[Tripoli Post] Mohammed al-Alagi, currently acting as interim justice minister in Libya's National Transitional Council, has approved a measure to abolish the country's state security prosecution and courts, which sentenced opponents of the old regime to prison.
At a presser in Tripoli on Monday, al-Algi that he has signed a document to disband the bodies. The step still needs approval by the National Transitional Council. But, he said: "I am personally very happy to sign an approval to end the state security prosecution and court, and the state security appeals court."
The document includes a request to abolish a third court for special cases where many opposition members were to life-term prison sentences like Abu Salim in Tripoli, where it has now been proved inmates were massacred by the Al Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland... regime. Libyans all over welcome the decision it has been said.
Libyans are pressing forward with efforts to do away with some of the most hated remnants of the former regime even though fighting continues and the ousted leader's whereabouts remains unknown.
Referring to the British foreign office's announcement that the investigation into the 1988 bombing of a US-bound airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland "remains open," Mohammad al-Alagi told news hounds that the investigation is closed, and no new information will be released that could lead to additional suspects being charged.
Prosecutors in Scotland had asked the NTC to provide them with access to papers or witnesses that could result in the implication of more suspects, but al-Alagi, said that the case was "closed".
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... a British foreign office front man has been reported saying that NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil has already assured the British PM that the Libyan authorities will cooperate with the UK in this and other ongoing investigations.
"Having spoken with the NTC this evening, we understand that this remains the case. The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open and the police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them," the front man said.
Former Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted by a Scottish court of the bombing in 2001 and given a life sentence. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, because he was suffering from prostate had cancer. Medical experts believed at the time that he had only months left to live.
Hundreds of civilians decamped Al Qadaffy's hometown of Sirte on Monday to escape growing shortages of food and medicine and escalating fears that their homes will be struck during fighting between revolutionary forces and regime loyalists, according to AFP.
NTC fighters launched their offensive against Sirte nearly two weeks ago, but have since faced fierce resistance from loyalists holed up inside the city.
After a bloody push into Sirte again over the weekend, revolutionary fighters said they pulled back in a tactical move to plan their assault, allow more time for civilians to flee, and to allow NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... to conduct important air strikes targeting the Al Qadaffy loyalists' military sites.
NATO, which has played a key role in decimating the former Libyan dictator's military during the conflict, has kept up its air campaign since the fall of Tripoli last month.
The alliance said Monday its warplanes struck eight military targets near Sirte a day earlier, including an ammunition and vehicle storage facility and rocket launcher.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Shortly afterwards, al-Alagi announced a new security agency and courts to prosecute opponents of the new regime.
[An Nahar] A judicial official says Libya's ex-prime minister has been sprung from jail after an appeals court overturned his conviction for illegally entering Tunisia.
Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was tossed in the calaboose Sept. 22 on charges of illegal entry after he was found without a visa as he was trying to flee across the border to Algeria. He was convicted the same day to six months in prison.
Libya's transitional government said last week it would ask Tunisia to send al-Mahmoudi home to face justice. A Tunisian justice ministry front man says no official extradition demand has been made.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Financial Times] Yemen's president appears to have tricked his Saudi hosts when he unexpectedly returned home last week, exacerbating the stand-off between his regime and the country's pro-democracy protest movement.
According to a senior US official, President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... , who had been undergoing medical treatment in Soddy Arabia, "bolted the kingdom under the pretence of going to the airport for something else".
Neither the US nor the Saudis were aware of his planned departure, said the official, calling it a "clever, canny" trick by the president. "We are not happy at all," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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"bolted the kingdom under the pretence of going to the airport for something else".
Sept. 9-26, the Russian army, joined by Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, deployed 12,000 troops in a huge combined military exercise code-named Center-2011, which simulated an Iranian attack on Caspian oil fields operated by American firms in reprisal for a US strike against Iranian nuclear sites.
An article in Moskovskii Komsomolets addressed the question of the threat.
The author argued that the exercise plannersÂ’ internal documents show that the part of the exercise conducted in Kazakhstan near Aktau and on the Caspian Sea was aimed at Iran. The exercise storyline was based on a hypothetical decision by IranÂ’s leadership to respond to an American airstrike by targeting oil fields in KazakhstanÂ’s Mangystau oblast that are operated by American corporations (especially Exxon-Mobil).
The idea was that since Kazakhstan would not be able to single-handedly repel an Iranian attack, it would request assistance from Russia through CSTO (Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian Region) channels and together the armies would repel the Iranian land and sea attack.
Of course, military and government officials in both countries have rejected the notion that Iran is the opponent in the exercise, sticking to the usual storyline that the opponent is fictitious and represents no specific country.
Russian intelligence postulated an instantaneous Iranian reprisal for this strike and based the war game staged by Russian-led CSTO on this assumption.
Military sources disclose that the forces taking part in the exercise were briefed for a two-stage scenario:
Stage One: An naval attack on the Caspian Sea coast coming from the south (Iran).
