The Captain's Journal and Blackfive and Ace of Spades are on this.
If the story is even close to as presented, then I believe we need to bring all our troops home now. From everywhere. And discharge them from service. It is wrong to have an army and expose it to harm if you won't back it up.
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
Published: September 18, 2007
FORT BRAGG, N.C., Sept. 17 — From his position about 100 yards away, Master Sgt. Troy Anderson had a clear shot at the Afghan man standing outside a residential compound in a village near the Pakistan border last October. When Capt. Dave Staffel, the Special Forces officer in charge, gave the order to shoot, Sergeant Anderson fired a bullet into the man’s head, killing him.
In June, Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson were charged with premeditated murder. On Tuesday, in a rare public examination of the rules that govern the actions of Special Operations troops in Afghanistan, a military hearing will convene at Fort Bragg to weigh the evidence against the two men, both Green Berets.
The case revolves around differing interpretations of the kind of force that the Special Forces team that hunted and killed the man, Nawab Buntangyar, were allowed to use once they found him, apparently unarmed.
To the Special Forces soldiers and their 12-man detachment, the shooting, near the village of Ster Kalay, was a textbook example of a classified mission completed in accordance with the American rules of engagement. They said those rules allowed the killing of Mr. Buntangyar, whom the American Special Operations Command here has called an “enemy combatant.”
Mr. Buntangyar had organized suicide and roadside bomb attacks, Captain StaffelÂ’s lawyer said.
But to the two-star general in charge of the Special Operations forces in Afghanistan at the time, Frank H. Kearney, who has since become a three-star general, the episode appeared to be an unauthorized, illegal killing. In June, after two military investigations, General Kearney moved to have murder charges brought against Captain Staffel and Sergeant Anderson — respectively, the junior commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers of Operational Detachment Alpha 374, Third Battalion, Third Special Forces Group.
The soldiersÂ’ cases also highlight the level of scrutiny that General Kearney, who also ordered swift investigations into an elite Marine unit accused of killing Afghan civilians last March, has given to the actions of some of the most specialized and independent American troops fighting Taliban and insurgent forces along the border with Pakistan.
Mark Waple, a civilian lawyer representing Captain Staffel, said the charges against his client and Sergeant Anderson carry a whiff of “military politics.” In an interview, Mr. Waple said that General Kearney proceeded with murder charges against the two soldiers even after an investigation by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command concluded in April that the shooting had been “justifiable homicide.”
#3
keep General Kearney in the spotlight. IF he doesn't like it, he's a roach. Sounds like a PC/JAG FUBAR
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2007 21:24 Comments ||
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#4
If there is a disagreement on what was permitted, the General in charge was not clear in giving his instructions, nor in confirming his intent was understood. It's a straightforward manager screw-up, and he either needs to be counselled and retrained or let go for incompetence in a critical skill set.
Long and good piece from PJM about the faked Al Dura footage currently held by France 2. The story provides enough background for you to check it out if you haven't been following the story. Just the teaser here:
PJM Paris: Many have accused the photo of young Mohammed Al DuraÂ’s father shielding him from Israeli bullets of being a fake, but the original videotape from which this photo was drawn was hidden from view by France 2. Yesterday a French judge finally ordered the channel to produce it. PJMÂ’s Nidra Poller was one of the few journalists witnessing this stunning turning point.
AoS at 1045 CDT: link fixed. Sorry!
This article starring:
Mohammed Al Dura
Nidra Poller
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/21/2007 00:21 ||
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#3
Let's see if the ecole mafia manage to hold out or if they really let go of the unedited footage. Proving and publicizing the al Dura deceipt could be the most important result of Sarko's election, if it happens.
#9
This is but one small part of what needs to be a concerted international effort to expose and dismantle the Islamic propaganda machine. Ahmed Abu Laban's purposeful inclusion of inflammatory images wholly unrelated to cartoons published by Jyllands Posten went almost entirely unreported despite the central role they played in escalating falsely incited Muslim outrage.
The routine distortions and outright lies utilized by Islamic media outlets makes our own traitorous mainstream media wankers look like a troop of boy scouts. One need look no further than Iran to understand the immense importance of contrived stories and agitating rhetoric. Ahmadinejad's albeit waning popularity is sustained almost entirely by such blatant manipulation.
Both Israel and especially America have demonstrated a fundamental lack of awareness regarding the damage done by not deconstructing Islamic propaganda. Kitman and taqiyya predominate amongst the tools used by Muslims to falsely portray themselves as victims. The Soviet Union's use of disinformation and slanted reporting long ago should have taught the West whatever lessons were needed.
A republican victory in 2009 is almost entirely dependent upon overcoming their own needless reluctance to begin challenging these media-borne assaults upon fact based public opinion. Hillary Clinton's incredibly flawed and borderline communist agenda needs to be crushed beneath an avalanche of well-reasoned refutation and logical alternatives. The same goes for Islamic propaganda as both of them serve an equally anti-American platform.
At least 1,000 former fighters in "holy wars" in the Middle East and Chechnya are living in Belgium. Most of these are people who left Belgium to fight in these regions and have since returned. They are more radical as a result of their experiences. This information comes from a study by police and security services, says Glenn Audenaert, director of the federal police in Brussels.
"They are extremists, fundamentalists and above all experienced veterans. I wouldn't call them terrorists, but they could become that," says Audenaert.
"They are relatively young people who grew up in Belgium. Some are also Belgian nationals. They left to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Chechnya as "jihadis" (warriors for Islam). They fought there against a demonised enemy, under a foreign flag. Their combat experience has made them more extreme. Their discourse is more fundamentalist than ever."
