Afghan President Hamid Karzai took small but public steps on Saturday to signal he was still friends with the United States after a war of words that tested their alliance. "Really. I'm swearin' off. I'll never touch another drop!"
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 09:35 ||
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#1
He sure is a suave looking idiot. But I guess that helps him fit right in. I see he's got the Obama finger-pointing technique in his act now. Is he sticking it in somebody's chest?
Look more closely at the photo, Goober Goobelopolous. That finger is at eye level. Which either means he's poking someone in the eye -- unlikely, with that facial expression -- or he's pointing toward someone across the room (one doesn't raise one's eyebrows at an inanimate object, which can't after all respond). Actually, it's probably someone down the side of one of those long meeting room tables -- you can see the back of President Karzai's chair over his left shoulder.
Apparently President Obama sent him a brief note of some sort intended to calm him. It probably said, "If you don't shut up now, I'll start pulling troops out on Monday." It's the Chicago Way.
#6
Since Sestak declined, perhaps Secretary of Navy Karzai? Obama was willing to toss it to Sestak for the pittance of dropping out against Benedict Arlen. Pretty obviously, it's an important chit position for Teh One
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 20:42 Comments ||
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A rebel group in Ethiopia's southeastern Somali region has agreed to lay down arms after decades of guerrilla war, Communications Minister Bereket Simon announced Friday.
Leaders of the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) had, after talks with the government, "accepted totally to abide by the constitution of Ethiopia and operate legally and abandon the armed struggle," Bereket told a press conference.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 09:26 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his remaining challengers addressed supporters on Friday on the last day of campaigning for elections that have been overshadowed by opposition boycotts.
Bashir wrapped up his appeal for votes in Sudan's first multi-party election since before he seized power in a 1989 coup with a speech in the northern town of Dalgo.
The Sudanese President assured supporters that promises of development will not fade after his electoral campaign, vowing to extend basic services across the whole country, while Sudan southerners claim health and education, not elections are their concerns.
"We will build roads to Geneina (in west Sudan), we have built a road that reaches the border of Ethiopia (in the east)... We are not focused on just one region, we are working for balanced development," Bashir told a rally in Dalgo, north Sudan.
Candidates were making a final push on the last day of campaigning ahead of Sudan's first multi-party election since 1986 which starts on Sunday, when the electorate will vote for president as well as legislative and local representatives.
Landmark elections
The 66-year-old Bashir is counting on the landmark elections to redeem his stature after an arrest warrant was issued against him by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, which has been gripped by a seven-year civil war.
Bashir's resources have allowed him to stage rallies in all corners of the country, eclipsing the efforts of his challengers, two of whom have withdrawn from the race amid accusations that he has diverted state funds to his campaign.
The southern former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement said it was also withdrawing from simultaneous parliamentary and state elections in all northern states except the disputed Blue Nile and south Kordofan districts, after its candidate, Yasser Arman, pulled out of the presidential race.
Former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, who won Sudan's last multi-party election in 1986, has also withdrawn, leaving Hatim al-Sir, of the other main historical northern faction -- the Democratic Unionist Party -- as Bashir's sole remaining challenger of any weight.
Sudanese security forces deployed in strength ahead of Sunday's first day of polling, as did international peacekeepers deployed in both Darfur and the south.
More than 100,000 police officers are to be on duty over the election period, a security official said, as embassies in Khartoum advised nationals to adopt "precautionary measures," like stocking up on food and fuel.
The 66-year-old Bashir is counting on the landmark elections to reassert his authority after the ICC arrest warrant against him, the first ever against a sitting head of state.
His National Congress controls 52 percent of the 450 seats in the outgoing National Assembly under a power-sharing agreement with the southern former rebels and the northern opposition.
Beshir on Thursday promised an exemplary election.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] With southern Sudan stumbling towards independence next year, the Chinese oil workers in Africa's biggest country are bracing for trouble. For southern villagers like Maria Jande, trouble is already here.
Dinka tribesmen briefly abducted Jande, her family and more than a dozen other women and children in a raid last month that destroyed crops and food stores and killed five men from her Mundari tribe.
It's a far cry from the hopes that sprung up in southern Sudan five years ago, when a peace deal with the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in Sudan's north promised to end a generation of conflict.
Elections this month and a secession referendum by January were meant to secure a stable future for the south after 22 years of civil war and the loss of two million lives.
Instead, age-old rivalries between the south's dozens of different tribes are resurfacing.