Stage Two: A large-scale air and ground attack from the south by 70 F-4 and F-5 fighter-bombers, namely, the bulk of Iran's air force, along with armored divisions, marine battalions and infantry brigades landing on the northern and eastern shores of the Caspian Sea.
The Russian briefing conjectured that the Iranian offensive would single out the Kazakh oil field at Mangustan on the Caspian coast.
Moscow clearly attached the highest importance to the exercise and extreme credibility to the hypothetical scenario. Russian chief of staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov personally commanded the drills and on Monday, Sept. 26, President Dmitry Medvedev toured the field commands and units.
#3
The Caspian sea is of great interest to the Russians. I am more inclined to believe "A second, and more publicly acknowledged, opponent for the exercise as a whole is “international radical Islamic terrorism.” Various parts of the overall exercise are designed to counter Islamist radicals seeking to overthrow various Central Asian governments. The concern here is clearly to prepare for the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014. Central Asian and Russian leaders fear that this withdrawal will be followed by a Taliban takeover and the spread of radical Islam into Central Asia, possibly with Iranian assistance. They hope to make sure that CSTO is prepared to counter any future moves of this type". Very rich resource area. Then the Turks on the Black sea side. "highest importance to the exercise and extreme credibility" sounds very direct and purposeful. Interesting which Asia governments were left out.
#4
I wonder how many of the newest SAM batteries the Russians have protecting those oilfields now? The F-4 and F-5 are old enough, and with Iranian maintenance and parts supplies, badly maintained enough to NOT have any ECM capabilities anymore.
The three men who planned to attack cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the Jyllands-Posten newspaper were charged in Norway with conspiracy to commit terrorism, according to a BBC report on Tuesday.
According to the report, they "had allegedly acquired bomb components and tried to buy a gun," in order to attack the Danish cartoonist and newspaper for a 2005 cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.
Three engagements between Greek and Turkish F-16 fighter jets occurred over the Aegean Sea on Wednesday, for the first time in the last months.
Today, Turkish pilots did not change their course after being intercepted and identified by Greek pilots, leading to engagements. One of them took place west of Lesbos while two more took place between Lesbos and Chios.
A total of 12 Turkish military aircraft entered the Athens FIR without having previously submitted flight plans. Eight of them were armed. Besides the three engagements, three violations of Greek airspace by an equal number of Turkish aircraft formations were also recorded.
#2
More info: One of the Turkish F-16 attempted to lock on to a Greek warplane with its AIM-120 (AMRAAM).
The platforms off Cyprus are joint owned by a Russian company. When Turkey threatened to use their navy against them the Russians sent two nuke submarines and a destroyer.
Israel has requested authorization for the IAF to use the airfield on the island of Paphos, in exchange for “ensuring the air defense of the Republic and changing the military balance in the region.”
#1
Adm. Mike Mullen’s assertion last week that an anti-American insurgent group in Afghanistan is a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s spy service was overstated
Mullen's assertion may have been 'overstated' in the diplomatic sense, but it is true in the true sense. The resulting uh, duststorm kicked up is interesting in that it brings out all the players. Sorta like recon by fire.
#5
This is the typical Obama 'cover for inaction' or blame game. When troop reduction numbers can't be met before the election, it will suddenly be Pakistan's fault. Well here's a news flash... it's pretty much always been, and continues to be Pakistan's fault.
Pakistan is pulling out all stops to offset rising tensions with the US and possible economic and military sanctions by reaching out to its closest allies, Saudi Arabia and China. Days after the stinging accusation that the ISI was backing Afghan insurgents, Islamabad tried to please Beijing by vowing to root out Uighur militants holed up in its territory and staged war games with Saudi Arabia, besides sending and receiving top intelligence officials from the Gulf kingdom.
"China's enemy is Islamabad's enemy," interior minister Rehman Malik told visiting Chinese vice-prime minister Meng Jianzhu on Tuesday, and vowed to "strike very hard against" Uighur militants based in his country. Alongside, ISI chief Shuja Pasha was dispatched to Riyadh to hold talks with Saudi officials.
Malik said Pakistan had killed and extradited several Uighur militants responsible for attacks in China's western Xinjiang province. The Uighur rebels are known to be receiving training in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. Earlier, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the two countries were true friends and that they count on each other after. "Thank you once again...for (the) supportive statement in favour of Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity."
#1
China should never forget that they told the US the same about Binny as they are China about the Uighurs...
Snakes and ankle bites and all that jazz.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/28/2011 0:18 Comments ||
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"China's enemy..." > read, INDJUH + JAPAN.
IMO Nuke-armed Pakistan = Nuke wannabe Iran = prefer to stay on the Media, Geopol defensive for time being - the real crux is what shennanigans the Hard Boyz will initiate agz India.
#4
Pakis and ChiComs...I can't think of two groups of people more deserving of each other. Hey, throw in the Soddies and you have a threesome. Good for them.
