A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan told BBC on Thursday that they were hunting for NATO spies who had infiltrated the movement and that they were aiming to mount more Iraq-style suicide bombings on Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabiyullah Mujahed, believed to be hiding somewhere in Quetta southern Afghanistan, admitted that NATO forces had penetrated the Taliban movement but said the damage was limited. "We were also recovering from allied attacks that have killed some of our leaders," he said through an interpreter via telephone. I absolutely reject the suggestion that we have been defeated. Our operation is gathering momentum, he said. He said the movement was using counter-intelligence to find the spies.
The spokesman also admitted that the Sunday suicide bombing in Kabul killing 35 people demonstrated a new approach in using suicide bombers. It is true we are increasing our pressure on Kabul, because Kabul is the capital and the foreign troops are concentrated there, he said. Our goal is ... power for ourselves the independence and freedom of our country.
The spokesman said a lot of people were volunteering at suicide bombing centre. A lot of people are volunteering at our suicide bombing centre. We need time to train them to attack the right targets avoiding killing civilians, he said.
This article starring:
ZABIYULLAH MUJAHED
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
hunting for NATO spies who had infiltrated the movement
Nope. You still didn't get them all. They're sneaky, those myriads of NATO spies the CIA sicced on you. Better keep hunting until you winkle them all out.
aiming to mount more Iraq-style suicide bombings
Fascinating that they're no longer "Palestinian-style" suicide bombings.
The spokesman said a lot of people were volunteering at suicide bombing centre. A lot of people are volunteering at our suicide bombing centre. We need time to train them to attack the right targets avoiding killing civilians, he said.
Hah! We got inside their training cycle! Clearly there's more to this whole suicide bomber thingy than just putting on a vest and strolling into a crowd of civilians. It seems it really is rocket science after all.
#3
A lot of people are volunteering at our suicide bombing centre.
Hi. Welcome to the suicide bombing center. Could you please fill out this form and help yourself to the coffee and donuts. Thanks so much.
Is there an Achmed here? Achmed? Oh, hi. Could you come with me please...
Tens of Algerian detainees in Syria families claim the intervention of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to get their sons released, as they are subject to torture and starvation in many prisons. El Khabar sources reported that their number shifted to 45 Algerians arrested in border entries and the airport.
"Hi, there, Abdul! Nice turban! Where you headed?"
"I'm gonna go fight the infidels!"
"Here, lemme give yez a ride! Hop right in!"
"Hey! This is a... paddy wagon. Did the wind shift? I thought I felt the wind shift..."
Algeria detainee families sought yesterday the urgent intervention of the President to release the arbitrary detained by the Syrian security services for about a month. Sources told El Khabar about maltreatment of detainees, and that some of them have been released after paying bribes to Syrian security agents, whilst officials from Algeria embassy in Damascus denied it.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The Algerian Ambassador to Damascus advisor Mr. Saoudi Mohamed stated Algerian detainees number is estimated at 40, pointing out consular affairs official is in daily contact with the detainees, he visits them to intervene whenever he deems necessary, since our nationals protection is incumbent to us. He further considers that arrests fall within an ordinary campaign led by Syrian security services, and does not include only Algerians but many citizens from other Arab nationalities. He added the matter is not as easy as imagined by the press, alluding to Algerian suspects who attempted to reach Fatha al Islam in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Syrians are odd. I don't get them. Maybe they split arrivals in half, send one half to their jihadi training camps, and other half to their 'corrective facilities' as toys for their staff, for entertainment purposes.
#3
Maybe they split arrivals in half, send one half to their jihadi training camps, and other half to their 'corrective facilities' as toys for their staff, for entertainment purposes.
Naaah, 2x4, they've just caught on that half the Algerians, Libyans, Moroccans, and Egyptians that have been showing up to "fight jihad" are actually CIA plants. That's the bad news. The good news is that they're jailing the wrong half...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2007 16:35 Comments ||
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#4
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
Wasn't he the one involved with the Long Island Lolita? What? ... Oh, never mind.
A Labour MP has revealed that he is stepping down after getting death threats linked to a gang he helped convict for a racist murder.
His decision came after his family was threatened by a gang linked to racist murderers Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq.
Mohammad Sarwar was Britains first Muslim MP. He has told party activists he will not be contesting his Glasgow Central seat at the next election.
The 54-year-old said his decision came after his family was threatened by a gang linked to racist murderers Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq.
The three were jailed for life last year for their part in the killing of Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Glasgow in 2004. Mr Sarwar was instrumental in arranging the extradition of the trio after they fled to Pakistan.
Posted by: ||
06/22/2007 09:39 ||
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#1
Poor Kriss Donald...it burns me up with rage thinking about what happened to him!
#2
So he quit over threats from other Muzzies - what a surprise. And they are no doubt very credible threats. Will the PC Socialist authorities DO anything about the threateners? One doubts it - because of fear, or not wanting to 'offend.'
Some Muslims, like Sarwar, seem to have positive influences on Western society. Sadly way too many more have the opposite effect.
#3
They're all ridin' the tiger, gonna be fun to watch what happens when they fall off...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/22/2007 10:20 Comments ||
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#4
Next step -- his neighbors are going to complain that they don't feel safe living near him, and demand that he move.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/22/2007 11:54 Comments ||
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#5
The three were jailed for life last year for their part in the killing of Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in Glasgow in 2004. Mr Sarwar was instrumental in arranging the extradition of the trio after they fled to Pakistan.
Anyone else's irony meter starting to smoke? (Mine's up to a pack a day!)
The relatives of these brutal murderers feel obliged to threaten a fellow Muslimno less!because that person saw justice done according to the rules of his host country. We'll disregard for now how these same thugs would be howling for blood if their own relatives had gotten bludgeoned by some soccer hooligans.
All I want to hear about is how Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq have perished mysteriously whilst inside prison. Their crime was one of unmitigated cruelty and brutality, which is to say, typically Islamic.
#6
All I want to hear about is how Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq have perished mysteriously whilst inside prison.
May they be served polonium sandwiches twice a day, with no access to medical care.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2007 16:37 Comments ||
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#7
Their crime was one of unmitigated cruelty and brutality, which is to say, typically Islamic.
Right, Zenster ! When performing an Islamic sacrament, one must follow at least the minimal requirements for blood and pain.
Germany's highest-ranking cardinal has warned against indifference and uncritical tolerance which he says could lead to Islam enjoying equal standing with Christianity in the country.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who is head of the German conference of bishops, expressed concern about religious freedom leading to all faiths being treated equally regardless of the size of their flock and their history.
Germany's constitution obliges the state to maintain strict religious neutrality. But Lehmann pointed to Christianity's role in shaping European history and even its legal culture. "The deep cultural connection between Christianity and our legal state, that goes back to the Middle Ages and before, cannot simply be ignored," Lehmann said in a speech in Karlsruhe.
Germany continues to struggle to integrate its 3.2 million Muslims, over half of whom are of Turkish origin, primarily "guest workers" who came to work during the country's postwar economic boom, and their children.
Integration problems
The government has been concerned about the potential radicalization of disillusioned young Muslims and organized an Islam Conference last year to try to help Muslims mesh with mainstream society. Germany has western Europe's second-biggest Muslim population after France.
The conference has made little progress so far on sensitive issues such as religion lessons, girls' participation in sports and the legal status of a new Islamic grouping.
Lehmann's comments come amid a sensitive time for Muslim-Christian relations in Germany. The construction of a large mosque in the western city of Cologne has set off a wave of intense opposition among many local residents.
"I don't want to say I am worried, but I have an uneasy feeling," Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne said of the mosque in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday.
