians and companies it alleged may have profited from the illicit sale of Iraqi oil. Mr Pasqua's name appeared on the list. He issued a denial at the time. For his part, Mr Galloway won substantial damages in a libel suit against the London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper over an article relating to his alleged role in the oil-for-food programme.
The Senate report said the documents it used to make the allegations "have no relation" to those discussed in the Daily Telegraph piece. I'll believe it when I see him standing in front of the microphone and not taking the 5th.
#3
he won't show. Whatever excuse is handy, Hedley will remain abroad
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 17:47 Comments ||
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#4
He thinks it will be a place where he can spew his noxious crap. He is about to find out although we "seem" to be more reserved in our legistalure these guys mostly can make George look like the little creep he is. I welcome someone like Orin Hatch or even Barney Frank getting hold of his ass. It won't be pretty. These guys in the Senate and House of Rep know how to beat you to death with the facts. Most have law degrees. Red meat stuff. Someone get the popcorn ready.
#14
He said it was "patently absurd" to think that, as an MP being closely watched by UK security services, he could have become an "oil billionaire" on the sly.
Wrong again, Harvey Korman Georgie. Who said anything about being a billionaire?
Is it me or does this assclown use exaggeration way too much as his primary rhetorical schtick?
Al Qaeda is recruiting and training Mauritanian youths via an Algerian fundamentalist group to fight alongside insurgents in Iraq, police and a government official in the West African country said. A police statement published in a government newspaper on Tuesday said the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) trained the youths at camps in Mali and Algeria for attacks at home or to fight abroad. A government minister in the Islamic republic said on Wednesday Iraq was one destination, along with Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Palestinian territories. "Some of those elements have gone to Iraq," the minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
"No one will be able to pick them out of a crowd there, will they? And their accents will blend right in..."
Mauritanian police have arrested scores of Islamist opposition leaders and activists since last month, accusing them of colluding with the GSPC, an al Qaeda ally substantially weakened by the Algerian military over the past few years. One local human rights group has put the number of detainees at around 50. Seven young militants were charged on Monday with establishing a criminal association and could face up to 20 years in prison, state prosecutor Mohamed Ould Bakar said. Their lawyer, Ikebrou ould Mohamed, said the prosecution alleges the youths underwent eight months of training at GSPC camps in Mali and Algeria to fight in Iraq. Critics of Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya say he is exaggerating the Islamist threat in his country to win more assistance from Western donors, particularly the United States -- which fears West Africa could become a breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalism. The police statement said Islamist activists were responsible for attacking and stealing weapons from a paramilitary police station in the southern town of Aioun, near Mauritania's border with Mali, last month. It said al Qaeda had used large amounts of money to finance religious leaders and mosques in the country to spread its message.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:33 ||
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Ethiopia's prime minister said Thursday he believes it is common knowledge that an al-Qaida terror cell is operating in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and that only a stable central government can end the chaos in the Horn of Africa country and eliminate terrorist threats.
This will probably occur several weeks after Doomsday...
In an interview with The Associated Press, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his government supported the transitional Somali government that was formed in neighboring Kenya last year and would do everything possible to help that government take power. He said, though, he would only send troops to Somalia in self defense, since it is up to Somalis themselves to install the first effective central government in 14 years. "Wherever there is distress, wherever there is acute poverty, social dislocation, the potential for a terrorist state exists," Meles said.
"That's kinda the definition of Somalia, ain't it?"
"We have a very active terrorist cell in Mogadishu, which has been involved in terrorist activities in Kenya."
We've noticed that...
The international community needs to be more proactive in helping the Somali government establish itself, African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told the meeting. "Should the international community fail to act decisively to sustain the gains of the reconciliation process, there is a risk that the effort thus far deployed will be put to waste," said Konare.
I think I'd take the international community's failure to act decisively as a given...
Meles told AP the new government stood the best chance of shutting down the terror cell in Somalia. "We have offered to help," Meles said. "Should the process collapse -- we very much hope it doesn't but if it does -- we plan to protect ourselves, not sort out the mess in Somalia." In an African Union report obtained by AP, officials proposed that a 1,700-strong peacekeeping force go to Somalia two weeks ahead of the government's return to the country, and stay for nine months to protect the government, secure supply routes and carry out reconnaissance missions.
At that point all the hard boyz in Somalia went nutz simultaneously...
The report, which is being discussed at the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting, says the force will be composed equally of troops from Uganda and Sudan and will cost $100 million.
$100 million for 1700 Ugandans and Sudanese for ten months? $5,882.35 per man?
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told journalists his government will relocate to Somalia by month's end and the proposed peacekeeping force will join them there. "We think we can bring stabilization to Somalia and pacification within nine months," Gedi said.
And I think my gut's getting smaller. And my hair's definitely growing back.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:27 ||
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Militants in Afghanistan have suffered massive casualties in the past two weeks while battling against U.S. and Afghan government troops. In some of the bloodiest fighting since the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, U.S.-led coalition forces recently have engaged several large groups of militants who have tried to hold on to strategic ground. U.S. troops have been able to call in air strikes by American and British warplanes against the concentrated Taliban forces with devastating results. Since last week, about 100 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed in battles across southern and eastern Afghanistan that have followed the pattern. Deaths among antiterrorism coalition forces have included nine Afghan government soldiers, two U.S. Marines, and one Afghan police officer.
