Psychics were recruited by the Ministry of Defence to locate Osama Bin Laden's secret lair, it was claimed yesterday.
I knew that. It all came to me in a dream one night.
Newly declassified documents revealed that the MoD conducted an experiment to see if volunteers could 'see' objects hidden inside an envelope. It is claimed the ministry hoped positive results would allow it to use psychics to 'remotely view' Bin Laden's base and also to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. However, after running up a bill of £18,000 of taxpayers' money, defence chiefs concluded there was 'little value' in using psychic powers in the defence of the nation and the research was taken no further.
£18,000 is pretty cheap. Maybe they shoulda spent some real money and hired some good psychics.
The study, conducted in 2002, involved blindfolding test subjects and asking them to 'see' the contents of sealed brown envelopes containing pictures of objects and public figures. The MoD tried to recruit 12 'known' psychics who advertised their abilities on the Internet, but when they all refused
The old "after-the-fact clairvoyance" dodge was it?
they were forced to use 'novice' volunteers. The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows 28 per cent of those tested managed to guess the contents of the envelopes, which included pictures of a knife, Mother Teresa and an 'Asian individual'.
Fu Manchu? Chairman Mao? Tojo?
But most subjects, who were holed up in a secret location for the study, were hopelessly off the mark. One even fell asleep while he tried to focus on the envelope's content.
A former MoD employee who received a copy of the report said the timing of the study must have been related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nick Pope, who ran the MoD UFO research programme and worked at the ministry for 21 years, said: "It can only be speculation, but you don't employ that kind of time and effort to find money down the back of the sofa. You go to this trouble for high-value assets. We must be talking about Bin Laden and weapons of mass destruction."
The MoD last night defended its decision to fund the secret tests despite the questionable use of taxpayers' money. And Mr Pope said: "I don't think this was a waste of public money. Many people will say so, but I think it is marvellous that the Government is prepared to think outside the box. "And this is as outside the box as it gets."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 09:56 ||
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#1
In past it has been pointed out that the way "psychic research" has been conducted is almost as if they are trying to not find psychics.
To start with, there are two types of ability, the "adepts" and the "trained". If psychic ability was reciting the alphabet, adepts would be masters of the letter 'k', but they would have no idea about the rest of the alphabet, how the letter 'k' relates to anything else, or even how to regularly invoke the letter 'k'. Unpredictably, out of the blue, they shout the letter 'k!'. That is all.
So adepts are pretty useless. The "trained", however, know the letters 'a' through 'g', in their approximate order, but their ability is so pragmatic and obvious that it is overlooked, even by themselves.
The next problem is that from infancy, people are trained to not muck around with "extraneous" information, for survival reasons. It is a dangerous world, and if you are not paying attention, distracted by something else, you might get eaten by a tiger.
Well, not so much anymore, but we still train for it, and teach our children some highly effective techniques to block out non-standard information.
Then, an important distinction is whether the information that psychics get is "narrow" or "wide" bandwidth. Narrow bandwidth is like telepathy, exact data transfer, but with terrible error checking. Wide bandwidth is like empathy, seeing the forest, but not the trees.
If you want to find people who lean towards telepathy, find a dozen who impatiently complete your sentences when you're talking with them. They can be pretty close to what you were going to say, but they will usually be just a tad off on your exact wording.
People who are more empathic have no clue what you are thinking, but pick up on what your overall mood is. But people give off all sorts of conflicting signals, so empaths are prone to misinterpretation. They can be pretty good with 'intuition', however.
If I was going to get a bunch of good candidates for psychic training, I would visit martial arts schools and find people who have developed some skill, but obviously aren't fighters--just not designed for it.
#2
He's to the east , up a bit from there , left now ,turn 180 degrees , walk 100 yards , turn left up that path and he's now on your right in that mud hut with 3 goats ..
£18,000 please , cash . cos i predict a cheque would bounce
#9
I have a sporadic "sixth-sense", but it only works with MY future, and with people very close to me. It's saved my life (and my family's) a couple of times, but it wouldn't be of much use to the government. It's also totally unpredictable - it works when it works, period. If there was someone out there who could find where Bin Laden was hiding using psychic abilities, I'm sure they would have collected that $25million by now.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/24/2007 18:31 Comments ||
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#10
If there was someone out there who could find where Bin Laden was hiding using psychic abilities, I'm sure they would have collected that $25million by now.
#11
Mine 6th sense only works on bad things (my father's death, girlfriend's brother's death, the flight that went down in NYC in October '01) I'd prefer winning lotto numbers, myself...
Rearmed with new guns the Taliban on Friday vowed this would be the deadliest year for foreign soldiers in Afghanistan since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. This year will prove to be the bloodiest for the foreign troops. It is not just a threat, we will prove it, senior commander Mullah Dadullah told Reuters
Our 6,000 fighters are ready for attacks on foreign troops after the change in weather and as it becomes warmer.
by satellite phone. The Talibans war preparations are going on in caves and in mountains. Our 6,000 fighters are ready for attacks on foreign troops after the change in weather and as it becomes warmer.
Dadullah said the extra weapons the Taliban were being supplied he did not say from where included the ability to bring down the NATO and US helicopters crucial to their operations in this rugged, mountainous country.
This article starring:
MULLAH DADULLAH
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Doesn't this guy ever say anything other than "I'm gonna huff, and puff, and blow your house down"?
#2
attacks on foreign troops after the change in weather and as it becomes warmer.
After it becomes warmer? The Brutal Afghan Winter(tm) must be a little rough on the Talibs.
It has been a long time since I read Sun Tzu, but I don't recall him saying that dieing in great numbers was a way to victory.
#3
It is, if you can halt return to normalcy, and persuade the ennemy's homefront that all this is pointless and a Quagmire™. Besides, it's not as if the talibs and their backers care a lot about their own casualties, high natality, large pool of frustrated, unemployed young males and robots-churning madrasas are there to remedy to that, aren't they?
#5
After it becomes warmer? The Brutal Afghan Winter(tm) must be a little rough on the Talibs.