Meisner, who last year banned Catholic children from praying with Muslim classmates, said a real test of religious tolerance would be whether Christians could build churches and worship freely in Turkey, as Muslims can in Germany.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor, said in April she expected Turkey to take action to show it was tolerant of Christianity after the killing of three people, including a German, at a Turkish Bible publishing house.
Mixed reactions from politicians
Ronald Pofalla, the general secretary of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party, said Lehmann was right to say Islam could not be afforded the same legal standing in Germany as Christianity, although he added no one should prevent Muslims from practicing their religion in the country. "Unlike Christianity, Islam is not in Europe's cultural center and is not reflected in everyday life in the same way," Pofalla said in a statement.
"Only those who are conscious of their cultural and social roots can freely and openly stand up for the rights of people of different faiths," he added.
The leader of the Green party's parliamentary group, Volker Beck, said Germany's constitution required Islam be treated the same as Christianity. "The Cardinal is wrong if he concludes that Europe's or Germany's undoubtedly Christian character infers a legal discrimination of other religious communities," he said.
Lale Akgün, a Social Democratic parliamentarian in charge of Islam issues, said Lehmann was not looking clearly at the reality of life in Germany.
"Whoever says that Islam cannot be put on an equal legal footing (as other religions) is stoking social unrest," she said.
Posted by: mrp ||
06/22/2007 09:19 ||
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#1
Funny, they got no problem saying Scientology doesn't deserve equality with Christianity. I may despise the clams, but they're no worse than the Muslims.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/22/2007 11:53 Comments ||
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#2
The splendor of the Chartes moskk, will ever stand.
#3
It sounds like they are conflating culture with religion. On the other hand, it is right that Germany should demand parity in religious acceptance from Turkey and the other sources of their Muslim immigrants: 1 mosque, 1 church leading to No church? Then no mosque. The U.S. should be demanding the same for the source countries of our own Muslims: Pakistan, the Palestinian territories (wouldn't that put the cat among the pigeons!), Syria, Egypt, India (the Hindus are actively not keen on conversions as well, for some reason), Indonesia, Malaysia... and of course Saudi Arabia.
It's something to consider, anyway. And to make noises about, to prepare the ground, so to speak.
#5
Germany's highest-ranking cardinal has warned against indifference and uncritical tolerance which he says could lead to Islam enjoying equal standing with Christianity in the country.
Yet Lehmann cannot bring himself to call "uncritical tolerance" by its real name: "Multiculturalism". His is the wrong approach. Attempting to implement even a vague form of theocracy or preferential treatment plays directly into the hands of Muslims. They'll install their own brand at the first opportunity.
The correct approach is to strip Islam of its improperly awarded religious status and protections, ban its practice on the grounds that shari'a law is a violation of human rights and begin deporting any Muslim that so much as spits on the sidewalk.
While Christianity indeed helped to shape Europe's historical and legal culture, it is Islam's slow jihad demographic ascendancy which poses the real threat. If Europeans refuse to out-breed Muslims, then they'd better begin out-placing them. There are no other means by which slow jihad can be overcome, save evolving a two-tier society or a return to genocide.
Meisner, who last year banned Catholic children from praying with Muslim classmates, said a real test of religious tolerance would be whether Christians could build churches and worship freely in Turkey, as Muslims can in Germany.
Bingo! Reciprocity in religious freedom is something that Christiansand religious practicioners everywherehad better begin clamoring for. The Muslim world must be made to demonstrate peaceful coexistence other cultures. Any failure to do so must permanently brand Muslims as the intolerant gangsters they always have been. Much of this world's survival depends upon this orinevitablyfar more harsh measures.
#6
Maybe if the "Christian" churches in Europe actually preached Christianity, had to live off the donations of their parishoners instead of being paid by the State, from taxes imposed for that purpose, they might enjoy a little more popularity. God is hard to find in a state-run church, and that includes Islamic mosques.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2007 16:41 Comments ||
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#7
I read a post on a forum last night that sums it up nicely. "Multiculturalism works for everyone but muslims and Mexicans."
#8
who last year banned Catholic children from praying with Muslim classmates
And I should listen to this weasel why, exactly? Because the sins of the father are visited upon the son? Rubbish. Worse than rubbish - dangerous rubbish. I grew up with this kind of sh!t in the Old South and I know what it breeds: hatred and unnecessary conflict. If the culture of European Christians is stronger and I still think that it is - than letting your children play with Muslim children will help to integrate them into your society. If its not, then youve got bigger problems than letting your kids play with the corner store owners kids.
If theres ever is going to be a moderate, westernized Islam, then that is where it will have to start with kids growing up together. Well be over this whole hump when little Abdul doesnt want to blow up the school bus because its filled with his playmates, and not a moment before. Its called the M-e-l-t-I-n-g P-o-t, Cardinal Lehmann, and it works.
Old Patriot raises an excellent point, though. When I was getting drunk in Austria about five months ago, the bar tender told me that the government collects tithes directly from the paychecks of registered Catholic Austrians to support the Church. My snarky comment was So everybodys a registered Protestant then, huh? To which he said No, 79% of us are registered Catholics.
So, the State Church is already an honored tradition even in modern Europe. Which is not only why our ancestors left, but will also prove useful should the Muslims take over. The apparatus is already in place for them in many countries should they achieve majority population. And, if Lehmann has his way, theyll have a legitimate axe to grind should they get there (not that they need one).
#9
I take your point, Secret Master, and agree with you re: playing together.
I understood the article tosay that the cardinal forbade them praying together, which is something else. The stance of at least some Muslims is that anyone who says the basic prayers becomes a Muslim, whether knowingly or not - and may not recant in the future.
#10
and I still think that it is - than letting your children play with Muslim children will help to integrate them into your society. If its not, then youve got bigger problems than letting your kids play with the corner store owners kids.
Secret Master, Cardinal Lehmann banned Catholic children from PRAYING with their Muslim classmats, not "playing". I think its pretty likely that Muslim students tended to pray using imam-approved chants.
#11
Registered church members (Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish only) pay a percentage of their taxes as tithe in Germany as well, although they must write a separate check once a year instead of the payroll department handling the details. Most do not do this as statement of their own faith, but so that they can be buried by the church when they die, and so their children can have lovely church weddings and church funerals later. I can't speak about Austria, but in Germany it's mostly about a pretty stage setting... church weddings have no legal standing, and take place after the civil service at City Hall, often enough the entire party walking directly from one to the other.
#13
You aren't the only one who's felt the need, Secret Master. ;-)
The last paragraph of your rant raises a good point though, especially if the majority of those registered do not believe. Why object, then, to tithing to a different religious authority that also doesn't own one's allegiance?
It was a beautiful Sunday in Malibu, but the 300 people gathered at a Pepperdine University hilltop building had little time to appreciate the sparkling Pacific Ocean. The scholars, journalists and concerned citizens were there for a conference whose title could hardly be weightier or more ominous: "The Collapse of Europe, the Rise of Islam, and the Consequences for the United States."
"We did not come here to declare the demise of Europe, whose strength is vital to the future of Western civilization," said Avi Davis, coordinator of the June 10-11 meeting and executive director of the recently founded American Freedom Alliance, which seeks to promote freedom of conscience among people of faith. However, Davis and most of the speakers clearly meant "to raise a red flag that in its present state, Europe is too exhausted, too uncertain of its future and too unwilling to defend its basic values against Islamic insurgency." Describing the conference as the most concerted intellectual effort to address this perceived danger, Davis said that the venue on the U.S. West Coast indicated that "Europeans either think there is no problem or are fearful of addressing it."
Instead, impressive numbers of European writers and thinkers from Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, who seek to "awaken" their countrymen, traveled to Malibu to join their like-minded American colleagues.