Paul Beaver is a London-based independent defense analyst who thinks the insurgents' new tactics reflect significant changes on the ground this spring. "There's no doubt at all that the militants in Afghanistan -- mainly the Taliban but also, of course, elements of Al-Qaeda -- are now working in a much more organized way. They have had time to form up. They are trying to hold ground. Particularly in the southeast of the country on the borders of Pakistan," Beaver says. Beaver says he thinks the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have been forced to use more conventional military tactics because of a well-tuned U.S. strategy that has been developed against their classic Afghan guerilla-warfare techniques. "I don't think [the Taliban] are desperate. I think that they are actually having to adjust their tactics to the tactics of NATO and the western allies. For the first time in Afghanistan, I do detect that the West is on the front foot. Not only in the north of the country around Mazar-i-Sharif do we see pacification of the countryside. We see very large amounts of support for the Western way of doing things. There is a lot of issues out there still to be resolved. But there is an increase of military activity. And I think the Taliban is really on the back foot -- at the moment," Beaver says.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:22 ||
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#1
Another feel-good story . I love it. They can hold ground..whatever they can grab as they're buried
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 16:06 Comments ||
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#2
U.S. troops have been able to call in air strikes by American and British warplanes against the concentrated Taliban forces with devastating results
Mauritania is playing a dangerous game stifling Islamic opponents by denouncing them as terrorists and risks turning what is now just a scapegoat for repression into a real threat, analysts say.
Same old argument: doing anything about a problem is just gonna make it worse. Best to do nothing, so it gets worse at a slower pace. That's logic, by Gum!
Mauritanian police have arrested scores of Islamist opposition leaders and activists since last month, accusing them of colluding with the Algerian-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a movement allied to al Qaeda. Authorities in the Islamic republic have said that al Qaeda is using the GSPC to recruit Mauritanian youths to fight alongside insurgents in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Palestinian territories. "The international community should realise that the terrorist threat barely even exists in Mauritania and that the wrong policies could help create one," International Crisis Group said in a report published late on Wednesday. It said President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya was taking advantage of the U.S.-led fight against terrorism to justify a clampdown on opponents and to try to ingratiate his regime with Western powers, particularly the United States. In doing so he risks radicalising moderate Islamic opponents who maintain that they are pro-democratic, analysts say.
They have yet to demonstrate that, of course.
"The government is now in danger of creating the very phenomenon it is warning of by tarring the whole wider Islamic revival in the country with the 'terrorist' tag," Olly Owen, Africa analyst at World Market Research Centre, said in a report. Taya has angered many Arabs in a nation straddling black and Arab Africa by shifting support from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein towards Israel and Washington. The country became only the third Arab League state to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's brief visit to the capital Nouakchott last week sparked demonstrations in which police fired teargas at hundreds of students throwing stones and burning tyres.
I rest my case, yer honor...
"Although Islamism's political expression remains constricted, the number of its sympathisers is rapidly growing," Crisis Group said in its report. "Islamism has found fertile ground in urban poverty, rejection of the corrupt political class and the abortion of the democratic project," the think-tank said. It urged the government to rethink its strategy of stifling the opposition and instead address the causes of Islamist dissent -- such as widespread unemployment, high-level corruption and a wide poverty gap.
Plus they don't chop people's hands off, or lop their heads off, and if anybody had the nerve to say a less than glowing word about The Profit (PTUI) chances are it'd be days or even weeks before he/she/it was killed...
One local human rights group has put the number of detained Islamist opposition members at around 50, while seven young militants were charged on Monday with establishing a criminal association and could face up to 20 years in prison. Although GSPC leaders have pledged their allegiance to al Qaeda, analysts say such statements may not have any operational significance and note that the movement has been substantially weakened by the Algerian military over the past few years.
"So just because they say they're part of al-Qaeda, that don't mean they actually are a part of it..."
"By giving credence to the notion that Islamists are linked to armed rebels, Taya runs the risk of leading the state into an impasse, making it dangerously reliant on U.S. backing against growing domestic discontent," said Robert Malley, Director of Crisis Group's Middle East and North Africa programme.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/12/2005 14:20 ||
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#1
wouldn't wanna get the terrorists seething, now would we, Rooters?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 16:03 Comments ||
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Since the theater's beginnings in ancient Greece, playwrights have used the stage to explore complex ethical issues and portray disturbing current events. It is a practice that continues into the present day with works like Athol Fugard's "Master Harold ... and the Boys" and Tony Kushner's "Angels in America."
On May 12, the Loeb Experimental Theatre will premier a work by a Harvard undergraduate that carries on that tradition. "Abu Ghraib," written and directed by sophomore Currun Singh, probes the meaning of the 2004 prisoner abuse scandal using a combination of dialogue, film, music, and dance. Singh, a social studies concentrator who has participated in student theatrical productions both onstage and behind the scenes since his freshman year, said that the idea for a play based on Abu Ghraib evolved out of the shock and dismay he and fellow students felt as the news story unfolded. His concern about human rights and about tensions in the Middle East also contributed to the creative ferment, as did his desire to work on a production that dealt with more serious issues.
