KHARTOUM - The number of people displaced by the conflict in Sudans western region of Darfur stands at two million, the UN humanitarian affairs agency said on Wednesday. Some estimates had put the number of internally-displaced people at close to 2.5 million, but the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the official number had topped two million for the first time.
By January 1, 2007, the number of displaced registered in IDP settlements rounded the figure of two million for the first time, up 270,000 from the same period last year, the agency said in a report. Major access restrictions, bureaucratic impediments and targeted violence have impeded the humanitarian operation to assist them, it said.
About 200,000 people from Darfur are also believed to have sought refuge in neighbouring Chad since the deadly conflict began four years ago.
As expected, the intensified insecurity and violence following the signing of the Darfur peace agreement in May 2006, is continuing to force substantial numbers of civilians to flee their villages and leave their cultivated farmlands, OCHA said. Between October and December 2006, over 160,000 people were newly displaced, half of them in South Darfur mainly due to tribal militia attacks, it added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Make that 2 mill + 2 if you include Clooney and Jolie.
#3
Well don't get in a hurry or anything.
This is a sterling example of a conflict dealt with entirely by the UN. By the time they clear out the obstructionists and steal enough of the funds to satisfy themselves, there won't be any living refugees to worry about.
Extremist groups in north Africa are being merged into an "arc of radical Islamism" under the leadership of the main Algerian Islamist organisation, France's top anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere said Wednesday.
In an interview with AFP, Bruguiere recalled that the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) recently changed its name -- under orders, it said, from Osama bin Laden -- to the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Lands of Islamic North Africa. "What does that name mean? It emphasises allegiance to Al-Qaeda and shows a clear desire to regionalise the organisation. It is unprecedented," Bruguiere said. "This is our major cause for concern because it is clear there is a direct threat to France. France is the priority target. We need to adapt, as we have in the past, to this new type of threat. "All the ingredients are there. The ex-GSPC wants to incorporate all the radical movements in north Africa -- the Libyan, Moroccan and Tunisian Islamic Combat Groups (GIC). There is an Islamist arc, which also has plans for the south -- the Sahel," he said.
Bruguiere said Sunday's suicide bombing in Casablanca, which left three people wounded, "was an operation that should have taken place somewhere else. It is the visible element in a situation that is much more serious, which does not just concern Morocco."
From the indispensible Jihad Watch: The real target had been Casablanca's police and paramilitary headquarters, restaurants and hotels
"Operationally we know that since the start of 2004 there have been links between these different movements, men moving from one country to another. All of it is being piloted by the ex-GSPC," the judge said.
Bruguiere, 63, who has led investigations into terrorism cases since 1982, is widely expected to retire this year and run for the National Assembly as a member of the ruling centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).
Good luck, Your Honor. Get someone else to start your car for you every morning, 'k?
#2
When Frog President Chirac - a Lt-General in the French occupation force in Algeria - re-visited the former colony in 2002, crowds shouted, "Visas!" I wonder if the Muslim enemy prefers to hate Westerners at close hand. We should be shouting "deportation!" every time we see uppity Muslims in the West.
Bangladeshs leading human rights group on Wednesday accused security forces of stealing their Hummers and Beemers carrying out at least 50 extrajudicial killings since the start of emergency rule two months ago. The 50 died as a result of actions taken by law enforcement agencies, the group, Odhikar, said in a statement, adding the figures were based on media reports and its own investigations. Of the 50, at least 26 persons were killed as a result of the activities of the Rapid Action Battalion - 12 by police, six by the army, five by joint forces and one by the navy, it said. Tut, tut and tut. I'm sure there must be some mistake.
Yeah, those numbers seem awfully low.
The RAB has a navy?
The interim government has made security and cleaning up graft a cornerstone of its mandate, and has yet to set a date for new democratic elections and an end to the state of emergency. Odhikar said the deaths were the result of torture in custody or so-called crossfire incidents, and called for an independent inquiry into each one. How y'gonna do that? Da witnesses is all dead!
Or vanished into the darkness by the fish packing plant, almost as if they were never even there...
Authorities say crossfire deaths occur when suspects resist arrest and officers act in self-defence, or during 2AM trips looking for arms caches escape attempts. In the past, they have not disputed the deaths but have rejected accusations that they were extrajudicial killings. Rights groups, however, suspect that notorious criminals who had previously operated in an atmosphere of impunity had been singled out and eliminated. Reeeeeeally? Boy. Who'da ever thunkit?
The Odhikar figures show that the extrajudicial killings are still continuing in Bangladesh, Odhikars acting director, Nasiruddin Elan, told AFP. In January, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said an estimated 300 people had been killed in custody in the previous six months. Many of the alleged victims died after being detained by the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite crime-fighting force created by the last BNP-led government and popular with many ordinary people. The rights group also said the number of arrests nationwide had also risen.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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they have not disputed the deaths
Yup, they're dead all right. but have rejected accusations
Don't look at us, they're the ones running in front of bullets.
#3
Rights groups, however, suspect that notorious criminals who had previously operated in an atmosphere of impunity had been singled out and eliminated.
oh...the humanity! Have a big steaming cup of STFU
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2007 12:05 Comments ||
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Oh, the humanity!
The US has banned exports of iPods, fine wines and fast cars to North Korea as part of the punishment for the country's nuclear bomb test last year. "That'll show 'em!", said angered American negotiator, Christopher Hill. "We mean business ... er, lack of business. Boy howdy, this negotiatin' thingie is trickier than it seems."
The sanctions are said to be targeted at North Korea's elite, who reportedly enjoy luxuries despite the country's desperate poverty. Fear not, their flinty hearts can deflect any blade we thrust at them.
Meanwhile the US set talks with North Korea on lifting financial penalties. The moves come amid efforts to restart multilateral talks aimed at persuading North Korea to halt nuclear activities. US envoy Christopher Hill said, after meeting his North Korean counterpart in Berlin, that he hoped the six-nation talks would resume by mid-February. The talks ended inconclusively in December, having resumed after a break of more than a year. As always, the State Department's measure of "timely progress" wildly differs from reality as we know it. While Kim may have sold missile technology to Iran, he certainly appears to have bought into how they negotiate.
The sanctions on luxury goods were "carefully considered and carefully targeted" to affect only the country's elite, said US commerce department spokesman Richard Mills. "Aaagony, aaagony!!!" [/Bugs Bunny]
"It does not prohibit exports of food and medicine and other humanitarian goods." Which have all proven quite useful in maintaining sufficient troop levels to man the artillery batteries aimed at Seoul. Go figure.
The banned list includes cognac - said to be the favourite tipple of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il - as well as jet skis, jewellery and designer clothes. No booze, bling or Burberry for the bad boys. You just know its gotta hurt real bad. Especially the jets skis. Can't get those jet skis anywhere else, No siree, Bob.
The United Nations banned the sale of luxury goods to North Korea in response to its nuclear test on 9 October, but left individual countries to define those items. No word from the French about shutting down the transcontinental Hennessey pipeline.
However, the US appeared to be moving towards compromise on another front, by announcing talks next week in Beijing on US financial restrictions, which the North has blamed for its reluctance to rejoin multi-party talks. Methinks our threat to unilaterally boycott Macau-based Banco Delta Asia has had more influence in this current round of "talks". At least upon sugar daddy China, that is.
North Koreas top nuclear negotiator was reportedly too busy Wednesday to meet the head of the UN atomic watchdog who was in Pyongyang seeking action on the Stalinist states nuclear pledges. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was unable to meet Kim Kye-Gwan because Kim was preparing for the next round of six-nation negotiations on North Koreas nuclear programmes, Kyodo News cited IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming as saying. He met another vice foreign minister but Fleming declined to comment on the progress of his visit, the Japanese news agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Twas reported in KOREA TIMES + OTHER last week. North Korea reportedlu wants the USA-West to recognize that CHINA is the owner of BANCO DELTA ASIA, the institution being investigated for intern $$$-laundering, while CHINA for its part wants the USA-West to recognize NK as a "TRIBUTARY/VASSAL STATE" of China, i.e CHINESE/CHICOMS wid unique/special status???
The head of the UNs atomic watchdog said on Wednesday his agencys first direct talks with North Korea in more than four years had been useful and the Stalinist nation remained committed to disarming. However International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei also cautioned significant hurdles remained in the long-running international campaign to end North Koreas nuclear weapons programme. The DPRK (North Korea) said they were committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But that wont happen overnight, ElBaradei told reporters in Beijing after his two-day visit to Pyongyang.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Hey, its MR. MAGOO! CHOSUN ILBO > SOUTH KOREA > NO CHANGES observed in NK nuke plant.
