Russia is recycling the Vietnam era Information War campaign, that convinced a lot of people that the CIA was using the war as a means to export heroin from Myanmar (when it was called Burma, and was the major source of that drug). Now the Russians are telling anyone who will listen, that the CIA is transporting most of the Afghan heroin out of Afghanistan aboard U.S. Air Force transports.
...
Posted by: ed ||
02/14/2008 06:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I thought it was going to be the plastic turkey. Or that fire does not melt steel. Or that President Bush was a draft dodger. Or that John Kerry earned three purple hearts. Or that HRC opposed the Iraq war. Or anything at all about global warming. Or that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Etc. Etc.
#3
I do wonder why we haven't taken over the Opium areas and destroyed the crops. From what i understand out niceness to the farmers has resulted in their siding with the Taliban so we really haven't gotten anywhere.
I could be wrong of course but come on, who didn't see this coming?
#4
The devil is in the details. The flow of Afghan and Burmese drugs from the Golden Triangle is not done by the CIA, but "managed" by the CIA. There is a difference.
The locals actually deal in the drugs, but the CIA has to work in the background, diverting much of the money and guns away from terrorists.
Going all the way back to the days of Nixon, it represents recognizing some cruel truths. First of all, that prohibitions do not work, and it is close to impossible to stop the drug trade as any other market economy.
Second, if allowed to operate too freely, the drug trade would result in guns and drugs supplying terrorists and revolutionaries around the world.
So the CIA keeps the flow at market levels, without touching the drugs itself, and diverts much of the money to international banking establishments that are told to "lose it".
There was some suggestion that the BCCI scandal was based in some those bankers deciding to pocket some of those illicit gains, and that was a "no-no", so they had to be spanked.
The guns are either given to friendly powers or dumped at sea, an old tradition.
It is a covert program, because a lot of fools wouldn't grasp the concept and get huffy, but at the same time it is a far cry from the CIA actually shipping the drugs.
It's a "big picture" thing. Oddly enough, even back in the 70s, there was fear that unless it was done, it would create something like the War on Terror, except over drugs, not Islam.
#5
Moose, expect a knock on your door any minute from two guys in black. Whatever you do, don't look at the shiny pen-like thingy they have.
Posted by: ed ||
02/14/2008 17:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
ed: I got to see a fascinating videotaped interview between LTC Bo Gritz (before he went crazy), and the late drug lord ruler of an enclave in Burma, General Khun Sa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khun_Sa
Gritz had been sent there to inquire about US POWs, being the one American who would not be killed on sight in the region. Khun Sa told him that he didn't know anything about that, but to take a message back to Washington for him.
The message was that Khun Sa wanted out of the drug business, which at the time was about 1/3rd of the world supply of heroin. To do this, he wanted US advisers and agricultural assistance to convert all his poppy fields to conventional crops. He emphasized the US advisers, and for a long term commitment, because he wanted off the US enemies' list, and no second thoughts about drugs.
Gritz ran back to D.C. with his message, and was given a serious cold shoulder treatment once he started talking about stopping the heroin trade. Nobody would answer his phone calls, though he had been sent by Reagan himself.
On top of it, Burma got threatened to immediately kill Khun Sa or else have its military aid cut off. So overnight, the Burmese papers were filled with stories about the vicious combat against Khun Sa's army.
Gritz went back a year later, very discreetly because of "the war", to find that no only hadn't there been any effort to nail Khun Sa at all, but what before had been mountainous jungle now had a modern, four-lane blacktop highway going from the enclave to Thailand.
He also noted Thai army trucks hauling enormous amounts of opium from the enclave to Thailand.
Khun Sa assured Gritz that the war had only been on paper, and once Washington was assured that the flow of drugs was not just continuing, but increasing, they stopped pressuring the Burmese government.
End of anecdote. However, please note that with all our forces in Afghanistan, the US has made little or no effort at poppy eradication.
It really is an exercise in realpolitik. Either the drugs flow at a market rate, or the US has to fight a second War on Terror, this time about drugs instead of Islam.
#7
Alternative headline: Cindy Sheehan runs amok again. One good thing is that she's out of the country for awhile. I wonder if she likes the multitude of freedoms available to women in the mideast. It is sad what she has come to--supporting the enemies that killed her son.
#8
Where the hell does she get the mony to go to these places? Code Pink? Soros? Hugo? Couldn't she rightfully be labeled as an enemy agent by the US government due to her activities?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/14/2008 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
#10
ABC7 Looks At The Financing Of 'Camp Casey' Fenton Communications
True Majority - Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
DNC Chair Howard Dean's org Democracy for America
Code Pink
MoveOn.org - Soros, Lewis, Bing, Tides Foundation (Teresa Heinz Kerry)
Posted by: ed ||
02/14/2008 17:19 Comments ||
Top||
#11
prolly picking up campaign donations for that run at Pelosi's seat
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2008 18:02 Comments ||
Top||
It will take time to move the deadlocked North Korea nuclear talks forward because Pyongyang must reverse its previous denial that it sought to enrich uranium, South Korea's top nuclear envoy said Wednesday.
The North agreed in October to disable its nuclear facilities and provide a declaration of its nuclear programs by the end of 2007. However, the process has come to a standstill because the US says the North has yet to provide a complete list.
"The issue of declaration is a difficult one in its essence," South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said at a news conference marking the first anniversary of the landmark deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Read - Iran, the Islamist Surge in Iraq-Afghanistan, and the successful or unstopped dev of the Iranian/Islamist Bomb???
TOPIX > PAKISTAN TESTS NEW SHORT RANGE NUCLEAR/NUCLEAR-CAPABLE MISSLE.
#3
I've always said, that the only solution to the Korean impasse is for the US to issue an ultimatum to the south...Nuclear Detente (ie; they get 'em and you'll have 'em), or we're outta here!! I'm sure Obama will clean the slate for a crisp realization for both regions as the US begin to pull back from the theater and allowing the 'rest of the world' and South Korea to toss the 'football' around, as the US begins it's new national renaissance!
Danish newspapers today reprinted a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, a day after three people were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the man who drew it.
When the image was originally printed by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper as part of a series of 12 in 2005, it sparked global protests and violent demonstrations in Muslim countries. The newspaper reprinted the cartoon today, saying it wanted to show its commitment to freedom of speech after yesterday's arrests.
Several other newspapers, including Politiken, Berlingske Tidende and the Ekstra Bladet tabloid also decided to run the picture, which shows the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. At least three newspapers in Sweden, Holland and Spain also reprinted the cartoon as part of their reporting of the Danish arrests.
"We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend," Berlingske Tidende, based in Copenhagen, said.
An editorial in Politiken said the paper was printing the cartoon in support of Jyllands-Posten. "Regardless of whether Jyllands-Posten at the time used freedom of speech unwisely and with damaging consequences, the paper deserves unconditional solidarity when it is threatened with terror," the editorial said.
A spokesman for the Danish foreign ministry said its embassies worldwide were monitoring the situation for any indications of unrest related to the reprinting of the cartoon.
Danish Muslim leaders said reprinting the caricature was the wrong way to protest, while the leader of the Islamic Faith Community - the group that led demonstrations in Copenhagen in 2006 - said it was considering a rally outside parliament.
Danish intelligence services said they had arrested three suspects yesterday "to prevent a terror-related assassination of one of the cartoonists". The three - a Dane of Moroccan origin and two Tunisians - were detained after a pre-dawn raid near Aarhus, in the west of the country. The raid followed a prolonged surveillance operation by intelligence services.
Officials said the Danish citizen, aged 40, was released yesterday after questioning, while the two Tunisians will be deported as a security threat.
The suspects' intended target was alleged to be Kurt Westergaard, a 73-year-old illustrator with Jyllands-Posten. His drawing of Muhammad wearing the bomb-shaped turban was regarded as the most offensive by Muslims. Westergaard and the cartoonists who drew other images in the series are said to have been under police protection for several months.
Islamic law opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favourable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
Which sort of tells you where the problem lies.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Posted by: ole ||
02/14/2008 1:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
And it even isn't an image of the prophet Mohammed - just your average muslim. Facially similar and bearded they are all the same. I think he had just a musliim in mind and not specifically the prophet.