"I wanted it to be a serious piece," he said, "a call to action."
"A call from Hollywood for the movie rights"
Singh soon found a team of collaborators to join him in this risk-taking venture, among them fellow sophomore Xin Wei Ngiam, also a social studies concentrator, who agreed to produce the play. Like Singh, Ngiam found the revelations about events at Abu Ghraib extremely disturbing. "On one level I was just appalled. I was just feeling pure shock and horror. But on another level, I was wondering, how could people do those things?" Ngiam said.
The question of how ordinary people can commit unspeakable acts became one of the central issues not only for Singh and Ngiam but for all the students working on the production. Through group discussions and rehearsals, the play developed and changed, propelling the participants through a rollercoaster ride of feelings. "In rehearsal we tried to simulate what had happened, and sometimes it just ended up being funny, obviously because this wasn't the real thing, it was just a play. The experience could be very confusing and disturbing," Singh said.
In the play, characters based on real Abu Ghraib military personnel whose names have since become well known - people like Spc. Charles Graner, Pvt. Lynndie England, and Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski - talk casually amongst themselves and intimidate and humiliate the Iraqi prisoners. But the play does what neither the leaked photos, the media reports, nor the military trial have been able to do - namely, to apply invented but plausible identities to the anonymous Iraqi torture victims whose naked bodies have become all-too-familiar over the past year. In key scenes, the prisoners talk about their past lives, how and why they were captured, and how their consciousness has been changed by the treatment they have received. In some respects, these are the most moving and revelatory scenes in the play because they remind us that these unfortunate individuals have families, friends, careers, personal histories, and, above all, human feelings.
I know I left that nano-violin around here somewhere...
Another element that engages the audience emotionally as well as providing a narrative thread is the gradual moral awakening of Specialist Joseph Darby, the soldier responsible for leaking the incriminating photos to military investigators. Singh and his colleagues made a decision that even the most honest and explicit dialogue could not do justice to the emotions aroused by Abu Ghraib. This is why they have incorporated the element of dance into the production. "We thought that dance might be the most effective way of expressing feelings about these events. Dance can bring out visceral emotions that words can't," said Singh.
Singh, a first-time director and playwright, acknowledges that the production could not have reached its present state without the help of the Denver-based group Show-Up Productions a division of Soros Inc. , dedicated to fostering political theater among youth communities. "They've been terrific at raising money, giving us advice, helping us mold the characters, and mentoring me in my first effort at script writing and directing," said Singh.
How will Singh know if he's succeeded? He has a pretty good idea of the effect he wants his production to have on the audience. "If they come out slightly uncomfortable, shocked, and motivated to vote Democratic action, that will be what we're aiming for."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 1:01:04 PM ||
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#1
Is this extra credit or required for the porno degree?
#5
Rush Limbaugh just said, how come these clowns aren't putting on a derogatory musical about the beastial crimes of Saddam. Which went on for decades, not just one year. Plus what when on in Abu Ghraib got nowhere near what the Sunni Jihadist scum kill with a single car bomb these days. The key is to keep matters in perspective. Something the leftists/Muslims are not interested in, deceitful propaganda is more important. Lying to people is more important.
"It will be great comedy adventure about a pre-historic culture clash between two tribes, one comparatively evolved tribe, and one un-evolved tribe," he said.
"Some might consider one tribe might be the English, and some might consider that the other to be the French, the Gauls.
"Let's just say it's the start of the Entente Cordial and it explains why the English Channel is there."
#14
sea cruise, I believe that what went on at Abu Ghraib went on for 3 days only.
You are likely correct. I blurted out one year but have nothing to support that. Either way, Saddam's atrocities dragged on for decades. But perhaps the Muslims (Sunni & Shi'ite) like it that way) There is an instinct for punishment, abuse and flagellation in Muhammadanism.
#16
you'll see Singh at the burgerKing driveup window, explaining that "he burnt the fries, would you like a cheesecake instead"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 15:45 Comments ||
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#17
Another element that engages the audience emotionally as well as providing a narrative thread is the gradual moral awakening...
Actually, Darby tried to report the abuses immediately, and refused to take any part in them from the beginning. If Singh has the character based on Darby involved in ANY abuses, I hope Darby takes him -- and Harvard -- to the cleaners.
Also, as much as I dislike Karpinski, she didn't abuse anyone, either, despite what the article implies. Maybe the author of this story needs to get a couple of friendly letters from lawyers...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/12/2005 16:37 Comments ||
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#18
Yes, Google really is our friend...
Currun Singh '07
Crew Credits
Abu Ghraib (Loeb Experimental Theater, 05/12/2005 - 05/14/2005)... Director
Three Tall Women (Loeb Experimental Theater, 03/04/2005 - 03/12/2005)... Painting Crew
Betrayal (Loeb Experimental Theater, 03/04/2004 - 03/06/2004)... Build and Paint Crew
So he goes from stagehand to director, basically? You must move up quick in the land of Cambridge theatre...
