#4
well considering the bounty hunters would prob be white or black they would prob be noticed pretty fast. Paki land you prob wouldn't ever make it too a p;olice precinc, and in the kingdom they would prob use you as a brokering chip
Follow up to that story.
ROTTERDAM - Labour (PvdA) politician Bouchra Ismaili is refusing to resign. She is ignoring requests from her party to step down because she lied about signing a petition of the radical Muslim organisation Hizb Ut Tahrir.
Ismaili, a Muslim immigrant of Moroccan origin, is a PvdA member of Rotterdam's Charlois district council. Last week, she wrote in an e-mail to a citizen: "You filthy idiot. WE ARE HERE TO STAY hahahahahahhahah DROP DEAD". The email contained reams more similar remarks and urged the man to convert to Islam.
Ismaili's email was a reply to an email in which the citizen, Jos Parbleu, had confronted the council member with statements by Okay Pala, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir Nederland. Pala had said in newspaper De Telegraaf: 'We do not agree with freedom of expression, as we reject democracy' and 'what you need is a big bomb attack!'
The PvdA leadership in Charlois did not consider it necessary to boot Ismaili out. But meanwhile, during a meeting of Charlois district council, it has become clear that Ismaili also signed a petition from Hizb Ut Tahrir and lied about it. The Hizb ut Tahrir petition stated: "It is time to rid ourselves of a culture that damages our Islam." Initially, Ismaili denied emphatically that she signed the petition. But when opposition party Liveable Rotterdam (LR) produced a printout of the Internet page with her signature, she had to admit it.
Ismaili said after being unmasked by Liveable Rotterdam that she felt ashamed because she had "embarrassed the Muslim community in the Netherlands." Both Ismaili and her PvdA colleagues rushed out of the building after the meeting and declined to comment further.
Yesterday, the PvdA decided after all that Ismaili should resign because she lied. But a spokesperson for Ismaili stated she was not prepared to leave the Charlois council. The PvdA cannot force her to resign.
Hizb Ut Tahrir is banned in Germany due to its extremist and anti-Semitic character, but not in the Netherlands. The national PvdA did not want to comment.
#3
The Hizb ut Tahrir petition stated: "It is time to rid ourselves of a culture that damages our Islam." Initially, Ismaili denied emphatically that she signed the petition. But when opposition party Liveable Rotterdam (LR) produced a printout of the Internet page with her signature, she had to admit it.
why would she be embarrassed about lying? Isn't that a point of pride for Muslims?
Bosnia prosecutors said Thursday they were investigating local officials suspected of having granted citizenships to hundreds of Islamic fighters during the 1992-95 war.
"It had already been established that some citizenships were granted illegally, but we are looking for elements of criminal responsibility" among officials, said Boris Grubesic, a spokesman for the state prosecutors' office. "We are looking into officials who worked in relevant institutions at the time when these citizenships were being granted," Grubesic told AFP.
Due to the irregularities, a specially established state commission revoked the citizenship last year of hundreds of foreigners including a number of Muslim former fighters in Bosnia's war. One of them, Algerian Atau Mimun had already been deported from Bosnia last December. Officials said at the time that Mimun was suspected of links to militant groups.
Bosnia came under the spotlight after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. due to the presence of former fighters from Islamic countries. Although they were ordered to leave under the terms of the Dayton peace accords, some stayed on after obtaining citizenship.
In 2007, Bosnia jailed three Muslims found guilty of intending to carry out an attack in Bosnia or another European country with the aim of forcing the withdrawal of Western troops from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/27/2008 03:07 ||
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Milosevic was a national socialist. I'm glad he's gone.
One does not combat Islamic terrorism by giving license to national socialists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
i'm not saying was great man by any means. But if he hadn't been pretty much annhilating the muslim in the former Yugoslavia then they would be fighting us today
Somali immigrants who quit work at Arnold Logistics in Hampden Twp. because of a "misunderstanding" are back on the job, with accommodation for their daily prayers, a Muslim advocacy group says. The warehouse and distribution services company has agreed to provide a 15-minute break for Muslim prayer, according to the Pennsylvania office of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
CAIR said 16 machine operators walked off their jobs on Jan. 9 "after a misunderstanding over a new policy which limited personal breaks for all employees to five minutes."
Madina Hasson of Mechanicsburg, a nurse who volunteers as a community organizer among midstate Somali immigrants, contacted Justin Peyton, director of civil rights for CAIR in Philadelphia. They met Jan. 11 with Amy Rafferty, human resources director for Arnold Logistics, to explain that five minutes was too short for the daily prayers required of Muslims.
The workers had been unable to make their case because of a "language barrier," Peyton said Friday. He said Rafferty "graciously listened" and relayed the workers' concerns to senior managers, who offered this week to rehire all 16 and provide them time each day for prayer.
About half the employees returned to Arnold. The rest had found other work, Peyton said. Cave in. No mention in the article that CAIR is an Islamic terrorist group.
Following the lead of the NY Slimes "Killer-Vet' story, the WaPo explains why some folks STILL enlist.
BARRIGADA, Guam -- As a recruiter for the Guam Army National Guard, Staff Sgt. Gonzalo Fernandez has oodles of time for golf. In the past two years, he has taken 18 strokes off his handicap.
Slipping away to the links, however, has done nothing to dull his rising star at the office. Thanks to the eagerness of young Americans on this remote Pacific island to join the military, Fernandez is a two-time winner of the Guard's recruiter of the year award for a seven-state western region that includes Colorado, Utah and California.
