The departure of the last Ethiopian tanks from Somalia's capital is ushering in a new phase of conflict in a nation known for clan warfare: a battle for power among militias flying Islamist banners.
In some ways, the situation in Somalia, where people have long practiced a moderate and mostly apolitical form of Islam, has circled back to where it was when the Ethiopians invaded two years ago. The U.S.-supported operation was intended to oust a popular movement of moderate and radical Islamists that had taken over the capital and that the United States accused of having ties to al-Qaeda.
But the operation drove the more radical Islamist fighters, known as al-Shabab, into a brutal insurgency against the Ethiopian occupiers and the secular, transitional government their invasion installed. After the deaths of at least 10,000 people and the displacement of 1 million, Ethiopia and the United States are now supporting a political compromise that stands to return to power some of the same moderate Islamist leaders they originally ousted.
Those leaders, in turn, face an even worse version of the same problem they had when they first tried to govern: how to control the Shabab, which the United States has labeled a terrorist group. After fighting a two-year-long insurgency, the Shabab has split off from the core movement and become more radical and battle-hardened, with various factions controlling much of southern Somalia.
Militarily, the Shabab is now the biggest threat to the fragile transitional government and the moderate Islamists seeking to become part of it.
At the same time, the Shabab is showing signs of internal divisions. And with the Ethiopians' exit, it is facing an array of new challengers, including local militias and warlords with such nicknames as White-Eyed and Greasy who are restyling themselves as Islamists.
"A lot of militia groups and warlords are now trying to adapt to this new Islamist fashion, to reorganize themselves under the Islamist banner and crush the Shabab," said Ali Said, director of the Center for Peace and Democracy, which operates in exile in Nairobi. ". . . I think they are just taking the label as a political opportunity, but it has a long-term impact -- the risk is that it can push Somalia into a long-lasting religious war."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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I don't think so, TU. The Iraqi army, while still having difficulties with logistics and air support, is pretty much THE dog in the fight in Iraq, and they're pretty secular. I think we're more likely to have a second Turkey, where the Army ousts governments that become too "religious", than a return to tribalism or warlord mentality. There are still far too many people that have nightmares about the Saddam years to favor that kind of mess again.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2009 11:42 Comments ||
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Egyptian actors have condemned a fatwa (religious edict) reportedly issued by an Algerian fundamentalist group against top Egyptian actor Adel Imam for his criticism of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. "Egyptian actors are outraged by this fatwa and the branding of Imam as an infidel," the Egyptian Actors' Association said in a statement following an emergency meeting this week.
Imam, best known for his works against militants, had lashed out at Hamas and blamed it for Israel's 22-day devastating onslaught against the Gaza Strip. "I am sure that Hamas made a terrible mistake, which resulted in the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinians," Imam, one of the Arab world's most popular actors, told the private Egyptian TV Al Hayat from Paris where he is receiving medical treatment.
"Such fatwas are no longer influential because they are frequently issued nowadays," said Imam. "I am sure that if I go to Algeria, I'd make the Algerian people kill the one who issued this fatwa against me because I am one of the most popular actors there."
Egyptian actors said in their pro-Imam statement that such fatwas "violate freedom of expression and revive the Inquisitions".
"By reviewing all the media remarks made by Imam on the Gaza war, we found that he advised different Palestinian factions to unify their ranks instead of being badly fragmented," said Ashraf Zaki, the head of the Egyptian Actors' Association. "This is part of Imam's right to free expression and there's nothing wrong about it."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.
The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in YemenÂ’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.
“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”
The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.
Almost half the camp’s remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.
#2
He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
#3
"The emergence of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday"
Actually its not so much as a potential complication as a fatal flaw.
A Dhaka court has allowed a petitioner to run advertisement in newspapers, inviting people or institutions to become parties in a case against Jamaat-e-Islami's ex-amir Golam Azam, current Amir Motiur Rahman Nizami and 34 others to declare them war criminals.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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AN Australian convicted of plotting attacks with al-Qaeda told a Paris court today that a German accused of blowing up a synagogue had been close to Osama bin Laden. Jack Roche, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to planning with al-Qaeda to attack Israel's embassy in Canberra and is now free on parole, testified by video link from Perth.