At just one of the 15 sessions, titled "Eurabia: Is Muslim Domination of Europe Inevitable?" the panelists included Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a native of Somalia, former Dutch Parliament member and fervent critic of Islam's treatment of women; Henryk Broder, an influential German Jewish journalist and author of "Hurray -- We Surrender," and Dutch filmmaker Leon de Winter. They were joined by Americans Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, and Gregory M. Davis, documentary film producer and author of "Religion of Peace?" Among other well-known speakers at the conference were talk show hosts Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager, columnist Mark Steyn and professor James Q. Wilson of Harvard, UCLA and Pepperdine University.
While the "Eurabia" panelists did not give up Europe for lost, their indictments of the Continent's alleged spinelessness and inaction in the face of escalating Islamic immigration, birthrate and militancy pointed to grave dangers ahead. According to statistics presented in the conference source book, there are now 6 million Muslims in France, 3 million in Germany and 1 million in both Spain and Holland.
A main culprit in the eyes of most speakers is "multiculturalism" taken to an extreme, in which the self-labeled "victim" is always right, and any criticism of Islamic beliefs or demands is politically incorrect. "It is a fallacy of multiculturalism that all cultures are equally valuable and must be preserved," Hirsi Ali declared. "Whether Muslims will take over Europe will depend on how far we let them go," Broder observed. "But most [Europeans] don't know what to do. They prefer capitulation to action."
Such inertia is due to Europe's loss of confidence in itself, various speakers agreed, and in a later session, Claire Berlinski, author of "Menace in Europe," blamed two main factors. One reason is the catastrophic bloodletting of the two world wars; a second is "the death of Christianity," Berlinski said. "Christianity gave a framework to European life, and nothing has replaced it," she said. "Today, less than 10 percent of Europeans are Christian believers and more British people know about Britney Spears than Jesus Christ." A recurrent analogy at the meeting was between European appeasement of Nazism in the 1930s and the current lack of resolve to confront radical Islam.
Judging from the question-and-answer exchanges, audience members warmly agreed with the speakers' viewpoints or found them not forceful enough, but organizer Davis rejected labeling participants as right wing or intolerant. "We have been occasionally attacked as neocons or even racists, but that is simply not the case," he said. "This is an academic conference, and we have both liberal and conservative participants. Criticizing another religion is a sensitive issue, but we must break this taboo when our values and traditions are under assault," Davis emphasized. "We are absolutely committed to freedom of conscience and inquiry."
The American Freedom Alliance and its associated Council for Democracy and Tolerance plan a follow-up conference in November in Washington, D.C., focusing on the political and legal aspects of the European situation. Next April or May, a further meeting is expected to be held in a European capital.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/22/2007 07:54 ||
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#1
Forums like this are desperately needed to rouse the general public. No one pays any attention to real news anymore. I think this is just as large an issue as others mentioned. People in general walk around like they are in a coma. The only thing they are updated on is the latest round of movies. Why are there no terrorist movies being made ? This seems like a natural venue for the greed mongers of Hollywood. And, typically, absolutely no coverage in the local fish wrapper, LA Times.
#2
The problem with multi-culturism is that it is mis-named. It should really be called "anti-Westism". Any behavior must be defended (no matter how disgusting) as long as it is not traditional Western values.
The only thing that can be condemmed is Western values. Once multiculturalism is exposed as nothing but a club to beat Westerners with, I believe it will die a quick death.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/22/2007 13:54 Comments ||
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#3
Muslims are fast breeders when they aren't killing each other. Europeans aren't having babies. The mathematics says: at some point Muslims will be the majority. After the takeover, Western liberty and democracy will be finished.
#5
People should go door to door and reintroduce themselves to their neighbors. Start a dialog about the situation, and ask what steps can be taken to reverse the trend, or at least counter the trend. As people age, they tend to zip themselves up in a defensive cocoon and quietly accept whatever society offers them. This is the time when they MUST stand united.
France on Thursday successfully test-fired an inter-continental missile that will be outfitted to its new class of nuclear submarines in 2010, Defence Minister Herve Morin said.
The M51 intercontinental missile was fired from the Biscarosse launch site in the Landes region of southwest France and splashed down in the North Atlantic "far from the American coast," said a defence ministry official.
Damn well better be.
A first test of the M51, which can carry six nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), was carried out in November 2006. The missile will replace the M45 sea-to-ground ballistic missile and be used by a new class of strategic nuclear submarines that form the backbone of France's policy of nuclear deterrence.
"This is a technological exploit that is absolutely indispensable for the new generation of nuclear missiles that we will load onto our missile launching nuclear submarines," said Morin.
France currently has four missile launching nuclear submarines.
#1
Just in time. Now load the co-ordinates for Iran. They'll soon be pointing at you. Go ahead and wipe their asses away and we don't have to be bothered.
A federal judge has extended the contempt citation against a former Florida professor who has refused to testify in the investigation into whether Islamic charities in Northern Virginia were financing terrorist organizations.
Sami al-Arian will remain jailed until at least October under Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Arian's wife and sources familiar with the decision said yesterday. Nahla al-Arian said Lee issued the decision at a closed hearing and indicated that he thought Arian -- who has served six months on the contempt charge -- still could be persuaded to testify to be reunited with his five children.
Not so, according to his wife. Nahla al-Arian said her husband, who was acquitted in one of the nation's highest-profile terrorism cases and then pleaded guilty to a single charge, will never break his silence. "My husband is a man of principle, and he will never turn into an informant. We admire him and are proud of him," she said. "In our culture, as Palestinians, if a person becomes an informant for the government, this is very shameful."
A federal jury in Tampa deadlocked in 2005 on nine charges that Arian aided terrorists and acquitted him of eight counts. He then pleaded guilty to one count of supporting a Palestinian terrorist organization. Sentenced to 57 months, including time served, he was expected to be released from prison and deported this year. But prosecutors are trying to compel Arian to testify in their long-running Northern Virginia investigation, which is focused on a Herndon-based network of Muslim charities, businesses and think tanks. Prosecutors want Arian to reveal what they suspect are his ties to the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a Herndon think tank that is one of the key organizations under investigation, according to court documents and Arian's attorneys.
Arian contends that he has no information that could help the investigation, according to court documents unsealed in Florida, where he was tried on the terrorism charges. He has twice refused to testify before a federal grand jury in Alexandria. Lee's ruling Wednesday means Arian will serve at least nine months for contempt; the maximum is 18 months.
Jonathan Turley, an attorney for Arian, declined to comment on Wednesday's hearing but said the legal team is "continuing to work for the release of Dr. al-Arian, who has now been in prison for almost five years." Turley contended that Arian's plea agreement with Florida prosecutors was conditioned on him not having to cooperate in other investigations. A federal judge in Tampa rejected Arian's argument in November. That ruling is under appeal. Federal prosecutors in Alexandria declined to comment yesterday.
Most of this stuff was revealed decades ago, although not in detail.
The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses -- the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday.
The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency's opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of "unwitting" tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs.
"Most of it is unflattering, but it is CIA's history," Hayden said in a speech to a conference of foreign policy historians. The documents have been sought for decades by historians, journalists and conspiracy theorists and have been the subject of many fruitless Freedom of Information Act requests.
In anticipation of the CIA's release, the National Security Archive at George Washington University yesterday published a separate set of documents from January 1975 detailing internal government discussions of the abuses. Those documents portray a rising sense of panic within the administration of President Gerald R. Ford that what then-CIA Director William E. Colby called "skeletons" in the CIA's closet had begun to be revealed in news accounts.
