Twenty-one candidates contesting the April 21 elections to the Municipal Council in Jeddah have complained to authorities against seven candidates for allegedly being promoted by popular Islamic scholars in the country. Dr. Muhammad Badaiwi, one of the 21 candidates, told Arab News that the scholars' recommendations to vote for the seven violated election regulations. They are worried as the scholars could influence voters like they did in Riyadh.
Underground religious schools that promote extremist forms of Islam are drawing more than 300,000 young students across Yemen, the country's prime minister said Saturday. Prime Minister Abdul-Kader Bajammal warned that the religious education promoting the ideas of Wahhabism, a strict form of Islam, "will bring a disaster to Yemen and this generation." He promised to eliminate the underground schools, which he estimated numbered about 4,000 and drew about 330,000 students. "We are not against the religious education ... but we are against extremism," he said in a speech to teachers and Education Ministry officials.
Bajammal said that the government will not remain silent over what he described as "crimes committed against our children and the next generations." Like many Persian Gulf countries, Yemen — the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden — largely funded and did not interfere with religious schools before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States After the attacks, the country initiated an anti-terrorism state policy and began monitoring what was being taught, attaching conditions to financial assistance and shutting down the Religious Institutions Department in the Education Ministry. Religious officials have condemned the government for its policy change.
Comes as a surprise, huh?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Underground religious schools that promote extremist forms of Islam are drawing more than 300,000 young students across Yemen, the country's prime minister said Saturday.
Why make an announcement and tip off the organizers? Just get cracking, and shut them down.
#2
I wish someone has the guts to expose the pederasty that's rife in these madrassas world wide. Smelly, unwashed Mullahs poking little boys. It would shame Islam, bring to light how crude and primitive it is. These students are taught rote repetition of the Koran and many end up memorizing it.
And we all know that Koran recitation is the pinnacle of achievement of the human mind
FOUR asylum seekers have been granted the right to remain in Scotland despite accusations that they were al-Qaeda terrorists. The Algerians, who were arrested in Edinburgh and Glasgow two years ago as part of a UK-wide police operation, were given permission to remain in this country after their lawyer argued the terror claims would put their lives at risk if they were deported. The four were part of a nine-strong group of suspects who police believed were linked to an al-Qaeda network that had cells throughout the UK and Europe.
The £1.5m operation, led by Lothian and Borders Police, led to the arrest of eight Algerians in December 2002 and a ninth suspect in February 2003. They were subsequently charged under section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The charges against them were dropped a year later, but the Crown Office kept its files on the case open. Their asylum applications continued. The first four cases to go before immigration officials in Glasgow earlier this year were successful, meaning it is highly likely that the remaining men, who will also argue that they face torture or death in Algeria because of their arrests, will also be granted leave to remain in the UK.
The four men already given leave to remain are Abdellah Abdelhafid, Karim Benamghar, Fouad Lasnami and Salah Moullef. The court stopped short of granting them permanent asylum. But it gave them permission to stay in the UK for the next three years after their human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar - of Glasgow-based Beltrami Berlow solicitors - argued that they faced torture and death if deported because the accusations that they were terrorists had been shared between British and Algerian security services. The men can reapply for asylum in 2008. Last night, Anwar said the men were the innocent victims of bogus intelligence who were now trying to rebuild their lives. He said: "Their lives are still in limbo. Some have been given leave to remain, but that will only be for the next three years - then they have to apply for asylum again. The rest are still waiting to hear. "For those who have been successful, it has been the end of a long battle for them, but they just want to get on with their lives and get jobs. Anwar added: "They have been through absolute hell. These men are traumatised. They have been abused in public by people who recognised them. They have had to move house. They are paranoid and scared to go to sleep at night in case there's a knock on the door. And they don't understand why they were accused of being members of al-Qaeda. Life is difficult when you have been through that. "But they have remained in Scotland because this is where they have been for years and they wanted to stay here. I think they have real courage."
