Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, has arrived in Kabul and met Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. A Cheney spokeswoman said George Bush, the president, asked Cheney to meet Karzai on Thursday in the run-up to a Nato summit next month in Romania. Cheney is also expected to meet US soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. It is his fourth visit to Afghanistan. He visited Iraq earlier this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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United Nations troop contributors are being asked to consider sending thousands of soldiers to Somalia in spite of renewed warnings that peacekeeping operations worldwide are already overstretched.
As battles raged this week in Mogadishu, the Somali capital that 700,000 civilians fled in the last year, the UNs envoy to the country echoed African demands for a greater commitment by the international community to stem the violence.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Security Council on Thursday: I am not asking outside countries to become active for moral or altruistic reasons. They have a clearly mandated responsibility to become involved in a country where there are widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law.
Although western states support a transitional government that has begun reaching out to Somali opposition groups, they are reluctant to become directly involved on the ground in spite of evidence that the conflict is a breeding ground for movements linked to al-Qaeda.
Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, has acknowledged a greater international deployment would have to be linked to greater stability in the east African state where the lawlessness is characterised by kidnappings, piracy and the widespread displacement of civilians.
In a report to the Security Council, however, he said troops contributors should be ready to send an 8,000-strong force if a broad-based political settlement were reached, rising to 27,000 if security were assured. At present the peacekeeping presence is limited to a 2,600 African Union force.
A bigger deployment would allow the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces that entered Somalia more than a year ago to support the transitional government in its war against Islamists.
Kofi Annan, Mr Bans predecessor, this week added his voice to those who say international peacekeepers are already overwhelmed by the extent of crises they are being asked to deal with, telling reporters in New York that the UN must make it clear that there are clear limits to our capacities. The mind boogles.
He said once the number of peacekeepers in the field went above 100,000, the system became overstretched in the absence of adequate resources from member states. I dont think the UN will get the resources to go and play a major and active role in Somalia, he said.
The UN and African Union have already fallen behind in deploying a 26,000 force in Darfur, partly for lack of crucial supplies, such as helicopters, from UN member states. In Somalia, meanwhile, the AU has asked for more than $800m to boost its own peacekeeping operations.
Somalia has been in almost constant turmoil since President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. US peacekeepers withdrew in 1993 after militias shot down two Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 US personnel.
The State Department this week placed the allegedly al-Qaeda linked military wing of Somalias Council of Islamic Courts on the US list of foreign terrorist organisations. A spokesman for the faction most closely associated with al-Qaeda told Associated Press the group welcomed the designation and accused the US of targeting it because it was fighting against Ethiopia, a Christian nation that had invaded our country.
#1
The odd thing about violenece is that if you try to stop it, it simmers and continues for decades with no winner (aka cycle of violence) but if you let one side kick the ever loving crap out of the other the violence usually ends.
If you want foreign peacekeepers talk to Somalia's neighbors.
The international community must overcome its reluctance to get involved in Somalia and help put an end to abuses there, a special U.N. envoy said on Thursday. "While more people are talking about Somalia, there is still little action to stop the violence," Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Security Council during a debate on whether to send U.N. peacekeepers to the African country. "I am not asking outside countries to become active for moral or altruistic reasons. They have a clearly mandated responsibility to become involved in a country where there are widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law."
Last month the Security Council extended for six months U.N. endorsement of an African Union mission in the lawless country. It consists of two Ugandan battalions, totaling 1,600 troops, and an advance party of 192 Burundians.
Deputy U.N. peacekeeping chief Edmond Mulet outlined four possible scenarios for deploying international peacekeepers. One called for the deployment of up to 27,000 U.N. troops.
While the 15 Security Council members agree the situation is dire, many are reluctant to send U.N. peacekeepers to Somalia, where Islamist insurgents, warlords and Ethiopian -backed Somali government forces fight battles every day.
Britain's U.N. ambassador John Sawers described Somalia as a "failed state" and said more political progress was needed before the council could consider deploying U.N. forces there. "Until there's further progress on the political front, it's difficult to see scope for a fully-fledged peacekeeping force," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#7
When you show your love by dragging the bodies, of those sent to bring order and feed you, through your dirty streets, it communicates your real feelings. They're reciprocated. Yep, you danced, you celebrated. Just like that incredible night of sex was fantastic, only to find out a couple weeks later you have AIDS. Congratulations.
#9
"I am not asking outside countries to become active for moral or altruistic reasons. They have a clearly mandated responsibility to become involved in a country where there are widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law."
Wonder if surgically removing the sense of irony is a requirement for being an envoy?
#13
#10 Quit feeding them and the problem solves itself. Either they wise up or Darwin takes over.
Problem with that option is somalis ending up in droves in immigration-open western countries, to become demanding US cab drivers, violent Youths (RB had an article a while back about somalis juves gangs in the Lakes area IIRC), or the gangrapists of scandinavian blondes.
Otherwise, I don't think the world ignores somalia, I mean, the USA have been backing discretly but effectively Aethopia, and are probably still doing so in an extent, works fine with me.
#14
"They have a clearly mandated responsibility to become involved in a country where there are widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law."
#15
Can we move the UN HQ there? I'd consider that to be stopping ignoring Somalia. Imagine how much better it will be from the aura of august individuals as those to be found in the UN.
After the UNcrats are all killed and eaten, we'll have a party.
Reminds me as per POST 9-11 years ago > D *** NG IT, WE DEMAND TO BE ATTACKED, INVADED, AND DESTROYED BY FASCIST ARROGANT MALE BRUTE = COMMIE MOTHERLY GENTEEL AMERICA = AMERIKA!
Two of Britain's most dangerous terrorists have been moved to different prisons after complaining their fellow inmates were "too white".
Dhiren Barot and Omar Khyam asked to be transferred from high-security Frankland prison near Durham.
Barot masterminded a radioactive bomb plot involving limousines packed with nails and explosives and Khyam plotted to blow up Bluewater shopping centre in Kent.
They said they were at risk from other inmates - who are predominantly white - and claimed the environment was "dangerous" to ethnic minority prisoners. It is thought they had received death threats and attacks.
Although their requests were initially turned down, Barot, who is serving a minium of 30 years, has since been moved to Belmarsh in south-east London.
Khyam has also been moved to Full Sutton near York.
But news of the transfers has sparked outrage, with the Prison Service being accused of caving into prisoners' demands.
Barot's solicitor Miss Mudassar Arani, asked if his client could be removed from Frankland prison after a fellow inmate threw boiling water and oil over him last July.