"If we stay here, we'll die of hunger. There's no food," Jande said, standing beside a pot of rancid goat meat cooking beneath a mango tree in Terekeka, a tiny town 100 km (60 miles) north of southern Sudan's capital, Juba.
As she spoke, her five-year-old twins hid in the folds of her tattered brown skirt, which would be scant protection from the annual rains and malaria-carrying mosquitoes due in force within days.
A host of foreign governments including the United States, Kenya, Uganda and Britain backed Sudan's 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which gave the south autonomy, a 50-50 share of oil revenues from wells within its borders and a route to independence via referendum by January 2011.
Mutual distrust and vitriol between Khartoum and Juba in the run-up to the April 11-13 elections mean the plebiscite is not assured: if it does proceed the south is almost sure to split and declare itself an independent state within six months.
So the deeply impoverished region's outlook is far from clear.
In the worst-case scenario, the hostility between north and south that has riven Sudan since before its independence from Britain in 1956 will boil over once again, rekindling a civil war that would destabilize east Africa and halt oil output from the sub-Saharan region's third-biggest producer.
Or the south could negotiate--as the United States is hoping--a "civil divorce, not a civil war" with Khartoum, securing billions of dollars in oil revenues that it can use to drag itself out of its war-induced time-warp.
Under this view, a flood of foreign investment should ensue, developing hoped-for oil reserves across the region and giving birth to state-of-the-art farms and fisheries fed by the waters of the upper Nile and its tributaries.
In their more fanciful moments, southern ministers even talk of droves of foreign tourists flying in to witness wild animal migrations said to rival those in Kenya's Masai Mara.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Well, first the dinosaurs came. But they got big and fat and died and turned into oil...
[Maghrebia] Terrorism can only be eliminated with more media involvement and further study of the root causes, journalists and professors said Wednesday (April 8th) at an Algiers seminar.
"Algeria has reached a significant stage in curbing terrorism, but hasn't yet reached the most important stage, that is, addressing this phenomenon by examining the causes that led to its appearance," researcher Ahmed Adhimi said at the seminar, which was organised by the Center of Studies of the government-owned newspaper al-Shaab.
Terrorism might return after 15 years or more if not addressed in an in-depth way by extracting the lessons of the past through study and reflection, Adhimi said. Government reports of an increase in arms trafficking by drug smugglers add to such concerns.
Seminar attendees focused on the role of the media and communications in confronting terrorism. They also tackled the origin of the radical discourse that led some Algerians to become suicide bombers and terrorist operatives in the 1990s.
Their official recommendations included ending government dominance of the audio-visual sphere, allowing more private-sector participation in the media, and facilitating the role of intellectuals in leading public opinion.
Some participants, however, said that harnessing the media to combat terrorism would be easier said than done.
"Media outlets in Algeria have found themselves forced to deal with two bitter choices -- either to report security news and face the resulting accusations that they promote extremist groups, or to avoid security news and leave foreign satellite channels to report the news through non-Algerian eyes," journalist Samir Kateb said.
"The role of journalist is to report the facts to the people, even though this is not always welcome in official circles for reasons related to public security," he added.
The media itself came under fire from some who took part in the seminar. Mohamed Semim, a professor who studies Islamist groups, said in a statement to Magharebia that "the media in Algeria has only reported on security information and terrorist operations without trying to understand the causes of religious extremism and understand the nature of the ideology fueling these groups".
"Political Islam in Algeria won't disappear without identifying the causes that led to its appearance and which turned it, in a short period of time, into violence and extremism that killed Algerians," he said. "The drop in ... violence in Algeria doesn't mean that the terrorist threat has vanished. Rather, this period requires intellectual effort in the wake of security gains to try to uproot the extremist ideology ... by opening channels of dialogue".
To follow through on the seminar's recommendations, Dr. Adhimi called for "establishing research centers specialised in studying and treating the causes of terrorism" that would serve as "'floodlights' for the state in uprooting terrorist ideology".
Examining the causes of the appearance and spread of terrorism "is the only way to avoid the re-appearance of this crisis after several years, especially because many of the questions related to this phenomenon haven't been raised up till now," he said.
The mosque is the largest communication channel, said Dr. Adhimi, given that it attracts more than 14 million Algerians. He called for creating a commission "consisting of a group of specialists in psychology, religion and politics to be tasked with writing the mosque discourse in order to completely eliminate the idea of terrorism and violence from Algerians' thinking, raise their awareness and instill a culture of tolerance."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Hope representatives from all the islamic countries are represented. Give each participant a mirror upon registration. Provide instructions for use.