Technological colossus South Korea is pressing ahead with efforts to join Israel and America in the white-hot field of killer robots. Korean sources have announced that Samsung, a company better known for its consumer goods, is manufacturing the SGR-A1 sentry unit for deployment on the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea. The robots will be in place later this year, according to reports.
The SGR-A1 is a stationary system, enabling its designers to ignore the power, communications, and traction issues which tend to plague its mobile counterparts. Furthermore, unlike some other machines, it has a defined mission which it should genuinely be able to accomplish. The DMZ is constantly patrolled and guarded along its entire length, putting a colossal burden on South Korea's military manpower. With Southern birth rates projected to fall, the Koreans need to use their conscript army more efficiently, and SGR-A1s will save a lot of human sentries' man-hours.
The robot's primary usefulness lies in its camera systems and software, enabling it to pick out genuine intruders and according to Samsung, anyway ignore false alarms. Human overseers can then be alerted and decide on a response. That response can be delivered by the SGR-A1 itself in some cases. Samsung says that the unit can be fitted with a range of weapons. Naturally, the option which grabs the most attention is the one where the robot packs a machine gun, rather than a wussy non-lethal system of some sort. Reportedly, the SGR-A1's choice of shooter is the Daewoo K3, a fairly straight knockoff of the Belgian FN Minimi squad-auto weapon in service worldwide.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Song lyric > "DOMO ARIGATO, Mr. ROBOTO, DOMO ...". Alas, leaving robots alone always results in robo-sex, ala BLADERUNNER.
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2007 6:39 Comments ||
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#5
Personally, I believe overlapping nuke land mines (set off one, the entire string goes) would be a better investment. A hot, glowing crater reaching from west to east would be a pretty secure border. Kinda tough on the northern suburbs of Seoul, but it sure gets the job done.
Tighten the screws tight enough on the north, and there won't be a problem. Starving soldiers don't fight very hard. To put the icing on the cake, so to speak, build a string of fast-food joints along the DMC, and huge fans to blow the smell north. Offer any defector a free meal, and you'd have a stampede.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/15/2007 15:35 Comments ||
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The Utrecht neighbourhood of Ondiep is to be sealed off to outsiders for a second night on Wednesday, following two nights of clashes between youths and riot police, a city council spokesman confirmed.
The area has been ringed with fences which will be pulled across all roads later today, closing the area to non-residents. At least 130 people were arrested on Tuesday following a number of incidents in both in the city centre and on the fringes of Ondiep. Police said the arrests included a number of football supporters from FC Utrecht, Rotterdams Feyenoord and Amsterdams Ajax who had come to the city looking for trouble. Some 60 people were arrested in Ondiep itself for breaking the ban on public gatherings.
The trouble began on Monday following the arrest of two people when youths went on the rampage after a 54-year-old man was shot dead by police. The police officer said he had felt threatened by the man who had a knife. However, local residents told TV reporters that the man himself had called for police help after being harassed by a gang of youths.
Ondiep is a largely white, working-class neighbourhood and is the focus of the city councils urban renewal efforts. Mayor Annie Brouwer is to meet local people again this afternoon. A police spokesman told ANP that the area will probably be kept under tight control until after Thursdays march (stille tocht) in memory of the dead man.
#2
Less than useless article. Something seems to be missing. Perhaps the M word.
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2007 6:36 Comments ||
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Ed you are right. LGF has the inside scoop.
---------------
Ondiep, a working class neighbourhood in the Dutch town of Utrecht, is in turmoil. After the death last Sunday of Rinie Mulder, a 54-year old indigenous Dutchman who was shot by a police officer, non-immigrant citizens went on a rampage, burning cars, looting shops and arsoning a community centre in inverted Paris style riots. According to our sources the police officer who killed Mulder is a woman of Moroccan origin.
I'm guessing she is a Muzzy and that was the final straw for the locals.
The Ondiep residents have been complaining for months about harassment and intimidation by immigrant youths of (Muslim)Moroccan origin. The Dutch mainstream media do not go into much detail about what is going on. Most of them do not mention the ethnicity of the victim and the police officer, though the riots clearly have an ethnic nature.
Apparently Mulder intervened when Muslim youths harassed a pregnant native Dutch woman. He was able to grab the knife of one of the youths. When the police arrived Mulder was shot because he had raised the knife. Witnesses say Mulder was indicating to the police that he had called for them.
Locals claim the police has failed to protect them for years. They say the authorities are afraid of the (Muslim)immigrants and tolerate their criminal behaviour. After the death of Mulder the indigenous Dutch decided they had had enough and started riots which went on for two continuous nights. The police made 130 arrests: 60 of them are Ondiep residents. According to the mainstream media the others are mainly football hooligans from other parts of the country. Annie Brouwer-Korf, the Socialist mayor of Utrecht, has ordered Ondiep to be sealed off from the rest of town to keep non-residents out. She expressed some sympathy for the frustrated Ondiep residents. I understand that residents are sometimes upset about the nuisance around their own house and neighbourhood. That does you no good whatsoever.
German President Horst Koehler on Wednesday appealed to kidnappers who seized a German woman and her son in Iraq last month to free the two hostages. "I appeal to you to release Frau Krause and her son promptly," the president said in a video message. So much innocent blood has flowed in Iraq ... Let the hostages return to their family." The video was due to be broadcast in Germany and throughout the Middle East on Wednesday.
#1
Meanwhile, are the Germans assembling their bags full of small, unmarked US dollar bills, as they have done in the past, to free their citizens and murder Iraqi and American soldiers?
I happened to have business with the DPA reporter who used to occasionally visit B'dad the shortly after Berlin had dispensed some huge wad of cash to free an earlier hostage. She was, to my satisfaction, livid almost beyond words. She understood that Berlin's craven and incompetent action had made any German an incredibly hot target, as well as put huge resources into the hands of barbaric criminals who were killing good people every day.
Seems like even when they are mere bystanders (OK, insolent narcissistic incompetent cowardly coddled dependent back-stabbing bystanders), the Germans are a force for evil. So the Morgenthau plan wouldn't have been a solution, either ....
#1
Targeting private individuals who do anything to bring any form of unfavorable attention to Muslims is a form of Lawfare, and needs to be quashed right away. See SLAPP in wikipedia for starters:
A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP") is a form of litigation filed by a large organization or in some cases an individual plaintiff, to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism.
In this case, it's a legal maneuver to strike terror in everyday people (like us) so they will be less and less willing to do anything to resist the jihad.
California enacted Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 in 1992, a statute intended to prevent the misuse of litigation in SLAPP suits. It provides for a special motion which a defendant can file at the outset of a lawsuit to strike a complaint where the complaint arises from conduct that falls within the rights of petition or free speech...It also applies to speech in a public forum about an issue of public interest and to any other petition or speech conduct about an issue of public interest.
The filing of an anti-SLAPP motion prevents the plaintiff from amending the complaint and stays all discovery. If the special motion is denied, the filing of an appeal immediately stays the trial court proceedings as to each challenged cause of action.
I don't know which court has jurisdiction in this case, or what (if anything) can be done about it. Some input from 'Burgers with legal background needed here. Could any customer of US Airway file a court petition to quash this ridiculous maneuver NOW?
This action is significant for US infidels right now.
You have a point. However, this lawsuit looks to be a major public affairs disaster for the Jihad and thus from that standpoint, quashing may not be a good idea.
The anti-Iraq-war movement's concord with the Democrats is getting a testy edge as advocates accuse them of not moving fast enough to end the war that enters its fifth year next week, even though the party has controlled Congress for the past two months. Liberal radio talk show hosts and bloggers are lambasting the Democrats as spineless. A few members of the anti-war Code Pink group are camped outside Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Pacific Heights home in San Francisco. Activists are getting into pointed exchanges with senior Democrats such as Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the powerful House Appropriations Committee chairman whose rant about "idiot liberals'' during a hallway encounter is posted on YouTube.
"What are the Democrats waiting for? Why are they so timid? The American people are way ahead of them,'' former California Democratic Party chairman Bill Press said Wednesday on his syndicated radio talk show. "We've got to get the Democrats some backbone,'' he added, referring to a pending House spending bill that calls for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq by late 2008. The bill, called the supplemental appropriation, is expected to be voted on next week, and Democratic leaders are trying to unite their caucus behind it.
The Senate, after weeks of delay caused by Republicans' blocking maneuvers, began debate Wednesday on a Democratic resolution calling for U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn by April 1, 2008. President Bush has pledged to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk -- and with their narrow majorities in both houses, Democrats couldn't muster the two-thirds necessary to override a veto without a considerable number of defections among the president's Republican supporters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 10:23 ||
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"The Democrats have to show they're trying, and constantly have to give a civics lesson,''
And that is because most of the knuckleheads never had a civics class, or a geography class, or dodgeball at recess for that matter since they were replaced by secular progressive educators, and their unions, with "Feel Good Studies" ... which they blew off to go smoke pot with Spicoli anyway.