On the U.S. mainland, long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made life miserable for military recruiters. The armed forces have repeatedly missed enlistment targets, and standards have been lowered in response. More recruits with criminal records and histories of drug abuse have been allowed to enlist. And recruiters, pressured to meet quotas, have increasingly been accused of unethical and criminal misconduct.
Most of that is either distortion or outright wrong. Standards have been lowered but modestly. Recruiting targets were missed -- once or twice. Lately they've been over-subscribed. Oh, but this is WaPo.
Nothing of the sort is happening here.
Part of the reason is economic. Poverty rates and unemployment on Guam -- a U.S. territory located more than 7,500 miles west of Los Angeles -- are historically much higher than on the mainland, and wages are low. Schools are poor, and technical training is hard to find. There is not much for young people to do.
But those are not the most important reasons, according to enlistees and recruiters, families of soldiers killed in action and veterans of the Iraq war. The key factor, they agree, is the island's unique status in American history. People here grow up with war ringing in their ears -- as described by their grandparents.
Guam, a U.S. possession since it was taken in 1898 from the Spanish, is the only American soil with a sizable population to have been occupied by a foreign military power. During World War II, the Japanese held the island for almost three years and brutalized nearly everyone on it. They created concentration camps, forcing the indigenous Chamorro people to provide slave labor and sex. And if Harry and Nancy have their way, history will repeat itself, and more of America will be occupied. There is, of course, more at the link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/27/2008 05:46 ||
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Thank you, Guam, for producing such sons and daughters.
#2
Could that be the byproduct of some sort of weird, yet-to-be explained radiation emitted by Joe Mendiola's brain patterns?? I think that might be worth investigating. Joe M 2008!
Even the NYT says McCain is wrong on this one. IMO McCain diminishes himself with deliberately misleading allegations like this. Maybe others react differently but I expect more honorable behavior from someone running on his status as a war hero. How long until this campaign is over??
For the second day in a row, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain accused his main Florida rival, Mitt Romney, of favoring a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq a charge Romney says is untrue and merits an apology from McCain. Speaking this morning to an overflow crowd of several hundred supporters at a restaurant, McCain didn't mention Romney by name, but said, "One of my opponents wanted to set a date for withdrawal. That would have meant disaster."
Afterward, talking to reporters, McCain said, "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Sen. Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Gov. Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher."
Asked about the statement at a Land O' Lakes campaign stop, Romney responded, "That's simply dishonest, and he should apologize. That's dishonest, to say that I have a specific date. That's simply wrong. I know he's trying desperately to change the topic from the economy and trying to get back to Iraq, but to say something that's not accurate is simply wrong and he knows better."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Fox had a clip of Bill claiming Hillary and McCain are BFF's in the Senate and would work well together. Several of the Sunday papers endorsed McCain for the GOP and Hillary for the Dems. Seems like a lot of backscratching for the Washingotn insiders, with quite a record of combined years of service between them, Ensuring the illusion of change?
A need for more intelligence analysts in the Corps is forcing infantry operations to get a whole lot smarter, under a new initiative that is for the first time pushing battalion-level intelligence know-how down to the rifle-company level. The Corps is creating company-level intelligence cells called C-LICs in an attempt to plug the hole and curb the loss of valuable intelligence that often goes missing when units pass the baton on the battlefield.
The C-LIC initiative, launched under the direction of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab in Quantico, Va., will soon be battle-tested by California-based 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, on its next Iraq deployment, slated for early 2008.
On this battlefield, in this era, were asking those rifle companies to do, frankly, sorts of things and cover an area bigger than I was used to as a battalion commander, Vince Goulding, director of experimentation plans at the Warfighting Laboratory, said.
As part of the trial, 28 Marines from 3/4 were selected for C-LIC training based on a laundry list of criteria. Each of 3/4s C-LIC Marines had to receive the required security clearance. Those Marines also had to want the position, show an aptitude for computer skills and analytical analysis, show individual initiative and have high General Technical scores or some college experience. Yhey also needed combat experience.
The new intelligence roles will also translate into new gear for the battalion. C-LIC Marines will also get an interim secret clearance. In a separate but concurrent initiative, 3/4 also will get 48 Wasp micro-unmanned aerial vehicles, outfitted with night vision.
C-LIC training for 3/4 wrapped up Nov. 9, and the new intel-grunts are already pulling information to study their various areas of operations before their deployment in early 2008. Of the 28 intel-grunts, four will move up to the battalions intel shop as manpower replacements for the 0231 intelligence analysts headed to each company. The remaining 24 C-LIC Marines will return to their regular companies, but in support roles, commanded not by the company officer, but the battalions intelligence officer. Despite working as intel analysts, C-LIC Marines keep their original infantry military occupational specialty. Marines chosen for the C-LIC team, however, could also expect a little more love from command in the short term.
While 3/4 is launching the labs trial for this initiative, the Corps isnt waiting for the results at the end of the units deployment before sharing its C-LIC model with other interested battalions.
My initial view was that [six] Marines per company would be painful, given force protection and troop-to-task requirements on the ground, but the benefit would outweigh the cost, said Lt. Col. William Visted, the battalions commander, in an e-mail. If we can generate faster, better, and more effective intelligence, it will compensate for the loss of a fire team in each company.
#3
Strategypage had an article about how our troops are gathering up so much information that we don't have enough grunts to exploit all of it. Meybe these guys can sift through the intell before it grows cold.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/27/2008 13:36 Comments ||
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Did y'all see the description of the new intel-grunts? I want my daughters to marry those!
