Afghan President Hamid Karzai has advised Taliban leader Mullah Omar to return to Afghanistan and join him in the political process, Geo News reported on Friday. In an interview with the channel, Karzai said, "I propose that Mullah Omar return to Afghanistan as I will be responsible for his security and answerable to the whole of the world on his behalf." Dostum is a practical man. If he knows where Mullah Omar is, likely Mullah Omar will meet with a terrible accident -- something along the line of falling under a tank. If he doesn't do it, Ismail Khan might. Or somebody else.
According to AFP, the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and France on Friday voiced support for Karzai's bid to hold talks with the Taliban. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead. See what happens."
Talking to reporters at a Pentagon news conference, General David McKiernan, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said, "I think that's a political decision that will ultimately be made by political leadership. Ultimately, the solution in Afghanistan is going to be a political solution not a military solution." "I have my doubts it's gonna involve Mullah Omar going out of the Taliban business. Maybe his successor, twice or three times removed, not him." French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that in some regions in Afghanistan, there must be contacts with the Taliban at the local level, AFP reported. He said Karzai must not engage hardcore Taliban.
This article starring:
David McKiernan
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
Speaking of tank tracks, my friend's dad just died last week. He was with the British Army in battles with the Japanese in Burma. They slowly crushed enemy soldiers under the tanks. I'm sure Dostum would know what to do with Blinky.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/04/2008 14:38 Comments ||
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NATO forces in Afghanistan will step up attacks on drug lords and narcotics traffickers who are supporting a Taliban insurgency that has rebounded in the past year, according to the top US commander in Afghanistan.
General David McKiernan also warned on Wednesday that US forces can't copy a central element of military success in Iraq -- recruiting local tribes to support them -- because the Afghan tribal structure has been shattered by 30 years of war. He made it clear that NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, was not going to eradicate poppy crops. Afghanistan is the world's top grower of opium poppies, which are processed into heroin.
But by drawing a clear link between the narcotics trade and the insurgency, General McKiernan was outlining what could be an important and expanding role for US and NATO troops as they seek to eliminate a source of money and weapons for the insurgency.
"I think there's a need for increased involvement in ISAF in assisting the Afghan Government in counter-narcotics efforts," said the ISAF commander. "Where we can make a clear intelligence linkage between a narcotics dealer or a facility and the insurgency, I consider that a force protection issue, and we can deal with that in a military way."
General McKiernan said the Taliban would get at least $US100 million ($A126 million) in heroin proceeds this year.
On the subject of tribal outreach, he said it was not possible to import the US experience in Iraq, where US commanders directly recruited and paid Sunni tribes to switch sides and fight against al-Qaeda, he said. "What I find in Afghanistan," General McKiernan said during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, "is a degree of complexity in the tribal system which is much greater than what I found in Iraq. One of the real differences between Afghanistan and Iraq was, if you recall, Afghanistan was in the midst of a civil war when we intervened. And that potential is still there."
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has often cited the US strategy in Iraq as a model for how to win in Afghanistan.
Palin did also. This may end up in an ad by the Obama people ...
There's some Army politics at work here. McKiernan appears to be a Big Army guy who clashed with Tommy Franks over the threat McK saw from Saddam's Fedayeen. He wanted a lot more troops from Rumsfeld in 2003 and pretty publicly lost post-war command in Iraq to Sanchez. I'm not saying he's wrong in this case but his history suggests that if he's going to get it wrong it will by by overestimating the strength of irregular forces ... or more precisely, dismissing what good strategy can do with regard to them. This is a jab at Petraeus. It may be an accurate assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, or it may not, but it's definitely got an Army-political dimension to it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The tribal system is more complex, but it appears to my uneducated eye that the other factors that complicated the situation in Iraq -- Army, Republican Guard, a one-party system enforced by random terror for going on two generations, a substantial urban middle class -- are non-existent in Afghanistan, simplifying the mindsets that must be melded into a nation. Six of one, half a dozen the other?
#4
It may be an accurate assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, or it may not, but it's definitely got an Army-political dimension to it.
From some stuff I picked up this past week, Petraeus isn't a general that will tolerate a bunch of politics in the midst of a war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2008 16:07 Comments ||
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#5
Read some of Michael Yon's latest postings from Afghanistan. It will be a lot tougher to tame that country (tame or bring into the modern world). The cities are one thing, but the country, organized as it is around family compounds/mini-forts, is far more insular/diffuse and will have to be dealt with one at a time. Laborious to say the least (which means expensive and I've lost my taste for large government expenses right now).
(SomaliNet) As a massive influx of Somali refugees fleeing a brutal insurgency across the border stretches the facilities to breaking point, tension is rising at the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp complex in north-west Kenya, say United Nations officials. Sources say the complex, made up of three separate camps stretching over 50 square kilometres, now hosts 215 000 refugees - the vast majority of them Somalis. It was set up 16 years ago to hold only 90 000.
Meanwhile, local residents in Kenya, who have long been unhappy with the impact of the camp on the community, are losing patience with the seemingly endless stream of refugees. They have been staging demonstrations and have handed over an official letter of protest to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). "We have been working with the community, but they have a feeling that much more needs to be done," Emmanuel Nyabera, the UNHCR's information officer in Kenya, said on Thursday. "We are looking at the document and are hoping we can have a meeting with the government before the weekend."
Nyabera said that an area had been identified for a fourth camp and that discussions on final approval were under way. However, locals are unlikely to be appeased by an increase in the capacity of the camp. The desert region - in recent years hit by both drought and floods - is far from being an economic powerhouse. Residents in the region want to see more jobs being created for locals and are concerned about the environmental impact of the camp.
An aid worker based in Dadaab said locals were demonstrating daily and demanding that the refugees leave. There had also been reports of stoning of UN vehicles. Almost a million Somalis have fled the brutal insurgency, which seems to be getting worse. Most of those fleeing the violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu remain displaced within Somalia, but the flow to Kenya remains constant despite the border being officially closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Give 'em guns and ammo and send 'em back across the border.
2 problems solved.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/04/2008 0:32 Comments ||
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#2
The British have concerns over the growing number of Somalis there may be linked to AQ, and, unfortunately, the UNHCR's usual solution is to send the refugees to the West. Considering the global economic crisis, cutting the UN off the teat should be the first spending cut made for the US taxpayers, as refugees get US welfare assistence or live on the dole, with allotments for each wife the Muslims bring. BS' recommendation the Somalis take some personal responsibility seems like the only logical approach right now.
#4
unfortunately, the UNHCR's usual solution is to send the refugees to the West.
Which is why you get swedish girls being gangraped by somalis... in Sweden. How many sweden would have thought that possible even half a century ago?