Christian Ganczarski, a German convert to Islam, stands accused of planning a 2002 suicide bombing of a Tunisian synagogue that killed 21 people. He is on trial in Paris, along with an alleged Tunisian accomplice and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of al-Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
Roche told the court that Ganczarski was directly linked to Bin Laden, al-Qaeda's Saudi-born leader, and used the pseudonym "Abu Mohammed". "He obviously had close ties with bin Laden, because he sat next to him and gave him the note Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had given me for him," Roche, a British-born convert to Islam, told the court.
Roche, dubbed "Jihad Jack" by the Australian media, confessed during his own 2004 trial to travelling to Afghanistan, where he met Bin Laden and received explosives training with the Islamist extremist group. "He had links too with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," said Roche. "I met him in his house in Karachi. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed explained to me that Abu Mohamed was going to escort me to Afghanistan."
Khalid Seikh Mohammed formerly maintained a hideout in the Pakistani port city of Karachi with links to Al-Qaeda's bases near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
"Near Kandahar, one of the sons of bin Laden came to pick us up at a Taliban outpost," Roche told the court. "I spent a few days with him. I think he was a go-between between Europe and Afghanistan, and he had computer and radio skills," he said.
Ganczarski pleaded innocent when he and Sheikh Mohammed went on trial earlier this month for plotting the synagogue bombing, which killed 14 German tourists, five Tunisians and two French nationals.
Sheikh Mohammed is in the US military's Guantanamo Bay prison and will not attend the French hearings, but Ganczarski and his alleged accomplice Nizar Nawar were in court.
French prosecutors have charged the trio with "complicity in attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise" and they face a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail if convicted of the April 11, 2002 attack. The Paris trial is scheduled to end on February 6.
#5
No further confirmation of this being a wrong move needed. Strange, most of the Europe had little problem with detention centers in the 1930's and 1940's.
#6
Whoaaa…three days in and Obama has already started to “restore America’s image abroad”. The Europeons like us…*sniff*...they reealllly like us.
#7
That's good, because this was who it was meant to please. The average American probably wouldn't care if you turned Khaled Sheikh Mohammed into Purina Shark Chow.
#8
Really ? Load them up, drug them, land in Brussels on a Mayday. Roll them down the back ramp, rolling, and go for a take off before they comprehend what's happening. Let them welcome them, if they are so happy.
#10
the american left couldn't be happier...as the proverbial sorority girl who wants to be liked by the EU (aka BMOC) that finally notices she lost 10 lbs and is interested in taking her to the annual frat/sorority formal...puke. Millions of my countrymen are idiots.
A group of Spanish bloggers have started a site for thanking President George W Bush. Their goal is to get 1 million supports. It is open to anyone (not only Spanish). You can find it in http://mission1accomplished.com/
#1
Oops, wrong section (should have been non WOT) and wrong title (the authors of the initiative are American). A hasty read of the Spanish page, where they credited the (Spanish) people who told the authors of the page made me believe it was them who were the authors of the initiative.
Anyway I already clicked on it. I had no time to write a text and I don't want to go another time (it would look like cheating).
If you let a message then add
"from JFM in France; Thank you for your defence of freedom, Mr President"
Just put a note in Rantburg before you do it to warn other Rantburgers you carried my message.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would have to seek waiver from the International Monetary Fund on the targeted expenditure cut under the 23-month standby bailout loaning programme for getting its second tranche through upcoming review next month.
According to well-placed sources, the perpetuation of inflationary pressures despite increase of base interest rate by the central bank to 15 per cent have not allowed the government to cut the current expenditures that keep on rather inflating. So much so that certain Ministries and their Attached Departments are, reportedly, facing blockages of salaries due to cash starvation at the national exchequer.