But police yesterday insisted they had been right to arrest the men, whom they suspected of planning possible future operations. Sources have told Scotland on Sunday they believe the men were fundraising and had raised tens of thousands of pounds, and had so many false identities it took officers some time to work out what their real names actually were. A senior intelligence source said: "The group arrested in Scotland were connected to other groups in the UK and Europe, and they shared one thing in common - most were failed asylum seekers who had gone underground. We had intelligence that they were connected to other groups."
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the think-tank Migrationwatch, said: "It's important not to exaggerate the security risk arising from asylum, but it is a fact that of the 717 people detained under terror laws since September 11, a total of 182 have applied for asylum, and of them 16 applied after their arrest. This clearly indicates that the asylum system is being used by a number, however small, of people who are later suspected of terror connections."
This article starring:
ABDELLAH ABDELHAFID
al-Qaeda in Europe
FUAD LASNAMI
al-Qaeda in Europe
KARIM BENAMGHAR
al-Qaeda in Europe
SALAH MULLEF
al-Qaeda in Europe
Sir Andrew Green
their human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2005 12:26:38 AM ||
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Nikolai Rogozhkin, Commander-in-Chief of the Interior Troops of the Russian Interior Ministry, believes Shamil Basayev, a Chechen terrorist leader, is "keeping a low profile." This explains why his voice has not been heard on the air for a long time.
Assessing the militants' communication equipment, Rogozhkin admitted that Basayev was as good as that used by the federal forces. "Basayev makes use of similar cellular phones with a kind of 'closed' equipment. This is why they can communicate among themselves," Rogozhkin said.
He also said the strength of the Chechen militants is "enough to cause periodic destabilization of the republic."
Rogozhkin said he had no information on the precise number of militants. "To earn their pay terrorists act cynically, and I cannot dare say that peace will come tomorrow," he added.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2005 2:07:26 AM ||
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A fierce gunbattle in the shattered Chechen capital Grozny killed at least eight combatants Friday, officials said, as fighting erupted in other parts of Chechnya and a bomb rocked the capital of neighboring Dagestan.
Five soldiers and three Chechen rebels died in the clash in northern Grozny, officials in the Moscow-backed local administration told reporters. Another two Russian servicemen were wounded, said the officials, who asked not to be named.
Russian television showed footage of soldiers, backed by armored infantry vehicles, firing at a nine-storey apartment block in the bombed-out residential neighborhood.
Interfax news agency said seven Chechen rebels died in the clash, while the dead Russian soldiers were reportedly from the elite Federal Security Service (FSB).
Friday's battle was reported to have started when security forces discovered the guerrilla cell, which in turn refused to surrender. NTV television said many residents from besieged buildings had evacuated in time, but that others were trapped and had been calling from mobile phones for help.
In other unrest, Russian forces said they had killed a group of Chechens armed with portable anti-aircraft rockets near the sprawling Russian base of Khankala, just outside Grozny.
There were no further details, but television footage showed the body of one person in camouflage next to what officials said were captured weapons, including two surface-to-air rockets.
Two other federal troops died and seven were wounded in fighting elsewhere in Chechnya over the last 24 hours, a Chechen administration source told reporters.
Russian forces used artillery in the sparsely inhabited Caucasus mountains, the main stronghold of the rebels.
Meanwhile, in Makhachkala, capital of the troubled neighboring region of Dagestan, two explosions largely destroyed a local prosecutor's office, injuring six people, Interfax quoted local police as saying.
The blasts occurred within seconds of each other, setting the one-story building on fire, Russian television footage showed.
The building housed the offices of the prosecutor for one of the districts in Makhachkala, Interfax said, quoting an unnamed district interior ministry spokesman. Two of the injured were identified as deputy district prosecutors.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2005 2:06:36 AM ||
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The family of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney have said Republicans are still shielding the IRA men who murdered him.
As hundreds of supporters attended a prayer vigil in memory of the father-of-two, his sisters alleged the top Provisional suspected of ordering the killing has not been thrown out of the organisation.
Paula McCartney said: "The fact that people are still not arrested, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that they are being protected.
"On the street where it really matters... what is visible is that he is still in the same position and holding the same authority he held 10 weeks ago."
It was the first time all five of the murder victim's sisters and fiancee, Bridgeen Hagans, had returned to the Belfast city centre scene of the killing.