#4
One outcome I hope for is that the looney left finds the Dems too conservative and decides to launch their own party. It would simultaneously: put the loonies into one nice neat box (where they will tear each other apart); cut that cancer out of the Dems (hope there is something left after); and dilute the power of both.
Hey, I can dream.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/15/2007 12:53 Comments ||
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The Dems risk finding themselves caught in a pincer movement between "Out of Iraq Now" moonbats and a steadily improving security situation in Iraq (which will continue to undercut the MSM insistence that all is lost).
Hillary's calculated attempts to "triangulate" on this issue might actually pay some dividends.
#6
They don't understand that yet, but I salute them for their participation in the democratic process.
Translation: Youre a bunch of useful fools but thanks for swallowing a load of horseshit and voting for us anyway. Now go away (for now) cause were waaaaaaaay smarter then you.
WASHINGTON, March 14 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a remaining military as well as political mission in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military.
Tap dancing back toward the center...
In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton said the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.
In outlining how she would handle Iraq as commander in chief, Mrs. Clinton articulated a more nuanced position than the one she has provided at her campaign events, where she has backed the goal of bringing the troops home.
Yeah, nuanced. That's one word for it..
She said in the interview that there were remaining vital national security interests in Iraq that would require a continuing deployment of American troops.
Nut-roots to explode in 5 .. 4 .. 3 ..
The United States security would be undermined if parts of Iraq turned into a failed state that serves as a petri dish for insurgents and Al Qaeda, she said. It is right in the heart of the oil region, she said. It is directly in opposition to our interests, to the interests of regimes, to Israels interests.
"I'm part Jewish, you know.."
So it will be up to me to try to figure out how to protect those national security interests and continue to take our troops out of this urban warfare, which I think is a loser, Mrs. Clinton added. She declined to estimate the number of American troops she would keep in Iraq, saying she would draw on the advice of military officers.
Mrs. Clintons plans carry some political risk. Although she has been extremely critical of the Bush administrations handling of the war, some liberal Democrats are deeply suspicious of her intentions on Iraq, given that she voted in 2002 to authorize the use of force there and, unlike some of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, has not apologized for having done so.
They think she's a right-wing warmonger
Compared to them she is ...
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 07:37 ||
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would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence --- even if it descended into ethnic cleansing
Posted by: ed ||
03/15/2007 8:27 Comments ||
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"...she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military."
A "reduced military force" will do those things better than the current, higher level military force? What an idjit. A reduced military force simply makes for easier and increased killings and kidnappings of American soldiers.
"...the scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stay off the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence even if it descended into ethnic cleansing."
I can just here the Beeb and CNN now-"Hidden American occupying forces are allowing Iraqi Sect A to commit genocide on Iraqi Sect B. Americans are guilty of abetting genocide." She's a lawyer-it's astounding she hasn't thought this through. Or maybe she has and WANTS America to be tried and convicted in International Court so she can implement some kind of guilt-based, anti-American, crime compensation/wealth redistribution scheme.
It is right in the heart of the oil region..."
I thought that was the concern of that evil right-wing conspiracy; I didn't know Democrats were concerned about access to oil. Somebody better tell Cindy.
#4
Odd timing, no? Before Iowa caucuses and NH primaries, where the Dem electorates are pretty leftwing (and in Iowa a tradition of pacifist isolationism, to boot) The usual lefty pundits were rip her apart for this.
Shes right, we do have interestst there, and we probably will still need troops there past 2008. Only Dem Prez candidate to say that, AFAIK.
How will they do it better than the current surge? Well (Hilarys not saying this aloud, but I am) the surge itself, IF it works will lead to things being easier. Surely thats the Petraeus-Gates strategy? No one thinks we can keep the surged troop level in place through, say, 2010? We ARE having recruiting issues with the military (yeah, theyve filled their quotas, but have lowered standards to do it)
#5
So it will be up to me to try to figure out how to protect those national security interests and continue to take our troops out of this urban warfare, which I think is a loser.
Cmon vote Sen. Clinton for President. She says shes gonna figure out a way to convince terrorist organizations and insurgents to abandon asymmetric warfare. And, boy-howdy, if anybody can do it its her. Think about it. They dont stand a chance on the open battlefields. What a visionary.
#6
LH, they've lowered standards modestly -- still need a high school diploma, but some young men with past scrapes with the law are being allowed in, as opposed to a few years ago. As I recall, a felony conviction still makes you ineligible to join the military.
As to the surge, that's the plan, and I don't think we'll have 130,000 troops in Iraq in 2010 -- either our plan has worked or it's become evident that the Iraqis have thrown their opportunity away, and we're on to other things.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2007 10:21 Comments ||
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Iraq is too much of a victory. She wants to leave Americans there so there will be someone to defeat.
She'll start arming the insurgents, then disarm the soldiers left behind, then order them to pass through ambush zones, so more and more get killed.
Maybe she'll send the soldiers heroin and other drugs, so they will all be junkies, like the left thinks all Vietnam veterans were.
No more fresh uniforms. They have to wear filthy t-shirts. And lots of "no-fire zones" for the insurgents to hide in.
But the US must lose, and be humiliated, and badly. That is her mission, and that is her mandate, because the people want her to lose, so that evil America will be taken down a whole bunch of pegs and the world will be returned to balance, where evil again holds sway with the good.
#8
Hilly's taking a plan from the Kerry playbook - "I'll do it better than Bush"
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 10:36 Comments ||
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well youre hardly gonna get a Dem to say "i cant do it better than Bush" now are you? Even Bush can do it better than Bush - Bush-Gates-Petraeus apparently doing it better than Bush-Rummy-Casey.
Among the Dems the struggle will be between "we can do it better" and "it cant be done"
#12
From the Huffpost: Senator Clinton, changing which parts of Iraq we focus our military's attention is not the same as ending the war. It's not even part of the same conversation.
Clinton told Healy and Gordon: "Trying to withdraw is not something you snap your fingers and tell people, do it tomorrow." Maybe, but that's what you said you would do if elected president. You said, "If we in Congress don't end this war before January of 2009, as president I will."
Clinton's is not a liberal, Democratic vision for ending the war in Iraq nor is it a plausible flushing out of the same ideas that Clinton presented at the DNC winter meeting. Matt Stoller described Clinton's position well, "It's a genuinely and deeply conservative foreign policy strategy, involving indefinitely keeping US troops in Iraq for unspecified national security interests while calling the war over." What goes unstated is how monumentally unacceptable Clinton's Iraq plan is for the Democratic Party and America.
Clinton came to the DNC and spoke with the Democratic base. She twice asserted that a Hillary Clinton presidency would mean no more war in Iraq. Yet this is clearly not the position that she holds; her real position is to continue America's presence in Iraq for the indefinite future that starts in January 2009. Clinton's lies at the DNC stem directly from her inability to wrap her mind around the idea of implementing the only sound course for Iraq: ending the war now and bringing our troops home.
That was part of the post, now the comments:
"The Goldwater girle is a lair. She told us in Selma Ala she was DR. MLK's admire in 7963, then she was the Goldwater campaign supporter to block civil right voting in 1964. I never seen before who says anything from a presidential candidate before. I am a democrat but I will vote Rep instead of Hillary"
If elected she would do just as Bush has; whatever Israel tells her to do.
Democratic Leadership Council = part of the plutocratic branch of the "Democratic party"
The DLC are war cartelists
KERRY
CLINTON
LIEBERMAN
EDWARDS
are all DLC members who voted for the war
Other "Democratic" Presidential candidates who voted for the war:
BIDEN
DODD
We're sick of DLC candidates for President
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 11:38 Comments ||
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#13
She'll start arming the insurgents, then disarm the soldiers left behind, then order them to pass through ambush zones, so more and more get killed.
If that starts to happen, I wouldn't give her very long odds on completing her first term. That is just the sort of thing that could kick off the internal revolt against the Socialist A-Holes.
#14
I suspect the need for US troops in Iraq will extend far beyond 2008, as Iraqi oil reserves are developed & as oil production in the rest of the middle East collapses. Iraq will be vulnerable to pressure, not only from jihadis, but from Russia & Red China, until Iraq's oil resources no longer matter to the rest of the world. If this is true, then the US interest in a stable & free Iraq is far more compelling than whatever outmoded rationale keeps our ground forces in western Europe & in South Korea. Curious that the MSM and the US political establishment can't bear to discuss this, must be something to do with the slogan "no blood for oil."
Why this, why now? It looks so politically foolish no?