A New York Times article by reporter Seymour Hersh of course about the CIA's infiltration of antiwar groups, published in December 1974, was "just the tip of the iceberg," then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger warned Ford, according to a Jan. 3 memorandum of their conversation.
Kissinger warned that if other operations were divulged, "blood will flow," saying, "For example, Robert Kennedy personally managed the operation on the assassination of [Cuban President Fidel] Castro." Kennedy was the attorney general from 1961 to 1964.
Worried that the disclosures could lead to criminal prosecutions, Kissinger added that "when the FBI has a hunting license into the CIA, this could end up worse for the country than Watergate," the scandal that led to the fall of the Nixon administration the previous year.
In a meeting at which Colby detailed the worst abuses -- after telling the president "we have a 25-year old institution which has done some things it shouldn't have" -- Ford said he would appoint a presidential commission to look into the matter. "We don't want to destroy but to preserve the CIA. But we want to make sure that illegal operations and those outside the [CIA] charter don't happen," Ford said.
Most of the major incidents and operations in the reports to be released next week were revealed in varying detail during congressional investigations that led to widespread intelligence reforms and increased oversight. But the treasure-trove of CIA documents, generated as the Vietnam War wound down and agency involvement in Nixon's "dirty tricks" political campaign began to be revealed, is expected to provide far more comprehensive accounts, written by the agency itself.
#2
A cynic might say so that it'll be old news by the time the presidential race gets close, Sgt. Mom. Equally probable a punch-point date was reached, and the release happened automatically. But I'm sure the clever minds here at Rantburg will come up with something much more interesting. ;-)
#3
Might be a diversion. Congress just issued subpoenas against Bush to reveal details of current domestic surveillance. Let's let the NYT and their ilk go wallow in old stories instead.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility and move its terror suspects to military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned. Senior administration officials said Thursday a consensus is building for a proposal to shut the center and transfer detainees to one or more Defense Department facilities, including the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where they could face trial.
President Bush's national security and legal advisers had been scheduled to discuss the move at a meeting Friday, the officials said, but after news of it broke, the White House said the meeting would not take place that day and no decision on Guantanamo Bay's status is imminent. ``It's no longer on the schedule for tomorrow,'' said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. ``Senior officials have met on the issue in the past, and I expect they will meet on the issue in the future.''
Previous plans to close Guantanamo ran into resistance from Cheney, Gonzales and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. But officials said the new suggestion is gaining momentum with at least tacit support from the State and Homeland Security departments, the Pentagon and the Intelligence directorate. Cheney's office and the Justice Department have been against the step, arguing that moving ``unlawful'' enemy combatant suspects to the U.S. would give them undeserved legal rights.
In Congress, recently introduced legislation would require Guantanamo's closure. One measure would designate Fort Leavenworth, located about 30 miles northwest of Kansas City in northeast Kansas, as the new detention facility. Another bill would grant new rights to those held at Guantanamo Bay, including access to lawyers regardless of whether the prisoners are put on trial. Still another would allow detainees to protest their detentions in federal court, something they are now denied.
Dumb, dumb, dumb: the Constitution grants no rights to unlawful combatants captured on foreign soil. If we're to close Gitmo, fine, but ship these mooks to a prison camp at Bagram.
Military officials told Congress this month that the prison at Fort Leavenworth has 70 open beds and that the brig at a naval base in Charleston, S.C., has space for an additional 100 prisoners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Close Gitmo, but relocate all detainees 150 nautical miles northeast.
#3
This is an attempt by some to force the White House's hand on Gitmo. However, other reports say that the White House is NOT considering a closure : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,285733,00.html.
#4
Gitmo is vital to American military interests. In no way should these vermin be brought onto continental American soil. Such an act would inspire possible hostage taking and other terrorist attacks aimed at freeing their Islamic cohorts.
#5
Well, there is still Baffin Island. I heard it has winters quite lovely, no ROUSes, but friendly polar bears that love smoochin. Add savings on barbed wire.
#8
Unfortunately, the President is thinking for the next administration, which he assumes will be Democrat. The Clinton loved his dhimmi up to Albania, on Kosovo.
Is Bush afraid of personal legal consequences if he doesn't close Gitmo? If so, that is taking the low road. Whatever is happening, the public is being excluded from the issue.
#11
Transfer the detainees to Martha's Vineyard. I imagine there's a Coast Guard station they can stay at. A few tents on the adjacent beach should do it. If it gets too crowded I am certain Senator Kennedy would extend some hospitality.
Oooohhhhh... I like it. There's gotta be someplace else we can put them, too. Maybe someplace in San Francisco? Or maybe a nice building overlooking Central Park...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/22/2007 8:34 Comments ||
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#14
Close Gitmo, but relocate all detainees 150 nautical miles northeast.
I would prefer 2-3 miles straight up. Let Allan support their sorry asses.
Posted by: Large Omolutle9646 ||
06/22/2007 8:40 Comments ||
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#15
Oh, fine idea. Let's put them in the US prison system with full legal rights and let them proseletyze to their heart's content. Certainly the least we can do for them.
#20
My brother's experience with those animals makes him of the opinion and I concur that every last one of those pigs held there should be shot first.
Then close it.
#22
My brother's experience with those animals makes him of the opinion and I concur that every last one of those pigs held there should be shot first.
Then close it.
#24
Badanov, yea, I know. Actually, more like php... but essentially a logic construct using some perl/php syntax. The question is not whether it would throw exceptions, but whether it is understood. ;-)
#25
I expect some serious legal kookiness to ensue once these folks are stateside. I would distribute them as widely as possible so that the kookiness is front and center on every local news channel. Here by SF I expect that there are probably judges who would release the hardest of these crazies directly onto the street. America needs to see our justice system for what it is. It is pretty disgusting to see a dog eat its own fecal material. This will be worse, but it may be instructive for those who refuse to pay attention.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/22/2007 23:43 Comments ||
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President George W. Bush headed toward a showdown with the Senate over his domestic spying program on Thursday after lawmakers approved subpoenas for documents the White House declared off-limits. "The information the committee is requesting is highly classified and not information we can make available," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in signaling a possible court fight.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the subpoenas in a 13-3 vote following 18 months of futile efforts to obtain documents related to Bush's contested justification for warrantless surveillance begun after the September 11 attacks. Three Republicans joined 10 Democrats in voting to authorize the subpoenas, which may be issued within days.
Posted by: lotp ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Nobody really cares what's in the documents. Nobody really cares whether people - good or bad - were spied upon. All that matters is getting some media time to demagogue by pretending to care.
DHS officials notified congressional staff of a one-week lag due to radar problems
Technical issues are delaying the completion of a multibillion-dollar high-tech fence intended to reduce illegal entry along the nation's southern border, the government said Thursday.
Some lawmakers are questioning why Boeing Co., the lead contractor, and staff at the Department of Homeland Security waited until a day after a hearing earlier this month to update Congress on the delay.
"When in doubt, obfuscate!"
The first phase of the project involves building nine towers that are dotted along 28 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border, and bracket the Sasabe, Ariz., port of entry. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, in September won a three-year, $67 million contract to install the fence, the initial step in a multibillion-dollar plan to reduce illegal entry along 6,000 miles of U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. At the hearing on June 7, no problems or delays on so-called Project 28 were mentioned. But the next day DHS officials notified congressional staff of a one-week lag due to radar problems, according to a letter questioning how and when Congress was informed.
One week lag on a $67 million contract for a new system is in the noise. This is politicians posturing.
I'm getting a whiff of Eau de Airbus, here.
Whoa! Somedody open a window!
However long it takes to clear the air, it's that much longer before we even think of considering the amnesty bill.