Eye of the beholder. Run them again and again and again.
A nine-term Republican congressman critical of the Iraq war has been defeated by a well-funded state senator in Maryland's primary. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest was narrowly defeated Tuesday by state Sen. Andy Harris.
Gilchrest voted to go to war in Iraq but later said he regretted the decision. A year ago, he was one of two Republicans in Congress to vote for a withdrawal timeline.
Gilchrest called the campaign the most intense of his political career. Harris depicted Gilchrest as too moderate for Maryland's 1st congressional district, which includes the state's Eastern Shore and parts of the Baltimore suburbs.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Narrowly defeated, but only because his opponent was "well-funded", meaning, some rich guy bought the election.
Ya gotta love the AP.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/14/2008 6:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Bad driving isn't their only fault. Lee never trusted them either.
#3
I tell you that if the Trunks had at least one ball in the set, they'd run hard on the Donk's backstabbing and the success in Iraq. Play it, and play it hard. Nothing turns out voters like anger [remember the last run on corruption]. The Donks played with our troops lives, its time they pay. But watch the Trunks woose out.
A senior US justice department official has reversed his position and now says using waterboarding while questioning terrorism suspects is not legal anymore, as he prepares to give evidence before a congressional hearing.
Steven Bradbury, acting head of the justice department's office of legal counsel, said laws and other limits enacted since three detainees were subjected to the process have eliminated waterboarding, which makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning, from what is legally allowed.
In outlawing simulated drowning during interrogation, Bradbury goes a step beyond the CIA director, Michael Hayden, who said current laws cast a doubt on the legality of the method, which some consider torture.
In preparing for his appearance later today before the House judiciary subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, Bradbury said: "The set of interrogation methods authorised for current use is narrower than before, and it does not today include waterboarding.
"There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding, under any circumstances, would be lawful under current law," he said.
It is the first time the department has expressed such an opinion publicly.
In 2005 Bradbury signed two secret legal memos that authorised the CIA to use head slaps, freezing temperatures and waterboarding when questioning terror detainees. Because of that, Democrats in the Senate have opposed his nomination by president Bush to formally head the legal counsel's office.
Bradbury's testimony comes as majority Democrats in Congress try to clamp down on interrogation methods that can be used on terrorism suspects.
Yesterday, Congress moved to prohibit the CIA from using simulated drowning and other harsh interrogation techniques, despite Bush's threat to veto any measure that limits the agency's interrogation techniques.
The prohibition was contained in a bill authorising intelligence activities for the current year, which the Senate approved in December by 51 votes to 45. It would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual. That manual prohibits waterboarding.
The legislation bars the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other harsh coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. Those practices were banned by the military in 2006.
Bradbury's comments go a step further than Hayden's last week. In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, the CIA director acknowledged for the first time publicly that the CIA has used waterboarding against three prisoners.
Hayden said current law and court decisions, including the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, cast doubt on whether waterboarding would be legal now. Hayden prohibited its use in CIA interrogations in 2006; it has not been used since 2003, he said.
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for all detainees in US custody, including CIA prisoners.
Waterboarding is still officially in the CIA tool kit but it requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case basis.
#1
All waterboarding does is scare the living pee out of someone. It does not cause any lasting physical or psychological damage. It makes one feel like they are drowning and so they agree to talk in order to stop the feeling of drowning. It just scares them. That's all.
I really don't understand why it has become such an issue. Maybe because it is so effective and Democrats can't stand to see America succeed at anything.
#2
Democrats can't stand to see America succeed at anything
It's not about America. Democrats just use anything they can find as a club to beat Bush. Donks will not hesitate to use waterboarding when they are in power. It's not about the troops, torture, human rights, the expense of the war or anything else. They don't care about any of these things. They just can't stand having a Republican in the White House is all.
#3
I believe and have stated as much publicly that waterboarding is NOT torture. You know what torture is? Just ask the Iranian secret police. Because they have more or less perfected the art and science that is torture. One need look no further than a certain Iranian dissident to see what I'm talking about. The example I'm referring to was related in a fairly recent Newsweek article. The author was trying to make the case against torture, and waterboarding, but all he really did, in my opinion, was to point out how truly benign water boarding is relative to the methods employed by other organizations and institutions. In this particular case of the Iranian dissident, the man was kidnapped and beaten before all of his limbs were surgically removed, without any anastheia or pain killers to boot, upon which he was sent back to his family in Jordan as a message to refrain from further dissident activities. THAT'S torture, folks. WE DON'T DO THAT.
In total honesty, I have had as bad if not worse things done to me as part of my fraternity initation. Sleep deprivation, forced diet, sudden and huge shifts in surrounding ambient temperature, physical and mental exhaustion. This sounds like a ridiculous comparison, and that's because it is, but my fraternity hell week was more like the SEAL hell week compared to what you would normally expect to find in your average college fraternity. I would even go so far as to say that we had to endure a variation of waterboarding, although I will stop at saying it was full-on waterboarding as I now understand it to be.
Crosspatch, I couldn't agree with you more. Waterboarding is designed to convince someone that they are drowning. Not a pleasant feeling, to be sure. However, is that torture? I don't think so and here's why: I know a lot of people, at least most people that haven't actually experienced it, equate the mental effects of waterboarding to having a loaded gun held to your head (I won't *AHEM*McCain* mention any names here). The prospect of inflicted death is held out as a means of intimidation in the hopes that the subject will opt to divulge information in exchange for having their life spared. Is having a loaded gun held to your head torture? Perhaps. Is it the same thing as waterboarding? Absolutely not. The fundamental difference between them lies in the immediacy of each act. A loaded gun to the head implies immediate, sudden, and irrevocable death upon pulling of the trigger. In other words, tell me what you know, right now, before I pull the trigger, or you are dead. Yet with waterboarding, the prospect of death is hardly as immediate or sudden and surely more recoverable should it even get that far (CPR, etc.). Because with waterboarding, you are not really trying to kill the person, nor are you really threatening to kill them. There is no lasting physical or mental damage from waterboarding. Because what you are really doing is only making the subject think that they MIGHT die if you don't stop, and doing so in a very effective way. It's not so much painful as it it is very, very uncomfortable.
All of this is really beside the point when you propose the "ticking time-bomb" scenario. (I love to do this with the anti-torture, anti-waterboarding crowd because they rarely have an answer that allows them to maintain their position with any semblance of intellectual or moral integrity). Let's say, for example, that you have a good reason (i.e. not proof, just reasonable cause) to believe that certain elements have conspired to kill innocent civilians-- one of them being someone you love and hold dearly-- in a horrific, gruesome, painful, and immediate way (i.e. flying a plane into a building, blowing up a train, setting off a chem or bio weapon, detonating a nuclear device, etc.). Now let's say, for this example, you have captured an individual you have good reason (i.e. no proof, just reasonable cause) to believe has information that could (i.e. not will but may) prevent the horrific, gruesome, painful, and immediate death of said loved one. The question you need to ask yourself is would you subject the captured individual to a procedure such as water boarding KNOWING that it will not kill him/her and will NOT cause ANY lasting physical or mental pain or damage but will ONLY make him/her think that if he/she doesn't talk they MAY die? Or would you rather not engage in such methods and leave your loved one to die a horrible, tragic, and potentially avoidable death?
Anyone who says they wouldn't engage in water boarding given such circumstances is either lying or a total sociopath. And if you would, you have no right to tell anyone else they can't do without being a total and complete hypocrite.
An Islamic militant who is accused of helping carry out the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto wanted to avenge the death of a friend in the military attack last year, a senior police officer said Wednesday.
A statement that may very well contain some truth in it, but most certainly not the *whole* truth.
Husnain Gul and his cousin, identified only as Rafaqat, were arrested last week in the Dec. 27 death of Bhutto. The senior policeman leading the murder investigation, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, told reporters that Gul began preparing for the attack
when his handler ordered him to go see Mahmoud the Martyrmaker and tell him "Big Tony would like a cannoli with extra mascarpone."
in November. His friend had been killed in military operations against Islamic militants holed up inside Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in July. "Their motive for attacking Bhutto was that she was coming to Pakistan at the behest of a foreign power," Majeed said.