Maybe because they're not Taliban in anything but name. Mostly foreigner cannon fodder fighters without proper acclimatization or territorial skills and links. It's tough being a stranger trying to get food without knowing the neighbors and no logistical support. You're just another bandit with a gun.
Sort of like in the late war stages like when the Germans started recruiting non-Aryans into SS formations.
Thousands of terrified civilians have poured out of the Somali capital on Saturday after heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and gunmen overnight left at least 10 people dead. Some residents scrambled into passenger vans while most just grabbed household items and left on foot for the relative calm of the surrounding countryside where food is scarce.
A mother of five, Sahro Ali Mohamed, said houses in her Mogadishu neighbourhood were deserted. "People cannot endure the heavy artillery and mortar exchange that kills people every time," she said as she left with her family in tow.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross (ICRC) on Saturday issued a plea to all warring parties to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law to protect civilians. It urged them "to take constant care in the conduct of military operations to safeguard the lives and dignity of the civilian population."
Boy howdy that'll go over well.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 14:37 ||
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(SomaliNet) The imam of the Isbaheysiga mosque, the biggest mosque in the Somalia capital has been released from the jail in Mogadishu by the allied forces of Somalia and Ethiopia, reports say on Friday. Sheik Sharif Sheik Abdirahman told the local media after his release that the he was dealt well during his arrest. I was arrested as I was trying to visit one of my colleagues who was held by the government forces in 88 police headquarter in Mogadishu and I was taken to Villa Somalia where I was held for two days, Sheik Abdirahman said. I was arrested with one of the mosque clerics,
He said that he was told the charges against him and who prosecuted the case but he insisted that he might suspect some religious men beside his mosque spied on him. Sheik Abdirhman said he was hopeful that his colleague will be released soon as the security officials promised. I asked the security officers to release my fellow and they said that they will soon let him free. The Ethiopian backed interim government forces continue to hunt down anyone suspected of having links with the ousted Islamic Courts Union.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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The US military used bases inside Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top al-Qaeda leaders in the Horn of Africa, The New York Times reported on its website on Thursday, citing US officials. The Times said the campaign included the use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to conduct air strikes against Islamic militants in neighbouring Somalia.
Officials were quoted as saying the clandestine relationship with Ethiopia also included significant information-sharing on the militants' positions and information from US spy satellites with the Ethiopian military, the newspaper reported. Members of a secret US special operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya and ventured into Somalia, the officials added.
But Ethiopia denied the report. "Ethiopia has not provided any air base for the Americans to strike Somalia," said Bereket Simon, close adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. "The New York Times has fabricated this story and if there is any Pentagon official whom they are quoting, then that official does not have the slightest knowledge of the region or Ethiopia," said Simon, a minister without portfolio.
Long-winded version with the requisite hand-wringing from the New York Times.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Actually Pajamas Media broke this story a week or two ago. It's true, but like everything else that is clandestine the NY times gets a kick out of broadcasting it to our enemies. Treason is the modus operandi of the Times.
Posted by: DanNY ||
02/24/2007 5:49 Comments ||
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#2
The council said schools could consider building "separate changing facilities that include individual changing cubicles".
Perfectly reasonable request, to avoid revealing "belts". Also, chemistry lessons need to be tailored to mozzie needs; electronics - how to safely cut the yellow while wiring up the mobile;
physics - how to determine scatter patterns of nails & ball bearings etc.
Posted by: Dave Dimmy ||
02/24/2007 12:00 Comments ||
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#4
The 2005 Obin rapport on rampant islamization of french schools noted that in some case muslim pupils not only requested that too, but set separate water tap, one for the muslims, and one for the "impure".
#8
Create 2 story restroom facilities; the muzzie showers can be directly aligned underneath the outflow pipe of the infidels' toilets. as long as they face Mecca, what's the prob?
North Korea offered further conciliation on its nuclear weapons programme yesterday when it invited the chief UN weapons inspector to visit next month. The move is a further signal of Pyongyang's willingness to open its nuclear programme to outside perusal for the first time since it expelled UN weapons inspectors more than three years ago.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he and North Korean authorities would discuss details of dismantling the country's nuclear programme, following a deal this month under which Pyongyang agreed to take steps towards disarmament in return for $300m (£152m) of aid. Mr ElBaradei said the North hoped "to go back to being a member of the agency", and added: "The first [issue] of course is how to develop a plan to freeze the Yongbyon facilities, and more importantly to make sure that they come back as a fully fledged member of the agency."
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, on an official visit to Austria, said he hoped the invitation would translate into concrete steps in removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula. "I'm convinced that his visit to Pyongyang will make a great contribution to implement the joint statement," he said, referring to the deal agreed on February 13 between North Korea and its five interlocutors - the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. "I hope that he and his delegation will be able to discuss with North Korean authorities ... methods on first freezing nuclear facilities and including the eventual dismantlement of all nuclear weapons and facilities," he said. "This will be a good beginning."
I don't trust the lying NKors for a sec. I'd like to think that Dubya plans to keep the pressure on while paying lip-service to the 'agreement'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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From Geostragegy Direct, subscription.
The tentative agreement reached with North Korea to freeze Pyongyangs nuclear program has exposed divisions within the Bush administration over concessions made to the communist regime.
John Bolton, former State Department arms control official and U.S. ambassador to the UN, led the opposition to the agreement calling it a bad deal that undermines efforts to press Iran on its nuclear program. We heard Bolton's objections last week.
Deputy National Security adviser Elliott Abrams, a well-known neoconservative, also opposed the deal, stating in an email that it was rewarding Pyongyang prematurely by agreeing to remove the government from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Other senior administration officials who are conservatives oppose the deal, especially the concession of agreeing to lift Treasury Department sanctions on North Koreas key banking outlet, the Macao-based Banco Delta Asia. The money laundering bank. And what about the issue of high-class counterfeiting that has been providing foreign exchange for the NORKS?
By agreeing to distinguish between illicit and licit funds in the North Korean accounts, the Bush administration has severely gutted a major tool that had severely curbed North Korean illegal financial activities, they argue. "It's all licit, no illicit funds here, no way!!!"
We have lost the most important lever we had on North Korea, said one official of the banking concession.
