Eritrean security police tortured two Christians to death yesterday, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. .... Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, eyewitnesses told Compass. The military buried the two unmarried men yesterday in the southern Eritrean town near the Ethiopian border, where they had been performing their military service.
Andegergesh and Firemichel were arrested on Sunday (October 15), along with 10 other Christians, while attending a worship service in the home of Teklezgi Asgerdom. The three women and seven men, all members of the evangelical Rema Church, were kept in military confinement, along with Andegergesh and Firemichel, and subjected to “furious mistreatment,” one source said. The fate of the 10 other Christians remains unknown.
Earlier this month, Eritrean authorities returned popular Christian singer Helen Berhane to military detention after she spent three days in AsmaraÂ’s Halibet Hospital for medical treatment. BerhaneÂ’s leg was seriously damaged as a result of beatings she received while imprisoned in a metal shipping container since her arrest in May 2004. Sources told Compass that Berhane, a member of the Kidane Mehrete Fellowship, has been transferred back to Mai-Serwa Military Camp and now is able to walk with the help of a cane.
The government has continued its campaign against Christian workers, jailing a U.S. citizen earlier this month. Evangelical Aregahaje Woldeselasie and his assistant, a married man identified only as Mushie, have been held in AsmaraÂ’s Police Station 5 since their arrest on October 4. An Eritrean-born U.S. citizen in his early 60s, Woldeselasie has been working with Nehemiah Ministry International in Eritrea since 1991, providing leadership training to new congregations. At the time of his arrest, WoldeselasieÂ’s wife and two children were in the United States. ....
Recently confirmed statistics indicate that at least 1,918 Eritrean citizens are jailed solely for their religious beliefs, without any access to judicial process. ....
An Egyptian Christian teenager escaped her Muslim kidnappers last week hours after they had drugged her on a public bus. While holding her captive, they threatened to rape her and convert her to Islam if her family did not leave their Nile Delta city of El-Mahala el-Kobra. At 10 p.m. last Tuesday (October 3), Laurence Wagih Emil, 15, escaped the ground-floor room where she was being held in CairoÂ’s southern Helwan suburb while her captors were away breaking their Ramadan fast with an evening meal.
The girl asked Helwan area residents to help her contact her parents in El-Mahala el-Kobra, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Cairo. .... Emil was able to call her parents with the help of Helwan area residents. One resident then took her to police, and officials escorted her to HelwanÂ’s branch of the State Security Investigation (SSI), EgyptÂ’s security police. The girlÂ’s aunt and uncle, residents of Cairo, immediately drove to Helwan to locate her, but they were forced to wait at the SSI station while police met with Emil from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Wednesday (October 4). According to Emil, the officers were friendly and offered her a sandwich and a soft drink. But 15 minutes later, she said, she was unable to move though fully conscious.
“You should say that you took the bus to Tahrir Square [located in central Cairo] and met a guy named Fady, who took you to sleep at his house with his mother,” Emil said police told her. “Say that; otherwise you won’t see your parents again.”
After Emil had regained use of her limbs, police had her sign a statement that she had met a male friend in Cairo and spent the night at his house, Compass confirmed. She was then reunited with her family. ....
While his daughter was held captive, Wagih Emil had received several text messages from her mobile phone demanding that he and his family vacate the city. “Take the rest of your daughters and leave the city, or you will lose them one by one,” read one of the text messages shown to Compass. “The girl [Laurence] is not accepting easily, but she will embrace Islam for sure.” .... The message also demanded that Laurence Emil stop resisting and convert to Islam. “‘If you refuse [to move out of the city], we could send her back to you a Mrs.’ – a direct threat of raping the girl,” reported Watani.
At 10 p.m. that evening, Wagih Emil received a call from his daughter on her telephone saying that her captors had left her alone to break their fast. Throughout the month of Ramadan, which began this year in late September, Muslims are required to fast during daylight hours. Half an hour later, the Christian father received another phone call from a man named Soub SaÂ’ad, who said that Laurence Emil had come to his door asking for help.
But by the time Laurence EmilÂ’s aunt arrived, SaÂ’ad had taken the Christian girl to the police, fearing that her captors might trace her to his house. ....
In her second year of high school, Laurence Emil said that she boarded a public bus last Monday (October 2) to attend a tutorial in Mansheyet el-Bakry district of her hometown, El-Mahala el-Kobra. There were four men already on the bus. Emil said she had just noticed the driver deviating from the normal bus route before someone grabbed her from behind and pressed his hand over her mouth. The Christian girl regained consciousness in a dark room with four men and a woman. They beat her, she said.
Back in El-Mahala el-Kobra, her family began to worry when she had not returned home by 6 p.m. They consulted a Coptic Orthodox priest, Father Athanasius from the nearby St. George Church, who advised them to report the incident to the police. Having already called many of their friends in an attempt to find their daughter, the Emil family went to the local police station with a large group of Christians. Wagih Emil said that police were uncooperative but eventually filed a report about his daughterÂ’s disappearance.
News of the disappearance spread throughout the cityÂ’s Christian community, and Copts began to gather outside the police station during the night. By 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, the crowd moved to the courtyard of St. GeorgeÂ’s church. Two hours later, their numbers having surpassed 1,000, the group began to demonstrate, chanting slogans and holding up signs calling for the girlÂ’s safe recovery. .....
To many in Egypt, Laurence’s case appears to be clear evidence of police complicity in the kidnapping of Christian girls. “If Laurence went to Cairo with a friend as police claim, how could this have threatened Egyptian State Security in any way, and why was Mr. Sa’ad detained for two days?” asked Watani writer Nader Shukry in an October 8 article.
Shukry reported that 12 Christian girls under the age of 21, the age of majority for most legal transactions other than conversion, have disappeared in 2006. The list includes 17-year-old Dina Amin, who disappeared from her familyÂ’s home in El-Mahala el-Kobra on the same day as Laurence Emil.
A Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for 18 months has declared from his prison cell that he is under arrest for “insulting Islam” by becoming a Christian. Egypt’s secret police transferred Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad, 57, to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison last month. He was told he would remain there indefinitely unless he agreed to work as a government informer against other converts to Christianity. According to the prisoner’s Cairo attorney, Athanasius William, his client remains incarcerated in this desert prison “only because he has chosen a different belief, to be a Christian.”
El-Akkad was imprisoned without charges for more than a year after officials of the State Security Investigation (SSI) arrested him in Cairo on April 6, 2005. Although subjected to repeated interrogations, the former Muslim was never told the specific accusations against him. But several of his cellmates spread rumors that he was converting and baptizing people into Christianity, sparking verbal abuse and at least one severe beating from a fellow prisoner.
When the courts finally ordered El-AkkadÂ’s release from provisional detention 10 weeks ago, SSI authorities deliberately ignored the ruling. Instead, they held him in their Gaber Ibn Hayyan office in Giza and then transferred him to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison, located 60 miles north of Cairo along the highway to Alexandria.
William told Compass it was strictly illegal for the SSI to have re-arrested El-Akkad and jailed him indefinitely “without the orders of a legally authorized official,” as required under Article 280 of the Egyptian penalty laws.
In a series of handwritten notes smuggled out of prison in recent months and obtained by Compass, El-Akkad declared that he had “chosen the Christian faith” after years of research on Islam. For more than 20 years, the former sheikh was a member of the fundamentalist Islamic group Tabligh and Da’wa, which actively proselytized non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. He also led a mosque community in Al-Haram, in the Giza area adjacent to Cairo. In 1994 he had published, Islam: the Religion, a 500-page book reviewing the traditional beliefs of the Islamic faith.
But he became disillusioned, and five years ago the sheikh said he began to pray that he could somehow know God personally. It was not until January 2005 that he talked for the first time with someone who explained the tenets of the Christian faith to him. He began intensive study of Christian Scripture, and within weeks he became a follower of Jesus.
“This is a proof to all Muslims,” El-Akkad wrote, “that the person who studies the two religions from an objective and serious perspective will choose the Christian approach.”
But within two months, word of El-AkkadÂ’s conversion to Christianity had reached the SSI, and secret police picked him up without warning from his private trade office.
After six weeks in SSI detention, El-Akkad was sent to Cairo’s Tora Mazraa Prison. When his lawyer, William, finally obtained power of attorney to visit the convert, he was told he was incarcerated under emergency law provisions on suspicion of “committing blasphemy against Islam.”
For the following year, El-Akkad’s detention was renewed every 45 days under emergency law provisions, even though he still had not been formally charged. But this past July, authorities instituted a new law restricting provisional detention regulations, specifying that the length of provisional detention for a misdemeanor should not, “whatever the circumstances,” exceed six months.
El-Akkad was accused of “insulting a heavenly religion,” a misdemeanor under Article 98-F of the Egyptian penal code. So a Cairo court ordered him released on July 30. After learning of the court-ordered release, El-Akkad’s wife and three children waited in vain for him to return home. Ten days later, William finally confirmed that although the convert had been released from prison, he remained in SSI custody in Giza.
By mid-September, authorities transferred El-Akkad to the maximum security Wadi el-Natroun Prison, where the majority of Egyptian Islamists sentenced for anti-government activities are incarcerated. Notorious for its Spartan conditions in the desert, the prison facility houses its prisoners in small cells measuring one by two meters.
According to William, his client is in weak health from prison, suffering from high blood pressure as well as skin diseases caused by extreme temperatures, unsanitary cell conditions and bites from insects and small reptiles. “He is locked in a place where he may die because his age, body and mind cannot tolerate this cruelty and stubbornness of the state security authorities,” William said.
The attorney has received no response from a petition he filed to Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on September 4 citing serious legal violations in El-Akkad’s case. Although Egypt’s Christian citizens are free to embrace Islam and obtain legal Muslim identities, Muslim citizens are not allowed to change their religious identity. Those who become Christians are subjected to severe harassment by the SSI, which often arrests converts for either insulting Islam or “threatening national security.”
Eight months after she escaped from a judgment by officials at a school of nursing she attended in Sokoto to stone her to death for “blasphemy,” Ladi Muhammed is still in hiding. The 22-year-old Christian woman told Compass from her place of refuge how Muslim students and teachers at the School of Nursing and Midwifery in the northern Nigeria city, capital of Sokoto state, accused her of blaspheming the prophet of Islam after a dispute with a Muslim friend. The accusation led to the students, faculty and administrators condemning her to death by stoning.
The ordeal began when MuhammedÂ’s aunt, Hajiya Mary, phoned her on February 2 at the school. While she was still on the phone, a Muslim friend, Aisha Tambulwal, asked her who had phoned her, and Muhammed excitedly told her that the caller was her aunt.
“While responding to the phone call from my aunt, I addressed her as Hajiya, the name we know her by,” Muhammed said. “My friend became curious and wanted to know what ‘Hajiya’ was to me. I told her she was my mother, because, being an elder sister to my mother, Hajiya was a mother to me. Furthermore, I grew up under her care. And so my Muslim friend asked why was it that I was a Christian while my parents were Muslims.”
Muhammed told her that, though her dad (now living in the United Kingdom) was Muslim, she had come to believe that Jesus Christ was God and the Savior of mankind. Tambulwal became angry and began to insult her. “You are an infidel – if not, how can your parents be Muslims and you a Christian?” Tambulwal told her. Furious, she asked Muhammed, “How can your parents who are Muslims allow you become an infidel?”
As her parents divorced when she was young, Muhammed grew up with her mother, a Christian still living in Kebbi state, where Muhammed was born in Zuru town. After Muhammed told Tambulwal to stop calling her an infidel, her friend responded with insults and name-calling. Tambulwal refused to heed her appeals to end the discussion. She insisted that she had to persuade Muhammed to renounce Christ and become a Muslim or else God would hold her accountable for failing to do so. .....
Tambulwal began to shout in a rage, and Muhammed walked away from her, she said. Muhammed thought the matter was over. A week later, however, Tambulwal and two other female students – Hadiza Usman and Sadiya Abdullahi Daweh – came to her class and accused her of blasphemy against Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.
“I was surprised, because throughout my discussion with Tambulwal, I never mentioned the name of the prophet,” Muhammed said. “Yet they claimed that I said the prophet was in hell. I assume that because I tried to let her know that it is those who do not believe Jesus Christ that will go to hell that they are using this to accuse me of blasphemy.”