#5
china probably sees Pakistan as a market for Chinese goods (as well as help with the Uighur problem)
China will likely be sorely disappointed on both these issues.
Pakistan will only be able to purchase Chinese products by current account deficits and will try to get the Chinese to finance this.
As for the Uighurs, Pakistan will likely have about as much success in this as they have with other groups of this nature.
The Saudis, on the other hand, have already poured huge resources into Pakistan, mainly the funding of mosques and madras. The more Islamic Pakistan has become, the more violence has resulted and the more suffering.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/28/2011 12:53 Comments ||
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The Chinese and Paks have been "business" parners for decades. They get a lot of their military hardware from them.
[Dawn] The B.O. regime is considering placing the Haqqani network on its list of terror groups after blaming the faceless myrmidons for deadly attacks in Afghanistan, a US official said Monday.
Seven leaders of the Haqqani network, which operates from safe havens in Pakistain and was founded by former CIA asset Jalaluddin Haqqani and is run by his son Sirajuddin, have been placed under US sanctions since 2008.
The top US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, directly accused Pakistain's intelligence service on Thursday of supporting the Haqqani network's attack on the US embassy in Kabul, a truck bombing on a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... outpost and a June attack on Kabul's InterContinental hotel.
Sangeen Zadran, Sirajuddin and Badruddin Haqqani have been designated by the State Department, while the Treasury has targeted four other Haqqani leaders: Nasiruddin Haqqani, Khalil Haqqani, Ahmed Jan Wazir and Fazl Rabi.
"Certainly FTO (foreign terrorist organization) designation is something under review," State Department front man Mark Toner told news hounds.
"But the idea that we haven't gone after the Haqqani Network at all I think is a mischaracterization."
Washington has asked Islamabad to launch on offensive in the restive tribal region of North Wazoo, a Haqqani bastion bordering Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
about damn time.
Posted by: chris ||
09/28/2011 5:01 Comments ||
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So does this mean the Haqqani network MasterCard is gonna get canceled?
[Dawn] As Islamabad and Washington continued discussions on Monday over latest round of crisis in their troubled relations spurred by allegations linking ISI to the Haqqani network, Pakistain opened consultations with some of its close allies over the tense situation.
I for one like this crisis. It's forcing the world as well as our own country to take a close look at the duplicity and turpitude of the Paks. That can't be a bad thing, unless you're a Pak general or political official.
The highlight of a series of meetings in Islamabad was a meeting between Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and US Ambassador Cameron Munter.
The meeting took place shortly after Mr Munter had returned to Islamabad from Washington. It is understood that the meeting was a follow-up of the discussions Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Secretary Bashir had with American officials in New York for resuscitating the troubled ties.
Retiring US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff had accused the ISI of complicit with the Haqqani network in the Sept 13 attack in Kabul near the US Embassy and a kaboom that maimed 77 American soldiers.
The charges, the most serious yet levelled by the US against Pakistain, were categorically rejected both by civilian and military leadership of the country.
At the Sunday's extraordinary conference of corps commanders, the army clearly hinted that it would want the situation to be defused. Nevertheless, it desires to stand firm on its stance and insists on respect for the red lines.
In a clear indication that the situation is still critical, Army Chief Gen Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... cancelled at the eleventh hour his scheduled trip to the UK where he was to address the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal College of Defence Studies and meet British Defence Minister Liam Fox.
No reasons were officially given for the cancellation of the visit, but a security official said it was related to heightened tensions with the US.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... Vice Premier of China Meng Jianzhu in a meeting with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne discussed "the emerging geo-strategic situation of the region".
The Chinese leader was quoted by the ISPR as having praised "the roleplayed by the armed forces of Pakistain in the fight against terror".
The issue also came up during Mr Jianzhu's meeting with President Asif AlPresident Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
Salim Saifullah Khan, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Rooters that he and other officials held talks with diplomats to explain Pakistain's stand as the United States pushes the Mighty Pak Army to go after the Haqqani network.
"We have been meeting with diplomats with the purpose to convey Pakistain's point of view, and also that they should make the United States understand that we have sacrificed so much," he said without naming the countries with which the discussions had taken place.
President Zardari, who made a rare appearance at a reception hosted by the Saudi Embassy to celebrate the Kingdom's national day, spoke about Saudi support for Pakistain at critical junctures.
"Every difficult moment in our history has witnessed us standing together in mutual support and solidarity," Mr Zardari was quoted in a statement issued by the presidency.
The media remained full of speculations about Saudi intervention in the dispute over the Haqqani network.
A team of Saudi counter-terrorism and security officials that reached Islamabad for participating in joint military exercises was mistaken as a group of intelligence officials that had flown in to talk with ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha on American allegations.