Another main reason conservatives oppose the deal is because it rewards one of the worst violators of human rights in history, according to several officials. Standing up for principles, unusual with the State Department, heh.
The deal was brokered by Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill through Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Just like the bang-up job recently in dealing with the Paleostinians, oh Lawd.
Conservatives in the Pentagon and State Department, including outgoing Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Robert Joseph, were excluded from the final negotiations. Also, officials in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney were kept out of the loop on the negotiations. "Sorry, boys, we're doing it Our Way."
Asked about the divisions, White House Press Spokesman Tony Snow confirmed that Abrams had questioned the U.S. plan to delist North Korea as a terrorist state since it undermines U.S. credibility. This was not a political accommodation; this is not a political deal, Snow said. They're not going to get it without having performed precisely the kinds of activities, whether it be in terms of nuclear arms and proliferation, or also conventional weapons and sales. We are showing weakness in this whole thing. It will come back to bite us, again.
North Korea will not be taken off the terrorist list until they've done what everybody else would have to do, for instance in the case of Libya, Snow said.
The most serious deficiency identified by conservatives is that the deal does not address the one element that triggered the entire six-part process: North Koreas hidden uranium enrichment program. That should be part of the oil giveaway program. Jeeze Louise!!!
Under the agreement, North Korea does not even have to discuss its nuclear weapons programs in the initial phase. So, according to this article, Kimmie's a$$ gets saved by his enemy, namely the US. Between this weak stance and the dems attacking our effort in Iraq, we are in serious trouble.
This article starring:
Condoleezza Rice
Elliott Abrams
John Bolton
Robert Joseph
Posted by: Al Aska Paul, Resident Imam ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
KRAUTHAMMER + FOX BOYS > are in rough consensus that NK must officially declare ANY AND ALL nuke efforts. FREEREPUBLIC/WORLDNEWS/OTHER > ditto + do so in 60 days lest be subject to potentially harsh UNSC Resolutions.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2007 Australia has earned the worlds respect for its firm stance in the war on terror, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said today in Sydney. Speaking at the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue conference, Cheney praised Prime Minister John Howard and reaffirmed the value of the U.S.-Australian alliance.
The vice president recalled a speech Howard made in Washington on Sept. 10, 2001 -- the day before terrorists struck the United States -- in which the Australian leader noted the close working relationship between the two nations and their like-mindedness on the subject of freedom.
In the words of Prime Minister Howard, Cheney said, we have demonstrated to the world that values based on freedom and individual liberty in the end win acceptance. But they only win acceptance if behind the commitment is a determination to defend those values, if necessary fight for them, and always to be ready to repel those who would seek to take those freedoms away.
He stuck to those words one day later, and he has stuck to them every day since, Cheney said. Prime Minister Howard and the nation he serves have never wavered in the war on terror. The United States appreciates it, and the whole world respects you for it.
The United States is grateful and proud to have Australia as a friend, Cheney said. As leading democracies, Australia and the United States feel a deep sense of responsibility for security and peace in our world, he said. The cooperation between our governments has risen to a new level, with stronger ties of defense and counterterrorism, and much broader cooperation on intelligence and information sharing. We're working closely on the joint strike fighter and on ballistic missile defense.
Having stood together in every major conflict of the last 100 years, Cheney said, the United States and Australia now stand together in the decisive struggle against terrorism. The notion that free countries can turn our backs on what happens in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other possible safe haven for terrorists is an option that we simply cannot indulge, he said. The evil that appeared on 9/11 has returned many times since.
And we have learned that terrorist attacks, whether in New York or London or Madrid or Casablanca or Jakarta or Bali, are not merely criminal acts by tiny bands of men, he continued. Instead, they represent a movement that is global in scope, that formed over a period of decades, and that is determined to sow chaos and destruction within civilized countries.
Cheney said terrorists have adopted the pretense of being an aggrieved party, claiming to speak for the powerless against modern imperialists. The fact is they're at war with practically every liberal ideal, and in their vision, everyone would be powerless except them, he said. Their ideology rejects tolerance and denies freedom of conscience. An ideology so violent, so hateful, can take hold only by force or intimidation, and so those who refuse to bow to the tyrants face brutalization or murder. And no person or group, not even fellow Muslims, is exempt.
Though their creed is narrow and backward-looking, Cheney said, terrorists use modern and sophisticated methods to advance their cause. The terrorists use the Internet to spread propaganda and to find new recruits, and they're employing every other tool of communication and finance to carry out their plans, he noted. They have proclaimed, as well, the goal of arming themselves with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. So armed, they would attempt to impose their will by mass murder and blackmail. And no argument, no principle of moral law, and no appeal to reason or mercy could be expected to stop them.
Terrorists believe free nations lack the will for a long struggle and that, by continuing to commit horrific acts, they will destroy any remaining to oppose them, Cheney said.
We've never had a fight like this, and it's not a fight we can win using the strategies from other wars, he said. An enemy that operates in the shadows and views the entire world as a battlefield is not one that can be contained or deterred. An enemy with fantasies of martyrdom is not going to sit down at a table for peaceful negotiations. The only option for our security and survival is to go on the offensive -- face the threat directly, patiently and systematically until the enemy is destroyed.
Success for the United States, Australia and their shared principles depends on the willingness to act where action is required, Cheney said. He cited examples of Australia demonstrating that willingness in the Pacific region.
You've provided military and civilian authorities to help maintain peace and stability in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, he said. Your government has provided critical leadership on counterterrorism in Indonesia, the Philippines and other lands. And Australia's contribution to security and good governance in the Pacific island countries is principled; it's effective; and it's indispensable.
Cheney said the U.S.-Australian alliance is as important as ever as it moves forward. We are strong countries that have sacrificed greatly for peace and freedom at home and on distant shores, he said. Our purposes in this world are good and right. So we have made our decision. Once again, we choose to face challenges squarely. And once again, we go forward -- as allies, as comrades-in-arms and, above all, as friends.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/24/2007 15:33 ||
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The Polish government has officially told the United States it is interested in opening negotiations on the possibility of hosting a US missile defence site.