She walked away, but the girls – whom she described as militant Muslims – followed her out of the classroom, and soon much of the student population went into a rampaging frenzy. “Muslim students all over the school were shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar [God is great],” she said. “The girls surrounded me and began to drag me here and there.”
Leaders of the schoolÂ’s Muslim Students Society (MSS) came and took over the interrogation from the girls, she said. Rejecting her explanations, they dragged her to the office of the principal, Abdulrahaman Muhammed Isa. He was away at that moment, but the administration officer, Usman Ilo, listened to the charges of blasphemy and ruled that the case was beyond his authority. But the principal, Isa, returned and took over the case. According to Muhammed, who by then felt that she had been taken captive, the principal, faculty members and students then determined that she was guilty of blasphemy of the prophet of Islam and sentenced her to death by stoning.
The students wanted the death sentence executed then at the school, but the principal and teachers argued to have it endorsed by an Islamic (sharia) court. Muhammed said that some teachers, after a lengthy argument, convinced the students that she should be taken to a sharia court for confirmation of the death sentence. The administration officer, Ilo, was taking her to Muslim authorities in town who would arrange for her to be arraigned before an Islamic court. En route, she escaped and hid in the house of a Christian friend in Sokoto.
The following morning, her friend went to the school to assess the situation: Muslim students learning of her escape had gone on a rampage, burning down the house of the administration officer for allowing her to escape, and Christians living near the school were also attacked. The school was closed down.
That same day, Muhammed learned from her friend, posters with her picture were printed and pasted throughout Sokoto. Muslim militants were posted in strategic spots in the byways and exits of the city. The Islamists declared that she was “wanted.”
“When the situation became unsafe for me, Christians harboring me in Sokoto dressed me like a Muslim woman, covered completely with clothing and hijab (a head covering), and then smuggled me out of the city,” Muhammed said. Christians took her to her hometown of Zuru, but by then news had reached the town, and Muslims there were also looking for her. She was whisked out of Zuru to Kaduna, where –surprisingly, she said – Muslims were looking for her there too. She had to be moved to her present refuge. ....
Muhammed’s case ignited in an atmosphere of habitual discrimination at the school of nursing. “We are not allowed to hold Christian programs in the school, and we have been banned from holding worship services or even praying,” she said. “Yet, in this school, Muslim students have all they need to worship Allah. Whether it be mosques or Islamic books, they have all they need.”
Muhammed said that female Christian students are admitted into the school with the intent of encouraging them to marry Muslims. Of the 43 Christian students at the school, only three are male. “Muslim male students and teachers are always disturbing us,” she said. “They want to marry us, and when we turn down such marriage proposals, they harass and intimidate us. They believe that they are carrying out jihad once they are able to marry us and win us to Islam.”
#4
No slight irony in how Ladi's donning of the hijab was what allowed her to evade capture. You'd think Muslims would immediately ban such an effective disguise.
Too bad there's no way for this woman to be brought forward for stoning so that, at the last moment, the gathered crowd could be mowed down with machine guns. I'm beginning to hope that Christians have a world-wide network that is sending firearms to these isolated outposts.
Um, we don't want him, yeah, so he's available, uh huh, but are you really sure you want him? Lol. Suckers. Former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet has joined the British research firm thought to have provided the inspiration for 'Q', the character who creates spy gadgets for James Bond.
Tenet has been appointed an independent non-executive director of QinetiQ, the company said on Tuesday.
"I am especially interested in the capacity of the company's technologies to meet a number of the challenges faced by our nations' military and intelligence personnel," Tenet said.
One of the longest serving U.S. spymasters in history, Tenet was CIA director from 1997 to 2004.
He served under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush before quitting in June 2004, citing personal reasons.
Critics blamed the CIA during his reign for shortcomings in intelligence gathered in the run-up to war in Iraq and questioned whether more could have been done to predict the September 11 hijackings.
QinetiQ is partly owned by U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group, whose advisers have included former U.S. President George Bush and former British Prime Minister John Major.
Once a secretive part of Britain's Ministry of Defense, the firm was listed on the London Stock Exchange in February. Mebbe they want to conduct experiments - use him as the negative indicator. Hey, it makes more sense that the straight version, lol.
#2
...Well, the MSM strikes again. The true inspiration for Q were the gadgetmasters Ian Fleming worked with during WWII to put some remarkable weapons and devices in the hands of downed Allied pilots and Resistance fighters. They predate QinetiQ by about six decades.
Of course, saying THAT would take away some of the snark, I suppose...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/25/2006 9:44 Comments ||
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QinetiQ was the former test and development arm of the UK Ministry of Defence that was turned out and privatized. Thye've been on a buying spree in the US over the last couple of years. I think they understand that the UK defense budgets are not the path to corporate success.
North Korean food shortages have grown worse after its recent nuclear test led donors to withdraw aid, the UN says. The UN official monitoring human rights in North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, said the food shortage was critical.
The grass and bark crops have come in under estimates ...
North Korea is already short of food and this year floods have damaged the harvest, making matters even worse.
President Kim Jong-Il's nuclear test has led to international condemnation of the secretive regime and sanctions against its nuclear programme. Pyongyang was due to receive 100,000 tonnes of food aid but will now get less than that, Mr Muntarbhorn said. "Matters became ultra-complicated because of the missile test in July as well as the nuclear test recently, which prodded various potential contributors to reconsider giving the aid," he said. "So there has been this sad and regrettable linkage between the various tests and the impact on the food situation."
His report says there are major concerns about basic issues like the right to life, the right to food and freedom of expression and religion.
Not that he'd do anything about any of them.
Although Mr Muntarbhorn credits the regime for reforming its criminal law, ...
Exactly how?
... he says there are still what he calls many transgressions and discrepancies of an egregious nature when it comes to the fundamental rights of North Korea's people.
Can't do anything about it, however, just keep sending food for the army people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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"Matters became ultra-complicated because of the missile test in July as well as the nuclear test recently, which prodded various potential contributors to reconsider giving the aid. So there has been this sad and regrettable linkage between the various tests and the impact on the food situation."
Ultra-complicated? I call it 'clear'. Or maybe 'even more clear'.
Sad and regrettable linkage? You left out but obvious and necessary.
All this reminds me once again how wise our founding fathers were to make sure the people had guns, too. As much of a pain as it may seem to be at times, we are in a better position today than we would have been without them.
Although Mr Muntarbhorn credits the regime for reforming its criminal law Either a gesture trying to give the NorK government a way to save some face, or simply more moonbattery. Or maybe both.
Anybody know the definition of an egregious discrepancy? Is that related to how only Kim Jong-Ill and his family are fat and the rest of the people are emaciated?
#2
My heart pumps piss. Maybe when all of the generals' relatives are beginning to starve they'll finally off this little turd and his spawn. I guess we've got to wait for the consequences to creep up their food chain. No aid. No relief. No fucking nothing.
#7
"His report says there are major concerns about basic issues like the right to life, the right to food and freedom of expression and religion."
Has he been using the same report for 50 years?
#8
sad and regrettable linkage
WTF!? How about sad and regrettable attempt at extortion? F*ckin' idiot useless UN.
My recommendation to the people of NorK is when you get hungry enough remember the Songun-Army First policy: eat the army first!
#10
I don't think that I have ever seen a "right to food" enumerated in international treaties. The nations of the West are compassionate and will assist people beset by a natural disaster. Communism and cults of personality, while disasters, are not natural. They are not a crisis, but ongoing manmade conditions. The basic rule is that the world is not obligated to support ongoing stupidity. Only the fecklessness of Western compassion propping up a failed system has allowed Kim Jong-il and his thugs to remain in power for so long. Western compassion has created another manmade disaster. Even if Kim were to fall, at this point, the NorKs have been so thoroughly indoctrinated that, they like the Palestinians, are beyond redemption. If you feed the animals, they come to take it for granted and lose the capability and desire to support themselves.
#13
A "right" to food? What a crock! There is no "right" to food. There is the right to be able to grow food, or to buy food if you have the money, but there's nothing sensible written anywhere that gives a person a 'right' to food. In Kim's Korea, there are only "rights" for the top echelon - the rest are considered slaves and peasants.
I guess this must be another "United Nations" "law" - like all the rest, only designed to hammer the US into giving in and supporting the rest of the world's lazy and incompetent dictators.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/25/2006 14:16 Comments ||
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Kim Jong-il has reserved the right to escalate the nuclear crisis, China said today, refuting earlier reports that the North Korean leader apologised for this monthÂ’s atomic weapons test. The denial dashes hopes for an early resumption of negotiations, which were raised last week when a senior Chinese envoy, Tang Jiaxuan, returned from Pyongyang with an upbeat message for the visiting US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Although no details were revealed of Mr TangÂ’s talks with the North Korean leader, media reports in South Korea and Japan quoted Mr Kim as expressing regret for the difficulties the test had caused China.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
In other news: China jerks around world opinion like a $100 a night hooker.
#2
It doesn't make sense to me, if China owns NorK, that they would be speaking for them. Looks bad. Seems a lot like an admission. If I were China, I would be deferring to NorK to answer this kind of question for themselves. Are there no other channels available to NorK?
#3
g: It doesn't make sense to me, if China owns NorK, that they would be speaking for them. Looks bad. Seems a lot like an admission. If I were China, I would be deferring to NorK to answer this kind of question for themselves. Are there no other channels available to NorK?
What part of plausible deniability don't you understand? The whole idea that China has lost face has been orchestrated by China and echoed by people whose concept of Chinese behavior is based on Charlie Chan movies - stern but honorable. This way China gets to jerk Uncle Sam around while claiming that it has no control over North Korea. Pretending to lose face while unleashing its allies is a longstanding Chinese tradition so as to preserve some semblance of the appearance of good faith.
#5
In other words, professional hand-wringing accompanied by copious quantities of crocodile tears. Remember, the Chinese practically invented the concept of professional mourners who are paid to gnash their teeth, tear at their faces, pull out their hair and keen disconsolately over the coffin of a complete stranger ... all for money. This is the politburo's version of same.
#7
Z: Remember, the Chinese practically invented the concept of professional mourners who are paid to gnash their teeth, tear at their faces, pull out their hair and keen disconsolately over the coffin of a complete stranger ... all for money.
That's the tradition - the greater the number of professional mourners hired, the greater the amount of "face" (reflecting wealth and prestige) accruing to the the family of the deceased. But the analogy doesn't even have to stray that far from the subject of statecraft.
A quick look back at Chinese history should disabuse anyone of the notion of the Chinese always saying what they mean and meaning what they say. During China's periodic changes of emperor via palace revolt or popular rebellion, the new ruler would typically reign for a period of time in the emperor's name, even as he posed as the emperor's protector. After a suitable period of time, "unknown" assassins would conveniently kill the emperor, paving the way for the new ruler to crown himself emperor. In theory, the ruler should have lost face for failing to adequately protect the emperor, but in reality, all he had needed was time to consolidate his power - by figuring out the loyalties of court officials, ditching the emperor's stalwarts and keeping those who were prepared to switch their allegiance to him. Once he accomplished this, his predecessor's fate was sealed.
#8
What part of plausible deniability don't you understand?
What I'm trying to say is that China just shed the last shred of plausible deniability it had when it started speaking for NorK. That's not losing face; it's stupid! Now there are no feeble excuses left for China to fall back on.
The only hope China has left to maintain plausible deniability in my mind is to say that they were speaking for the NorKs only because China is its last remaining channel of communication in the world, and that NorK wanted them to say that.
So to settle this question in my mind for now, does anyone know if China is speaking for NorK only because there is no other choice, or because China decided to formally do away with any illusions they think they are maintaining? If it's what I am thinking, it looks like Kimmie just got sidelined.
It seems to me that there is something I'm missing.
Dili, 25 October (AKI) - Following the resurgence of gang violence in East Timor, a village leader has asked United Nations police deployed there to shoot to kill the troublemakers. "The situation is very complicated. The UNPOL (UN police) should shoot to kill the troublemakers at the scene so that the fighting can be avoided," Comoro Village chief, Lino Mesquita, told reporters at Dili International Airport on Wednesday.
Works for me...