Amid calls from party president Gerry Adams for any witnesses to the pub brawl to reveal what they know to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, a number of Sinn Fein members have been suspended.
The IRA has also expelled three of its men in a bid to halt the damage to its reputation.
But the family, who disclosed they have had fresh contact with Sinn Fein in the last 48 hours, insisted it has still not done enough.
Paula McCartney, who said she was overwhelmed by the level of public support, added: "This is a clear message to me that the people have had enough.
"They know who did this to Robert, this is the street they did it in, the police know who did it, the IRA know who did it, the IRA have admitted who did it.
"We believe Sinn Fein and the IRA have the power to deliver these people to justice. Until that is done, we don't believe Sinn Fein has done all it can to help this family."
Posted by: too true ||
04/17/2005 7:35:10 PM ||
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#1
Maybe they can get the Boston politicos who've been financing the IRA all these years to lend a hand?
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has called on the country "to show our opposition to Islam", regardless of the opprobium such a stance provokes abroad.
Her comments further undermined the image of Denmark as a liberal haven for those seeking a new life in northern Europe.
The Danish government has already been accused of fuelling xenophobia by introducing measures which effectively closed the country to asylum seekers.
But in overtly political passages from an official biography published yesterday Queen Margrethe makes comments certain to complicate her nation's relationship with Muslims.
She said: "We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy.
"We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance."
"And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction."
The Queen, who turns 65 tomorrow and has reigned since 1972, wields no political power but does occasionally comment on political issues.
Denmark has seriously limited immigration in the past three years and the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party, an ally of the centre-Right government, has pushed through laws making it harder to bring in foreign spouses or qualify for asylum.
The queen told her biographer, Annelise Bistrup, apparently referring to Muslim fundamentalists: "There is something impressive about people for whom religion imbues their existence, from dusk to dawn, from cradle to grave."
She said she understood how disaffected young Muslims might find refuge in religion. This tendency should be fought by encouraging Muslims to learn Danish so they could integrate better, she said.
"We should not be content with living next to each other. We should rather live together."
Posted by: SC88 ||
04/17/2005 2:08:13 AM ||
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#2
The Muslim problem in a nutshell:
1. They multiply like rabbits.
2. Corrupt regimes at home.
3. See themselves as second-hand citizens abroad - since they can not kill anyone at will, and get an encouraging pat on the back, as would have been the case at home.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/17/2005 9:35 Comments ||
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She is a 65-year-old trailblazer in Europe-a person willing to risk the wrath of millions by telling it like it is. A European leader willing to make such candid and sober assessment of a real problem is a thing to behold in this decade. Glad she got the air time.
#6
VEEEEEEEEERY interesting!! Will the next truth talker please stand up?
Posted by: Otto Von Bismark ||
04/17/2005 10:59 Comments ||
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#7
How very un-EU of her.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/17/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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#8
Oriana Fallaci's successor? Consequences are starting to build for Islam's transgressions
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2005 12:20 Comments ||
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#9
Will Queen Liz, Defender of the Faith speak out?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/17/2005 12:50 Comments ||
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#10
Not likely - she's already noted her priority for the year: Kyoto / environment.
Posted by: too true ||
04/17/2005 13:08 Comments ||
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Expect this to be on page 23 if it even shows up in any European publication. The European MSM is very much pushing MultiCulti. She is right on but the Danes had it already and are getting a grip on things. Their immigration policy is even sane now. Though it wasn't in the past. They realized that your typical unemployable islamist's and thier huge families are a threat to their social welfare system and reacted. Evangelical Lutherians meet Islam and get a clue should be the subtitle.
Yes the Viking culture is not gone from some Danes. Remember there is a reason it call Danegeld. Perhaps Europe needs an Islamogeld to finance it's protection from Islam.
Perhaps other European Royals need to speek out as well.
#12
Will Queen Liz, Defender of the Faith speak out?
Not likely, insofar as her idiot son has recast the role as Defender of Faith [in general], including the one true muslim faith and the one true Christian faith and the divine buddhist enlightenment and...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2005 14:00 Comments ||
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#14
Thibaud,
Although Charles is next in line to the throne, he's made such an arse of himself over the years that it's not outside the bounds of plausability that we'll skip over him and go straight to William.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/17/2005 14:16 Comments ||
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#15
Speak out against Was-lam...and you'll get more than a pie thrown at you. The Danes better increase her security.