"Ask anyone!"
Majeed would not speculate on the mastermind of the assassination. U.S. and Pakistani officials suspect the attack was ordered by Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaida-linked extremist in northwest Pakistan.
"See this little plastic ring sticking out of my back? If you pull on it, I say 'Dire Revengeￜ' in Urdu, Pashto, Arabic and Yorkshirese!"
Four people, including a 15-year-old boy, have been arrested in the probe. Majeed said a fifth suspect is being sought but he refused to elaborate.
"He was s'posed to call when he made it to the safe hou...er, I mean I can say no more!"
Majeed said that Gul and his cousin told investigators details of the plot against Bhutto. Based on that testimony, Majeed said police have learned that two assailants were stationed
by whom?
at a pair of gates to the park where thousands of Bhutto supporters had gathered. Majeed said the two suicide bombers spent the night at Gul's home in Rawalpindi
Listening to Malcolm X speeches and watching beheading videos
on the eve of the attack. Gul also drove the two bombers to the public park where the attack occurred, Majeed said. The primary assailant was identified only as Saeed, who was using the alias Bilal. Majeed said Bilal opened fire with a pistol and then detonated explosives hidden beneath his clothing, fatally injuring Bhutto. The other assailant, identified only as Ikramullah, was to have attacked Bhutto if she had escaped the first blast. With the first bomb proving fatal, Ikramullah left Rawalpindi the next morning, Majeed said, without saying where.
NEW DELHI: With the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the humiliating 1999 Kandahar hijack firmly on its radar, the UPA government plans to amend the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982 to make it much more iron-fisted, providing for a no-negotiation policy and death penalty to the hijackers.
The new measures would treat hijacking as "an act of aggression" and entail "directions to all domestic airports to promptly immobilise a hijacked plane if it lands", sources said.
The proposed amendments to the 1982 Act are likely to be taken up by the Cabinet on Thursday.
"If at all negotiations take place, it will only be tactical - aimed at preventing loss of life or bringing the incident to a swift closure," a source said, indicating that the government would not want a capitulation like the one witnessed in 1999 when three extremely dangerous terrorists were released.
The new measures flow from the anti-hijacking policy cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security in August 2005. It allows shooting down of a "hostile plane if there is conclusive evidence that it is likely to be used as a missile to blow up strategic establishments", on the lines of the 9/11 Al-Qaida attacks in the US in 2001.
The policy recognises that hijacked aircraft can be transformed into a "hostile" entity.
The new amendment, making the law more stringent, has proposed death sentence for hijackers who use or seek to use the aircraft as a "missile".
The existing provision in Section 4 of the 1982 Act limits punishment for the offence of hijacking an airplane to life imprisonment and a fine.
The revised anti-hijacking policy also recommends that hijackers be awarded death penalty.
The move, aiming to reduce the reaction time, proposes that if an aircraft registered in India is hijacked, personnel at all airports will have the power to immobilise it without seeking any permission from superior authorities. This, again, is aimed at avoiding crossed wires, delays and poor chain of command that saw IC 814 taking off for Kandahar from Amritsar's Raja Sansi airport after refuelling.
Airborne hijacked plane, according to the new proposal, will be immediately surrounded by fighter aircraft within the Indian airspace.
IAF has been given the authority to take necessary steps for scrambling fighters to guard and guide the hijacked aircraft and force it to land on an Indian airport, according to the anti-hijack policy of 2005.
The policy laid down procedures to ensure NSG commandos, accompanied by a central negotiating team, are airborne within two hours of the hijack, the sources said. A commercial plane can be used for the purpose if an aircraft from IAF or Aviation Research Corps is not available.
The policy also lays down a detailed coordination chain, starting from ATC to IAF to the Crisis Management Group and ending at CCS.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied media reports that the Taliban had demanded the release of captured Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah in exchange for Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin.
Ambassador Tariq was traveling through the Khyber Agency and had been due to change cars at the frontier crossing but he never reached the border. His driver and bodyguard are also missing. Dadullah was captured in Quetta on Monday.
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said the government was sure that the envoy was alive. He said no one had claimed responsibility for the abduction.
As far as the report of Dadullah is concerned, nobody has contacted the Government of Pakistan, he said. The issue is very sensitive, it relates to the life of a colleague.
The abduction came at the same time as masked gunmen kidnapped two nuclear technicians in the Tribal Areas. He said Pakistan had received sympathy messages from foreign friends but it required no help from other countries to trace the ambassador.
Kidnapped: The hunt for Tariq remained uneventful on the third day of his abduction.
Khyber Agency Assistant Political Agent Ghulam Rasool confirmed that Ambassador Tariq had been kidnapped in the agency precincts. Earlier, the government said it was unsure whether Tariq had been abducted.
Rasool told Daily Times that the administration was unaware about the abductors identity.
Regarding the search operation for the abducted envoy, another agency official said it was not a house-to-house search operation, adding that the administration was in touch with local clerics, tribal elders, and notorious gangsters to find a clue about the ambassadors whereabouts.
Not involved: Separately, local Taliban militants denied involvement in the abduction. We have no links with it. We dont know anything about that, militant leader Baitullah Mehsuds spokesman Maulvi Umar told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
CID Additional Inspector General (Addl IG) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said in a press conference on Wednesday that the plot to kill Benazir Bhutto was made in 2007, Geo News reported. He said two men charged with Benazir Bhuttos assassination confessed to their involvement in the attack and were remanded in custody. Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat were cousins, he said, and had been class fellows at the Hazro seminary, where they also received militant training. The arrested men revealed that five people were involved in the attack, including two prepared for suicide attacks Bilal, who shot at Benazir and blew himself up, and Ikramullah, who was prepared to attack Benazir if she left from the other gate. The fifth suspect was not identified because the Addl IG said it could affect the investigation. He said Gul had confessed to providing an explosives-laden jacket, a grenade, a 30-bore pistol and sunglasses to Bilal. Bilal, the attacker, visited Liaquat Bagh on December 27 twice between 8am and 9am in a taxi, the Addl IG told the press conference. Bilal was positioned on Gate 1 of the site and Ikramullah on Gate 2, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
Basra, Feb 1, (VOI) - A Sadrist official on Wednesday said the abducted Iraqi interpreter working for CBS TV channel was released in Basra.
The Iraqi interpreter working with the British journalist, kidnapped on Sunday, was released and moved to Qasr al-Sultan Hotel in central Basra, Sheikh Ali al-Saaidi, Muqtada al-Sadrs official in Basra, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI) in a telephone call. The Sadrist official did not set time for the release the British journalist, but said al-Sadr office struck a deal with the abductors to free him.
Earlier, Harith al-Ethari, Al-Sadr office chief in Basra, told VOI They reached an agreement to free the kidnapped British journalist Richard Butler and his Iraqi interpreter. Today, the CBS news foundation appealed to al-Sadr's office to exert more efforts for releasing the journalist and the interpreter. Al-Ethari on Tuesday condemned all forms of assaults on journalists, demanding the release of the British journalist. We demand those who kidnapped the foreign journalist in Basra to listen attentively to the voice of al-Sadr's office and release the foreign journalist," he said, adding "national powers in Iraq are against the occupation forces not against the foreign civilians, particularly journalists."
On Monday, police said a British journalist and his interpreter were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen near Qasr al-Sultan Hotel in central Basra on Sunday. The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters without Borders said at least 208 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since March 2003.
Posted by: DepotGuy ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
Doesn't kidnapping journalists work against the terrorists' cause?
Eight-year-old Osher Tuito regained consciousness Thursday and is now breathing on his own after days of surgery by doctors desperately trying to save his right leg.
Surgeons were forced to amputate his left leg at the knee. A Kassam rocket attack on Sderot Saturday night seriously wounded both the young boy and his 19-year-old brother Rami. Rami also spent days on the operating table.