The airport has been closed due the growing violence in the tiny southeast Asian countryEast Timor civil aviation and airport director, Romaldo da Silva, said that he could not risk the safety of his staff. "I do not want take any risks in this matter. There is no security for me and my staff. Even now, as we speak, I cannot go to my office because fighting is on going," da Silva told journalists. Violence broke out again when two men from the east of the tiny country were killed on Monday. This has continued through Wednesday, when one man from the west, Assis Hendrique da Silva, 25, was shot dead.
According to analysts, the latest violence was triggered by the release of an 18 October report published by the UN Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for Timor-Leste. This said much of the violence could be attributed to the weakness of the rule of law in the country.
Genius! How do they do it?
The report recommended further investigation of allegations that former prime minister Mari Alkatiri knew about the setting up of an armed civilian militias but did nothing to stop them. It also urged legal action to be taken against powerful men such as former interior minister Rogerio Lobato, police commander Paulo Martins, former defence minister Roque Rodrigues and defence force chief Taur Matan Ruak.
Dili National Hospital director, Antonio Caleres, confirmed that 47 people have been injured and four killed since the report was made public. "Thirteen of them are in a critical condition," he told reporters on Wednesday.
East Timor's division along ethnic and geographic lines has been identified as one of the main causes of the riots which erupted in May. East Timorese from the east are known as 'lorosae', while those from the west are 'loromonu'. The former accused the latter of having collaborated with Indonesia during its occupation of the country. Alkatiri's sacking of 600 members of the 1,400-strong army - mainly lorosae who claimed they were discriminated against by the mostly loromonu officers - sparked protests that developed into widespread violence. The May riots led to the death of 37 people, the displacement of 155,000 and the fall of AlkatiriÂ’s government. About 2,500 peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia were deployed to restore order.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/25/2006 09:09 ||
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Shows remarkable success in deterring second offenses.
#3
The title made me think this would be an article about the Muzzies in France. I had hopes someone over there (besides A5089) had come to his senses. Darn!
Posted by: mac ||
10/25/2006 18:23 Comments ||
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Short and sweet
"You UN strangers kill them for me, then you'll get the blame and not me,"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/25/2006 20:25 Comments ||
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#1
Both Japan and Germany are making the effort to now stand up after WW2. This may be necessary for the coming battles. We can't do it alone. Hopefully, the pendulum won't swing too far in the coming years.
#3
"Hopefully, the pendulum won't swing too far in the coming years".
SpecOp35: The pendulum you refer to is awfully far left, at least in Germany's case I think, less so wrt Japan. It needs to swing well past center right asap. I can easily invision the need for an international and DOMESTIC deployment of the Bundeswehr in the not too distant future.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/25/2006 11:04 Comments ||
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#4
Article says the Bundeswehr of 250,000 must expand to support deployement of 14,000. That's one hell of a tooth-to-tail ratio.
French army is 250 000 or so, or at least was before professionalization, I think I should check that, it has about 17 000 troops deployed outside national territory, and this is the utmost it can do (already quite overstretched, one reason why the french special forces will be redeployed from aghanistan to lebanon).
#6
First step, Germany should do is shift to an all-volunteer army. For one it provides better troops in general, and two there will be less outcry when stubs a toe on some UN mission because the toe-stubber volunteered to serve.
Second step, Germany should politely take over US responsibilities in Germany and assist the US in leaving.
Third, if Germany wants to keep their draft, and its now non-military, they should create a Peace Corps of sorts to provide non-military foreign involvement.
#7
You're right, rj, but keep dreaming. European governments have to squeeze blood from every turnip to stay afloat. The French gov't is selling state mansions and Paris City Hall's wine collection. With an unemployment rate still in the double digits, the German gov't desperately relies on US employment of several hundred thousand local nationals -- plus the business of almost as many soldiers & family members assigned here. Until they figure out that their economy is based on the Big Lie, they'll never "help" us leave.
I'm sure the German military could meet recruiting goals if it went all-volunteer. I would worry, though, that the beer-hall-putsch types would be the first in line.
#8
I agree, exJAG. Also, one benefit of universal conscription is that it delays, for several years, the entry of the young men into the job market, and presumably at a total cost lower than unemployment welfare. But it would be helpful for the future of German society if all those lads were trained in actual soldiering during their sojourn.
#9
My German ex rose to the rank of Obergefreiter (PFC) drinking beer and watching p0rn (though they decided not to hammer in the bung, LOL!)! As he described it to me, a major reason Germany has universal service is to better integrate the military into civil society, by making sure everyone has served or knows someone who has.
After living through the American experience -- forced to argue with assholes who don't know a corporal from a colonel -- this concept made me drool (though I still totally oppose any draft). But in order for it to work, soldiers have to actually serve somewhere, doing something honorable and dangerous. So as it stands, yes, compulsory service in Germany is a big nanny state sham. It keeps German boys off the streets, while the Turkish ones roam them. Great.
#11
ex-JAG: I'm thinking if the Germans boys are off the street but in military service while the muzzie turk boys are roaming the streets... well then...advantage to the German boys. An advantage they may need sooner rather then later.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
10/25/2006 12:47 Comments ||
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#12
Anf from the 138000 in the French LAnd Army you still have to discount some thousands protecting French supported muxdrerous tyrants interests in Africa, those depoloyed in Lebanon and last but not least those deployed in anti-terrorists patrols in some places of France's major cities.
#13
Except, Mark Z, that if the German lads get promoted to Pfc by drinking beer and watching dirty films, they aren't getting training in useful skills.
She's not bad looking, especially for a politician, but I'm sorry. She simply does not look Swedish.
Not traditionally Swedish on the outside, but she wants to be Swedish on the inside. But she comes off as an .. American!
THE latest media darling of Scandinavian politics is not only black, beautiful and Muslim; she is also firmly against the wearing of the veil.
Nyamko Sabuni, 37, has caused a storm as SwedenÂ’s new integration and equality minister by arguing that all girls should be checked for evidence of female circumcision; arranged marriages should be criminalised; religious schools should receive no state funding; and immigrants should learn Swedish and find a job.
Supporters of the centre-right government that came to power last month believe that her bold rejection of cultural diversity may make her a force for change across Europe. Her critics are calling her a hardliner and even an Islamophobe. “I am neither,” she said in an interview. “My aim is to integrate immigrants. One is to ensure they grow up just as any other child in Sweden would.”
Sabuni believes all immigrants must try to become proficient in Swedish — just as she did when she arrived from Africa aged 12 — rather than alienating locals. “Language and jobs are the two most crucial things for integration,” she said. “If you want to become a Swedish citizen, we think you should have some basic knowledge of Swedish.”
#1
Whooooooah Nellie Nyamko! Reality slap comes to Scandahoovia! Tape at 11:00.
Nyamko Sabuni, 37, has caused a storm as SwedenÂ’s new integration and equality minister by arguing that all girls should be checked for evidence of female circumcision; arranged marriages should be criminalised; religious schools should receive no state funding; and immigrants should learn Swedish and find a job.
This is the sort of woman needed all throughout Europe. She has the moral authority and compass to set things straight for a change. Get this classy dame into the Prime Minister's office, STAT! A woman with this sort of brain power makes Paris Hilton look like the lowlife airhead sleazebag she really is.
#2
I have often wondered if most of our Muslims would pass a polygraph test on belief in some Muslim doctrines.
Inquisitor: "Do you truly believe that Mohammad spoke to the Angel Gabriel, from the age of 40?
Abdullah: "Yes."
Inquisitor: "The machine result indicates deception. Next question: Do you believe that Mohammad concocted the heavenly reward of 72 virgins for dead, murderous jihadis in order to advance his personal revenge, sex booty lust and plunder agenda?
Abdullah: "No. Our prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) spoke for Allah the all powerful and merciful"
Inquisitor: "The machine indicates: deception. So Piss Be Upon You."
-----------------------
Inquisitor: "Nyamko Sabuni, are you looking for a whiskey drinking, pork loving, non-religious Caucasian, war-lover to take you into the sunset?"
#5
PD: Took the words right out of my brain. Muzzie fatwa on her head in 3, 2, ..... For sure, though, we could even use more like her here in the US.
Posted by: BA ||
10/25/2006 9:39 Comments ||
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#6
This is common throughout Europe mainly by Muslim Choice ie the most Workshy/insular people in the World!!!!
While there's some truth in that, the much bigger truth is that in Europe (unlike the US) it's usually very hard for immigrants to find jobs. Hell, it's hard in some of those countries for native born citizens to find jobs.
So there's a vicious circle at work: people come because the governments invite them in (or passively tolerate it). Sweden, for instance, really WANTED a lot of immigration in the 60s and 70s to fill manufacturing jobs -- but they neglected to educate, assimilate or train the people who came, and manufacturing shifted to robotics by the 80s. So these people and their kids live in suburban housing projects that are cut off from the towns, with poor transit service and no jobs anywhere nearby. Nor can they start small service businesses, because unlike the US, Europe is a horrible place to start a business in -- it's virtually impossible to get the permits etc. required.
As a result, the immigrants live off of rich welfare benefits in part because they can, but also because that's all they are allowed to do in many cases.
#1
fine to put them on the terrorist list, better to ID the members, snatch, beat the shit out of them, then send their stupid asses to afghanistan to survive or die without support
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2006 18:06 Comments ||
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Halliburton! Shape-shifting Illuminati U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney Tuesday warned the global situation today is akin to the 1930s and the consequences could be even deadlier.
In an interview with conservative pundit Sean Hannity, Cheney warned the improvements in technology means fewer people could cause more harm.
"Sixty, 70, 80 years ago when we were worried about the Nazis, we were talking about a situation where -- obviously, deadly -- 50 million lives lost in World War II, but it took the work of vast armies to do that," Cheney said.
"Now because of modern technology, it's a whole different ball game. And you can have deadly capability and not even represent a state now, but just a group of terrorists living hidden in a society someplace, in Europe or someplace else that's basically friendly to the United States, that nonetheless has evil intentions and is prepared to kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of people."
Cheney said if a terrorist gets his hands on a nuclear weapon and explodes it in a major metropolitan area, "the casualties could rival all the losses we've had in 230 years of American history in our conflicts."
On politics, Cheney called Illinois Sen. Barack Obama an attractive candidate but too green to take on the presidency, with only two years in the Senate under his belt.
#1
I would say, if you want credibility, Mr. VP, then start to act like your words are meaningful. We know the potential for small groups to do great damage is now fact. Why are the borders unguarded ? WMD's can be brought in freely. Anyone who is paying attention knows this. Why is this administration adamant about leaving our borders and ports unprotected ? Even worse, Border Patrol Agents, doing their duty, are prosecuted and convicted for long jail terms. This is total undermining of US national security. Border Patrol ought to have the capability to shoot on sight anyone illegally penetrating US territory. No questions asked. No arrest. No returns. Just dead corpses laying in the open. Within 3 days, this would be well known across the world. Only this kind of determined action, not the folly of fencing alone, can stop this madness. Other than hollow talk, what has this administration done ?
#3
#1 "I would say, if you want credibility, Mr. VP, then start to act like your words are meaningful."
Here, here! More air power, more leveling of the cities and mosques where the Jihadi scum reside and to hell with world opinion. If you're not prepare to do this, then stop with the Nazi rhetoric and cheap political ploys liking this feeble attempt at tapping into WW II iconograpy.
#4
"cheap political ploys like this feeble attempt at tapping into WW II iconograpy."
Either treat these "worse than the Nazis" scum with all out brutality or fold up the tent and get the hell out of the Iraqi cesspool. Let them have had it and tear themselves apart.
(CBS 11 News) DALLAS A Congressional Homeland Security report accuses Venezuela of providing support that could help terrorists infiltrate the United States through TexasÂ’ porous border with Mexico.
The Subcommittee on Investigations of the House Homeland Security Committee found that the government of President Hugo Chavez has issued thousands of identity documents that could help terrorists elude immigration checks and illegally enter the United States.
Representative Michael McCaul, a first term Republican from Austin, chaired the subcommittee that produced the findings, “The potential is certainly there for terrorists to infiltrate the U.S. through Mexico. We apprehended five Pakistanis on the U.S. Mexico border with fraudulent Venezuelan documents.”