Of course, as an American I don't have a dog in that fight, except my ancestry on my mother's side (several centuries back) and love of the British Isles (at least of the England I visited 30+ years ago).
But can you all do that? Doesn't Cuckoo Callow Charles get it automatically when the Queen dies? Or can she do something about passing the crown directly to William?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2005 15:43 Comments ||
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#17
scandinavians are no bs people ,and lets face it islam is a threat in europe they are flodding our lands and the people cant do anything.
Posted by: Its me ||
04/17/2005 15:47 Comments ||
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#18
Barbara,
There are all sorts of weird things the Queen can do before she shuffles off this mortal coil - she takes her constitutional role *extremely* seriously (e.g. she didn't go to Charles' wedding because of 'constitutional' issues), so all bets are still on. As an aside, our Armed Forces are called 'Her Majestys Armed Forces' - something that must really piss off the crypto-communist faux-socialist Blair.
Most people don't think that Chuck will get a go at being King, they feel he let Diana down and the public feeling against Camilla is very deep - the idea of her being anywhere near the throne deeply offends people and I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen has had a word with William - to size him up for the job?
As for that cack about 'defender of faith' - I'll not comment on that, as I'm sure to start swearing ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/17/2005 16:03 Comments ||
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It's about time because these various European kings and queens are only considered royalty by virtue of their respective state churches. all Christian of course. Muhammad's cult, with it's maddening demographics, is a mortal threat to these churches
#26
Don't know where Shakespeare got the name Hamlet, but he'd heard of a nifty new palace in Denmark named Elsinore; hence the setting. Or so Sister Cyrille told me lo these many years ago.
I presume Queen Margarethe is descended from that fine old King Christian who managed to save almost all of Denmark's Jews from Hitler?
A TOP Democratic senator has released formerly classified documents that he says undercut top US officials' pre-Iraq war claims of a link between Saddam Hussein's regime and the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
"These documents are additional compelling evidence that the intelligence community did not believe there was a cooperative relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda, despite public comments by the highest ranking officials in our government to the contrary," Senator Carl Levin said today.
The declassified documents undermine the Bush administration's claims regarding Iraq's involvement in training al-Qaeda operatives and the likelihood of a meeting between September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in April 2001, Senator Levin said in a statement.
In October 2002, Mr Bush said: "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
But a June 2002 CIA report, titled Iraq and al-Qa'ida: Interpreting a Murky Relationship, said "the level and extent of this is assistance is not clear".
The report said that there were "many critical gaps" in the knowledge of Iraq-al-Qaeda links due to "limited reporting" and the "questionable reliability of many of our sources", according to excerpts cited by Senator Levin.
The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons programs said much of the information on Iraqi training and support for al-Qaeda was "second-hand" or from sources of "varying reliability".
And a January 2003 CIA report indicates some of the reports of training were based on "hearsay" while others were "simple declarative accusations of Iraqi-al-Qaeda complicity with no substantiating detail or other information that might help us corroborate them".
In December 2001, Vice-President Dick Cheney said Atta's meeting with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague was "pretty well confirmed".
But, according to Senator Levin, a June 2002 CIA report says: "Reporting is contradictory on hijacker Mohammed Atta's alleged trip to Prague and meeting with an Iraqi intelligence officer, and we have not verified his travels."
And a January 2003 CIA report says "the most reliable reporting to date casts doubt on this possibility".
Senator Levin requested the documents' declassification in April 2004 as part of his minority inquiry within the Senate Armed Services Committee into Iraq intelligence failures.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2005 12:28:40 AM ||
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I'm dissapointed in The Telegraph. According to the report the documents present no new evidence and hence all previous evidence of Atta's trip to Prague stands uncontested.
#2
Unless the Czech officials reverse their position that Atta met twice with Iraqi agents, that's all the 'cooperation' I need evidence for. This reads as pure ankle-biting / editorializing.