#7
OS (not to be confused with the poster formally known as Old Spook) is very correct. Former is ok. Ex is not. We're always in - some on active duty, some doing "other" things (cops, federales, ???). Fat Boy Murtha is the glaring exception.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
01/27/2008 17:26 Comments ||
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I really like this idea, as long as it is very, very carefully managed. G2/S2 operations have long had a tendency to be top down oriented, even though they are bottom up reliant.
But at the rifle company level, you can develop the damndest intel sources. The British were able to hold on to India for many years more than they should have, because of their ground level intel sources, often mistresses of soldiers.
And while few of our Marines are dating Iraqi girls, unfortunately, out of some mis-oriented morality, they are making friendships right, left and sideways with Iraqis.
So Abdul really likes Lance Corporal Jones, because the LC not only kept Abdul from getting his head cut off by al-Qaeda, but stood up for Abdul when a Shiite cop wanted to kick his ass on general principles.
So Abdul lets LCpl Jones in on a little secret. He heard from his sister in law's cousin that a top al-Qaeda money guy is coming to town in the next week, and if the LCpl drops a dime on him, no tears will be shed, and maybe the LCpl will get a promotion, or even better, a goat. And that he should not forget his friend, Abdul, who is quite fond of goat burgers.
A detailed 1998 New York Police Department analysis opposed the city's plans to locate its emergency command center at the World Trade Center but then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration overrode the objections, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
No axe to grind here, weekend before the Florida primary, nope, nope ...
"Seven World Trade Center is a poor choice for the site of a crucial command center for the top leadership of the City of New York," the Times quoted a panel of police experts aided by the Secret Service as having concluded in a confidential Police Department memorandum which has not been previously disclosed.
The longest of the analysis' nine sections, headed "Explosives," describes a blast analysis of the likely impact of various types of bombs, and concluded that the largest of truck bombs would have led to the building's collapse, the Times report said.
The command center was destroyed during the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center that also destroyed the twin towers in the seven-building complex.
All Rudy's fault, too. I'm waiting for the Troofers to jump on this.
Among the location's vulnerabilities was its history as a target, the report said. One of the World Trade Center's twin towers was attacked by truck bomb in 1993 that killed 6 people and injured more than 1,000.
Giuliani, currently campaigning in Florida for the Republican presidential nomination, has acknowledged some skepticism by the police about the choice, but characterized it as a dispute between government officials and departments, the Times said.
"This group's finding is that the security of the proposed O.E.M. Command Center cannot be reasonably guaranteed," the July 1998 memo to the city's police commissioner concluded.
The Times said it obtained the document from a law enforcement official who it noted was not affiliated with any rival political campaign.
Giuliani's campaign declined to answer questions about the memo but spokeswoman Maria Comella said the former mayor's administration had considered 50 different sites and examined varying factors before choosing the site. "This is one memo out of a variety of memos that were presented," she told the Times.
There was a huge push to set up emergency command centers in cities like NY during the mid-90s, integrating police, fire, medical agencies. NYC in particular got a lot of federal help in risk analysis after the first WTC attack. NYPD was the lead agency in that planning IIRC.
Chicago got one of these too, though it's not in the Hancock Building.
Pakistan has raised the state of alert around its nuclear facilities amid concerns they could be targeted by Islamist militants.
But a senior Pakistan military official said there had been no specific threat to the sites, and insisted that safeguards in place were fool proof. The official was speaking in a rare press briefing on the issue.
It followed Western media reports warning that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands.
The Pakistani authorities have been angered by Western media reports speculating that the country's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda militants. The senior military official briefing foreign journalists said that the weapons were protected by an elaborate command and control system, and multiple levels of security.
He acknowledged that Islamic militants had begun to attack army personnel in recent months, and that nuclear sites may also become a target. He said the state of alert around nuclear facilities had increased, but there had been no specific threats against them.
The official said there was no way the Taleban or al-Qaeda could take over Pakistan's estimated 50 nuclear warheads. And he dismissed the possibility of collusion from within the system, saying all personnel dealing with sensitive material had been carefully monitored.
Despite fears raised by US media and politicians, the official said the US administration had not shown any recent concern about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. He also said any foreign intervention over the issue would be disastrous for the intruder.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
01/27/2008 08:20 ||
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...insisted that safeguards in place were fool proof.
I dunno. They've got a heck of a lot of Super Industrial Strength fools in Pakland.
#2
He also said any foreign intervention over the issue would be disastrous for the intruder.
Does Musharif believe his troops are any match for Mexico, much less the United States? I believe we could hand them their a$$ in less than two weeks without India's help, and in a week with India helping. After that, it would just be to decide how many fools to kill as they go screaming out of the madrassas into the face of combined arms fire.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2008 20:45 Comments ||
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Sometime in mid-December, as the winter winds howled across the snow-dusted hills of Pakistan's inhospitable border regions, 40 men representing Taliban groups all across Pakistan's northwest frontier came together to unify under a single banner and to choose a leader. The banner was Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, with a fighting force estimated at up to 40,000. And the leader was Baitullah Mehsud, the man Pakistan accuses of assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The move is an attempt to present a united front against the Pakistani Army, which has been fighting insurgents along the border with Afghanistan. It is also the latest sign of the rise of Mehsud, considered the deadliest of the Taliban mullahs or clerics in northwest Pakistan.