And I remember reading here about the somali streetgangs in Chicago? Or those assertive somali cab drivers and assorted workers DEMANDING amenagements for their islamic faith... Seems those refugees are not the grateful type.
Leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries on Friday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to suspend efforts to indict Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on genocide charges. Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who hosted a meeting of the 79-strong ACP grouping, said the summit had resolved that it was better to use diplomatic rather than legal initiatives. "We believe there should be room for more diplomatic efforts" to resolve the crisis in Darfur, said Kufuor.
On Wednesday ICC prosecutors sought to persuade a panel of judges to grant their request for a warrant for Bashir.
In July, chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for Bashir on 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In a draft resolution, the ACP leaders had called for "the withdrawal of the ICC demarche to allow for political diplomatic efforts," but according to Kufuor they finally agreed to change the wording to replace "withdrawal" with "suspension."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The ACP? Another organization sponsored by the International Association of Banquet Caterers?
(SomaliNet) The Islamist insurgent group fighting in Somalia, Alshabab, warned of reprisals some of the international aid organisations operating in Somalia if they do not desist from "anti-Islamic activities" they are involved in, Al Shabab spokesman Sheik Muqtar Robow Abu Mansur told APA during an interview on Friday.
Sheik Muqtar warned that the NGOs, International Medical Corps and Care International, will face negative consequences if they do not stop what he referred to as "bad activities against Islam". Sheik Muqtar did not give details on the anti-Islamic activities these NGOs are being accused of. "We can no longer tolerate what they are doing and this is our last warning. We hope they will understand and if not we will take tough steps against them."
Sheik Abu Mansur also urged other international aid agencies active in Somalia not to interfere in "what cannot be compatible with their regular humanitarian jobs".
"They claim that they came here for humanitarian purposes, but we have gathered more reliable information about the bad things they are engaged in, so we can say they have crossed the line and we have to go against that," he stated.
The Sheik who fought in Afghanistan in 2001-2002 said that after a warning, the next step of his group will be to punish International Medical Crops (IMC) and Care International.
The representatives of both aid agencies are yet to react to the warning from Al Shabab, which is one of the strongest insurgent groups operating in Somalia. However, it is unclear how both Aid groups will be able to continue their humanitarian works in this lawless nation of Somalia after Al Shabab's Friday warning.
Earlier this week, the Union of Islamic Courts of Somalia, another powerful insurgent group, announced that it will guarantee the safety of aid workers in the areas it controls while asking them to increase their humanitarian activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Here's a clue: Don't go to any country run by islamonazis and you're less likely to be killed for your kindness.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/04/2008 0:29 Comments ||
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#3
These people REALLY, REALLY need a good B$$$h slap by a dozen or so BUFFS from 40K. It might take two or three, but after that, I think ALL the muzzies might be a little better behaved.
If not, we can continue...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2008 16:30 Comments ||
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U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has offered to retain a Rwandan general as the global agency's second-highest-ranking commander in Darfur, Sudan, despite allegations that he oversaw troops responsible for war crimes in Rwanda during the 1990s,
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
despite allegations that he oversaw troops responsible for war crimes in Rwanda during the 1990s
Imagine Nazi Germany had been conquered by Jews. Taht is what happened in Rwanda. Someone wonders that there was acts of revenge?
BTW, France who had protected the (future) genocidal Rwandan government before the genocide, covered its retreat during it and rearmed its followers after it was at the head of those tellin of war crimes.
The threat level is at the "severe end of severe" according to sources who say the level of "chatter" among terrorist cells has increased in recent months. The security services say they are now operating at full stretch to counter the elevated threat.
Britain's close relationship with the US has been particularly inflammatory after cross-border raids into Pakistan by American forces.
Three paragraphs and it's all our fault ...
Security officials had considered downgrading the official threat level from "severe" but that plan has now been abandoned as a result of the increase in terrorist activity.
A senior counter terrorism source said: "We were looking at the threat level six months ago and asking how severe is severe? But it is October now and we are at the severe end of severe.
"Al-Qaeda's core exists on the Afghan-Pakistan border. The arrangement of people changes at a frighteningly rapid pace but they have enough people to replace them and there are people who are looking at us and at external operations, some at this country in particular.
"We are not chasing shadows. These are potential threats to security and life. Police and the security network are operating at full capacity."
The source said a review by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which looks at information from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, had considered downgrading the threat from "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely, to "substantial," meaning an attack is a strong possibility, but that move was abandoned after the level of activity increased.
The assessment, which has five levels, has been considered severe since the arrest of the men allegedly plotting to attack transatlantic airliners in 2006 but moved up to "critical," meaning an attack is imminent, during last year's car bomb alert which led to the attack on Glasgow airport.
It is now only just below that level.
MI5 is watching around 200 networks across Britain and MI6 and GCHQ are constantly monitoring communications on the crucial Afghan-Pakistan border area.
Although key commanders have been killed in air strikes, one of the particular concerns is the disappearance of Rashid Rauf from Birmingham, an alleged al-Qaeda mastermind who escaped from Pakistani custody last December.
Security officials are also worried about threats which may come from off the radar. They are particularly worried by lone operators who "self-radicalise" over the internet and stock-pile chemicals from domestic sources. "They are discreet from traditional networks and have a very small intelligence signature which makes them hard to pick up," the source said.
There is also a fear that some in the Somali community in Britain could have "potential connections" with al-Qaeda terrorists. Last week's attack on the US embassy in the Yemen means security officials now consider the Arabian peninsular "particularly combustible."
"Over the past year, al-Qaeda has invested huge energy in outlying organisations," the source said.
But it is the lone operators who pose the biggest threat, particularly since attempts to cut off the supply of "kitchen chemicals" used in home made bombs, such as hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate, have been unsuccessful because they are so widely available. "We are doing a lot of research work into the detection of explosives at train stations and so on but this really demonstrates the importance of preventing radicalisation," the source said.
Part of the strategy has involved tackling al-Qaeda propaganda over the internet. "We are looking at the way we see the threat as a movement by the al-Qaeda core and we're finding a new language to help move on the debate," the source said. "Whatever they do, we want to do."
The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, a part of the Home Office which co-ordinates Britain's count-terrorism strategy, is working on a number of strategies for diverting vulnerable young men and de-radicalising those who have become involved with extremist organisations.
"We have limited evidence about what works but we want to get moving forward," the source said. "We need some quick wins."
To be more specific, here is how you should you act in different situations based on the alert levels.
How should I store my firearms?
*Green: Throw them in the fire. There is no more need for weapons.
*Blue: Wrap them in some rags and store them in the attic somewhere in case you need them one day.
*Yellow: Keep both your guns and ammo readily accessible.