The report entitled, “A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border,” states that the number of aliens other than Mexican (OTMs) illegally crossing the border has grown at an alarming rate over the past several years. Homeland Security officials are concerned about aliens apprehended from thirty-five nations designated as “special interest” countries. Hundreds of aliens from “special interest” countries that are known to harbor terrorists or promote terrorism are routinely encountered and apprehended according to the report. The countries include Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The McAllen border sector far outpaces the rest of the country in Special Interest Alien apprehensions. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, arrests of Special Interest Aliens have increased forty-one percent along the Texas/Mexico border and Texas has accounted for eighty-eight percent of the nationÂ’s total apprehensions of Special Interest Aliens.
McCaul says Mexican drug cartels that control human smuggling networks could be unwitting accomplices to transport terrorists into the U.S., “ I don't really trust the cartels to do a background check and a screening process in terms of whom they bring into this country. I don't think they really care.”
Federal law enforcement personnel told the subcommitteeÂ’s staff that it is difficult to provide the total number of Special Interest Aliens entering the U.S. because they pay large amounts of money, between $15,000 and $60,000, to employ the more effective Mexican alien smuggling organizations and are less likely to be apprehended.
In August, an Afghani man was found swimming across the Rio Grande River in Hidalgo, Texas and last July in Jim Hogg County Border Patrol agents found a discarded jacket with patches from countries where al Qaeda is known to operate. The patches feature Arabic language martyrdom slogans that read “way to eternal life” and depict a jetliner crashing into the World Trade Center towers.
McCaul is concerned that Chavez is turning Venezuela into a staging area for terrorism in America’s backyard, “We know that Mr. Chavez in Venezuela has openly embraced the Islamic jihad world. We know that Hezbollah operatives have been given safe haven in Venezuela. So the threat is very real.”
#1
"Hundreds of aliens from “special interest” countries that are known to harbor terrorists or promote terrorism are routinely encountered and apprehended".
Of course drug cartels don't give a shit where they get money. These Muzzie clowns have fist fulls. They are the cadre who will organize cells and terror missions. All this is well known, yet the federal government knowingly disregards the safety of the US homeland. Why ? What is the agenda ? This should be topic one on the discussion of border control. The same is occurring on Canadian border, where there really is no interdiction to speak of. This is folly. The public turns a blind eye to this, at the cost of their lives and cities.
#2
Once again Rantburg beats the MSM to the punch. Someone (OldSpook?) posted a link to the actual report days ago. But I'm very glad to know the CBS local affiliate down in Texas has picked up on it -- good find, a5089. How do you find American news reports compared to French? ;-)
#4
The Subcommittee on Investigations of the House Homeland Security Committee found that the government of President Hugo Chavez has issued thousands of identity documents that could help terrorists elude immigration checks and illegally enter the United States.
Essentially, Houston Congressman John Culberson spoke to a media group and accused the Venezuelan government of "issuing Venezuelan passports to Middle Eastern terrorists and allowing them to change their Islamic surnames to Hispanic and teaching them the language and the culture and getting them into Mexico where they're crossing the border."
Which you must admit is pretty hot stuff. The next day, McCaul (head of the committee which wrote the report) came to address the same group, and was asked about Culberson's charge. He said (not in so many words) that Culberson was talking out his nether regions when he described the training camps, etc. And that they couldn't even pin the Pakistanis' documents on the Venezuelan government.
However, the author of the article I linked, Rick Casey, goes straight from "I suppose you know, this means war" to "It's all a bunch of crap." In other words, even this CBS story is an exaggeration. (I'll point out that I've been unimpressed with Casey in the few times I've read him. Smug git.)
Here's the link to the McCaul Report (PDF) for anyone who wants to wade through it. One of the items Casey refers to as an "old" press report is a Washington Times article from this spring in which Chavez tells Al Jazeera that "I am on the offensive." See page 31.
WASHINGTON - Anti-war groups are trying to rally active troops to speak out against the war in Iraq — a political tactic they hope will sway voters Nov. 7.
A small group of active-duty members opposed to the war created a Web site last month intended to collect thousands of signatures of other service members. People can submit their name, rank and duty station if they support statements denouncing the U.S. invasion.
The electronic grievances are then passed along to members of Congress, according to the Web site.
"Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home," the Web site says.
Jonathan Hutto, a Navy seaman based in Norfolk, Va., who set up the Web site a month ago, said the group has collected 118 names and is trying to verify that they are legitimate service members.
There are 1.4 million troops on active duty, including members of the National Guard and Reserve. Looks like you got some work to do, Jonnyboy...
Retired veterans have long waded into politics, including the 2004 presidential campaign when a group of veterans challenged Sen. John Kerry's war record. More recently, several retired military generals have called on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign, contending he botched the war and put troops at risk.
Hearing publicly from active-duty troops is rare. Military laws bar officers from denouncing the president and other U.S. leaders, and regulations typically prevent service members from lobbying for a particular cause while on duty or wearing the uniform.
Legal experts who reviewed the Web site said the effort probably would not violate any rules because the site is not a personal attack on members of the administration and allows service members to quietly pass their grievance to Congress in their free time.
Backers of the Web site also cite a "whistle-blower protection" law as added protection. Under the law, service members can file complaints to Congress without reprisal.
But at least two senators — both critical of the administration's handling of the war in Iraq — said they were concerned that service members speaking out against the president may undermine the military's apolitical status.
"We expect our soldiers to follow ... the legitimate orders of their commanders," said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who is helping lead Democratic opposition to the war this election season."And if you feel a course of action is inappropriate, your choice is just getting out of the service, basically, if you can and making your comments as a civilian," said Reed, a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger and paratrooper.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former reserve judge for the Air Force, said vocal complaints by active-duty members represented a "disturbing trend" that threatened to erode the cohesiveness of the military.
"We've had a long tradition making sure the military doesn't engage in political debate," said Graham, R-S.C. "We don't need a Democratic Army and a Republican Army," he added.
Hutto and supporters of his Web site said they see no problem with active-duty military personnel weighing into politics.
"We're doing this on our own time," Hutto said. Also, "We're speaking as American citizens," rather than service members.
Scott Silliman, director of Duke University's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, said he sees the increasing political noise being made from military members — active and retired — as a relatively new phenomenon resulting from an increasingly unpopular war. "Fifteen, 20 years ago you wouldn't have seen it happen," Silliman said.
Still, Silliman said, he sees little wrong with troops speaking out on their own time so long as they are not senior-ranking officers needed to carry out the president's orders. "It depends certainly on who it is" ramping up opposition to the executive branch, he said.
Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said members can share their views with the press so long as they are not wearing the uniform and make clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the armed forces.
#1
Oh, maybe Art. 82. Solicitation, Art. 99. Misbehavior before the enemy, Art. 94. Mutiny or sedition, let alone Art. 134. General article Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special, or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.
in a volunteer force, might be considered a restraint in such behavior. Of course, we have seen those who do wish to be 'lightning rods'.
#2
Saw one of these guys on Olberman's show last night. Olberman was just about falling on his knees and probably would have if the guy was in the studio. This tiny handful of guys will be used as tools of the left. Willing tools who are betraying their fellow soldiers and Marines.
#3
I looked at this site yesterday. Unless I read it wrong of the 118 GIs that signed their pettition only three are on active duty. Of course they have yet to confirm the three. Guys the site calls out for spoofing. I think MSsgt Richard Rubb is going to throw his support behind their efforts before the day is done. Tomorrow Capt I.P. Phreely will out himself and jump on the bandwagon.
#8
Hmmm...can you say "Blanket Party", boys and girls? I knew you could!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/25/2006 21:49 Comments ||
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#9
Seaman Phillip "Phil" Latio and retired Master Chief Jack Mehoff will undoubtedly get involved here, too...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/25/2006 21:56 Comments ||
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#10
But at least two senators — both critical of the administration's handling of the war in Iraq — said they were concerned that service members speaking out against the president may undermine the military's apolitical status.
I'm reading this that the left is concerned that this will open the door for the 1.4 million to express their views - which I suspect would be a little bit more supportive than the 3 dreggs that the left was able to round up.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2006 – Defining “winning” is important to the war on terror, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a news conference today. The war on terror is not going to end as World War II did -- with an instrument of surrender signed on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace said winning in this war on terrorism will be determined by conditions, not a signature on a piece of paper. “Winning is having security in the countries we're trying to help that allows for those governments to function and for their people to function,” he said.
He used Washington, D.C., as an example. “Washington, D.C., has crime, but it has a police force that is able to keep that crime below a level at which the normal citizens can go about their daily jobs and the government can function,” he said. “That's what you're looking for on the war on terrorism, whether it be Iraq, Afghanistan or anyplace else.”
There is going to be terrorism for the foreseeable future, Pace said. But the United States and its allies must band together “to provide enough security, enough good governance, and enough economy to allow the citizens and the governments to function and not have terrorism interrupt that.”
Pace said military leaders constantly review the status of U.S. and Iraqi forces. He said that Multinational Force Iraq Commander Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr.Â’s assessment that the coalition will turn over most of the security burden in Iraq to Iraqi security forces in 12 to 18 months is about right.
The Iraqi move to embrace benchmarks in the way forward in the country will be helpful also, Pace said and added that good discussions are taking place about what benchmarks are needed for progress in security, governance and the economy.
Pace does not want the Iraqi government to set a particular date for these benchmarks. “If you say the 13th of a particular month is a date certain, that puts you into a very, very tight window, and it actually gives your enemies the opportunity to focus all their energies on making it so it's not the 13th, it's the 14th or the 17th or whatever it is,” he said. “So having a very precise date, I think, is not useful, either from the standpoint of forcing yourself to do something too soon or from giving your enemies too much information.”
Pace favors a window for an accomplishment. A window “where you commit to your citizens that you will either have attained these goals or you'll explain why you haven't attained them, I think is a very good thing to do,” he said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/25/2006 06:52 ||
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#1
I disagree. "Security" cannot be won, because it is an emotional state that varies between people. Unfortunately, it is a term also used by the unscrupulous to get what they want, like its nebulous twin, "Safety".
So the real definition of winning is different.
Ironically, half of winning is forcing through the view that you *have* won on a MSM that refuses to acknowledge that reality. If they can band together and refuse to admit something, for many people, it will not be a fact. And they will keep at it, years after the fact, to rewrite history so that only their version of events is known.
And today, not only is the MSM convinced that the war in Iraq is a failure and a loss for the US, they are emotionally invested in proving those lies to itself and others. That Iraq is a failure and a loss because it *must* be a failure and a loss.
How many in the MSM were utterly crushed when the Iraqis voted, and proudly showed their blue fingers? Many of them felt pain that such a truth had penetrated their armor of lies. It was *wrong* that the Iraqis were free, because the US is evil, and evil will never free people.
So it doesn't matter that the Iraqi people are free of the monster Saddam, or that they live in a constitutional democracy, or that they are now a friend of the US and troublesome to dictatorships throughout the ME.
Unless the MSM is bitch-slapped and forced to accept the US victory, they will deny it to their graves, because it is a reality repugnant to them.
They embrace it like all the other lies they embrace, and are bitter and despairing.
#2
Moose, "they will deny it to their graves, because it is a reality repugnant to them."
Any different from throwing out the words American Civil War and slavery and states rights? Over a hundred years, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution and people will still argue the 'nobility' of the cause. The participants are dead. Have been dead for generations, but just watch the posts that will now follow. Why would you expect the contemporary left to act any different?
#3
I wouldn't. But the right must have its own voice, even at the expense of breaking up the media oligopoly. Control of broad sections of the public discourse by a cabal dedicated to anti-American distortion is a clear and present danger to our country.
Washington, 25 Oct. (AKI/DAWN) - The technology provided to North Korea by the illicit nuclear trafficking network headed by Dr A.Q. Khan was meant for developing civilian nuclear energy and not weapons, says a senior Pakistani military official. "Dr Khan says that the North Korean programme was for developing fuel for civilian purposes,” said a senior official in a background briefing on the country’s nuclear strategy at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington. Khan, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, has been under virtual house arrest since his February 2004 confession that he was running a secret network of nuclear proliferators.
US intelligence reports also confirm the Pakistani claim, saying that the test North Korean conducted on 9 October was plutonium based, while Pakistan uses uranium for producing nuclear fuel.
