It was supposed to be a secret reunion between a father and daughter in the most volatile of places.
Secret or not, the opportunity was seized by the pair eagerly.
Chief Warrant Officer-3 Charles Brady, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot in the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and his daughter, Heather, reunited when Heather made a stop Friday as part of a Morale, Welfare and Recreation Hooters tour.
Brady said his daughter was chosen as one of six Hooters girls out of more than 17,000 for the visit, but was originally not told she would be part of the tour.
"The Pentagon authorized five girls to come to Iraq so I called Heather and she said she had no idea there was going to be a Hooters tour to Iraq," Charles said. "(Hooters Inc.) came back and told me the Pentagon wouldn't authorize another person."
The elder Brady said they knew all along that Heather was going to be part of the tour, but they wanted to keep it a surprise.
"They told me at the last minute and it was a real eye-opener," Charles said. "The reason I found out was because they sent an e-mail to all the soldiers in Iraq and in the attached flier there was a picture of her."
"I called Heather up at home and asked her what was going on," Brady said. "I asked her, 'Are you coming out here?' and she broke down and said she was."
Upon greeting his daughter in Baghdad, Charles said it was unusual to see her in his environment.
"Seeing her in Iraq in a combat zone was above and beyond," he said. "I'm extremely proud of her."
Heather said having the chance to perform in Iraq and meet different soldiers has been a life-changing event for her.
"It's great being here seeing the soldiers and what they actually do things we don't get to see back home," Heather said. "It's not like you see on the news at all, so being here in person is amazing."
But seeing her dad was the icing on the cake.
"I never thought I'd see him in Iraq in a million years. I can't get over it," Heather said. "It's been awesome."
While Heather has seen her father flying all her life, seeing where he puts his training into practice gives her visit added meaning.
"I've never really gotten to see what he does here, so seeing him in action is the coolest thing," Heather said. "It's been absolutely the most amazing experience of my life."
Big slurpy 'analysis' piece from WaPo, too long to post here, that describes the 'decision' making process used to develop the new deployment of troops to Afghanistan.
The article claims that Joe Biden has 'sharp' insights (only when he's playing with a knife), that Bambi wanted 'strategy' to drive the process (political, not strategic or military), and that the Bush administration never, ever did anything like this (it's WaPo).
I'm certain the Bush administration never, ever did do anything like this. That's because Mr. Bush knows how and when to make a decision... and understands that sausage is best made in the back room, where it doesn't go rancid due to exposure to too much fresh air and sunshine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2009 13:57 ||
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#1
Anyone who thinks a surge will work in Afghanistan doesn't understand why it worked in Iraq.
Combat stress control unit deployed from Fort Hood
FORT HOOD - An army reserve unit dealing with grief after losing three of their own in the deadly Fort Hood massacre has been deployed to Afghanistan. The combat stress control unit arrived on post November 4th, just a day before the attack by alleged gunman Major Nidal Hasan.
News Channel 25 spoke to two of the Madison, Wisconsin based soldiers as they prepared for deployment. They told us they are now better prepared for their mission, and are ready to honor their fallen soldiers.
"I think they decided the same day they were more dedicated than ever in honor of the soldiers that we lost and have stood firm in that commitment," said Major Laura Suttinger.
Accused shooter Major Nidal Hasan was also part of that same 467th medical detachment but would not have deployed Thursday night. It is my understanding, while not confirmed, that some of the wounded deployed along with their brothers and sisters. Too bad so little was mentioned in the media.
#1
First, the Taliban fought with Kalashnikovs and RPGs. Then they came with jury-rigged explosives. Now, the militants have brought the most fearsome weapon of all: buns of steel.
#2
We should set booby traps on some of this stuff before we leave it there for them. Am I the only one that thinks of this? I mean do we want to win or don't we? WTF!