Posted by: lotp ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Low tech fence - 50 cents per round or less for adequate .30-'06 ammo & 10 cents to print 'hunting' licenses. My guess is fewer border crossers would die this way than are already succumbing to heat and thirst - once they know we are really serious they won't come.
#5
Technical issues are delaying the completion of a multibillion-dollar high-tech fence intended to reduce illegal entry along the nation's southern border, the government said Thursday.
Why do I feel like smoke is being blown up my ass? For God's sakes, it is a fence. Quit diddly screwin around and build the friggin fence. The govmint always wants to build all the bells and whistles into anything they try even when it's not needed. A low tech fence works in San Diego. A fence works in Israel. A fence works in Korea.
If we have the will we can build a fence. It is fence science not rocket science.
#6
I listened to Sen Lott on Hannity's radio show yesterday say that he couldn't make the DHS install the fence...he just passed the laws...hey, I'm doing my job...etc, etc. I almost ran off the road.
So Senator, if a particular government agency isn't implementing what you've funded and directed them to implement then you have no recourse????? Are you kidding me? Try having a high profile hearing, invite all the media. Try pulling that agency's funding...all of it, so the beauracrats therein are out of a job and on the street unless they do what you tell them to do. What a feckless scumbag. He knows the fence won't be built, he knows the proposed immigration laws won't be enforced any better than the current ones are. He just wants to pass this so that Tyson gives him more money. Asshole.
#7
Better add a knot of silken cords to the top of the flagpole, Shipman, the cords being Dave D's goldenrod, John Frum's peach, Scooter McGruder's pepto pink, .com's bright blue, and perhaps a black & white twist as place holder for the next volunteer who dares jump into the Rantburg pit. ;-)
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Ok they put a price on Rushdie's head, they support the Taliban in killing our troops and then they think we should care how they might or might not feel about a price for Iran's mis-behaving...
#6
I'm sure a few dozen 15MT air-bursts at 10,000 feet will change their minds. Do the same thing to each of the rest of the muddled east countries - Soddy aRabida, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Eritrea, Sudan, Libya, etc. Tell the rest of the world we'll do whatever we think is necessary to preserve our freedoms. If they don't want to be equally as determined to preserve THEIR freedoms, then FOAD.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/22/2007 16:58 Comments ||
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Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq, who caused outrage in the UK by remarking that author Salman Rushdies knighthood justified suicide attacks, said on Thursday that he is set to visit Britain next month.
Gosh. I hope he doesn't explode or something.
Mr Haq made the comment about The Satanic Verses author in parliament on Monday but later withdrew his words, insisting that he meant to say the award would foster extremism. Yes, I may travel to Britain next month as a British delegation has invited me to guide them on how to engage khateebs and imams in a constructive dialogue, he told AFP. The 52-year-old minister said the schedule of his visit was not finalised but that it would give him an opportunity to better convey his point of view. The visit would also help clear many things and misunderstandings about my remarks about the knighting of Salman Rushdie by Britain, he added. The British delegation met Mr Haq on Monday and included representatives from Britains Home Office and Foreign Office with responsibility for engaging with the Islamic world and preventing extremism, he said. The British HC in Islamabad was not immediately available for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
If his plane stops in Belgium will they have enough guts to try him?
Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Afzal Sahi Thursday declared that according to Islam a blasphemer should be killed and if any blasphemer would come in front of him he would definitely kill him. He said the issue of awarding the title of Sir to blasphemer Salman Rushdie was a religious issue. Being a Muslim, he said, he was not ready to compromise on the issue. I am not a religious scholar, but I want to make it clear that a blasphemer was liable to kill, the speaker said. First, I am a Muslim and later the Punjab Assembly speaker.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Afzal Sahi [speaking for the moderate Muslims everywhere] Thursday declared that according to Islam a blasphemer should be killed and if any blasphemer would come in front of him he would definitely kill him.
More proof that the only good Muslims are ex-Muslims.
Posted by: Glusotch, Avenger of the Wombats7546 ||
06/22/2007 6:19 Comments ||
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#2
The sooner we start offing those who feel so free to threaten Western civilization the more soundly all of us are going to sleep.
#4
It is a part of my newly rediscovered religion of being a free Englishman that pirate scum making death-threats should be killed. Add this one to the list.
Pakistani traders on Thursday announced a reward of Rs 10 million for anyone who beheads Salman Rushdie, following Britains decision to award the novelist a knighthood. The announcement came during a protest by 200 traders at Aabpara market, Islamabad, an AFP photographer said. We will give Rs 10 million to anyone who beheads Rushdie, the secretary general of the Islamabad traders association, Ajmal Baluch, told the cheering crowd. He also called on Islamic countries to boycott British products in protest at the honour to Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Does the Knighthood come with a stipend? If so, he could offer a reward right back...
The Pakistan Ulema Council has bestowed the title of Saifullah, or sword of Islam, on Osama Bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for Salman Rushdie. If a blasphemer can be given the title Sir by the West despite the fact hes hurt the feelings of Muslims, then a mujahid who has been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah, said council chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi. The group also urged President Pervez Musharraf to call an emergency OIC meeting to press Britain to withdraw the title.
We probably knew which side they were on before, so it's no big thing.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Is it too much to hope for a public knighting ceremony for Osama?
Posted by: Ol Dirty American ||
06/22/2007 1:29 Comments ||
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#2
If they were a country that would be an act of war...
#3
If they were a country that would be an act of war...
It is an act of war. We just need to overcome our fastidious recognition of borders in the MME (Muslim Middle East). Our Islamic enemies did so quite a long time ago. If MME countries think they can allow these maggots to act with impunity, we need to change that perception and do so on a consistent basis.
#5
Muslims worldwide riot over stupid cartoons calling their barbaric religion for what it is.
Perhaps the day will come when Americans burn down mosques over the far greater outrage of Muslim leaders paying tribute to mass killers of American citizens.
Posted by: Glusotch, Avenger of the Wombats7546 ||
06/22/2007 6:35 Comments ||
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#6
I dub thee Sir Osama .... oops, I must do something about that muscle twitch, we'll get your head stitched back on right away, Sir. Nobody will be able to notice the difference.
#8
These loudmouth shitbags are constantly issueing their fart-waaas unchallenged by any civilian authorities. Why shouldn't we respond with "Wanted: Dead or Alive" posters with these jackasses mugs on them. Once we start picking them off, thier BS would immediately halt.
#9
Once we start picking them off, thier BS would immediately halt.
Woozle, welcome to the world of "wetwork" or "hunter/killer" teams. There's been a few of us hardcore patriotic types around Rantburg who have been espousing this approach for some time now. For fun, here's my "Christmas List":
1. Ayman al-Zawahiri
2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
3. Ayatolla Kahmeini
4. Mullah Muhammad Omar
5. Abu Bakar Ba'asyir (Bashir)
6. Moqtada Sadr,
7. Abu Hamza al-Masri,
8. Mullah Krekar (AKA: Abu Sayyid Qutb),
9. Khaled Meshal
10. Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
11. Ismail Haniya
12. Mohammed Abbas
13. Yusuf al-Qaradawi
14. imam Ahmed Abu Laban
15. Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali
16. imam Omar Bakri Mohammed
17. imam Abdel-Samie Mahmoud Ibrahim Moussa
18. imam Sheikh SyeSyed Mubarik Ali Gilani
19. Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal
20. Sheik Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi
21. Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar
22. Prince Sultan Ibn Abd al-Aziz
23. Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz
24. Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz
We need to make it so that any of these jihadist scum who feel like shouting "death to America" must first look over their shoulder. (And still catch a slug when they utter such Islamic crapulence.) Terminating just these few dozen Islamic players would stall much of the terrorist violence we see today.