*Orange: Load your gun and carry it on you at all times, even around the house.
*Red: The gun should be in your hand, pointed in front of you with your finger resting on the trigger.
I see a stranger outside.
*Green: Maybe he could give your kids a ride to school.
*Blue: He might be lost; ask him what he's doing here.
*Yellow: Stay in your house and avoid him. Strangers bad.
*Orange: Run outside and pistol-whip him while questioning his involvement with terrorism.
*Red: Kill him; no questions asked.
I hear a noise at night.
*Green: That's just the house settling; go back to sleep.
*Blue: Probably nothing, but you better check it out.
*Yellow: Grab your gun and call 911.
*Orange: No time for police; run through your house shooting anything that moves.
*Red: Initiate the house's auto-destruct sequence; leap out window.
You see a hippy.
*Green: Punch him.
*Blue: Kick him.
*Yellow: Punch him then kick him.
*Orange: Punch him then kick him and then stomp on him.
*Red: Strangle him.
You receive a strange envelope in the mail with no return address.
*Green: Rip it open; who knows what fun lies inside!
*Blue: Open it carefully just in case.
*Yellow: Don't touch it and call the police.
*Orange: Can't wait for the authorities; toss it out the window and then unload a gun into it.
*Red: For the love of God, immediately flee from the envelope. Hunt down and kill the mailman.
You see some movement in a nearby tree.
*Green: It's probably a squirrel. Hello squirrel.
*Blue: Better check out what it is to be on the safe side.
*Yellow: Might be the escaped monkey from the zoo. Better contact the authorities.
*Orange: It's a ninja! Fire indiscriminately into the treetops.
*Red: Set fire to the tree and all trees around it. No safe haven for ninjas!
You see a strange van parked nearby.
*Green: It must be an ice cream truck. Let's get ice cream.
*Blue: Check to make sure it's legally parked.
*Yellow: Better call the FBI to check this one out.
*Orange: Politely knock on the van door. Kill everyone inside.
*Red: Shoot the van with a rocket propelled grenade. Kill anyone who protests; they're terrorists too.
You realize the person you are talking to is a Communist.
*Green: Kill him.
*Blue: Kill him.
*Yellow: Kill him.
*Orange: Kill him.
*Red: Kill him and burn his body.
You see a stray dog.
*Green: Go pet the cute little puppy.
*Blue: Better check if he has a dog tag so you can get him back to his owner.
*Yellow: Call animal control.
*Orange: It's some sort of terrorist trick. Shoot the dog with a sniper rifle.
*Red: Destroy the dog with a thermite charge and then kill all witnesses.
#4
For every one innocent civilian killed within this land we need to remove one mosque and its Muslim congregation from within this land. That would change the balance of power.
#5
You guys on rantburg are all wrong. Just do what they say and no one will get hurt. They just want peace and their place in the sun. And they're really mad about all the humiliation they have experienced, which is our fault. So put down your weapons and TRUST. It will be okay.
The Royal Navy has mothballed almost half of its remaining fleet of destroyers as it desperately attempts to save money in the face of a plunging budget.
The Fleet now has just five air defence warships left to protect vessels missile or aircraft attack at a time when other nations such as China, India and Iran are investing heavily in anti-ship warfare.
Three Type 42 destroyers -- Exeter, Nottingham and Southampton -- have been "parked up" in Portsmouth at "reduced readiness" up to two years before they were due to be decommissioned.
Falklands War veterans are particularly angry after Exeter, the last serving operational ship from the campaign in which it shot down several Argentine fighters, was refused permission to fly a paying-off pennant when it entered harbour after its last mission.
Can't have any of that retro patriotic nonsense - didn't those vets get the multiculti post-imperial memo?
Britain's force of destroyers and frigates has now been reduced from 35 to 22 in the last decade despite government promises it would not slip below 25. It will be another two years before the first of six of the highly sophisticated Type 45 destroyers can be deployed on operations leaving a "gaping hole" in defences.
Pressures on the Navy's budget are immense with cuts of 20 per cent predicted in the next decade reducing the ship building budget to by £4 billion to £14 billion.
Senior Navy commanders have told The Daily Telegraph that the nation is taking "serious risks" in protecting carrier groups or amphibious flotillas and have accused the Government of neglecting the Fleet that protects the 90 per cent of Britain's imported trade.
It has already ditched the excellent air protection offered by Sea Harriers which were disbanded two years ago and at least two Type 42s have gone on operations with their advanced Sea Dart air defence missiles disabled to save cash.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said the Government was attempting to "castrate the Navy" by tying up ships in dock. "This is an unacceptable price to pay for the Government's failure to plan properly at a time when we facing increasing demands to intercept drugs, arms, people smuggling, pirates as well as conduct operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Richard Scott, Editor of Jane's Navy International, said the Navy was taking "risk on risk" with its neglect of anti-air and anti-submarine warfare. "Type 42 destroyers have crept over horizon without anyone noticing. We have lost a third of the fleet in the last 10 years. The question remains is where's it all going to end up?"
So it's clear why the Brits can't, for example, help with anti-piracy operations off Somalia ...
With the Armed Forces so overstretched the Navy has been forced to provide sailors and Royal Marines to fight in land-locked Afghanistan where it will make up half the force of 8,000 British troops for the next six months. The deployment has used up valuable training time and manpower.
Exeter and Southampton are due to retire in 2009, with Nottingham, which was severely damaged after hitting a rock off Australia in 2002, scheduled to decommission in 2010. But they are unlikely to leave harbour again.
Despite the cuts Navy officers have indicated that the Navy continues to carry out secret surveillance operations against certain countries that cannot be reported.
"We are completely stuffed in terms of air defence and we are taking a hell of a risk with the sufficient resources to do the job properly," a Navy commander said. "But the Navy has done some incredible things against certain countries in last few weeks that we all should be proud of. But these types of skills are so precious that we cannot afford to diminish them any further."
Despite vehement Ministry of Defence denials The Daily Telegraph reported last year that the Navy faced losing half its fleet.
A Navy spokesman said the ships would remain "available for operations with the appropriate notice, if required".
"We ensure we have sufficient forces ready to meet the perceived threats,"
#3
IMO, your patriotism is a bit misdirected .5MT---but have it your own way. Just one question---you've any idea how many mighty nations like your Britain we've seen come and go in the last four thousand years?
#4
Britain is not poor. This is an intentional policy. The end stages of terminal leftism. They could probably fund a credible Navy using the money they waste on paying welfare benefits to Muslim fundamentalists.