Posted by: Yo Adrian ||
12/05/2009 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
And if you're worried about some kid finding it first, just consider it one less potential jihadi in the world
Posted by: Yo Adrian ||
12/05/2009 12:53 Comments ||
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#4
There 'ya go. Perhaps Hasbro could lend a hand here.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Twenty-five NATO allies promised on Friday to send around 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan, backing President Barack Obama's new war strategy and reinforcing efforts to defeat the Taliban.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid tribute to allies and partners in Afghanistan, welcoming their "significant commitment" of extra troops to fight the insurgency.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the U.S. administration was "extremely pleased" after NATO nations pledged more troops to back a new drive against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
While significant, the extra commitment falls short of the 10,000 troops Pentagon officials had originally hoped for and goes only part of the way towards accelerating the training of Afghan forces to take over security responsibility.
After a meeting with NATO foreign ministers, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he had received confirmed pledges for the extra troops, with the probability of more countries contributing to the total in the next few months.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK > TOP ADVISOR [Gen. James Jones]: US NOT LEAVING AFGHANISTAN IN 2011.
and
HILLARY: US IS CUTTING AND RUNNING/GETTING OUT FROM AFGHANISTAN.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese officials who deny and deceive the world about crimes committed in Sudan's western Darfur region might face criminal charges, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday.
In March, the Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on suspicion of war crimes such as orchestrating mass killings and deportations in Darfur, a remote region of Sudan roughly the size of France.
"(Bashir) used the state apparatus not only to commit massive crimes but also to dissimulate them, and therefore facilitate their continuation," ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the U.N. Security Council.
"My office is considering the criminal responsibility of Sudanese officials who actively deny and dissimulate crimes," he said, adding that the crimes in Darfur "are continuing."
Khartoum denies that Bashir or any other Sudanese government or military official committed war crimes in Darfur. It has refused to cooperate with the court.
The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels revolted after accusing Khartoum of neglecting Darfur. A government-led counter-insurgency campaign drove more than 2 million from their homes and the United Nations says as many as 300,000 people died, but Khartoum rejects that figure.
Moreno-Ocampo said Sudanese officials who deny that crimes have been committed do not enjoy any immunity from the court.
"Since Nuremberg, due obedience is no longer a legal excuse for the commission of crimes," he said.
The prosecutor was referring to the World War II tribunals in Germany which tried Nazis accused of crimes against humanity and other war crimes. Many Nazis defended themselves by saying they were following orders.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Former United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed ElBaradei said he would consider running for Egypt's presidency but only if the election process were democratic, in a statement published on Friday.
ElBaradei, who ended his 12-year stint as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday last week, said he had been closely following calls for him to stand, the Egyptian independent daily al-Dostour reported.
But the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner conditioned the move on "guarantees of fairness," and for the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections to "follow the process in democratic countries."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This guy has done such a fine job with the IAEA that now he want to do the same to Egypt! /s
#2
Keep mulling long enough and loudly enough and Husni well send you to discuss the subject with Gamal & Anwar. (Could it be that the moron lived among EU-UN elites long enough to forget how his country works?)
#3
(Could it be that the moron lived among EU-UN elites long enough to forget how his country works?)
Oh, far from it. He has a big enough reputation that nothing is going to happen to him, other than for Husni to show up with a bag of cash to convince him to go away.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/05/2009 6:19 Comments ||
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#4
Hey, the fellow has a dynamit Nobel Prize, so he is eminently qualified. But he better watch his six when running for prez.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/05/2009 11:57 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- Around 76 people were reported to have been killed and 60 others hospitalized in a nightclub blast that hit Russia's Urals city of Perm late on Friday, local news agencies reported.
A firecracker was presumably ignited without permission and caused an explosion at 23:15 Moscow time (2015 GMT) at the club, where a banquet with 200 people was in progress.
The explosion had been followed by a fire. The blaze has already been brought under control, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a source from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.
An investigation was underway.
Deaths reported up to 101, the place was a firetrap with plastic ceiling tiles... and had been reported repeatedly for safety violations, according to NPR this morning. No link, I'm going by Mr. Wife's report of what he heard on the radio.
-- tw at 11:32 Eastern Time
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A firecracker was presumably ignited without permission and caused an explosion
The existence of a new secret plane photographed this week has been confirmed by the United States Air Force. The secret aircraft now has an official denomination: The RQ-170 Sentinel, a flying wing developed by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works.