The 35-year-old suffered serious burns and spent a week in hospital.
Prisoner Gary Moody was charged with wounding and assault but the case was dropped when Barot refused to press charges.
Miss Arani said that Frankland was "an extremely dangerous environment for ethnic minority prisoners who now fear for their safety."
She added that Barot was one of 20 Muslims in the prison which held 734 inmates.
And she alleged there was a "white supremacist" culture at Frankland and called for the creation of Muslim-only prisons.
It is understood that Barot was originally housed in Belmarsh prison before being moved to Frankland for radicalising other inmates.
Hate preacher Abu Hamza, 49, and July 21 ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, are also housed at Belmarsh.
After he was injured in the attack, she said he was treated like a normal prisoner and locked in his cell from 4pm until morning, despite needing support to do basic tasks, such as make a phone call.
Yesterday, a spokesman for her office said both Barot and Khyam had been transferred.
Khyam, who was sent to Frankland from Belmarsh last June, had also complained of death threats.
His solicitor Imran Khan said the move was a "victory for common sense". But Patrick Mercer, a Conservative MP, criticised the decision.
He said: "Prisons are not meant to be run for the convenience of the prisoner.
"It is not up to them to dictate how to serve their sentence.
"I think we have to remember who's in charge.
"These people have been convicted of hideous crimes."
A spokesman for the Prison Service refused to comment.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
03/21/2008 10:56 ||
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#1
Glad to see there's some outrage over this. These guys shoulda been sentenced to 30 years in the exericise yard.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/21/2008 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
I think the solution is to arrest more people like them.
#3
Gosh, that's kinda what happens when you commit crimes in a country that's full of white people. Now, if you'd done it in the stinky little cat box where you come from, do you think you'd be a little more comfortable with the prison there?
#4
So we got away with this, let's see what we can get away with next.Eventually, let's see if we can get them to walk us right out the door.
The way England's headed, I figure they got about a 50/50 shot...
A dire food shortage across North Korea has become so acute it has started to affect the country's elite in the capital, Pyongyang, reports say.
Aid agency Good Friends says food rations for some parts of the city have been cut by up to 60%, while others have seen their supplies cut off completely. Only citizens who show absolute loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il and his regime are allowed to live in Pyongyang and are considered better off than their fellow countrymen.
But the food situation, which has mostly been felt in rural areas where rations have been suspended since November, has now spread to the city, according to the South Korean aid agency. "Even ranking officials have run out of their (rationed) food supply, while a ban on (private) trade is strictly maintained," said an unidentified city official quoted by Good Friends."It is nothing but a death sentence."
The agency also said farm labourers were staying away from work because they were not getting any food. This was said to be affecting the planting of new crops. South Korea's Hyundai Economic Research Institute has warned that the rising international cost of grain would impact further on the north's desperate situation.
A famine gripped North Korea during the 1990s, reportedly killing up to two million people. Since then, the country has accepted food aid to feed the population. But South Korea's new conservative government has signalled it would stop providing unconditional aid to the north. However, the US government this week sent an humanitarian expert to Seoul to discuss North Korea's food situation.
Last month, the UN's World Food Programme reported that close to a quarter of North Korea's 23 million people are affected by a lack of food.
#3
At this point, the South should be sneaking in offers for the conditional surrender of the North. If their middle management was offered some degree of amnesty, and permitted to keep some of whatever wealth they have, they might bite.
#4
Even the South now has cold feet about reunification, having seen how successful it was in Germany. This will be worse. No one wants to release the Norks from their current state of limbo. If we awoke one day and found that everyone in Nork had died the night before, there would be a sigh (of relief) heard round the world. This only ends tragically.
US presidential candidate John McCain shrugged off criticism from rival Barack Obama over a gaffe about Iraq, saying on Thursday that all politicians slip up and it was time to "move on".
McCain, on a tour of Europe and the Middle East, mistakenly told reporters in Jordan on Tuesday that Iran had backed Sunni militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq. The United States accuses Iran of backing Shi'ite militias there, not Sunnis. Obama, locked in a battle with New York Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, pounced on the mistake the following day, suggesting McCain's support for the Iraq war stemmed from misreading the situation.
"We all misspeak from time to time and I immediately corrected it. Just as Senator Obama said he was looking forward to meeting the president of Canada, we all misspeak from time to time," McCain told reporters in London. "So we'll just move on," the presumptive Republican nominee said after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at his Downing St residence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Except, of course, that it's true, albeit incomplete. Iran is backing both sides.
#2
But Senator, They ARE supporting Sunni Insurgents AND Shia separatist movements at the same time. You did not speak wrong, you just did not remember all the briefs.
#4
He makes a good point about the president of Canada but why is he backing off on this? Even WAPO reported that
Sunnis were getting Iranian weapons. I found the link right here at Rantburg. Please, Senator, why don't you tell us what this is all about?
A young Canadian prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay has said in legal documents that US interrogators repeatedly threatened to rape him and Canadian government visitors told him they were powerless to do anything.
The claims were part of an affidavit sworn by Omar Khadr, 21, who is charged in the Guantanamo war court with murdering a US soldier with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan when Khadr was 15. Khadr has long claimed that American interrogators in Bagram, Afghanistan, had abused him after his capture in July 2002 and at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval base in Cuba, where he was taken to a few months later.
The previously undisclosed allegations of the rape threats were part of a nine-page affidavit released by the US military on Wednesday, with some of the names and details blacked out. On several occasions at Bagram, interrogators threatened to have me raped, or sent to other countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan or Israel to be raped, said Khadr in the document.
No proof of any of this, of course, but proof isn't necessary when you're an al-Qaeda boy selling codswallop to progressive rubes ...
He said interrogators told him at one point that the Egyptians wound send Soldier No 9 to rape him. Khadr was shot twice in the back and suffered shrapnel wounds in the eye during the battle that led to his capture at a suspected Al Qaeda compound. He said after treatment at a field hospital, he had been taken to a prison in Bagram, where he was hooded, threatened with barking dogs and had water thrown on him.
Khadr said he was often shackled for hours during interrogations and denied use of a bathroom, forcing him to urinate on himself. While my wounds were still healing, interrogators made me clean the floors on my hands and knees. They woke me up in the middle of the night after midnight and made me clean the floor with a brush and dry it with towels until dawn. They also made me carry heavy buckets of water, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
But did they ever saw your head off Omar? No, then go f yourself. My sympathy meter is at zero. Threats and hard work are not torture they are threats and hard work.