Posted by: lotp ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Funny how Euros collected trash that Arab regimes gladly disposed off. Sure, so did US, Canada Oz and NZ, but not to such an extent, there was no such concept produced by deranged elitists like USArabia, or Canadarabia, as was Eurabia. The war in Europe will make WWII pale in comparison.
#3
"They are extremists, fundamentalists and above all experienced veterans. I wouldn't call them terrorists, but they could become that," says Audenaert.
Geez, and ya wonder why the Belgians are going down the shitter with this guy as head of the federal cops...
An Iraqi Kurd sentenced to seven years’ jail in Germany last year for aiding the Iraqi insurgency is being freed early and removed from a United Nations terrorism blacklist, sources close to the case say. Lokman Amin Mohammed, 33, was this week taken off the U.N.’s al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions list at Germany’s request, as a reward for cooperating with the authorities and providing evidence in other trials. “At the same time that he’s now getting released from prison, he’s been taken off the list,” said one source familiar with the case. “He’s been helping prosecutors in other cases, providing information and so forth, so much so that he now needs some sort of witness protection and therefore needs to be taken off the (sanctions) list.”
A German justice ministry spokesman said he had no information on the possible release of Mohammed, whose address is given on the U.N. sanctions Web site as Stadelheim prison, Munich.
His case resembles that of Shadi Abdalla, a former bodyguard to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was convicted of planning attacks in Germany but also freed early, in 2004, given a new identity and removed from the U.N. list. However, Mohammed was a “bigger fish” than Abdalla, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. In January last year, Mohammed became the first person convicted in Germany under a new law, introduced after the Sept. 11 attacks on America in 2001, that banned membership of foreign terrorist organisations. Prosecutors said he was a leading figure in Western Europe for Ansar al-Islam, an insurgent group which the United States had linked to al Qaeda.
They said Mohammed provided money and medical and communications equipment for Ansar al-Islam and recruited fighters, one of whom carried out a suicide attack in Iraq. He was also accused of illegally smuggling wounded Iraqi fighters into Europe for medical treatment, including a bomb-maker who had lost both hands in an accidental blast and was brought to Britain via Italy and France in 2003. MohammedÂ’s was the first of several trials in Germany involving alleged members of Ansar al-Islam. In one case, three supporters of the group are accused of plotting to assassinate visiting Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi in Berlin in 2004.
This article starring:
Ansar al-Islam
Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi
Lokman Amin Mohammed
Ansar al-Islam
Shadi Abdalla
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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A Tacoma man who falsely claimed he was a decorated war hero when he took the stage at demonstrations held in opposition to the U.S.'s role in Iraq was sentenced this morning to five months in prison in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Jesse MacBeth, 23, was also sentenced to three months in a halfway house after his release and three years of probation.
MacBeth claimed that he was an Army ranger who killed more than 200 people, many at close range, including some as they prayed in a mosque. He spoke at an anti-war rally in Tacoma and appeared in a 20-minute anti-war video that circulated widely on the Internet.
In reality, MacBeth made it through only six weeks of Army basic training and never set foot in Iraq.
Conservative bloggers exposed MacBeth in May 2006, destroying his credibility and embarrassing the Seattle company that produced the video about his exploits.
On June 7, MacBeth pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. MacBeth admitted that he filed a bogus claim for VA benefits in 2005, which included a fraudulent military-discharge form.
MacBeth said on the forms that he had been in the Army for more than three years and had achieved the rank of corporal. He also claimed he had been awarded a Purple Heart and that he was discharged because he suffered from post-traumatic-stress disorder. MacBeth spent 44 days as a private at Fort Benning, Ga., in 2003, but was released "for issues related to entry-level performance and conduct," according to court papers.
PepperSpray Productions in Seattle produced the video titled "Jesse MacBeth: An Iraq Veteran Speaks Out." In the film, MacBeth told nuanced tales of brutal killings he carried out at the behest of his commanding officers. "They would actually feel the hot muzzle of my rifle on their forehead," he reportedly said on the video, which is no longer in circulation.
#1
Jesse can take some comfort in the fact that his tall tales have been added to the left's long list of "fake but accurate" American military atrocities,to be cited as fact for many years to come.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
09/21/2007 18:49 Comments ||
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#3
Yeah, but did he say that he committed atrocities reminiscent of Jenjis Khan?
BTW, great graphic Moose! Kinda makes me feel sorry for the poor slobs who fell for JM's story....<"Well Stanley, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into!">
#4
So much for Jesse's career as a Special Forces Ranger (heh!) and war criminal. From deadly heart-breaker/life-taker to federal jailbird. What a (not so) long strange trip it's been!
In his first public comments on the MoveOn.org controversy, President Bush on Thursday excoriated Democrats for not repudiating the activist liberal group, which ran a newspaper ad attacking a respected U.S. general.
Responding to a question by The Examiner at a White House press conference, Bush ripped last week's MoveOn.org ad in the New York Times that mocked General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, as "General Betray Us" and accused him of "cooking the books" on Iraq.
"I thought that the ad was disgusting," a clearly agitated Bush said. "I felt like the ad was an attack, not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org — are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal. It's one thing to attack me. It's another thing to attack somebody like General Petraeus." Word. Not one false statement or suggestion here. Nothing a sane person could use against him. Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.pimporg's Political Action Committee, took this as an invitation to accuse Bush himself of betrayal. Of course, he'd take anything as an invitation to accuse W of betrayal he's so blinded by hate. Or money. Or both.
"What's disgusting is that the president has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq and end this awful war," Pariser said after the press conference. Jesus H. Christ. Look who's talking. Tugging at every heartstring and throwing out every buzzword he can in a desperate bid to seem valid. Where do I begin? Since MoveOn fired the first shot, I would say that they were the ones who are interested in political (and personal!) attacks to achieve their goal-for-the-ignorant. W would not have issued any attacks had it not been for this "ad", which more than called for W's understated response.