This policy must transcend borders and treaties. You want America to die, you get turned into worm-food.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has ruled out chances of martial law being imposed in Pakistan while conceding that the government underestimated public reaction to the reference against the chief justice. Martial law is unconstitutional. When Gen Musharraf has repeatedly said he will work within the confines of the Constitution, I have no reason to doubt that, he said in an interview with PBS News Hour on Wednesday.
Asked about the sacking of the CJP and if it was a mistake, Kasuri said, The government put up a case which it finds pretty strong, but... the issue is public reaction. The government probably underestimated public reaction because it thought it was acting according to the Constitution. Kasuri indicated Musharraf would shed his uniform by the end of the year. The Constitution allows the president to wear his uniform until the end of 2007 and he has said on many occasions he will abide by the Constitution. Kasuri said the US had full faith in Musharrafs leadership. They have told me repeatedly that they believe him when he says he is leading to a transition to civil democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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A satellite photograph obtained by ABC News reveals Pakistan is nearing completion of a third, previously unknown plutonium production reactor, suggesting Pakistan may be planning to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal.
"With large stocks of plutonium, Pakistan can build a new generation of lighter, more powerful weapons that can more easily be launched via missiles and can cause far more damage," said David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), which, along with DigitalGlobe, provided the satellite image to ABC News.
Ya think?
How come we didn't hear about this from the IAEA?
The image, taken on June 3, indicates the new reactor is a replica of a second heavy water reactor, also under construction, at Khushab, approximately 109 miles south of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.
The third reactor is located a few hundred meters to the north of the second. The original reactor at the site began operations in 1998.
According to Albright, construction of the third reactor has been especially rapid. In the GeoEye image from August 2006, only minimal ground excavation is visible.
Posted by: lotp ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[10 views]
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Stolen Homer Simpson statue found
6/21/2007, 7:46 a.m. CDT
By SEAN YOONG
The Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Two college students believed to be over-exuberant fans of "The Simpsons" stole a life-sized figurine of Homer Simpson from a cinema, but police tracked them down and forced them to return it Thursday.
"This case has been solved," Mazlan Mansor, police chief of Malaysia's central Petaling Jaya district, told The Associated Press.
The fiberglass replica of Homer holding a TV remote control was part of a promotional display at a local cinema for the upcoming big-screen version of the U.S. TV cartoon series.
[MENL] -- Egypt has quietly supported the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip. Western intelligence sources said Egypt cooperated with Hamas in allowing shipments of weapons, munitions and explosives that facilitated the Islamic takeover of the Gaza Strip last week. The sources said Egypt concluded that a Hamas takeover would halt or reduce insurgency infiltration in the Sinai Peninsula. "The Egyptians were in the picture as early as several weeks ago," an intelligence source said. "[Hamas leader Khaled] Mashaal discussed the Fatah strategic threat and said Hamas would stop [Fatah security chief Mohammed] Dahlan at any cost."
In a recent telephone conversation with Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman, Masha'al said Dahlan and his allies were working with Al Qaida-aligned groups to undermine Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The sources quoted Masha'al as saying that Fatah was allowing Al Qaida to infiltrate the Sinai Peninsula to facilitate attacks on the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 07:36 ||
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#1
OK, fine. Then remove the wall between Gaza and the rest of Egypt. Still support the takeover?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
06/22/2007 8:47 Comments ||
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#2
Close the borders Israel. Let Egypt also carry the financial support for Gaza.
Posted by: ed ||
06/22/2007 9:04 Comments ||
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#3
I call shenanigans.
Somebody is buying a lot of Hamas BS here and I don't think it is the Egyptians (Omar Suleiman is known to detest several of the Hamas big shots).
#4
Let the Egyptians provide food and water as well. These "Palestinians" were all Egyptian Arabs once the British left. Let them soil their own nest. But demand reparations for Israeli investment in infrastructure and upkeep.
Does Rodan ever have a scoop that doesn't involve anonymous sources? Not that it really matters to him, as long as his headline gets picked up by another rag "As reported".
(IsraelNN.com) Almagor, an organization of victims of Arab terrorism, asked Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday for the names of those Palestinian Authority residents allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt or for Judea and Samaria. Sources in the organization say that among the fleeing Arabs are those responsible for attacks on Jewish families in what was the Gush Katif bloc of communities in Gaza until the 2005 Disengagement Plan uprooted it. Almagor has expressed its official opposition to allowing PA Arabs to leave Gaza for other destinations near Israeli population centers.
"We stand in amazement at the capitulation of the State of Israel before non-governmental pressures from organizations aiding the Palestinians, including from foreign states, to assist members of Fatah," said the Almagor letter to Defense Minister Barak. "It seems as though it has been forgotten in the public debate that those Fatah members are the very same who sought our demise, and a large portion of them took part in terrorist activities against the State of Israel and its citizens."
On Wednesday night, the IDF provided buses to transport dozens of PA Arabs from the Erez Crossing on the northern tip of Gaza to the Kerem Shalom Crossing on the southern tip of Gaza, and then across the Egyptian border. The buses, traveling on Israeli roads, were surrounded by heavy security to prevent the Fatah-affiliated Arabs from escaping while in pre-1967 Israel. The transfer was negotiated with the Egyptian regime.
According to the terror victims group, 30 out of the 60 PA Arabs who were transferred by Israel from Gaza to the Sinai peninsula were prohibited from entering Israel due to their involvement in terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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(IsraelNN.com) Testimony from within Gaza belies the Hamas "reign of peace" claimed by a Hamas official in a New York Times op-ed. The PLO, convening in Ramallah, has announced its support of the Fatah-led government of PA chairman and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas. It also supports Abbas' proposal to establish an emergency government without Hamas. The Fatah chief has installed Salam Fayad as Prime Minister, and has halted the payment of salaries to public employees in Gaza. Other decisions by the PLO governing board: a call for Abbas (Abu Mazen) to prepare for new elections for both Chairman and the Parliament, and support for the Fatah decision to disarm all armed groups in the PA, including Hamas and Fatah's Al-Aksa Brigades.
Hamas, on the other hand, does not recognize Abu Mazen's dismissal of Hamas leader Ismail Haniye as Prime Minister of the PA. It is trying to stabilize its rule in Gaza. The division of the Palestinian Authority into two entities - Gaza and Judea/Samaria - thus becomes more of a fact, with two different governments shaping up. Gaza is now widely and informally known as Hamastan, and Judea/Samaria as Fatahland.
Hamas has threatened to publicize Fatah documents it uncovered during its sudden takeover ten days ago. The documents purportedly show that officials in the Abu Mazen administration cooperated with Israel in anti-terrorist and anti-Hamas actions.
Op-ed Paints Rosy - but Disputed - Picture Though an op-ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, by Haniye's advisor Ahmed Yousef, maintains that Hamas is peace-loving and responsible, many do not agree. Yousef writes, "From the day Hamas won the general elections in 2006, it offered Fatah the chance of joining forces and forming a unity government. It tried to engage the international community to explain its platform for peace. It has consistently offered a 10-year cease-fire with the Israelis to try to create an atmosphere of calm in which we resolve our differences... For 18 months we have tried to find ways to coexist with Fatah, entering into a unity government, even conceding key positions in the cabinet to their and international demands, negotiating up until the last moment to try to provide security for all of our people on the streets of Gaza...
"Eventually we were forced into trying to take control of a very dangerous situation in order to provide political stability and establish law and order. The streets of Gaza are now calm for the first time in a very long time. We have begun disarming some of the drug dealers and the armed gangs, and we hope to restore a sense of security and safety to the citizens of Gaza. We want to get children back to school, get basic services functioning again, and provide long-term economic gains for our people... Our sole focus is Palestinian rights and good governance. We now hope to create a climate of peace and tranquility within our community that will pave the way for an end to internal strife... We reject attempts to divide Palestine into two parts and to pass Hamas off as an extreme and dangerous force. We continue to believe that there is still a chance to establish a long-term truce. But this will not happen unless the international community fully engages with Hamas. .."