In a later twist it was said that Gen Pasha, following a Saudi message, dashed to Riyadh for continuing the talks. However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... military front man Maj Gen Ather Abbas rejected the reports and said that Gen Pasha was in Islamabad and the visiting Saudi team was here for military exercises.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
might be time to ban Pak immigrants and Official visits
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2011 8:47 Comments ||
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Saudis among largest contributors to Georgetown where diplomats are manufactured.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/28/2011 13:34 Comments ||
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Full employment coming for local drum head tuners
[Dawn] Local authorities have shifted the prisoners of Kohat Jail to Bannu district jail for the army to set up special courts in the vacated building to try bad turbans.
A district administration official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the army took the decision after many accused hard boyz beat feet from the custody of police escorting them to trial courts.
Under the new arrangement, the under-trial hard boyz would be shifted to the Kohat prison under the watch of Karak and Bannu police, said the official. It is for the second time in 10 years that the Kohat prison is being so used. In December 2001, too, it was vacated for FBI to hold 156 Al Qaeda hard boyz incarcerated on Afghan border along Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... . Then the original inmates of the prison were shifted to Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... jail.
Their interrogation continued until the middle of 2002 after which the hard boyz were transported to Guantanamo Bay camp via Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
According to the official the latest move has not sat well with the relatives of the relocated prisoners, especially women, who complained that they would have to spend more money and time for seeing the detainees in Bannu. Relatives are allowed to visit prisoners once a week.
There were also complaints about delay in hearing the bail pleas of many under-trials. The source said the prisoners shifted to Bannu were on a hunger strike over delay in their production before Kohat courts.
The official said Bannu jail had refused to bring the shifted prisoners to the respective Kohat courts because of heightened fears of terrorist attacks, besides heavy workload.
The shifting of Kohat prisoners to Bannu and the subsequent handover of Kohat district jail to the army have already drawn the ire of local politicians, who declare it a badly thought-out and anti-people e move by the district administration and
police.
Another official in the local administration said the army had demanded the control of Kohat and Lakki Marwat prisons and that was granted without delay. When contacted, Superintendent Kohat district prison Aitzaz Jadoon said his bosses had ordered him to vacate the jail for the army and he just complied with the orders.
He agreed that shifting the prisoners to far-flung Bannu district would distress them and their relatives but said he couldn't do anything for them.
The superintendent said all jail staff would continue to be on duty for protection of the army and the undertrials.
He said he had no idea how long the trial of hard boyz in the Kohat jail would last. Jadoon refused to respond to the question about the legality of the prison's handover to the army.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Beyond the limits of plausible deniability [Dawn] The Taliban took the unusual step Tuesday of insisting that it, not Pakistain, controls the Haqqani network, with Islamabad under growing US pressure to cut alleged ties with the group.
The militia advised Pakistain to prioritise "Islamic and national" interests and stand firm in the face of "America's two-faced and implacable politics".
"Neither are our bases in Pakistain nor do we need residence outside of our country," said the English-language statement in the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan --the Taliban's name for itself --on its Voice of Jihad website.
"All the military and civilian activities in the country are our own initiatives and our own actions.
"The respected Maulawi Jalaluddin Haqqani (the group's founder) is (one of the) Islamic Emirate's honourable and dignified personalities and receives all guidance for operations from the leader of the Islamic Emirate."
Most analysts consider the Haqqani network a powerful Taliban faction loyal to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar, with strong ties to al Qaeda.
"Our advice to the people of Pakistain and its government is that it should deliberate on America's two-faced and implacable politics," said the Taliban.
"It should always give precedence to its Islamic and national interests and they should have a firm belief that America will never be happy with them until they loot all their material and moral assets."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Unless the Haqannis decide they want to subvert Sinkiang [Dawn] Pakistain's interior minister Tuesday vowed to attack Chinese gunnies hiding out in his country's tribal regions, saying China's enemies were also Islamabad's.
Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. made the strong show of support for Beijing after a meeting with visiting Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu.
The trip comes as Pakistain's ties with the United States have soured over allegations that Islamabad supports Afghan gunnies that are also based in Pakistain's tribal regions.
Some Pak officials hope that China can fill any diplomatic and economic void if Washington decides to sever or downgrade ties with Islamabad.
Militants from China's western Xinjiang are known to be training and fighting on the Pakistain side of the Afghan border, along with al Qaeda and other international thug networks. They have claimed attacks in China and issued statements threatening Beijing.
"We will strike very hard against them," Malik said. "Anybody who is the enemy of China is the enemy of Pakistain."
It remains unclear how Pakistain will do this. Most of the gunnies are believed to be in the North Wazoo tribal area. Pakistain's army has a presence there, but so far has not touched the several thousand gunnies there.
Malik said Sunday Islamabad had killed or extradited several Chinese cut-thoats, but didn't say when or from where.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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One false move and Jackson's Hole gets it! [Dawn] The Senate's Standing Committee on Defense said on Tuesday that the US will never dare to attack Pakistain, however Pakistain is fully capable to retaliate if ever necessary, DawnNews reported.
The committee also supported the decision to call an All Parties Conference.