Possibilities
1. It IS a political gambit. Hilary can count. While not too many Dem voters actively support the war anymore, the ones who are really motivated in their antiwar views, are what, 40% of the Dem voters? Say theyre 50%? Theyre going to divide up among St Obama, Edwards, Clark, Richardson, maybe Kucinich or Sharpton, and Gore if he runs. (And they wouldnt vote for her anyway) That leaves enough votes for her to win against a divided left (assuming Biden doesnt split the centrists with her - a pretty good assumption, (sorry Joe)) By mid-primary season the pack should consolidate, but by that time she probably hopes to have an insurmountable lead. Then having been hawkish early on, shes in a better position for the general election
2. She is really a woman of her convictions, and she doesnt care that this will hurt her politically, shes a patriot, she is who she is and will win on her terms or not at all - shes the John McCain of the Democratic party
3. Having been over to Iraq a few times, and, more importantly having contacts with Generals and intell types who were friendly to her husbands admin, she knows stuff that other Dems dont. She may have info that the surge has a good chance of working, and shes placing her bets on that, and the likely change in public opinion when that happens (IE shes the Democrats' John McCain)
#16
would no longer try to protect Iraqis from sectarian violence even if it descended into ethnic cleansing
*cough* Rwanda *cough*
she learned from the master...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2007 12:06 Comments ||
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#17
RE: #9 LH - I guess I should have been more clear. The "Kerry plan" I was alluding to was the constant reference to a plan to do it better than Bush, without the risk of exposing what were the contents of the plan.
I will give you that Hilly has taken a brave step away from the far-left in her party, sort of saying that retreat is not a plan.
I have ordered a case of microwave popcorn for the upcoming fallout over the next several months!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 12:47 Comments ||
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#18
Hillary is just the first of the Dem prez wannabes to perform the furious backpedalling / hedging necessary in order to innoculate themselves against the possibility of American SUCCESS in Iraq.
#19
2. She is really a woman of her convictions, and she doesnt care that this will hurt her politically, shes a patriot, she is who she is and will win on her terms or not at all
Is it too late to vote for Understated Snark of the Week?
#20
So HILLARY, still the No.1 contender for the Dems for 3008 despite Obama, has just destroyed or demolished the Dems PR "talking point" of stopping Dubya-WOT in ME by pulling out = redeploying the troops. The Ultra/Far Left will now have 'justified" fodder agz DemLeft
"centrists", while many Leftist-Alternatists will flock to the GOP-Right for 2008. BUT THEN THE DEMS ALREADY KNOW THIS > i.e. turning the GOP-Right into Leftist Lite..
Radical youth call same as last time. Just not posted on a random right wing website.
Washington, DC: Radical youth Call for March 17th
Tuesday, March 13 2007 @ 07:55 AM PST
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 54
Anti-War ActivismCalling all anti-authoritarians, Anarchists and like minded people for a radical youth march against the war in Iraq and U.S imperialism.
Radical youth Call for March 17th
Calling all anti-authoritarians, Anarchists and like minded people for a radical youth march against the war in Iraq and U.S imperialism.
Goals and ideas will be discussed at eleven pm please come with Ideas and tactics in mind and abilities to produce these ideas and tactics. Our march will begin at twelve!
This call has been put out by the F.T.W Action Committee and other radically minded folks.
Please, meet up at the Foggy Bottom metro (11am) and stand against war, fascism and racism.
Foggy Bottom Metro
Washington,D.C., DC
For out of area anarchists please visit one of these sites for a place to stay:
www.artistshelpingchildren.org/shelters.html -- a list of homeless shelter in virginia
www.artistshelpingchildren.org/shelters.html -- a list of homeless shelter maryland
www.artistshelpingchildren.org/shelters.html -- a list of homeless shelter in DC
For transportation to DC please visit one of these websites:
washingtondeluxe.com/ -- transportation to DC from New York. 35 dollars round trips.
www.chinatown-bus.com/ -- transportation to DC from else where 35 dollars round trips.
For metro times www.wmata.com/
and please use google map so you can know the area better
Looks like there may be some fun times in DC on St. Paddy's Day, I'll be there for the festivities with a contingent from NY for the Gathering of Eagles. Any RBers planning to attend?
It's classic -- the out-of-town anarchists can't even get their acts together enough to stay at a motel, they have to go to a homeless shelter. Heh.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Now I want "Out-of-Area Anarchist" on my business card.
#2
Okay, I'll bite > Title "Artist(s)? helping children" wants [adult?]"Anarchists" andor
"Activists" to not only mix/stay wid minor chilluns but take up scarce space at "homeless shelters" which by definition are shelters for the homeless = needy espec children/chilluns??? THEY CAN AFFORD $35.00 BUT NOT A CHEAP ECON MOTEL???
#5
This reminds me of my early military training, in the late 70's. A training movie on the subject of "Riot Control". The scene was an urban environment in Asia. Folks chanting, throwing rocks, molotov cocktails and the like.
An infantry platoon (Brit, from memory) forms a line in front of them. The Liuetentant, in a parade ground voice, shouts "Number three riflemen, Man in red shirt, fire". So, the number three rifleman raises his SLR, and blows the "man in red shirt" out of his socks. Rioting folks withdraw in disarray.
#7
I was thinking about making a St. Patrick's Day Metro trip to DC, just to see what's happening.
Where could the Rantburgers meet? At the Foggy Bottom Metro station at 11 am?
Nah. I want to be on the other side of the police line from those wackos.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 6:35 Comments ||
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#8
What: Gathering of Eagles
When: March 17th, 2007
0700-1600 (7 AM to 4 PM)
Where: The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall, Washington D.C.
Why: To stand silent guard over our nation's memorials, in honor of our fallen, and in solidarity with our armed forces in harm's way today. Read our mission statement.
So maybe the Wall would be a good place for RB'ers to meet? What time, DanNY?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 6:41 Comments ||
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#9
In the comments section at the link: Calling all Artists, Puppetistas, Noisemakers, Shakers and Movers:::...**We need a BODY COUNT of who can committ to helping us with PUPPETS!!
Ah, giant puppets. Success is guaranteed. The Pentagon just has to end the war now.
#11
Maybe I should start a "League of Conformity" to travel to the D.C. area and bust some lawless heads.
I think my boys could really win them over in a short period of time.
My crew will be arriving at the Arlington Cemetery Metro Station about 7:30 am. We will proceed from there over the bridge and to the Wall. I expect we will be there about 8-8:30 or so.
If you see a yellow 2'x3' Gadsden Flag "Don't Tread on Me" that will be us. Any fellow 'burgers planning to attend are welcome to stop by and say hello.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/15/2007 9:47 Comments ||
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#14
Calling all looney tune reinforcements? Interesting.
They expecting a showdown maybe?
#15
Just noticed that in the comments a group of SDSers are planning to meet at the Lincoln Memorial. Since that is on our route we may just deploy there to provide protection for ol' Abe. I'll have to discuss this with others.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/15/2007 9:56 Comments ||
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#16
We have a new pleece chief in DC, a single mom. Our former pleece chief got a lot of criticism for having too heavy a boot on the neck of the protestors, and I'm wondering if this protest is going to get rowdy.
#18
I'd be right honored to meet you Sea. Just look for that yellow flag and ask for Dan.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/15/2007 10:29 Comments ||
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#19
I gotta makeit a point to get down there, NOW! See ya, Sea!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 10:42 Comments ||
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#20
The Gathering of Eagles site recommends getting off the metro at the Farragut West stop, rather than Foggy Bottom, to avoid bumping into the moonbats.
I plan to be there.
#21
This seems to be an abuse of the homeless shelters. Those who send money to homeless shelters do not do so to provide free accomodations to travelers too cheap to pony up for a hotel room. I wonder how many true homeless people will have to sleep in the gutter so that these cheapskates can have a free bed for their big party.
#24
I'm planning on being there. I will will look for you all, Sea and Dan at the flag. Probably will have a camo backpack on for my lunch, water and camera. Plan on being there awhile. To bad it won't be a little warmer so I take some pics of naked freaks. It ought to be real show.
The US lawyer representing the two Bahrainis held at Guantanamo prison yesterday said that he was deeply concerned about the effects of "incredibly harmful effects of solitary confinement" on his clients.
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan expressed his worries after he was told about the detention conditions of Eisa Al Murbati who was moved last December to Camp 6, the newest and "cruellest" facility at Guantanamo. "Eisa's cell in Camp 6 has solid walls. There is no window ... and ... no natural light in the cell. There is a window in the door of the cell but it is difficult to see through and, at times, is covered," the lawyer said in a statement conveyed to Gulf News by rights activist Nabeel Rajab. "According to Eisa, Camp 6 is much more difficult to deal with than the typical block in Camp Delta where it was possible to see other detainees through metal mesh walls. In fact, Camp 6 is more isolating even than the isolation blocks ... in Camp Delta," Colangelo-Bryan said.