Mehsud is based in the rugged, heavily treed mountains of South Waziristan, one of Pakistan's so-called tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan, where Western intelligence says Al Qaeda is regrouping. His organization has claimed responsibility, often backed up by videos, for killing and kidnapping hundreds of soldiers, beheading women, and burning schools that teach girls anything other than religion. He also says he has a steady supply of suicide bombers and strong ties to Al Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda has succeeded in building a base in the last two or three years mostly with help from Mehsud," said Ahmed Zaidan, a reporter for Al-Jazeera Television in Qatar who interviewed Mehsud three weeks ago. "They are moving freely in the tribal areas where it is difficult for the Pakistan Army to move."
During the interview, Mehsud said in halting Arabic that he had never met Osama bin Laden but knew Abu Musab al-Zarqawi well. Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a US air raid two years ago. Al Qaeda gives Mehsud money and logistical advice, according to one of his Taliban allies, Maulvi Muslim.
The Al Qaeda funds don't always come in cash. Rather, Afghan and Pakistani businessmen, usually in the United Arab Emirates, are given money to buy high-priced goods like cars. The goods are shipped to Pakistan and sold, often tripling Al Qaeda's investment. The businessmen, with sympathies to Al Qaeda, take a small cut while Al Qaeda spreads the wealth among its allies.
Mehsud, thought to be in his 40s, is secretive and, like Mullah Omar, hates to be photographed. He is described as devoted to the Taliban and not well educated. "They say he is free from all vices, walks around covering almost half his face all the time," said Mehmood Shah, a retired Pakistani brigadier who was the government's former point man for the tribal regions. "He is very modest in his manners and polite."
President Pervez Musharraf has accused Mehsud's men of carrying out most of 19 suicide bombings in Pakistan over just three months. Newspapers quoted him as threatening Bhutto's life, but he denied it, and as well as the government's accusations that he was behind her Dec. 27 assassination.
Mehsud has been quoted as saying jihad is the only way to peace. His ascent reflects the failure of Pakistan's army with its US funding to win control of its tribal areas. "Mehsud was a small fry, but I could see in time he could be of some problem," Shah said. "The government policy of appeasement gave Mehsud a free hand to recruit and motivate," said Shah, who described Mehsud as "very cool and calculating."
Former premier Benazir Bhuttos younger sister Sanam Bhutto has said she is not interested in knowing the identity of her sisters murderers as that will not bring her sister back.
In an interview with TV channel Geo News, Sanam said that the issue to catch Benazirs killers had become irrelevant for her, but it would be in everyones interest if the UN or another independent body investigated the murder. I dont care who killed my sister because that will not bring my sister back.
Not Musharraf: She said she would trust Scotland Yard investigations, but not under the supervision of Musharraf. She regretted she could not help her sister, adding that Benazir had always been her own boss, had had some extraordinary achievements, and always kept her word. She said Benazir always kept the family united but after her nothing would remain the same. Sanam said that she had been shopping in London she was informed that Benazirs rally had been bombed.
Sanam hoped the circumstances will change in Pakistan when her nephew Bilawal Bhutto Zardari takes charge of the PPP. She said she wanted Bilawal to complete his studies before entering politics, adding that her father and sister had sacrificed a lot for Pakistan and those sacrifices would never be forgotten.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 01:25 ||
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#1
Former premier Benazir Bhuttos younger sister Sanam Bhutto has said she is not interested in knowing the identity of her sisters murderers as that will not bring her sister back.
You better be interested, it might keep you from being killed as well as your sister, find out WHO, find out TODAY, You'll live longer knowing than not knowing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/27/2008 1:32 Comments ||
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She'll only live longer if she gets out of Pakistan, stays out of politics, and doesn't spend too much of the Bhutto family fortune.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 2:19 Comments ||
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"After her [death?]nothing would remain the same" > the best way to honor or remember BB is to continue "the good fight" for Paki dev and Paki-Islamic democracy, AND NOT LET THE TRUTH REMAIN HIDDEN.
Too much politix + hypercorrectness in LT will lead to PERVASIVE CONFUSION = ANARCHIES, where one or one's Agency-Institution becomes so correct/politicized as to be rendered wholly ineffective and a threat = enemy to their own original mission. SANAM just to remem the criticisms or failures of the US FBI-CIA, etc. leading up to 9-11 + failure to catch Osama Bin Laden. BETTER YET > SANAM should recall the ppossibility that BB MAY HAD BEEN KILLED BY THE VERY RADICAL GROUPS BB's GOVT ITSELF REPORTEDLY HELPED SUPPORT AND SET UP INSIDE PAKI.
Among other thingys, WOT > WAR AGZ THE "STATUS QUO" = WAR FOR CHANGE! "SAFETY" + "CONVENIENCE" DOESN'T ALWAYS LEAD TO SECURITY OR NATIONAL-SOCIAL PROGRESS OR FREEDOM.
LONDON: President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that the prime minister, being the chief executive of the country, would be empowered to run the affairs of the government arising out of the February 18 elections.
Addressing a large gathering of Pakistanis at a local hotel here, he dismissed the impression that there will be any clash between the president and the prime minister. He said the law was very clear to this effect, and both organs of the State could perform their responsibilities independently, keeping the national interest supreme.
He's using industrial-strength epoxy to keep his lips on ...
In case a single party would not be able to form the government, a coalition government could come into power, the president said, adding that he will be prepared to facilitate the process.
He'll point out who still controls the military for right now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI - Fatima Bhutto, niece of slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto and tipped as a future leader, says she wants to make her own political mark and not be a political inheritor, media reported Saturday.
