As international forces rescued a hijacked Chinese ship from Somali pirates Wednesday, state news media reports said China planned to send a naval fleet to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
maybe the Chinese are what is needed in this case. They kill them no questions asked
#2
WORLD MIL FORUM > CHINESE AID AGZ SOMALI PIRATES HAS KICKED OFF THE PLAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER ERA. China should have at least 3 ea. CV's in the Pacific, 1 in the South China Sea, and 1 in the Indian Ocean, with each PLAN CV ideally being of the large class weighing up to 100,000 tons.
ALso from SAME > on news that Russia may convert TWO TYPHOON SLBM SUBS INTO CRUISE MISSLE-ONLY BOATS, that iff China cannot get Russia to LEASE TYPHOON SUBS for its PLAN it should make every effort to learn and REVERSE/RE-ENGINEER ITS OWN SIMILAR CLASS, AND FOR UTILITY AS FBM, BMD, UV and SLCM MULTI-MISSION, HYBRID OR "ARSENAL" STRATEGIC ATTACK SUBS???
#3
OOOPSIES, for got yo add that the WMF artic also favors China dev a strong line of overseas bases in support of Chin national and naval policies [CV's], INCLUD A PLAN CARRIER BASE/PORT ON MADAGASCAR AND POSSIB WID CHIN ALLY SRI LANKA [naval visitation].
Also, PAKISTAN'S CHIN-BUILT GWADAR PORT is to officially open come 12/21st of this year.
Somalia's parliament voted Wednesday to begin impeachment proceedings against President Abdullahi Yusuf, another sign that his U.S.-backed government is unraveling. So, how's that "government of national unity" thing working for yez? Betcha he gets impeached before Blago ...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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What's the punishment if he's found guilty? No pirate booty for a month?
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair as the top U.S. intelligence official and could make an announcement as early as Friday, a source familiar with the nomination said on Thursday. As director of national intelligence, Blair would oversee the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus and be responsible for delivering Obama's daily intelligence briefing.
"We expect the announcement tomorrow," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Blair, a four-star admiral and former top U.S. military commander in the Pacific region, has for some time been considered the front runner for the intelligence job. Blair's nomination would keep an experienced military leader in the post, and he has a reputation as a smart thinker.
An advocacy group for East Timor this month urged Obama not to name Blair. It accused him of deepening ties with Indonesia's military during his years as Pacific commander, when the country was accused of violating human rights in the former Portuguese colony it occupied. The Obama transition team declined to comment on the Blair choice. The position requires confirmation by the Senate.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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Prior to retiring in 2002, Admiral Dennis Blair served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, the largest of the combatant commands.
During his 34-year Navy career, Admiral Blair served on guided missile destroyers in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and commanded the Kitty Hawk Battle Group. Ashore, he served as Director of the Joint Staff and as the first Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support at the CIA. He has also served in budget and policy positions on the National Security Council and several major Navy staffs.
A 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Admiral Blair earned a masters degree in History and Languages from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and served as a White House Fellow at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has been awarded four Defense Distinguished Service Medals and has received decorations from the governments of Japan, Thailand, Korea and Australia.
And his GWOT and regionally specific intelligence background is found where?
#2
ADM Blair is an honorable man and was a great officer. We are lucky to have him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/19/2008 10:30 Comments ||
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Yes indeed, so was General Tommy Franks, but his ORB did NOT include non-GWOT PACOM experience, a HUD assignment, White House fellowships, OGA liaison positions or budget experience. This fellow is a military politician, NOT an intelligence professional!
Mohamud Ali Hassan once told the Somali grandmother who raised him that he'd become a doctor and care for her. The Somali immigrant, who moved to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" when he was 8, had good grades at the University of Minnesota and called Muslims to prayer at his mosque, where he also slept during the holy month of Ramadan. But on Nov. 1, Hassan disappeared, as have a dozen other boys and young men here two days after another young Muslim from Minnesota blew himself up as a suicide bomber in Somalia.
Hassan, 18, called his grandmother to say he was back in Somalia, where an Islamist militia is trying to take over the Horn of Africa nation. What he was doing there, he did not say. Now the FBI is asking questions, as are members of the Somali community. The Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center denies any wrongdoing, but many here suspect that the mosque and its imam are radicalizing their youth to become jihadists in an Islamic holy war overseas or perhaps even in the United States. "They are very powerful, whoever got into his mind and got him to do this," says Hassan's grandmother Fadumo Elmi, 83. "We were forced out of our country one time. We don't want to be forced out of here."