Osher, whose name in Hebrew means "happiness," had been kept in a medically-induced coma and on a respirator in order to allow his body to heal from the multiple traumas and surgeries following the blast.
Osher and Ramis mother and 15-year-old brother were also briefly hospitalized following the Kassam attack. Thirteen other residents were treated for severe emotional shock.
#2
Gazans blow the leg off a little boy and the world is silent... but stop giving those savages free oil and electricity and listen to the hypocrites howl with outrage.
There is great evil loose in the world today. I keep feeling like it's 1938....
United States President George W. Bush again signed a six-month waiver of a law which bans the presence of the Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist group in Washington, D.C. WOT indeed
#2
State Department up to their old games. Better to dip their hands in the Arab cash flow than to stand for freedom and against monsters.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/14/2008 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#3
we let em stay when Arafish was actually sponsoring terror, now that theyve got a guy whos actually fighting Hamas (however ineffectually) instead of giving Hamas weapons, its hardly likely we're gonna toss em now.
#4
we let em stay when Arafish was actually sponsoring terror, now that theyve got a guy whos actually fighting Hamas (however ineffectually) instead of giving Hamas weapons, its hardly likely we're gonna toss em now.
Yes, that makes sense in a liberal sort of way. They were worse before, so there is no need to be outraged that they are not as bad now.
The coalition crisis over Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's secret negotiations on Jerusalem with former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ahmed Qurei ended on Thursday when Shas chairman Eli Yishai received reassurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Livni that the capital's fate was not on the table.
Livni told Yishai there was no secret channel of meetings with Qurei, denying statements to the contrary by senior PA officials to The Jerusalem Post. Olmert promised the Shas leader that Jerusalem would not be discussed until the end of the negotiations with the Palestinians and that he would make sure Livni abided by that vow.
"We are satisfied for now, but if secret negotiations begin tomorrow, we are leaving," a source close to Yishai said following his meetings with Olmert and Livni. "He believes the prime minister and the foreign minister. If he didn't, we would leave the coalition."
Olmert also promised Yishai that construction would continue in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. He reportedly said that he would contact the authorities charged with planning and building in the Construction and Housing Ministry and issue new directives.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb Judaism's third holiest site ineffectual Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction issued a statement denying it will help restore the shrine, referring to both the shrine and the biblical patriarch as "Muslim."
"Pay no attention to the rumors that we will work with Israel to restore the burial site of the holy Muslim Joseph," said the statement, issued from Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem. "We are going to guard this holy Muslim site, the 3125689756245th Most Holiest Muslim Site."
Joseph's Tomb is the believed burial place of the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became viceroy of Egypt.
Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Monday they were called to the tomb to find 16 burning tires inside the sacred structure. A Palestinian police official who inspected the site told WND there was some fire damage to the tomb. He said the Palestinian Authority, fearing embarrassment, immediately formed a joint committee from the PA's Force 17, Preventative Security Services and Palestinian intelligence, to find out who was behind the fire.
The move comes after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he would ask Israel's Defense Ministry to work with the PA to reconstruct and restore the tomb, parts of which were destroyed in 2000 by Palestinians, including known PA security officers.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, which granted nearby strategic territory to the Palestinians, Joseph's Tomb was supposed to be accessible to Jews and Christians. But following repeated attacks against Jewish worshippers at the holy site by gunmen associated with then-Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat's militias, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in October 2000 ordered an Israeli unilateral retreat from the area.
Within less than an hour of the Israeli retreat, Palestinian rioters overtook Joseph's Tomb and reportedly began to ransack the site. Palestinian mobs reportedly tore apart books, destroying prayer stands and grinding out stone carvings in the Tomb's interior. A Muslim flag was hoisted over the tomb. I actually saw that on teevee, and felt both terrible and very angry, disgusting.
Israel first gained control of Nablus and the neighboring site of Joseph's Tomb in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Oslo Accords signed by Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for the area surrounding the tomb site to be placed under Palestinian jurisdiction but allowed for continued Jewish visits to the site and the construction of an Israeli military outpost at the tomb to ensure secure Jewish access.
Following the transfer of control of Nablus and the general area encompassing the tomb to the Palestinians in the early 1990s, there were a series of outbreaks of violence in which Arab rioters and gunmen from Arafat's Fatah militias shot at Jewish worshipers and the tomb's military outpost.
Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and many others, including yeshiva students, were wounded in September 1996 when Palestinian rioters and Fatah gunmen attempted to over take the tomb. Eventually, Israeli soldiers regained control of the site.
The Palestinians continued to attack Joseph's Tomb with regular shootings and the lobbing of firebombs and Molotov cocktails. Security for Jews at the site increasingly became more difficult to maintain. Rumors circulated in 2000 that Barak would evacuate the Israeli military outpost and give the tomb to Arafat as a "peacemaking gesture."
In early 2000, the Israeli army began denying Jewish visits to the tomb on certain days due to prospects of Arab violence. Following U.S.-mediated peace talks at Camp David in September 2000, Arafat returned to the West Bank and initiated his intifada. During one bloody week in October 2000, Fatah gunmen attacked the tomb repeatedly, killing two and injuring dozens, prompting Barak to order a complete evacuation of Judaism's third holiest site Oct. 6.
#12
Doesn't matter. The Mormon's went through the effort to go back through the family tree of man and convert after the fact everybody to Mormonism.
Should make Mohammad happy knowing he gets to enter Mormon heaven.
#13
They should study their holy book more closely: muslims claim descent from Ishmael the first son of Abraham (by his wife Sarah's servant). Joseph is descended through Abraham's other son Isaac (Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Joseph). Therefore he wasn't a muzzy.
#14
Muslims believe that EVERY child is born a Muslim. That is why conversions are deemed to be illegal. That is why adult new Muslims call themselves "reverts."
I don't like the idea of nation-building in Muslim countries, because they reject any notion of legality that isn't koran based. Hell, we are in a Clash-of-Civilizations. And Obama says the first thing he will do as President would be to hold a meeting with the Muslim states, in order to discuss differences. That statement reveals Obama's ignorance of Islamic dogma. Muslims only compromise when they aren't strong enough to force their will. We can't give them the opportunity.
#18
No worries. Jacob and Joseph has a God that the Power to laugh at such antics. As so do Jacob and Joseph. Unfortunately for folks like Mohammed and Islam, anger management is in order.
#20
Islam claims that the true line of Abraham is through Ishmael. Joseph's brothers sold him to Ishmaelites, who then resold him in Egypt to whoever bought him for Potiphar.
US President George W Bush has ordered expanded economic sanctions against senior Syrian officials and their associates, the White House has said. The US assets will be frozen of those responsible for actions that "undermine efforts to stabilise Iraq" or to have benefited from public corruption.
Mr Bush also reasserted US allegations that Syria was seeking to undermine democracy in neighbouring Lebanon.
Damascus has repeatedly denied the claims by Washington.
"Lies! All lies!"
Mr Bush announced his decision in an executive order and a message to the US Congress. He did not state which officials would be affected.
Washington previously imposed economic sanctions on Syria in 2004 mainly for its support of Lebanese opposition group Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas. It has since blacklisted several Syrian officials.
In 2005, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon after a presence of 29 years, after massive domestic and international pressure following the assassination of the former Lebanese premier, Rafik Hariri. However, the US says Syria has continued to interfere in Lebanon. "Syria continues to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy, imprison democracy activists, curtail human rights, and sponsor and harbour terrorists," the White House said.
The statement also asserted that Syria was undermining efforts to stabilise Iraq and allowing Syrian territory to be used for that purpose. Syria's government "continues to pursue other activities that deny the Syrian people the political freedoms and economic prosperity they deserve, and that undercut the peace and stability of the region," it said.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ordered ground forces, Navy and Israel Air Force (IAF) personnel to be on alert along the northern border and elsewhere as the second most powerful leader of the Hizbullah terrorist organization was buried in Beirut on Thursday.
At the same time, on the other side of the Lebanese capital, pro-Western loyalists gathered for a memorial to mark the third anniversary of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, the most wanted Hizbullah fugitive in the world, was assassinated in a car bombing late Tuesday night in Damascus. Israeli security agencies were expecting Hizbullah terrorists to attack Jewish and Israeli targets after the killing, although not necessarily within the Jewish State.