Others tell a very different story. The NFC news site quotes residents of Gaza who speak of a "regime of fear." Life has become impossible under the Hamas militias, they said. The site reports that hundreds of residents were forcibly removed from their homes and mosques on Wednesday night in order to take part in protest rallies against Abu Mazen. "We couldn't refuse," residents said, "because the Hamas forces would not have hesitated to murder us with the claim that we belonged to the Fatah revolutionaries."
In addition to their fear of expressing anti-Hamas opinions, the residents also are concerned that food and medicine supplies will run out within a number of days. Even fishermen are not allowed to fish past a certain distance from the shore.
Many can't wait to leave for Egypt. One man said, "We look forward to stability not in hope that Haniye's government will succeed, but just so that the crossings will open and we can get out of here... Hamas will try to survive despite international isolation, and we will become poverty cases in the name of the political struggle here."
Even Arab Knesset Member Muhammed Barakeh, speaking at the PLO meeting today, implied that Hamas was not working for the good of the Palestinian Authority people. He said that the main goal now is to "protect our nation fro m regional and international agendas that are disconnected from our national issues." Barakeh implied that Hamas was not working for a Palestinian state. Other Arab MKs said earlier this week and last that the Hamas violence during its takeover of Gaza had "put Palestinian nationalism tens of years behind," and called it "crimes against the Palestinian nation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
The PLO, convening in Ramallah, has announced its support of the Fatah-led government of PA chairman and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas
(PIC)-- Palestinian MPs accused the mutiny trend's leader in Fatah faction MP Mohammad Dahlan of involvement in the assassination of the late PA chief Yasser Arafat, and in the shooting at the motorcade of PA premier Ismail Haneyya as well as the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza.
"Hamas obtained serious documents conclusively proving Dahlan's involvement along with his band in the assassination of the late PA chief Abu Ammar," Faraj Al-Ghoul, chairman of the legal committee of PLC, charged in a press statement to the Sharjah-based Khalij newspaper. "The documents convict Dahlan of corruption, and establishing death squads. In addition, we have confessions of the leaders of the preventive security apparatus who have been arrested in Gaza recently", Ghoul revealed, calling for a fair trial for Dahlan and his partners and an honest investigation into the evidence and documents.
For his part, the spokesman of the Hamas-affiliated change and reform bloc in the PLC, Mushir Al-Masri confirmed to the same newspaper, that Dahlan and his group were behind the shooting at the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza and the motorcade of PA premier Ismail Haneyya last February. Masri also stated that Hamas welcomed the formation of "a fact-finding committee" by the Arab League, and underlined that the Egyptian security delegation is "fully informed of what happened and is happening" in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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#1
"In addition, we have confessions of the leaders of the preventive security apparatus who have been arrested in Gaza recently"
Dare we mention torture? Any viewings available, or are the "perps" conveniently dead?
#4
"The documents convict Dahlan ...", Ghoul revealed, calling for a fair trial for Dahlan and his partners and an honest investigation into the evidence and documents.
Hmmmm...Can we send Jimmy Carter to supervise? And just how was Arafat bumped off?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2007 6:27 Comments ||
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#5
"The documents convict Dahlan ...", Ghoul revealed, calling for a fair trial for Dahlan and his partners and an honest investigation into the evidence and documents.
Hmmmm...Can we send Jimmy Carter to supervise? And just how was Arafat bumped off?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2007 6:27 Comments ||
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#6
No,no - now I only pressed submit once, and got an error message. So I backed up and submitted again. What else was I to do?
Double postings look so ... silly... so juvenile.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/22/2007 6:30 Comments ||
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#7
Arafat probably died from the AIDS virus he contracted from a teenage prostitute named Mohammad.
Posted by: Glusotch, Avenger of the Wombats7546 ||
06/22/2007 7:23 Comments ||
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#10
Does this revelation really make a rat's ass difference? the shitforbrains is dead, and the follow on losers are fighting over the dregs....time for another sewer break, or some other fun activity....
A Palestinian division of the Jordanian military should be deployed in the West Bank in order to bring law and order to the area , opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Thursday. During a visit to Washington, Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that Palestinians will not be able to impose order alone and require international assistance to do so. "We can't build up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with Palestinian forces alone. We need Egyptian and Jordanian involvement," he said.
"Egypt must block arms smuggling in the Philadelphi corridor, which is has not done to date. Jordan can and must support the effort with a measured security contribution in the West Bank," he elaborated. "We need to consider a new role for Jordan, one of Jordanian support," he told Ynet. "Depending, of course, on the willingness of Abbas and (Jordanian king) Abdullah, we must begin to coordinate Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian security cooperation."
Netanyahu met with US Vice President Dick Cheney, discussing with him the Iranian threat. He said economic and political action should be taken against the regime, stating that economic sanctions had the potential to be effective. However, he said, the bottom line was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The world must not become accustomed to a nuclear Iran, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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The tracking of cell phones by Australian police via U.S. satellites was central to the arrests of two key Indonesian terror suspects, underscoring the role Western nations play in battling extremism in the world's most populous Muslimnation.
Vital details are only now emerging about this month's arrests, which struck a major blow against a Southeast Asian militant network blamed for deadly suicide bombings. Indonesian police seized Zarkasih, identified by police as the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, and Abu Dujana, the group's military commander, on June 9. Six other alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members also were picked up.
Also key to the capture of the Afghan-trained pair was information from suspects arrested earlier in a raid on a militant stronghold, and a web of paid informants and former militants working to persuade hard-liners to change sides, according to police officers and Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, a top anti-terror official.
Jemaah Islamiyah members and associates have been blamed for deadly bombings on the resort island of Bali and attacks on the J.W. Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. The bombings - some of which police say were carried out with funds and direction from al-Qaida - together killed more than 240 people, mostly Western tourists.
Despite a crackdown that has resulted in hundreds of arrests, police and former militants say the threat of another terror strike remains high because the most dangerous extremists have long stopped operating under Jemaah Islamiyah's command. "The more people who have learned the skills of jihad, the harder things are to control," said Abu Rusdan, a militant cleric who authorities say was a Jemaah Islamiyah leader in 2003. "They feel obliged to carry out actions wherever they are, whether itbe Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia."
Details of foreign assistance in Indonesian police work are not normally made public for fear that doing so could trigger a backlash in the country, where suspicion of the governments of the U.S. and Australia runs high.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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#1
This cops and robbers stuff is fun and all, impressive even, but is a near complete waste of time. Burn and fumigate the Orc nests instead and save the effort.
Iran claimed today to have stockpiled 100kg of enriched uranium, enough in theory to create two nuclear bombs of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima. The news will once again stoke fears that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime is seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
Iran would need 50kg of weapons-grade uranium in order to make one nuclear weapon equal in power to the one dropped by the Americans in 1945. So far, the regimes uranium has only been enriched to the level needed for generating electricity in civilian nuclear power stations.
But if Iran chooses to enrich it to 84 per cent purity, it would reach weapons-grade level and become the essential material for building a bomb.
Mustapha Pourmohammedi, Iran's interior minister, told the official news agency that the moment of maximum international pressure on his country had passed and that Teheran would press ahead with its nuclear programme. "When the world saw that the nation is pursuing this goal with unity, the world has surrendered. We have passed the dangerous moment," he said.