The Polish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it had delivered a formal diplomatic note to the US Embassy in Warsaw -- a formal step that followed expressions of interest by Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The statement said that whatever agreements are eventually reached "should contribute to the strengthening security for Poland, the United States of America and international security."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 14:37 ||
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To sell their HOT fighter. To promote it for sales. LOLOL.
I'll say it again
WAR!
What is it good for...
Sweden's military leadership wants to see JAS Gripen fighter planes sent into combat in Afghanistan and Africa, partly as a means of showcasing the planes for the export market. Is Sweden finally invading Darfur?
If the government accepts the military's forthcoming proposals, it will be the first time since a 1962 UN mission to Congo that Swedish Air Force planes are used in armed battle. Who knew? LOL.
Speaking to Sveriges Radio, Major General Jan Jonsson foresees JAS Gripen fighter aircraft being deployed in direct battle situations. "We can't rule out using air force back-up in difficult situations where our ground forces are in trouble," he said. Supporting Swedish soldiers? Easier, and more profitable to just invade Finland.
The Air Force would benefit greatly from seeing its aircraft used in battle, as well as giving its pilots first-hand combat experience. "Just like the American F14, F15, F16 and F18".
But Sveriges Radio's army sources also reveal that such missions would not be carried out for purely military purposes. A decision to send JAS Gripen planes into action in war zones which are supervised by military leaders from other countries, including many NATO member states, could also create invaluable PR ahead of future export deals. "We can go to war, but only if we can bring a film crew".
Sweden's air force and navy are generally used rather too sparingly on international missions, according to Jan Jonssson. The deployment of JAS Gripen planes in Afghanistan or in new missions to Africa would be a step in the right direction, he says. Sparingly=NEVER. LOL. When did Sweden last go to War? LOL.
1813: Second War Against France, and 1814: Norway Campaign.
#1
At lask check, SWEDEN is still in competition wid CHINA + FRANCE for internat Lite Combat Aircraft [LCA] sales. Looks like they all want to impress their customers + Mountain Babes by showing off their LCA battle scars.
#3
Gripen seems to always lose out in arms sales. They've always got a good product, but they seem totally oblivious to the idea that arms sales are also a method of strenthening alliances. Who wants to be allied with the Swedes?
#7
...Well, FWIW, Gripen is not a bad little bird - certainly the equal of the latest F-16s. But that's its problem: it's as good as an aircraft that we're getting ready to replace. The Swedes waited to long to get it built, and they're paying the price.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/24/2007 8:28 Comments ||
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#9
I'm surprised that they haven't been approached to build large passenger/cargo aircraft, since AirBus is a disaster and Boeing has over a 1,000 aircraft backlog for just this year alone.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
02/24/2007 9:42 Comments ||
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#12
I'm imagining the Swedish Chef covering Edwin Starr:
VER! It eeen't nutheeng boot a heertbreeker, Ver.
Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!
Freeend oonly tu zee underteker.
Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!
Oohhh! Ver is un inemy tu ell munkeend,
Zee thuooght ooff ver bloos my meend.
Bork bork bork!
Ver hes coosed unrest veethin zee yuoonger genereshun
Indoocshun zeen destroocshun...vhu vunts tu deee-a? Oohhh
VER!
guud Gud y'ell hooh
Vhet is it guud fur?
Ebsulootely nutheeng...sey it sey it SEY IT! VER!...uh
hooh yeeh hoo!
Vhet is it guud fur? Ebsulootely nutheeng...leestee tu me
Posted by: Mike ||
02/24/2007 17:04 Comments ||
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(AKI) - ZDF, one of Germany's main public television broadcasters, said Friday it plans to commission and then post on its website sermons by Islamic clerics every Friday beginning in mid-2007. ZDF said it would select preachers with the assistance of German Muslim organisations and that it would retain final editorial responsibility over the content. The decision follows appeals by Muslims in Germany to broadcasters to grant Islam airtime similar to that given to Christians.
A weekly Christian television address is aired every Sunday by another public broadcaster, ARD. However, ZDF said it would initially put the Muslim address on the internet only and see how many people read it. According to ZDF director general Markus Schaechter, the deputy chairman of the German council of Jews, Salomon Korn, who is also on the ZDF board, had welcomed the plan. Korn earlier this month criticised the project, saying a multi-faith programme would be better. Schaechter said it had been agreed in talks with the council of Jews to discuss creating a similar online space for the Jewish faith. Some 3.5 million Muslims live in Germany.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Seriously monitored I sincerely hope.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2007 11:22 Comments ||
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NEW YORK (AP) - A civil rights group asked a judge Friday to find it unconstitutional for the federal government to exclude a prominent Muslim scholar or anyone else from the United States on the grounds that they may have endorsed or espoused terrorism. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the papers attacking the policy in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The group included in its submissions a written declaration in which the scholar, Tariq Ramadan, said he has always "opposed terrorism not only through my words but also through my actions."
...The ACLU said some foreign scholars and writers are now reluctant to accept invitations to the United States because they will be subjected to ideological scrutiny and possibly denied entry.
#1
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that the United States (and any country) has the right to bar anyone who is not a citizen from entering the country.
Personally, I feel that the fact that foreign scholars and writers are now reluctant to accept invitations to the US as a feature, not a bug.
Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that a North Korean disarmament deal widely criticized by his fellow conservatives is worth trying, although he expressed wariness about the North's trustworthiness.
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a harsh critic of the North and a former adviser of President George W. Bush, has said the deal rewards North Korea despite its long history of bad behavior. Cheney responded that Bolton was a friend and entitled to his opinion. But, he said in an interview in Australia with the ABC television network, the United States believes the recent accord "is worth the effort. It's an initial first step."
Cheney said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has had a poor record keeping his international commitments. "But again, we want to try to see if we can achieve results through diplomatic means." Cheney said China, North Korea's main ally, was key to settling the matter. "If you're going to be able to squeeze North Korea effectively to get them to change policy, China is in the best position to do it," Cheney said.
In a separate speech in Sydney, Cheney said the United States was entering the deal "with our eyes open."