Details of the disappearances are few, but what little is known is cause for concern, says Abdizirak Bihi, a community activist who represents six families of young men who disappeared in early November. Among them was Bihi's nephew, Burhan Hassan, 17, a high school junior. All were good students, had no problems with the law, Bihi says. All were raised by single mothers and spent a lot of time in the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center.
The center is the largest mosque in the Twin Cities. Bihi worries it is preaching a radical Islamic ideology to vulnerable young men. Shirwa Ahmed, 19, who left in August with no notice to his family, was among five terrorists who blew themselves up Oct. 29 in an attack that killed 24 people in Somalia, Bihi says. "We are wanting the government and politicians to investigate who is responsible for sending our kids and we are requesting the American government to help us to get us back our kids." Bihi says.
Other Somali immigrants worry the disappearances may foretell dangers for their adopted nation. "That kid that blew himself up in Somalia could have done it here in Minneapolis," says Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.
Special Agent E.K. Wilson of the FBI in Minneapolis would not say whether his agency is investigating the mosque. Bihi and Elmi said the FBI has talked to them and others about the missing. Wilson said the FBI knows that Muslims here have been going overseas to fight. "We're aware that a number of Somali men have traveled from around the United States including Minneapolis to potentially fight overseas," Wilson said.
A lawyer for the Abubaker As-Saddique Islamic Center denied any involvement in planning or financing the men's travels or any political indoctrination. "The mosque has taken a position that it would never take a stand on any political issues," says lawyer Mahir Sherif in San Diego. "We do not support terrorism or any kind of suicide bombing or act of violence." He said federal authorities last month prevented the mosque's religious leader, Sheik Abdirahman Ahmed, from flying to Mecca.
Yusuf Shaba, who writes about Islamic ideology and radicalism for the Warsan Times, a Somali-English monthly newspaper published in Minneapolis, says he decided to speak out about what he considers Islamic indoctrination at Minneapolis mosques because he doesn't want his sons to follow the same path he did. Shaba, 34, joined Al Ittihad Al-Islami (Islamic Union) at age 16 and was wounded at age 19 in Somalia. Al Ittihad was Somalia's largest Islamic terrorist group in the 1990s.
Shaba says jihadists generally recruit young men from among two groups: those shunned by their families because they've turned to drugs, gangs or alcohol; and the sons of families who forbid exposure to Western culture and allow them to socialize only at the mosque.
Shaba says he and his three teenage sons attended a program two months ago at Abubaker As-Saddique Islamic Center, where a former Somali warrior sat in a circle with other young people and delivered a passionate recitation of his experiences during the Somali civil war. Some mosques also screen videos about the war in Afghanistan and about Muslim victims of perceived injustices in such places as Nigeria and the Palestinian territories. "They give them all the grievances that Osama Bin Laden has," Shaba says. "They talk about nothing but jihad and it's the best thing that can happen to a Muslim."
When the brainwashing is done and the teachers are confident students will do anything asked of them, the teachers give them tazkia, or clearance, to get more specialized training in the United States or abroad, Shaba says. "The people who trained us encouraged us to not get married, to sever our ties with our families, so that when the mission comes we won't worry about family."
Shaba says similar activities occur at Minnesota Da'wah Institute in St. Paul, another mosque. Sheik Mahamud Hassan, the institute's imam, says nothing like that is happening as his mosque. "It's liars," he says. "I'm not missing any members."
Elmi wrapped herself in her shawl and sobbed as she thought of Hassan in her one bedroom apartment in a Minneapolis public housing high rise. Outside, snow covered the parking lot and temperatures were below zero. They moved to the United States in 1996, when Hassan was 8 and after his father was killed in the civil war. Hassan was obedient, but after going to the mosque, "He was completely changed."
"I thought the mosque would be a much safer place than the night clubs and bars," she said, crying. "I don't want God to curse me because I say something bad about the mosque."
#1
"I don't want God to curse me because I say something bad about the mosque."