#7
I say we post what he sasys we threatened to do all over Afghanistan and Pakistan, with denials that it's just "wishful thinking on his personal fantasy" before letting him go.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/21/2008 5:34 Comments ||
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#8
Khadr was shot twice in the back and suffered shrapnel wounds in the eye during the battle that led to his capture at a suspected Al Qaeda compound.
US tax dollars doctors sew him up, return him to good health and he's spouting off about an alleged rape threat, and being forced to carry "heavy buckets of water" to clean up after himself? I'll bet soap was a real insult. Feeding hand, meet biting dog.
#9
On several occasions at Bagram, interrogators threatened to have me raped, or sent to other countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan or Israel to be raped, said Khadr in the document.
Egyptians, Syrians, Jordanians and Israelis: Doing the raping Americans won't do.
That appears to be reserved to educational and religious professionals according the the yellow journalism MSM. The natural cultural animosity between those and our security organizations generally preclude any support contracts.
#11
"charged in the Guantanamo war court with murdering a US soldier with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan when Khadr was 15"
A fine "Canadian" indeed. Execute him now, and don't make a field mistake like this again.
#12
I wish they'd turn him loose in a bar in Flin Flon, Manitoba . . . . or in a bar in Val Marie, Saskatchewan. The miners or the cowboys would teach this little piece of excrement what a Canadian is like when he gets . . . . . .upset. Now I'm upset. You wouldn't like me when I get upset. Khadr shouldn't mhadr. More coffee.
Two boys, aged five and 14, were killed Friday in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir when a hand grenade they mistook for a toy exploded, police said. The explosion took place in the remote Doda district in Indian Kashmir, where separatist Islamic rebels have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989.
The Muslim children's deaths came two days after Indian soldiers shot dead four rebels belonging to the pro-Pakistan Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group in the area. Police said they believed the rebel grenade had fallen to the ground during the clash and not exploded. "The children mistook the grenade for a toy and started playing with it," a police spokesman said, adding that ballistics experts were checking the area to find out if there were other unexploded grenades.
Indian village defence committee, VDC member Renu Bala aiming targete during a training camp organized by Indian army to protect themselves and their homes from militants at Sarya village near Indo-Pak line of control about 140 KM from the Northern Indian city of Jammu, winter capital of Kashmir on 16 March, 2008. 27 women from Sarya village have been trained to use AK-47s and other heavy-duty weapons. Training of VDC members at regular interval would imbibe a sense of self-confidence and boost their confidence in dealing with an adverse situation, Indian army officer said.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/21/2008 12:41 Comments ||
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#2
Posted by: john frum ||
03/21/2008 12:42 Comments ||
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#3
I like a woman who knows her way around a..... weapon.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/21/2008 12:56 Comments ||
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Only 17 percent of tribesmen are in favour of armed jihad, while 57 percent believe that jihad entails studying the holy Quran, not fighting, and 50 percent believe Shariah can bring peace to the Tribal Areas. A survey conducted by a NGO Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme in the Tribal Areas revealed that 50 percent of the tribesmen were willing to allow political parties to function in their areas, BBC Urdu reported.
However, it shows that 44 percent are not ready to permit the activities of political parties. They fear that, with the arrival of political parties, the already volatile law and order situation will further aggravate. The survey, which questioned 1,000 people - 150 each from the seven agencies that comprise the Tribal Areas - also showed that 68 percent of the tribals, including women, literate and illiterate people, were in favour of honour killings.
However, CAMP head Naveed Shanwari admitted that he was unable to visit Bajur Agency and Waziristan because of the law and order situation, and had to settle for answers from tribesmen present at bus stands. The survey revealed that the tribals appeared to be divided on whether their areas should be incorporated into the NWFP and showed that 83 percent of them believed that they should be allowed to carry weapons to ensure their safety.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Only 17percent tribesmen favour armed jihad: survey
By any chance would that be the 17% that ARE Jihadists?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/21/2008 3:52 Comments ||
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#2
But half of those waiting at bus stops want to take the ultimate jihad step of imposing Muslim law on everyone else, and more than a third of the bus waiters accept murder as the proper punishment for uppity women.
#3
Of course, 17% is roughly 1/6. The population of Pakistan is 164,000,000. If the tribal areas are even 10% of that, that gives over 2 and 1/2 Million jihadis. So "only" 17% can be misleading.
Of course, this is not really a valid sample, given the methodology and other problem with the survey, but I'll bet that the number of at least potential jihadis in Pakistan is over several million.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/21/2008 22:47 Comments ||
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NWFP chief minister hopeful Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said on Thursday that he hoped the local Taliban would respond positively to his peace efforts in the province. Talking to various political delegations from Malakand, Swabi and Mardan at his residence, he said the Awami National Party (ANP) believed in peace and would resolve all problems through peaceful means. He discussed with the delegations the law and order in their areas, and assured them that their problems would be resolved.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief on Thursday announced his backing for the Awami National Party (ANP) in its pledge to seek a peaceful solution to the ongoing insurgency in the Tribal Areas.
There has been fierce fighting between security forces and pro-Taliban militants in the Tribal Areas since July last year, when the September 2006 peace deal between the Taliban and government collapsed.
It was the JUI-F that, for the first, advocated talks with disgruntled groups in the Tribal Areas, party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters here. We praise the ANP for its pledge to pursue a peaceful solution to the problems of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), he said. Tribesmen, Fazl added, were peace-loving people.
Regular hobbits, they are...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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The Ahmedzai Wazir tribes on Thursday offered their support for any government-led operation to flush out foreign militants from South Waziristan, following two recent air strikes by US unmanned aerial vehicles, officials and tribal elders said. The offer was extended during a jirga, which was convened by Muhammad Ayaz Mandokhel, the assistant political agent (APA) of Wana, to discuss the situation in the area in the wake of the two air strikes that have killed around 30 suspected militants since February 28. If the government launches any operation against foreign militants the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes will support it, but we alone cannot do the job, Ahmedzai Wazir elders told the APA during the jirga. I will convey your opinion to the government and its response to you, the APA was quoted as telling the jirga. The jirga participants also criticised the government for first letting foreign militants into Waziristan and then holding the local population responsible for their presence. A Wana-based tribal elder told Daily Times that the APA had been told that the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes could not start any action against foreign militants on their own.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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A suspect in the October 18 bombing in Benazir Bhuttos homecoming parade on Thursday issued legal notices to the publisher, printer and seller of her memoir, accusing them of defamation. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who is under police custody on terrorism charges, made Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, legal heirs of Benazir, and the publishers of her book, respondents in the notices. Hashmat Ali Habib, the counsel for Akhtar, sent the notices under the Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. The notices say Benazir made derogatory remarks against Akhtar in her book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West. The book was launched on February 12. The notices said the respondents should be tried under the defamation law and the penal code of the country, adding that they were liable to pay damages of $200 million to Akhtar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud was not involved in the assassination of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar said on Thursday.