According to the Red Cross, detainees used to spend 18 hours a day in communal areas before deaths of detainees changed the rule. A prisoner in the United States would only be held in Camp 6 conditions if he is convicted of a serious crime and also a separate finding that the prisoner was too dangerous to be held with others, the lawyer said. "Eisa has not been convicted of any crime and no individualised finding has been made that he needs to be held in Camp 6," Colangelo-Bryan said.
This article starring:
EISA AL MURBATI
al-Qaeda
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan
rights activist Nabeel Rajab
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
The pine boxes buried 6 feet under, in which the terrorist victims are confined, are cruel to the victims and those that loved the victims. If the Bahraini would release the victims from death and confinement in coffins, then they might get better rooms.
Just in case anyone thinks terrorism didn't exist before 9/11 ...
MUMBAI - An anti-terror court will next month sentence the 100 people convicted of plotting a day of bombings in 1993 that left 257 people dead in Indias worst terrorist attacks, lawyers said on Wednesday.
The court delivered its verdicts on the 123 accused in the Mumbai bombings last December after a decade of trials.
Judge P.D. Kode will commence the sentencing on April 19, chief prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told AFP in Indias financial hub. We expect the process to be complete in two days.
One of the most high-profile convicts is Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt, who is out on bail. The 47-year-old Dutt was found guilty last November of illegal weapons possession but cleared of a more serious charge of conspiracy in the deadly bombings that included an attack on the citys stock exchange. The burly actor, who was freed on bail in 1995 after serving 18 months in jail, has insisted he was only armed to protect his family.
"We wuz afraid of a burglary."
The Black Friday attacks were allegedly organised by Mumbais Muslim-dominated underworld in revenge for deadly Hindu-Muslim religious clashes a few months earlier. The alleged masterminds of the blasts, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, are on the run. Indian investigators say they were aided by Pakistans intelligence service, but Islamabad has denied any link.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Judge Kode is hearing arguments filed by 69 of the convicts who want the terrorism charges against them dropped.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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sentence the 100 people convicted of plotting a day of bombings in 1993
The wheels of Justice grind slowly.. but at least they are grinding.
"Creeping" doesn't quite describe it. I'd go with "galloping," I think.
Suicide bombers operating against US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and against targets in Pakistan have been claimed to be operating not far from Peshawar. A report published by the New York Times on Wednesday from correspondent Carlotta Gall, quotes diplomats and concerned residents as viewing the bombings as proof of a spreading Talibanisation. In Peshawar and other parts of NWFP, which abuts the tribal areas, residents say English-language schools have received threats, schoolgirls have been warned to veil themselves, music is being banned and men are told not to shave their beards.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Okey dokey, but what are CREEPING SOCIALISTS/COMMIES/GOV-IES in America = Amerika, the mighty USSA = weak anti-sovereign SSR/USR, etc. gonna do about it?
UNITED NATIONS - A proposed new package of sanctions against Iran for enriching uranium appeared headed to the U.N. Security Council after ambassadors for six world powers resolved remaining differences. The six-nation show of unity would be unlikely to meet strong opposition from the other 10 members on the council, which must approve the measures. A vote was expected in the days to come.
"We have an agreement in principle based on some additional changes that were introduced and presented today by some delegations," acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said Wednesday. He said the new elements still needed to be approved by government officials in the five countries that hold permanent council seats the U.S., Russia, China, France and Britain.
But he and other envoys expressed confidence the package would be presented to the council on Thursday with support from those governments and the sixth nation involved in the negotiations, Germany. "Our hope is now that we've overcome a particular hurdle ... and the council will have the text before it by tomorrow morning," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry.
The modest package includes an embargo on Iranian arms exports and an asset freeze on more individuals and companies associated with Tehran's nuclear and missile programs, council diplomats said.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said while there was agreement on the proposals "by and large," some of the council members still want to consult with their governments on the details. "I assume as they double-check, they will get a positive response from the capitals, and they expect that this is going to be the case, too," he said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned the West that it would deepen the rift with his country by imposing more U.N. sanctions. "You are wrong if you think you can sit and draft ... something in order to isolate the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to several thousand people in the Iranian city of Yazd. "Not only are you unable to hurt Iran, but you would further isolate yourselves and make yourselves more hated," he added.
The new resolution also would call on all U.N. member states to exercise "vigilance and restraint" on arms imports and on the entry or transit through their territory of Iranians subject to the asset freeze, a council diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the text has not been circulated. It would call on governments to make no new commitments "of grants, financial assistance, or concessional loans to the government of Iran," the diplomat said.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said he wasn't happy with the list of additional individuals and entities that would be subject to sanctions, but he added: "I think one has to reach agreement, so there has to be a package."
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2007 07:15 ||
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European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana on Wednesday described his talks with President Bashar al-Assad as good and frank, saying "talks concentrated on regional issues".
"The EU considers Syria as very important country in the Euro-Med group and in the Arab world," Mr. Solana, concluding his visit to Syria, added during a press conference with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem at Damascus International Airport. "During my tour in Beirut, Riyadh and Damascus, I felt an Arab consensus on a number of issues regarding peace process and Lebanon in addition to Iraq," Solana said, expressing hope that "Syria offers support to the initiatives concerning these issues". He underlined the importance of the peace process to be comprehensive, noting that the EU works on the restoration of the occupied territories to Syria through activating this process on all tracks.
Mr. Solana referred to the importance of efforts Syria would exert in achieving stability in Iraq, adding that the latest conference held in Baghdad came in this context. He stressed the EU's support to the Arab peace initiative since it was launched in Beirut 2002, expressing hope the initiative will be part of the comprehensive solution in the region.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem underlined that Mr. Solana's talks with President al-Assad, vice-President and with him were fruitful and constructive, renewing Syria's commitment to implement UN resolution 1701 and the necessity for UNIFEL forces to fulfill their duties in South Lebanon in a best manner. "We express Syria's appreciation of the role played by Mr. Solana in solving problems of the region . We rely on the EU role to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region, praising the importance of this European neighbor through the Mediterranean and the Arab world," Foreign Minister said. "There are a number of agreement and disagreement points, but it is a beginning and we hope bilateral dialogue is going to continue in future to reach security and stability in the region," Mr. Moallem added. Commenting on what has been circulated in some Lebanese circles on Syria's relation to 'Fatah al-Islam', Foreign Minister reiterated that Syria strongly condemns any terrorist act that targets security and stability of Lebanon and the life of any Lebanese citizen.
Minister Moallem denied any relation to allegations of weapons' smuggling from Syria to Lebanon. Concerning international court about Hariri assassination, the Minister said "we don't say that we stand against the court of the international feature. Anyway, we are waiting for the results of investigation with which we are fully cooperating." On Syria's provisions to open dialogue with the US, Minister Moallem clarified that what has been done in Baghdad was a beginning, saying "we hope the Americans see that solution in Iraq is not military, but it should be political." "Syria has no provisions to continue dialogue with Washington, but Syria only demands adherence to the rules of dialogue," Minister Moallem concluded.
Tikrit: The bodies of Saddam Hussain's once-feared sons Uday and Qusay have been disinterred and reburied outside the hall where their father was buried after he was hanged in December, relatives said yesterday. In the days after he was hanged, supporters of Saddam made a shrine of his burial site in a hall attached to a mosque in Awja, the village north of Baghdad where he was born, flocking to pay their respects at the flag-draped marble tomb.
Hope we're watching this site
Saddam's two sons Uday and Qusay, killed by US troops in 2003, had been buried in a family plot in Awja's cemetery.
Ali Al Nida, head of the Albu Nasir tribe, said they were moved on Tuesday to a garden outside Saddam's burial hall and reburied beside the tombs of their uncle Barzan Erahim Al Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, and another former Saddam aide. "It happened yesterday. We took the bodies from Awja cemetery and we put them close to the graves of Awad Al Bander and Barzan," Al Nida said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 08:07 ||
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This story starring: Three decomposing stiffs...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/15/2007 9:08 Comments ||
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#2
Allowing this is exactly as stupid as allowing a shrine to Hitler after the War. This is exactly the sort of stupidity that has lost President Bush the confidence of the Jacksonians or indeed of most people who are paying attention. Beyond the stupidity of allowing this shrine there is the pesky problem that Hussein and his spawn were evil and our inaction in this matter effectively condones their legacy.
(KUNA) -- US forces were keeping tracking Muqtada Al-Sadr and believed he was in Iran, a US general said on Wednesday, yet he declined to state whether the Shiite cleric was a wanted man. As for the previous 24 hours, Sadr was not in Iraq, as all indications affirm that he was still in Iran, Major General William Caldwell, chief spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said today. Caldwell said recent US and Iraqi military operations on the Mahdi stronghold of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad were enjoying good cooperation from the local mayor and residents.