No worries Elmi. Been doing it myself for decades. Sometimes I even relieve abdominal bloating as I motor by. Other than male pattern baldness, no other noticeable effects,
#7
RE: #6 Could we drop the racist insults that have been popping up here so often recently? They do nothing to add to the discussion and lower the quality of the information that can be found here.
Actually, I would say that most Somalis made good immigrants. This is a rather small minority, although one that needs to be controlled.
I just feel sorry for the grandmother, who clearly seems to have tried to do what was best for the kid in the only way she knew.
The articles here frequently describes real evil, and the perpetrators need to be brought to justice. But the sweeping generalizations against entire communities, and every racist reference to ragheads, mooks, etc, lowers the quality of the debate on this site.
The bit*chy stuff on Wednesday's burg about the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe was also appalling.
#9
hmmm after reading about the wide-spread Somali taxi-driver protests against carrying passengers with booze, seeing-eye dogs, and demanding wudu baths, as well as the complaints requiring segregated prayer rooms at Minnesota colleges (IIRC) - I think there's a general stench permeating that communities' rep in the twin cities.
Do you deny that? Do you also deny that most are uneducated "refugees" who have few skills, great impacts on local costs and services, and likely few contributions? Do you also deny that their birth rate greatly exceeds the local rate for native-born?
"Mom" and sjb, your point would be greatly improved if you sharpened the focus to real violations. There are plenty of gratuitous group-slams that should be and are condemned here. Usually the mods catch em. Your nannying on this one is misplaced and I refuse it. It IS Rantburg, and "you're NOT my MOM, man". Get a grip and focus
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2008 18:49 Comments ||
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.5mt, i 'm not inssane yet. look again it's muslima.com, or do some of the mods have a fetish they're not talking about? j.k guys
#11
rabid, Fred gets money from running these "commercials". He does splict them. This is money spent to advance the truth about the War on Terror. Sod off.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/19/2008 19:14 Comments ||
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"i'm not inssane yet."
Glad you cleared that up, rabid. ;-p
The ads appear because some ad-placing computer somewhere (Google? Who knows?) notes this post and thread talk about muslims and mosques and places muslim-oriented ad on the page. Unfortunately for the computer (and the ad sponsor), the computer has no way of knowing that we're not exactly praising mosques, etc.
I think Fred get a couple of cents for the ads, though. I don't know if he gets paid for just the ad, or only if we click on it.
(On Tim Blair's site a year or two ago, we tried to break the bank of PETA by clicking on their ads as they appeared on Tim's site in response - I think - to a discussion about sheep. ;-p)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/19/2008 19:20 Comments ||
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#13
Tell me, has any single mosque that *has* been found to be involved in aiding terrorism *ever* come straight out and said they were?
#14
I'm originally from the Twin Cities and the growing Somali population is part of why I moved away. The other part being weather. Franks right, there's a trouble brewin' in them parts.
Go ahead and call me racist. Pretend I'm denoucing them over where someone in their family was born (I.E 'Those eggplant heads!')and not because of their culture.
Rantburg aint no nanny and ifn y'alls looking for a reason to be offended, thisn a good place to find it.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/19/2008 19:55 Comments ||
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Informants are never practically perfect people. It is tough to win a case without other solid evidence to back up their testimony. (I don't know what else they have here besides the jihadi video.)
Not surprising in a way: our military has plans to do most anything. So Bambi will have a ready-made plan to execute if that's what he wants to do. My preferred option would be to ship all the mooks to Ice Station Zebra ...
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered plans to be drafted for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, the Pentagon says.
A team was looking at moving inmates from the facility in a way that continued to protect the American people, a spokesman said. About 250 detainees remain in the controversial Cuba camp.
US President-elect Barack Obama says closing the camp "in a responsible way" is one of his top priorities. Mr Obama, who takes office on 20 January, said earlier this week he aimed to close the facility within two years.
If that's "responsible" ...
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Mr Gates had wanted to be prepared in case Mr Obama wished to tackle the issue "early in his tenure". "He has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down, what will be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, and at the same time protect the American people from dangerous terrorists," he said.
The Guantanamo Bay prison opened shortly after the attacks of 11 September 2001. Hundreds of men suspected of links to terrorism or al-Qaeda were held without trial as "unlawful enemy combatants". Many are now challenging their detention in civilian courts, after a foolish, unfounded ruling in June by the US Supreme Court.