From which you can later extract plutonium
The Pakistani official, who has extensive familiarity with the countryÂ’s nuclear infrastructure, focussed on three key points during his presentation: the ugly proliferation chapter of the past will never be repeated, thereÂ’s no possibility of religious elements taking over PakistanÂ’s nuclear assets and the countryÂ’s nuclear weapons are no threat to the world.
"And there are no terrorists running training camps in Pakistan. Honest, who are you going to believe? Me, or those lying satellite photos!"
The session reflected PakistanÂ’s concerns that the activities of the Khan network were in the spotlight again after the North Korean nuclear test.
The official, who could not be quoted by name under the ground rules of the briefing, conceded that the network run by Khan, still a revered figure in Pakistan for his role in developing the country’s nuclear arsenal, ‘cast a long shadow’ over Pakistan’s image. “We have years of baggage to shed.”
The official urged Pakistan’s “friends and allies” not to doubt the country’s determination to pursue a foolproof nuclear policy, outlining institutional and policy safeguards on nuclear technology that Pakistan has imposed since its 1998 nuclear tests and since the unravelling of the Khan network.
The official warned that the proposed Indo-US nuclear pact was a “one-sided deal” that could prove “counter-productive for US strategic objectives” in South Asia if Islamabad was not offered a similar arrangement. He advised US policy-makers to make their nuclear policy “criteria-specific and not country-specific” as the proposed Indo-US deal was, highlighting that Pakistan has to expand its energy production by 800 per cent if it wants to maintain the current pace of economic development.
The official acknowledged that non-proliferation experts in the West continued to worry about Pakistan’s capability to prevent future proliferation while some also feared that if the Musharraf government collapsed, religious extremists might become the custodians of the country’s nuclear weapons. He said the region that now comprises Pakistan does not have a history of violent takeovers and the Pakistan army is a professional force built on British professional standards. “There is no possibility of an extremist takeover.”
Then his lips fell off
He confirmed that US nuclear specialists had been providing technical advice and some “off-the-shelf” basic equipment to aid Pakistan’s non-proliferation efforts, but stressed that Pakistan had total say over what help it accepts.
“Some say that Pakistan has surrendered its nuclear sites to the Americans. Others say that Pakistan is not doing anything to prevent proliferation. Both are wrong. The reality is somewhere in between.”
"We're still searching for it. Reality, that is."
The official said that Pakistan also protected its national interests during the probe into the Khan network of proliferators. “We made it clear that it is the network that is under investigation and not Pakistan’s nuclear programme.”
"The fact that the father of our nuclear program was running the network out of his office makes the investigation, difficult."
He added that for “reasons of national sensitivity,” the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme could not be made available for direct questioning but can continue to be questioned through Pakistani intelligence agencies. “We receive questions (from foreign governments) and send the answers back to them,” he said.
“Whatever Mr Khan says, we don’t add anything and we don’t subtract anything” when relaying his replies to the questioners, the official said, adding that Dr Khan sometimes refused to talk. “Even if we were to allow foreign agencies to interrogate him, it will serve no purpose. He can simply refuse to talk, as he sometimes does with us. How can you make him talk? He is a national hero, he cannot be tortured.”
Posted by: Steve ||
10/25/2006 09:15 ||
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General Hameed Gul, former chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), has said that the ISI’s strategy to infiltrate India’s armed forces is “as old as Pakistan” itself, but this was unlikely to derail the peace process between the two countries.
“We have had an adverse relation with India. It is a method to protect ourselves and getting the information in advance,” said Gen Gul in a discussion with Indian channel CNN-IBN, following the arrest last week of two Indian army men who were alleged ISI moles. Former Indian army chief Gen Shankar Roy Choudhary and national security expert V Raman also took part in the discussion.
Asked if ISI’s espionage activities could lead to derailment of the peace process between the two countries, Gul said, “No, not at all.”
“It goes on all the time. The Soviet Union and the US continued to advance their interest through means other than confrontation. Intelligence agencies have to do certain things and this is offensive intelligence,” he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has appealed to Muslims to pledge this Eid to overcome their differences and unite against their enemies.
And happy holidays to you, too, Qazi...
In a special Eid message, Qazi said that this Eid had once again witnessed merciless bloodshed of Muslims by the US and its allies, while Muslim governments were acting as silent spectators instead of helping their peoples.
He said that while hundreds of innocent Muslims were being killed in Afghanistan, Iraq an elsewhere in the world, Muslim leaders like President Musharraf were busy carrying out US plans. He said that President Musharraf had formed a corrupt system in the country by which groups of plunderers were widening the gap between the rich and poor and increasing poverty and unemployment, which was evident from the sharp increase in suicides.
The MMA leader urged the nation to adopt a courageous approach to change the corrupt system to solve the poor peopleÂ’s problems. He appealed to the nation to particularly consider the earthquake victims on the occasion and to share the joys of Eid with them by donating wholeheartedly.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
And then when our enemies are all gone, we will go back to fighting amongst ourselves. There, finished your sentence for you, @$$hole.
Chittagong anchorage [Bangladesh] Tally: Forty incidents have been reported since January 28 2006.
Recently reported incidents
October 21 2006 at 0730 LT, Chittagong 'b' anchorage, Bangladesh. A group of robbers were spotted near the propeller of a product tanker. Crew chased them away. Local authorities informed.
October 21 2006, Sagar roads anchorage, Hugli river, Calcutta, India. Three robbers boarded a container ship at poop deck and tried to steal ship's stores. Alert crew mustered. Robbers jumped into water and escaped in a boat waiting with five accomplices. Local authorities informed.
October 20 2006 at 0045 UTC, Callao anchorage 1a, Peru. Robbers boarded a bulk carrier via hawse pipe and stole ship's stores.Incident was reported to local authorities but no help arrived.
October 19.10.2006 at 0700 LT, Chittagong 'b' anchorage, Bangladesh. Robbers were detected at stern stealing zinc anodes of a product tanker. Ship's crew threw empty bottles and moved the rudder to deter robbers. Robbers escaped in their boat. Local authorities were informed but no assistance arrived.
October 18 2006 at 2000 LT , Chittagong 'b' anchorage, Bangladesh. Robbers boarded a chemical tanker and stole ship's stores. Authorities were informed and promised to send assistance but never turned up. Master explained this is a normal reply to ships but help never arrives.
October 18 2006 at midnight, Chittagong 'b' anchorage, Bangladesh. During routine rounds, crew on a chemical tanker spotted a robber onboard and chased him. Robber jumped into water and escaped in a waiting boat.
From the 'Better Late Than Never' Desk:
October 09 2006 at 0755 LT, Dar es Salaam pilot station, Tanzania. Six robbers boarded a container ship and stole goods from two containers.
#1
Interesting that the bangladesh authorites never arrived or promised to but never....
Maybe the RAB needs to set up a maritime division, although it would be problematic recovering the shuttergun from the murky depths.
#1
Interestingly enough, Mr. Baker was the invited guest on Jon Stewart's Daily Show last night, pitching his book and the fact that his commission will not release its report until after the election, so as not to influence voters. He did, however, point out that in the hypothetical situation Mr. Stewart presented, in which either Bush pere or fil drowned, if the president were to die, Vice President Cheney moves up the the Big Chair with the Red Button. Mr. Stewart was clearly taken aback by the thought, which appeared new to him.
You can spot them by their black outfits and black balaclavas. Members of the Mahdi Army, the 10,000-strong militia formed by Muqtada al-Sadr shortly after the April 2003 invasion of Iraq, are now deemed responsible for many of the sectarian killings in recent months. The army’s loyalists primarily consist of unemployed Shiites from Sadr City, a Baghdad slum. Several have infiltrated the ranks of the interior and defense ministries. Like Hamas or Hezbollah, the Mahdi Army fills a security void. It is increasingly drawing support from local Iraqis fed up with the government’s—not to mention outside powers like the United States’—inability to police their streets (WashPost) and provide basic services.
Yet Sadr’s army is not just a gang of thugs, experts say. Sadr controls a large voting bloc in parliament. His loyalists mounted a formidable offensive last week and briefly took control of the southern city of Amara (Reuters). As this new Backgrounder explains, the government has been unable—or rather unwilling—to disband the militia because Nuri al-Maliki, the embattled prime minister, relies on Sadr for political support. Balancing Sadr’s bitter feud with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim (al-Jazeera), another prominent Shiite leader whose Badr Brigade has often clashed with the Mahdi Army, has been the key to holding his combustible government together. Maliki can ill afford to alienate conservative Shiites like Sadr or Hakim, yet Washington has pressed the prime minister to disband and disarm these leaders’ militias.
The violence in Iraq reached a crescendo in recent weeks, particularly in Baghdad, which now verges on “war-torn Beirut” (NYT). An effort by the U.S. military to clear the capital of insurgents has proven largely unsuccessful, as suicide attacks and drive-by shootings have spiked since July, when the sweeps began. A controversial study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that more than 600,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the start of the war (though many statisticians question the study’s inconsistent use of cluster metrics). Meanwhile, U.S.-led efforts to rebuild Iraqi schools and hospitals remain hobbled by corruption, poor security, and, some say, incompetence. Small surprise, then, that a growing number of Iraqis say Iraq is now heading in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes.
Despite all the bad news, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters "success is possible and can be achieved on a realistic timetable (IHT)." Back home, however, U.S. officials on both sides of the political aisle are calling for a change of course. October was the deadliest month this year for U.S. forces (WashPost). Even President Bush concedes the situation in Iraq warrants comparisons to the Vietnam WarÂ’s Tet Offensive (VOA), though Don Oberdorfer, author of the book Tet!, tells Bernard Gwertzman the comparison does not stand up. "It was nothing like what has happened so far in Iraq," he says. "It was as if the Iraqi Shiites took over the Green Zone." Meanwhile, a much-awaited bipartisan commission, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, will be released after the November midterm elections and is expected to advocate a phased pullout of coalition forces and a plan to include Iraq Â’s neighbors in security negotiations. There are reports surfacing that the White House is losing confidence in Maliki: U.S. officials were irked by his decision to release a top aide of SadrÂ’s linked to death-squad-style killings. Others speculate a coup could be in the offing (Democracy Now).
Yet the Bush administration says it does not plan to overhaul its “clear, hold, and build” strategy and denies a New York Times report claiming a timetable was set to disarm Iraqi militias. Top White House officials (Bloomberg), along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have called on the Iraqis to step up and take more responsibility for providing security. In an Online Debate, Lawrence J. Korb of the Center for American Progress says “we have already given [the Iraqis] more than ample time to begin doing that and unless we put pressure on them by setting a date certain, they will continue to use us as a crutch to avoid making the hard choices.” Steven Metz of the U.S. Army War College disagrees, claiming the conditions are not ready to establish a timetable to withdraw by the end of 2007.
I didn't do much EFL-ing on this, because it's all important. Read, and vote accordingly.
As the critics describe it, all of Iraq is in chaos, its new government isn't functioning, the U.S. is helpless to act against these inexorable forces, and it is only a matter of time before we must pack up and leave in abject defeat. "We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," declares Senator Lindsey Graham, in one of the purer expressions of this elite inconstancy. Just what Mr. Graham would do about this, he doesn't say; but in the land of blind panic, the sound-bite Senator is king. . . .
The current American panic, by contrast, is precisely what the insurgents intend with their surge of October violence. The Baathists and Sadrists can read the U.S. political calendar, and they'd like nothing better than to feed the perception that the violence is intractable. They want our election to be perceived as a referendum on Iraq that will speed the pace of American withdrawal.
The Bush Administration hasn't helped matters of late with its own appearance of indecision, asserting on one day that we must avoid "cut-and-run" while leaking on another that the forthcoming Baker-Hamilton report might be an opportunity for a strategic retreat. President Bush has sounded resolute himself, but many of his own advisers seem to be well along in their own electoral run for cover.
A measure of rationality at least came yesterday out of Baghdad, where General George Casey and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad tried to put the violence in some larger context. The Iraq government is in fact "functioning," as Iraqis continue to get their food rations, and as more than a million civil servants, Iraqi security force members and teachers continue to show up for work every day and get paid. Just this weekend, Iraq's oil minister announced that production had surpassed pre-war levels.