At the same news conference, US Embassy Charge d'Affaires Daniel Speckhard was also hesitant to interpret Sadr's status. Asked about US State Department policy in the light of Iraqi government comments Sadr was not wanted, Speckhard said Iraqis were leading the way in all political negotiations.
Washington was pleased with some of the statements in recent months about the desire for that organization to no longer be a militia, which the leadership said that they called for constructive engagement, an end to military or militant roles for those that were in the organization, Speckhard added.
Members of Sadr's political group had earlier denied reports by the Pentagon that he left Iraq before Iraqi and US-led coalition forces began the new security plan in Baghdad last month. The plan was codenamed "law enforcement". Washington is trying to create a delicate balance between cracking down on Mahdi militants responsible for sectarian killings and attacks on US forces, while backing Premier Maliki's efforts at reconciliation and reintegrating militias into the political process.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Maybe he can get onboard one of those Iranian transport planes - you know the ones that must have explosives controlled by US microchips built into their doors and sidewalls...
(from a CtC w/George Noory or Art Bell show a week or so back - some loonie coupla' moonbats were claiming that 757s/767s had explosives built into not just the explosive bolts in the doors (to allow emergency entrance/exit of the planes), but also into the bukheads/sidewalls for, obviously, conspiratorial reasons (along with (gasp!) military issue micro-gyrochips (whatever those are) to allow remote control of the aircraft); yeah, this same couple also claimed that 9/11 was an inside job).
#4
BatBoy and the Hildebeast have, reportedly, been genetically integrated/entwined to the extent that neither is morphologically or genetically distinguishable from the other.
In addition, it is reported that the Hildebeasts' screech has taken on qualities that raise it above the human capability to detect in decibels and into the realms of bat-like sonar detection.
It is, unfortunately, no less irritating to normal human ears.
Which pretty much sums up our current lack of progress in quashing terrorism.
... military issue micro-gyrochips ...
They are most likely referring to solid state laser gyroscopes. Optical gyroscopes were first postulated by French physicist G. Sagnac in the early 1900s. However, it was not until the advent of commercially feasible lasers in the 1960s that non-mechanical gyroscopes became practicable.
Some of my earliest work in IC fabrication involved failure analysis of control and measurement circuits used in prototype models of these devices. They were partly responsible for Americas crucial military superiority over Soviet forces in terms of both ballistic and cruise missile guidance plus such advanced kinetic weapon applications as the SDIs brilliant pebbles. Ultra accurate compact mechanical gyroscopes of that era had very short lifetimes due to their reliance upon extremely high rotational speeds needed to resolve and correct minute variations in vehicle course. Periodic ICBM readiness tests required spin up of these delicate instruments and contributed to bearing wear that resulting in eventual deterioration and replacement of these units. Shifting to solid state alternatives meant greater accuracy with less servicing plus the added advantage of exceptionally high resolution and compact reliable low weight guidance packages for our new generation of cruise missiles.
The original versions used a densely wound spool of low-diameter hair-fine optical cable. A spool could hold on the order of one kilometer's worth of fiber. Both ends of the spools coil were brought forward, parallel to each other, then joined side-by-side and polished to an identical plane of flatness. Using a half-silvered beam splitter, a single pulse of laser light would then be injected into both ends of this gigantic loop. While there are several methods of achieving motion-induced signals from such an arrangement (e.g., Kerr or Brillouin Effect), the easiest to understand is Doppler shift as used in ordinary radar. Depending upon the orthogonal plane of motion the coil of optical fiber is aligned with, motion in that plane will affect the phase of re-arriving pulses. The pulse traveling in the direction of motion will be subjected to blue shift, the other to red shift. This will create a measurable differential in arrival times back at the polished fiber interface. This timing differential directly corresponds to the vehicles motion.
Subsequent generations of this design now use increasingly sensitive detectors and ultra-stable diode lasers in a simple triangular mirror configuration (see linked article), to achieve the same results with improved accuracy. Simple interferometry has replaced the Doppler methods and fiber spools with further increases in resolution.
Its fairly safe to say that the loons in question have made extremely inductive leaps between aviation gyros, auto-gyros, autopilots and laser gyros to arrive at their ill conceived notions. Fortunately, all of this can be cured by a few bursts of high intensity laser light. In which direction, Ill let you guess.
In the 24-line-up, Hamas gets 9 cabinet posts, Fatah six. The other portfolios are shared out among independents and smaller factions. DEBKAfile notes: One putative independent, the designated foreign minister Ziyad Amar, is a known Hamas adherent. Pro-American Salam Fayed is retained as finance minister as bait to draw US recognition and international assistance.
Israel has announced it will boycott all the new ministers, including the new Fatah office-holders. The Olmert government faults Mahmoud Abbas for accepting a power-sharing accord dominated by Hamas, whose platform continues to deny Israel recognition and refuses to terminate violence. Abbas also reneged on his promise to get the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit released before forming a unity administration.
DEBKAfile reports that Abbas and Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh (who retains the post) worked against the stopwatch to get their Saudi-brokered unity act together in time for the Riyadh Arab summit on March 28.
The fragility of their deal was apparent on the day of its signing: Wednesday, March 14, internecine gunfights were sparked by the assassination of Hamas Gaza commander Ala Haddad in a hail of bullets by the Muhammad Dahlans Fatah death squads. Whereas Haddad had been targeted for months by Fatah, now the chief of those death squads, a professional terminator called Samir Madhoun, became the quarry of Hamas special executive arm. Nine people were injured, including three bystanders, in the ensuing shoot-outs. The air rang with gunfire as Abbas and Haniyeh shook hands in Gaza City.
The cynical performance proceeded with Abbas pledging to deliver European recognition and aid funds to the new government, and Haniyeh vowing to end Palestinian government reliance on Iran - if Abbas delivered. Both promises were hollow, as they both knew, just as the framework they contrived changes very little. The kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston and the Israeli soldier remain in the hands of a band of captors that includes al Qaeda-Gaza, Hamas continues to take delivery of missiles and other war materiel and build its fortified bunkers.
If anything, Abbas lost points; any agreements or deals he may conclude with Israel will be subject to ratification by the Palestinian national assembly which has a Hamas majority. But because the unity deal is in the bag, the Palestinians will be represented at the Arab summit this month by a Hamas prime minister.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 10:39 ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Egypt on March 25 to meet with the so-called Arab Quartet on Middle East peace, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Tuesday. Mrs Rice will arrive in Egypt on March 25 and will participate in a day-long meeting of the Arab Quartert in the city of Aswan, he told journalists. The Arab Quartet groups Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Abul Gheit said Rice would first travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories for meetings with officials there, and would do so afterwards to pursue efforts to relaunch the peace process between the two sides. He said Rice would return to Egypt at an unspecified date in April for a joint meeting of the Arab Quartet and the international Quartet, consisting of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States. The EU commissioner for foreign relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, announced last week that there would be a meeting of the Quartet in Cairo at the end of March or the beginning of April. Abul Gheit also said the new UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, would visit Egypt on March 23 and 24 for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the peace process and to discuss his own vision as head of the world organisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Words fail. Even as instinctive and tough a leader as Dubya couldn't call off the farce that is/has been MidEast "peace" negotiations - and that's despite his notable high-point back when he told the Paleostinians to eff off unless/until they were finally serious.
If we're wasting effort on this preposterous charade, why not revive the ABM Treaty, ratify and comply with Kyoto, and sign the land-mine treaty while we're at it? Oh to be able to say that at an NSC meeting ....
Hope Condi's advance folks have made sure the Egyptian "press" won't be running any incredibly crude racist caricatures of her during her visit. Not that, if it did, (1) any media would ask about it, or (2) the US would raise the slightest objection (3) the professional race-baiters in the US (black caucus, NAACP, most of the Dem party, assorted cretinous actors and academics) would profess their outrage.
#2
CHINESE MIL FORUM > Posters are describing how g how IRAN desires to emplace an indigens MISSLE SUB(S) IN THE CASPIAN SEA, to enure
deterrence agz international agressors [read - USA-ALLIES/NATO, at least for now]. It is also reported that Iran, as is common practice, is is likely to dev "hybrid" or dual-capable
versions [read > conventional-nuclear]
of its new AD weapons procured from Russia.
#3
So far, Bush resisted the temptation to pay for Arab "assistance" with the blood of Israel---the way his dada did in 1991. Lets see how long it lasts.
(Prensa Latina) The Palestine Unity Government is ready to be presented to the Legislative Council (Parliament) for approval, sources of the Islamic Resistance (Hamas) and Al Fatah confirmed on Wednesday. Both political organizations, which are the House majority, reached an agreement in relation to ministerial appointments, especially that of the Interior. President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina and Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the outgoing executive, asserted that the coalition government will announce its composition tomorrow.