Fatimas striking looks, strong will and charm have led to comparisons with her famous aunt and suggestions by political observers that she could be an eventual political successor despite deep rifts within the Bhutto family.
Wonder if she's as wild as her Auntie's college years ...
I am also a political Bhutto - and I also know how the name restricts me, Fatima, a poet and author, told a literary festival in the northern Indian city of Jaipur. I dont want to be a political inheritor and would like to make my own mark. Politics in Pakistan should promote the new generation beyond the lineage system, she said, according to Indias Mail Today.
Fatima wrote several articles critical of her aunt around the time Benazir returned to Pakistan late last year to contest forthcoming elections. She called her aunt the most dangerous woman in Pakistan before Benazir was slain at a campaign rally in December. I dont regret that I wrote against my aunt, but I am terribly grieved with the way she was done to death, Fatima was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"I wanted to do it! I was deprived, deprived!"
The attack on her was an attack on Pakistan. The Bhuttos have paid a very high price for being in politics, she said.
"It's such a heavy burden. All that power, all that influence, all that money ..."
Fatima said if she wrote against Benazir, it was never personal, always political.
It was always business for Michael Corleone ...
Fatimas father, Murtaza Ali Bhutto, was gunned down in mysterious circumstances in 1996. Her family accuses Pakistani security forces of killing Murtaza, who had fallen out with his sister Benazir and become a political rival. Murtazas death took place when Benazir was prime minister-an event for which Fatima has said she holds her aunt morally responsible.
Lovely child.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said on Saturday that former NWFP governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai was removed from office because of the failure of a peace agreement with militants in the Tribal Areas.
He told reporters at the National Police Bureau here that following the change of the provincial governor, the government had changed its policy on the ongoing operation in the Tribal Areas, reported AFP. Hamid said that the military operation in Darra Adam Khel would continue till miscreants were eliminated from the area. We have achieved some level of success, however, the operation in Darra will continue till the elimination of miscreants there, Hamid said. About the interrogation of Aitezaz Shah, the 15-year-old arrested in connection with former premier Benazir Bhuttos assassination, Hamid said many arrests had been made on Shahs information. Hamid said his ministry had already issued an advisory for the protection of key politicians.
Worsening situation: He said the law and order situation could worsen in FATA, Swat and Kurram Agency during the elections, reported Online.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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DUBAI (Rooters) - An al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued an Internet video on Sunday showing what it said were two police officers repenting their past actions and handing over their weapons to insurgents.
The video and a statement that said the men were "returning to Islam's ranks" appeared to signal a change of propaganda tactics by the Islamic State in Iraq. The group's earlier videos often showed captured government officers and soldiers being shot dead after voicing regret over their activities. The video showed the two men smiling and no armed militants were seen nearby as in earlier videos. The group did not say how the men had defected or been captured, or what their fate was.
"I reject the Iraqi police, which is a tool in the hands of ... crusaders and infidels," said a man wearing a traditional Arab robe who identified himself on the video as Colonel Ayad Ismail Muhaymid, and said he had been a deputy police director in Diyala province. "The actions to which our bothers and sisters are subjected in Interior Ministry prisons are unacceptable to God and humanity," said a man identified as Major Hameed Hadi Hameed.
Time for some new playing cards ...
The video, which showed what appeared to be police identity cards of the men, could not be authenticated. It was posted on a main Web site often used by al Qaeda and other insurgent groups.
BAGHDAD American-backed Sunni militias who have fought Sunni extremists to a standstill in some of Iraqs bloodiest battlegrounds are being hit with a wave of assassinations and bomb attacks, threatening a fragile linchpin of the militarys strategy to pacify the nation. What did they expect, get $300 a month to hang out on a street corner.
American-backed Sunni Militias At least 100 predominantly Sunni militiamen, known as Awakening Council members or Concerned Local Citizens, have been killed in the past month, mostly around Baghdad and the provincial capital of Baquba, urban areas with mixed Sunni and Shiite populations, according to Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani. At least six of the victims were senior Awakening leaders, Iraqi officials said.
Violence is also shaking up the Awakening movement, many of whose members are former insurgents, in its birthplace in the Sunni heartland of Anbar Province. On Sunday, a teenage suicide bomber exploded at a gathering of Awakening leaders, killing Hadi Hussein al-Issawi, a midlevel sheik, and three other tribesmen.
Born nearly two years ago in Iraqs western deserts, the Awakening movement has grown to an 80,000-member nationwide force, four-fifths of whose members are Sunnis. American military officials credit that force, along with the surge in United States troops, the Mahdi Armys self-imposed cease-fire and an increase in Iraqi security forces, for a precipitous drop in civilian and military fatalities since July.
But the recent onslaught is jeopardizing that relative security and raising the prospect that the groups members might disperse, with many rejoining the insurgency, American officials said. Let me get this straight, you don't want to die so you rejoin the insurgency so that Americans can kill you. Ah, the Muslim/Arab mind?
Theres a recognition that sustained attacks cannot continue, said a United States official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Weve got to break that. The official said that American military and intelligence officials were taking the threat to the Awakening movement very seriously.
American and Iraqi officials blame Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia for most of the killings, which spiked after the Dec. 29 release of an audio recording in which Osama bin Laden called the volunteer tribesmen traitors and infidels. While the organization is overwhelmingly Iraqi and Sunni, American military officials say it has foreign leadership, though its links with Mr. bin Laden himself are unclear.