Talking to reporters based in the Bajaur Agency, the spokesman said that involving Mehsud in the murder of the slain PPP leader was not in the interests of the country. He said the TTP had repeatedly denied its involvement in Benazirs killing and the PPP leadership was fully aware that Mehsud had no hand in their leaders assassination.
Umar said the PPP had accused the government of being party to Benazirs murder, and it was not up to them (the TTP) to clarify their position. He said the people had given a huge mandate to the winning political parties, and thus they (the political parties) should respect the publics feelings and reinstate the sacked judges.
Separately, militants opened fire on the Gutki area of Mamoond tehsil in Bajaur Agency, killing two people. The bodies of the deceased were found near a dried riverbed. No one has accepted responsibility for the attack. In another incident, militants destroyed an under-construction Bajaur Levies checkpost at Inayat Kalay with explosives. However, no casualties were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreens publisher and supporters accused the Indian government on Thursday of forcing the writer out of the country because of fears of a Muslim backlash.
Nasreen left mainly Hindu but officially secular India on Wednesday after accusing the Indian government of forcing her to quit the country. The government is no better than religious fundamentalists, she said. She said the government refused her timely medical treatment and called the safe house where she was kept under federal protection a chamber of death.
It beggars the description meted out to her - it was inhuman, she developed severe hypertension and as a result severe heart and eye problems, said Shivani Mukherji, publisher of Nasreens books in India. Its shameful for a so-called secular country to behave this way - they should have stood up to the people who opposed her, she said.
The Congress-led government has made no comment on the departure of Nasreen who was kept under federal protection in New Delhi after being hounded from Kolkata, capital of Marxist-ruled West Bengal, in November by riots and death threats from Muslims who called her writings blasphemous.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK (Rooters) - Military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions would be "a disaster" and the only way to solve the impasse is through dialogue, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Thursday.
Over the past year, U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have ratcheted up the rhetoric against Iran, which is defying international demands to halt uranium enrichment. They say Washington wants a diplomatic solution to the Iran standoff but refuse to rule out military options.
"We cannot, I'm sure, take on another military action in Iran, and I hope no one is contemplating it," Annan said at a briefing with U.N. correspondents in New York.
"It will be a real disaster," he said. "I really don't see any other solution than the continued negotiations and dialogue that is going on."
But Annan said there were serious concerns about a nuclear arms race in the wider Middle East if Iran goes nuclear, and Iran's efforts to enrich uranium were worrying. If Tehran acquired the technical expertise to do so for peaceful purposes, it would be a small step to use it for weapons, he said.
Annan said the burden was on Iran to reassure the world, not just the United States, that its aims were purely peaceful. "I've said to the Iranians directly that if indeed you have nothing to hide and you're not making a bomb and your intentions are pacific, open your doors, let the inspectors come, let them go anywhere," Annan said.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
03/21/2008 08:56 ||
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#1
Military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions would be "a disaster" and the only way to solve the impasse is through dialogue, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Thursday.
Continuing to listen to your dhimi ass would be even more a disaster.
#2
If we do something about it, it will be a disaster. And if we don't do something about it, it'll be a disaster.
Thanks, Kofi. Sage advice, per usual. Just what we've come to expect from you...
#3
"Thanks Kofi! Your check is in the mail" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/21/2008 9:26 Comments ||
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#4
hey kofer, how productive was your sons performance with the oil for food money? he's in the running as my next financial advisor, but I want to see his post facto performance. Please provide the information i will need to contact him about this opportunity
#6
"the only way to solve the impasse is through dialogue"
That assumption is basically the fatal flaw of every peace movement. They don't understand basic human nature, aggression, or the mutual exclusivity of certain cultures. See Neville Chamberlain, Munich Agreement of 1938, "Peace for our time", etc.
#12
I'm sure military action by the United States, Israel, and a couple of other countries WOULD be a disaster - for Iran. Koffie is one of those tranzies that believes every problem can be solved by "dialogue". He's right, to a point, but it only works when both sides WANT an agreement. The Israelis and the paleostains have been "dialoguing" for 50 years, and all that talk accomplished diddley squat. For dialogue to work, it has to be the right KIND of dialogue, such as "Either we do it my way, or we'll bomb you back to the Precambrian. You have 24 hours to make up your mind." THAT kind of dialogue, followed by action, is the only way to get one's point across to someone who's trying everything in the book to keep from achieving a true solution to the problem.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/21/2008 16:54 Comments ||
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Okay. May be time to blow up those pylons?
Egypt denied Israeli reports that it has agreed to supply the Gaza Strip with electricity, Israel Radio reported Thursday.
Earlier, Israeli defense officials said they've worked out a tentative deal for Egypt to become the main electricity supplier to the Gaza Strip.
The officials said the agreement stems from Israel's desire to cut off all ties with the Gaza Strip. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but remains the area's main power supplier. The deal must still be finalized. But when it's complete, Egypt is expected to build a power line to supply 150 megawatts to Gaza.
Israel has imposed a blockade on the territory in recent months in an effort to force Gaza's Hamas rulers to stop rocket fire into southern Israel. The Israeli sanctions include small cuts in electricity supplies.
Currently, Israel supplies more than 70 percent of Gaza's electricity. Though it does not specifically say so, this agreement will cease Israel's supply of electricity to Gaza. In early 2008 Israel decided to reduce the amount of electricity supplied to Gaza, protesting the continued Kassam rocket fire on Israel.
Guess who...
NABLUS, West Bank - The parents of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer, marked the fifth anniversary of her death Thursday by dedicating a small West Bank memorial. Real small, I'll bet...
Corrie was 23 when she was run over by a 60-ton Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as she tried to prevent a Palestinian home from being demolished. The driver said he didn't see her, and the Israeli military ruled her death accidental. Ya didn't have to be Kreskin to see how that one was gonna turn out...
On Thursday, about 150 Palestinians and foreigners attended the memorial, gathering in a street in the West Bank city of Nablus, led by Corrie's parents, Cindy and Craig. Some held up photos of Rachel, who was from Olympia, Wash. I wonder if they had the flag burning one?