After the meeting of the defense committee, Lieutenant General (R) Javed Ashraf Qazi told the media that the committee condemned all the allegations made by the US against Pakistain and was seriously considering all the threats given by them.
The committee also urged the foreign office to send delegations to the ally states for confidence building measures.
Qazi also stated that the US pledged to give aid to Pakistain, however the assistance was not provided as promised. He said that the US did not give Pakistain the military equipment as pledged either.
The committee said that blaming Pakistain will ultimately only end up helping the forces of Evil while the differences could only be resolved through dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
They drink electric kool-aid at Dawn?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/28/2011 0:22 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said here on Sunday that the Haqqani group that the US was now charging with attacks on the American embassy in Kabul had been CIA's "blue-eyed boy" for many years. Jalaluddin has brown eyes.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV, she said: "If we talk about links, I am sure the CIA also has links with many terrorist organizations around the world, by which we mean intelligence links," she said. "And this particular network, which (the United States) continues to talk about, is a network which was the blue-eyed boy of the CIA itself for many years." Calling Jalaluddin the CIA's pet is referring to events between 1979 and 1992. We were allied with the Japanese in WWI, too, relying on the same kind of logic. Haqqani, if I recall correctly, which I may not, was the most effective of the Pashtun jihadi commanders, though Hekmatyar was the one who got all the money because he was the Paks' fair-haired boy and butt buddies (probably literally) with Qazi (and also with the KGB and KhAD, but we won't go into that). The "blue-eyed" boy who was the best commander in the war was Masood, who was murdered by Jalaluddin's current allies. Next to Masood, I'd place Ismail Khan.
Asked about US Admiral Mike Mullen's statement that the Haqqani group "acts as a veritable arm" of ISI, the foreign minister said: "It is something that goes very, very unappreciated on our side. This is unsubstantiated. No evidence has been shared with us." "The witnesses are all dead!"
Partners and allies, she said, did not talk to each other through public statements. Private conversations are much better. They can be denied or "reinterpreted."
Pakistain had taken up the matter with the United States, but the spate of hostile statements coming from senior US officials meant that Washington had taken a policy decision. If that was the case then "We have the right to make our own decision." "And rest assured it will be a bad one!"
Ms Khar went to say that scapegoating and blame games would be of no help. Pakistain wants to be a US partner. "I just hope that we'll be given a chance to cooperate with each other and the doors will remain open --because statements like this are pretty much close to shutting those doors," she added.
Replying to a question, Ms Khar said the drone attacks not only violated Pakistain's illusory sovereignty, they were also counter-productive, and angered the people of Pakistain. "I think we must not be tested more than we have the ability to bear," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
**** cough **** since childhood **** cough ****...
Somehow Pakistain can't see anything unusual about negotiating with an occupying force
[Dawn] The Chairman of Tahreek-e-Insaaf, Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... said that he is ready to talk with the Haqqani Group if the government allowed him.
Speaking to media persons after meeting with dengue patients in Services Hospital, Imran Khan said that US is negotiating with the Taliban and ordered us to attack on them.
He said that he can influence the Haqqani Group for the restoration of peace and stability.
Khan said the time has come to find a political solution for the issue because the US is engaged in dialogue for an end to the war in Afghanistan.
Speaking about All Parties Conference, he said that finding a political solution is the only way forward.
Talking about Dengue outbreak, Khan said that the resources should be allocated for dengue control rather than on personal publicity.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Tribal Lashkars already targeted at Bakersfield, Milpetas, Denver and Tallahassee, more signing up for Manhattan, Omaha, and Huntington, West Virginia
An amusing thought. Once they arrive, they'll stick out like sore thumbs...and people carrying guns in those parts of the country tend to hit exactly what they aimed at -- the American concept of gun sex being very, very different.
[Dawn] Hundreds of Pak rustics on Tuesday threatened the United States with holy war, lashing out at demands for action against Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani cut-throats based in Pakistain.
There is growing unease in Pakistain about US pressure to take on the Haqqani network or face the consequences, with the military saying it is too over-stretched fighting local Taliban to open a new front against a US enemy.
Having accused the network of orchestrating recent attacks on its embassy in Kabul and a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... base in Afghanistan, with Pak intelligence involvement, Washington now says it is considering branding the network a terror group.
Any such move could complicate future efforts to negotiate a settlement in Afghanistan and, given US claims about government ties to the network, risk Pakistain being branded a state sponsor of terror, local analysts warned.
A bit late to worry about what became obvious to observers long ago...
On Tuesday, hundreds of rustics gathered in Landikotal, a town on Pakistain's northwestern border with Afghanistan, mobilised by religious party Jamaat-e-Islami to protest against the United States.
Waving party flags and wearing ribbons inscribed with Koranic verses, dozens of rustics joined the throng armed with Kalashnikovs, an AFP news hound said.
"We announce the holy war against America if they attack Pakistain," Siraj-Ul-Haq, the party's deputy head, told the gathering.