"Economically, I see an Iraq every day that I do not think the American people know about--where cell phones and satellite dishes, once forbidden, are now common, where economic reform takes place on a regular basis, where agricultural production is rising dramatically, and where the overall economy and the consumer sector is growing," said Mr. Khalilzad, who for this attempt at hopeful realism will be derided in some quarters as a Pollyanna.
As for security, two provinces have already been turned over entirely to the control of Iraqi forces, with a total of six or seven scheduled to be under Iraqi control by January. While the police forces remain unreliable, the Iraqi army is making notable progress. The joint Iraqi-U.S. operation to make Baghdad safe hasn't succeeded so far, but Iraqis we talk to say the situation in many specific neighborhoods of the capital has been vastly improved.
And while every terrorist success is broadcast far and wide, acts of bravery by Iraqi forces go unheralded. . . .
The truth is that the Sunni insurgents are still capable only of hit-and-run attacks, are slaughtered whenever they gather en masse, and have held down no permanent territory since Fallujah was cleaned out in late 2004. Nor have they been successful in their other goal of keeping their fellow Sunnis out of the political process. Sunnis continue to sit in the current government and parliament, despite being labelled "collaborators" and marked for death.
As General Casey observed yesterday, "we've seen the nature of the conflict evolving from what was an insurgency against us to a struggle for the division of political and economic power among the Iraqis." One of the main challenges now is to reassure the Sunnis that it is safe to compromise with Shiite and Kurdish leaders on issues such as the distribution of oil revenue and the shape of Iraqi federalism. Mr. Maliki must also demobilize--or at least neutralize--the militias that grew in his own Shiite community in response to Sunni violence.
But the political truth is that none of this will happen any sooner if Americans look like they are heading for the exits. Timetables and deadlines may sound like realpolitik, but they only feed suspicions that the U.S. will abandon Iraq's leaders once they have walked out onto a political limb. Iraq is not yet in a state of "civil war," and it has a functioning, if imperfect, government. If changes of tactics or force levels are needed, by all means make them. But what Iraqis most need from Washington is reassurance of support for the tough decisions and battles that lie ahead.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/25/2006 07:10 ||
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/begin rant/
The points made and conclusions drawn by the author(s) are so mind numbingly obvious it almost hurts to read them. I find myself scratching my head in wonder as to how any rational, free-thinking American can allow these certainties to escape them at this crucial time.
Any retreat is a defeat at this stage. We should continue to put pressure on the Iraqi government to get their act together or suffer the consequences. Lot's of pressure at that. But I think it is a mistake to threaten them with withdrawal if they don't make it happen yesterday. We all want it to happen yesterday. Yet settling differences that have existed for decades, centuries even, doesn't happen overnight, in a few months, or even a few years. Doing so in a country that has been murdered, raped and pillaged by a brutal dictator for 30+ years makes it doubly difficult. What the US and American people should be doing right now is emphatically declaring our collective desire for a free and democratic Iraq and pledging our unwavering support in helping that young country achieve it.
We should approach this on a phase basis, with various stages within each phase. IMO that's exactly what the Bush administration is doing, based on what I've seen. That's a real strategy, folks. But the media and half the country is blind to it because they are more interested in winning political power than doing what is right for this country and the rest of the free world. Shame on them. May the American people have the clarity of vision to see through this when they pull the levers in a few short weeks.
These phases probably look something like this:
Phase I: Includes military, economic, and political support*. Goal is to establish the institutions necessary to properly govern and secure the country while giving it a chance to prosper economically. We are in the last stages of this phase.
Phase II: Includes mainly military and economic support. Begins after political institutions have been established to properly govern the country. We are in the early stages of this phase.
Phase III: Includes mainly economic support. Begins after political and military institutions have been established to properly govern and secure the country. This phase has yet to begin.
Phase IV: The country is a self-sufficient democracy, economically prosperous, and a strategic ally in the war on terror. Thus dealing a serious blow to the jihadis and denying them a safe haven wherein they can operate with impunity.
Patience, people, patience. Tis a virtue that pays handsomely.
*Support here is defined as active, "boots-on-the-ground" aid and assistance.
/end rant/
H/T the fine folks at No Pasaran!
French oil firm Total says its head of exploration and production, Christophe de Margerie, is being investigated over claims that he paid bribes to win bids.
A French judge has also placed former Total executive Bernard de Combret under investigation.
Total said the allegations centred on deals relating to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
The lawyer for Mr de Margerie, who is due to become Total's chief executive, said the inquiry was "groundless".
Total support
A number of global figures have been caught up in the oil-for-food scandal, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in September that he took personal responsibility for the failures of the programme.
In September, a report by an independent panel told the UN that it had found instances of "illicit, unethical and corrupt" behaviour within the $64bn scheme.
It concluded that the UN was in urgent need of sweeping reform.
A French judge is now investigating claims that Mr de Margerie paid illegal kickbacks to win favours for his company between 1996 and 2002.
The investigation into Mr de Combret focuses on the years between 2000 and 2002.
Countering the latest claims, Total said that it wanted to "reassure Mr de Margerie of its total support".
Total added that "at no time did the group circumvent the UN embargo against Iraq" and that it "strictly adhered to the rules of the oil-for-food programme".
"The group has never purchased, either directly or indirectly, oil that has been smuggled illegally from Iraq," it added.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2006 – Success can be achieved in Iraq, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said today, as the U.S. and its allies adapt tactics while continuing to work with the new Iraqi government to suppress violence and rebuild the country.
“Despite the difficult challenges we face, success in Iraq is possible and can be achieved on a realistic timetable,” Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters at a Baghdad press conference.
The veteran diplomat said it was essential for success that Iraqi leaders step up to achieve key political and security milestones that they’ve agreed to. “As they take these steps, we can produce success and bring about Iraqi self-reliance, (but) we must continue to support them.”
Iraq is located in the heart of the Middle East and is strategically vital to U.S. security interests, Khalilzad pointed out. Yet, more than the security of Iraq is at stake if the country succumbs to terrorist domination, he said.
“The broader Middle East is the source of most of the world’s security problems,” Khalilzad noted. The struggle for power in today’s Middle East is between moderates and extremist political forces, he said. “The outcome in Iraq will profoundly shape this wider struggle and, in turn, the security of the world,” the diplomat said.
Extremists from Iran, Syria and al Qaeda are now working to thwart U.S, coalition and Iraqi efforts to establish a free and democratic Iraq, Khalilzad said. These disruptive forces “fear Iraq’s success,” he said. They want to undermine American resolve in Iraq by prolonging the conflict, inflicting casualties and creating the perception that Iraq cannot be stabilized.
“The enemies of the American people believe that their will is stronger than ours and that they can win by outlasting us,” Khalilzad said. He added that the daily violence seen in Iraq is the work of the extremists.
Since Iraq was liberated in April 2003, various sects and religious groups across the country have competed to attain political supremacy, Khalilzad noted. “It is on this terrain that the battle for stability and progress in Iraq has been waged,” he said. “Iraq’s people are the principal victims of this war. They want it to end.”
The United States and its allies have worked tirelessly to bridge ethnic or religious divides among IraqÂ’s populace and improve the lives of the Iraqi people, Khalilzad said. Politically, Iraqis were united when they voted for a new democratic government and a constitution, he added.
Iraq’s leaders effected historic compromise among diverse elements when the country’s first government of national unity was established in April, Khalilzad said. “These accomplishments were a beacon for the entire Middle East,” the senior diplomat pointed out. In addition, Iraq’s citizens are realizing quality-of-life gains every day, he said, noting that’s a story that’s being underreported.
“Cell phones and satellite dishes, once forbidden, are now common,” Khalilzad pointed out, noting the spread of consumer-accessed technology among the people of the new Iraq. Agricultural production is rising dramatically, he added, while Iraq’s overall economy and consumer sector continues to expand.
“While a few provinces experience great violence, there is stability and progress in many others,” Khalilzad said. Yet, this progress is being undercut by extremists’ efforts in “tearing the Iraqi people apart” by inflaming religious and sectarian rivalries, Khalilzad said. Unfortunately, he said, extremists’ actions have had a negative effect on political and economic development across Iraq.
Today, the chief source of violence in Iraq is caused by sectarian killings involving al Qaeda operatives, illegal militias and death squads, in addition to other-insurgent-led mayhem, the diplomat said. “Iran and Syria are providing support to the groups involved,” Khalilzad said.
America “should not acquiesce” to the terrorists, Khalilzad emphasized. Instead, he said, the U.S. should “make adjustments in our strategy” and “redouble our effort to succeed.”
The U.S. and the Iraqi government are pursuing a strategy to reduce the sources of violence in Iraq, to defeat extremists that are stirring up sectarian strife, to increase IraqÂ’s capability to provide for its own security, and to increase the international communityÂ’s support for Iraq, Khalilzad said.
“This is not easy and cannot proceed without occasional setbacks and necessary adjustments,” he said. A three-prong strategy is being employed to effect stability across Iraq.
First, Iraqi tribal, religious and political leaders across Baghdad are being asked by the government to agree to stop the sectarian violence, Khalilzad said.
Second, Iraqi leaders are working to complete a national compact that unites IraqÂ’s various groups and includes enactment of a national oil resource law that would share petroleum profits among all Iraqis. Another part of the compact involves passing a constitutional amendment that guarantees democratic rights for all Iraqis. The de-Baathification commission would be reformed and transformed into a national reconciliation program, Khalilzad explained.
Another facet of the Iraq stability plan address illegal militias and death squads, as well as setting dates for provincial elections and increasing the credibility and capability of Iraq security forces, Khalilzad said.
“Iraqi leaders have agreed to a timeline for making the hard decisions needed to resolve these issues,” he said, noting that Iraqi President Jalal Talibani has publicly committed to the plan.
The United States and its coalition partners will also support Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “and other (Iraqi) leaders in their effort to meet these benchmarks,” Khalilzad said.
The third element of the Iraq stability plan involves persuading Sunnis to stop fighting and to accept national reconciliation, Khalilzad said. Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have been asked to use their influence to encourage IraqÂ’s Sunni Arab population to lay down their arms and quit fighting.
“These countries have promised to be helpful,” Khalilzad said, noting U.S., coalition and Iraqi military operations would continue against al Qaeda operatives and death squads in Iraq.
U.S. officials have also been coordinating with Maliki and other Iraqi government officials to develop a plan for the eventual transfer of security responsibilities to Iraqi forces. “This plan will be ready before the end of the year,” Khalilzad said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/25/2006 06:30 ||
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#1
Success CAN be achieved in Iraq - indeed probably would have been long ago - if the American people were united in will for it to be so. In my opinion the goals of the war would have been achieved without having the war at all if the civilized world (including Russia) had been united in wanting it to be so.
But because the civilized world has various motives a war ensued. And because Americans have various motives the war continues. And I fear it will continue along the path of Vietnam - not because it HAD TO, but because that's the way too many Americans WANT IT TO.
why don't you get 4 teams of hijackers, hijack 4 planes, crash them into buildings in Bagdad, kill all sorts of (more) civilians (who aren't innocent civilians anyway) incinerate as many in one day as you can, get the Media to present your ass as the innocent victim here, and thats so sad, and impeialism, and colonialism, and we don't have human rights, and we're torture victims.
Get your hands on more opium, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, and get a phafwah from the imam that you can do drugs, kill men women and children, all in the name of Islasm. and and...
I think that ought to work for you.
No, no thanks is neccessary,
I mainly got the idea from Islasmic history anyway
Iraq will see drastic changes in the security situation and many foreign troops will be able to leave the conflict-ravaged country by the end of 2007, the Iraqi oil minister said Tuesday in Tokyo. Hussain al-Shahristani, who arrived Sunday for a three-day visit, did not say when he expects U.S. troops to leave. But he said the Iraqi government is recruiting young men to take charge of security from foreign troops.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, al-Shahristani also urged Japanese and other foreign companies to invest more to tap Iraq's rich oil and gas resources. He said the government will target an increase in crude oil production of 4 million barrels a day by 2010 from 2.5 million barrels now. Depending on how much progress is made developing new oil fields in the north, Iraq, with cooperation from foreign companies, will further push up capacity to 6 million barrels a day by as early as 2012, al-Shahristani said.
That would collapse anything OPEC might consider doing. We'd be back to giving away drinking glasses with each fill-up at the pump.
The minister said the time frame is "a reasonable target" and "Asia is going to be our main customer" for the new output.