Besides Hamas and Al Fatah representatives, the new government is composed of figures of political groups with fewer members in the Parliament and several independent politicians. However, the Islamic Jihad (Muslim holy war) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine refuse to participate in the new administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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When will the world realize that the concepts: Palestinian, and Unity, and Government; simply do not go together?
A Muslim rebel leader accused the Thai government on Thursday of sabotaging peace moves in the restive south of the country, stoking popular anger and fuelling more violence.
Abu Najhan, a leader of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), said Thailand had misrepresented the position of Muslim rebel groups after they had held a series of recent peace talks in neighbouring Malaysia. The peace drive, brokered by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and backed by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, called for an amnesty in exchange for ceasefire.
"All of us signed the peace proposals but the Thai authorities are telling the people that we have surrendered. This has angered southern Muslims," Najhan told Reuters in a telephone interview, speaking from a secret hideout. "The Muslims are upset with us. We have been sabotaged."
But a Thai general involved in the talks said the dialogue had been suspended after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup last September. "The unofficial peace plan, which former Prime Minister Mahathir was kindly helping, has come to a halt after the new government preferred to work with Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi," General Vaipot Srinual told Reuters.
Until August last year, former prime minister Mahathir had been meeting Muslim leaders from the Thai south about possible conditions for striking a peace deal with Thailand. Mahathir has spoken of the potential for a form of autonomy for the south.
The groups represented in the Mahathir peace talks were all separatist guerrilla groups active in the 1970s and 1980s in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago. The groups included Bersatu, an umbrella group, PULO, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolutionary Front in Malay, and the Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani, or Pattani Islamic Mujahideen Movement.
"There must be give and take," Mahathir's son, Mukhriz Mahathir, told Reuters on Thursday. He described the current security situation in the Thai provinces as alarming. "We were hoping the Thai government would engage the southerners to some discussions, by addressing the real concern."
PULO's Najhan denied the rebels were behind the attacks on civilians: "Our fighters would not do that, we won't attack civilians. Our real enemy is the Thai military."
The Peace Processor whirrs merrily along in the Philippines, with the same truculent-aggresive tactics used by the Paleos, with less world media attention. This particular article a few days old, but we'll prolly be running a similar story ev'ry 10-12 weeks for the rest of time. Sigh.
Amnesty International said Tuesday that there were armed groups roaming camps for displaced people in the eastern Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa, and kidnapping residents. Citing its own sources, which it did not identify, Amnesty said that some of the groups were part of the Karuna faction - a breakaway rebel group - and their presence in the camps were tolerated by Sri Lankan authorities because of the groups help in the military campaign against Tamil Tiger rebels.
The London-based human rights groups warning came as government security forces continued their offensive into a Tiger stronghold that extends from Batticaloa to the neighbouring Ampara district. There are about 120,000 refugees in the Batticaloa district, with more than 40,000 of those having fled their homes in recent days following shelling between Tiger rebels and government forces. We are hearing reports of armed men, wearing the uniforms of the Karuna faction, roaming the camps and even distributing relief goods, said Purna Sen, the director of Amnestys Asia-Pacific programme, in a statement. There have also been reports of armed men abducting young people from the camps, said the statement citing unidentified individuals known to Amnesty International. The government has a responsibility to ensure that camps are safe and civilian in nature - it is unacceptable for men with guns to be wandering around as if theyre in control. Amnesty also called on the government to prepare for food shortages in the camps as the conflict in the region continues
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday dismissed any new U.N. sanctions resolution as "a torn piece of paper" that would not stop Tehran's nuclear work, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Issuing such torn pieces of paper ... will not have an impact on Iranian nation's will (to obtain nuclear technology)," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a rally in central Iran.
U.S., British, French, German, Russian and Chinese diplomats at the United Nations have reached a tentative deal on imposing fresh sanctions on Iran and hope to introduce the measure at the Security Council on Thursday, providing their governments agree. An earlier sanctions resolution passed by the Security Council in December was derided by Ahmadinejad in similar terms.
Senior Iranian leaders, including the country's most powerful figure Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have all ruled out halting uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for use either in nuclear bombs or civilian power stations.But many moderate politicians have blamed Ahmadinejad's defiant rhetoric for pushing Iran toward international isolation and want a less confrontational approach. Two prominent Iranian reform parties have urged the government to suspend enrichment to preserve what they call the national interest, a reference to avoiding isolation that could hurt the economy. The new U.N. resolution, which may be adopted next week, would impose extra penalties on Iran for refusing to halt enrichment.
"What is the aim of issuing such resolutions? Today we are mastering the nuclear fuel cycle completely," Ahmadinejad said. "If all of you (Westerners) get together and call your ancestors from hell as well, you will not be able to stop the Iranian nation."
"Paging General Curtis LeMay! Please pick up the red courtesy phone"
The West fears Iran's atomic work is aimed at building atomic weapons. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, denies it.
Ahmadinejad said imposing sanctions on Iran would be counter-productive. "You sanctioned us in the past but we obtained the nuclear technology. Impose economic sanctions on us today and see what would be our next step," Ahmadinejad said. He said Western powers were wrong to suppose Iran would give up its nuclear program under political pressure, adding that the Security Council had "no legitimacy." "All the Iranian nation insists on this right and will not retreat one iota," Ahmadinejad said.
Washington says it would prefer a diplomatic solution to the crisis but does not rule out military options. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani warned on Wednesday that Iran would respond militarily if Iran was attacked over its nuclear program.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2007 07:44 ||
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#1
Poison dwarf strikes again!!!!
The people of Iran must grimace everytime he opens his mouth!!!
(KUNA) -- Syria on Wednesday denied Lebanese allegations that a Palestinian splinter group, Fatah Al-Islam, had detonated bombs in two passenger buses in Lebanon last month by instigation from Syria. Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel-Majid, who was asked to comment on the Lebanese allegations regarding the Palestinian group, denied the allegations arguing that the group (Fatah Al-Islam) was linked to Al-Qaeda and planned to launch terrorist attacks in Syria before its underground activities were uncovered in August 2002.
The Syrian minister said that some of the group's members were arrested, along with the group's leader Shaker Al-Absi, a Jordanian Palestinian born in the city of Jericho. The Syrian minister said Al-Absi was coordinating with Al-Qaeda's late chief in Iraq, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi in order to launch terrorist attack together. "The group's members were prosecuted in Syria," the minister said.
He added that Al-Absi was released after serving three year in jail with forced labor. "But later reports showed that he had resumed planning terrorist attacks along with Al-Qaeda operatives and training some of their members," the minister said.
He added that Al-Absi was now at large and an investigation was underway to learn his whereabouts, specifically since a warrant for his arrest has been issued by Syrian authorities. Abdel-Majid described Lebanese allegations as strange and "fall within the pack of stories and accusations invented against Syria for the sake of unsettling the internal situation in Lebanon and ruining Lebanon's relation with Syria." Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa had said the men (Palestinians) were members of the Fatah al-Islam, a small Palestinian group which he linked to Syrian intelligence. Fatah al-Islam broke away last year from Fatah al-Intifada, another Palestinian group.
Four of the Syrian Palestinian gang were caught and admitted involvement in the bombing of two buses in the Meten town of Ain Alaq killing three people and injuring more than 10. A fifth gang member, also Syrian, is on the run, Sabaa said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Via Internet Haganah. If you can read the screencap, you can see that Shaykh Bakri sez that paying zakat is Allan's number one obligation upon his followers.
#3
Be willing to bet it was paid for by all of his British desciples little contributions from their payouts from the UK welfare system.
I'm sure they wouldn't want Omar to get off his fat ass and get a job like driving a cab in Beirut. He's more of an "idea" man...
HT LGF
But the most alarming aspect of the imams suit is buried in paragraph 21 of their complaint. It describes John Doe defendants whose identity the imams attorneys are still investigating. It reads: Defendants John Does were passengers ... who contacted U.S. Airways to report the alleged suspicious behavior of Plaintiffs performing their prayer at the airport terminal.
Paragraph 22 adds: Plaintiffs will seek leave to amend this Complaint to allege true names, capacities, and circumstances supporting [these defendants] liability ... at such time as Plaintiffs ascertain the same.
In plain English, the imams plan to sue the John Does, too.
Who are these unnamed culprits? The complaint describes them as an older couple who was sitting [near the imams] and purposely turn[ed] around to watch as they prayed. The gentleman (John Doe) in the couple ... picked up his cellular phone and made a phone call while watching the Plaintiffs pray, then moved to a corner and kept talking into his cellular phone.
In retribution for this action, the unnamed couple probably will be dragged into court soon and face the prospect of hiring a lawyer, enduring hostile questioning and paying huge legal bills. The same fate could await other as-yet-unnamed passengers on the US Airways flight who came forward as witnesses.