"The president has no credibility on Iraq: he lied repeatedly to the American people to get us into the war. Most Americans oppose the war and want us to get out. Right now, there are about 168,000 American soldiers in Iraq, caught in the crossfire of that country's unwinnable civil war, and the president has betrayed their trust and the trust of the American people." Stuck on stoopid. You obviously are looking at old statistics, and no statistics regarding congress's approval rating, which is about 1/3 of W's. You'd best go do a little reading before you slither out from under your rock to say something. I hate it when adults act like children. My kids don't think I see right through what they say, either. Or do they think their audience is stupid enough to believe it? Maybe they don't care about the ones who don't. Just about anything they say depends on people's ignorance. For beginners, what passed as a "civil war" to liberals because it was a handy excuse for their arguments is now a thing of the past. If W lied then so did the intelligence agencies of every other country out there.
So if lying counts as betrayal, then it isn't W who is the traitor here, it's MoveOn.pimp.
The ad has not been denounced by most leading Democrats, including the top-tier contenders for their party's presidential nomination — Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. I'd sure like to know what is going through their heads other than "Don't pi$$ off my pimp." Even their supporters would probably like them to say something in a timely fashion that could have gone like "I don't like the ad but it still doesn't change my position on the war". At least it would suggest they weren't the whores that they are.
#5
Clowns like Eli Pariser live in their own echo chamber and only accept information that conforms to what they want to hear. How blind is this? Consider the politicizing the military? Four thousand years of human history clearly demonstrate you want the military not to be politicized cause in the end, they become the people running the government. I guess the Eli thinks its different here, special above every other human pattern of behavior.
He's also failed to notice in the real reporting that America's military is eating the insurgency and AQ alive. So, just pause Eli, you think that after the generals accept the authority to run things, that we could rise up to overthrow the suits? Look again. They've been damn well successful in cleaning house. They're getting the strategy and the tactics in dealing with the 'problem'. They're taking down your allies daily. So much so, that your allies know that their only hope of success is for you to win within the beltway cause all else is lost. Dream on. The allure of the song of the barricades is indeed a dream. Like - in the sleep of death what dreams may come.
Don't ever force the American people to have to choose between weiners like you or their military. Cause you ain't it.
#7
Was stuck in a doctor's waiting room yesterday, watching the big screen tv on CNBC (Shudder) as the crawl on the botom said "Bush approval rating is 39%" they instantly cut the crawl.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/21/2007 14:11 Comments ||
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#8
The economy's in a tailspin? Since when? Record low unemployment means record high employment. Record highs on Wall Street despite a few adjustments which were overdue. Record tax revenues so the government and both parties can spend like drunken sailors.
Where's the tailspin? Where's the recession? Where's the irreparable change making us all peasants? Even without a job currently my credit rating is good enough that all I need is a co-signer to get a new car, I've got an unemployment award that almost equals my bi-weekly net takehome, and I have a roof over my head, food in my stomach, a little leftover play/beer money, and enough to take care of everything else.
I'm no serf - and neither are the people I work or otherwise associate with.
#9
The only negative to some quarters is the valuation of the US Dollar.
(I believe the Canadian Dollar matched it in the last day or so? That was on the front of the local commuter paper/fishwrap--albeit on Friday's they carry The Manolo, which is cool.)
#10
Maybe someone can explain to me the problem of the Canadian dollar matching the US dollar. It did when I was younger, and I don't remember anyone whining about it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2007 15:39 Comments ||
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#11
Maybe someone can explain to me the problem of the Canadian dollar matching the US dollar.
It means some people's Labatt and Molson is going to cost more before they filter it through their kidneys. :)
#12
Barbara: i have been listening to a Canadian station for awhile ( better music) and they are concerned because there have already been big job losses ( ~ 250K) due to loss of buying power. add in the better value in the US and the Canadians have been streaming across the border ( here is WA state) and spending like mad. (refuse to say like a drunken sailor) that equates to a loss of tax revenue. for us US tourists, it means that we cannot get so much when we go up north. i travel up ther almost monthly to go racing and we are now carrying our booze and food more than before.
#13
Oil will get way more expensive. And foreign products. And foreign work. There will be a limit of course, when taking care of things locally offers more value than going abroad. But that limit is at prices significantly higher than they are now. On the flip side, everyone will want to buy our stuff because our price is pegged more to the dollar than the euro, and will therefore be cheaper than what they can buy at their home.
It's a mix, but I don't see that other countries that had a currency with low valuation suffered all that badly. Maybe I'm wrong here.
I don't know what effect it will have on our bond payments etc., but I would think they would be paid off in dollars. Of course the dollars are worth less, so it should be easier to meet those obligations in a way, especially with tons of euros coming in. If this is true, then I don't see why any country with investments here would like to see the dollar devalued.
I suppose I am probably half-baked here. Can anyone else shed some light on this for me/others?
#14
That's all true, gorb, but there are some downsides. We finance a lot of our growth and high standard of living by borrowing from foreigners. If they think they will be paid back in dollars that will be worth less, they will charge a higher interest rate to lend us money. That will result in less foreign borrowing, fewer imports and a lower standard of living or in higher interest rates and ultimately a recession.
There is also a foreign policy implication. Countries with a strong currency are seen as strong countries that can manage affairs. Countries with weak countries are seen as ill-disciplined sloths who cannot manage their own affairs let alone those of others, see Italy.
A lot of that may be written off as perception. But most financial activities rest on confidence, which is ultimately a perception.