Her parents have repeatedly returned to the Palestinian territories, including to the spot in the southern Gaza town of Rafah where she was killed. Hope a tunnel doesn't collapse underneath them. They might get hurt.
Cindy Corrie told the crowd that her daughter believed Palestine could be a "source of hope for people struggling all over the world." How'd ya think that one's worked out for her, moms?
The parents did not say why they placed the memorial in the West Bank instead of Gaza. Maybe cuz the last time they went there, they got kidnapped by Rachel's dear old friends?
But Gaza is mired in violence and ruled by the militant Islamic Hamas, while moderate President Mahmoud Abbas administers the West Bank, which is relatively calmer. In a 2006 visit to Gaza, the Corries were apparent targets of an unsuccessful kidnap attempt by Palestinian militants. Ah, I'm not the only one that remembers.
#5
Saint Pancake is truly a blessing. Every time I think about her a smile comes to my face on the lessons of 'Cause and effect'. In time, maybe we'll be able to make her into a bed-time story like "The boy who cried wolf".
Posted by: Charles ||
03/21/2008 5:31 Comments ||
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#6
"*sob* that picture looks so lifelike"
"that's cuz it's two dimensional, like your dear Rachel after her flattening"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2008 6:44 Comments ||
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#7
Maybe cuz the last time they went there, they got kidnapped by Rachel's dear old friends?
A lost bit of trivia in the saga of St Pancake, that always seems to be misplaced
#10
Sura 63: And Rachel, which is Yahoodi for "the ewe", was taken to the place of tunneling and there she was flattened even as the baklawa (pastry be praised). Lo, even as she was flattened the Prophet looked upon her and engaged in exposition, "She is of the Yahoodi that are in Olympia where the women may travel long distances without a male relative. Flatten her for she is a whore."
Visiting U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday signaled vigorous support for Israel during a fact-finding mission widely seen as a bid to polish his credentials as a statesman. The Arizona senator warned that Israel's armed foes threatened not only the Jewish state but also U.S. interests and everything the West holds dear.
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post published on Wednesday, he said Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon's Hizbullah, both threaten the interests of the United States and the West in general.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
IMO, the weight of evidence indics that Osama's = Radical Islam's REGIONAL-GLOBAL JIHAD has better chance of effect or success outside of Iraq-Afghanistan, i.e. AGZ RUSSIA EURO ANDOR EVEN ISRAEL, ETC., than agz USA in same. ISLAMISM IS SPREADING IN CENTRAL ASIA AND RUSS IS HARD-PRESSED TO EVEN CHALLENGE LOCALLY.
OTOH, GUARDIAN UNLIMITED > SUNNI MILITIA STRIKE MAY DERAIL US STRATEGY AGZ AL QAEDA; + HOT AIR > USA TODAY - on foreign fighters bugging out of Iraq??? MY READ - TO SEEK BETTER PICKINS ELSEWHERE = NOT AGZ THE USA???
* KOMMERSANT > THE ENTIRE RUSSIAN FLEET - denotes Russ serious probs in mounting even an organized naval force, + WAFF.com > JAPAN TO SEEK PEACE TREATY WITH RUSSIA [Kuriles].
IFF RADICAL ISLAMISM DOES HAVE A HIDDEN IMAM-MAHDI, HE BETTER SHOW UP QUICK, NLT EOY 2008 FOR RADICAL ISLAMISTS' SAKE.
In a program on Al-Jazeera TV, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi accused Arab-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan of "publicly curs[ing] Allah, His Prophet, the Koran, the history of Islam, and the Islamic nation."
The following are excerpts from the program, which aired on March 16, 2008:
"She Said Unbearable, Ghastly Things That Made My Hair Stand On End"
Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: "Many brothers here and abroad more from abroad than from here have called to ask me about the 'Opposite Direction' [show on Al-Jazeera TV], and that woman [Wafa Sultan], who leveled accusations against Islam and the Muslims, and cursed Allah, His Prophet, the Islamic nation, the shari'a, and the Islamic faith and culture. She did not omit anything. She was insolent and stopped at nothing.
"I know that our colleague Dr. Faysal Al-Qassem apologized on the following show. I did not watch the [original] show, but I was given a recording. She said unbearable, ghastly things that made my hair stand on end. She had the audacity to publicly curse Allah, His Prophet, the Koran, the history of Islam, and the Islamic nation. She did not spare anything.
"It was all based on ignorance. If only she had some knowledge... But she doesn't have any knowledge. She doesn't know the Koran or the Sunna. When she cited a hadith to back up her statements, she used a hadith that scholars consider unreliable."
"If She Had Read The Koran, She Would Have Known That It Forbids Killing People... She Should Read The Torah And Tell Us What It Says" Btw, quaradawi is the MB big cheeze who not only prophetize the islamization of Europe, but also gave his learned blessings to suicide bombings against israeli civilians and americans troops, and said killing kiddy joooos was a-ok, as they would grow to be soldiers. Yup, it forbids killing people, right, just define "people".
"The Prophet said: 'Allah has given me sustenance under the shadow of my sword.' This hadith is unreliable. The Prophet did not get sustenance by the sword. If she had read the Koran, she would have known that it forbids killing people: 'Anyone who kills another person for any reason other than manslaughter or spreading corruption in the land it is as if he has killed all of mankind.'
[...]
"In all the raids conducted by the Prophet Muhammad, he was the one attacked. If she knew anything about the Koran and the Sunna...
"She should read the Torah and tell us what it says. With regard to distant cities, the Torah says: 'Slay all their males by the sword.' It does not exclude elderly men or children. As for the nearby cities of Palestine, which they call the Promised Land, the Torah says: 'When you enter them, annihilate everyone, and do not leave a breathing soul.' The concept of annihilation originated in the Torah. What does that woman have to say about this? This is the Torah in which Bush and the Christian Right believe. Pretty revealing.
"This Woman Had The Audacity To Affront All That Is Sacred"
"What does that woman have to say about this? She defends the West and sanctions the killing of Muslims in Gaza and elsewhere, claiming that they deserve to be killed.
"I do not want to discuss this at length, but in my view, this woman had the audacity to affront all that is sacred the entire Islamic nation, its past, its present, and its future. She had the audacity to affront the Prophet, the Koran, and Allah. She even said that Allah prattles in the Koran. She did not omit anything sacred.