Sudan's police used batons and tear gas to break up angry demonstrators who gathered for the second day at a Khartoum court demanding the death penalty for a journalist charged with blasphemy. Demonstrators gathered outside the court in Khartoum waving banners and chanting "God is great". One of the protestors was wounded by police as 1,500 to 2,000 people tried to storm the court where Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, editor of Al Wifaq newspaper, was appearing on charges of questioning the parentage of the prophet Muhammad (PBH). "Oh judges of the Sudan, defend the honour of the Prophet," said a banner carried by the crowd as they chanted "death to the apostate."
Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed has been charged with blasphemy. The National Press Council has suspended Al Wifaq newspaper for three days starting Friday, for publishing the article; insulting to the Prophet (PBUH) and provoking the public. In his article, the journalist claimed that Prophet Muhammad's father was not Abdullah. ---[this is not a totally new claim, a number of sources say that Mohammad and another baby were switched at birth]----
Mr. Ahmed, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, and his newspaper staff claim that his actions have been misunderstood. Islamic Sharia law requires the death penalty for such an offence.
May 12, 2005: Wartime is also rapid development time for new technologies. One system getting the accelerated development treatment in the current war is robots, especially the flying ones. UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are also developing a new name; UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems.) That's a minor point, the important thing is that hundreds of UAVs have been in combat, and the troops want more of them.
There have been problems, the main one being that the robots are not nearly as bright as the troops that use them. Some 80 percent of the UAV losses are due to "operational" causes (weather, operator error, equipment losses), not enemy action. The onboard navigation software is not nearly as clever or quick as a human pilot, and an operator on the ground is not always able to correct bad moves by the UAV software.
The most popular, and most common, UAVs are the "micros." These weigh under ten pounds and are used by the troops who are doing the fighting. The larger UAVs, usually controlled by the air force, are great when they are available. But the troops would rather have their own. No matter how hard the air force tries, they are still another organization, with goals and tactics that do not always work well with what the army is trying to do.
As more UAVs get into use, they are actually interfering with each other, at least electronically. There are dozens of different models in use, and some use the same radio frequencies. This has caused some accidents, as UAVs with a stronger signal overwhelm others, and cause loss of control. There have also been some collisions, usually with small UAVs running into larger aircraft, or getting thrown out of control by the backwash of larger aircraft.
These problems will eventually be worked out as some standardization comes to military UAVs, But at the moment, the wartime "try anything" rules are in effect. This is causing a major battle between the air force, which want control of all UAV development, and the other services. The air force is being told to back off. Common standards can be agreed upon without giving the air force control of all UAV development. What the air force is afraid of is losing a lot of turf. The more UAVs the army uses, the less they need anything from the air force. Of course, the army has been doing that for decades, as can be seen in the thousands of transport and attack helicopters the army uses. The air force has long since given up trying to get these away from the army. But the air force sees an opportunity with UAVs to "control everything that files (without a pilot, anyway)." The other services want UAVs that do what they want done, and want to develop them themselves to make sure they get what they want. This argument is bolstered by the increasing flood of new technologies. Adding another layer of bureaucracy (the air force) would only slow things down. This particular battle is expected to be settled by the end of the year.
The army is using UAVs so heavily that the aircraft are becoming a standard bit of equipment in small units. While everything is improvised now, it's clear that before long every infantry company will have UAVs issued to it. The UAVs are becoming simpler to operate, true robots. Many combine laptop based software, with onboard software that does most of the "flying." The ground troops want a UAV that can just be snapped together (most micro-UAVs are made of some form of plastic like material) by the operator. Check the battery and run a self-test on the onboard computer, turn it on, and throw it. The operator with the laptop, which is attached to a radio antenna to communicate with the UAV, marks way points for UAV on a map of the area and then turns on the video feed. Many company commanders will then view the video, and radio instructions to their troops in response to what the UAV sees. In less than three years, UAVs have become this simple, and that's the kind of simplicity you need in a combat zone. These micro-UAVs are expendable. Most are not expected to survive for more than twenty or so missions. Resupply being what it is, the troops have learned to improvise, nursing busted up UAVs so they can do a few more missions. This means scavenging parts to keep them going, or making unofficial repairs and modifications. The troops really want the kind of information the micro-UAVs can provide, as it is often a matter of life and death.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 9:29:57 AM ||
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#1
The money quote - These micro-UAVs are expendable. Unlike a F22 for example.
#2
I bet a lot of those soldiers dream of a light UAV that could fire a .22 *high-explosive* long rifle bullet. On the surface it sounds almost silly, but here is the logic. First of all, it has a great shock effect on the enemy, and may seriously wound one of them; second, it might encourage them to shoot up at the UAV, both showing their position and wasting ammo; third, if an enemy is "playing dead", he's *not* going to sit through getting shot with a .22; fourth, the bullet can be fired at suspicious things that might contain explosives, and could set them off.
#3
The big diff is that the Army unit can send its bird wherver THEY want instead of having to callu pthe chain to some AF puke to request tasking.