Ashkenazi issued a statement saying, The IDF is following developments and taking the necessary precautions, but offered no further details. Israeli officials offered no information as to how long the state of alert would remain in effect.
By mid-morning Thursday, tens of thousands of Lebanese were beginning to mass in the capital for both ironically related events. Pro-Syrian Hizbullah loyalists flocked to the terrorist organizations south Beirut stronghold to attend Mughniyehs funeral. The Dachya neighborhood was packed with mourners who accompanied the coffin of one of the worlds most elusive terrorists. It has been said that he never slept twice in a row in the same place, did not allow himself to be photographed, underwent plastic surgery on his face - twice, and left buildings via a window, not a door.
Iran, Hizbullahs top patron, sent Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to attend Mughniyehs funeral and later pay his respects to the arch-terrorists family. Mughniyeh was Hizbullahs liaison to the Islamic Republic.
Hizbullah, Iran and Syria held Israel responsible for the assassination, as did most of the rest of the Arab world.
Nasrallah, Scared sh*tless, Delivers Video Speech
Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah eulogized his top deputy in a pre-recorded speech from his own hideout in an underground bunker. Nasrallah has been holed up since the end of the Second Lebanon War, fearing assassination by the long arm of Israeli justice. Zionists, if you want this type of open war then let the whole world hear: Let it be an open war, Nasrallah announced. In every future war there wont be one Imad or a few thousand fighters, but tens of thousands of loyal fighters who are willing to die as mourners, he warned.
Jerusalem issued an official statement formally denying involvement in the incident, but was equally clear that the murder was considered a positive event.
The United States welcomed news of the killing. Mughniyeh had been on the FBIs 20 Most Wanted list, with a $5 million price tag on his head. "The world is a better place without this man in it," said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "One way or another he was brought to justice."
"Car bombings were Imad Mughniyeh's specialty," noted the National Post of Canada. "During his quarter-century as a master terrorist, he sent explosive-laden vehicles to blow up embassies, military barracks and even a community center. It was perhaps only fitting that when he met his demise in Damascus it was in a sudden concussive burst of gas and flames--a bomb planted in a parked Mitsubishi Pajero."
He was wanted by both Israel and America for masterminding numerous terrorist attacks in which hundreds of people were killed in the Middle East and South America.
While the terrorist supporters gathered in south Beirut, a second crowd gathered on the other side of the Lebanese capital for a rally marking the third anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The pro-Western leader, like Mughniyeh, was murdered in a car bombing. The US and many others in the local and international arena hold Syria responsible for Hariris assassination.
Trying to keep the two crowds away from each other as well as maintain peace within each were tens of thousands of Lebanese army regulars, who were deployed throughout the city and along the major arteries. Schools and other public institutions in Beirut were closed.
#1
Pro-Syrian Hizbullah loyalists flocked to the terrorist organizations south Beirut stronghold to attend Mughniyehs funeral. The Dachya neighborhood was packed with mourners who accompanied the coffin of one of the worlds most elusive terrorists.
Sounds like the proverbial "golden opportunity" to me...
Hizbullah chief terrorist Hassan Nasrallah eulogized his top deputy in a pre-recorded speech from his own hideout in an underground bunker. Nasrallah has been holed up since the end of the Second Lebanon War, fearing assassination by the long arm of Israeli justice.
Hizbullah's leader today vowed to wage "open war" against Israeli targets around the world after accusing Israel of assassinating the organisation's militant commander, Imad Mughniyeh.
Hassan Nasrallah said Israel, which has denied carrying out the killing in the Syrian capital Damascus, had acted "outside the natural battlefield". "You have crossed the borders," Nasrallah said in a fiery eulogy at Mughniyeh's funeral in south Beirut. "With this murder, its timing, location and method - Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: let this war be open."
"Like all human beings we have a sacred right to defend ourselves," said Nasrallah, speaking in a videotaped message broadcast over a giant screen at the ceremony. "We will do all that takes to defend our country and people."
Nasrallah went into hiding in 2006 like a nancy boy, fearing a possible assassination attempt and making only three public appearances since the summer war that year with Israel.
Nasrallah warned that Israel's killing of Mughniyeh was a "very big folly" which Israel will eventually pay for. "Mughniyeh's blood will lead to the elimination of Israel. These words are not an emotional reaction," he said, drawing roars from the crowd which raised fists into the air.
In heavy rain, supporters of Hizbullah turned out for the funeral of its top commander.
#2
Nasrallah is not following the 'erector set' steps at all! He must first offer 'Dire Consequences®' and then open the 'Gates Of Hell', before waging 'Open War' with the Zionists; and it's best to do this from a strong elevated platform (like Saddam would do), rather than a gopher hole.
#5
FOX NEWS > Israeli Perts believe that whom ever killed Mugniyeh did so in the knowledge that Hizbullah, etc. would retaliate???
Also, when NASRALLAH made repeated reference to "ZIONISTS", IMO I DON'T THINK HE WAS REFERRING SOLELY TO ISRAEL. IMO again, the 2008 US POTUS Elex is important to Radical Islam becuz bwtn now and 2010 [best], RADICAL ISLAM MAY STILL BE ABLE TO DEFEAT THE US-ALLIES IN THE ME, WID OR WID OUT "AMER HIROSHIMA(S)", WID OUT RESORT TO ANY "MUTUAL DESTRUCTION" = GREAT POWERS CONFRONTATION AS PER THE RADICAL MULLAHS. After Year 2010 and beyond > Radical Islam bears the potential of becoming dependent on "Mutual Destruction" to achieve its OWG ambitions, EVEN WID "AMER HIROSHIMAS"??? FOR ME, NASRALLAH WAS SETTING THE STAGE FOR ISLAMIST OPTIONS FOR NEW, POSSIB WIDE-SCALE, TERROR = WMD? ATTACKS INSIDE AMERICA.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised Iran for its repeated declarations over its nuclear and rocket technology ambitions. "We don't approve of Iran's permanent demonstration of its intentions to develop its rocket sector and continue to enrich uranium," Mr Lavrov said. Mr Lavrov said Iran should refrain from raising international tensions.
"It's impossible to ignore the fact that problems with Iran's nuclear programme have arisen in recent years," Mr Lavrov was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying. "While they haven't been resolved it would be better to refrain from actions that raise tensions and create the impression Iran is ignoring the international community," he said.
Mr Lavrov was speaking as he travelled back from an EU-Russia meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Recently Russia spoke out after Iran launched a rocket into space, saying it raised suspicion over the true aim of its nuclear programme, which many Western nations say is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, but which Iran says is solely for energy production. Iran said the rocket which was test-fired would be used to launch research satellites.
In the past, Russia has been more sceptical than some Western powers about Iran's missile capability, saying it would take a long time to build long-range missiles. Russia has been supplying Tehran with uranium for the Bushehr nuclear power station being built by Moscow in the south of the country.
Posted by: lotp ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
russkies said its silly to put missiles in Poland, cause Iran is years from missiles that can reach Europe. Than the Iranians test rockets that go farther than anyone thought the Iranians could. Kinda embarrasing for the Russkies.
#3
Don't think the Russians are capable of embarassment. Likely they knew Iran was working on the delivery system (and probably helped in development - for a price).
Lebanons parliament majority leader Saad Hariri met with Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations in Lebanon, Geir Pedersen in a farewell visit on the occasion of the end of his mission in Lebanon.
After the meeting, Pedersen said: "It was an opportunity to convey a message to Mr. Hariri on the eve of the sad anniversary of the assassination of his father. I assured him of the full commitment of the United Nations over the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri and others who were martyred in this sad day three years ago. Also assured him of our full commitment to the International Tribunal.
He added: We are convinced that the International Tribunal will start its work soon. He continued: The importance of this lies in bringing to justice all those involved in the murder. This should help to boost the sovereignty , stability and independence of Lebanon
Pedersen thanked Saad Hariri for his cooperation during the past three years, and wished him every success.