"I Place The Blame On Al-Jazeera TV And Its Management And Board Of Directors For Allowing Such A Woman To Appear On Their Channel And Say Such Things"
"How was she allowed to appear on Al-Jazeera TV? I placed the blame on brother Faysal Al-Qassem. After all the things she said, he says: 'I thank you very much, what do you think, Tal'at [Rmeih]?' What are you thanking her for? For her infamy or unheard-of audacity? For her complex ignorance? Some people are aware of their ignorance, while others are not. This is called 'complex ignorance.' I place the blame on Al-Jazeera TV and its management and board of directors for allowing such a woman to appear on their channel and say such things."
#2
The key is cursing Allah -- with that he pronounces a death sentence and requires believers to execute it. Of course, Dr. Sultan has been receiving death threats since she started speaking out after 9/11, so this merely expands that. She is an apostate; she grew up as a Sunni Muslim in Syria, claiming she was shocked into doubt when one of her university professors was murdered by the Muslim Brotherhood. See her Wikipedia entry.
#4
What would these super sensitive souls do if they woke up some morning and had absolutely nothing to be pissed off about? Granted, that's impossible, but I wonder if they could even function...
Couched between so much cryptic ranting and raving, many analysts are missing what I consider the most important new data in bin Ladens newest message. It is a not-so-subtle cue to his Islamist followers: stay away from Pope Benedict XVI!
Bin Ladens papal fixation has something to do with Benedicts now infamous Regensburg address that caused so much stir among some Muslim youth. But thats not the whole story. Bin Laden knows Benedicts crusade neither started nor ended in Regensburg. He also knows and fears this crusade is of a certain type which he and his pals dont know how to fight, and thus considers it the ultimate threat to his power base, thousands of times more powerful than the backhanded slaps against Mohammed, as were the cartoons.
Bin Laden even knows the crusade is not specifically against Islam.
Benedicts crusade can be likened to a quiet pilgrimage in the pursuit of rescuing human reason from the clutches of fundamentalism. It aims to restore reason as the great cultural meeting point for people of every race and creed.
Benedict sees rationality as the only suitable launching pad of all true faith, but bin Laden sees it as the great obstacle to his manipulation of the masses. While Benedict sees faith and reason as mutually enriching sources of truth, bin Laden sees the former as incompatible with the later (because reason blocks blind obedience to violence). And while Benedict claims God can never command us to do evil because the first universal moral dictate of reason "do good and avoid evil" reflects his loving voice, bin Laden on the other hand claims Allah can do whatever he pleases, evil included.
Pope Benedict is saying what Christianity has said since the middle ages and reformation: Think about God and apply the rationality He gave you to approach him. Fundamentalism rejects the use of reason because it threatens the ability of fundamentalists to demand blind obedience. The one thing a demagogue like Bin Laden cannot abide is followers who think about morality and do not accept being willingly blinded - nor blindly accept commands to do violence just on his say-so .
#1
We know that is a main reason for the pure hatred of Islam towards the west. Reason is discouraged and shamed at every turn. Obey and believe, or you will be tortured and/or killed.
#3
"Fundamentalism rejects the use of reason because it threatens the ability of fundamentalists to demand blind obedience. "
And that goes for more than just Islamic fundamentalism. It is the basis for every sort of fundamentalism. Don't think ... just believe. Don't question, do as I say. Don't give a dissenting view a chance to be heard ... stamp out the blasphemous thought.
#4
And that goes for more than just Islamic fundamentalism. It is the basis for every sort of fundamentalism.
yes, but the difference between Islam and all other religions is that violence is actually condoned by Mohammed in the Koran. Kill the non-believers. So while you can get a charismatic "Christian" leader or even Buddhist leader, etc. who can get a cult to drink kool-aid or worse, perpetuate a massacre, they clearly are not following Christian or Buddhist, etc. principles. You can have a cult of fanatics over anything that a leader can rally the sheep around. But the written text of Islam are very clear - kill the non-believers.
But most Muslims are just normal people like you and me and they really just want to raise their kids and have a good life. So the Pope's appeal to their reason to reject violence and evil is very threatening, and perhaps eventually fatal to the tenents of the Islamic religion.
I think Islam can exist - but I think that it can not exist as it does today unless it is completely separated from the outside world. With global communications, Internet, cell phones and all other forms of instant communication, it makes it far more difficult to create the "them v/s us" mentality that Islamic leaders require to whip up the masses into a bloody rage.
#5
"Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other" - Martin Luther, when asked that he publically recant his books and writings. He also had a thing about every man (or woman) being their own priest (or religious authority), being able to read and understand the Bible in their own language, and to discuss in a logical manner many of the finer points. I can see where fundamentalist Muslims would have some heartburn over that whole concept.
#6
The only problem with Martin Luther is he eventually became dogmatic about Sola Scrptura and abandoned reason at that point. Not to belittle Luther though; Christianity was in trouble and Luther was what it needed, which forced te t Catholic Church on a path to finally give up striving for worldly power and redirect itself to the realm of the spiritual and salvation. But that's an entirely different item.
I was just passing down a little thought on this blessed day, Good Friday, where Christ stretched out his arms between heaven and earth, and redeemed our sins with his death on a cross, liberating us. (Speaking as a Christian).
What Islam needs it its own Martin Luther. Learn to interpret not blindly and literally recite the Koran.
Unfortunately the strictures against interpretation are written into the Koran and Islam. They have boxed themselves in. It will take a brave and charismatic man to lead them away from their self-entrapment. Either that or the nearly complete and utter destruction of Islam as it now exists.
#8
Good posting Old Spook...many thanks. I concur with your observation regarding any possibility of a islamic reformation. The ME once produced many great thinkers, before the followers of the moongod seized power. 1,400 years later, I doubt very highly that we will see the emergence of a person with the necessary qualifications.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/21/2008 17:47 Comments ||
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#9
The reason that Islam has to kill non-believers and apostates is because it can not tolerate scrutiny, and survive.
Christianity and other religions have survived 2,000+ years due the fact that it is ultimately good advice to practice charity, to forgive your enemies and to fight against one's own evil nature. But for Islam to survive it requires complete submission. Thus it can only survive in places where they literally killed off or subjected anyone with a dissenting point of view.
As they move to the west and they are forced to hear opposing view points, they are faced with the fact that "do good and avoid evil" provides for a better life both at an individual and societal level. So the clerics who want to remain true to Mohammed's teachings of either have win the war against the west, because Islam as a religion that kills non-believers and apostates simply can not co-exist with the rest of the world.