Some officials have warned that closing the camp would be an extremely complicated process. Those still detained there include men alleged to have planned the 9/11 attacks. How and where they would be detained or tried in the future simply is not clear, reports the BBC's Adam Brookes from Washington.
The incoming president, the Department of Justice and perhaps Congress will need to build a whole new legal process for handling the remaining Guantanamo detainees, our correspondent says.
So that the USSC can declare it unconstitutional. Remember, we've tried this twice already.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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Congress has the Constitutional authority to remove the federal courts from reviewing their next version of the process, if they want to. It's a question of 'will'.
#2
Yep, Steve, the SCOTUS performance on these matters has essentially destroyed the legitimacy of the constitutional process, if viewed honestly. So bad that even Chief Justice Roberts essentially denounced his own court as acting in bad faith. Yet Bush meekly complied, instead of protecting the constitution by refusing to comply, lighting a fire, and putting the court's dereliction in clear relief (heck, even making it an issue on anyone's radar screen).
Nice how mindlessly the BBC and others focus on the facility, as opposed to the fundamental issue, the legal issues. As if "closing" a part of Gitmo does anything about the fundamental issues.
P2K, while you're correct, I believe Congress and the Executive have already blinked (can't recall if it was this particular issue) - didn't they already write the courts out of an issue not long ago, only to have SCOTUS arrogantly continue to meddle?
ISLAMABAD: Challenging Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's assertion that there was no proof that the arrested Mumbai attacker hailed from Pakistan's Punjab province, former premier Nawaz Sharif has said that the suspect's village was cordoned off and his parents were not allowed to meet anyone.
"I have checked myself. His (Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab) house and village has been cordoned off by the security agencies. His parents are not allowed to meet anybody. I don't understand why it has been done," Sharif, who hails from Punjab, said in an interview to Geo News channel.
"The people and media should be allowed to meet Iman's parents so that the truth could come out in the open," he said, adding that "We need some kind of introspection."
Zardari, who earlier acknowledged that the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage could be 'non-state' actors from Pakistan, has now said there is still no "real evidence" that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan.
"Have you seen any evidence to that effect? I have definitely not seen any real evidence to that effect," Zardari told BBC in an interview this week.
Pakistani security agencies and local officials in Faridkot have launched a cover-up since India made it public that Kasab belonged to the village in Punjab province and his father acknowledged to a Pakistani newspaper, that the gunman captured in India was his son.
Sharif also slammed Zardari's rule, saying the functioning of the current Pakistan People's Party-led government is making Pakistan look like a "failed state". ( Watch )
Pakistan presents the picture of a failed and ungovernable state due to the absence of the government's writ and the country urgently needs a new roadmap to pull it out of the problems it is currently facing, he said.
The PML-N chief said the dictatorial rule of former President Pervez Musharraf had made the country ungovernable.
"Since 1977, the army has ruled the country for more than 20 years... A state subjected to frequent military intervention in politics can only become ungovernable."
He said India should have shared intelligence about the Mumbai attacks with Pakistan instead of approaching the UN Security Council.
Sharif also criticised what he described as the government's "clarifications" regarding the purported violation of Pakistani airspace by Indian fighter jets.
Noting that Pakistan was getting isolated in the international community, Sharif said there is a need to find the root causes of terrorism. He also condemned Zardari's reported statement that US drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas would continue.
The government should make it clear to the US that such attacks went against the country's integrity and would not be tolerated, he said.
Though the PPP-led government had been in power for ten months, there was little hope of any improvement in the affairs of the state, Sharif said, adding that it was up to the nation to decide whether to make Pakistan a failed state or a successful state.
Sharif said the PML-N wanted an independent judiciary and the repeal of the 17th constitutional amendment, which gives the President sweeping powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and to dismiss the Prime Minister.
The PML-N will pressure the government to implement the Charter of Democracy, which according to him, was the "will" of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto. Sharif and Bhutto signed the Charter in 2006 when they launched a joint movement against Musharraf while they were both in exile.
The Charter envisages wide-ranging reforms, including the scrapping of the President's powers, making the judiciary independent and clipping the powers of the military.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/19/2008 07:36 ||
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The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will not allow supplies to NATO and United States troops stationed in Afghanistan from Pakistan, as these weapons are being used against innocent people in the Tribal Areas, JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Thursday.