Officials say that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has a two-pronged strategy: directing strikes against Awakening members to intimidate and punish them for cooperating with the Americans, and infiltrating the groups to glean intelligence and discredit the movement in the eyes of an already wary Shiite-led government. Al Qaeda is trying to assassinate all the Awakening members that support the government, but I believe that criminal militias are also doing this, Mr. Bolani said during a recent interview in Taji.
Both Sunni and Shiite officials in Baghdad blame two government-linked Shiite paramilitary forces for some of the attacks: the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization. Sunni officials charge that militia leaders are involved, while Shiite officials believe that the attackers are renegade members of the groups. Both militias have close ties to Iran and have been implicated in death-squad operations against Sunni Arabs, although the Mahdi militias leaders have publicly told their members to abide by a cease-fire.
Citizen guardsmen and Iraqi intelligence officials say they have also captured Iranians with hit lists and orders to attack Awakening members. American military officials say they suspect that Irans paramilitary force, Al Quds, is directing the Shiite militias attacks against the Awakening movement. But other than finding Iranian-made weapons, which are sometimes used by Shiite militia fighters, American military officials offered no evidence that Iranians were participating in direct attacks. Right now, the Concerned Local Citizens groups are being heavily targeted by Al Qaeda, said Brig. Gen. Mark McDonald, who is working with the volunteers. Theyre also being targeted by some Shiite extremist groups.
Killings of guardsmen are mounting even as Awakening members are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Iraqi government, which has yet to fulfill its promise to integrate 20 percent of the volunteers into the Ministries of Interior and Defense and give nonsecurity jobs to the rest a process that American officials say could take until the end of the year.
If I give you a gun and tell you to stand at a checkpoint but I dont give you support, how long will you stay? asked Khadum Abu Aya, one of the Awakening leaders in Adhamiya, a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad that was once dominated by Sunni insurgents.
Officials in Baghdad who support the movement worry that if attacks on the tribal forces continue without faster progress by the Iraqi government, Awakening members could begin to fall away, harden into antigovernment militias or even rejoin the Sunni Arab insurgency.
I'm glad somebody has the fortitude to visit there, and hang out with the Kos Kiddies, just so we 'Burgers know what's going on out there among the loons.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/27/2008 5:35 Comments ||
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#2
I suppose the Slimes unwritten preference would be for them to be killing American soldiers.
No, no! Bring the soldiers home, so the crazies will be drawn to the US, instead of The Land Between Two Rivers, that's it!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/27/2008 5:37 Comments ||
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#3
For a report from someone on scene, please see my interview with General Cardon and follow the link to the transcript for his comments on the CLC's.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday stuck to his tough conditions for resuming contacts with Hamas, despite attempts by Egypt to bring the rivals together to solve the growing chaos on the Gaza-Egypt border. In a speech Saturday, Abbas denounced the Hamas takeover of Gaza as a crime and said the Islamic militants must reverse these steps if they want to resume talks with him. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said Abbas would ask Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end a blockade in Gaza and accept his offer to control Gazas border crossings. The two leaders are expected to meet on Sunday to discuss how to push forward with peace talks after Hamas breached Gazas border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade. Israel and the Palestinians launched their most serious peace talks in seven years at a US-sponsored conference in November with the goal of signing a peace treaty in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 01:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Another report, similar to others we've seen the last couple days, from the Jerusalem Post. But some interesting nuggets of data tucked inside.
Egypt's attempts to reseal its border with the Gaza Strip have failed, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continued to pour into Sinai for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.
At least 38 Egyptian border policemen have been hospitalized, some in critical condition, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.
The Paleos can't help it: they have to bite the hand that feeds them, it's their nature.
Egyptian security officials expressed fear over the weekend that Hamas and other radical Islamist organizations would take advantage of the chaos to try to destabilize President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
Cairo was now caught between the hammer and the anvil, the officials said. On the one hand, they said, Egypt did not want to use force against the Palestinians for fear of being accused by the Arabs of taking part in the blockade on the Gaza Strip; on the other hand, the Egyptians were very worried that Hamas and its allies would "occupy" the northern Sinai, turning it into a center for Islamist terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida.
The Egyptian authorities are now focusing their efforts on preventing Gazans from heading toward Cairo and other cities. Authorities also warned Egyptians not to allow Palestinians to stay with them.
"Don't let 'em in yer house! They're ucky!"
According to Egyptian sources, many Palestinians are planning to travel to Cairo for various reasons, including for medical treatment, enrolling in universities and using Cairo International Airport to fly out of the country.
To Britain, Dubai, Italy, anywhere ...
Some Egyptians were also worried that Israel would exploit the situation to try to "drag" Egypt back into the Gaza Strip. Husam Sweilem, a retired Egyptian army general, voiced concern that Israel was planning to push Egypt to annex the Strip and to hand the West Bank over to Jordanian control, thus "ending the dream of establishing a Palestinian state."
Now that you mention it, it's not a bad idea. Israel gives up the idea of an 'Eratz Israel', and the Paleos go live with their brother Arabs.
Egyptian border guards were forced to pull back from the Gaza border on Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after they were dispatched to the area to block the Palestinians. Ignoring warning shots fired into the air by the border guards, Gazans used bulldozers to open new passages into Egypt, enabling hundreds of vehicles from the Strip to cross the border.
Where did the Paleos get bulldozers?