The president's commission on intelligence criticized separate modernization plans sent to President Bush in February by the FBI and the CIA, saying they reflected a "business as usual approach to intelligence gathering" that falls short. In a letter to Bush dated March 29, the commission said it had reviewed the FBI's proposal to integrate and upgrade its intelligence programs, and the CIA's plan to increase by 50 percent its corps of analysts and operations officers. "We do not believe that either response is entirely adequate," the commission's letter said. They show "just how important -- and how difficult -- Ambassador [John D.] Negroponte's job will be," the panel said, referring to Bush's nominee to become the nation's first director of national intelligence. The Senate intelligence committee held a hearing yesterday on Negroponte's nomination.
The FBI and CIA plans for improvement were ordered by Bush last November after the Sept. 11 commission detailed shortcomings in the agencies and recommended steps for addressing them. Bush ordered then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and CIA Director Porter J. Goss to submit the proposals, and later asked his intelligence commission to review them.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
How many f***ing iterations will these "reform plans" go through?
Shut the CIA down already. Raze it to the ground and start over.
#2
CIA will get cleaned up if Goss keeps his courage.
FBI on the other hand, needs to be taken completely out of the Intel game. We need a seperate domestic Intel/Counterintel agency reporting directly to DNI.
Split off the part of the FBI tasked with it - pull them to a seperate building, seperate agency. Train them at the DIA & CIA facilities - and let the FBI only trian them as to what the US legel limits are on their operations (until they can stand up thier own staff).
This allows the CIA to completely focus overseas, and to have a COMPETENT stateside counterpart that they can completely trust to treat it as an intel matter, not a criminal one. The FBI, as far as Intel goes, is just as broken as the CIA - the FBI first looks for criminal then for intel because fo the jackass that ran the FBI durign the 90's in cahoost with Janet Reno (the worst Attny General we EVER had) - they dont put the resources into intel that they should, and never will.
As for the CIA... well lest saythat step one is still not done - Goss is still clearing the dead wood.
#3
#1 [Deleted. You said the same thing on Page 1. Put it up again and I get to test the spam filter changes.]
Posted by: American sheeplike people ||
04/17/2005 6:04 Comments ||
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#4
American sheeplike people, speaking as non-American, what has happened since GW Bush was first elected is the most positive series of developments in my entire lifetime. You may hanker after a world in which many many thousands of dead bodies (not to mention rapes, mutilations and torture) are acceptable as long as you don't have to view them on the nightly news. However, its not acceptable to me.
#5
A good start would be hiring Sephardic Jews who know Arabic. Now the Muzzies dominate the translation services and Jews are not welcome. World Net Daily has written about this
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=9153
When Sephardim in Brooklyn heard the FBI was looking for translators of Arabic after 9-11, some 90 people â most of Syrian origin â submitted applications. Two years later, not one has been hired.
Rep. Anthony Weiner is pressing the bureau for information on why none have made the cut.
âWe became suspicious that it might be because of their religion or having Israel stamped on their passports,â said Weiner, whose district includes parts of Queens and Brooklyn. âWhen we asked the FBI to investigate, without specific information about who applied, they couldnât answer.â
With help from Sephardic Bikur Cholim, a social service group that coordinates employment opportunities, Weiner provided the bureau with a list of applicants.
In a letter this week to FBI Director William Mueller, Weiner and Reps. Frank Pallone and Robert Andrews of New Jersey and Peter Deutsch of Florida called on Mueller to provide an explanation âto ensure that no bias or discrimination exists.â
An FBI spokesman in New York, Jim Margolin, said that of the initial pool of applicants, some were disqualified because they were not citizens. Others did not pass written or oral proficiency tests given by the Department of Defense.
âOnly one person scored sufficiently to proceed to the next step,â said Margolin, who said he did not know what happened to that applicant.
He added that the screening process is a long one that âis not yet completeâ and said some of the Sephardic applicants may still be hired if they retake the tests.
#6
Jamie Gorelick ran Justice along with some Black Deputy Attorney General whose name escapes me. Reno was out of the loop especially after 1996. I suspect she's drinker plus her Parkinsons was creeping up on her.