This is the culmination of a lot of trends, some of which go back to FDR. It will be a long time a fixin, also. But once the boomers do the far, far better thing than they have ever done before and kill Medicare and Socialized Security to pay for the coming War, things will get back on track. Otherwise, the future may look a lot like the 50's and 60's for Britain as our currency falls from favor as a reliable store of value.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
09/21/2007 18:53 Comments ||
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#16
To add to Nimble Spemble's excellent summary, the key fall out of the very low valuation for the US$ will be the imminent unpegging of the Saudi currency (and oil prices in general) from the dollar.
It was that peg that let us borrow so heavily and spend the money on consumer goods & expensive houses without paying a predicted penalty a couple years earlier than today. The desire for dollars was less about the strength of our economy by, say, 2005 than it was about the need to use dollars for energy trading and secondarily for other trading.
Our current situation, in which consumers are mostly insulated against the penalties for a weak dollar, is not sustainable. When the piper comes to be paid, he will be paid painfully, I fear.
Caveat: geopolitics and geoeconomics are shifting in fundamental ways. Add in a really transforming technology that gets commercialized fast ... say, a breakthrough nanotech / energy / robotics application mature enough to spin off products that are worth the cost of switching ... and all bets are off.
The Senate voted Thursday to condemn an advertisement by the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org that accused the top military commander in Iraq of betrayal. The 72-25 vote condemned the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times last week as Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, testified on Capitol Hill. The ad was headlined: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House."
The ad became a life raft for the Republican party as the war debate kicked into high gear. With several Republicans opposed to President Bush's war strategy, GOP members were able to put aside their differences and rally around their disapproval of the ad. Sen. Gordon Smith, one of the few Republican senators who supports legislation ordering troop withdrawals, told reporters Thursday he thought Petraeus' testimony and the MoveOn.org ad were the two biggest factors in keeping Republicans from breaking ranks with the president: Petraeus' testimony because it was persuasive and the MoveOn add because it went too far by attacking a popular uniformed officer. "It was stupid on their part and disgraceful," said Smith, R-Ore.
The resolution condemning the ad was sponsored by conservative Republican John Cornyn of Texas. Voting against it were Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, another contender for the Democratic nomination, wimped out did not vote, although he voted minutes earlier for an alternative resolution by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. That resolution condemned the MoveOn ad as an "unwarranted personal attack," but also condemned political attack ads that questioned the patriotism of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., both Vietnam veterans.
In a news conference, President Bush denounced the ad as "disgusting" and criticized Democrats for not immediately condemning it. "And that leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org, or more afraid of irritating them, then they are of irritating the United States military," Bush said Thursday.
Eli Pariser, executive director of the liberal group, responded: "What's disgusting is that the president has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq and end this awful war."
This article starring:
Barack Obama
Barbara Boxer
Christopher Dodd
Eli Pariser, executive director of the liberal group
Gen. David Petraeus
John Cornyn of Texas
John Kerry
Max Cleland
Sen. Gordon Smith
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
If you think this awful war is political, you are disgusting.Democrats are nothing to me. You are bad romans with a desire for destruction. all of you. even that mamby pamby "blue dog" rep you hired last cycle. YOU disgust me in everything you do democrats. everything. It is not only war, it is peace. it is everything. You need a new vision. the 1940's have past and with rave reviews with the hundreds of thousands killed and the nasty takeovers you and your horrible "educators" have planned.
Your party is a horrible abomination that causes desolation - if not that at least shared misery. you have no vision and you have fought against GOD ALMIGHTY.
I determine your place in history next to the assholes in rome. If you take over, I sacrifice your country to GOD and keep on moving on. You are worthless on all accounts. It shall be a burnt offering.
#2
The only reason this war is not already won because our nation is divided over values that have nothing to do with the war itself.
Had the war never been waged the liberals and Moveon would have hated GWB just as much,
but they would not have had the nails and hammer nor the tree to beat and hang him with.
Undoubtedly, the 25 "no" votes were Democrats, which means fear of public backlash has perfectly divided the Democrats in two.
May John Cornyn be blessed. Like David the senator has single handedly slain the Anti-american Goliath with the sword of truth and derision.
If America votes for anybody who has so betrayed our commanding general and risked the lives of all those who serve under him in the fight against terrorism then she deserves to reap the same fate terrorists have sown.
Hillary Care will not mean much to children whose father was killed trying to keep them safe from predators who would bring them harm.
May Hillary reap what terrorists have sown cause in seeking power she has sown terrorism.
Posted by: Push over pushes back ||
09/21/2007 1:55 Comments ||
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#3
"It was stupid on their part and disgraceful," said Smith, RINO-Ore.
But mostly stupid, eh Gordon? A better way to say it would have been "It was disgraceful on their part."
#8
So, the Trunk candidate can now hammer Hillary from now till election day, unrelenting and unapologetically.
The woman has shown she doesn't trust the American military. Period. How can anyone hold the seat of the Commander in Chief and so throughly mistrust something America's military which she does? Given the American people trust their military far greater than their politicians, there's the theme the Trunks should be hammering now, tomorrow, and on and on and on.
The men and women of the armed forces, from the figurative and literal heartland of America, are not robots. They are not mindless souls. They serve not just for pay, regardless of the bigoted crap of MoveOn and other neo-leftists. Inherited within the ability of the military to function effectively is a common theme, respect is both ways. When that respect disappears, so does the effectiveness. One only has to look at the Army at the end of the Vietnam period, when it had already dropped the draft, with fraggings, high AWOL rates, high levels of disciplinary problems, drug abuse, and high departure rates of senior enlisted and middle grade officers. Can America afford to watch the exodus of the core of their military who'll be the orphaned and whipping child of this creature?