#6
Grom, you might try mustering sufficient class to at least be sympathetic. AS YOU KNOW, the reality is that if it wasn't for Britain, there would BE no country called Israel. They wrote the Balfour Declaration, pushed the Mandate through the League of Nations, allowed Jewish immigration for years in the teeth of massive Arab bitching and riot, protected you from those same Arabs who would have been happy to kill the lot of you, and insured victory over the man who would have seen the last of you sacrificed to Moloch.
You Jews OWED them big time and you paid them back with terror, murder and bombings simply for trying to maintain the law. I'm not British but the business of kidnapping and murdering Sergeants Paice and Martin is a lasting stench in the nostrils of decent people everywhere. They were innocent of anything except being British, and your people cold-bloodedly hung them and then booby-trapped the site.
Your people the British punished were bank robbers, bombers and assassins breaking the civil law. After your terror campaign against them, it would have been perfectly understandable if the British would have disarmed your people and let the Arabs run riot at your expense.
Instead, they honorably resigned the Mandate and refused to even provide ammunition to Glubb's Arab Legion when they ran low during the 1948 War. They treated your people a hell of a lot more decently than you treated them.
I've been, and am still, a strong supporter of Israel. I know what your country represents over in that part of the world and appreciate it for what it is. You, however, are one ungrateful S.O.B. because I've seen you criticize both America and Britain numerous times for trivial things when, if it wasn't for those two countries, you and your countrymen would have long since been fed to the flames of a new Auschwitz.
You and your country exist only because America has your back. The British are our allies who are bravely fighting side by side with us in two wars--wars that definitely benefit you and your country, by the way. You would do well to remember that before you start criticizing them on an American blog.
#12
It seems that the best thing for England to do is for some of its wealthier citizens, along with the young men of the Royals, to form a private military in the Caribbean, as a latch ditch effort to save their nation from its elected government.
Importantly, *not* to overthrow the English government, but to have a reserve available in case, once England is disarmed, it is attacked or invaded by a domestic or foreign force in an effort to capture it.
Mostly light infantry, with a few light and fast blue water attack warships and commercial type aircraft to shuttle troops.
The majority of their personnel would be "honorable" foreigners, such as Gurkhas and Sikhs, willing to engage in ferocious, no quarter combat against their enemies, in an exterminate or be exterminated fight.
To authorize this, the King would have to leave England, appointing a Protector to restore order. Parliament would be dissolved, and those responsible for the disorder, foreign and domestic, would be put to the sword.
#14
Hey, look at the bright side; once all the RN ships are laid up, Iran cannot capture any and humiliate the country by parading the sailors around. And the cash saved by NOT having to ransom them can then be used for other important things, like mookfare
The U.S. government plans to build a new embassy near the River Thames, moving from historic Grosvenor Square, which has been associated with the United States since shortly after the nation was born in 1776.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Expecting bad times there are we ? Going to be fully armored with gun turrets ? Fully failsafe entry instead of just swinging doors ?
#6
The article, or at least the part of it I read (not terribly interested), just said "near the River Thames". That could mean anything from next door to the Tower of London to across from Windsor Castle, 30 miles upstream. OR they could be moving it closer to the Channel, where a carrier could pick up the staff without having to enter the river's mouth.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2008 17:16 Comments ||
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German Foreign Minister Steinmeier said in an interview he wants to scrap the Afghanistan mandate for German commandos, thus ending Germany's contribution to the US-led force fighting terrorism in the region. In an interview with news magazine Der Spiegel, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the hundred elite German soldiers stationed in Afghanistan since 2001 have not been deployed "a single time." Interesting.
That's disappointing but not surprising. The Germans simply haven't been willing to carry their weight.
The troops are part of the US-led "Operation Enduring Freedom" charged with fighting terrorism. The force is deeply controversial because of mounting civilian casualties in its fight against the Taliban. Considering that increased enemy activity is causing the "mounting" civilian casualties, this "argument" is a ridiculous bit of sophistry.
The minister said he was in favour of removing the elite forces when the parliament debates in November whether to extend the mandate of Germany's participation in "Operation Enduring Freedom."
Instead, Steinmeier said, the "clear focus" for Berlin was to extend the number of German soldiers in Afghanistan under the NATO-led multinational International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). On Tuesday, the German parliament, in a special session, is to debate raising German troop levels by 1,000 to 4,500 soldiers. We can't "constantly raise our contribution without critically assessing existing commitments," Steinmeier told the magazine.
Makes sense in a way: if you won't let the commandos fight then why have them there? If the job of the German solider is to be security guard and social worker, put the commandos somewhere else. How 'bout Somalia? Or Darfur?
Steinmeier joins a growing chorus of German politician calling for a rethink of Germany's involvement in Afghanistan.
WHAT involvement? Their ROEs are so restrictive they're barely useful other than as a symbol, IIUC. Or have those ROEs changed recently? And are they trained and equipped to contribute to real combat? Or is this another case of Germany wanting credit when things are going well and disavowing participation when there's real work to be done?
On Saturday, The Christian Social (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Party, went further, urging the chancellor to come up with an exit strategy for the German army in Afghanistan. Perhaps John McCain ought to bring this up at a debate?
The chairman of the CSU's parliamentary group, Peter Ramsauer said that was the only way the extension of Germany's Afghanistan mandate for another year could be justified and would get "some support" from citizens.
Ramsauer added he hoped experts weren't right in predicting that the mission in Afghanistan would last for 10 to 15 years. "It will become all the more shorter if we begin to understand that the problems in Afghanistan can never be solved militarily alone," he said.
#1
Philosophically, Germans are pessimistic, but also realistic. While they might make a bold strike, it tends to be so hesitant that the momentum is lost. Their only really come into their own when in the defense, where they can be truly ferocious.
This is worsened by intrusive politicians directing the military leadership. They fancy themselves elites who inherently know more about military operations than soldiers.
#2
Hey Steinmeier, we can deploy their dead asses if you allow us to. No need to be barracks queens. Or do you just need them at home in case your coddled Muzz decide to attack you pitifully soft pussies ?
#5
I would argue that philosophically the Germans are Romantic pessimists, who think of themselves as deep, pure, hidden mountain lakes that must be protected from those who would come to pollute the water and ravage the landscape. Which is, of course, bloody nonsense. This is a country which, I was told, has legal rulings on which vehicle is entitled to the parking space when they approach simultaneously from opposite directions (it's the one that would turn right to get into the spot, if I recall correctly). It is not realistic to sue someone over such a thing, even on a Saturday morning at the grocery store when spaces are impossible to find.
#6
I suspect they're not going to leave until they set up a couple "Bay of Pigs" scenarios where their troops get sent off to be slaughtered by incompetent officers to "prove" they were defeated on the battlefield and Can't Win And Must Withdraw.