"In light of North Korea's missile test last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove,"
FORT LEWIS, Wash. (AP) - The Army refiled charges Friday against a lieutenant who refused to serve in Iraq, about two weeks after his first court-martial was declared a mistrial. First Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, who refused to deploy with his unit last June, faces the same allegations he initially faced - missing movement and conduct unbecoming an officer - and could be sentenced to a dishonorable discharge and six years in prison if convicted. The Army has not set a date for a second court-martial.
``We're back to square one,'' Fort Lewis spokeswoman Leslie Kaye said.
Watada's first trial began early this month but ended abruptly when the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, said he did not believe the soldier fully understood a pretrial agreement he signed admitting elements of the charges. As part of that agreement, the Army dropped two of the charges against him, lowering his potential sentence to four years.
Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, said he would seek to have the charges dismissed as a violation of the Constitution's protection against double jeopardy. ``When it's not going well for you, you can't just call a mistrial and start over again,'' Seitz said. ``No matter how much lip service they give to wanting to protect my client's rights, that just doesn't exist in the military courts.''
It was your client who forced the mistrial.
Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said double jeopardy did not apply in this case because the first trial was never completed.
Watada faces one charge of missing movement and another of conduct unbecoming of an officer. The latter charge accuses him in four instances of making public statements criticizing the war or President Bush. Watada freely admitted missing the deployment and making the statements in the pretrial agreement. Before the mistrial was declared, he had planned to take the witness stand to argue that his motives were to avoid committing war crimes by participating in an illegal war.
Which I don't think he'll be allowed to do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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He won't > "War crimes" is a specific act(s), which Mr. Watada could not have witnessed or be participatory/accessory/accomplice to becuz he refused to physically deploy wid his unit; + any and all Enlisted and Commissioned are told the National Security = Needs of the USA-USDOD-Armed Service(s) comes first, and is made understood to sign BINDING OATHS to that effect.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2007 7:28 Comments ||
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#3
1) After a mistrial, re-issuing the same charges is not "double jeopardy". A mistrial isn't an acquittal; it's a declaration that the trial has to be done over, and the state has the option not to pursue a second trial.
2) How can someone who was never in Iraq know anything about "war crimes" in Iraq?
The little bastard joined after the invasion of Iraq; he knew what he was getting into. Throw him into prison, throw away the key, and encase his cell in concrete.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/24/2007 9:31 Comments ||
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#4
RC, it came a shock to me too, but double jeopardy isn't as clear-cut as you'd expect. I'm still looking into the precise point when jeopardy attaches, but so far I actually think the defense can make a straight-faced argument. Insane, I know.
#5
So do we get a new judge? This wasn't in yesterday's Seattle papers as of 3 PM, welcome news. I haven't turned on the TV today, but I imagine the Seattle lefties are seething.
(AKI/DAWN) - Khalid Khawaja, a human rights activist and former close aide of Osama bin Laden, who was also a former official with Pakistan's powerful secret service Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) during the 1980s, was shifted from Pakistan's Adiala Jail to the high security prison in Faisalabad, on Thursday, according to a report on the Pakistani daily Dawn. A retired Pakistan Air Force squadron leader, Khawaja is currently the chief coodinator of the Islamic Centre for Research and Defence of Human Rights, an organisation which campaigns on the behalf of relatives of terrorism suspects who have "disappeared".
Khawaja was arrested by police on 26 January on charges of inciting people against the government, distributing hate material and sabotaging negotiations between the government and ulema or Muslim clerics on the issue of the stand-off between the government and the madrassa Hafsa over plans to demolish mosques built without permission on government land.
Security sources said that Khawajas bail application was accepted by the Additional District and Sessions Judge Nisar Ahmad Baig on Wednesday. He was to be released on Thursday but the prison authorities shifted him to the high security prison, Faisalabad, on the instructions of government. On Wednesday, Khawaja was produced before the court and after hearing the arguments of Khawajas lawyer, the judge accepted the bail application and ordered his release.
After Khawaja was booked, he was sent to a hospital for a medical check on 29 January as he was said to be suffering from heart disease. He was discharged after undergoing some tests. Speaking to reporters at the time he said that he was a victim of state terrorism, and the charges against him were baseless.
"Lies! All lies!"
He complained that his family members were not being allowed to meet him in detention and alleged that police had seized his medicines.
This article starring:
Khalid Khawaja
Islamic Centre for Research and Defence of Human Rights
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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...a human rights activist and former close aide of Osama bin Laden, who was also a former official with Pakistan's powerful secret service Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) during the 1980s...
Now THERE is a resume!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/24/2007 13:29 Comments ||
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A new survey has shown that 86 percent of Pakistanis believe that terrorist attacks on civilians are never justified, while only 46 percent of Americans hold the same view. The survey conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland in the US and four Muslim countries - Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria - showed 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreeing that terrorist attacks were never justified, compared with 81 percent in Bangladesh. As many as 24 percent of Americans said that such attacks were sometimes justified.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, public opinion surveys in the United States and Europe show that nearly half of Westerners associate Islam with violence and Muslims with terrorism. Given the many radicals who commit violence in the name of Islam around the world, thats an understandable polling result. But these stereotypes, affirmed by simplistic media coverage and many radicals themselves, are not supported by the facts - and they are detrimental to the war on terror. When the West wrongly attributes radical views to all of the worlds 1.5 billion Muslims, it perpetuates a myth that has the very real effect of marginalising critical allies in the war on terror. Indeed, the far-too-frequent stereotyping of Muslims serves only to reinforce the radical appeal of the small minority of Muslims who peddle hatred of the West and others as authentic religious practice.
Terror Free Tomorrow, which has carried out more than 20 surveys in Muslim countries in the past two years, has come up with the surprising finding that even among the minority, which indicated support for terrorist attacks and Osama Bin Laden, most overwhelmingly approved of specific American actions in their own countries. For instance, 71 percent of Bin Laden supporters in Indonesia and 79 percent in Pakistan said they thought more favourably of the United States as a result of American humanitarian assistance in their countries. The survey said that for most people, their professed support of terrorism/Bin Laden could be more accurately characterised as a kind of protest vote against current US foreign policies, not as a deeply held religious conviction or even an inherently anti-American or anti-Western view.