He was addressing a rally against Pakistan providing logistic support to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan at Suekarno Square. Qazi said the US forces were attacking people in the Tribal Areas, but instead of disallowing transportation of arms to the forces, the government had succumbed to US and Indian pressure.
He said the transporters and companies carrying supplies to NATO forces were 'shameless'. "US presence in Afghanistan is a serious threat to Pakistan and its nuclear programme," the JI chief said.
He also criticised the Awami National Party (ANP), saying its history was replete with 'anti-Islam' actions. Qazi said the ANP had supported the Hindus in 1947, supported the Soviet Union and were now supporting the US. He said the ANP did not represent Pashtun population, who were a 'mujahid' nation, unlike the secular ANP.
"When government called us to form a consensus opinion on the aggressive Indian posture after the Mumbai attacks, we asked to stop the military operations in Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand agencies and other areas, as peace would remain illusive as long the operations continue," Qazi said.
JI NWFP chief Sirajul Haq alleged the ANP-led provincial government had surpassed all previous records of corruption, adding it must share the blame for the thousands of innocent people killed in military operations in the Tribal Areas and Swat.
The JI rally started from Hashtnagri Chowk and marching through GT Road reached Soekarno Square where the party leaders addressed it. The participants carried placards and chanted slogans against the US and the logistic support to NATO forces.
This article starring:
Qazi Hussain Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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Large areas of Bajaur and Mohmand agencies have been cleared of 'miscreants' and complete government control would be established in the two agencies by the end of December, Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General Maj Gen Tariq Khan told President Asif Ali Zardari during a briefing on Thursday.
"Large areas of Bajaur and Mohmand agencies have been cleared. The writ of the state will be restored by the end of this month, and both the agencies will come under complete control of the government," he said during the president's meeting with representatives from FATA.
Zardari met the tribal elders for the second day, as part of a series of consultations with politicians that an official statement said were meant to "assess the situation in FATA from the perspective of the elected tribal representatives and other stakeholders responsible for peace and security in the region".
Special officer: Talking to the FATA representatives, the president said a special officer in the presidency would be deputed to liaise between tribal representatives and the state functionaries responsible for FATA affairs, including the governor, the interior adviser, the states and frontier regions minister, the chief secretary, and the Frontier Corps IG.
He said that peace in the Tribal Areas was the foremost priority of the government, which was using all available resources to bring stability to the region. Zardari said that he would hold fortnightly meetings with tribal leaders to discuss the situation in FATA.
Development projects: A number of participants emphasised the need for initiating development projects in FATA. The president said that the government was working on a new model of economic development in which tribesmen would be made shareholders in various development projects with an aim to weaning the unemployed youth away from militancy.
NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, States and Frontier Regions Minister Najamuddin Khan, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, and senior officials from the Interior and Finance divisions and the NWFP government attended the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Do we have a meter we can test this claim with, because I have my doubts.
#7
It's a Heathkit TV - If his lips are moving, he's lying
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2008 17:38 Comments ||
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#8
Frank, my Dad was worried about spending that much money on a TeeVee.... he was right... you could buy one nearly as good from RCA 2 years later for less..... Multi-Metres and Receivers tho... that's a different.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has said the US will continue air raids on militants in the tribal belt near the Afghan border.
In a meeting with tribal elders at the President House in Islamabad on Thursday, Zardari said the government had no other option except air strikes to eliminate the 'high valued targets' in the troubled tribal region, Press TV correspondent reported. "There is no alternative but to fight militancy because militants wanted to capture political power through use of force to impose their own political agenda in the country which the government would never allow," Zardari said.
However, tribal elders expressed their reservations on the US drone attacks and said innocent people were also being killed in the deadly strikes.
Experts say Zardari may have hinted that the US drone strikes in the tribal areas were being conducted with the consent of the government.
Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rising frequency in missile attacks launched by US drones and forces. More than 400 people --among them suspected militants as well as civilians --have been killed in the attacks. The strikes have increased tensions between Islamabad and Washington and have triggered anti-American sentiments among the Pakistani people.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Iranian source. Last paragraph corrected below:
More than 400 people --amongmost of them suspected militants as well as Taliban and AQ disguised as civilians --have been killed in the attacks.