Kyodo News Japan has agreed to provide a loan of some 2 billion yen to upgrade a refinery in Basra, Iraq, and another 18.1 billion yen to rehabilitate a fertilizer plant, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Trade minister Akira Amari and Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani reached the agreement at a meeting Monday and signed a joint statement Tuesday. "Iraq appreciates Japan's commitment to provide yen loans to the Engineering Services for the Basra Refinery Upgrading Project," the statement says. "In addition, Iraq expresses its hope that the same measures will be taken for two other projects in the near future," it says, referring to the proposed Crude Oil Export Facility Rehabilitation Project and the LPG Value Chain Project.
"Japan, in turn, expresses its expectations that deepening mutual cooperation in this area through these projects will help further the close relations between the two countries, including Japan's securing of its energy needs, by participation in the development of oil and natural gas fields in Iraq," the document says.
The loans are part of a $3.5 billion (410 billion yen) loan package Japan has already agreed on with Iraq. It will be the first assistance provided for an oil-related project, METI officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Japan needs to replace Iran as their major oil supplier... soon.
#2
The amount of oil that could be found in Iraq is still unknown and could be huge, but, what an unstable part of the world to find it in. The possibility of stability will advance when the mad mullahs of Iran are truly subdued, but not until then. If nukes fly in that area, all bets are off, and the world oil supply may suddenly fall off a cliff.
Hey, if I could award them, this guy would get a Medal of Honor. From the Army Times:
It’s the second Silver Star ceremony in a week. Spc. Richard Ghent, 20, of the New Hampshire National Guard, received a Silver Star for actions in Ramadi on March 1, for which he also received a Purple Heart – his second.
In the attack, Ghent, a member of B Troop, 1st Squadron, 104th Cavalry, was thrown from the turret of his Humvee after a grenade was hurled at his vehicle, according to the citation. The driver was killed instantly, the truck commander severely wounded and Ghent sustained a gunshot wound in his back, among other injuries.
Regaining his orientation, Ghent got to his feet and, using his sidearm – a 9 mm pistol – charged the enemy and drove them away from the observation post without benefit of concealment or cover fire. Ghent held his ground, expending nearly all his ammunition, until relieved by elements of his platoon.
More from GX Magazine:
SPC Ghent says he was just doing his job. He seemed almost embarrassed by the attention he received at the ceremony, held that afternoon in the drill shed of the National Guard Armory in Manchester.
After the medal was pinned on his uniform, SPC Ghent faced the audience, which included 100 members of his unit, Battery C, 1st of the 172nd Field Artillery, who stood in formation. Up front with him were military officials, along with U.S. Reps. Jeb Bradley and Charlie Bass. Applause and shouts of "Hooah" echoed in the cavernous room, and SPC Ghent flushed red.
"He's so bashful," said his grandmother, Loretta Lambert of Rochester. "He's like, 'Why am I getting a medal?' "
Friends, relatives and local officials praised SPC Ghent for his actions, which helped save the life of SSG Jose Pequeno, who was injured in the attack. SSG Pequeno, the Sugar Hill police chief, suffered a serious brain injury and remains incapacitated at a rehabilitation center in Florida.
A few Soldiers saw SPC Ghent's actions in Iraq, but mostly they heard about it afterward. SSG Matthew Bernard, who helped investigate the scene after the attack, remembers the trail of spent 9-mm ammunition heading toward the insurgents' position. "It spread quickly, what he had done," said SSG Bernard, 29, of Milford. "Courage under fire isn't something you can teach. It comes from within, and he definitely executed without flaw." And more from Boston.com:
Ghent, who had volunteered to fight in Iraq, returned to his hometown of Rochester, N.H., in March while recovering from his wounds from the episode, with a gunshot wound to the back and laceration above his upper lip. ``I just wanted to be able to do something for my country and have an accomplishment that I can say I did on my own," he said yesterday.
Ghent, who enlisted in the National Guard at 17 during his junior year in high school and was deployed a year after graduation, does not talk much about his year in Iraq, said friends and family who attended yesterday's ceremony. He said he only learned Wednesday that he would be honored for his bravery. ``I wasn't thinking at all during the attack," said Ghent, who turned 21 in July. ``I was just reacting."
Still more from the Manchester Union Leader:
Lambert, a retired officer who served 22 years with the U.S. Coast Guard, said his grandson's actions were a combination of good training, strong character and luck. "Luckily he had filled all his clips the night before. They use the pistols for warning shots, and they aren't always full. But because of that, he had a full 30 rounds," Lambert said.
"And another thing; he didn't just hold them off. He went after them," said Lambert. "Iraqis are afraid of pistols. They see rifles all the time. But to them, a pistol is an assassination tool. To see this crazy red-head with a pistol charging at them, it probably scared the hell out of them."
Yesterday's brief ceremony was followed by hearty handshakes and chocolate sheet cake all around. Among those present were fellow Guardsmen, family and friends, and a small faction of state and military officials who took turns at the microphone commending Ghent for his actions.
It's not likely he'll remember all of what was said about him. But it will be hard for him to shake the thunderclap of applause and hoots that echoed through the Armory dome, once the pinning ceremony was over.
His mother, Nancy Williams of Rochester, clutched a bouquet of roses throughout the ceremony. Afterward, she made her way to her son and then politely waited, as he posed with congressmen Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley for the press. Finally it was her turn. She reached down and touched the medal pinned to his shirt before wrapping her arms around him, tearfully whispering something in his ear.
When asked what she said to him, she simply shook her head. "What can you say? It's bittersweet. His passenger who was killed was his best friend, and his commander is still in the hospital," she said. "He did was he was trained to do. I know it was a harrowing experience."
#2
It's this type of soldier that will win us the War on Terrorism. I'm beginning to think that one good warrior like Ghent is worth a handful of officers.
#3
The President has already taken counsel on new rules of engagement, from local Commanders. These should be implemented, sooner rather than later. Risks to US soldiers like Ghent, has to be lowered or we feed the opportunists.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/25/2006 7:23 Comments ||
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#6
It appears the best defense is indeed a good offense.
Perhaps a scaled-up version of Ghent's response should be considered standard policy for Iraq as a whole.
#11
God bless you and yours, Spc. Ghent. These stories need to be shouted from the rooftops more and more. It absolutely amazes me that we still produce fine men like Ghent. And, I agree, this tactic should be implemented on Iraq as a whole. Imagine a bunch of red-heads running around with 9mm pistols taking out the enemy.
Posted by: BA ||
10/25/2006 9:34 Comments ||
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#12
"...does not talk much about his year in Iraq..."
I've seen this before. My father was of the WWII generation and he and his peers never had much to say.
It wasn't till 30 years after the fact when I was an adult that, after a few beers, he told me about a couple of incidents he had while a CB in the South Pacific.
#13
Interesting, my mother is from Rochester NH. Very small place. I still have a lot of relatives there. Take my word for it though, Ghent is a rarity up there. By and large NH is a liberal nut house. My grandmother being case in point. I've got tons of aunts, uncles and cousins up there and for the most part they are LLL. There is one cousin who is a staunch Republican. The only reason my mother is not is because she's lived in the South since she was 19. Met my dad (born in the hills of Georgia) when he was stationed at Pease. It's funny cause the whole liberal mindset doesn't jive at all with the Catholic mindset. Perhaps it is this conflict that causes such strong cognitive dissonance? Anyways, HOOAH for Spc Ghent, may he go forth and multiply...New Hampshire needs more like him.
#14
"He's so bashful," said his grandmother, Loretta Lambert of Rochester. "He's like, 'Why am I getting a medal?'"
This is typical of true heroes. I had the chance to interview two Medal of Honor recipients back in the 80's. Both of them echoed the same sentiments as this young man. One of them remarked, "I don't really know why they made such a big deal out of it. I was just doing my job."
#17
Carl, well I'm glad to hear that. I suppose my perceptions are distorted by my past experience. I have so little in common with my relatives in Rochester, I rarely go to see them. About the only time I go up there is with that traveling Southern exposition called NASCAR. HAHA. The seats are suprisingly filled in beautiful Loudon, and I would dare wager that most of THOSE people are not like my relatives! One funny story, YEARS ago when I was a wee lad. We were up there and a man of African extraction rode a bike across the street in front of my uncle's car. Being the enlighted liberal democrat that he is, guess what he said? 'Don't see too many of those up here.' Yeah, and southerners are racist? Keep the faith up there Carl.
Fatah is preparing for a major showdown with Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the Muslim feast of Id al-Fitr, Palestinian sources said on Tuesday. The sources said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has instructed his loyalists in Fatah and the PA security forces to be prepared for a "major security operation" in the Gaza Strip in the coming days.
Mahmoud Abbas has instructed his loyalists in Fatah and the PA security forces to be prepared for a "major security operation" in the Gaza Strip in the coming days.
They said the decision was made in the wake of the growing tensions between Hamas and Fatah and the killing of five Fatah activists and security officers over the past few days. "Thousands of Palestinian policemen and Fatah gunmen will be deployed in the streets of the Gaza Strip after the feast," the sources told The Jerusalem Post. "The measure is designed to halt the anarchy in the Gaza Strip and to show Hamas that the PA leadership is determined to protect its representatives."
Abbas, who met in Amman on Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah, is under immense pressure from his Fatah party to dismiss the Hamas government and call early elections.
Some Fatah leaders have gone as far as urging Abbas to stage a coup against the Hamas government under the pretext that it has failed to carry out its duties.
Some Fatah leaders have gone as far as urging Abbas to stage a coup against the Hamas government under the pretext that it has failed to carry out its duties.
Former PA security chief Muhammed Dahlan called on Abbas to use his constitutional powers to resolve the crisis with Hamas. Accusing Hamas of carrying out systematic assassinations against Fatah operatives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Dahlan also accused Hamas of violating a cease-fire agreement with Fatah that was reached under the auspices of Egypt. "Hamas's actions are leading us to civil war," he cautioned. "We call on President Abbas to assume his responsibilities and take decisive measures to end the crisis."
Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who met earlier this week in Doha with Qatar's emir, Hamad bin Khaifa al-Thani, was reported to have warned that his movement would foil any attempt by Abbas to replace the Hamas government. Mashaal, who was summoned to Qatar for urgent talks on the Hamas-Fatah crisis, is expected to visit Cairo in the coming days to seek ways to avoid an all-out confrontation with Abbas's Fatah party.
Both Qatar and Egypt have been exerting heavy pressure on Hamas to agree to Abbas's plan to form a technocratic government that would convince the international community to resume financial aid to the Palestinians. But in an interview with Al-Jazeera,
Mashaal categorically rejected the idea, saying a "technocratic" government was good in Europe, but not in a place like the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Mashaal categorically rejected the idea, saying a "technocratic" government was good in Europe, but not in a place like the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mashaal was also reported to have rejected a Qatari initiative calling for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit in return for a few hundred Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
"The countdown for an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip has begun. Such an operation will have devastating effects on the people in the Gaza Strip and could result in the collapse of the Palestinian Authority."
Egypt, Qatar and Jordan have warned the Palestinians that Israel is preparing a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip in the event that efforts to release Shalit fail, a senior PA official told the Post. He said that such an operation would play into the hands of Hamas and undermine Abbas's efforts to replace the Hamas government. "The countdown for an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip has begun," the official claimed. "Such an operation will have devastating effects on the people in the Gaza Strip and could result in the collapse of the Palestinian Authority."
In a separate development, PA Interior Minister Said Siam of Hamas returned to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday through the Rafah border crossing after visiting Syria, Iran and Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The news media need to get some UAVs and supply us with live video.
Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is destined to travel to Cairo this weekend in order to discuss the release of captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit with Egyptian mediators, Palestinian sources said on Tuesday night. Army Radio reported that according to the sources, Mashaal was not making the trip "merely to say no and to reject the new deal."
The new proposal was similar to the previous offer presented to Hamas which would constitute releasing Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails in exchange for the IDF soldier. Channel 10 reported that Mashaal's arrival in Egypt instilled hope into the hearts of the mediators who have been trying for some time to secure a deal for Shalit's release. In recent weeks negotiations have frozen but Mashaal's proposed trip would amount to a certain degree of progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Blow his plane out of the sky, convoy off of the earth or boat out of the water. Whatever it takes to get rid of this maggot. Give this turd a chance to be on his own poster, just like the deaders behind him
One of Europe's foremost voices on the Middle East said Tuesday that the "road map" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is doomed, and that a major new initiative is needed to resolve a conflict that has seemed to stretch on without end.