According to the survey, In truth, the common enemy is violence and terrorism, not Muslims any more than Christians or Jews. Whether recruits to violent causes join gangs in Los Angeles or terrorist cells in Lahore, the enemy is the violence they exalt. Americas goal, in partnership with Muslim public opinion, should be to defeat terrorists by isolating them from their own societies. The most effective policies to achieve that goal are the ones that build on our common humanity. And we can start by recognising that Muslims throughout the world want peace as much as Americans do.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure they weren't using the same interpretation of the term that we do.
"But to the lions nobly carrying out Allan's will on those hussy heifer hobags, hey, Good Job!"
The National Assembly on Friday condemned the Bajaur, Damadola and other such incidents in which innocent women were killed, and declared that the perpetrators of these crimes were not Muslims. The condemnation came through a resolution that was passed unanimously and was moved by Ayesha Munawar of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The resolution also condemned the killing of innocent women in other incidents.
Depends on your mufti's definition of innocent, naturally.
Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain objected that the house could not decree (fatwa) that someone was Muslim or non-Muslim, but none of the treasury parliamentarians considered the resolutions wording, passing it unanimously.
Through another resolution moved by Federal Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar, the National Assembly condemned the killing of Punjab Minister Zil-e-Huma Usman, and demanded the provincial government take prompt action against the killer through a speedy trial in an anti-terrorism court. The house viewed the killing as an extreme form of terrorism, and said there should be no delay in punishing the murderer, as he was caught red-handed. However, Khawaja Asif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said an ordinary court should hear the case. He said the establishment of ATCs during Nawaz Sharifs tenure was a wrong step.
Although anti-terrorism courts were set up during our partys government, I regret that it was a wrong step. Anyone of us can be a victim of these courts, said the PML-N MNA.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Does that mean that the imans and mullahs and madrassas that encourage homicide bombers are not muslim either? They seem to think so.
#3
Note that Muslim don't seem to have a suitable word for a really rotten, worthless, scum of a Muslim. They have to call them either an "Arab" or a "Jew".
After the recent wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan, a Karachi-based Urdu daily newspaper conducted a survey seeking fatwas (religious decrees) on suicide attacks, SouthAsiaNet, an online academic magazine reported on Friday. In the survey, clerics from all schools of thought have declared suicide attacks un-Islamic and forbidden them under the Shariah. They said that killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was against the Islamic way of life. Maulana Ameer Hamza of the Jamaatud Dawa said that a suicide attack was, beyond doubt, an act of terrorism. He said that someone who kills himself to kill others also recounts for the sins of those who (he has) killed.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islams Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that since Islam did not permit the killing of innocent people, it was necessary to figure out why suicide bombers went to such extremes. He said that since there was no way of effectively stopping a suicide bomber, the only solution was to eliminate the causes which gave rise to such resentment that people resorted to suicidal tactics.
He added that no final fatwa could be given on the issue, since a suicidal defence strategy was employed by the Pakistani Army to repel an Indian attack during the 1965 war. However, he said that an Islamic war by an Islamic state could not be compared to the recent wave of suicide attacks that targeted innocent civilians.
He added that no final fatwa could be given on the issue, since a suicidal defence strategy was employed by the Pakistani Army at Chawinda to repel an Indian attack during the 1965 war, a strategy that was approved by the religious scholars of the time. However, he said that an Islamic war by an Islamic state could not be compared to the recent wave of suicide attacks that targeted innocent civilians.
Former minister and Sunni cleric Dr Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi said, a suicide attack was clearly murder and its legality was further called into question by the fact that they occurred in a Muslim state which was not occupied by infidels.
The Jamaat-e-Islamis Dr Anis Ahmed said that the term suicide is very notorious in itself and we need to (establish) the (reasons behind) such acts of extremism. Determining the moral status of such suicide attacks is far too complex an issue to be sorted out by a mere yes or no, he said. After all, he said, what can a Palestinian do when his parents and children have been killed, his house demolished he has no means of earning a living any more? Should he thank those who victimized him? He inevitably turns to extreme measures then. When he is pressed against the wall, he naturally uses his body as a tool of war. These are undoubtedly extraordinary circumstances.
Allama Qamber Abbas Naqvi, president of the Shia Ulema Council, said that killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was haraam (forbidden), so killing innocent Muslims would be illegal to the highest degree. He said that some elements were trying to mislead young Muslims by portraying suicide attacks as a service to Islam and bringing their country and their religion into disrepute. He said that Islam ensured that the life, property and honour of non-Muslims would be protected, so it could not sanction the killing of innocent Muslims.
(AKI) - The decision to withdraw part of the British contingent from southern Iraq was "hasty" and taken "in line with British public opinion but without considering the interests of Iraq" says one of Iraq's leading Sunni politicians, Salim Abdallah al-Jaburi. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) al-Jaburi, who is the spokesman of the Iraqi Concord Front said "the withdrawal of foreign troops must be based on the presence of a military formation capable of maintaining security, which at the moment it is not."
Regarding fears that the British partial pull out, announced this week, and the complete withdrawal of the Danish contingent, could affect the duration of the US troops' stay, al-Jaburi said: "The US policy is based on the deployment of its own forces in Iraq according to aims that we all know well and this episode will not modify its viewpoint regarding security."
"This does not mean that there is a difference of opinion with Britain" he added.
In a statement on Thursday, Nouri al-Maliki underlined that the reduction of the British contingent in the Shiite majority south, was decided after consultations with the Baghdad government.
Britain's prime minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday the government plans for around 1,600 British troops currently serving in Iraq to leave "in the coming months." Britain's 7,100 contingent will be drawn down to roughly 5,500 "by late summer," he told parliament. There will however be a British military presence in Iraq until 2008, Blair said, to secure borders and carry out specific anti-insurgency operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Don't tell me the Sunni are scared of what the Shia might do! After all the Hell they've created in Iraq, payback should be fun to watch.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/24/2007 12:05 Comments ||
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Southern Iraq is relatively secure. But the British have not taken advantage of the four years of occupation to develop this bleak region. Now that they are pulling out, the Shiite Mahdi militia are standing by to take over.