The sources told TheNation that the extraordinary security situation, both internal and external, had also increased pressures on the overall current expenditures that the government was supposed to cut under the agreement with the IMF. Initially, the internal security was a problem, while unusual movement of the armed forces to stay alert on both western and eastern borders has incurred a lot of additional cost that was never budgeted in the fiscal policy of 2008-09, the sources said.
Therefore, the sources said, the government would explain to the IMF this extraordinary situation arising out of the tensions which escalated with India, during the FundÂ’s mission here to review basically the second quarter of the current financial year ending December 31, 2008.
Although the real impact of these extra-pressures on the current expenditures would be covered in the second review of the ongoing quarter after it ends on March 31, 2009, the upcoming review mission would certainly note the directions of the economy, the sources said. Therefore, they need to be explained that the current expenditures were beyond the governmentÂ’s control to be curtailed within the stipulated period in the given security scenario, the sources added.
Keeping in view the criticality of the contingency defence and security needs, the sources hoped that IMF might not ask for a formal request for waiver on the targeted expenditure cut. Secondly, the sources feared that wrath of expenditure cut might be coming down to the development side that the government had already agreed with the IMF to reprioritize.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/23/2009 18:18 ||
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#1
"Ummmmmm no. Next!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2009 19:16 Comments ||
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Responding to ISPR spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas' statement that the sharia imposed by the Taliban is terrorism, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman said Abbas was not a mufti to have made such a comment and his statement was the 'traditional language of the army'. Talking to a private TV channel, Fazl said statements such as that made by the ISPR spokesman had always worsened the situation. Criticising Abbas, he said the spokesman should have been asked why the army was being beaten by 500 men despite the presence of 50,000 troops in the Tribal Areas. Fazl said the Pakistani authorities were not serious in resolving the FATA issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The peace deal signed with the Taliban in Swat has provided them an opportunity to re-emerge in the area, and the sharia imposed by them is terrorism, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Athar Abbas said on Thursday. Talking to a private TV channel, Abbas said the Taliban had regrouped in Swat as the security forces had changed their strategy after the peace deal. He said the government's writ was intact in the areas where security forces were present. He said the Taliban had spread so much terror that the locals were ready to cooperate with the security forces to get rid of them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I tell you: this is Punjabis v Pashtun/Waziris. Civil war is inevitable. The Punjabis would destroy them if they threatened the water sources.
Posted by: Bob Spise6110 ||
01/23/2009 14:46 Comments ||
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President Asif Ali Zardari Thursday said use of force is the last option in the war against terrorism. Addressing a high level meeting here, the President said the social and economic structures of Pukhtunkhwa and tribal societies are being strenghtehned. He said the needs and requirements of the law enforcement agencies will be fulfilled in NWFP. According to sources, the President has given a green signal to the renaming of NWFP as Pukhtunkhwa, saying the Constitutional requirements in this regard will be met. President Zardari said struggle is being made to strengthen the federation. He said the government will engage in dialogue only with those who do not challenge the writ of the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Federal Interior Adviser Rehman Malik has asked the militants to lay down their arms or face a full-scale operation. Talking to reporters here on Thursday, he said that militants should not force the government to launch a massive offensive against them. Malik told that Frontier Corps personnel in an operation arrested seven local and foreign operatives of Al-Qaeda. "We have successfully restored peace in important areas of FATA, he said, adding that militants' attacks in Swat still remain a serious worry for the government and the people. Interior adviser informed that government is finalizing a strategy to deal with the situation in Swat on the directive of Prime Minister. He further said that police should improve its public perception in real term
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistani officials have demanded that the US and NATO halt drone attacks on the country's troubled tribal belt near the Afghan border.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer met with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad on Thursday to discusse security along the Pak-Afghan border, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani separately voiced their protest at US strikes inside the Pakistani territories, warning the NATO chief that such incidents could lead to 'tribesmen backlash'.
President Zardari had previously called for an end to the attacks. The Pakistani has voiced readiness to defend the country's sovereignty even if it entails clashing with US and NATO forces along the Pak-Afghan border.