The IDPE (Intel-Decision-Plan-Execution) cycle is much faster when its all inside the unit in question. And this war is being fought very much at the company and platoon level, not at divisional. So the battalion is where the innovation has been, and where the best control of the UAVs is, and needs to stay.
Problem is that the USAF doesnt get any money out of UAVs - and their big-ticket, big-war items (liek the F-22) are being threatened by these things. For the price of a dozen F-22s, you could equip bunches of Army and Marine units with organic UAV support for Recon, and possibly even attack UAVs (carrying a single missle, hellfire for instance) for targets of opportunity.
This is a bad Turf War, which the USAF is really screwing up, by way of the congress.
#4
"...a major battle between the air force, which want control of all UAV development, and the other services. The air force is being told to back off. [...] What the air force is afraid of is losing a lot of turf."
They're pissing into the wind, here: the most valuable technological advances are going to be those which place major weapons systems-- whether air-borne, ground, or naval-- into the direct, immediate, and effective control of the individual soldier on the ground.
The B-52 and its bomb bay full of ordnance should be just another personal sidearm of the individual foot soldier.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/12/2005 11:41 Comments ||
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#5
Make 'em truly expendable - forget the .22 round and put in a chunk of C-4 (or design an explosive that can simultaneously act as a structural member). Then kamikaze it into something or somebody you want blown up.
Also, make 'em air-launchable. Put it in an 'egg' with a parachute, toss it out of a C-130 or such over hostile territory. Chute opens, air speed drops, egg 'hatches', and bird flies away. Launch 'em by the dozens. (This way the Air Force could have some too!) With solar cell wings they could fly all day. Self-destruct if necessary.
Get 'em made under a Radio Shack contract and they'd be cheaper than artillery shells.
#6
While a chunk of C-4 is good, it is a one-shot solution that wastes a very valuable recon device.
Most combat situations that a .22 LR-HE round would be best for are not larger scale engagements, but just popping some yokel with an RPG hiding behind a bush, or a suspected IED. You not only nail him, but you can see that he has been nailed, and your UAV continues on with its mission, and your unit is not "sniper delayed" in its progress. A .22 LR-HE is about the maximum size a plane of this size could carry, what with its minimal firing tube and an electronic primer. The round itself might even be much like a bottle rocket, like a much smaller version of the LAW simulator.
#7
I'd arm them with something like Metalstorm. Disposable barrels that fire a burst of rounds. It appears I'm not the only one pushing this idea. BTW, cool looking military robot at the first link.
CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will nominate no candidate for presidential elections even though it has members who would lead the country well, the leader of the banned group said in remarks published on Thursday. The Brotherhood, probably the largest opposition group in Egypt, has no legal status and any Brotherhood candidate would have to run as an independent. "The Brotherhood will not nominate a Brother now or even under the new law," Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. Akef said he could not personally stand for the presidency because of his role as a religious leader and leader of the group worldwide.
"However, I am available to serve as calipah of the ummah," he noted.
"But there are those in the Brotherhood who are able to lead this nation to freedom, well-being and justice. Until now, that has not been presented to Brotherhood institutions and it is not on our agenda and we did not study it," he said.
"We'll get a handle on all those things, eventually. Once we get them defined in proper Islamic terms...
Egypt's parliament this week passed a constitutional amendment, subject to referendum, to allow the country's first multi-candidate presidential polls. But independents must meet what the opposition says are impossible conditions. Independents would need the support of at least 65 of the 444 elected members of the lower house of parliament, where all opposition groups have about 35 seats between them. Akef said the situation was now worse than under the previous system, when parliament approved a sole candidate and Egyptians were then offered the chance to say yes or no.
It's always worse.
Akef said he did not agree with slogans by the Kefaya (Enough) Movement, a group that has staged increasingly frequent demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's rule or any move to install his son, Gamal, as president. "I am against the slogans of Kefaya against President Mubarak and his son ... We must not insult the symbol of the state whatever our differences with him," he said.
"Please don't kill me!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:29:03 AM ||
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May 12, 2005: Anti-American protests have spread to the capital, sparked by an unsubstantiated accusations by a U.S. newsmagazine. Newsweek magazine published a hearsay item about American interrogators at Guantanamo desecrating the Koran to intimidate suspected terrorists. The Taliban has been trying to spread similar stories, but have no credibility. American media has more clout, even if the story in question is basically a rumor. The pro-Taliban groups will push this story as much as they can, but the Taliban support is basically restricted to some Pushtun tribes in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 9:25:47 AM ||
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#3
Figures. Change the editors of Newsweek with treason and sedition and aiding the enemy in times of war and have them hung outside the capital building.
#7
I suspect the demonstrations were orchestrated by the local madrasa(s). These rumors have been floating around for years, together with a bunch of fantastic accusations - since prisoners started getting released. Newsweek's sources are probably the prisoners themselves.
Even if the accusations are true, I really don't see a problem - except from a PR standpoint - would I desecrate Das Kapital, the Bible, the Talmud or the Bhagavad Gita to get information from a prisoner? Sure I would. Is it preferable to depriving him of sleep? Sure it is.