The imams attempt to bully ordinary passengers marks an alarming new front in the war on airline security. More arguments for the direct shooting of assholes that try to disrupt flight.
#3
It wasn't CAIR that filed the lawsuit. It was a licensed attorney in NYC who happens to be:
1. President of the NY State chapter of CAIR
2. An appointee of the current mayor of NYC
#5
Why do we never hear anything about how the woman who speaks Arabic overhead these treacherous bastids making anti-American comments? While it is a common ploy to restrict all caustic rhetoric to a lesser known language, these maggots were nailed dead-on for making comments that should alarm any other Arabic speaking passenger. Well, at least the non-Muslim ones, that is.
As to the lawsuit, we can only hope that CAIR is slapped down hard and fast with this blatant piece of legal intimidation. "John Doe" was most certainly excercising the right to free speech when he notified security of his own concerns. The airline should steadfastly refuse to reveal any passenger names from the flight list for fear that violent reprisals might occur against them. Goodness knows when some otherwise sweetness and light-filled Muslim will randomly decide to develop a case of Sudden Jihad Syndrome in close proximity these "John Does".
Is it just me or does all of this downstream froth simply reek of complete and total orchestration from day one? CAIR has been proven to be complicit in terrorist activities. Isn't it long past tea for banning their organization from the United States?
#6
It's not just you, Zenster, this has smelt fishy from the very first. We are in the first stages of an attack on our Constitution and therefore our freedoms via the legal system. Look for more.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2007 15:14 Comments ||
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#7
They are trying to use the American justice system to promote their jihad agendas, and also to gain some control of the system after testing it, as in this case--"What will the American people tolerate so far a lawsuits go?" and "What can we gain?" and "How can we use this for our propganda to promote Islam?" Bascially they're wanting to be treated specially as a class of people. The trend has worked for others and serves to place them within the taboo of unquestioned acceptance because they've been so "unfairly" treated. This status allows them more maneuvering room.
#8
I for one await the discovery process. Let us not forget the Local news did a segment on these Imams. One was caught on tape saying they did not change seats. They did not ask for seatbelt extenders. Most importantly that they had just come from a conference on "how to minipulate the media"
#10
This is a probe, just like all the other ways the jihadis probe our defenses. These are attacks just like IEDs and insurgants, and should be treated the same by the US Government.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2007 16:39 Comments ||
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#11
I grow frustrated. Its nearing time to just string them up!
There is a way to deal with this Lawfare crap. Run the scumbag Lawyers to ground and gut them like catfish. The tipping point is approaching, I for one, and a number of my acquaintances have just about had it. I know a number of folks that used to identify with a more liberal stance that have just about completed the transformation to conservativism, and they're livid too.
This getting to be way to much. It is also true that this is part of the process and game plan the muzzies employ where ever they go. We need to give it to them and their supporters hard, right between the ribs.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
03/15/2007 17:22 Comments ||
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#13
Arm yourselves. If you don't, very likely in a few years you'll wish you had.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/15/2007 17:49 Comments ||
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#14
The counter suit should be a RICO suit against CAIR, as it can clearly be demonstrated that they act on behalf of criminal and designated terrorist organizations.
#15
Arm yourselves. If you don't, very likely in a few years you'll wish you had.
Someone once said that, "Cynicism is a word optimists created to describe realists."
As an optimist who is earnestly grappling with the dire portents of our current reality, permit me to add something to David D.'s salient observation.
It has been said elsewhere that once society breaks down, the streets will be littered with guns. Guns that are no longer of any use because their owners ran out of ammunition. Anyone who is genuinely serious about protecting their loved ones during the ever-more-likely onslaught to come had best learn how to reload and build fresh ammunition as well. Just sayin'.
#16
As for me, in a SHTF situation I'll probably run out of Fixodent long before I run out of ammo, whether I hand-load or not...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/15/2007 19:56 Comments ||
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#17
Some Clinton-appointed judge will wreck the lives of the John Does and meanwhile the vast left-wing conspiracy whose initials are MSM will give it page 39 treatment. But that's preferable to page 1, because page 1 will scare so many travelers that no one will even report a burning shoe fuse.
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.
KHARTOUM - The number of people displaced by the conflict in Sudans western region of Darfur stands at two million, the UN humanitarian affairs agency said on Wednesday. Some estimates had put the number of internally-displaced people at close to 2.5 million, but the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the official number had topped two million for the first time.
Bangladeshs leading human rights group on Wednesday accused security forces of 
The interim government has made security and cleaning up graft a cornerstone of its mandate, and has yet to set a date for new democratic elections and an end to the state of emergency. Odhikar said the deaths were the result of torture in custody or so-called crossfire incidents, and called for an independent inquiry into each one.
The head of the UNs atomic watchdog said on Wednesday his agencys first direct talks with North Korea in more than four years had been useful and the Stalinist nation remained committed to disarming. However International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei also cautioned significant hurdles remained in the long-running international campaign to end North Koreas nuclear weapons programme. The DPRK (North Korea) said they were committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But that wont happen overnight, ElBaradei told reporters in Beijing after his two-day visit to Pyongyang.
Technological colossus South Korea is pressing ahead with efforts to join Israel and America in the white-hot field of killer robots. Korean sources have announced that Samsung, a company better known for its consumer goods, is manufacturing the SGR-A1 sentry unit for deployment on the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea. The robots will be in place later this year, according to reports.
German President Horst Koehler on Wednesday appealed to kidnappers who seized a German woman and her son in Iraq last month to free the two hostages. "I appeal to you to release Frau Krause and her son promptly," the president said in a video message. So much innocent blood has flowed in Iraq ... Let the hostages return to their family." The video was due to be broadcast in Germany and throughout the Middle East on Wednesday. 
Liberal radio talk show hosts and bloggers are lambasting the Democrats as spineless. A few members of the anti-war Code Pink group are camped outside Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Pacific Heights home in San Francisco. Activists are getting into pointed exchanges with senior Democrats such as Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., the powerful House Appropriations Committee chairman whose rant about "idiot liberals'' during a hallway encounter is posted on YouTube. 
WASHINGTON, March 14 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a remaining military as well as political mission in Iraq, and says that if elected president, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda, deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqi military. 
Radical youth call same as last time. Just not posted on a random right wing website. 
The US lawyer representing the two Bahrainis held at Guantanamo prison yesterday said that he was deeply concerned about the effects of "incredibly harmful effects of solitary confinement" on his clients.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned the West that it would deepen the rift with his country by imposing more U.N. sanctions. "You are wrong if you think you can sit and draft ... something in order to isolate the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to several thousand people in the Iranian city of Yazd. "Not only are you unable to hurt Iran, but you would further isolate yourselves and make yourselves more hated," he added.
(KUNA) -- US forces were keeping tracking Muqtada Al-Sadr and believed he was in Iran, a US general said on Wednesday, yet he declined to state whether the Shiite cleric was a wanted man. As for the previous 24 hours, Sadr was not in Iraq, as all indications affirm that he was still in Iran, Major General William Caldwell, chief spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said today. Caldwell said recent US and Iraqi military operations on the Mahdi stronghold of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad were enjoying good cooperation from the local mayor and residents.
In the 24-line-up, Hamas gets 9 cabinet posts, Fatah six. The other portfolios are shared out among independents and smaller factions. DEBKAfile notes: One putative independent, the designated foreign minister Ziyad Amar, is a known Hamas adherent. Pro-American Salam Fayed is retained as finance minister as bait to draw US recognition and international assistance. 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Egypt on March 25 to meet with the so-called Arab Quartet on Middle East peace, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Tuesday. Mrs Rice will arrive in Egypt on March 25 and will participate in a day-long meeting of the Arab Quartert in the city of Aswan, he told journalists. The Arab Quartet groups Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Abul Gheit said Rice would first travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories for meetings with officials there, and would do so afterwards to pursue efforts to relaunch the peace process between the two sides. He said Rice would return to Egypt at an unspecified date in April for a joint meeting of the Arab Quartet and the international Quartet, consisting of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States. The EU commissioner for foreign relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, announced last week that there would be a meeting of the Quartet in Cairo at the end of March or the beginning of April. Abul Gheit also said the new UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, would visit Egypt on March 23 and 24 for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the peace process and to discuss his own vision as head of the world organisation.
(KUNA) -- Syria on Wednesday denied Lebanese allegations that a Palestinian splinter group, Fatah Al-Islam, had detonated bombs in two passenger buses in Lebanon last month by instigation from Syria. Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel-Majid, who was asked to comment on the Lebanese allegations regarding the Palestinian group, denied the allegations arguing that the group (Fatah Al-Islam) was linked to Al-Qaeda and planned to launch terrorist attacks in Syria before its underground activities were uncovered in August 2002.