The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan became safe havens for militants after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 toppled the Taliban regime, sending insurgents across the border.
The Pentagon has used this as a pretext to launch drone attacks on Pakistan's tribal regions -- a move that has increased tension between Islamabad and Washington and has triggered anti-American sentiments among the Pakistani people.
Over 500 people - suspected militants as well as camp followers civilians - have been killed in such attacks.
Pakistan says that the drone attacks trigger public anger, which undermines the country's counter-terrorism efforts.
While promising to respect Pakistan's sovereignty de Hoop Scheffer said NATO forces would maintain the right to retaliate if fired upon from the Pakistani side of the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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For many in the MSM, this will be America's truly unmentionable legacy at Abu Ghraib.
Workers and heavy machinery dug at the remains of Muhmood Arahe's building. The structure, now a pile of rubble along Abu Ghraib's main thoroughfare, had been a home to tenants and a source of income for the Iraqi landlord and his 20 brothers before it was destroyed by a series of bombings two years ago. It is now only a grim landmark, one of the last reminders of the catastrophic violence that has plagued downtown Abu Ghraib.
But piece by piece, the Iraqi government, with help from the U.S. military, has been working to clear the tons of war debris from the city center -- and give Muhmood the hope of once again taking up business as a landlord on the property. "The government is going to compensate us and we are going to set up shops," said Muhmood, who has filed a claim for compensation money in Iraqi court.
The story of this property reflects the changes taking place in Abu Ghraib, a district where combat and house bombings raged through last fall and the stigma of the Abu Ghraib detention facility -- where U.S. troops were accused of abusing Iraqi detainees -- lingers. In some ways, it reflects the changes taking place throughout Iraq. Now, the city center hums with construction and commerce. A wave of redevelopment efforts by the Iraqi government, the U.S. and nongovernmental organizations swept the area in recent months as fighting and bombings dropped off.
The U.S. alone is plowing $8.2 million into about 135 projects. The money is being used to provide a new city marketplace, water, school upgrades, electricity service, sewage systems, trash pickup and other improvements to Abu Ghraib, according to the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division. Abu Ghraib Hospital has been rebuilt and furnished with new equipment. A second story will be added, expanding inpatient facilities by 100 beds, officials say.
The "nonlethal" surge follows security improvements that began in October as members of the Sunni Awakening were transferred into the Iraqi security forces, bolstering the power of the local Iraqi police and army, according to Lt. Col. Mario Diaz, commander of the battalion. The battalion hopes the widespread reconstruction work will help the district begin planning for a more prosperous future. The effort is transforming the city center, a long strip of more than 1,000 shops and vendor stalls where much of the city buys and sells goods.
The Iraqi government has headed the effort to "put a new face on the city center" and the U.S. has contributed advice and money, including the funding for the demolition of Muhmood's building, said Maj. Benjamin Eiser, who is overseeing the battalion's reconstruction effort there. The building was taken over by the Iraqi army during the insurgency. In 2006, it was damaged by a massive vehicle bomb and the following year was collapsed by multiple insurgent rocket attacks.
From the property, the changes along the main street in Abu Ghraib are visible. New awnings hang over shops; a gravel parking lot is filled with vehicles; freshly poured curbs are lined up and waiting to be set along a planned sidewalk. Crowds filled the streets one Saturday as butchers cut goat meat, bakers handed out hot bags of flatbread and banana vendors called out to passersby. "The one thing that was left, the one eyesore, was this building," Eiser said. "It is like the last piece of old Abu Ghraib. Al-Qaida no longer has its mark on the city center."
Bomb and rocket attacks against U.S. bases are still common in Abu Ghraib but violence has "dramatically decreased," he said. Six months ago, the highway through the city was blocked off to traffic -- a measure to cut the number of vehicle bombings -- and residents were forced to walk about a mile to the central market area, Eiser said. Residents can now pull off the highway and park vehicles in a gravel lot in front of the shopping district, he said. "Every day, you will see a new shop open," said Eiser, who visited a newly opened currency exchange on Saturday. Meanwhile, a new market area -- with a sewer, ventilation, electricity and internal security -- is being constructed and planned for completion in about two months, according to Eiser. "Five months ago, this was all trash and rubble," he said.