The British are beginning to leave Basra. But to what?
When Hussein Ali Kassim left a friend's house a few nights ago in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the midnight scene was quite unlike what one might expect to see in war-torn Baghdad: Drivers were out and about and fruit sellers plied their sweets beneath street corner lamp posts. There were neither car bombs bursting nor the kind of strictly enforced night-time curfews common in Baghdad. "The security situation in Basra is good," says Kassim, a local pharmacist. "It's still worse than before the war, but it's improving every month."
Ineffectual Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the EU agreed Friday that the incoming Palestinian national unity government must recognize Israel's right to exist and forswear violence. At a press conference with EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, the ineffectual Abbas sought to reassure international donors by saying, "We remain committed to the two-state solution, the recognition of Israel, renouncing violence and terror" and to adhere to existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
Abbas was in Brussels after meeting earlier in the day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. He was seeking support for a resumption of direct international aid to the Palestinian government that was halted last summer after Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, won parliamentary elections.
Merkel, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency, said in Berlin that the power-sharing deal between Abbas' Fatah faction and the militantly Islamic Hamas was positive because it stopped recent fighting between the two that cost some 130 lives. "It is good that the bloodletting, especially in Gaza, has been stopped but there is a difficult stretch in front of us," Merkel said after meeting with Abbas.
In Brussels, the ineffectual Abbas said that "the most important thing is to give Palestinians and Israelis new hope ...that peace and stability is possible." In a nod to key demands of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators, the US, the UN, Russia and the European Union, he agreed that the incoming unity government must recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past peace deals.
However, a Fatah-Hamas agreement negotiated in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, says the new government must "respect" previous accords and makes no reference to recognizing Israel or renouncing violence. Solana told reporters the EU continued to insist on the Quartet demands and was awaiting the formation of a national unity government before taking any decision on resuming direct aid.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Gromgoru says, Israel must recognize that Palestinians are not a Nation but the World's most numerous terrorist organization.
Thailand's Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has ruled out giving autonomy to Muslim-dominated southern provinces wracked by a separatist insurgency, a news report said Saturday.
Surayud said in an interview late Friday with Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama, that his government is trying to resolve grievances among southern Muslims through efforts such as reforming the justice system. Asked whether autonomy might be possible for the south, Surayud was quoted as saying: "No, not at the moment."
The prime minister's comment on the issue of autonomy reflects Thailand's long-standing position, though his government has made more concessions than others in the past, such as calling for peace talks with rebels and the introduction of Islamic law in the three provinces. "I think what we are doing at the moment ... (is) to listen to their voices, place administrative power down to the district level and even at the provincial level. I think that creates a level ground for all Thais," Bernama quoted Surayud as saying.
Iran said Saturday the United States was not in a position to take military action against it and urged Washington and its allies to engage in dialogue.
"We do not see America in a position to impose another crisis on its tax payers inside America by starting another war in the region," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.
Mottaki was responding to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.
At a joint news conference with Prime Minister John Howard during a visit to Australia, Cheney said the United States was "deeply concerned" about Iran's activities, including the "aggressive" sponsoring of terrorist group Hezbollah and inflammatory statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Cheney said top U.S. officials would meet soon with European allies to decide the next step toward planned tough sanctions against Iran if it continues enriching uranium.
"But I've also made the point, and the president has made the point, that all options are on the table," he said, leaving open the possibility of military action.
The United States and several of its Western allies fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon _ charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Thursday that Iran had ignored a U.N. Security Council ultimatum to freeze its uranium enrichment program and had expanded the program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.
Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb.
The IAEA report came after Wednesday's deadline of a 60-day grace period for Iran to halt uranium enrichment. Iran has repeatedly refused to halt enrichment as a precondition to negotiations about its program.
Mottaki said negotiations, not threats, were the only way left to resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear activities and urged the U.S. and its allies to return to dialogue when they are scheduled to meet in London next week.
"The only way to reach a solution for disputes is negotiations and talks. Therefore, we want the London meeting to make a brave decision and resume talks with Iran," Mottaki told reporters during a press conference with Bahrain's visiting foreign minister.
Bill Richardson, the governor of the U.S. state of New Mexico and 2008 U.S. presidential candidate, on Saturday also urged the Bush administration to negotiate directly with Iran over its nuclear program.
"Saber-rattling is not a good way to get the Iranians to cooperate," Richardson said in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. "But it is a good way to start a new war."
A better approach, said Richardson, who served as U.N. ambassador during former U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration, "would be for the United States to engage directly with the Iranians and to lead a global diplomatic offensive to prevent them from building nuclear weapons."
Iran, he said, 'will not end their nuclear program because we threaten them and call them names."
Iran has said it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel even at the risk of sanctions. "But...but...Nanci Pelosi said she wouldn't LET the US go to war...(blub).
#2
owever, we are in a positon to rapidly END a war with Iran. Lots and lots of targets there in the civil infrastructure. No need to put a single boot on the ground.
Let the Mullahs figure out how to run a county of 75 million with 9th centruy technology, no roads, bridges, telecom, electricity, sewage, potable water... And no modern military to back them up (take out the logistics centers and C3I).
Give us 240 hours of continuous GPS guided strkes, and Iran will be the 9th century playground the Mullahs have always wanted.
#4
No? One top class US nuclear sub is capable of destroying over 200 large cities. However, all that is needed to stomp the Ayatollahs, is the destruction of the nuke sites and Qom. And the loss of the Khomeini Monument in Teheran would cause Iranians to turn on the clerics. Military professionals in Iran - and they exist - are not to happy with the Ayatollah's looting of the national treasury. The general public gets nothing from the Islamofascist state.
#5
I think we have shown considerable restraint with the mad mullahs and the smart ass lil nazi sumbitch. The trouble is they believe their own bullshit.
#9
I love the way that the same bitches that scream bloody murder at our "unilateralism" are the same ones that scream when we let the "allies" undertake to lead the diplomacy for 5 years.
What's the matter? France, Germany and the UK aren't worthy of our confidence in this area; but they are in anything else?
Richardson and all the rest are a bunch of bullshit artists.