Unfortunately, I doubt the Trunks have the nerve to play it. Unlike the Senator from New York, most don't think that politics is a blood sport.
#10
Comments I've heard from people that served in DC during the Clinton presidency suggest that the loathing wasn't confined to Bill, but was a full-blown family trait. Both Hitlery and Chelsea were totally rude and ungracious to the military that were forced to serve them. That's just one of about a thousand reasons I don't want another member of that family to be in the White House as anything other than a casual visitor.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/21/2007 14:03 Comments ||
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#11
looking at the votes, at least Billary had the balls to vote, while Hussein didn't, but wussed out. testicularly challenged, he is.
#13
I believe it was actually Hillary who stated she loathed the military.
At one point, rumor has it, military uniforms were banned from the White House no matter who was wearing them by order of Hillary. I don;t know where this rumor originated or how it could have been enforced, but I've heard it nonetheless.
#14
I notice that resolution that Osama did vote on earlier was sponsored by my own Senator Barbara Boxer from California. She makes me ashamed of California but she obviously has no shame herself.
On 9/11 everybody was relating their personal experiences. Mine wasn't so spectacular so I didn't. But I do remember in the wee hours of 9/12 I woke up to the sound of jets flying overhead. I knew they weren't commercial because those had all been grounded. So they had to be military fighter pilots, probably Marines from Miramar, patrolling the skies to make sure we were all safe below. I respect these guys. I appreciate the fact that they were there.
They do what they are told no matter who is in the White House. You have to appreciate that as well although it is sometimes hard for me to understand. I guess the idea is that no matter how disgusted they might be with a president like Bill Clinton, or his wife, they are serving the country.
#15
So, the Trunk candidate can now hammer Hillary from now till election day, unrelenting and unapologetically.
If they don't, they deserve to lose. Hillary's vote against this bill was atrocious.
The woman has shown she doesn't trust the American military. Period. How can anyone hold the seat of the Commander in Chief and so throughly mistrust something America's military which she does? Given the American people trust their military far greater than their politicians, there's the theme the Trunks should be hammering now, tomorrow, and on and on and on.
Excellent post, P2K. Yet one more reason I will never vote for a democrat ever again. Hillary et al are handing the Republicans all the ammunition they need to win in 2008. If the conservatives cannot figure how to use it they deserve to lose.
#1
USAF sets up Cyberspace Command, but also asks Congress to fund circa 2500 F-35 JSF's vv CHINA??? GEORGE WILL > im gener agreement that the USAF is in sore need of modernization comparative to other US services ala his 150 SECONDS OVER BAGHAD [Damascus-Tehran?] article last week.
General Pervez Musharraf, PakistanÂ’s president, appointed a new spy chief and made a number of other key military appointments on Friday in a move apparently aimed at retaining influence even after he steps down as head of the army.
This yearÂ’s round of promotions has been keenly anticipated as Mr Musharraf is going through his weakest phase since coming to power in a coup eight years ago.
A nine-member panel of supreme court judges is reviewing six petitions seeking the disqualification of the US-backed general from contesting the presidential election on grounds including his dual position as head of the army and ruler of Pakistan, and the legality of being elected in uniform.
A senior ruling party official said this week that Mr Musharraf would retire as army chief by mid-November irrespective of the outcome of his quest for re-election as president. “General Musharraf is obviously trying to consolidate his position within the military,” said Abida Hussain, a leader of the opposition Pakistan People’s party and former ambassador to the US.
Major Gen Nadeem Taj was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Gen Taj served as Mr MusharrafÂ’s military secretary at the time of the coup that brought him to power in October 1999.
Congratulations on your new position, President-Elect Taj.
The moves strengthened speculation that Lt Gen Pervez Ashfaq Kiyani, the former head of the ISI, may be appointed either as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee of the armed forces or chief of army staff. Gen Kiyani is recently reported to have negotiated a new power sharing agreement on Gen MusharrafÂ’s behalf with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Kiyani may be thinking that he'll be the next strong man, but I'd always put my money on the ISI guy.
In another move, Lt Gen Tariq Majeed, commander of the militaryÂ’s 10th corps was replaced by Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal. In 1999, Gen Majeed ordered his troops to seize the family estate of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Lt Gen (retired) Talat Masood, a former military commander and respected analyst said the two officers [Gen Kiyani and Gen Majeed] were reputed to be pro-western who would continue to support “Pakistan’s contribution to the war on terror”.
Analysts said, the new commanders would immediately face the challenge of lifting morale among troops especially with continuing controversy surrounding last monthÂ’s kidnapping of 240 soldiers by Taliban militants in the region bordering Afghanistan. Efforts for getting them released peacefully so far appear to have failed.
The military is likely to wield considerable authority from behind the scenes even after Gen MusharrafÂ’s retirement formally brings an end to the militaryÂ’s eight-year dominance of Pakistani politics.
This week Don McKinnon, secretary-general of the Commonwealth, during a visit to Pakistan warned that the long shadow of the military may remain cast over the country for up to a decade even after Gen Musharraf steps down, ending his dual position as military chief and the president.
After his pledge to the Supreme Court to quit as army chief if re-elected as president, Pervez Musharraf [Images] on Friday carried out a major reshuffle of top Pakistan army commanders and appointed a new Inter Services Intelligence chief.
In the reshuffle, regarded as a prelude to a major one early next month to appoint his possible successor, Musharraf promoted six major generals as lieutenant generals as several slots of top generals, including the number two post -- the vice chief of army and chairman joint chiefs of staff committee would fall vacant on October 7. The nominee for the deputy army chief was expected to be the successor of Musharraf.