#7
i'm no expert on cia or fbi, but IMO, ONE major
flaw with the fbi is that they don't do enough to stop the criminal activities that they are observing - and rather they allow the activity to proliferate under their protection - preventing local law enforcement or other agencies from preventing crimes.
I hope no one will come back and condescend to me that they need to watch rather than just go out and bust heads...uh...duh. But my point is that they too often protect criminal gangs, drug operations, terrorist cells and other activities - allowing them to root to the point where removing the "big cheese" that they were orginally after is no longer useful because an entire geographic area or criminal enterprise has grown so much under their watch that it becomes impossible to stop what they have allowed to prosper.
extreme analogy to make my point: If you don't like gambling - you could have, back in the 50's put a lid on the open gambling in las vegas. Now, it would be impossible to prevent gambling in las vegas - and the enterprises that grew up there have clout to expand to many other places.
you can't just collect data, data and more data. you have to use the data to achieve goals. The fbi's goal in the past has just been to allow things to grow out of their control as they catalog what's happening.
#9
There is apparently only one way to fix the Intelligence Community (IC). That is to get a group of washed out demigod politicos to pass judgment on how to reform an IC for which they operationally know virtually nothing about.
The result: an all to frequent knee-jerk response to create new organizational chart boxes, add new layers (i.e., more CYAs, increased turf issues, more confusion), name an intelligence 'czar', and permit a radical subgroup of bereaved 911 family members to serve as board of directors. Invite the TV cameras and pundits to the circus hearings to observe the public castigation of Dr. Rice, Attorney General Ashcroft, and others who were in office less than six months before 911 due to prolonged, politically charged senator confirmation hearings.
Add the forlorned Richard Clarke who was more than willing to shown his furry as a scorned bureaucrat.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/17/2005 12:05 Comments ||
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A South Korean businessman accused of accepting millions of dollars from Iraq in the United Nations' oil-for-food program scandal is hiding in Tokyo where he is considering a U.S. plea bargain offer, a news report said Saturday. Tongsun Park was charged in the United States on Thursday for allegedly accepting money from the Iraqi government while he operated as an unregistered agent for Baghdad.
Lawsy! Has anybody given a thought to Tongsun Park for the past 30 years?
Park told South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo daily that he had received "a little" money from Iraq. He said he was now in Tokyo but was considering a plea bargain offer from U.S. officials. "I was told the target of U.S. attorneys' investigation was corruption charges against high-ranking U.N. officials related to the oil-for-food program, not me," Park was quoted as saying.
Seems like the stench of corruption coming from the program was enough to bring participants from miles around...
The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was created to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It let the Iraqi government sell limited — and eventually unlimited — amounts of oil primarily to buy humanitarian goods. But Saddam chose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods.
Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
In a bid to end the sanctions, Saddam allegedly gave former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials vouchers for oil to be resold at a profit. In the alleged scandal, Park is accused of telling a cooperating government witness in 1995 that he needed $10 million from Iraq to "take care" of his expenses and his people, which the witness believed meant a person identified in court papers only as "U.N. Official 1." In 1996, another high-ranking U.N. official attended a restaurant meeting with Park, an Iraqi official and the government witness. After "U.N. Official 2" left, Park claimed that he had used a $5 million guarantee from the Iraqi government to fund business dealings with "U.N. Official 2," court papers said. Park told the government witness in 1997 or 1998 that he had invested about $1 million that he received from Iraq in a Canadian company established by the son of "U.N. Official 2," though the company failed and the money was lost.
Turned to milk, did it?
In the 1970s Park was at the center of what became known as the "Koreagate" scandals in which he was accused of trying to buy influence in Congress.
Oh, well. I was working out in the yard today. I needed a shower, anyway.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Hope he fingers the Canadian. Might well lead us to Chretien and thence to Maugein (?sp) and even Chirac via that Canadian subsidiary of TotalFinaElf.