Thousands of anti-government protesters demanded Thursday that Pakistan shut the route along which supplies are ferried to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, adding to the growing pressure on Islamabad's beleaguered leadership.
The demonstration by more than 10,000 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar also focused on a recent series of U.S. missile strikes against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border and Pakistani military offensives against Islamic insurgents in the area.
Leaders of the demonstration drew links between the missile attacks and the supply line, saying the equipment was being used for attacks on Pakistani soil and vowing to shut down the convoys.
"We will no longer let arms and ammunition pass through ... and reach the hands of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan," Sirajul Haq, the provincial head of hardline Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, told the crowd. "They are using the same against our innocent brothers, sisters and children."
The supply line _ along which gear passes from the Pakistani port city of Karachi and through the Khyber Pass _ has increasingly come under assault, leading U.S. and NATO forces to scout possible alternative routes.
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Hundreds of vehicles, including Humvees allocated for the Afghan army, have been torched in recent weeks in arson attacks on terminals, leaving several security guards dead. The convoys also are targets in Afghanistan, despite armed escorts.
But U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Thursday that convoys continue to flow along the route at the rate of about 150 trucks a day and reiterated that the attacks "have not affected our ability to operate (in Afghanistan) at this point."
"It continues to be a viable supply route. That said, we are looking at ways not only to improve the security along that route but other alternatives to it," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Paki sources say the rally was pure JI. Fat Qazi H A was there.
Indian Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay has caused a storm in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and Thursday, suggesting that the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare in Mumbai during last month's terror attacks was a conspiracy.
The minister said he was killed due to his leading role in the investigations of the 2006 Malegaon bombings that killed eight people outside a mosque and have been blamed on Hindu nationalists.
"Anyone trying to go to the roots of terror has always been a target," he said, calling for a separate inquiry into Karkare's death. "There is more than what meets the eye," he said, adding that the top official went to Cama Hospital instead of the Taj and Oberoi hotels, and was wearing a 'substandard' bulletproof vest.
Creating five minutes of pandemonium as Antulay sat quietly, opposition legislators said they were not satisfied with his clarification in the House the previous day that he did doubt the terrorists had killed Karkare.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee tried in vain to pacify the agitated legislators, who continued to protest even after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi intervened and assured them the government would look into the matter.
Congress: A red-faced Congress swiftly dissociated itself from the minister. "We don't accept the inference and the innuendo that underline the statement (by Antulay)...We don't agree with bringing this case under a cloud," Times of India newspaper quoted a Congress spokesman as saying. Citing its sources in the party, it said the Congress would seek an explanation from the minister.
Statement: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government would make a statement on Antulay's remarks either today (Friday) or before the end of the Lok Sabha on December 23.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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According to Kasbab, they mistook the hospital for an apartment building. It was not the intended target.
But the "minority affairs" (read Muslim affairs) minister has to chase his votebank, as does the Congress party, so he will remain as Minister, while directly challenging his colleagues in the cabinet.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/19/2008 7:47 Comments ||
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The government is studying Saudi and Sri Lankan security models to develop a mechanism to deal with terror threats, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Thursday.
He was responding to comments from opposition legislators in the National Assembly.
Malik contradicted reports that President Asif Zardari had told parliamentarians from FATA in a meeting on Wednesday that drone attacks in the Tribal Areas would continue and the government could not stop them. He said the report was baseless and the president had never made such a statement.
The interior adviser said the parliamentary committee on national security was deliberating on a unanimous integrated policy on the challenges Pakistan was facing, and that the government was committed to defending the dignity and sovereignty of the country.
Earlier, Ahsan Iqbal from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) criticised the government for not responding appropriately to Indian allegations of Pakistan's involvement in last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying Pakistan was facing security threats as a result. He called for good ties with India "but with honour and dignity as the top priority". He also asked the government to analyse the circumstances in which young people were influenced by extremists, adding that most would-be suicide bombers who had been arrested were school dropouts. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) legislator Sher Muhammad Baloch riticised the opposition and media for creating 'unnecessary hype' over the admission of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar's daughter to a medical college.