Maj Gen Nadeem Taj was promoted as Lt Gen and made director general of ISI, the country's powerful spy agency. Gen Taj will replace Lt Gen Pervez Ashfaq Kiyani as ISI chief. Gen Kiyani, who previously held the post of military secretary to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and is currently involved in talks with her to bring about a political rapprochement between her and the president, is regarded as a top contender to be appointed as Musharraf's successor if he chooses to relinquish the post of army chief.
Kiyani could be picked up for either the post of vice army chief or CJCSC. Kiyani accompanied Musharraf during his meeting with Bhutto in Abu Dhabi two months ago. Gen Taj is another of Musharraf's close associates in the army, who flew with him from Colombo to Karachi on the day of the military coup in October 1999.
This article starring:
Benazir Bhutto
Lt Gen Pervez Ashfaq Kiyani
Maj Gen Nadeem Taj
Posted by: john frum ||
09/21/2007 06:14 ||
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Pakistan's military vowed Thursday to eliminate terrorism, undeterred by a call from al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden for a rebellion against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"We have the aim and objective, as our national duty, to eliminate terrorists and eradicate extremism," army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Waheed Arshad said. "Such threats issued through videos or in any other way cannot deter us" from fulfilling that duty, Arshad said. In a new audiotape released Thursday, bin Laden said the Pakistan army's bloody siege of fighters holed up in Islamabad's Red Mosque made Musharraf an infidel.
This article starring:
Maj.-Gen. Waheed Arshad
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Serious? Stop badmouthing US raids over the border. In fact, encourage them. Draw pictures and put X's on maps where it would be nice to have a 2000# bomb go off at 3:00am.
#2
Maybe all they really needed was to have the situation clarified for them so everybody can get off the fence and choose one side or the other. The worriesome part is the Pak army doesn't have a very good record and Binny would just love to get his hands on their nukes. My guess is that if Perv wants to keep his job he will have little choice but to do as gorb suggests. Otherwise he might as well catch the next flight to London.
Pakistan remains firmly committed to standing against the tide of militancy, and winning the war against terror is critical as it is in the countryÂ’s own interest, a spokesman of the Pakistani embassy here said on Thursday. Commenting on an article in a Washington newspaper, the spokesman rejected the assertion that some areas in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan were under the occupation of the Taliban.
Prove it. Pop on over to Swat and get a haircut. We'll wait...
“Winning the war against terror is critical and the Pakistani people and armed forces are determined to win this war,” Akram Shaheedi, the press minister at the embassy, wrote in a letter to the editor of The Washington Times. The writer disregards the more than 1,000 Pakistani soldiers killed fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Shaheedi pointed out, while drawing attention to the sacrifices the Pakistani security forces have rendered in fighting terrorism. “The country remains committed to frustrating the ideology of the Taliban, which the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis consider a symbol of regression and repression, and above all, against the spirit of Islam.
The spokesman said the assertion that the two Waziristans were under the occupation of the Taliban was mere conjecture because a substantial presence of military and civilian establishments in the area belies the claim. “No doubt that Pakistani troops have suffered casualties, yet militants have also suffered heavy death tolls during the counter-terrorism operations launched by the Pakistan Army.”
Shaheedi said that Pakistan has been fighting terrorism and extremism since before September 11, 2001 and “claims of surrogating for the US are misplaced.” The spokesman said that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal was safe, and “there is no question of their slipping into the hands of extremists as our command and control authority, an apex body headed by the president of Pakistan, stipulates such an institutional arrangement that guarantees the safety and security of our nuclear assets in absolute terms”.
This article starring:
Akram Shaheedi, the press minister at the embassy
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Love the graphic!
Let's just call this "Zenster's Thread" from now! :-)
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh held meetings on Thursday with representatives of the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza and asked them to stop firing rockets and mortars at Israel. According to Hamas sources, both groups expressed willingness to assent to Haniyeh's request, but wanted to wait to see how Israel would respond to a proposed cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Army Radio reported Thursday that the IDF is set to begin compiling a list of the economic sanctions to be imposed on the Gaza Strip following the cabinet's decision to declare Gaza and its Hamas government a "hostile entity." In addition, civil administration officials will lower the amount goods and currency allowed to enter the Strip to the bare minimum necessary to ensure the basic needs of the Palestinians.
The security cabinet's decision Wednesday to designate Gaza "hostile territory," a declaration preparing the way for a possible cutoff of gas and electricity supplies, coincided with the arrival of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for discussions with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of the Middle East peace summit. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the security cabinet the decision, which unanimously passed, was intended to weaken Hamas and strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. Barak also said that no one could expect that the rocket attacks would end completely.
This article starring:
Hamas
Islamic Jihad
Popular Resistance Committees
Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Ismail Haniyeh
Hamas
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
Prime Minister Salaam Fayad
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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"We are not heading for war, but if war will be forced upon us - we have the ability to strike the enemy anytime, anyplace," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday evening in a ceremony commemorating fallen soldiers of the Paratrooper Brigade. "Even when Syria is trying to create the atmosphere of war, Teheran is threatening, in Lebanon arms are being bought and in the [Palestinian] territories they are looking for a fight - we hope for peace while preparing for the day when we will need to fight," Barak added.
This article starring:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
YONITHEBLOGGER.com > claims that ASSAD has been threatened wid execution iff he does not strike back agz Israel.
#2
Isaac Asimov once postulated what would happen if and irresistible force met an immovable object; and it's looking like Baby Assad might symbolize that affect! If Assad doesn't 'make their day', they will; and if he does...Israel will!