In which the Israelis give, surrender and die, and the Paleos take, murder and destroy ...
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a parliamentary panel that Europe has a historic opportunity to take the lead in pushing for new talks, and hinted that it was too late to revive the American-backed blueprint for peace known as the "road map." That initiative, launched in June 2003, envisioned a Palestinian state alongside Israel but stalled almost from the outset because neither side met their initial commitments. "It is necessary that this diplomatic initiative be led by the European Union, not with small, gradual steps but with a major initiative that has great scope," said Moratinos, a former EU envoy to the Middle East considered to have excellent contacts throughout the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Give them al Andalus and we get The Holy Land????
#4
This guy is obviously a full-fledged wizard. The EU should make him King of the Belgians or somethin. Somethin grand, befitting his insights and grasp of the situation.
#8
Spain when led by men like Aznar stood tall and had earned its place at the table when serious matters were considered. After the display of national cowardice that resulted in Zapatero Spain can no longer be taken seriously. They are just another Euro voice, strident but weak, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing. Let the Spaniards go to Brussels and confer with the other impotent powers and make pronouncements. No one cares.
This is not your argument. This is not your fight. You are an insignificant player in world affairs. I'm sorry you've been passed over, but it's the sad truth. When it comes to the WoT specifically, you had a chance to make a contribution and stand up like men, but you decided to tuck your cowardly tail between your legs and run for Madrid. What makes you think the world needs the opinion of cowards? Just shut the hell up. When we need your two cents, we'll call.
Oh, and maybe the next time you get struck my Islamic terrorism, you might want to think about growing some cajones.
#10
I think "Angel Moratinos" may be(roughly ?) translated as "Dead Angel".
We do not listen to dead angels.
The Paleo's are an evolutionary dead end.
They deserve to be exterminated by their own brothers (and save us some dirty work in the process).
The only plan we may buy into is the plan for returning the kidnap soldiers. Otherwise it's slow starvation to all palestinians (including "moderate" palestinians who sit and scartch their balls while the treacherous Hammas is breaking every single item of former agreements).
May Allan rejoice in the purification of the gene pool.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
10/25/2006 10:40 Comments ||
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#11
a conflict that has seemed to stretch on without end.
Pals are there to kill joooos and destroy Iarael. Nothing less is acceptable. "Peace", two-state solution has never been on Pal's map. Never will be.
So has Europe decided to join with the slammers and assist the destruction. That your "diplomatic initiative"?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a brief visit to Jordan's King Abdullah II to mark the Islamic feast of Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday, Jordan's official news agency reported. The king pledged Jordan's support for the Palestinian people and "efforts to get sanctions lifted so that the Palestinians could overcome the difficult circumstances they now face," Petra reported. Abbas was expected to return to the West Bank town of Ramallah after the visit, according a Palestinian diplomat in Amman who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Key European states on Tuesday circulated their own draft resolution imposing nuclear and missile-related sanctions on Iran after failing to reach agreement with Washington, U.S. and European officials said. A senior U.S. official predicted the dispute ultimately would be resolved but it was unclear when that might happen.
A unified front among Britain, France, Germany -- lead negotiators with Iran -- and the United States has been key to international efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear program, which the West says is aimed
The allies split over some issues, including a U.S. demand that Russia be forced to halt work at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant...
at making weapons and Iran says is for energy production. However, the allies split over some issues, including a U.S. demand that Russia be forced to halt work at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, U.S. officials and European diplomats said.
"The Europeans have told the United States that we're going to circulate the text among the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council and planned to do it today," one diplomat said. But a senior U.S. official told Reuters: "On Bushehr, I think they'll solve it" by allowing some work on the project -- worth an estimated $800 million (427 million pounds) to Russia -- to proceed. "It'll just be a matter of where you draw the line. Do you allow construction but not delivery of fuel? How do you work it? I think it'll probably get worked (out)." Officials later said the European draft had been shared with Russia, China and the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
We pay $400 mil, they pay $400 mil to the Russkies.
#2
Oh my, cutting off missile and nuclear tech. How could it get any worse? [roll eyes]
but it was unclear when that might happen
Gee, let me think: The instant one or the other is annihilated, Alex?
A unified front among Britain, France, Germany
The operative word here is unified. This implies morals, intelligence, and clear thinking.
Do you allow construction but not delivery of fuel?
Neither. And destroy what is there. And don't allow nations to start this kind of crap with the expectation and intention to use it to extract a ransom from rest of the civilized world. There is no logical reason other than that to have begun this project. I doubt it will net them that much money. For the most part the Russians are not very efficient at anything yet, and they won't be until they shed that socialist/communist mindset and truly adopt a free market economy.
#7
They also hold the record for slaughtering their own people.
It's a tie between them and China, methinks, although I would have put the Chairman slightly ahead of Uncle Joey.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
10/25/2006 14:36 Comments ||
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October 25, 2006: There are two things, in particular, that Islamic terrorism needs to keep going; cash and publicity. These two items are what fuel and munitions are to a conventional army. Stopping terrorists from obtaining cash and publicity is is difficult. Cash has been easier to deal with. So far, the United States has frozen some $200 million in funds that were held by organizations, usually Islamic charities, that were found to be passing the money on to terrorists. Currently, Islamic terrorists are spending nearly $40 million a year to keep their operations international going. That's not a firm number, because "international Islamic terrorism," often gets mixed up with the local variety. Iraq is a prime example, where most of the violence is about local issues (Sunni Arabs trying to regain power, Shia Arabs seeking revenge against Sunni Arabs). Same thing in Afghanistan, where a lot of the "terrorism" is basically tribal politics. The "Taliban" is a coalition of Pushtun tribes with shared religious and social values (both of which are conservative in the extreme, and not accepted by many other Afghans.)
But al Qaeda recognizes that these local Islamic radicals are often willing to join forces. That's what happened in Iraq in 2004, when al Qaeda and Sunni Arab nationalists (trying to regain power), joined together. In that case, it was the Sunni Arabs who had more money, and for at least a year, provided al Qaeda with millions of dollars a month. That largess has since shrunk, because of al Qaeda's tendency to use indiscriminate suicide car bomb attacks. As a result, al Qaeda has reduced operations in Iraq and shifted more money to Afghanistan, where the Taliban are easier to manage.
Counter-terrorism organizations have been able to intercept, or at least block, a lot of the money intended for Islamic terrorists. It's been more difficult to interfere with the pro-terrorist media message. It's a sad fact that Islamic terrorism is quite popular among many Moslems. In late 2001, Al Qaeda's "approval rating" was over 50 percent in most Islamic countries. But by 2005, all those images of dead Moslems in Iraq, and elsewhere, cut this approval substantially (often to single digits.) But that number can rise again, because politicians in Islamic countries have, for decades, been blaming the "West" for all the bad things (corruption, inept government) they were presiding over. Now that sort of blame-shifting is good politics (for the politician, anyway), but it has backfired, because al Qaeda's main targets are these same Moslem politicians. Thus when al Qaeda made a big mess in the United States in 2001, many Moslem politicians were privately glad to see it. But now that the terrorists have brought their mayhem home, it's another story. However, when al Qaeda gets smart, as they have in several countries of late, and stopped their local attacks on Moslems, the population will, after a few months, begin to admire al Qaeda again. With that comes more money and recruits. And as those approval ratings rise, fewer Moslems are going to cooperate with the police.
For a number of reasons, Western media has a hard time understanding how important it is to keep the Islamic terrorists doing their dirt in Islamic countries. Every al Qaeda attack in Iraq, and the majority of them kill Moslems, hurts al Qaeda's image in the rest of the Islamic world. Attacks in the West, however, make al Qaeda appear mighty in the Islamic world. Do the math. Al Qaeda has.
#1
The other aspect of publicity is media manipulation, which the terrorists and their fifth columns in the west are extremely adept at. The tide of opinion in the west is turning slowly, slowly against them.
#2
Due to the fact that the Swiss are allowing them to establish their own banking network, and that a lot of sellouts, even in US, are joining in, the cash flow control will be more difficult. Any American working for Muzzie interests ought to have citizenship forfeited. If they are that greedy, let them go live with the camels, not undermine our country.
#2
Any university, and there are several, who sell out should be ostracized. This should be highly pulicized so that any serious students would begin to avoid this place.
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.
Former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet has joined the British research firm thought to have provided the inspiration for 'Q', the character who creates spy gadgets for James Bond.
North Korean food shortages have grown worse after its recent nuclear test led donors to withdraw aid, the UN says. The UN official monitoring human rights in North Korea, 
Kim Jong-il has reserved the right to escalate the nuclear crisis, China said today, refuting earlier reports that the North Korean leader apologised for this monthÂ’s atomic weapons test. The denial dashes hopes for an early resumption of negotiations, which were raised last week when a senior Chinese envoy, Tang Jiaxuan, returned from Pyongyang with an upbeat message for the visiting US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Although no details were revealed of Mr TangÂ’s talks with the North Korean leader, media reports in South Korea and Japan quoted Mr Kim as expressing regret for the difficulties the test had caused China.
General Hameed Gul, former chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), has said that the ISI’s strategy to infiltrate India’s armed forces is “as old as Pakistan” itself, but this was unlikely to derail the peace process between the two countries. 
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has appealed to Muslims to pledge this Eid to overcome their differences and unite against their enemies.
Chittagong anchorage [Bangladesh] Tally: Forty incidents have been reported since January 28 2006. 
You can spot them by their black outfits and black balaclavas. Members of the Mahdi Army, the 10,000-strong militia 
A controversial study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 
Today, the chief source of violence in Iraq is caused by sectarian killings involving al Qaeda operatives, illegal militias and death squads, in addition to other-insurgent-led mayhem, the diplomat said. “Iran and Syria are providing support to the groups involved,” Khalilzad said. 
Iraq will see drastic changes in the security situation and many foreign troops will be able to leave the conflict-ravaged country by the end of 2007, the Iraqi oil minister said Tuesday in Tokyo. 
Syria-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is destined to travel to Cairo this weekend in order to discuss the release of captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit with Egyptian mediators, Palestinian sources said on Tuesday night. Army Radio reported that according to the sources, Mashaal was not making the trip "merely to say no and to reject the new deal." 
One of Europe's foremost voices on the Middle East said Tuesday that the "road map" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians is doomed, and that a major new initiative is needed to resolve a conflict that has seemed to stretch on without end. 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a brief visit to Jordan's King Abdullah II to mark the Islamic feast of Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday, Jordan's official news agency reported. The king pledged Jordan's support for the Palestinian people and "efforts to get sanctions lifted so that the Palestinians could overcome the difficult circumstances they now face," Petra reported. Abbas was expected to return to the West Bank town of Ramallah after the visit, according a Palestinian diplomat in Amman who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
October 25, 2006: There are two things, in particular, that Islamic terrorism needs to keep going; cash and publicity. These two items are what fuel and munitions are to a conventional army. Stopping terrorists from obtaining cash and publicity is is difficult. Cash has been easier to deal with. So far, the United States has frozen some $200 million in funds that were held by organizations, usually Islamic charities, that were found to be passing the money on to terrorists. Currently, Islamic terrorists are spending nearly $40 million a year to keep their operations international going. That's not a firm number, because "international Islamic terrorism," often gets mixed up with the local variety. Iraq is a prime example, where most of the violence is about local issues (Sunni Arabs trying to regain power, Shia Arabs seeking revenge against Sunni Arabs). Same thing in Afghanistan, where a lot of the "terrorism" is basically tribal politics. The "Taliban" is a coalition of Pushtun tribes with shared religious and social values (both of which are conservative in the extreme, and not accepted by many other Afghans.)
For a number of reasons, Western media has a hard time understanding how important it is to keep the Islamic terrorists doing their dirt in Islamic countries. Every al Qaeda attack in Iraq, and the majority of them kill Moslems, hurts al Qaeda's image in the rest of the Islamic world. Attacks in the West, however, make al Qaeda appear mighty in the Islamic world. Do the math. Al Qaeda has.