Did a lot of good, did he?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Israel denied involvement in the assassination of Hizbullah arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh in an official statement Wednesday.
"Wudn't us."
"Israel is looking into the reports from Lebanon or from Syria regarding the death of a senior Hizbullah official, and is learning for the first time the details being reported in the media in the past few hours," read the statement from the Prime Minister's Office. "Israel rejects the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement in this incident. We have nothing further to add," read the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Hopefully this indicates that Olmert has finally 'bucked up' and has unhooked the leash on Meir Dagan's neck. This could be the start of a 'Black September' type operation that will surely get the rats scurrying for the sewers!
#3
I like it. Make them think.
If it ain't the Joooos, who the hell is it? You Mahmoud? You Achmed? Maybe we pissed off the Syrians? Maybe the Iranians? How will I sleep at night? Where will I sleep at night?
Mughniyehs death represents a major blow for Hizballah. Along with his skills in organizing terrorist operations, Mughniyeh was credited with organizing the groups defenses during the 2006 war with Israel. He also served as a primary liaison between the group and its patrons in Iran. In fact, Mughniyeh also held a position in the Iranian Quods Force, which provides extensive training and support for Hizballah.
Tuesdays car bombing is also an embarrassment for Damascus, at least officially. A number of terror groups maintain offices in the Syrian capital, and operate there with relative impunity. As the Washington Post observed, the successful effort to eliminate Mughniyeh represents a major breach in Syrias police-state security apparatus.
Still, that doesnt answer the question of who dispatched Imad Mughniyeh. Israeli operatives are the most logical suspects; as Bill Roggio notes, Mughniyehs assassination bears an uncanny resemblance to a 2004 Mossad operation against a top Hamas operative in Damascus. In both cases, the terrorists were killed by a well-placed car bombs that devastated the drivers compartment, but did little damage to the rest of the vehicle, and surrounding buildings.
But car-bombing is also a favored assassination technique of Syrian security organizations, employed on numerous occasions against Lebanese politicians. Had Mughniyeh run afoul of his Syrian hosts, or were Bashir Assads security forces simply asleep at the switch?
Mughniyeh died in a Damascus neighborhood thats home to an Iranian school and the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence service; in that location, as Meir Javedanfar writes at PJM, youd think that security would be tighter. Mr. Javedanfar believes that the successful hit against Mughniyeh indicates that western intelligence has penetrated Irans security services, allowing them to successfully track--and targeta Hizballah official who was known for his attention to personal security.
#2
From WaPo:
With Marines planning to mark this year's 25th anniversary of the Beirut barracks attack, the Marine commander at the time, Col. Tim Geraghty, reflected yesterday on Mughniyah's death in Syria. "It's very fitting that it was a car bomb. It was long overdue," he said from his home in Phoenix.
#3
Same WaPo article:
some Marine families had mixed feelings. Larry Gerlach is a retired Marine colonel whose injuries in the 1983 barracks bombing left him a quadriplegic.
"Your first reaction is yeah, good," said his wife, Patti. "But then you realize that what you're talking about is someone who was blown up in a car bomb -- and you don't want to feel happy about something like that."
For 25 years, Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, involved in endless attacks against Israel and the United States, including the abduction of two IDF reservists in 2006 and the bombing of US embassies in Africa. Less known than Osama bin Laden but considered a greater outlaw, Mughniyeh was implicated in the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut that killed more than 300, as well as the 1994 bombing of the Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in the same city, in which 29 died.
He apparently had strong ties with al-Qaida, and according to the testimony of Ali Muhammad - a senior al-Qaida operative who was arrested for involvement in the attacks on American embassies in Africa - Mughniyeh met with bin Laden in Sudan in 1993. Hizbullah, Muhammad said, provided explosives training for al-Qaida fighters. This relationship - and the fact that Mughniyeh was Hizbullah's liaison to al-Qaida - has led Western intelligence agencies to raise the possibility that he was also involved in the September 11 attacks.
Born in Tyre, Lebanon, in 1962, Mughniyeh did not attract attention until 1976, when he joined the PLO's Force 17 as a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut. Fatah officials told The Jerusalem Post that he had been very close to Yasser Arafat when the PLO was based in Beirut.
"His nickname was tha'lab [the fox], and today he's considered the second most important figure in Hizbullah after Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. We're very proud to have had a Palestinian holding such a high position in Hizbullah," said a Fatah official who said he had known Mughniyeh well during the '70s and '80s.
When the IDF forced the PLO to leave Lebanon in 1982, Arafat entrusted Mughniyeh with transferring the organization's weapons to Lebanese armed groups allied with the Palestinians.
Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah later left the movement to form Hizbullah.
Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah later left the movement to form Hizbullah.
The first terrorist attacks in which he was implicated were the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy and barracks housing US Marines and French paratroopers, who were part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon. Around 350 people were killed. In 1985, Mughniyeh was believed to have been one of the terrorists who hijacked a TWA flight on its way from Athens to Rome. The plane was forced to land in Beirut and afterwards flew to Algeria before returning to Beirut. He was later indicted in the US for the murder of one of the hostages on board, a US Navy diver.
On October 10, 2001, Mughniyeh appeared on the FBI's first "Top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists" list. A reward of $5 million was offered for information leading to his capture.
He has also been linked to the Karine A weapons ship that Arafat tried to use to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip in 2001, as well as the kidnapping of three IDF soldiers in October 2000 by Hizbullah and the abduction of reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in the summer of 2006.
Mughniyeh was Hizbullah's chief liaison with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was believed to have spent most of his time in Teheran under tight Iranian security. Outside of Iran, he reportedly never slept in the same place twice and constantly looked over his shoulder.
In January 2006, Mughniyeh is believed to have traveled with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus for a meeting with Nasrallah, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shalah. "He knew that he was on the FBI's list for many years, and he has lived many years according to this understanding - and this was strengthened following the Second Lebanon War," said Col. (res.) Dr. Eitan Azani, deputy executive director of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the IDC Herzliya and a former head of the Lebanese Desk at IDF Military Intelligence.
In contrast to bin Laden, Azani said, Mughniyeh "did not have a political role, but was strictly involved in operations, like the chief of General Staff."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Some left-wing nutjob will probably want to give him the Nobel Piece Prize posthumorously.
Iran's new generation of advanced centrifuges have begun processing small quantities of the gas that can be used to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The diplomats emphasized that the centrifuges were working with only minute amounts of the uranium gas used as the feed stock for Iran's uranium enrichment program. And one of them said Teheran had set up only 10 of the machines - far too few to produce enriched uranium in the quantities needed for an industrial scale energy or a weapons program.
Still, the information revealed previously unknown details of the state of the Islamic Republic's experiments with its domestically developed IR-2 centrifuges, which can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of the machines that now form the backbone of its nuclear project.
The existence of the IR-2 was made known only last week by diplomats accredited to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency probing Iran's nuclear program for suspicions it may have been designed to make weapons.
But diplomats back then told the AP that the machines appeared to be running empty and could not quantify the number of the centrifuges had been set up at the experimental facility linked to Iran's growing enrichment underground enrichment plant at Natanz.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Get them all turning at the same time and drop one of them new bunker-busters somewhere nearby and see how well they operate after that.
#2
I hope these Iranian blokes are stocking up on petrol and candles. Something tells me their energy infrastructure is about to devolve 35-50 years very, very soon.
Iran, Syria and Hizbullah on Wednesday accused Israel of being behind the assassination of top Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus and vowed to avenge his death. The assassination came as a shock to many Arabs who said they could not understand how the assassins managed to catch up with such a prominent figure, considering the tough security measures taken by Hizbullah and Syrian intelligence services.
Good. Let the conspiracy theories begin.
The consensus among most Arab political analysts was that the assassination was a "severe blow" to Hizbullah and its patrons in Teheran and Damascus. One of them said it would take years for Hizbullah to recover from the assassination and its repercussions. "The fact that the killers managed to reach such an important figure should sound an alarm bell in Hizbullah," he said. "This means that Hizbullah's top brass has been infiltrated by the Israelis and Americans."