#13
Expect another fake muslim street blowup like the Danish cartoons shortly. Iran will try again to deflect the world's attention through Muslim Victimhood.
Posted by: DanNY ||
02/24/2007 19:43 Comments ||
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#14
The Iranian Miscalculater has been crunching numbers again.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/24/2007 23:46 Comments ||
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Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
To conduct surgical air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. But to do so the Israeli military authorities in Tel Aviv need permission from the Pentagon.
A senior Israeli defence official said negotiations were now underway between the two countries for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an "air corridor" in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Teheran developing nuclear weapons.
"We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important," said the official, who asked not to be named. "The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other."
As Iran continues to defy UN demands to stop producing material which could be used to build a nuclear bomb, Israel's military establishment is moving on to a war footing, with preparations now well under way for the Jewish state to launch air strikes against Teheran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis.
The pace of military planning in Israel has accelerated markedly since the start of this year after Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, provided a stark intelligence assessment that Iran, given the current rate of progress being made on its uranium enrichment programme, could have enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead by 2009.
Last week Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, announced that he had persuaded Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad for the past six years and one of Israel's leading experts on Iran's nuclear programme, to defer his retirement until at least the end of next year.
Mr Olmert has also given overall control of the military aspects of the Iran issue to Eliezer Shkedi, the head of the Israeli Air Force and a former F-16 fighter pilot.
The international community will increase the pressure on Iran when senior officials from the five permanent of the United Nations Security Council and Germany meet at an emergency summit to be held in London on Monday.
Iran ignored a UN deadline of last Wednesday to halt uranium enrichment. Officials will discuss arms controls and whether to cut back on the $25 billion-worth of export credits which are used by European companies to trade with Iran.
A high-ranking British source said: "There is a debate within the six countries on sanctions and economic measures."
British officials insist that this "incremental" approach of tightening the pressure on Iran is starting to turn opinion within Iran. One source said: "We are on the right track. There is time for diplomacy to take effect."
#2
In a unilateral Israel scenario, it would be tricky as to whether it would be US permission or Iraqi government permission to let them overfly. Plus, if Israel was to have an unofficial landing strip for refueling in Iraq, it would make things much easier.
Then, the US could step in by refusing to permit overflights by Iran or its missiles.
There is also the possibility of immediately retaliation against both Israel and US forces in the region.
All of that would be considered by the Dungeon Masters in the Pentagon basement.
Iran accused the United States, Britain and Israel of "baseless allegations" about its nuclear ambitions, insisting that it has always considered developing and using weapons of mass destruction "inhumane, immoral and illegal."
Iran's deputy UN ambassador Mehdi Danesh Yazdi told the Security Council on Friday that his country has an "inalienable right" to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and would not "give in to the pressures emanating from groundless and unsubstantiated allegations and ulterior political motives."
Iran was a last-minute addition to the list of countries speaking at a day-long council meeting on implementation of a resolution adopted in 2004 requiring all 192 U.N. member states to pass laws to keep nuclear, chemical and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists and black marketeers.
The meeting took place a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had ignored a council ultimatum to freeze uranium enrichment - a possible pathway to nuclear arms - and had instead expanded its program.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2007 00:00 ||
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OTOH, CDI.org > claims RUSSIA'S TOPOL-M ICBMS is SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH, weirdly mysteriously but only co-incidentally similar to China's newest class of ICBMS, designs and tech of which China gave to Pakistan [tested LR nuke-capable missle]. DARE FROM PAKISTAN TO IRAN???
#1
Osama bin Laden personally has targeted Iraq-bound Prince Harry, saying he is wanted "dead or alive," says an exclusive breaking report today in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Hard for Osama to personally order that when he's dead. Farah's a couple shakers of salt below Debka. Only Farah has proof OBL is alive, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/24/2007 12:19 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Psychics were recruited by the Ministry of Defence to locate Osama Bin Laden's secret lair, it was claimed yesterday. 
Rearmed with new guns the Taliban on Friday vowed this would be the deadliest year for foreign soldiers in Afghanistan since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. This year will prove to be the bloodiest for the foreign troops. It is not just a threat, we will prove it, senior commander 
Thousands of terrified civilians have poured out of the Somali capital on Saturday after heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and gunmen overnight left at least 10 people dead. Some residents scrambled into passenger vans while most just grabbed household items and left on foot for the relative calm of the surrounding countryside where food is scarce.
(SomaliNet) The imam of the Isbaheysiga mosque, the biggest mosque in the Somalia capital has been released from the jail in Mogadishu by the allied forces of Somalia and Ethiopia, reports say on Friday. Sheik Sharif Sheik Abdirahman told the local media after his release that the he was dealt well during his arrest. I was arrested as I was trying to visit one of my colleagues who was held by the government forces in 88 police headquarter in Mogadishu and I was taken to Villa Somalia where I was held for two days, Sheik Abdirahman said. I was arrested with one of the mosque clerics, 
North Korea offered further conciliation on its nuclear weapons programme yesterday when it invited the chief UN weapons inspector to visit next month. The move is a further signal of Pyongyang's willingness to open its nuclear programme to outside perusal for the first time since it expelled UN weapons inspectors more than three years ago.
The Polish government has officially told the United States it is interested in opening negotiations on the possibility of hosting a US missile defence site.
(AKI) - ZDF, one of Germany's main public television broadcasters, said Friday it plans to commission and then post on its website sermons by Islamic clerics every Friday beginning in mid-2007. ZDF said it would select preachers with the assistance of German Muslim organisations and that it would retain final editorial responsibility over the content. The decision follows appeals by Muslims in Germany to broadcasters to grant Islam airtime similar to that given to Christians. 
FORT LEWIS, Wash. (AP) - The Army refiled charges Friday against a lieutenant who refused to serve in Iraq, about two weeks after his first court-martial was declared a mistrial. First Lt. 
Southern Iraq is relatively secure. But the British have not taken advantage of the four years of occupation to develop this bleak region. Now that they are pulling out, the Shiite Mahdi militia are standing by to take over.
Israel is negotiating with the United States for permission to fly over Iraq as part of a plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