The RQ-170 is a stealthy unmanned aircraft designed to "provide reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed combat forces." It's flown by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, under the Air Combat Command's 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
The aircraft has a 65-foot wingspan, with a fat body and a blended wing design. It's unarmed, andaccording to David A. Fulghum at Aresits light color is unusual for high altitude UAV.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/05/2009 13:59 ||
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#4
Generally there are 2-3 black programs running for every one that is admitted to. That has been true for the entirety of the stealth aircraft development period.
#5
Wouldn't be surprised to find some internal weapons bays on that RQ. Something to take over the "wild Weasel" mission? There is no point in making it stealthy if there is no threat.
ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: Pakistan opposes expanded US drone attacks in its tribal areas, as well as any strikes on Balochistan, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
The White House has authorised the expansion of the CIAs drone programme in Pakistan to complement President Barack Obamas plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed officials.
It said that for the first time, US officials are talking to Islamabad about the possibility of hitting Balochistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said there were limits to Pakistani cooperation, and the drone attacks were counter-productive.
This has never been part of our discussions. There are clear red-lines as far as were concerned, he said when asked if there were any talks between Washington and Islamabad on expansion of drone attacks to Balochistan.
We have clearly conveyed our red-lines to them.
Drone attacks have created fierce anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. In October, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston said drone usage could be breaking international laws.The onus is really on the United States government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions arent in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons, he added.Agencies
Posted by: john frum ||
12/05/2009 11:28 ||
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#1
Yeah, when the money stops.
Posted by: ed ||
12/05/2009 11:30 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Pakistan opposes expanded US drone attacks against militants on its tribal areas, as well as any strikes on Baluchistan, where Washington believes Afghan Taliban leaders are hiding, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
The White House has authorised the expansion of the CIA's drone programme in Pakistan to complement President Barack Obama's plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed officials.
It said that for the first time, US officials are talking with Islamabad about the possibility of hitting Baluchistan, where Pakistan is already facing a low-level insurgency from Baluch rebels seeking provincial autonomy.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said there were limits to Pakistani cooperation, and the drone attacks were counterproductive.
'This has never been part of our discussions. There are clear red-lines as far as we're concerned,' he said when asked if there were any talks between Washington and Islamabad on expansion of drone attacks to Baluchistan.
'We have clearly conveyed our red-lines to them.'
In outlining his Afghanistan strategy in a speech on Tuesday, Obama made a vague plea to Pakistan to fight the 'cancer' of extremism and said the United States would not tolerate Pakistan allowing its territory to be a safe haven for militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama made a vague plea
Figgers, he can't even BEG correctly.
Did it include a bow?
[Al Arabiya Latest] The White House has authorized the CIA to expand the use of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan to track down and strike suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members, the New York Times reported Friday.
The Times, citing unnamed sources, said that authorization to expand CIA drone usage in Pakistan's tribal areas came this week, coinciding with President Barack Obama's announcement Tuesday of sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Washington is also talking with Pakistani officials about using the drones to strike in Baluchistan, a vast region outside of the tribal areas that borders Afghanistan and Iran, where Afghan Taliban leaders are reportedly hiding, the Times reported.
Analysts, intelligence agents and foreign officials have widely reported that Taliban fighters use Baluchistan as a base, crossing over the border into Afghanistan to and from the Taliban's spiritual capital of Kandahar.
The northwest Pakistan tribal region has seen a surge in the U.S. strikes, which fan anti-Americanism in the nuclear-armed Muslim country, since Obama took office.
The U.S. military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks which U.S. officials say have killed a number of top-level militants but Islamabad publicly opposes as a violation of its sovereignty.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned on Thursday that Al Qaida would try to provoke a war between India and Pakistan with the aim to destabilising Pakistan and gaining access to its nuclear arsenal.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed the US defence chief, saying that Al Qaida and like-minded terrorist groups were determined to seek nuclear weapons.
The two senior officials told a hearing on President Obama's new Afghan policy at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that they had taken such threats very seriously.