You know Nasrallah's toilet paper consumption's spiked.
Another Arab analyst revealed that Mughniyeh had never slept in the same place for more than two nights. And each time he entered a certain house, he would leave it through a back window, the analyst said. "This is a black day for Hizbullah and its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah," he added. "This is a moral victory for Israel and the US."
I've been feeling morally victorious all day.
The assassination was announced by Hizbullah about 12 hours after the explosion in his jeep shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Al-Manar TV, the Hizbullah television station, interrupted its regular programs to break the news of Mughniyeh's death. The announcement was followed by the broadcasting of recitations from the Koran - a practice normally reserved for heads of state and high-level officials in the Arab and Islamic world.
That's because Muggsy was actually a high-ranking functionary in the Iranian government.
A prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric close to Hizbullah called for the group's military wing to retaliate.
I'm sure they will retaliate, since they do when somebody farts. Dire Revenge™ is essential to maintail their Honor and Dignity™.
"Every attack against the resistance will be met with a response," the head of south Lebanon's religious scholars, Sheikh Afif al-Naboulsi, said. "An eye for an eye, a man for a man, a leader for a leader."
I hear the passing of Zionist gas in their general direction.
Hizbullah legislator Ismail Sukeyir said the organization's leadership would meet in Beirut to discuss its response to the assassination. "Hizbullah has the right to retaliate anywhere in the world and in any way it sees fit," he said.
"Dat's right! An' it's a Legitimate Right™!"
Syria's Interior Minister Brig. Gen. Bassam Abdul-Majid confirmed Mughniyeh's death Wednesday, the state-run news agency SANA reported. It was the first official comment from Syria since Tuesday night's explosion in the Damascus neighborhood of Kfar Sousse. The agency quoted Abdul-Majid as saying an investigation into the blast was under way. "The ongoing investigation over the car bomb in the residential Kfar Sousse neighborhood last night has proven that it targeted Lebanese combatant Imad Mughniyeh," SANA said, quoting Abdul-Majid. "Syria condemns this cowardly terrorist act," SANA quoted Abdul-Majid as saying.
Also in Damascus, parliament member Muhammad Habash said that "Israel and its Zionist agents" were behind the assassination. "It's natural that if a prize was offered for Mughniyeh's head, Israel and the US would try to harm him," Habash said. "Of all possible suspects, Israel would have the most to gain," Habash told BBC Arabic. Habash said the assassins knew that Thursday marked the anniversary of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, expressing hope that commemorative events in Beirut would not spiral out of control in the wake of Mughniyeh's death.
Iran's official news agency, IRNA, said the assassination was an "evident example of US and Israeli state terrorism and the role their intelligence agents play in terrorism in the Middle East."
The agency said that Mughniyeh had played an "effective role in repulsing Israeli aggression on Lebanon in both 1982 and 2006, and it was apparent that the occupying regime would spare no effort to target him in the category of its state terrorism." The agency pointed out that "it is possible for Israeli agents to come to Damascus in the guise of US nationals and conduct terrorist attacks. A US military delegation, which included the undersecretary of defense, was on a visit to Lebanon and it is likely that the US directly helped Israeli agents assassinate Mughniyeh."
The Iranian agency went on to say that "the car-bomb attack showed that the terrorist attack was calculated with great precision and that Israel uses strong terror networks in carrying out similar attacks in both Lebanon and Palestine.
In addition, the US Embassy in Beirut had called on American nationals living in Lebanon to keep a low profile from February 13-14. The call was an indication that preparation was afoot for the terrorist attack on Mughniyeh."
Of course it didn't have anything to do with the Hariri demonstrations. To even suggest such a thing is ridiculous!
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Hosseini issued an official condemnation of the killing. "This action is yet another brazen example of organized state terrorism by the Zionist regime," he said, according to IRNA. He called on the world to "prevent the Zionist regime from taking these actions that are a clear violation of international law."
Hosseini praised Mughniyeh, saying "undoubtedly, the record of struggles by the martyred fighter Imad Mughniyeh is considered a shining page in the history of popular resistance against the aggressive Zionists and occupiers."
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent his condolences to Mughniyeh's family as well as to the Hizbullah leadership. Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions also condemned the assassination, holding Israel and the US responsible. "We condemn this crime, and stress that the Muslim nation must rise and confront the Zionist Satan that is backed by the Americans," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Hizbullah legislator Ismail Sukeyir said the organization's leadership would meet in Beirut to discuss its response to the assassination. "Hizbullah has the right to retaliate anywhere in the world and in any way it sees fit," he said.
ah.. could you give me the date and address of the meeting so I can pencil it into this appointment book?
#2
Several Arab bloggers, including Sandmonkey, seem to doubt Mugsy was really killed. They have a point - what better way to get more freedom of movement than to have your enemies believe you are dead. Any reliable witnesses seen the corpse? And taken DNA samples (do we have anything to run it against?)
Imad Mughniyah, who was assassinated Tuesday in Syria, was a man of the Middle East's shadows. He was a terrorist mastermind behind political causes. For him, though, it was as much about the fight as the cause. He shunned the light. He never gave public speeches or lectures. He is not known to have given any press interviews, not even to sympathetic or politically aligned journalists. Western reporters who sought the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah's help to arrange a rendezvous were politely but sternly advised not to go there.
So, did the CIA or some other American intelligence agency finally do Mughniyah in? Everyone, including some of his friends, may have had a motive.
U.S. officials told TIME today that Mughniyah had traveled to Iraq to train the Shi'ite warlord Moqtada al Sadrs Mahdi Army. Mughniyah, says one American official, was Hizballahs "chief of external operations" and "considered the key to their military activity." U.S. officials acknowledge that American spy agencies had intensely been tracking Mughniyah the past five years as he moved between Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut.
Apart from his ties to Hizballah, Mughniyah was also believed to have worked closely with Iran. A U.S. official confirmed reports that in 2006, Mughniyah accompanied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a trip to Syria and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In the 1980s, he had been accused of everything from bombing the U.S. embassy and U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut to the kidnappings of American journalists, academics and the Beirut CIA station chief. More recently, some have claimed that Mughniyeh collaborated with Osama bin Laden. After al-Qaeda's top guns, Mughniyah has the highest price on his head of any terrorist wanted by the FBI $5 million.
Hizballah immediately blamed Israel for Mughniyah's assassination in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday night. Israel's Mossad spy agency is a reasonable suspect, given Israel's determination to bring him to justice for his alleged involvement in the 1990s bombings in Argentina of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center. Israeli intelligence has a good history of eliminating terrorist masterminds, even when they are located in unfriendly Arab capitals.
A U.S. official told TIME that Mughniyah had been linked to the 2002 discovery of 50 tons of weapons by Israeli Navy commandos who intercepted a freighter called Karine A in the Red Sea. More recently, said the U.S. official, Mughniyah was connected to the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers that led to the July 2006 invasion of Lebanon.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a statement denying any involvement in Mughniyah's killing. A senior ex-intelligence official told TIME: "The Americans wanted him, so did the Saudis and the Lebanese Christians. We weren't the only ones." Still, the former official, who asked not to be identified, has been hunting Mughniyah for over 20 years and described him as "a fanatical killer." "It was as if a big stone had been removed from my heart," he said.
In the John Le Carre world of Middle East terrorism and politics, however, it's impossible to rule out the wildest of conspiracy theories, including that Mughniyah's friends in Syria or Iran may have found his continued existence to be an inconvenience. Or, they may have believed it was politically useful to demonstrate that they can be relied on to control terrorism in the Middle East as long as the U.S. doesn't try to go after the regimes in Damascus or Tehran.
#1
Yeah, yeah, everyone wanted him dead. All that matters is that he is dead and these "masterminds" continue to get killed on a daily basis. It is falling apart for the Islamic warriors. Their command structure, is badly broken. They have been infiltrated and they are unravelling. Despite the fact that our mass media refuses to tell us, it appears to me that we are now entering the mop up phases of this war. Sure, they are still very dangerous. Anyone who has a chance of planting a nuke in NYC has to be taken seriously. But what made these two-bit thugs powerful was the fact that they were a coordinated international army with funding, training, and backing from foreign governments. All that time, money and effort and we still kicked their butts with both hands tied behind our back. They might want to consider what we might be like unleashed, should they ever decide to light off a nuke in one of our cities.