Aceh rebels and Indonesian government delegates made a "breakthrough" at peace talks aimed at ending a three-decade insurgency in the tsunami-ravaged province, the Finnish mediator said. Both sides said they made progress toward ending the conflict, but rebels said they were concerned about Indonesian troop deployments in the region. "I would like to describe this as a breakthrough," said former President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the third round of negotiations. "We have moved to a very substantive discussion on the issues," he said Saturday, adding that the next round of talks would begin on May 26 in Finland. Aceh rebels have been struggling for 27 years for a separate homeland in the oil- and gas-rich region where more than 12,000 people have been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has named former government minister Najib Mikati as prime minister-designate. Mikati, also pro-Syrian, has garnered the support of the anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition by vowing to fire the nation's security chiefs in the wake of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.
Wonder if that includes Franjieh?
He promised to act in a fair and transparent manner during the process of forming a new government and called the opposition's backing of him a "wise decision."
... but only until the elections are held.
"We should take advantage of this opportune moment and deal seriously our difficult times," Mikati told reporters shortly after his appointment was made public. It comes two days after Omar Karami, also pro-Syrian, turned in his resignation as prime minister when he failed to form a new government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Anybody see any Syrian strings attached to these guys? Or are they the wind-up variety?
Posted by: Dennis Kucinich ||
04/17/2005 12:59 Comments ||
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THE terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, America's most wanted man in Iraq, has joined forces with other Iraqi insurgents to carry out "spectacular" attacks, a rebel commander claimed last week.
The commander said Zarqawi's group, known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, had agreed to work with insurgents ranging from Islamic radicals to supporters of Saddam Hussein in a loose affiliation called Iraq's mujaheddin.
"Targets have been selected and plans are in place for coming attacks which will introduce new strategies and updated tactics," said the commander.
A sharp fall in insurgents' attacks from a peak of 140 a day just before the January 30 elections to 40 a day now had prompted predictions last week that American and British forces would be scaled back next year. The insurgency has been hit hard by mass arrests and offensives against rebel strongholds such as Falluja.
The commander's warning of attacks by groups working together came after one of the most radical, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, claimed to have carried out a joint raid with Zarqawi's men on a pipeline in Kirkuk, in which nine police officers died.
US officials said they had believed for some time that the groups had been collaborating but this appeared to be the first time they had admitted working together.
In other incidents yesterday a bomb in a restaurant popular with policemen in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, killed seven people. Last night US-led forces were trying to free up to 150 Shi'ite hostages held by Sunni guerrillas in the central Iraqi town of Madaen.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/17/2005 12:43:45 AM ||
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A leader of Afghanistan's ousted Taleban movement has rejected as baseless reports that he held reconciliation talks with President Hamid Karzai's government. Maulavi Abdul Kabir, thought now to be No. 2 in the Taleban hierarchy after its fugitive leader Mulla Mohamad Omar, also dismissed reports of rifts among remnants of the hard-line Islamic movement overthrown by US-led forces in late 2001. Afghan Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari said recently that senior Taleban figures, including Kabir, were in touch with him about giving up the insurgency they have waged for the past 3-1/2 years since being driven from power.
In an audio message played to Reuters by satellite phone by Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, Kabir rejected this. "There have been no talks with the Americans or the current government and whoever has said this, it has no basis," he said. "As before, the Taleban are under one leadership," Kabir said, referring to Omar.
Hakimi said the message was recorded on Friday somewhere in Afghanistan. Hakimi said Kabir was now head of the Taleban's political commission, which would make him Omar's deputy. Hakimi also said the Taleban were working on a plan to change their tactics away from guerrilla warfare. He said the focus was now on the training suicide bombers to target government officials, foreign forces and aid workers in major cities and to infiltrate agents into security organs to carry out sabotage. "The change of tactics is an easy way for us to have a longer-term war of attrition and would also not cost many lives for us," he said, while denying that the Taleban would be copying the tactics of insurgents in Iraq. US-led troops toppled the Taleban after they refused to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, architect of Sept. 11.
This article starring:
ABDUL LATIF HAKIMI
Taliban
Fazl Hadi Shinwari
MAULAVI ABDUL KABIR
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The bodies of 41 Kuwaitis believed killed during the first Gulf War have been unearthed in southern Iraq, one of 295 mass graves containing thousands of Saddam Hussein's victims uncovered in the two years since U.S.-led forces invaded and ousted the dictator, an Iraqi official said Saturday. The discovery in the city of Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, was another step in documenting what happened to 605 Kuwaitis who have been missing since the 1991 Gulf War. The bodies of only 190 other Kuwaitis have been identified.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Damn! What bad luck! Right before my trial starts...