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh asked Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Thursday to work to prevent Israeli action against residents of the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported. In a phone conversation between the two, Suleiman explained that Egypt had begun contacts on the subject. Haniyeh updated Suleiman on his contacts with the Palestinian factions regarding a cease-fire with Israel.
This article starring:
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman
Ismail Haniyeh
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Either bulldoze Gaza or hand it over to the Egyptians.
The March 14 alliance has rented Beirut's plush Phoenicia Hotel and changed it into a bastion-like safe residence for its threatened parliamentary deputies who would take part in electing a new president for Lebanon.
The sea-side hotel is now off limits to all non-authorized personnel and would not accept any guests until after the presidential elections, a senior source told Naharnet. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "even MPs representing the opposition and non-March 14 factions would not be allowed into the hotel. This is a private property."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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World leaders announced their outrage at the slaying of an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker in Beirut, and pointedly tied the attack to meddling by the Assad regime in Damascus. Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Russia, and the United Nations Security Council also sharply denounced the car bombing that killed Mr Antoine Ghanem, while plunging deeply divided Lebanon into further chaos days ahead of crucial elections. The European Union also condemned the killing as a 'contemptible act', but urged the Lebanese government to go ahead with a hotly contested Sept 25 presidential contest.
At the White House, U.S. President George W Bush made the following statement:
"I strongly condemn today's horrific assassination of Lebanese Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem. I extend my personal condolences to his family and the families of the innocent persons who were murdered alongside him in Beirut.
Since October 2004, there has been a tragic pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to silence those Lebanese who courageously defend their vision of an independent and democratic Lebanon. Today's cowardly attack comes days before the Lebanese Parliament is scheduled to convene to elect a new president. The United States opposes any attempts to intimidate the Lebanese people as they seek to exercise their democratic right to select a president without foreign interference. We will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Lebanese people, as they resist attempts by the Syrian and Iranian regimes and their allies to destabilize Lebanon and undermine its sovereignty.
I call on the international community to support the Government of Lebanon in its efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of these violent attacks, and to stand with the citizens of Lebanon who continue to struggle to protect their freedom."
"A targeted attack" President Nicolas Sarkozy of France which, with the United States, has led international efforts to curb Syrian influence in Lebanon, expressed personal 'sadness and anger' at what he described as a 'targeted attack'.
'All light must be shed on the circumstances of this heinous crime and its perpetrators must be brought to justice,' said Mr Sarkozy, who, like Washington, linked it to other high-profile assassinations of anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders.
Mr Ghanem, a member of the Phalange party of former president Amin Gemayel, was the eighth member of the ruling anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former billionaire prime minister Rafik Hariri. Mr Ghanem's death has reduced the anti-Syrian majority in Parliament to 68 members out of the now 127-member house, amid a near-complete deadlock between the Western-backed ruling majority and the pro-Damascus opposition.
The European Union also condemned the killing as a 'contemptible act', but urged the Lebanese government to go ahead with its presidential election. 'These attacks should by no means obstruct the process of electing the new president and the process of reform that lies ahead of Lebanon,' EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in a statement.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo d'Alema denounced what he called a 'terrorist attack' and a 'barbaric act' aimed at 'destabilising Lebanese political life at a particularly delicate time'.
After speaking by telephone to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Mr d'Alema said in a statement that he hoped the attack would 'reinforce everyone's will to isolate extremists and encourage political players to find a national consensus through a peaceful and democratic dialogue'.
Syria also condemned the attack, which left five others dead and dozens wounded in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut, as a 'criminal act' aimed at undermining Lebanese-Syrian relations.
Greece called Lebanon a 'friend' and said it backed Beirut's democratic institutions and national sovereignty, while condemning the attack as a 'terrorist' act.
This article starring:
Amin Gemayel
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
President Emile Lahoud
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Rafik Hariri
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Suggestion: World leaders, take out A$$ad if you are outraged at his meddling in your country's affairs and with assassinations in Lebanon. Quit pussy-footing around and turn up the heat on him and other tin horn dictators. Show them what targeted assassination is about. A$$ad's a flaming A$$hole or at least he should be flaming a##hole if you get my drift. Please, someone with a spine take care of this worthless piece of drek.
#3
World leaders, take out A$$ad if you are outraged at his meddling in your country's affairs and with assassinations in Lebanon. Quit pussy-footing around and turn up the heat on him and other tin horn dictators. Show them what targeted assassination is about.
Unfortunately, world leaders seem to have a guild mentality that makes their trade a closed shop. They demonstrate a hands-off attitude towards the globe's political elite just like how skunks will not spray each other in a fight. This repugnance over condemning others within their ranks is the most base form of self-interest. Especially so in those who lead free nations and it represents a direct betrayal of the people they lead.
A prime example is Ahmadinejad being allowed—not just to set foot on American soil—but to address a university audience. This is in absolute defiance of our national security and compromises our image abroad. Giving even a shred of dignity or credibility to Ahmadinejad legitimizes his support of Islamic terrorism and Iran's proxy war upon America's foreign interests.
"The Syrian regime cannot respond to what Israel did and is incapable of defending Syria," former Syrian vice president and current opposition member Abdul Halim Khaddam said in an interview published Thursday in the Nazareth-based A-Sinara.
When asked about the recent praise Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave Syrian President Bashar Assad, Khaddam said that "Olmert's words are an insult to Assad's intelligence. [Olmert] tells him, 'I respect you and your policy,' and at the same time uses force against [Assad's] country. Is this the great respect? This is mockery, and why is Assad so silent in his turn?"
Khaddam went on to say that Assad was "a kid and a joke, and [the Israelis] want to laugh at him." He added that Assad was incapable of responding: "He is incapable of anything except oppressing the Syrian people."