Ryan C. Crocker, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Iraq, warned Thursday that a precipitous withdrawal of American troops runs "some very serious risks," from the resurgence of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq to a collapse of faith in a nascent Iraqi government that still faces what he called "enormous challenges."
Whoa. That's never occurred to anybody, has it?
He'll be relieved shortly so his opinion won't matter ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Jesus. Just read the comments section on the WaPo story if you really want to get depressed about our country's future. These scumbags are absolutely wetting their pants over the possibility (probability?) that the Obamessiah will finally give them the helicopters-on-the-embassy-roof moment they've been craving for the past six years.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
01/23/2009 9:06 Comments ||
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#3
ION PRAVDA > GEORGIA TIMES [Itar-Tass] - RICHARD LUGAR: US IS LOSING ITS STRATEGIC POSITION AND INFLUENCE IN CAUCASUS AND EUROPE [ + CENTRAL ASIA].
In order its recover, LUGAR > the USA must not only DE-MILITARIZE, BUT ALSO MUST LEARN TO STOP REACTING VEE MILPOL RETALIATION TO "EVENTS".
Read, Dubya = USA should've done little or nothing after 9-11???
#4
That such a possibility even arises turns every one of our best in uniform into chumps, dishonors the fallen in the most odious fashion, and should cause any thoughtful person to wonder whether they live in a serious and honorable society at all.
Although the Israeli air force bombed the Phildelphi corridor along the border thousands of times during the course of the Cast Lead campaign, smugglers acknowledge that some tunnels running under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip have remained in use, and were in operation even during the fighting. Contrary to media reports, the Israeli air force apparently did not use more powerful bunker-busting bombs to destroy the tunnels, rather than regular explosives. Tunnels lined with wood reinforcement have been especially resistant to air force bombing raids.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Palestinian civilians have accused Hamas of forcing them to stay in homes from which gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers during the recent hostilities in Gaza, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.
More than 1,250 Palestinians were reportedly killed during Israel's offensive against Hamas in the coastal territory. Israel has been harshly criticized for the large number of civilians among the Palestinian dead, of whom they numbered more than half according Gaza officials.
But the Italian paper also quoted a doctor at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital as disputing the number of Palestinians said to have been killed in the campaign. "It's possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas - who sent them to their deaths," he said.
13 Israelis were also killed during the 3-week operation, which was aimed at halting rocket fire on southern Israel and destroying Hamas' infrastructure.
The Gaza doctor was further quoted as saying: "Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 - of whom 45 were militants."
He was referring to the Israel Defense Forces battle with Palestinian militants in the West Bank town that took place during Operation Defensive Shield at the height of the second intifada.
The IDF Gaza Division Commander on Thursday, meanwhile, branded Hamas' use of women and children during the offensive in Gaza as "monstrous" and "inhumane."
Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said the civilians were sent by Hamas to transfer weapons to gunmen during the offensive. He also accused the Islamist militant group of booby-trapping many of the civilians' homes. "Entire families in Gaza lived on top of a barrel of explosives for months without knowing," Eisenberg said.
The officer asserted that despite international calls for investigations into alleged war crimes, the Israel Defense Forces soldiers adhered to moral principles while fighting in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Hamas says it has arrested dozens of people spying for Israel in the 23 days Tel Aviv carried out military operations against Gaza.
"The internal security service was instructed to track collaborators and hit them hard," the democratically-elected Palestinian government's Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab al-Ghsain said on Wednesday.
"They arrested dozens of collaborators who attempted to strike the resistance by giving information to the occupiers [Israel] about the fighters," he said.
In the wake of its onslaught against Gaza, Israel said that one of the main objectives of Operation Lead Cast was to topple Hamas.
Speculations were then high that Tel Aviv planned to make Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the rival faction, the ruler of the Gaza Strip.