#8
Hey Germany,
Why don't you redeploy to Wiesbaden, and OUR armored division there can redeploy to Fort Hood, Fort Riley, Fort Carson, Fort Lewis, or any of the other facilities we have in THIS country for our troops? Maybe we can cut US troop levels so there's only one airbase (Ramstein) and one Army unit (not really sure what's left...), and you can begin building up for your OWN defense. And hey, it's been nice knowing you, really. BTW, watch out for that bear - he's got a MEAN bite. Or maybe you already know that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2008 17:24 Comments ||
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Potential jurors in the Fort Dix terrorism case have been asked who they think was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and whether they believe that "Islam endorses violence," according to a 41-page jury questionnaire made public yesterday by Judge Robert Kugler, who will preside over the forthcoming trial. They also were asked if heightened security in the courthouse during the proceedings would unduly influence them, and whether what they had heard or read about the case would affect their ability to render a fair verdict based only on evidence.
The questionnaire, submitted to more than 600 possible jury members this week, was designed to determine whether any pre-existing knowledge, bias or prejudice should preclude them from sitting on the panel. One section dealt entirely with Islam and included references to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and jihad.
Since Monday, each potential jury member has responded to 115 questions in the first phase of the selection process. They will face individual interviews next week by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The queries will be based in large part on answers provided in the questionnaires. Twelve jurors and six alternates will be chosen for the trial in U.S. District Court in Camden. Kugler said yesterday he hoped opening arguments could begin on Oct. 20. The trial is expected to last about eight weeks. Court will not be in session on Fridays, Kugler said.
Kugler previously ruled that the jurors, all South Jersey residents, would be chosen anonymously for security reasons. At yesterday's hearing, he reiterated his position with veiled references to two security problems that had already arisen. One, he said, dates back to the arraignment of the five defendants last year. Information about that incident, he said, "remains under seal." The judge said there was another matter "that caused grave concern" but has not been made public.
Among the queries on the questionnaire:
"In private matters, what words do you use to describe someone who practices the Islamic faith?"
"Is there anything about a case where a defendant or witness is Muslim . . . that would make it difficult for you to serve as a fair and impartial juror?"
"Do you believe that Islam endorses violence?"
"Is there anything about Islamic teachings or doctrines that is offensive to you?"
"If you were to hear that one or more of the defendants has expressed negative views of Jewish people, would you hold it against the defendant?"
"If you hear an allegation that any one of the defendants supported or sympathized with Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda or the Taliban, would you be biased for or against that particular defendant?"
"Who do you think is responsible for the attack of the United States on Sept. 11, 2001?"
The potential jurors also were asked how much they knew about "al-Qaeda," "jihad," "mujahideen" and "fatwa"; if they had ever attended a service at a mosque; and if they ever contributed "money or gifts to an organization that takes a position on Islam or Muslims."
DOVER, Del., Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden bid a safe farewell on Friday to 112 "citizen soldiers" headed to Iraq, including his son, and told them "thank you for answering the call of your country."
"God bless you and may He protect you," Biden said a day after his debate with his Republican rival Sarah Palin, who as Alaska's governor saluted her 20-year-old son off to war last month. "We take comfort in the knowledge ... that you are the best prepared group of citizen soldiers our country and this state has ever sent into harm's way," Biden said.
His son Joseph "Beau" Biden III, 39, is a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard's 261st Signal Brigade. Married with two children, he also is Delaware's attorney general, the state's elected chief public prosecutor. Members of his unit are to report by Sunday to Fort Bliss, Texas, before being deployed to Iraq for about a year.
Biden's son is assigned to the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps. The Guard did not disclose the duties of departing soldiers but those in positions similar to Biden's son have served as Army prosecutors, helping enforce military law.
Biden drew smiles and laughter at an otherwise largely somber ceremony when he said he had received advice from his son about his remarks. "'Dad, keep it short. We're in formation,'" the often long-winded Biden quoted his son as telling him.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
...My son heads out for USAF basic training on Jan 27th, then comes back to the SCANG. When it comes to our kids, I'll stand next to Joe Biden anytime.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/04/2008 7:34 Comments ||
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The NWFP government believes in the settlement of disputes through negotiations and does not favour bloodshed, NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour said on Friday.
In an interview with Daily Times, he said talks could only be held with those who shun violence and agree for peaceful means to remove grievances. He said the government was still ready to hold talks with the Taliban in Swat, if they stop violence and adopt peaceful means for the settlement of disputes.
Bilour said the Swat Taliban had been demanding the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 1999, in the Malakand Division, adding the government had provided them more by amending the regulation. He said it would take two to three months to implement the regulation.
The minister said Rs 200 million would be spent on the appointment of 100 judges and 500 supporting staff in the shariah courts in the area.
Bilour rejected the impression that the Awami National Party, which claims to be a secular political party, had accepted to enforce religious laws, saying "if shariah courts could be established in England then why not in Swat".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
In an interview with Daily Times, he said talks could only be held with those who shun violence and agree for peaceful means to remove grievances.
All righty then. Thanks for wasting our time...
Posted by: The Daily Times ||
10/04/2008 16:23 Comments ||
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(AKI) - A confidential report by Spain's Defence Ministry has claimed that Pakistan's intelligence agency and Al-Qaeda aided Taliban militants in assassination plots against Afghan government leaders. The confidential report, produced in August 2005, was obtained by Spain's Cadena Ser radio and posted online.
The 2005 report said that it was possible that Taliban training camps in Pakistan were being backed by the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI. "It appears possible, that advance IED (improvised explosive device or roadside bombs) training camps exist in Pakistan, where the Taliban receive training, support and intelligence from the ISI," the confidential document said.
It also claimed that they were developing new improvised explosive devices, such as magnetic ones.
The report's strongest claim was that the Taliban was using advanced IEDs, with the backing of the ISI and Al-Qaeda, to plan the assassination of high ranking officials in Afghanistan. "The plan is that the TB (Taliban) use these RCIEDs (or IEDs) to assassinate high ranking officials of the IRoA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). They will be put on vehicles, although there is no specification about the target," said the report.
The report said that the Taliban had also been receiving help from Al-Qaeda.
Cadena Ser did not reveal how it obtained the report and the authenticity of the report has not been verified by the Spanish government. Spain's Defence Ministry as well as the office of the Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, have declined to comment on the document, while Pakistani officials this week denied any such link ever existed.
Spain currently has the tenth largest contingent in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan with 778 soldiers, according to the Defence Ministry website. There are 53,000 troops from 40 countries in Afghanistan participating in ISAF, NATO's largest ground operation outside Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Nothing confidential about it, Spain. Everybody with two brain cells knows.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/04/2008 0:30 Comments ||
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#3
The difference is that Spain does not have the primary responsibility to maintain a supply route through Pakistan to Afghanistan, nor do they have to worry about Pakistan's nuclear weapons should the current government collapse.