He said it was not a matter of public importance, and that the media was using it to criticise the chief justice. FATA legislaor Zafar Baig Batani asked the government on a point of order to set up a federal university in the Tribal Areas. Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi, who was chairing the House, supported his demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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Elements in the ISI are engaging with the groups that support the Taliban and are killing American, NATO and Afghan troops, according to a US think tank report. The report by the bipartisan Pakistan Policy Working Group also cites the Afghan government's allegations that the ISI-supported elements had orchestrated an assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai, and that the ISI had a role in the July 7 car bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul. "All of this suggests that the ISI is no longer certain the coalition forces will prevail in Afghanistan and that it is using militants groups in an attempt to expand its own influence," the report says.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
From the article, if the 'attempted coup' is proven, then i think the gov't has bigger fish to fry and worry about instead of some little pissant attention whore reporter. enjoy your cell, asshole.
(AKI) - Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi who was filmed throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush could face up to seven years in prison, his brother said on Wednesday. Udai al-Zaidi, brother of the journalist from al-Baghdadiya, said Muntazer faced a jail sentence of between two and seven years for charges that may include attempted murder.
Muntazer al-Zaidi appeared in court on Tuesday and confessed to the attack on the president.
" My brother Montazer al-Zaidi has been brought before a judge for preliminary investigations, and risks from two to seven years in prison, " his brother told Arab TV network Al-Jazeera.
"The government has assigned him a government lawyer that we do not recognise. We are worried because he has been taken to a secret location inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and we do not know where he is."
The journalist generated headlines around the world and provoked a Baghdad street protest after throwing his footwear at the president during his media conference in Iraq on Sunday.
"Al-Zaidi was brought today before the investigating judge in the presence of a defence lawyer and a prosecutor," said Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq's High Judicial Council on Tuesday. "He admits the action he carried out."
The journalist has become a hero to millions of Arabs but he has reportedly been nursing a broken arm and ribs as well as cuts to his face while in detention, according to his brother.
On Tuesday, thousands of Iraqis took part in a second day of street protests today demanding al-Zaidi's release. In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, north of Baghdad, around 1,000 protesters reportedly carried banners and chanted slogans in his support.
The head of the Iraqi Union of Journalists described al-Zaidi's action as "strange and unprofessional" but urged Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to give him clemency.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"We are worried because he has been taken to a secret location inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and we do not know where he is."
Sounds like a perfect set up line for a little RAB action.
Asharq Al-Awsat - Muntadhar Al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Baghdad appeared before an investigating judge on Tuesday and admitted to aggression against the American President.
Maitham Al Zaidi, Muntadhar's youngest brother confirmed that the members of the Al Zaidi family did not fear for their own safety and expressed that if they were living under the previous regime, they would undoubtedly have felt afraid.
Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq's High Judicial Council said that Muntadhar Al Zaidi had appeared before the investigating judge, in the presence of a defence lawyer and the prosecutor, and admitted aggression against a president.
During a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Maitham Al Zaidi said, "Muntadhar phoned me personally around 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening (Tuesday) while I was at the office of Al-Baghdadi satellite channel (in Baghdad) and he said three sentences to me: 'I am well, I will go to court tomorrow (Wednesday), and get me a lawyer.'"
Maitham confirmed that this telephone call was not made from Muntadhar's telephone. He added that the family had attempted to call Muntadhar on a number of occasions but had been unable to get through since his telephone had been switched off.
Maitham added, "Muntadhar sounded well, he sounded much better than I expected." Maitham stated that his family did not fear for Muntadhar's safety, saying, "If we were living under the previous regime (of Saddam Hussein) we would all be afraid, and we would have all been arrested. But in an age of democracy and freedom, we are not afraid."
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12/19/2008 00:00 ||
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"If we were living under the previous regime (of Saddam Hussein) we would all be afraid, and we would have all been arrested. But in an age of democracy and freedom, we are not afraid."
#3
you're not afraid but just begging too get brother out of jail. He threw his shoe at an international leader i think any of us would be looking at some jail time on this one
That Hero of the Arab World thing just ain't working out, huh?
BAGHDAD: A spokesman for Iraq's prime minister says the journalist who threw his shoes at US president George Bush has asked for a pardon. Spokesman Yassin Majid says that in a letter sent on Thursday to PM Nouri al-Maliki the journalist described his behaviour as "an ugly act" and asked to be pardoned. Or could you at least tell your security people to not break any more of my bones?