A statement issued by Fatah in Gaza claimed that Hamas had carried out several attacks against Fatah members after Hamas and Israel announced their separate ceasefires.
"Shooting at the feet of Fatah members, brutal crimes of execution and throwing the bodies in the rubble of destruction" were carried out by Hamas, said the statement.
The Hamas spokesman, however, rejected the claims and called them "familiar lies and false allegations from Fatah and the forces of sedition".
"It is also an attempt to steal the light of victory and cover up how they bet on the enemy and their disappointment that the enemy could do nothing to return them (to power)," said Ghsain.
During the early stages of the recent war on Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Fatah had formed a cell in Gaza to collect information on secret Hamas locations and pass it on to Israel. Barhoum added that the cell was under the leadership of senior Abbas adviser Tayeb Abdul-Rahim.
Hamas says several of its senior officials, including late Hamas interior minister Saeed Siyam, were killed by Israeli forces using intelligence obtained by the spies it claims to have taken into custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Israel assured the European Union on Wednesday it would allow urgent supplies into the Gaza Strip even as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened new strikes against Hamas tunnels.
The EU said it hoped more humanitarian aid could get through to Gaza Strip after Israel assured the bloc it would fully cooperate on allowing urgent supplies through.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said after talks with EU officials in Brussels that crossings into Gaza were open for such humanitarian purposes and Israel was ready to cooperate "as far as needed" to ensure vital aid got through. "I am happy to hear what the minister said," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after talks late on Wednesday. "I hope very much that will be reality tomorrow and that the lorries that are necessary to go in ... can enter into Gaza."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel lost this war, just like it did Lebanon in 2006, because it did not set its strategic goals and did not finish the job with destroying Hamas.
Hamas will win the war of attrition if the situation stays the same. And...there are NO consequences for Iran to back these groups with resources, training, and cannon fodder.
Big O, are you going to negotiate with these a$$holes? Give them thelegitimacy that GWB never did.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2009 1:57 Comments ||
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#2
There will be no more Qasams for a very long time, AP---just as there no more Katiushas from Lebanon. As to the victory, there is no victory short of complete elimination of Islam.
Knew it before I even checked. Another scoop for Press TV Iran!
There is more than enough evidence that Israel committed war crimes in its three week-long offensive into Gaza, says a UN investigator. UN special rapporteur Richard Falk called for an independent inquiry into Israel's violation of international humanitarian law.
Falk said Israel's actions against the besieged Gazans are reminiscent of "the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto" which included the starvation and murder of Polish Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two. "There could have been temporary provision at least made for children, disabled, sick civilians to leave, even if where they left to was southern Israel," said the Jewish American academic on Thursday.
Falk, who was denied entry to Israel in December, said Gazans may have been mentally scarred for life because Israel made no effort to allow civilians to escape.
Israeli officials moved closer to being prosecuted for war crimes after Norwegian medics in Gaza found traces of depleted uranium on Gaza victims, suggesting that Israel used the illegal weapons in its war on the impoverished territory, which houses some 1.5 million Palestinians. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there is a "high risk of developing cancer from exposure to radiation emitted by ... depleted uranium weapons. This risk is assumed to be proportional to the dose received."
The Geneva Convention has classified depleted uranium ammunitions as 'illegal weapons of mass destruction' due to their high radioactivity and toxicity.
Israel faces potential war crimes charges over its excessive use of other controversial weapons on the densely-populated coastal strip.
Human rights group Amnesty International has also touched on the issue, saying that Tel Aviv used white phosphorus munitions "indiscriminately and illegally" in overcrowded areas of Gaza. "The repeated use [of White Phosphorus] in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime," said Donatella Rovera of the Amnesty International.
White phosphorus is a high-incendiary substance that bursts into all-consuming flames that cannot be extinguished with water, burning flesh to the bone and often leading to death.
Israel launched its Operation Cast Lead on December 27 to allegedly defend its territories from Hamas rockets, which were fired in retaliation for Israel's violation of a ceasefire that had then been in place.