"The whole nation will wage a jihad against America and will fight against them shoulder to shoulder with Pak armed forces," Haq added.
Given the history of the Army of the Pure at losing their wars, you may want to rethink that.
JI has no seats in the national assembly, but anti-Americanism is rampant in the country of 167 million, fuelled by beliefs that Islamist militancy is a direct result of the US war in Afghanistan.
So even when most of your countrymen share your sentiments, they still won't vote for your candidates? What is so wrong with you that they turn away?
Before setting off for Landikotal, the crowd rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud such as "Death to America™", Allah Akhbar (God is great) and al-Jihad (holy war).
Although nothing suggests the United States is considering a cross-border incursion, Paks fear action from American ground troops.
Various special forces have been ghosting across the border for years, guys, and beyond that the UAVs have been doing yeoman's work. But y'all keep up a lookout for columns of tanks, if that makes you feel better.
The alliance between Pakistain and the United States in the 10-year war in Afghanistan and against Al-Qaeda hit rock bottom this year in the wake of the unilateral American raid that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who had a brief but splitting headache... near Islamabad on May 2.
The Haqqani group was founded by former CIA asset turned Al-Qaeda ally Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was close to Pakistain and the US spy agency during the 1980s anti-Soviet resistance, and its leaders are based in North Wazoo.
Today the United States depends on Pakistain, largely for shipping the bulk of its supplies to the 140,000 US-led foreign troops in landlocked Afghanistan, but also to counter the threat from beturbanned goons in the border areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
#1
Pakistani tribesmen threaten US with holy war which differs from their current holy war in what way?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/28/2011 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
Kinda of a moot point since the Islamist Jihad is GLOBAL/UNIVERSAL in scope???
#3
That's how I feel about that whole damn country! I'd very much enjoy to hoot and hollar and burning the PAK flag and threaten holy war against them.
#7
I suddenly had an image of stilted-jihadis rushing into the ocean hollering, then they end up drowning because swim lessons weren't part of their education.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/28/2011 19:43 Comments ||
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#8
Re: Holy War? Say what, like a Crusade?
Fuck 'em. Bag'em 'n tag'em, every single collective asshole of 'em.
[Dawn] Pak Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... on Tuesday complained of negative messages from Washington and warned that any US raid across the Afghan border to target Haqqani group hard boyz would be a violation of his country's illusory sovereignty. But Haqqani raids across the border into Afghanistan don't violate that country's sovereignty?
"The negative messaging, naturally that is disturbing my people," Gilani told Rooters in an interview. "If there are messages that are not appropriate to our friendship, then naturally it is extremely difficult to convince my public." I wouldn't mind seeing as a headline U.S. WARNS PAKISTAIN AGAINST JERKING THE NATIONAL CHAIN
"We are a sovereign country. How can they come and raid in our country?" he added, when asked how Islamabad would respond if there was a unilateral military operation by the United States inside Pakistain. Afghanistan is also a sovereign country. How can you allow military forces to be maintained and used against it? How can you possibly expect impunity?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
The Taliban + China have repor given their full support to Islamabad.
* CHINA = Post-Kabul Embassy PAK is still their "ALL-WEATHER" ALLY + PARTNER.
----------
* WAFF > [Video]GENERAL HAMID GUL: US WILL START WW3 IFF WAR EXPANDS TO PAKISTAN.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > WE, NOT PAKISTAN, CONTROL HAQQANIS: TALIBAN.
ALso from DAILY TIMES.PK > [Interior Minister] MALIK VOWS TO ATTACK CHINESE MILITANTS HIDING IN TRIBAL AREAS.
#4
The US PR team is otherwise occupied, working feverishly against Tea Partiers, middle America and those sounding the alarm against Islamic conquest.
#5
"The US PR team is otherwise occupied, working feverishly against Tea Partiers, middle America and those sounding the alarm against Islamic conquest."
Don't forget big oil, corporate jets, ATM machines, millionaires and billionaires, tax cuts for the rich, obesity, and unicorns.
Tony Blair's future as Middle East peace envoy was in jeopardy after the Palestinian Authority said it was set to sever all contact with him because of his "bias" towards Israel.
The senior echelons of the Palestine Liberation Organisation are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss a proposal to declare Mr Blair persona non grata, officials said.
Predicting unanimous support for the motion from the entire Palestinian leadership, they said the intention was to isolate the former prime minister to such an extent that his position would become untenable.
Mr Blair has been viewed with an element of distrust by some Palestinians ever since his appointment as the envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East – the mediating body comprising the United States, the EU, the UN and Russia – on the day he left Downing Street in June 2007.
But antagonism has mounted over allegations that he lobbied European powers to vote against a Palestinian bid for statehood submitted to the United Nations in New York last week. "We have been extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with Mr Blair's performance since he became envoy, but particularly in the past few weeks," a senior Palestinian official said.