#8
Richard Myers' briefing this AM - logbook showed a prisoner tearing out Koran pages and stuffing them in the toilet to try and stop it up as a protest....thanks Newsweak! Assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 15:44 Comments ||
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#9
I think I'll send Newsweek a "Thank You" turd for their wonderful piece of reporting.
BHUBANESHWAR, India - India on Thursday successfully tested a nuclear-capable missile from a test range in the eastern state of Orissa, a defence ministry spokesman said. The test of the Prithvi-1 (earth) missile took place at the Chandipur-on-Sea test site in the eastern state of Orissa at 1:04 pm (0734 GMT), the spokesman said.
The missile has a range of 250 kilometres (190 miles) and can carry conventional or low-yield nuclear warheads. The 8.5-metre (28-foot) surface-to-surface missile, first tested in February 1988, is under trials before its induction into the army's arsenal, other defence officials said. The missile was lasted tested on March 19.
The missile is designed for battlefield use against troops or armoured formations, defence officials said. Two other variants of the Prithvi, with a strike range of between 250 and 350 kilometres would be handed over to the navy and air force once tests were completed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:23:50 AM ||
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#1
got your attention Jihadis? Here's your chance for mass-suicide
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2005 16:54 Comments ||
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The Washington, D.C. bureau chief of the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, Salama Na'mat, accused some Arab regimes of supporting terrorism in Iraq in order to thwart the emergence of democracy in the Arab world. The following are excerpts from his article:
The Aim of Terrorism in Iraq is to Prolong the Occupation
"When the Saddamist terrorism in Iraq targets the elected, the security forces, the army, and the [Iraqi] National Guard, its aim is to prolong the [U.S.] occupation by thwarting the process of building national, political, security, and military institutions that can protect the country and ensure its stability. The terrorists and their supporters in the region and worldwide know that the Iraqi government cannot demand that the foreign forces leave before it can handle the security situation — and that is precisely what they are trying to thwart.
"Nevertheless, [some] Arab governments, as well as writers and commentators in the Arab media, still insist on describing the criminals, who murder Iraqis by the hundreds and even thousands, as 'resistance' to the occupation — even though they are the primary cause of the prolongation of the occupation beyond next year.
"They insist on blaming the killing of Iraqis on the Americans — as though the suicide bombers who blow themselves up in order to kill as many [Iraqi] National Guard and policemen as possible were American."
The Aim of the Arab Regimes is to Prevent the Spread of Democracy in the Region
"âŠIt is no secret that the American military forces are deployed in 70 countries worldwide, including strong countries like Germany and Japan. The Arab countries and Gulf countries also host these forces, as part of military agreements with strategic implications, and, [like in Iraq,] this is in accordance with these countries' interests...
"What is the responsibility of the regimes and the official and semi-official media in the countries bordering Iraq in legitimizing the operations that murder Iraqis?... Isn't their goal to thwart [the emergence of] the newborn democracy in Iraq so that it won't spread in the region?
"The terrorists may succeed in postponing the birth of the new Iraq in its democratic and pluralistic form — which is exceptional in the region — but they will not succeed in restoring Iraq to the pre-[Saddam] era. The Iraqis have no option other than to progress along a single path — the path to full independence — that will bring an end to the foreign protectorate, whether American/international [i.e. coalition forces] or terrorist/regional [i.e. Al-Zarqawi]..."
The Enemies of Democracy Will Move on to Lebanon
"If the forces of destruction succeed in disrupting the democratic model, there will be numerous implications. One is that [their] success in one place will encourage similar successes in other places in which [democracy] is being built.
"It is reasonable to assume that the hired killers will move on from Iraq to Lebanon, after coming to Iraq from Afghanistan. If the enemies of democracy put their lives on the line to wipe out [democracy] in Afghanistan, and after that in Iraq, it makes no sense for them to allow it to flourish in Lebanon.
"The forces of darkness and their natural allies in the regimes [neighboring Iraq] are insisting on turning the dream of democracy into a living hell..."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 9:12:44 AM ||
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A top US commander at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq - where detainees were abused by American guards - has been reprimanded and fined $8,000 (£4,274). The US army found Col Thomas Pappas guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty, including that of allowing dogs to be present during interrogations. Col Pappas was in charge of military intelligence personnel at the prison near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Kiss your career goodbye, Tom.
Last week, former commander of the jail Brig Gen Janis Karpinski was demoted.
Nine junior US soldiers have been charged in connection with the abuse at the prison in late 2003, and seven of them have already been convicted.
The verdict came at the end of a hearing in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in which Col Pappas presented evidence in his defence. Maj Gen Bennie Williams found the colonel guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty in late 2003 and early 2004. The first count said that Col Pappas "failed to ensure that subordinates were adequately informed of, trained upon and supervised in the application of interrogation procedures". The second referred to his failure in obtaining "the approval of superior commanders before authorising a non-sanctioned interrogation technique, specifically, the presence of military working dogs during the questioning". But Col Pappas was not found to have ordered the abuse of prisoners. No decision has yet been made whether to relieve Col Pappas of command of the Germany-based 205th Military Intelligence Brigade.