In diplomacy, one often has to deliberately and publicly overlook transgressions, mistakes and lapses by another nation. Like selling sensitive fighter technology to China, for example.
(AKI) - A Pakistani party leader, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in a suicide attack, said on Friday that local Taliban had denied their involvement in the crime.
Leader of the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan, said local Taliban had blamed foreign militants for the attack that killed four people near Charsada in the North West Frontier Province on Thursday. "It is not our work rather it is the work of foreign elements," he quoted local Taliban as saying.
According to the official agency, Associated Press of Pakistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan told a TV channel that local Taliban had indicated that there was a rift among the militants operating in tribal areas.
Asfandyar was meeting guests at his residence in his native town of Wali Bagh near Charsada on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the holy fast of Ramadan, when the attack occurred.
The suicide attacker and three others were killed in the bombing, while Asfandyar Wali was moved to a safe location.
The ANP chief reaffirmed his commitment to fight the menace of terrorism in a more effective manner, saying such cowardly acts would not deter the party from working to ensure peace and stability in the country. "War against terrorism is our own. It is not the war of America," he said.
He said terrorists were targeting innocent people of Pakistan and wanted to create unrest and instability in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (AP) - Two United Arab Emirates-based energy companies announced Saturday that they have begun producing natural gas in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish area.
Crescent Petroleum and its partner Dana Gas DANA.AD said initial gas production stood at 75 million cubic feet per day after completing the first phase of the $650-million project. Within the first half of 2009, production will rise to 300 million cubic feet per day, the companies said in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.
''We are very proud of this historical milestone, as the first companies from the Middle East to invest in Iraq's oil and gas sector,'' Dana Gas upstream executive director, Ahmed al-Arbeed, said in the statement.
''This is the first project of its kind in Iraq, and it will provide important economic and social benefits for the Kurdistan region and all of Iraq,'' added Majid Jafar, executive director of Crescent Petroleum.
In April 2007, Iraq's Kurds and the two companies signed the service deal to develop the Khor More gas field and to appraise the Chemchemal field. The gas will be used to supply new power plants in Irbil and Sulaimaniyah provinces, two of three provinces that make up the regional government. The two plants are to provide a total of 1,250 megawatts of electricity.
According to Iraqi Oil Ministry figures, the Khor More field was discovered in the 1950s and has estimated gas reserves of 1.4 trillion cubic feet. But it has never been fully developed and was shut down after the first Gulf War in 1991. The Chemchemal gas field, which has never been appraised or developed, has estimated reserves of 2.2 trillion cubic feet.
The companies praised the project, saying it would help supply electricity to 4 million Iraqis in the region and save some $2.5 billion the Kurds pay each year to import diesel for power plants. It would also provide more than 2,000 jobs for local people, it said.
The project also includes the construction of a 112-mile pipeline to transport the gas to the two power plants. The pipeline will have spare capacity to accommodate additional production from nearby fields. Both companies are also working with the Kurdish regional government on plans to set up Kurdistan Gas City, which will include petrochemical, steel and other heavy industry plants.
The Iraqi government has criticized the more than 20 oil and gas contracts the Kurds have signed, saying they are illegal since the parliament has not yet passed a national hydrocarbon law. The law has been held up over disagreements between Kurdish and Arab leaders about who has the final say in managing oil and gas fields. The Iraqi government has threatened to blacklist companies that sign deals with the Kurds to prevent them from participating in opportunities in other parts of Iraq.
#1
Those are a couple of SERIOUS gas fields! Wish I had a piece of that action. It will take a LONG time to drain them at 75 mmcg/day - even at 300 mmcfg/d.
Moqtada al-Sadr describes the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq as the only solution to the sectarian violence in the country. The supposedly influential leader and minor Shia cleric said there will be no conflict between Iraqi factions once foreign forces have left the country, urging Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to speed upthe eventual withdrawal of US troops.
"I ask the government to end the occupation," Sadr's representative Sheikh Sattar al-Battat read a message to the worshippers attending the first Friday prayers after Ramadan in Baghdad's Sadr city.
"The government must send out the US troops and free all Iraqi prisoners held by them,"the statement added, ruling out any sectarian violence between the Shias and the Sunnis after Iraqi sovereignty was restored after the withdrawal of all 'occupying forces'.
Following the weekly prayers, Sadr's supporters set fire to an effigy in stars and stripes as well as American and Israeli flags. The crowd waved an Iraqi flag and chanted slogans in protest to the continued presence of foreign troops in their country.
Sadr's anti-occupation movement called for unity between the religious groups, advising pro-Sadr Shias to cooperate with Iraqi security forces, "even if they get angry with you when they see you carrying a photograph of Moqtada (Sadr)."
"Be kind to them... Don't get into arguments," the influential cleric urged.
Sadr movement remains one of the outspoken critics of the US military present in Iraq, vowing to lead regular street protests until the governments halts negotiations with US officials on a long-term security pact known as the SOFA. The deal, which Iraqi and US governments planned to draw up by late July, would determine the future status of American soldiers whose UN mandate in Iraq expires December.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to "engage and inspire" the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.
The new contracts -- awarded last week to four companies -- will expand and consolidate what the U.S. military calls "information/psychological operations" in Iraq far into the future, even as violence appears to be abating and U.S. troops have begun drawing down.
The military's role in the war of ideas has been fundamentally transformed in recent years, the result of both the Pentagon's outsized resources and a counterinsurgency doctrine in which information control is considered key to success. Uniformed communications specialists and contractors are now an integral part of U.S. military operations from Eastern Europe to Afghanistan and beyond.
Iraq, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on such contracts, has been the proving ground for the transformation. "The tools they're using, the means, the robustness of this activity has just skyrocketed since 2003. In the past, a lot of this stuff was just some guy's dreams," said a senior U.S. military official, one of several who discussed the sensitive defense program on the condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon still sometimes feels it is playing catch-up in a propaganda market dominated by al-Qaeda, whose media operations include sophisticated Web sites and professionally produced videos and audios featuring Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants. "We're being out-communicated by a guy in a cave," Secretary Robert M. Gates often remarks.
But Defense Department officials think their own products have become increasingly imaginative and competitive. Military and contractor-produced media campaigns, spotlighting killings by insurgents, "helped in developing attitudes" that led Iraqis to reject al-Qaeda in Iraq over the past two years, an official said. Now that the insurgency is in disarray, he said, the same tools "could potentially be helpful" in diminishing the influence of neighboring Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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(AKI) - The top United Nations official in Iraq has called on the country's lawmakers to reinstate a key provision safeguarding minorities in the new provincial election law. The guarantees for minorities provided by Article 50 - removed from the provincial election law passed last week - is fundamental to democracy in Iraq, said Staffan de Mistura, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Iraq.