Deeper into northern Sinai, Egyptian authorities also failed to stop Palestinians from entering el-Arish, where dozens of cars with Gaza license plates were seen lining up at gas stations. Shopkeepers were ordered to close their businesses. "The Egyptian authorities have decided to keep the border open to allow Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to stock up on supplies," said a top government official in Cairo.
The minister accused the Palestinians of "provocations" at the border and warned that his country would not tolerate attacks on its troops.
So says the man with 38 of his border policemen in the hospital ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Eretz Israel just means the Land of Israel, Dr. Steve, sort of like The United States of America. Did you perhaps mean "Greater Israel including Judea and Samaria"?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 14:13 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, I think it should be "Davidian Israel", to include Lebanon below the Litani River, half the Sinai, Gaza and the West Bank, with no muslims allowed in the country. Shoot on sight those that try.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/27/2008 21:29 Comments ||
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Ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday called on gunners to stop firing rockets into Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. In a speech from the presidential headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Abbas also accused Israel of imposing collective punishment on the Gazan population by barring the transfer of food and medical supplies.
"We say to those who fire rockets -- stop. Do not give them an excuse and do not show the world that they (Israelis) are the victims," he said. "Hamas committed a crime in Gaza... but we say that our nation shouldn't be besieged and the futile rocket fire should not be a reason for collective punishment," Abbas said.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that Gaza Strip-based gunners had fired 10 rockets at Israel since Thursday, causing neither casualties nor damage.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
(IRNA) -- The Islamic resistance movement of Palestine, Hamas, on Saturday welcomed an invitation extended by President Hosni Mubarak to Palestinian political parties -- Hamas and Fatah -- to host inter-Palestinian talks on Cairo. Sami Abu Zuhri, in charge of media center of Palestine, told IRNA that Hamas government appreciates Egyptian leaders initiative to revive the state of Palestine and national unity of Palestine. The Hamas government gave positive response to President Mubaraks invitation without hesitation and we hope that Palestine Authority chief Mahmud Abbas will also welcome it, Abu Zuhri said.
He said that currently the ground is well-prepared to revive Palestine and its national unity and deal with the current wave of Israeli state terrorism and economic blockade of Gaza Strip. If the Fatah movement refuses to accept the invitation, it must bear the consequences of internal conflict in Palestine.
The Egyptian leader on Friday offered to mediate between the Palestinian political parties and said that continued split between the two political parties has weakened the Palestinian nation. President Mubarak also ordered to ease border restrictions on Rafah border with Gaza to allow the Palestinians escaping from Israeli carnage escalated since January 16 which has almost claimed four or five lives of Palestinian youth a day.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group, died. Habash, who masterminded major plane hijackings, border raids and other spectacular attacks against Israelis in the 1970s, lived his life on the run and succumbed to heart problems in a Jordanian hospital Saturday. He was 80.
One of the pioneers in airplane hijackings checks out. Lived too long, I'd say. Say hello to Himmler for us.
The son of Palestinian Christian refugees, Habash founded the PFLP in 1968 and preached the destruction of the Jewish state. His faction was marginalized in the 1990s when Yasser Arafat signed interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals. Habash resigned as PFLP chief in 2000. His successors were either assassinated or jailed by Israel.
This article starring:
GEORGE HABASH
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[5 views]
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#4
Does 1-800-APACHES deliver in that neighborhood?
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/27/2008 11:17 Comments ||
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#5
I remember George Habash and his terrorist exploits from the 1970. WTF was Jordan doing letting this piece of crap that the dawg dragged in live in Jordan?? Bottom line---you cannot trust any of these countries. We know it. We just hope and cope and hope that it all will work out in the end, which it won't.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/27/2008 14:49 Comments ||
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Divided by a twist of history 26 years ago, this remote town straddling the Gaza-Egypt border has been reunited in just as haphazard a fashion. After the towering border wall slicing through Rafah was toppled earlier this week, long-separated relatives, friends and even former soccer buddies just had to walk a few yards to embrace and reminisce.
Awww. My heart just melted. It's running down my leg.
Some even dared to make plans for an uncertain future: One large Palestinian clan quickly married off four women to close relatives on the Egyptian side. "How can we leave the other side? We were always one place," said Kamal al-Nahal, 40, an uncle of one of the brides.
Because it's in two different countries?
But almost three decades of separation have also produced marked differences in customs, building styles and dialect. Al-Nahal said he wasn't exactly impressed with Egyptian Rafah which, with mudbrick buildings and unpaved streets, has more of a village feel than its larger, bustling counterpart of multistory apartment buildings on the Gaza side. About 40,000 people live on the Egyptian side and about 200,000 in Gaza's Rafah, which includes both the original town and an adjacent refugee camp. Those on the Egyptian side are mostly of Palestinian origin, but their Arabic often has more of an Egyptian dialect.
It's kind of a gutteral "y'all" kinda thing.
Rafah was bisected in 1982 to accommodate land claims negotiated as part of the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement. While suddenly holding different citizenship, residents of both sectors could cross the border with relative ease for several years.
But then...
However, travel became increasingly difficult as Israeli-Palestinian fighting intensified. During the second Palestinian uprising, which erupted in 2000, Gazan Rafah became one of the bloodiest flashpoints of violence, with gunmen often exchanging fire with Israeli troops patrolling the Gaza-Egypt border.
Damn those Israeli troops, picking on those poor gunmen! And they weren't doin' nuttin', just mindin' their own bidnid!
Israeli troops razed hundreds of Rafah homes to widen the patrol road and erected a tall wall the one toppled Wednesday as cover against ambushes.