No formal request for Mr Blair's dismissal has been made to the Quartet, and it is likely the Palestinians will come under intense US and European pressure to change course and desist from making a public pronouncement on his ostracism.
#1
"over allegations that he lobbied European powers to vote against a Palestinian bid for statehood submitted to the United Nations in New York last week."
Good for him.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/28/2011 21:54 Comments ||
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Iran plans to send ships near the Atlantic coast of the United States, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting a commander.
"The Navy of the Iranian Army will have a powerful presence near the United States borders," read the headline of the story, in Farsi.
"Commander of the Navy of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran There's a right jawbreakerof a title. Does it come with sprockets?
broke the news about the plans for the presence of this force in the Atlantic Ocean and said that the same way that the world arrogant power is present near our marine borders, we, with the help of our sailors who follow the concept of the supreme jurisprudence, shall also establish a powerful presence near the marine borders of the United States," the story said. The reference to the "world arrogant power" was presumably intended to refer to the United States.
State-run Press TV said Sayari had announced similar plans in July. In February, two Iranian Navy ships traversed the Suez Canal in the first such voyages by Iranian ships since 1979.
U.S. Defense Department officials had no immediate reaction to Tuesday's announcement. The United States has deployed fleets to the Persian Gulf in the past. Nice ships you got there. Be a shame is something were to happen to them...
#1
Hey, fellas, there's some attack submarines trailing you.....keep that in mind.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/28/2011 14:44 Comments ||
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#2
Ali Fadavi, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Navy chief, commented enigmatically: "When we are in the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish direct contact with the United States."
I suspect this means that they intend to stay in international waters, and pay a visit to Venezuela.
#5
They say the Atlantic can get mighty cold, especially at the bottom.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2011 16:36 Comments ||
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#6
Sayari, you lost ANOTHER submarine?
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/28/2011 16:40 Comments ||
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#7
As I said yesterday, this ought to be an interesting trip, considering the Iranian vessels are littoral design and kitted out for tropical conditions, and they are intending to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the next several months. Any odds from the bookmakers on how many ships DON'T survive the crossing yet?
#10
"The Iranians do have an oiler capable of making the trip to the bottom, the Kharg."
FTFY, Pappy.
"Sayari, you lost ANOTHER submarine?"
And EC takes the lead for snark o' the day.™ ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/28/2011 19:23 Comments ||
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#11
with a knowledgeable audience, no less :-)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/28/2011 20:08 Comments ||
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#12
More ...
WAFF > IRAN NAVY TO BUILD AIRCRAFT CARRIERS.
To paraph 1970's SIX MILYUHN DOLLAR MAN OPENER > "Gentlemen, Iran says they can build them, they have the technology [ + designs]", all ready to go.
Wid pro-Islamist Groups already holding sway in Libyuh + Egypt thanks to the "Arab Spring(s)", just to wait for AQIM/AQNA = AL-QAEDA to expand + destabilize, take over Morrocco, Algiers, etc. across from the STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR [Atlantic open access]...
#13
Somehow I think this will remain posturing. But if their little armada did try to poke around, I wonder how many different nation's submarines would be shadowing them to try to analyze our responses.
Posted by: James ||
09/28/2011 21:59 Comments ||
Top||
#14
In other news Al Qaeda is getting mad with Dinnerjacket
In Cuba? No way, the Cuban gov are control freaks, there is no way that they would allow such a thing.
I'd be more worried about Mexico
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/28/2011 22:59 Comments ||
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#18
The ships the Iranians are sending out are, militarily speaking, a joke, they're not much better than target hulks when it comes to combat capability against a real blue water navy or coastal airforces with naval training.
That being said, there is one ship that caught my eye as interesting - and Pappy named it.
The Kharq is a oiler/replenishment ship, former Brit built back in late 70's for the Shah, based on British navy Olwen class fast fleet oilers, and delivered to the Ayatollah sometime thereafter. Supposedly a refit in 93. She has helipad and space for 3 Sea Kings. 33000 tons, 250 crew, so she's good sized ship for a navy that small.
So they do have something to give them legs. Question is do they have the crew training for those sorts of at-sea replenishment in the mid Atlantic in autumn. This is still pretty much a bunch of puddle pirates, operationally; my guess is they are not capable of doing this so they will replenish and refuel when in port along the way.
This brings the question: Why bring the Kharq other than for appearance sakes?
The big issue here is what cargo she is carrying to Venezuela, and what is she picking up there. Don't pay attention to the loud flourishes, pay attention to the substance.
#19
Very valid points OS.
The relationship between Iran and Venezuela needs close scrutiny.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/28/2011 23:26 Comments ||
Top||
#20
I seem to recall the Iranian navy been sailing pirate duty off of Somalia...If they have, how would that impact their ability to refuel on the way to our east coast?
FOR the 26 months that US man Josh Fattal was held captive in Iran, his mother and brother were ever-present voices calling for his release. But his father, Jacob Fattal, never said a word.