"Article 50 is a strong indication Iraq is a nation ready to protect the political rights of minorities as founded in the Constitution," De Mistura said. "I was surprised and disappointed that Article 50 was not included in the provincial election law," he added.
De Mistura is also head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). He reiterated that UNAMI will continue its consultations with political leaders and minority groups to ensure that Article 50 be reintroduced in law after the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
"Article 50 has the backing of minority groups, political blocs and UNAMI and should now be reinstated into the legislation as soon as possible so minorities can participate in the upcoming elections to be held sometime before 31 January 2009," de Mistura said.
After months of infighting, Iraq's parliament on 24 September passed the crucial legislation that will allow most of the country to hold provincial elections early next year. The law is seen as a key step toward bringing under-represented groups back into Iraqi politics, particularly Sunnis in Anbar province who have recently turned against violence and Al-Qaeda extremists.
The United States and the United Nations also hope that holding elections soon will help solidify recent improvements in security in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraq's 3-member presidential council agreed on Friday to ratify the country's provincial elections law, paving the way for a long-awaited vote to be held by the end of January, officials said. The polls had been scheduled for Oct. 1st, but the law governing how the vote should be conducted stalled in parliament over how to treat the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, where control is disputed by Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turkmen.
President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Adel Abdel Mahdi and Tareq al-Hashemi were all present at the meeting, which was also attended by Massud Barzani, president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
Parliament adopted a revised version last month which puts off a decision on Kirkuk while authorizing the election in other provinces. "The presidency council has agreed to ratify the provincial elections law," the head of the presidential office, Naseer al-Ani, said.
The 3-member council has the power to veto laws. Talabani is a Kurd, Abdul-Mehdi is a Shiite Arab and Hashemi is a Sunni Arab, representing the country's three main ethnic and sectarian groups.
Talabani used his veto power to reject a previous version of the bill in July after Kurds, angry over the Kirkuk issue, boycotted the parliamentary session that passed it.
Officials at the meeting suggested a clause that guaranteed council seats for Christians and other minority sects, known as article 50, could be added to the bill. Parliament removed the guaranteed seats for minorities from the bill, prompting street demonstrations by Christians last week. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has asked for the quotas to be restored.
"There has been agreement to ratify the law and send it to parliament with the suggestion of the addition of article 50," said Laith Shubbar, an official at Abdul-Mehdi's office.
The elections, which will select provincial councils across Iraq, will provide clues on how Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish factions will fare in national polls scheduled for late 2009. Elections will be held early next year in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The new law excludes the disputed northern oil province of Kirkuk and the three Kurdish provinces of Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Israel plans to install two massive radar antennae near the Dimona nuclear plant to bolster its defense measures against Iran, the Maariv newspaper reported on Friday. The 400-meter-high antennae will be erected in the Negev Desert near a top-secret military site where Israel is widely believed to have developed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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JAKARTA- Three Indonesian Islamists on death row over the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people will be executed by the end of the year, a report said on Friday.
No final date has been set for the execution but prosecutors have received key paperwork allowing it to go ahead, attorney general's office spokesman Jasman Panjaitan was quoted as saying by news website Detikcom.
Jemaah Islamiyah militants Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra face a firing squad over the nightclub attacks on the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people, mainly foreign holidaymakers. "It's not in writing yet when they will be executed, but what is certain is that it will be this year," Panjaitan said.
Anytime now, yewbetcha ...
Prosecutors had earlier put plans to execute the bombers before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- which ended this week -- on hold, citing bureaucratic delays.
The bombers on Wednesday promised "retribution" if they are executed. "The people who will execute us, if they do this execution they will be cursed by God," bomber Mukhlas told reporters at the island prison off southern Java where they are being held. "If the execution is carried out, that will constitute the biggest criminal act because they will be killing holy warriors."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Bureaucratic delays, Ramadan, the dog ate the execution orders...
(AKI) - The United Nations World Food Programme has dispatched a first convoy of food and other supplies for 200,000 displaced people in areas of Sri Lanka controlled by militant Tamil separatists. The population has been cut off from humanitarian assistance for more than two weeks after fighting in the region escalated. The convoy has delivered enough food to feed the population for one week.
Over the coming weeks, WFP plans to send a minimum of one aid convoy per week which will travel from the northern town of Vavuniya through the Omantai crossing point to the conflict-affected areas. WFP truck convoys are also ferrying humanitarian supplies on behalf of other relief agencies.
"It is crucial that a regular flow of humanitarian supplies is provided to conflict victims who are extremely vulnerable and in need of the most basic necessities," said Azeb Asrat, WFP Acting Country Director in Sri Lanka.
The UN and other international humanitarian aid agencies withdrew from the Vanni Region on 16 September following a government-issued directive requiring staff to be relocated outside the LTTE-controlled area.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Require tips about the corruptions of the persons in UN Security Council, International Criminal Court and UN organizations.
Israel would use "disproportionate" force to destroy Lebanese villages from which Hezbollah's group fired rockets at its cities in any future war, an Israeli general said in remarks published on Friday. "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on," said Gadi Eisenkot, head of the army's northern division.
Dahiya was a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel flattened in sustained air raids during a 34-day war with the Shiite group two years ago. "We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases," Eisenkot told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Some 1,200 Lebanese civilians and 159 Israel soldiers were killed during the war. Eisenkot rejected accusations that Israel was violating a U.N.-brokered ceasefire by sending aircraft on reconnaissance flights over Lebanon, saying the aerial missions were necessary given that Iran and Syria continue to arm Hezbollah in breach of the U.N. truce.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Israel needs to man up a little. Or maybe they like the leash? Eh Grom? Leash gives a little wiggle room for fear maybe? Intellectual room to blame every thing on a certain Ms. Rice and BushItler? A way to look past the absolute collapse of IDF deterance - in the name of armed purity. Jeeebus (c wut I did thar?) give it a break and get back to work.
#6
Israel is great at "smashing seashells on the beach" after the tide has rolled out, but they never erect a sea wall to keep the tide from rolling back in again.
If they had some wit about them, they would make a deal with Egypt, so that after Israel had thumped Hezbollah, Egypt would send a very large, Sunni "peacekeeping" unit into Lebanon to insure Lebanon remained peaceful.
They might even convince the Saudis to pay for it.