Secretary Gates said that Al Qaida was also supporting Lashkar-i-Taiba, the group responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
'Al Qaida is providing them with targeting information and helping them in their plotting in India -- clearly with the idea of provoking a conflict between India and Pakistan that would destabilise Pakistan,' he said.
'And whether or not the terrorists are home-grown, when we trace their roots, they almost all end up back in this border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan, whether they're from the United States or Somalia or the United Kingdom or elsewhere,' he added.
Senator Richard Lugar, a ranking Republican on the panel, warned that 'the future direction of governance in Pakistan will have consequences for non-proliferation efforts, global economic stability, our relationships with India and China.'
Describing Pakistan-India relationship as critical in the regional security context, Chairman US Joint Chiefs Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said stability on their border would be a great step forward in stabilising the region.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the US military chief said the US regional strategy included all countries of the region.
He said that while President Obama's strategy focussed greatly on Afghanistan and Pakistan, it covered the entire South Asian region 'and India is a big player in that region as well.'
The remarks are likely to irk India which does not want to be bracketed with Pakistan and Afghanistan but does want to play a role in resolving the Afghan dispute.
Admiral Mullen noted that the relationship between Pakistan and India would play a critical role in stabilising the region.
'Leadership there must ... step forward, to stabilise that border more than anything else. And I think that would be a great step forward in stabilising the region,' he said.
He was responding to Congressman Donald Payne who wanted to know what was the US doing to make Pakistan feel comfortable on the Indian border so that it could focus more effectively on its western border with Afghanistan.
Appearing at the same hearing, Secretary Clinton replied affirmatively when asked if Washington talked to India about reducing Islamabad's concerns on this issue.
'Yes,' she replied when Congressman Bill Delahunt questioned if the US had 'consulted with the Indians in terms of their relationship with Pakistan in reducing the concern that the Pakistanis have relative to India.'
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ION DAILYTIMES.pk > PETRAEUS: MULLAH OMAR SPENDS MOST OF THE TIME [iff not all His time] IN PAKISTAN???
* SAME > FEAR GRIPS GARRISON CITY AFTER MOSQUE ATTACK + TERRORISTS TARGET PINDI GARRISON
[VARIOUS ON-BASE DEPENDENT COMMUNITY > e.g. Retiree areas, PAKI MWR, shops. etc.].
#2
Translation "India should refrain from responding to Paki attacks".
We all can guess Indian response. Though, personally, I'm curious how Indians will translate the following phrases: "India is not Israel", "worthless, brainless Beltway trash"; into diplomatese.
#3
The two senior officials told a hearing on President Obama's new Afghan policy at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that they had taken such threats very seriously.
But when a Pakistani-American crashes a state dinner for the Indian Prime Minister, poses for pics with Jewish Rahm Emanuel, the social secretary gets booted a month before and her replacement lists herself as a "guest", not showing up to help clear the list with Secret Service, it is merely a little boo-boo.
Former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency says the Americans along with the Israelis are pursuing a wider military agenda in the troubled south and central Asian region.
On Friday, in an exclusive interview with Press TV Hamid Gul strongly criticized US President Barack Obama's decision to expand CIA operated missile strikes in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.
His comments came after a New York Times report said that Obama had authorized an expansion of drone attacks on Pakistan's troubled tribal regions.
The unpopular strikes were initiated under the George W. Bush administration in 2006.
The use of drones has increased since the Nobel peace laureate Obama became president.
Gul, a critic of US war fomenting policies in the region, doubted that the fugitive Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden or Taliban leaders were hiding in the Pakistani territories that borders Afghanistan.
He also revealed that Al-Qaeda linked militants had left the Pakistan years ago and were finding their new safe havens in Somalia and Yemen.
He also claimed that the Americans along with the Israeli regime were trying to neutralize Pakistani nuclear weapons.
Most experts estimate that Israel has about 200 nuclear warheads posing a great threat to global security.
The former ISI chief concluded that the recent US and NATO decision to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan is meant to counter the ever-increasing Iranian influence in the region.