Falk, dismissed Israel's argument that the assault was for self-defense, saying that "the UN charter, and international law, does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defense."
What a maroon.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If the Warsaw Ghetto had had bombs, missiles, grenades, and rifles, there might well have been an entirely different outcome.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/23/2009 0:48 Comments ||
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#2
This meme has been floating around ever since the Fence went up. As for the UN rapporteur, I don't doubt he merits every bit of respect I hold for him and his office.
#3
The death of ALL UN personnel in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, would go a long way to eliminating the "misery" of the "palestinian refugees". Don't just make them go "home", but shoot them. They are aiders and abettors of the enemies of freedom and common sense.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2009 12:33 Comments ||
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An Israeli officer says Tel Aviv will return to Gaza once more within a year to stage more attacks against the blockaded strip. "We will strike again, not tomorrow but in a year," said a lieutenant colonel who spoke under the pseudonym 'Amos', AFP reported.
Israeli forces "were very close to" the whereabouts of the Hamas leadership, he added in reference to the latest wave of Israeli operations in the strip, which began on December 27. "Another two or three days, (it would have been) a different story. The suffocation effect would have been much more effective," continued the army reserve officer.
Israel ended its major operations in Gaza and announced a unilateral ceasefire after having killed 1,330 Palestinians and wounding 5,450 others. The majority of the victims were civilians.
The officer claimed that the Israeli raids were originally planned to last "for two years" but were suspended "because (the government) got the shakes."
The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza has been largely attributed to the resistance shown by Hamas. Some analysts, however, say the Israeli side retreated from the Palestinian territory to protect its relations with world nations.
Some observers even say that Tel Aviv wanted to avoid burdening the incoming US administration with the conflict given President Barack Obama's promise to prioritize the matter. "It's a shame that Israeli leadership is always ... America," the serviceman concluded, suggesting that it is the United States that dictates Israeli policies.
Hamas fighters have also promised to rearm amid reports of recurrent Israeli sting attacks in breach of the temporary Gaza ceasefire.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
and the conversation will go something like....It's Rahm again on the STU. He's asking to speak to speak to Tzipi or Bebe. He's demanding we postpone the attack for another 30 days. He's threatening to cut off aid and mil-to-mil again. This shi* is getting old!
A senior Hamas official has dismissed any reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group.
His remark yesterday followed claims by the fighters that they emerged victorious after the group survived a relentless three-week offensive by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
Sami Khater, a member of the fighter group's Damascus-based branch, says Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas and not to rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas whose faction rules the West Bank.
Khater says Abbas and his Palestinian National Authority cannot be trusted. Khater says a Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo this weekend for talks with Egyptian mediators on ways to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire in place since last Sunday.
A top aide of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas yesterday of "obstructing" efforts to reconcile the warring Palestinian political factions, by raising "new conditions."
Yasser Abed Rabbo said Abbas' secular Fatah movement was willing to form a national unity government with Hamas.
But the radical Islamist movement was raising new conditions because it was not interested in reconciliation and was instead working to consolidate its hold over the Gaza Strip, he said.
He accused Hamas of killing, arresting and torturing Fatah fighters in Gaza. "Hamas has turned its guns from the enemy [Israel] to Fatah after the withdrawal of the occupiers" from Gaza, he said, charging that Hamas had turned hospitals and mosques into detention and interrogation centres for Fatah members after Israel has destroyed all the security buildings in the strip during its 22-day offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sami Khater, a member of the fighter group's Damascus-based branch, says Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas
Cha-ching!
Did ya take a lotta incoming up in Damascus, Sami?Any suffering from the PTSD?
Hamas called Thursday for reconciliation with supporters of rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but insisted on pursuing resistance against Israel.
The condition appeared to preclude any agreement with Abbas, who seeks a peace deal with Israel and whose moderate Fatah faction was not among the groups that backed the statement by eight Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions including Hamas.
Earlier on Thursday, a senior Hamas official dismissed any reconciliation talks with rival Fatah group.