But what made these two-bit thugs powerful was the fact that they were a coordinated international army with funding, training, and backing from foreign governments.
You'd think that the gutless wonders in Congress who are SWORN to protect the USA FIRST, Citizen Lives FIRST, Borders FIRST Sovernty FIRST, Constitution FIRST, National Interests FIRST, BEFORE all the happy horse shit posing and yapping up a storm and BEFORE the almighty pork barrel projects...
LOL, it's sorta hopeless with the bunch we have now eh?
The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a statement denying any involvement in Mughniyah's killing. A senior ex-intelligence official told TIME: "The Americans wanted him, so did the Saudis and the Lebanese Christians. **We weren't the only ones." Still, the former official, who asked not to be identified, has been hunting Mughniyah for over 20 years and described him as "a fanatical killer." "It was as if a big stone had been removed from my heart," he said.
#3
The minute pressure is taken off them, they'll recuperate, no question about it. Why? Because the philosophical underpinnings of jihad are still standing. In a just world, our films would ridicule their beliefs, our politicians would stop them at every turn, and our writers would systematically dismantle their arguments. Due to political correctness and multiculturalism, all of these weapons sympathize with the enemy and actually wish it was us that was dead.
#4
add the Kurds and the Druze to the list that wanted him dead
and also there is a chance that because he was becoming a burden to Syria and Iran (because of the intel that he was involved in the Hariri investigation), these two might have agreed to set him up.
#6
But what made these two-bit thugs All that time, money and effort and we still kicked their butts with both hands tied behind our back.
G&T 1838,
Nothing personal but Mughniyah was not just another two-bitter. And the term Terrorist mastermind doesnt even begin to describe this mans pedigree. Even as his cadaver rots, this dark soul is the enemy. Clearly he embraced the most wicked of ideologies and aligned himself with the most despotic regimes but make no mistake he served neither a god nor government. In the last 24 hours Ive watched the talking heads ignorantly recount his alleged reign of terror only to wrap up their report with inane rhetorical questions. Almost as if he is nothing but an interesting sound-byte to segue between Roger Clemmons possible steroid use and Hillary Clintons current lack of political momentum. I say this because, today, the countries that will officially declare Mughniyah as a martyr are the same countries that politicians in the US have advocated "initiating dialogue" with as way to change our foreign policy. I say this because there will be some that will continue to denounce the Bush Admn. for not capturing UBL seven years after 9/11 simply as a way to try and score political points. And most, if not all of them, have never even heard of Mughniyah much less understand his history. I say this because there are still many in the Israeli government that arrogantly refuses to admit they underestimated the strength of Hezbollah last year. And finally, not to get all religious but if you subscribe to the good vs. evil thingy, this guy was evil-incarnate. And its past the time that the civilized world fights this war with that understanding.
Blah blahblah blahblah...This is the guy I want. Bethlehem Ma'an Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah promised to wage an open war against Israel, saying that Israel chose war when it allegedly assassinated Hezbollah's military leader, Imad Mughniya.
Mughniya was killed in a car bombing in the Syrian capital, Damascus on Wednesday. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack. Nasrallah was delivering a eulogy before the burial of Mughniya in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Lebanese capital. He said that Israel committed a "great folly" when they chose to assassinate Mughniya. He pointed out that the world historians have to start chronicling this date as the beginning of the collapse of the state of Israel.
Nasrallah said that Israel lost the war against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 considering that the war is still ongoing as no ceasefire has been announced. With regards to Hezbollah's reaction to the assassination of Mughniya, Nasrallah quoted his own word during the war in 2006 when he addressed the Israelis saying, "If you Zionists choose to fight an open war, you will have an open war." He was hinting to the fact that Hezbollah during the last war started launching missiles at Israeli cities in the north after the Israeli army shelled civilian targets in Lebanon.
This quote may imply that Hezbollah will undertake military action against Israeli targets anywhere as he said, "I remind that you killed Mughniya outside the battle field, and if you Zionists have already chosen an open war, I repeat now, let it be an open war."
Nasrallah reiterated that assassination of resistance leaders such as Mughniya does not weaken resistance. He revealed that as soon as the 2006 war ended, Hezbollah fighters led by Mughniya and others began to prepare for another possible war. He said, "This time, there will not be one Imad Mughniya awaiting you, or thousands of fighters, because Mughniya has almost completed his mission and prepared dozens of well-trained fighters who will fight you, willing to die as martyrs."
#2
I remind that you killed Mughniya outside the battle field
Of course, Nasrallah's idea of an open battlefield is when he sets up his rocket launchers next to an apartment building, launches the rockets toward Israeli civilians and then cries foul when Hisbullah gun molls and their kids are killed by the Israeli counter battery.
#3
He said, "This time, there will not be one Imad Mughniya awaiting you, or thousands of fighters, because Mughniya has almost completed his mission and prepared dozens of well-trained fighters who will fight you, willing to die as martyrs."
there will not be thousands of fighters, but dozens? something lost in translation?
"This time, there will not be one Imad Mughniya awaiting you, or thousands of fighters, because Mughniya has almost completed his mission and prepared dozens of well-trained fighters who will fight you, willing to die as martyrs."
regarding the problem with the word 'dozens'
the word àÆìÆó in the bible is usually translated 'thousand' but could also be translated as 'detachment or subtribe' since it comes from the same root as the first word of àÇìÌåÌó úÌÅéîÈï (Aloof Tamon)where the word 'aloof' is a chieftan (who rules over a detachment or subtribe)
#10
This from a guy who hid himself in the deepest, darkest, hole he could find during the 2006 conflict and didn't show his ugly mug until long after it was all over (and he had a chance to wash his shorts...)
CrazyFool I don't think Nasrallah did.. It's Like mojo said, "Somebody launder his shorts, please."...
Because Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah considers it to be "thrifty" and "manly" [his bio sed both] to wear the same ole, same ole shorts no matter how crusty they get for one year per pair..
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.
Danish newspapers today reprinted a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, a day after three people were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill the man who drew it.
A senior US justice department official has reversed his position and now says using waterboarding while questioning terrorism suspects is not legal anymore, as he prepares to give evidence before a congressional hearing. 
CID Additional Inspector General (Addl IG) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said in a press conference on Wednesday that the plot to kill Benazir Bhutto was made in 2007, Geo News reported. He said two men charged with Benazir Bhuttos assassination confessed to their involvement in the attack and were remanded in custody. Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat were cousins, he said, and had been class fellows at the Hazro seminary, where they also received militant training. The arrested men revealed that five people were involved in the attack, including two prepared for suicide attacks Bilal, who shot at Benazir and blew himself up, and Ikramullah, who was prepared to attack Benazir if she left from the other gate. The fifth suspect was not identified because the Addl IG said it could affect the investigation. He said Gul had confessed to providing an explosives-laden jacket, a grenade, a 30-bore pistol and sunglasses to Bilal. Bilal, the attacker, visited Liaquat Bagh on December 27 twice between 8am and 9am in a taxi, the Addl IG told the press conference. Bilal was positioned on Gate 1 of the site and Ikramullah on Gate 2, he said.
The coalition crisis over Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's secret negotiations on Jerusalem with former Palestinian Authority prime minister Ahmed Qurei ended on Thursday when Shas chairman Eli Yishai received reassurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Livni that the capital's fate was not on the table. 
In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb Judaism's third holiest site 
US President George W Bush has ordered expanded economic sanctions against senior Syrian officials and their associates, the White House has said. The US assets will be frozen of those responsible for actions that "undermine efforts to stabilise Iraq" or to have benefited from public corruption. 
Hizbullah's leader today vowed to wage "open war" against Israeli targets around the world after accusing Israel of assassinating the organisation's militant commander, Imad Mughniyeh. 
Bethlehem Ma'an Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sheikh 