By storing such a high quantity of low-enriched uranium, President Ahmadinejad's regime is widening its options. It could choose to enrich the stockpiled uranium to weapons-grade level in a matter of months perhaps after formally withdrawing from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and breaking out of all international safeguards.
Iran claims that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and designed to do nothing more than generate electricity for its growing population of 70 million. But western governments disbelieve this assertion.
Iran is defying three United Nations resolutions with its nuclear programme. In spite of international pressure to halt the programme it announced in April that it had started enriching uranium on an "industrial scale". Iran's official target is to bring 3,000 [centrifuges] into action enough to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for one bomb in about a year.
Posted by: 3dc ||
06/22/2007 14:57 ||
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Al-Joussiyeh border crossing: According to As- Safir newspaper, about three in the afternoon on Wednesday, the security guard of the Syrian border crossing was checking the documents of a Syrian taxi driver that was trying to enter Syria from Lebanon.
When the phone suddenly rang he took the documents with him, and rushed inside to answer the phone. He then ran back, returned the documents to the driver and asked him to leave quickly. He proceeded to lock the metal barrier that divides the 2 counties.
The Syrian driver was not allowed to enter the gate, and it was of no use protesting. He was told by the guard that he received an order to close the border crossing, and he could not violate the order. He told the driver orders are orders.
The Syrian taxi driver, who had a family with children with him, was outraged. You mean we, the citizens of Syria, cannot enter our own country?, asked the puzzled driver.
The driver started to sing and laugh loudly out of outrage, "I am banned from entering my own country banned from enjoying the warmth of my family banned from seeing my ailing mother! The Arab world is my country from Lebanon to Syria ... ha ha ha!"
One phone call was enough to keep hundreds of Syrians and Lebanese away from their families. News about the closure travels fast, and everyone was outraged. Many Syrian farmers had trucks full of produce that they wanted to sell in Lebanon, but now they have to either dump the goods, or return them to Syria to sell at deep discount and lose a lot of money.
Through this same border crossing hundreds of cars and trucks traveled yesterday, but not today because of an order. As the Syrian border security claimed, "orders are orders."
This is a living example of how the dictators of Syria operate. They issue orders in the most ruthless manner, without any regard to the people of both countries Syria and Lebanon. That Syrian taxi driver was theoretically already inside Syria when he presented his documents, but he was turned away back to Lebanon.
This is the regime that dictated the lives of the Lebanese for nearly 3 decades.
This is the regime that forced the birth of the Cedar Revolution, right after the assassination of Lebanons former PM Rafik Hariri. The main demand of the Cedar Revolution was for Syria to get out of Lebanon.
This is the same regime that continues to destabilize Lebanon, using its allies such as Hezbollah, Amal, General Aoun and president Lahoud, whose term was extended by force under pressure by the Syrian rulers.
This is the same regime that was accused of being responsible for assassinating Lebanons anti-Syrian leaders starting from MP Kamal Jumblatt in 1977, to MP Walid Eido in June 2007.
This is the same regime that created, financed, and trained Fatah al Islam terrorists, and sent them to Lebanon to fight against the Lebanese army.
This is the same regime that has fought the creation of the international court to try the killers of Hariri and the other leaders of Lebanon.
This is the same regime that continues to illegally smuggle arms into Lebanon to destabilize the country.
This is the same regime that continues to facilitate travel for terrorists from Iraq to cross into Lebanon to destabilize the country.
This is the same regime that refuses to recognize Lebanon as a sovereign and independent state and refuses to demarcate the borders. The closure yesterday of the border crossing unilaterally and without consulting with Lebanon is a truly living example of the fact that this regime does not recognize Lebanon as an independent and sovereign state it clearly shows lack of respect for its neighbor. The border crossing is after all shared equally between Lebanon and Syria.
This is exactly why many Lebanese want UNIFIL forces stationed on the borders between both countries.
This is exactly why many Lebanese are saying, to hell with Syria and its borders, lets use the sea instead. The Phoenicians used the sea thousands of years ago, why cant we use it today?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The driver started to sing and laugh loudly out of outrage
Saturday, June 23 at 9 p.m. ET
Repeats Sunday, June 24 at 3 a.m. ET
Tune in this weekend, as FOX News Channel presents the documentary the Public Broadcasting System didn't want you to see.
It's a film about the difference between moderate Muslims and the radicals who want to kill us. It asks where are the moderate Muslims and why aren't they speaking out against the jihadists? And it was financed with $675,000 of taxpayers' money. It was commissioned as part of the PBS series "America at the Crossroads" about the post 9/11 world, but PBS executives rejected it.
PBS claims the filmmakers were "alarmist, overreaching and unfair." The filmmakers say they were censored because of liberal bias at PBS. On a topic this important, we think you have the right to decide for yourself.
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/22/2007 08:41 ||
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#1
I wonder what that Saudi prince who owns a block of Fox stock thinks about this? I have to wonder if Fox is still as responsive to his little desires as they were at first.
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.
A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan told BBC on Thursday that they were hunting for NATO spies who had infiltrated the movement and that they were aiming to mount more Iraq-style suicide bombings on Kabul. Taliban spokesman 
France on Thursday successfully test-fired an inter-continental missile that will be outfitted to its new class of nuclear submarines in 2010, Defence Minister Herve Morin said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility and move its terror suspects to military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned. Senior administration officials said Thursday a consensus is building for a proposal to shut the center and transfer detainees to one or more Defense Department facilities, including the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where they could face trial.
Technical issues are delaying the completion of a multibillion-dollar high-tech fence intended to reduce illegal entry along the nation's southern border, the government said Thursday. 
A satellite photograph obtained by ABC News reveals Pakistan is nearing completion of a third, previously unknown plutonium production reactor, suggesting Pakistan may be planning to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal. 
(IsraelNN.com) Testimony from within Gaza belies the Hamas "reign of peace" claimed by a Hamas official in a New York Times op-ed. The PLO, convening in Ramallah, has announced its support of the Fatah-led government of PA chairman and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas. It also supports Abbas' proposal to establish an emergency government without Hamas. The Fatah chief has installed Salam Fayad as Prime Minister, and has halted the payment of salaries to public employees in Gaza. Other decisions by the PLO governing board: a call for Abbas (Abu Mazen) to prepare for new elections for both Chairman and the Parliament, and support for the Fatah decision to disarm all armed groups in the PA, including Hamas and Fatah's Al-Aksa Brigades. 
Though an op-ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, by Haniye's advisor Ahmed Yousef, maintains that Hamas is peace-loving and responsible, many do not agree. Yousef writes, "From the day Hamas won the general elections in 2006, it offered Fatah the chance of joining forces and forming a unity government. It tried to engage the international community to explain its platform for peace. It has consistently offered a 10-year cease-fire with the Israelis to try to create an atmosphere of calm in which we resolve our differences... For 18 months we have tried to find ways to coexist with Fatah, entering into a unity government, even conceding key positions in the cabinet to their and international demands, negotiating up until the last moment to try to provide security for all of our people on the streets of Gaza... 
(PIC)-- Palestinian MPs accused the mutiny trend's leader in Fatah faction MP Mohammad Dahlan of involvement in the assassination of the late PA chief Yasser Arafat, and in the shooting at the motorcade of PA premier Ismail Haneyya as well as the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza. 
A Palestinian division of the Jordanian military should be deployed in the West Bank in order to bring law and order to the area , opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Thursday. During a visit to Washington, Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that Palestinians will not be able to impose order alone and require international assistance to do so. "We can't build up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with Palestinian forces alone. We need Egyptian and Jordanian involvement," he said. 
Iran claimed today to have stockpiled 100kg of enriched uranium, enough in theory to create two nuclear bombs of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima. The news will once again stoke fears that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime is seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