Sami Khater, a member of the militant group's Damascus-based branch, said Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas and not to rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas whose faction rules the West Bank.
Khater said Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cannot be trusted.
His remarks followed claims by the militants that they emerged victorious after the group survived a relentless three-week offensive by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Khater said a Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo this weekend for talks with Egyptian mediators on ways to consolidate a Gaza cease-fire in place since last Sunday.
Palestinian Authority Social Affairs Minister Mahmoud Habbash earlier on Thursday accused gunmen from the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip of hijacking dozens of trucks carrying aid intended for residents reeling from the three-week-long Israeli assault.
Habbash, of the Fatah-led government based in the West Bank, told Voice of Palestine Radio that the trucks were supposed to come under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Hamas, however, says the supply trucks were dispatched by Arab donors specifically for the Hamas administration in the Strip, and to no other group, to distribute to the people of Gaza.
As a result, on arrival in the Strip the trucks were directed to Hamas warehouses, officials from the Islamist movement said, adding that they have papers from the donor countries showing that the supplies were sent to the Hamas administration.
UN officials have also said that none of its supply and aid trucks have been hijacked or attacked by any armed group inside Gaza.
Habbash further accused Hamas gunmen of executing members of its rival, President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah group, during and after the Israeli assault, which began on December 27.
Aid officials in Jerusalem said earlier this week that least 10 trucks with humanitarian aid sent to the Gaza Strip by the Jordanian Red Crescent Society were confiscated by Hamas police shortly after the trucks entered the territory on Thursday evening.
Eight trucks had food products and another two had medicines. They were reportedly taken to Hamas-run ministries.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Eight trucks had food products and another two had medicines. They were reportedly taken to Hamas-run ministries.
For "the people", I'm sure.
I wonder what their markup is?
#2
Israel needs to buy another 100 armored D-9s from the United States before Obambi cuts them off completely. The next time they go into Gaza, the dozers need to lock wheel hubs and move from east to west in concert, pushing everything in their path into the Mediterranean. That's the only thing that will put a stop to Hamass.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2009 12:48 Comments ||
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#3
Really OP?, How about lining up a 1000 155mm cannon (both cannon & ammo courtesy of IMI) and giving 10 shells per hour per barrel for 24 hours?
#5
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PRINCE TURKIC AL-FAISAL WARNS THAT MIDDLE EAST RESTRAINT TO LAUNCH VIOLENT JIHAD AGZ ISRAEL IS GETTING HARDER TO MAINTAIN/CONTROL; + BAITULLAH MAHSUD [TTP Group] WARNS OF [Regional, World-Wide] SUICIDE ATTACKS AGZ ISRAEL [Gaza].
The European Union has reportedly decided to remove the anti-Iran Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from its terror blacklist.
"The deal has been done. [MKO] will be delisted," an EU diplomat said on conditions of anonymity on Thursday.
He, however, asserted that the consensus must win final approval from EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday in order to become fully operational.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization, which identifies itself as a Marxist-Islamist guerilla army, was founded in Iran in the 1960s but was exiled some twenty years later for carrying out numerous acts of terrorism inside the country.
The terrorist group is especially notorious for the help it extended to former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988).
The group masterminded a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed, including then Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report condemns the MKO for running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations. According to report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world to acknowledge the dissidents as those of a legitimate opposition group.
The group has a 40-year history of involvement in terrorist activities. It assassinated several Americans in Iran in the 1970s and criticized the founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for releasing the American diplomats in 1981, arguing instead that the hostages of the embassy takeover should have been executed.
The United States and Canada have refused to drop the MKO from their lists of terrorist organizations.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
The departure of the last Ethiopian tanks from Somalia's capital is ushering in a new phase of conflict in a nation known for clan warfare: a battle for power among militias flying Islamist banners.
Pakistani officials have demanded that the US and NATO halt drone attacks on the country's troubled tribal belt near the Afghan border. 
Hamas called Thursday for reconciliation with supporters of rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but insisted on pursuing resistance against Israel. 