US President Barack Obama vowed 30,000; British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged 500; and their NATO allies committed 5,000 more troops to end the almost nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, adding that they would start a partial withdrawal in July 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Friday said the terrorists are hell bent on destabilizing the country, and urged the Ulema to come together and declare a Fatwa against these terrorists.
Talking to media following the suicide attack in Rawalpindi Parade Lane mosque, the Interior Minister strongly condemned the incident, saying the terrorists are carrying out their activities on the dictates of enemies.
"Islam never allows acts of terrorism," he asserted, asking, "who are these people who ruthlessly execute suicide attacks, turning mosques into battle fields."
Rehman Malik strongly appealed the Ulema of all schools of thought to issue Fatwa's against the terrorists and observe Jihad against them.
He said the terrorists do not come from outside; they are among us; they do it for money and; they perform the heinous acts terrorism by sneaking into our society.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] US President Barack Obama delayed moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for six more months, The Associated Press reported Friday.
The US Congress ratified a law in October 1995 that states Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel. The act affirms that each country has the right to designate a capital of its choice, and Israel chose Jerusalem.
The act also states that the US must move its embassy to Jerusalem no later than 31 May 1999. However, over the past decade, the decision has been delayed every six months due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in 1967, annexing it and declaring the city the "undivided, eternal capital of Israel," although the move was never recognized by the international community.
Also on Friday, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the US administration may formulate a letter from Obama clarifying its ambiguous policy toward Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the other Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
The supposed letter would come as part of an effort to convince President Mahmoud Abbas not to step down at the end of his term, the newspaper reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The act also states that the US must move its embassy to Jerusalem no later than 31 May 1999. However, over the past decade, the decision has been delayed every six months due to the sensitivity of the issue.
[Ma'an] President Mahmoud Abbas will depart this week on a tour of Arab countries seeking support for efforts to establish a state unliterary, sources said on Friday.
The president's tour is expected to include Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt.
Palestinians have vowed to seek recognition from the UN Security Council for a Palestinian state on the current border with Israel and the territories it occupied in 1967.
Meanwhile, Israeli sources reported on Friday that the US administration and other Arab countries were putting pressure on Abbas not to quit his post at the end of his term.
The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted senior Israeli security sources as saying Abbas should not leave the region "a piece of cake for Hamas." The source was unsure, however, if Abbas would ultimately step down.
According to another security source, "the decision concerning Abbas ... will be taken during the [PLO] Central Committee meeting to be held in the coming 10 days, where 127 member votes would authorize Abbas to continue in his position."
Israel will allow exiled members of the PLO to enter the Palestinian territories in response to the de facto government in Gaza's expected attempts to block the vote by banning Fatah delegates from leaving, the same source said. Over the summer, Hamas authorities prevented delegates from attending a party convention in Bethlehem.
According to Haaretz, the US may formulate a letter from President Barack Obama affirming American support for the establishment of a state on the 1967 borders, and make clear America's ambiguous policy toward Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
Also on Friday, Obama delayed moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for six more months, The Associated Press reported.
The US Congress ratified a law in 1995 that states Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel. The act affirms that each country has the right to designate a capital of its choice, and Israel chose Jerusalem.
The act also states that the US must move its embassy to Jerusalem no later than 31 May 1999. However, over the past decade, the decision has been delayed every six months due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in 1967, annexing it and declaring the city the "undivided, eternal capital of Israel," although the move was never recognized abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > SAUDIS IN A "STATE OF PANIC" AS SHIITE REBELS MOVE NORTH FROM YEMEN; + [earlier] IRAN IS VERY CLOSE TO HAVING A NUCLEAR WARHEAD.
Iff its not diversion vee Israel attacking Iran, the KSA is likely to ask for direct US mil intervention iff thingys get out of hand in Yemen???
#2
We're already in Iraq and Afghanistan, JosephM. I can't see President Obama adding another war, even a little local brushfire of a war, to further tarnish his Nobel peace prize.