#10
"The reason that Islam has to kill non-believers and apostates is because it can not tolerate scrutiny, and survive."
Woodrow - EXCELLENT shot - I'm sooooo gonna steal that
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/21/2008 19:24 Comments ||
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#11
OSAMA reportedtly has acclaimed Iraq as "THE PERFECT BASE" > IMO, he is not referring to the anti-IGA/COALITION [US] insurgency in Iraq, BUT INSTEAD TO NEW ISLAMIST JIHADS AGZ PRO-WESTERN OR PRO-"MODERATE/SECUL" GOVTS IN IRAQ'S NEIGHBORING STATES, e.g. TURKEY, JORDAN, EGYPT, besides also SUPPOR FOR ANTi-ISRAELI VENTURES IN SYRIA-LEBANON + ANTI-RUSS IN CENASIA.
I see nothing to indic that Osama has changed his IRAN-MINDEDNESS/CENTRICITY vv HIS DESIRED ISLAMIST = PAN-ISLAM APOCALYPSE. Dubya's = US entrenchment in the ME + desire for continued Jihad may have induced him to link wid NUCLEARIZING IRAN BY ASSISTING IN REVIVING WAR FOR THE BORDERS OF THE OLD PERSIAN-OTTOMAN EMPIRES, ESPEC AGZ ISRAEL AND RUSSIA???
IOW, "SHIA VERSUS SUNNI" IS OUT THE WINDOW FOR TIME BEING - what matters now in ME is SAVING PAN-ISLAM + SAVING ISLAM-BASED ULTRACONSERVATISM-FUNDAMENTALISM, BE IT SHIA OR SUNNI, BY FIRSTLY ACQUIRING NUCTECHS TRANSFER VIA IRAN.
#12
OSAMA reportedtly has acclaimed Iraq as "THE PERFECT BASE" > IMO, he is not referring to the anti-IGA/COALITION [US] insurgency in Iraq, BUT INSTEAD TO NEW ISLAMIST JIHADS AGZ PRO-WESTERN OR PRO-"MODERATE/SECUL" GOVTS IN IRAQ'S NEIGHBORING STATES, e.g. TURKEY, JORDAN, EGYPT, besides also SUPPOR FOR ANTi-ISRAELI VENTURES IN SYRIA-LEBANON + ANTI-RUSS IN CENASIA.
I see nothing to indic that Osama has changed his IRAN-MINDEDNESS/CENTRICITY vv HIS DESIRED ISLAMIST = PAN-ISLAM APOCALYPSE. Dubya's = US entrenchment in the ME + desire for continued Jihad may have induced him to link wid NUCLEARIZING IRAN BY ASSISTING IN REVIVING WAR FOR THE BORDERS OF THE OLD PERSIAN-OTTOMAN EMPIRES, ESPEC AGZ ISRAEL AND RUSSIA???
IOW, "SHIA VERSUS SUNNI" IS OUT THE WINDOW FOR TIME BEING - what matters now in ME is SAVING PAN-ISLAM + SAVING ISLAM-BASED ULTRACONSERVATISM-FUNDAMENTALISM, BE IT SHIA OR SUNNI, BY FIRSTLY ACQUIRING NUCTECHS TRANSFER VIA IRAN.
#13
OSAMA reportedtly has acclaimed Iraq as "THE PERFECT BASE" > IMO, he is not referring to the anti-IGA/COALITION [US] insurgency in Iraq, BUT INSTEAD TO NEW ISLAMIST JIHADS AGZ PRO-WESTERN OR PRO-"MODERATE/SECUL" GOVTS IN IRAQ'S NEIGHBORING STATES, e.g. TURKEY, JORDAN, EGYPT, besides also SUPPOR FOR ANTi-ISRAELI VENTURES IN SYRIA-LEBANON + ANTI-RUSS IN CENASIA.
I see nothing to indic that Osama has changed his IRAN-MINDEDNESS/CENTRICITY vv HIS DESIRED ISLAMIST = PAN-ISLAM APOCALYPSE. Dubya's = US entrenchment in the ME + desire for continued Jihad may have induced him to link wid NUCLEARIZING IRAN BY ASSISTING IN REVIVING WAR FOR THE BORDERS OF THE OLD PERSIAN-OTTOMAN EMPIRES, ESPEC AGZ ISRAEL AND RUSSIA???
IOW, "SHIA VERSUS SUNNI" IS OUT THE WINDOW FOR TIME BEING - what matters now in ME is SAVING PAN-ISLAM + SAVING ISLAM-BASED ULTRACONSERVATISM-FUNDAMENTALISM, BE IT SHIA OR SUNNI, BY FIRSTLY ACQUIRING NUCTECHS TRANSFER VIA IRAN.
#14
SOrry for multiple posts - am having slow cpu.
"Pope Benedict is leading a crusade" - methinks OSAMA has just PC announced his = Radical Islam's own [counter-crusade], e.g. ala SALADIN, to save or salvage Islamism-specific JIhadism via NUCLEAR WEAPONS, as opposed to becoming reliant on "infidel" anti-US-Western nations.
The military unit that recently killed a man believed to be a Jemaah Islamiyah bomber was deployed to Sulu to hunt down the remaining JI-linked Abu Sayyaf leaders and followers hiding in the province, an official said. Marine Force Recon Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Ruben Candelario said no specific targets were given except to hunt down the remaining Abu Sayyaf leaders and followers in the area.
Among the known Abu Sayyaf leaders hiding in Sulu is Radulan Sahiron, the oldest and dubbed as the one-armed bandit leader and Al-bader Parad, who was involved in the 2000 kidnapping in Sipadan, Sabah, Malaysia. Candelario said they will continue to do their job and mission in running after the lawless elements like the Abu Sayyaf bandits that are responsible in kidnappings and bombings in recent years. Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) Commander Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga announced that the offensive will continue against the Abu Sayyaf bandits and other lawless groups despite the Holy Week observance.
Candelario's unit, the Marine Force Recon Battalion, is an elite force of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC). The Marine Force Recon Battalion has killed bandit leader Wahab Opao in a clash last January 31 in Sitio Lobbok, Barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi. A former Abu Sayyaf follower told Wesmincom officials that JI bomber Amar Usmanan known as Dulmatin was severely wounded in the same clash. Last February 18, a body believed to be that as Dulmatin was recovered in Sitio Lobbok, Barangay Buan, Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi. Tissue samples were taken from the corpse for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) to determine if it is really Dulmatin. Results of the DNA test has yet to be released, which Candelario said will boost the morale of his troops once it turn out positive to be that of Dulmatin.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea warned that the pro-government ruling camp would "if it had to" elect one of two presidential hopefuls -- Boutros Harb or Nassib Lahoud by simple majority. Geagea, in an interview published by the daily An Nahar on Thursday, ruled out presidential elections in Lebanon would take place ahead of an Arab summit scheduled in Damascus March 29-30. "We will discuss the next steps after the summit," Geagea said from New York.