Thank you.
Majid says that Muntazer al-Zaidi in the letter recalls the kindness the prime minister once showed him during an interview in 2005 and asked for al-Maliki to show him kindness once again. Al-Zaidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader. Geez, hope your wimping out don't screw this up.
An Egyptian man said on Wednesday that he was offering his 20-year-old daughter in marriage to Muntazer al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at George Bush. The daughter, Amal Saad Gumaa, said she agreed with the idea. Like she's got a choice?
"This is something that would honor me. I would like to live in Iraq, especially if I were attached to this hero," she said. C'mon, big guy. Don't let her down. You can do two years standing on your fractured skull.
Her father, Saad Gumaa, said he had called Dergham, Zaidi's brother, to tell him of the offer. "I find nothing more valuable than my daughter to offer to him," he added. C'mon, pops. Some Saudi guy offered 10 million for the shoes. Couldn't ya up the ante? Toss in a coupla goats or sumthin?
#1
Give Bush an A+ for how he played this one. The issue here is Maliki. The news guy severely dishonored him. Al Zaidi should offer Maliki that guy's 20 year old daughter as an additional wife. That will save his face. Surprise her though.
#2
"This is something that would honor me. I would like to live in Iraq, especially if I were attached to this hero," she said.
For an olde maid, you sure are picky - what makes you think that you two will have any chance to live in Iraq after dipshit's antics? You two will live in Egypt where your 15 minute husband will scribble for a 3rd rate rag which will lose readership, leading to him being fired in 2 years. There you will listen to him bicker about bone pain when the weather gets cold and hear the same story over and over every eid, "If only I'd hit him. I could have been a contender, now I'm just a bum."
Free speech is the right to forum and propose opinions based upon the weight of words and ideas (that is, the paper he is allowed to write for and have freely distributed in Iraq), not throwing crap like a jouvinile monkey who didn't get a banana.
This goofball, in a 15 second clip, highlighted the gulf in idea of civility between the West and ME, and how far Iraq has come in 5 short difficult years.
#3
Maliki should tell this punk that in order for a pardon to even be considered, he must first apologize to President Bush in person, explain the error of his ways, and ask for his forgiveness. This should be captured live by all the media and broadcasted to the four corners of the world for all to see.
Of course, Bush will graciously accept his apology and offer his unconditional forgiveness. Immediately following, he will embrace Zaidi as the newest member of the modern world. A world that is based on the shared values of democracy, liberty, freedom of speech, and tolerance for all but the intolerant.
An Indonesian court sentenced two people on Friday of trying to establish a separatist Indonesian Islamic State, to serve three and two and a half years in prison respectively. Those convicted were local officials H. Suganda, 63, vice governor turned head of information for southern West Java and Dedi Mulyadi, regent for Cianjur-Sukabumi.
The verdict, reached at Bandung District Court, is lighter than five years in jail demanded by prosecutor Solihin last week. The prosecutors had accused Suganda and Dedi of recruiting new members and leading them to pledge separation from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Dedi and Suganda are alleged to be linked to the separatist Negara Islam Indonesia Movement, or NII.
Presiding Judge Joni Santosa told Indonesian website kompas.com on Friday that both defendants had been proven to have violated article 107 of Criminal Code on treason. They have carried out their own law that do not recognised on the government's existence and led to separation. Also, their activities have disturbed people's lives, he said.
Bandung District Court sentenced on Friday seventeen activists of Indonesia Islamic State, a group which continue the objective of Darul Islam to form an Islamic state since Darul Islam was founded in 1948 by Indonesian freedom fighters in West Java. The 17 defendents were sentenced to between two and four years in jail.
The Islamic movement's activists were rounded up in April this year but the actual number of the organization, said to have run its own of government system in parts of West Java, was not known. The court charges the defendants with treachery for violating at least six articles in the criminal codes.
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As international forces rescued a hijacked Chinese ship from Somali pirates Wednesday, state news media reports said China planned to send a naval fleet to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters.
The 
Thousands of anti-government protesters demanded Thursday that Pakistan shut the route along which supplies are ferried to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, adding to the growing pressure on Islamabad's beleaguered leadership.