Posted by: New York Times/IHT ||
04/17/2005 14:59 Comments ||
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#3
It's just more brown people - they're used to it. Happens all the time. What else can you expect? It's part of their culture. We have no right to judge them based on Western "morals." And anyway, there's no way to claim the Americans did it.
Nothing to see here, move along....
/LLL, DemocRats, and MSM (but I repeat myself)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/17/2005 15:47 Comments ||
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Seeking to shore up the fledgling peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday announced the appointment of outgoing World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn to oversee the crucial nonmilitary components of Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. In his new role, Wolfensohn will help coordinate the disposition of homes and other assets that will remain when Israeli settlers and troops pull out of Gaza in the summer. He also will work to revive the economy in Gaza, a desolate enclave that is home to more than a third of the Palestinian territories' population of 3.8 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Gaza, a desolate enclave Surrounded by productive and vibrant areas. Funny how the Arabs always get the sh** places.
#2
I wouldn't trust this Clintonite bleeding-heart too much. Still must give the man credit for having contacts at the White House. Give him enough rope and hopefully he will ...use it.
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.
Twenty-one candidates contesting the April 21 elections to the Municipal Council in Jeddah have complained to authorities against seven candidates for allegedly being promoted by popular Islamic scholars in the country. Dr. 
Underground religious schools that promote extremist forms of Islam are drawing more than 300,000 young students across Yemen, the country's prime minister said Saturday. Prime Minister 
FOUR asylum seekers have been granted the right to remain in Scotland despite accusations that they were al-Qaeda terrorists. The Algerians, who were arrested in Edinburgh and Glasgow two years ago as part of a UK-wide police operation, were given permission to remain in this country after their lawyer argued the terror claims would put their lives at risk if they were deported. The four were part of a nine-strong group of suspects who police believed were linked to an al-Qaeda network that had cells throughout the UK and Europe.
The president's commission on intelligence criticized separate modernization plans sent to President Bush in February by the FBI and the CIA, saying they reflected a "business as usual approach to intelligence gathering" that falls short. In a letter to Bush dated March 29, the commission said it had reviewed the FBI's proposal to integrate and upgrade its intelligence programs, and the CIA's plan to increase by 50 percent its corps of analysts and operations officers. "We do not believe that either response is entirely adequate," the commission's letter said. They show "just how important -- and how difficult -- Ambassador [John D.] Negroponte's job will be," the panel said, referring to Bush's nominee to become the nation's first director of national intelligence. The Senate intelligence committee held a hearing yesterday on Negroponte's nomination. 
A South Korean businessman accused of accepting millions of dollars from Iraq in the United Nations' oil-for-food program scandal is hiding in Tokyo where he is considering a U.S. plea bargain offer, a news report said Saturday. 
Aceh rebels and Indonesian government delegates made a "breakthrough" at peace talks aimed at ending a three-decade insurgency in the tsunami-ravaged province, the Finnish mediator said. Both sides said they made progress toward ending the conflict, but rebels said they were concerned about Indonesian troop deployments in the region. "I would like to describe this as a breakthrough," said former President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the third round of negotiations. "We have moved to a very substantive discussion on the issues," he said Saturday, adding that the next round of talks would begin on May 26 in Finland. Aceh rebels have been struggling for 27 years for a separate homeland in the oil- and gas-rich region where more than 12,000 people have been killed.
Pro-Syrian Lebanese President 
A leader of Afghanistan's ousted Taleban movement has rejected as baseless reports that he held reconciliation talks with President Hamid Karzai's government. 
Seeking to shore up the fledgling peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday announced the appointment of outgoing World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn to oversee the crucial nonmilitary components of Israel's impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. In his new role, Wolfensohn will help coordinate the disposition of homes and other assets that will remain when Israeli settlers and troops pull out of Gaza in the summer. He also will work to revive the economy in Gaza, a desolate enclave that is home to more than a third of the Palestinian territories' population of 3.8 million.