Geagea stressed that the ruling March 14 coalition "should reach a settlement" to the ongoing political crisis and "establish an interim rule."
He denied he will run for presidency if efforts to elect Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman failed. "If the majority (March 14 Forces) had to elect a president by a half-plus-one (of MPs' vote) it will certainly choose one of its two candidates - MP Boutros Harb or former MP Nassib Lahoud," Geagea stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I still don't understand why the Lebanese need a conference of their neighbors to happen before they themselves can act. It is a tacit admission that Lebanon is controlled by outsiders. They apparently now need to strike a deal on who they are going to allow to gain power in Lebanon.
It is so sad. Maybe someday soon the Lebanese people will actually be able to make this decision themselves without outsiders having to have any meeting or come to any consensus. I don't recall an Arab summit deciding Egypt's elections, or Syria's government or Algeria's.
Former Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis has said the assassination of An Nahar General Manager MP Gebran Tueni was part of threats made against the German prosecutor and the commission he headed.
Mehlis, who appeared Tuesday on May Chidiac's LBC talk show Bi Kul Jura'a ( with all your courage) in Berlin that "dangerous threats" were made against him during his mission in Beirut and Tueni's killing in a car bombing on Dec. 12, 2005 was part of such threats because it came a day before the former investigator handed over his last report to the U.N. Security Council. "The late MP Gebran Tueni was assassinated a day before I released the December 2005 report," Mehlis said in his first TV interview since he stepped down as head of the U.N. commission investigating ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14, 2005 assassination and related crimes.
A group calling itself Jund El Sham, threatened to slaughter German Prosecutor Detlev Mehlis in October 2005.
Criminals are feeling "safe" in their attacks and erecting security "cameras in every street corner" could help catch the murderers, the German prosecutor told Chidiac about the series of assassinations since Hariri's killing in a massive explosion in Beirut. When asked that some parties in Lebanon refused erecting security cameras, Mehlis said: "Better being spied on than getting killed."
This article starring:
Jund El Sham
Detlev Mehlis
Gebran Tueni
May Chidiac
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How Orwellian.
It would never be easier to demand the UN do it's job, huh? Cameras. They will stop them bombs and bullets. UNFIL is just a shadow?
Detlev Mehlis, former Chief UN investigator of the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, said that he recommended the detention of the four Lebanese officers. During an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) he said, "there was evidence against them with regards to the assassination and we had evidence that they planned to leave the country." He added, "they should remain in jail since the UN has not issued any orders to release them."
The four detained pro-Syrian generals are: Brig. Gen. Jamil Sayyed who was the former head of Lebanon's General Security Department known as Surete Generale, Brig. Gen. Ali Hajj was ex-commander of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), Brig. Gen. Raymond Azar was former commander of the army's intelligence service and Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan was the commander of the army's Presidential Guard Brigade.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I recommend that Mehlis be checked into the nearest and most secure mental ward.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/21/2008 4:00 Comments ||
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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.
By Harvey Morris at the United Nations 
The international community must overcome its reluctance to get involved in Somalia and help put an end to abuses there, a special U.N. envoy said on Thursday. "While more people are talking about Somalia, there is still little action to stop the violence," Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the Security Council during a debate on whether to send U.N. peacekeepers to the African country. "I am not asking outside countries to become active for moral or altruistic reasons. They have a clearly mandated responsibility to become involved in a country where there are widespread violations of human rights and humanitarian law."
Two of Britain's most dangerous terrorists have been moved to different prisons after complaining their fellow inmates were "too white". 
US presidential candidate John McCain shrugged off criticism from rival Barack Obama over a gaffe about Iraq, saying on Thursday that all politicians slip up and it was time to "move on".
A young Canadian prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay has said in legal documents that US interrogators repeatedly threatened to rape him and Canadian government visitors told him they were powerless to do anything.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief on Thursday announced his backing for the Awami National Party (ANP) in its pledge to seek a peaceful solution to the ongoing insurgency in the Tribal Areas.
The Ahmedzai Wazir tribes on Thursday offered their support for any government-led operation to flush out foreign militants from South Waziristan, following two recent air strikes by US unmanned aerial vehicles, officials and tribal elders said. The offer was extended during a jirga, which was convened by Muhammad Ayaz Mandokhel, the assistant political agent (APA) of Wana, to discuss the situation in the area in the wake of the two air strikes that have killed around 30 suspected militants since February 28. If the government launches any operation against foreign militants the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes will support it, but we alone cannot do the job, Ahmedzai Wazir elders told the APA during the jirga. I will convey your opinion to the government and its response to you, the APA was quoted as telling the jirga. The jirga participants also criticised the government for first letting foreign militants into Waziristan and then holding the local population responsible for their presence. A Wana-based tribal elder told Daily Times that the APA had been told that the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes could not start any action against foreign militants on their own.
A suspect in the October 18 bombing in Benazir Bhuttos homecoming parade on Thursday issued legal notices to the publisher, printer and seller of her memoir, accusing them of defamation. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who is under police custody on terrorism charges, made Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, legal heirs of Benazir, and the publishers of her book, respondents in the notices. Hashmat Ali Habib, the counsel for Akhtar, sent the notices under the Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002. The notices say Benazir made derogatory remarks against Akhtar in her book Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West. The book was launched on February 12. The notices said the respondents should be tried under the defamation law and the penal code of the country, adding that they were liable to pay damages of $200 million to Akhtar.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud was not involved in the assassination of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairwoman Benazir Bhutto, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar said on Thursday.
NEW YORK (Rooters) - Military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions would be "a disaster" and the only way to solve the impasse is through dialogue, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Thursday.
Visiting U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday signaled vigorous support for Israel during a fact-finding mission widely seen as a bid to polish his credentials as a statesman. The Arizona senator warned that Israel's armed foes threatened not only the Jewish state but also U.S. interests and everything the West holds dear.
In a program on Al-Jazeera TV, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi accused Arab-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan of "publicly curs[ing] Allah, His Prophet, the Koran, the history of Islam, and the Islamic nation." 
Former Chief U.N. investigator 