ISTANBUL More than eight decades ago, Ertugrul Osman, an heir to the Ottoman throne, was unceremoniously thrown out of Turkey with his family. He lived to be 97, spending most of his years in a modest Manhattan apartment above a bakery. At his Istanbul funeral this September, some of the mourners even kissed the hands of surviving dynasty members, who appeared shocked at the adulation. Mr. Osmans send-off was just the latest manifestation of what sociologists call Ottomania, a harking back to an era marked by conquest and cultural splendor during which sultans ruled an empire stretching from the Balkans to the Indian Ocean and claimed the spiritual leadership of the Muslim world. Ottomania sometimes manifests in ways that would surely have made a real sultan blanch.
During Ramadan, Burger King offered a special sultan menu featuring dishes popular in the Ottoman years. In the television commercial promoting the meal, a turbaned Janissary a member of an elite group of Ottoman soldiers exhorts viewers not to leave any burgers standing.
#3
During Ramadan, Burger King offered a special sultan menu featuring dishes popular in the Ottoman years. In the television commercial promoting the meal, a turbaned Janissary a member of an elite group of Ottoman soldiers exhorts viewers not to leave any burgers standing.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/05/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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#4
Turks nostalgic for the greatness of the Ottoman era, are Turks less eager to kiss Arab ass.
How long, one wonders, until that nostalgia prompts a longing to capture Christian boys to form a new Janissary corps?
Of course, towards the end they quite held the Sultans captive until the latter brought in European gunners and re-established the whole army.
#7
Turks nostalgic for the greatness of the Ottoman era, are Turks less eager to kiss Arab ass.
Nope. Mustafa Kemal loathed the Ottoman era as one where Turks had been giving their lives for the benefit of Islam and Arabs. This is not good at all.
(Xinhua) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared martial law in parts of a volatile southern province as security forces moved to arrest members of a local political clan linked to last week's gruesome massacre of 57civilians.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Saturday announced the proclamation of martial law in Maguindanao province, imposed by Arroyo on Dec. 4.
Civil rights in the province will be suspended and the President is entitled to order troops to crush rebellion attempts to maintain public order and safety.
The drastic measure taken by the government came as security forces arrested and held two prominent members of the Ampatuan clan over the massacre on Nov. 23.
Police took away Andal Ampatuan Sr., a three-term governor of Maguindanao, and his son Zaldy Ampatuan, incumbent governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, from the family mansions in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak before dawn Saturday.
Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town of Maguindanao, was tagged as the prime suspect in the massacre. He has been arrested and charged with 25 counts of murder before court.
Thousands of troops moved in Maguindanao since last week and the authorities have ordered the relief of over a thousand local law enforcement personnel and started to disarm Ampatuan family's private armies.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Four Britons released following a week in Iranian custody after their yacht strayed into Iran's waters returned to Britain on Thursday. A spokeswoman for their sailing team said they flew into London's Heathrow airport from Dubai at around 7 a.m. (0700 GMT).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 00:00 ||
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A senior Iranian cleric has criticized the US for pressuring the UN nuclear watchdog into adopting a resolution against Tehran's nuclear work.
"The recent resolution by the [International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s] Board of Governors on Iran's peaceful nuclear activities and other anti-Iran resolutions by the UN Security Council have all been adopted under US pressure," said Guardian Council Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.
Ayatollah Jannati, who led the Friday prayers in Tehran, warned the White House that its animosity against Iran will not be easily forgotten.
The resolution, which called on Iran to stop construction work at its Frodo enrichment plant and to confirm that there are no unannounced nuclear sites, was passed by the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors in its year-end meeting last week.
While the resolutions passed by the Board of Governors generally focus on technical issues -- as opposed to political ones -- and are usually either passed or rejected unanimously, the Friday resolution failed to win the support of ten member states.
Jannati, meanwhile, warned the enemy against launching a "soft war" on Iran by seeking to isolate the country over its civilian nuclear activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/05/2009 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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese officials who deny and deceive the world about crimes committed in Sudan's western Darfur region might face criminal charges, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Friday.
Former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency says the Americans along with the Israelis are pursuing a wider military agenda in the troubled south and central Asian region. 
[Geo News] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Friday said the terrorists are hell bent on destabilizing the country, and urged the Ulema to come together and declare a Fatwa against these terrorists.