It's now clear why: The family feared that their Jewish faith - and Jacob Fattal's ties to Israel - could make Josh's unbearable situation worse because of Iran's hard line against Israel.
Jacob Fattal is an Iraqi-born Jew who lived in Israel before moving to the United States and raising a family, according to reports in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the Philadelphia-based Jewish Exponent.
#3
Yeah, but Sarkozy is far less likely to be a MOSSAD agent.
It's a standard rule of thumb that intelligence agencies post their spies in 3rd countries, hopefully neutral ones. The largest Soviet "interest section", for example, was in Canada. This actually benefited Canadian citizens around the world, because the Soviets told all their client countries to respect Canada's neutrality, and not harass their citizens.
The US is a natural for Israel, not because of our neutrality, but because we have such "open access" around the world, something perhaps even more valuable than neutrality.
#4
Yeah, but Sarkozy is far less likely to be a MOSSAD agent
He doesn't seem to radiate competence very much... and there's all the affairs and whatnot, which is kinda a no-no for intelligence people, no matter how nice her birthday suit is.
#5
The weird thing is that some intelligence agencies actually go out of their way to recruit homosexuals as field people, as long as they and their partner remain monogamous.
This is because they are often a better fit for the recruitment matrix. That is, it is often a cultural taboo to suggest that two men are homosexuals, even if they travel together. While foreign men may sexually harass a woman agent, they won't harass male agents, as long as they avoid other homosexuals.
And even if they get a government angry with them, they might be able to locate and use that country's homosexual underground to escape.
IRAN may be just six months away from developing a nuclear bomb, despite international attempts to thwart the program through sanctions and cyber attacks.
Two years after an underground installation in the city of Qmo was revealed in a joint presser by US President Barack B.O. Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... and former British prime minister Gordon Brown ... the hapless former British PM ... , Iran has significantly advanced its uranium enrichment program at the site.
The latest report from the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency concludes that Iran has not only boosted production but upgraded the level of enrichment from 3.5 per cent to almost 20 per cent and has installed more sophisticated centrifuges, which it is moving to the bunker in Qom, apparently to protect them from Arclight airstrikes.
Low-enriched uranium is used for nuclear power, which Iran insists is the purpose of its program.Weapons-grade uranium is about 90 per cent enriched.
"We believe if Iran broke out now they could have a bomb in six months," said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who runs the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. "They've done this right in front of our faces." Greg Jones, a defence analyst at the Nonproliferation Policy Education Centre, calculates that Iran could now produce a bomb within 62 days.
IAEA inspectors reported last weekend that Iran had installed its new centrifuges after evading Western attempts to block supplies of the special steel required. These IR-2 centrifuges have replaced unreliable and antiquated machines. The new ones, which Iran claims to have developed in its own laboratories, are more reliable, speeding up production.
Iran had got away with moving from 3.5 per cent to 20 per cent enrichment by saying it was to produce medical isotopes at the Tehran Research Centre, Mr Albright said. "We're worried they now say they need to go to 60 per cent, or even 90 per cent ... saying it's all civilian for the Tehran Research Centre."
#1
But, but, the CIA assured the country that Iran quit working on nuclear weapons. I want a refund of my tax dollars spent on that useless organization.
Addressing a conference in Tehran on Wednesday, entitled "The World Without Zionism", Ahmadinejad said, "To those who doubt, to those who ask is it possible, or those who do not believe, I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible."
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 judicial official says Libya's ex-prime minister 
Yemen's president appears to have tricked his Saudi hosts when he unexpectedly returned home last week, exacerbating the stand-off between his regime and the country's pro-democracy protest movement.
The three men who planned to attack cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the Jyllands-Posten newspaper were charged in Norway with conspiracy to commit terrorism, according to a BBC report on Tuesday. 
The 
[Dawn] As Islamabad and Washington continued discussions on Monday over latest round of crisis in their troubled relations spurred by allegations linking ISI to the Haqqani network, Pakistain opened consultations with some of its close allies over the tense situation.
Kurram Agency
[Dawn] The Taliban took the unusual step Tuesday of insisting that it, not Pakistain, controls the Haqqani network, with Islamabad under growing US pressure to cut alleged ties with the group.
[Dawn] Pakistain's interior minister Tuesday vowed to attack Chinese 
Militants from China's western Xinjiang are known to be training and fighting on the Pakistain side of the Afghan border, along with al Qaeda and other international
[Dawn] The Senate's Standing Committee on Defense said on Tuesday that the US will never dare to attack Pakistain, however Pakistain is fully capable to retaliate if ever necessary, DawnNews reported.
[Dawn] Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said here on Sunday that the Haqqani group that the US was now charging with attacks on the American embassy in Kabul had been CIA's "blue-eyed boy" for many years.
The Chairman of Tahreek-e-Insaaf, 
[Dawn] Pak Prime Minister 
IRAN may be just six months away from developing a nuclear bomb, despite international attempts to thwart the program through sanctions and cyber attacks.