Khaddam, living in exile since the summer of 2005, heads the Front for Saving the Nation, an exiled Syrian opposition movement. In the interview, given in Berlin on the sidelines of a conference of Syrian opposition members, Khaddam said the alleged Israeli action was an act of aggression against Syria. "The Syrians are worrying more and more, because the regime does not supply the means to protect Syria in air, sea and land," he said.
Khaddam claimed the Syrian decision to avoid responding was not a consequence of military weakness, but a political decision in line with past decisions to overlook Israeli breaches of Syria's sovereignty. "The regime has the ability to respond, but not the will to respond ... and it is avoiding making a decision to respond and protect the motherland," he said.
According to Khaddam, Syria could have responded if it had had a democratic government, but "when the regime shakes up national unity and is not dealing with economic crises, the factors that make up the ability to respond to aggression are not there."
This article starring:
Abdul Halim Khaddam
Front for Saving the Nation
President Bashar Assad
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora asked the United Nations secretary-general in a letter to add the Ghanem assassination to an international probe into Hariri's slaying and other political crimes in Lebanon.
Schools, universities and banks across the country as well as many businesses in Christian areas of Beirut and in the Mount Lebanon region north of the capital were closed Thursday for a day of mourning and to observe a strike called by the Phalange Party. A funeral was to be held Friday.
Saniora pledged that Lebanon would not be cowed by the assassination and would press ahead to pick a president. "The hand of terror will not win and will not succeed in subduing us and silencing us," he said in a statement late Wednesday carried by the official news agency. "The Lebanese will not retreat and will have a new president elected by lawmakers, no matter how big the conspiracy was."
This article starring:
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Israeli medias say Ghanem is the eighth anti-Syrian politician killed since 2005.
#2
Maybe the Lebanese should quit mourning their murdered politicians and return the favor to Syria (preferably while making it look like Iran was responsible, but what the hell - go for it regardless).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2007 23:47 Comments ||
Top||
Afraid of proposed new visa restrictions, Iraqis flooded into Syria at 10 times their normal numbers earlier this month until the measures were postponed, a Syrian customs official said Thursday. More then 20,000 Iraqis were pouring across the borders every day, compared to only 2,000 a day normally, starting on September 1, when Syria announced that visas would be required to enter the country, the official told reporters touring the remote Tanaf desert border crossing, 275 kilometers (170 miles) northeast of Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
hmmmm...I was hoping it was the other way, flooding back in. That could happen, if the Dhmmicrats would only lay off for a while.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/21/2007 6:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Wonder if there is an Arabic equivalent of the phrase "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
...called for Iberia to be restored to the Islamic world...
called for Iberia to be restored to the Islamic world, saying the first step needs to be the 'cleansing' of Spaniards and French from the Maghreb.
Zawahiri was speaking in an 81-minute documentary-style video entitled "The Power of Truth" made public on Thursday by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist websites. "O our Muslim Ummah (community) in the Maghreb of ribat and jihad (land of resistance and holy war): restoring Al-Andalus is a trust on the shoulders of the Ummah in general and on your shoulders in particular," he said. "You will not be able to do that without first cleansing the Maghreb of Islam of the children of France and Spain."
Muslim Moorish forces coming from northern Africa conquered most of what are modern Spain and Portugal, and even parts of southern France, beginning in the 8th century, calling the region Al-Andalus. Christian forces gradually regained their lost territories over the subsequent centuries, with the last Moors being expelled from Spain in 1492.
In the modern period, the tables were reversed, with France and Spain carving out colonies in what is now Morocco. Both withdrew in the 1950s, though Spain retained the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean coast. France also had colonies in neighbouring Algeria and Tunisia, withdrawing from there in the 1960s.
Zawahiri's call for the reconquest of Al-Andalus is not the first of such demands. A claim made by more radical Muslim thinkers, including those of Al-Qaeda, is that once a territory has come under Muslim rule, it remains forever a part of the Ummah.
While Morocco is now independent, it is increasingly popular as an investment site by both Spanish and French interests, especially in the property sector, with holiday home communities springing up along the coast. Al-Qaeda has stepped up operations in the Maghreb region via its Algerian offshoot, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which vowed in April to "retake Al-Andalus."
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.
An Iraqi Kurd sentenced to seven yearsÂ’ jail in Germany last year for aiding the Iraqi insurgency is being freed early and removed from a United Nations terrorism blacklist, sources close to the case say. 
A Tacoma man who falsely claimed he was a decorated war hero when he took the stage at demonstrations held in opposition to the U.S.'s role in Iraq was sentenced this morning to five months in prison in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The Senate voted Thursday to condemn an advertisement by the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org that accused the top military commander in Iraq of betrayal. The 72-25 vote condemned the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times last week as 
General Pervez Musharraf, PakistanÂ’s president, appointed a new spy chief and made a number of other key military appointments on Friday in a move apparently aimed at retaining influence even after he steps down as head of the army. 
Pakistan's military vowed Thursday to eliminate terrorism, undeterred by a call from al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden for a rebellion against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. 
Pakistan remains firmly committed to standing against the tide of militancy, and winning the war against terror is critical as it is in the countryÂ’s own interest, a spokesman of the Pakistani embassy here said on Thursday. Commenting on an article in a Washington newspaper, the spokesman rejected the assertion that some areas in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan were under the occupation of the Taliban.
The March 14 alliance has rented Beirut's plush Phoenicia Hotel and changed it into a bastion-like safe residence for its threatened parliamentary deputies who would take part in electing a new president for Lebanon.
"The Syrian regime cannot respond to what Israel did and is incapable of defending Syria," former Syrian vice president and current opposition member 
Al-Qaeda number two 