Oh, I'm sure there has. The paperwork just hasn't been signed yet.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/12/2005 8:33:13 AM ||
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Doesn't say if this was a courts martial, but the entry "Maj Gen Bennie Williams found the colonel guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty in late 2003 and early 2004" seems to imply this was an General Officer Article 15 adminstration punishment.
'Dereliction of duty' is a broad encompassing charge which implies in this case, failure to properly supervise and inspect his operations as would be expected of someone of his position and authority rather than being an actual planner and participant to the violations which occured on site at Abu Ghraib. You take the pay and authority, you take the consequences.
No promotion and no future, he might as well put his papers in now. If he is a reservist, he can wait till around 55 for his first check to show up, after the appropriate deductions.
Wonder how many politicians and their appointees get off in similar circumstances when local police/guards hammer some prisoners in the local lockup?
Jordan has reshuffled its intelligence community. Jordan's King Abdullah has ordered the creation of a national security agency. The new organization would help coordinate the kingdom's intelligence and security community. Abdullah replaced his intelligence chief, Saad Khair, who served in the post since 2000. Khair was replaced by Gen. Samih Asfura. The king then ordered Khair, appointed to field marshal, to create a national security agency. Under the reshuffle, Khair would retain his post as the king's security adviser.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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The United States has been slowly reducing aid to Egypt. A congressional report said U.S. aid to Egypt has dropped over the past five years. Most of the aid decline has been in economic assistance. The Congressional Research Service said U.S. aid dropped from a high of $2.1 billion in fiscal 2001 to $1.82 billion in fiscal 2005. The reduction reflected a decline in both economic and military aid. "Economic aid has dropped in annual $40 million increments from $815 million in FY1998 to $535 million requested for FY2005," the report, entitled "Egypt-United States Relations," said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Reducing the seething to a fast simmer, rather than a full rolling boil.
#4
Assuming this continued rate of decline, it will take another $40b and 45 years until we stop sending American money to finance Egyptian tyrants, islamofascists, and antisemites (yes, they overlap).
#5
Jordan (from .com's link) is an interesting case. US economic aid was more than 10% of GDP in 2003. If a conservative economic multiplier of 3 is used, then US aid contributes 1/3 of Jordan's GDP. If aid from all other sources matched US aid levels (WAG), then US and foreign aid would contribute to 2/3s of GDP. That makes Jordan the international equivalent of the welfare queen.
Posted by: ed ||
05/12/2005 7:46 Comments ||
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#6
Jordan has been very helpful. Egypt, less so -- but far better under Mubarak than under the Egyption Brotherhood and their ilk.
Posted by: too true ||
05/12/2005 8:04 Comments ||
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#7
FYI
For Egypt erased 7 billion dollars of debt as an incentive for them to fight with us in Gulf War I
#8
From the link .com provided, it isn't clear at all that the aid has been 'declining' over the past ten years, it's just at a low right now in a pattern characterized by peaks and troughs. It was lower in 2001 but higher in 2002.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2005 9:02 Comments ||
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#9
Pretty damn slow. Pull the plug on this bribe and bomb the f*ck out of them if they get uppity about it.
Sudan lifted a ban Wednesday on an independent newspaper that had been closed down for running interviews with southern rebels and articles on corruption. The editor of the Al-Watan daily was given permission to resume publication immediately because of the country's "political changes and the national challenges faced by our country, which require rallying up more energy for unifying the national ranks," the national security and intelligence department said in a statement. Al-Watan was closed down in December 2002 when the government accused it of defamation, inciting sedition and undermining Sudan's society and its relations with other countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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BRASILIA: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, on his first overseas trip since Iraq held elections, urged South American and Arab nations to help his country's reconstruction with investment. "We hope that this summit helps our people in their just fight," Talabani said in speech at a summit of South American and Arab countries. "I ask you to understand Iraq's situation. I ask you to send delegations for information, for investments, to see the truths on Iraqi territory itself."
In his speech, Talabani, a Kurd, said Iraq was a rich and strong country which would "lift itself up quickly." No country in South America supported the US-led war to overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and many countries were vocal in their opposition to the invasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf wants the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to join him, but without Benazir Bhutto, Daily Times Editor Najam Sethi told Geo news channel on Wednesday. Talking by telephone about Musharraf's statement that Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif had no future role in Pakistani politics, Sethi said Musharraf could talk with Amin Fahim and other PPP leaders but not to Benazir, as it was his personal policy to avoid talking to Benazir and Nawaz Sharif.
Bhutto had agreed not to be a prime ministerial candidate after the next general elections, said Sethi, adding that Musharraf would not allow Nawaz to be the prime minister. He said that a constitutional amendment was required for both Benazir and Nawaz to become prime minister, which was "currently impossible." The newspaper editor said Musharraf could allow Benazir to play a "behind the scenes" role in Pakistani politics but not an overt one. He said an immediate issue facing Benazir was to get permission for her party to participate fully and independently in the next general elections and the dismissal of cases against her.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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The second day of the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) book fair at the Punjab University attracted hundreds of students and people. The registrar, who had promised on Tuesday not to let the fair continue, was unable to stop the event.