#10
If I were Israel, I'd begin looking into converting a Boeing 737 or 757 into a manned bomber, so I could really SEED an area with as few flights as possible. I don't think there's a functionally-specific bomber aircraft that would do for the Israelis, but they need a heavy load hauler that can speak with a deep voice in dealing with Arabs.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2008 21:22 Comments ||
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#11
So when you admit it, you are telling the villagers not to let Hezbollah hide there or you wil l die with them. You are also telling Hezbollah that if they want massive civilian casualities they should spread their rockets around. Perhaps starting the offensive from a van in the middle of a village that isn't friendly to Hezbollah so that it gets tarred by retaliation.
Syria said on Friday it was cooperating fully with a U.N. inquiry into its nuclear activity but would not go as far as opening up military sites because this would undermine its national security.
"We would like to underline that my government is cooperating with the agency in full transparency and will follow suit all along the way," Ibrahim Othman, Syria's Atomic Energy Commission director, told the IAEA's assembly on Friday. "However, this cooperation will not in any way come at the expense of exposing our military sites or causing a threat to our national security," said Othman.
Diplomats close to the IAEA have said Syria has ignored agency requests to check three military installations believed linked to the alleged reactor site.
"We regret statements by some countries calling on us to show more transparency. I would like you here to recall what (IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei) said, namely that Syria has cooperated and complied with implementation of the measures agreed to by the agency."
The U.N. atomic watchdog is probing allegations that Damascus had been building a clandestine nuclear facility at Al-Kibar, a remote desert area, until it was bombed by Israeli planes in September 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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Hezbollah has warned that it will "soon liberate" the contentious Shaba Farms and the divided village of Ghajar, Lebanon's Daily Star reported on Friday.
Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hezbollah's leader in southern Lebanon, told supporters in the border village of Abbasieh that diplomacy over the areas had failed and the only way to regain control of the land was to use force, according to the report. "Betting on liberating land via diplomacy and politics is a sterile bet," the report quoted Qaouk as saying. "The only guaranteed way to recover the remaining occupied land is the resistance and nothing else."
Qaouk added that Israel understands only the language of force, adding that it was Hezbollah's national duty to fulfill the achievements it had begun with the Israel Defense Forces' withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, according to the report.
"The resistance's strategy is Lebanon's main source of power, enabling it to recover the remaining occupied lands," the report quoted Qaouk as saying.
"We, as Lebanese, are here to confirm that we cling to freeing every grain of our soil. We will not abandon the great national cause, which is the continuation of the liberation of our land," Qaouk added.
Israel told the United States on Sunday it was prepared to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar on the Lebanese border, a change in its policy for the past year and a half of not wanting to discuss the issue.
A government source in Jerusalem said the decision was made after the Lebanese government delivered written assurances that UNIFIL would be given security and civilian control over the northern part of the village, which is in Lebanese territory.
"The Americans have been asking us for a long time to move ahead on the Lebanon issue and after receiving the letter, it was decided to show a more positive stance," the source also said, referring to the written assurances by Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces Planning Branch and the Northern Command are now at work on the details of the withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar.
Ghajar, located between the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights, was annexed to Israel in 1981 together with the Golan Heights, and its inhabitants received Israeli citizenship. After the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, the UN determined that the border between Israel and Syria crossed the village, and that Israel, which holds the Golan Heights, could operate only in the southern part of the village. However, according to the UN, the IDF frequently operates in the northern part of the village, beyond the international border.
In recent years the village has become a center for smuggling and infiltration of criminal elements from Lebanon to Israel, along with Hezbollah agents.
According to Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War, Israel was to have withdrawn its forces from the northern part of Ghajar.
In March 2007, the security cabinet approved a deal whereby the IDF would cease its operations in the northern part of the village, giving the UN and Lebanese army forces responsibility for security and leaving civilian affairs in Israel's hands. However, Beirut did not implement the agreement, among other things because of its political crisis. Israel has since refused to discuss the matter and conditioned agreement on a written pledge by the Lebanese government to a new arrangement.
UNIFIL had transmitted a number of drafts to Israel, which it has rejected.
About two weeks ago Israel gave an official letter to UNIFIL commander General Claudio Graziano, stating that it accepts UN security and civilian control over the northern part of the village.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah last week told a crowd of supporters in a televised address that Jerusalem and Palestine would soon be returned to their rightful owners.
"I think that if you consider current developments," Nasrallah told thousands of Shiite Hezbollah backers at a rally in Beirut, "the return of Jerusalem and Palestine is not far off, and could even happen in the near future."
Nasrallah reiterated that backing the resistance [Hezbollah] was essential because "the resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine and occupied lands by Israel."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has advised Taliban leader Mullah Omar to return to Afghanistan and join him in the political process, Geo News reported on Friday. In an interview with the channel, Karzai said, "I propose that Mullah Omar return to Afghanistan as I will be responsible for his security and answerable to the whole of the world on his behalf." 
NATO forces in Afghanistan will step up attacks on drug lords and narcotics traffickers who are supporting a Taliban insurgency that has rebounded in the past year, according to the top US commander in Afghanistan.
(SomaliNet) As a massive influx of Somali refugees fleeing a brutal insurgency across the border stretches the facilities to breaking point, tension is rising at the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp complex in north-west Kenya, say United Nations officials. Sources say the complex, made up of three separate camps stretching over 50 square kilometres, now hosts 215 000 refugees - the vast majority of them Somalis. It was set up 16 years ago to hold only 90 000. 
Leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries on Friday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to suspend efforts to indict Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on genocide charges. Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who hosted a meeting of the 79-strong ACP grouping, said the summit had resolved that it was better to use diplomatic rather than legal initiatives. "We believe there should be room for more diplomatic efforts" to resolve the crisis in Darfur, said Kufuor.
The Royal Navy has mothballed almost half of its remaining fleet of destroyers as it desperately attempts to save money in the face of a plunging budget. 
Potential jurors in the Fort Dix terrorism case have been asked who they think was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and whether they believe that "Islam endorses violence," according to a 41-page jury questionnaire made public yesterday by Judge Robert Kugler, who will preside over the forthcoming trial. They also were asked if heightened security in the courthouse during the proceedings would unduly influence them, and whether what they had heard or read about the case would affect their ability to render a fair verdict based only on evidence. 
(AKI) - A Pakistani party leader, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in a suicide attack, said on Friday that local Taliban had denied their involvement in the crime.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two United Arab Emirates-based energy companies announced Saturday that they have begun producing natural gas in Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish area.
Moqtada al-Sadr describes the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq as the only solution to the sectarian violence in the country. The 
Iraq's 3-member presidential council agreed on Friday to ratify the country's provincial elections law, paving the way for a long-awaited vote to be held by the end of January, officials said. The polls had been scheduled for Oct. 1st, but the law governing how the vote should be conducted stalled in parliament over how to treat the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, where control is disputed by Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turkmen. 