"Hokay, Moshe! Drop the houses! Ari, how's that wall comin'?"
"I need more bricks!"
The border breach was engineered by the Islamic militant Hamas to pressure Egypt to negotiate new border arrangements. Both Israel and Egypt had kept Gaza largely sealed in the past two years, especially since Hamas violently seized the territory in June. At least 38 members of the Egyptian security forces have been hurt in confrontations on the border in recent days, Egypt said. On Saturday, Egyptian riot police and armored vehicles blocked Gazan cars from moving beyond Egyptian Rafah, but the border remained otherwise open.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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#1
Does AP have any pix yet of Gazans holding keys to their ancestral Egyptian homes?
COLOMBO - Sri Lankas defence secretary has called for a ban on the Tamil Tigers and said the ongoing military campaign was aimed at destroying the rebels top leaders, a report said Saturday.
Rajapakse, who is President Mahinda Rajapakses younger brother, said the military had started a campaign to capture rebel-held areas in the islands north, after securing the east last year. We have started our thrust from all sides, from Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli Oya. It is done in a systematic manner. We dont plan to stop, Rajapakse was quoted as saying by the Sinhala-language Lankadeepa newspaper.
He said the military was aiming at eliminating Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and two to three other top leaders. If we destroy their leadership, the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) will collapse, the defence secretary said, adding that it was time the government reinstated a ban on the Tigers. They (the LTTE) should be banned. Our aim is to destroy the LTTE, he said.
Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka also told state television that the issue of whether the Tiger chief was alive or dead was irrelevant as he is as good as dead. Fonseka said the rebels were not finished yet but weakened.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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Lebanons "Al-Nahar" newspaper found out from very high-level security sources that Captain Wissam Eid who was assassinated on Friday, paid a heavy price of his achievements. In addition to finding out that Fatah al Islam was behind the Ain Alaq twin bus crime he also discovered the link between Fatah al Islam terrorists and Syrias top intelligence chief Major General Assef Shawkat, Shawkat is the brother -in -law of Syrian president Bashar al Assad
Eid also had a major role in the investigation of the murder of former Prime minister Rafik Hariri and has been involved to a great extent with the UN investigation team. As the date of the establishment of International tribunal was getting closer , Eids role has become very critical . The International Tribunal is charged with trying the killers of Hariri and the related crimes Syria was accused of being behind the murder of Hariri and the related crimes . Syria ad its Lebanese allies has also been fighting against the creation of the International tribunal . Syria denied any wrongdoing .
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 01:39 ||
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Link ||
[6 views]
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#1
It is all Syria. Anyone can see this. One of the most non corrupt investigators, parliamentarians, and Hariri. Good people killed for what not? I see what you are doing, Assad. And it is EVIL.
Irans foreign minister on Friday urged the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to correct their past mistakes and draw up a resolution ending council involvement in his countrys nuclear affairs.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also said that -- while it makes sense to talk with Washington over common interests such as Iraq -- he could not imagine substantially improved ties with the United States even after a change in U.S. administrations. Mottaki spoke to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, the Davos gathering of world political and economic leaders, whose focus on areas of international concern include the Mideast.
Mottakis call for an end to a Security Council role in trying to pressure Iran comes amid indications that the council is moving precisely in the other direction and is ready to pass a third round of sanctions for Tehrans refusal to mothball uranium enrichment and meet related demands.
Asked what his message to the council was, Mottaki said, it was time now to correct their previous mistakes -- involving itself in Tehrans nuclear program and passing the two sanctions resolutions. At the minimum, said Mottaki, the council should wait until the International Atomic Energy Agency completes its probe of Irans past nuclear activities, at the latest in early March.
If that report shows no attempt by Iran to make nuclear weapons -- as claimed by the U.S. -- council members should ... pass a new resolution formally washing their hands of Irans nuclear activities, he said. Mottaki asserted there was neither political will nor any practical step for nuclear weapons in my country.
And he said he saw no room for improved relations between Tehran and Washington, even past the approaching change of U.S. administrations. Usually we do not look to the individuals in the United States or even to the (political) parties -- we look to policies, he said. Being a realist ... I have to say that I do not see room for the time being for the (establishment) of relations between the Iran and the United States, he added, while acknowledging the sense of bilateral talks on the situation in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
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#1
OK, then it's time for Rice and the rest of the state department bozos to SDASTFU...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/27/2008 8:38 Comments ||
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#2
More time to fuck the Jews advance Middle East Peace.
Posted by: Dr Professor Rice ||
01/27/2008 8:42 Comments ||
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#3
Dr Professor
Heh heh I c u
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/27/2008 10:07 Comments ||
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#4
Yes, because Iran only wants nuclear missiles for peaceful civil power generation.
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.
Pakistan has raised the state of alert around its nuclear facilities amid concerns they could be targeted by Islamist militants. 
LONDON: President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that the prime minister, being the chief executive of the country, would be empowered to run the affairs of the government arising out of the February 18 elections. 
NEW DELHI - 
DUBAI (Rooters) - An al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued an Internet video on Sunday showing what it said were two police officers repenting their past actions and handing over their weapons to insurgents.
Egypt's attempts to reseal its border with the Gaza Strip have failed, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continued to pour into Sinai for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.
Divided by a twist of history 26 years ago, this remote town straddling the Gaza-Egypt border has been reunited in just as haphazard a fashion. After the towering border wall slicing through Rafah was toppled earlier this week, long-separated relatives, friends and even former soccer buddies just had to walk a few yards to embrace and reminisce.