Showed him who was in charge, didn't they?
Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan, PU registrar, and Lt Gen (r) Arshad Mahmood, PU vice chancellor, avoided comment on Wednesday. "I left the office early, so I am unable to say anything about the issue," Khan told Daily Times on Wednesday.
"I know nothing! No-thing! Tell them, Hogan!"
A number of Jamaat-e-Islami and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leaders, including Liaqat Baloch and Hafiz Idrees, visited the fair and spoke to the students. The book fair will conclude on Thursday, and not Friday, as the IJT planned earlier. Zubair Ahmed Gondal, IJT central nazim, said that "certain elements" were trying to separate the Islamic and Pakistani ideologies from the education system, but this would not be allowed to happen.
This article starring:
Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan
HAFIZ IDRIS
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
LIAQAT BALOCH
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Lt Gen (r) Arshad Mahmood
MUTTAHIDA MAJLIS E AMAL
Jamaat-e-Islami
ZUBAIR AHMED GONDAL
Islami Jamiat Talaba
Islami Jamiat Talaba
Jamaat-e-Islami
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Zubair Ahmed Gondal, IJT central nazim, said that âcertain elementsâ were trying to separate the Islamic and Pakistani ideologies from the education system, but this would not be allowed to happen.
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.
A terrorist attack with the use of strong poisons was prevented in the North Caucasus. The cache with poisons was discovered on the Chechen-Ingush border. Two terrorist leaders were put on the wanted list, a spokesman for the Regional Operative Headquarters (ROH) for the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus reported on Wednesday. One of them is Abu Mujaid, supposedly a Jordanian citizen, the emissary of the Moslem Brothers and Al Qaeda terrorist organizations in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Foreign Minister 
[10 May 2005] at 0430 UTC in position 13:05.7N - 080:21.0E, Chennai Anchorage, India. Five robbers boarded Ro Ro ship from stern and attempted to steal ship's stores. Alert crew raised alarm and robbers escaped empty handed in their boat. Port control and police informed.
The United States is considering tagging some members of the Philippines' mainstream Muslim separatist rebel group, currently in peace negotiations, as terrorists for allegedly working with known terror groups, the US ambassador said Wednesday. 
yesterday formally registered as a candidate for the June 17 presidential elections, pledging to save the country from "extremists". But the pragmatic conservative, seen as a clear frontrunner in the race to replace incumbent reformist President 
QOM: Two of Iran's most senior dissident pro-reform Shiite clerics have hit out at the Islamic regime ahead of next month's presidential election, accusing hardliners of failing to deliver on revolutionary promises of fundamental freedoms. In interviews with AFP, Grand Ayatollah 
Al Qaeda is recruiting and training Mauritanian youths via an Algerian fundamentalist group to fight alongside insurgents in Iraq, police and a government official in the West African country said. A police statement published in a government newspaper on Tuesday said the Algerian-based 
Ethiopia's prime minister said Thursday he believes it is common knowledge that an al-Qaida terror cell is operating in Somalia's capital, 
Militants in Afghanistan have suffered massive casualties in the past two weeks while battling against U.S. and Afghan government troops. In some of the bloodiest fighting since the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, U.S.-led coalition forces recently have engaged several large groups of militants who have tried to hold on to strategic ground. U.S. troops have been able to call in air strikes by American and British warplanes against the concentrated Taliban forces with devastating results. Since last week, about 100 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed in battles across southern and eastern Afghanistan that have followed the pattern. Deaths among antiterrorism coalition forces have included nine Afghan government soldiers, two U.S. Marines, and one Afghan police officer.
Mauritanian police have arrested scores of Islamist opposition leaders and activists since last month, accusing them of colluding with the Algerian-based 
Sudan's police used batons and tear gas to break up angry demonstrators who gathered for the second day at a Khartoum court demanding the death penalty for a journalist charged with blasphemy. Demonstrators gathered outside the court in Khartoum waving banners and chanting "God is great". One of the protestors was wounded by police as 1,500 to 2,000 people tried to storm the court where 
CAIRO - Egypt's 
May 12, 2005: Anti-American protests have spread to the capital, sparked by an unsubstantiated accusations by a U.S. newsmagazine. Newsweek magazine published a hearsay item about American interrogators at Guantanamo desecrating the Koran to intimidate suspected terrorists. The Taliban has been trying to spread similar stories, but have no credibility. American media has more clout, even if the story in question is basically a rumor. The pro-Taliban groups will push this story as much as they can, but the Taliban support is basically restricted to some Pushtun tribes in southern and eastern Afghanistan. 
Sudan lifted a ban Wednesday on an independent newspaper that had been closed down for running interviews with southern rebels and articles on corruption. The editor of the Al-Watan daily was given permission to resume publication immediately because of the country's "political changes and the national challenges faced by our country, which require rallying up more energy for unifying the national ranks," the national security and intelligence department said in a statement. Al-Watan was closed down in December 2002 when the government accused it of defamation, inciting sedition and undermining Sudan's society and its relations with other countries.
BRASILIA: Iraqi President 
President General Pervez Musharraf wants the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to join him, but without 