#3
Well, the Arabs starting massacring Berbers (insert original inhabitants for countries other than Algeria) in the 8th century and haven't stopped since.
#4
To be fair, phil_b, the Romans as Christians and as pagans also massacred Berbers for what seemed to be reasonable causes at the time, although the Berbers never agreed. Remember Carthage?
#5
IIRC, Comgresscritter Bob Kerry publicly claimed that 9-11 and the GWOT was part of a 30-year or more international conspiracy, possibly including traeson at the highest offices in the land.
A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who died shortly after marriage was tied down and raped by her husband, her mother said. Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press late Friday that just before her daughter lost consciousness she described how her 23-year-old husband had tied her up and forced himself on her. She bled to death hours later.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 09:15 ||
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#1
I'm sure if they just put on some kind of awareness campaign that the whole problem will be solved in a few weeks.
#2
I have worked alongside three palestinian arabs.
One, from dearborn, MI was delighted that a marriage had been arranged for him, in palestine, with a 12 year old girl.
Posted by: jim murray ||
04/10/2010 14:06 Comments ||
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#4
And just who gave that child into "marriage," Nijma? The tooth fairy?
Or maybe it was YOU, you idiot.
What made you think marrying off a 13-year-old girl to an adult man was a good idea? "Custom" and "tradition" be damned - you clowns need to drag yourselves (or be dragged) out of the 6th Century and into the 21st, you backward disgusting fools. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2010 19:15 Comments ||
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The self-proclaimed interim leader of Kyrgyzstan -- an obscure Central Asian state with a very important U.S. military base -- raised some alarms in Washington when she took a congratulatory phone call from Vladimir Putin and thanked Russia for its significant help' in disposing of the regime of Kurbanbek Bakiyev. Bakiyev, after all, had defied Putin by refusing to close the U.S. Manas Air Base, which is important to the war in Afghanistan, even after Putin summoned him to Moscow last year and essentially paid him to do so.
An unnamed Russian official in Prague fueled the speculation by telling reporters Thursday that Kyrgyzstan should have only one foreign military base -- and that it should be Russian. So, did Moscow somehow sponsor this week's popular rebellion-cum-coup in order to expel the United States from what it regards as its sphere of influence?
Not likely. I've met Roza Otunbayeva, the new Kyrgyz leader, as have many in Washington. She lived here for several years in the 1990s while serving as her country's first ambassador to the United States. She is a product of the former Soviet Union; she was once the Soviet ambassador to Malaysia. But the good news is that she comes as close as anyone in Kyrgyzstan does to being a liberal democrat.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 20:07 ||
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But the good news is that she comes as close as anyone in Kyrgyzstan does to being a liberal democrat.
The US military has suspended troop flights out of its base in Kyrgyzstan and will instead transport forces to and from Afghanistan via Kuwait, military officials said Friday.
Looking at a map of the Middle East, it appears that Iran lies between Kuwait and Afghanistan. This could get very interesting very quickly.
Amid political upheaval in the strategic Central Asian nation, US commanders at the Manas air base decided late Friday "to temporarily divert military passenger transport flights," Major John Redfield, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in an email.
Decisions on continuing other military flights "will be made on a case-by-case basis," he said.
The suspension came after the Americans spotted armored vehicles on the civilian side of the airport, a defense official told AFP.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said details were still unclear and there was no sign of tensions with the civilian authorities at Manas, a crucial hub for the NATO-led war in Afghanistan.
The suspension of troop flights -- which were diverted to a US base in Kuwait -- would remain in effect for at least 72 hours, the official said, but aerial tanker aircraft were continuing to use the runway.
Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Friday offered president Kurmanbek Bakiyev safe passage out of the country, but only if he first resigns.
Bakiyev, however, remained defiant. He told AFP in an interview that he would not resign and accusing the opposition that ousted him of having blood on their hands over this week's uprising that killed at least 75 people.
NATO has increasingly relied on the Manas base amid a surge of US forces in the Afghan war, with an influx of 30,000 troops due by August.
But the US military presence has irritated Russia, placing Kyrgyzstan at the center of a big power rivalry for regional influence.
Kyrgyzstan last year threatened to close the base after receiving a promise of more than two billion dollars in aid and loans from Moscow, which many saw as a sign of Russian resentment over the American operation.
Bishkek eventually agreed to keep the US base open after Washington more than tripled the rent paid to use Manas.
The US base operates round-the-clock, carrying out mid-air refuelling missions and medical evacuations while transporting tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tonnes of cargo every month.
In March, about 50,000 troops passed through Manas, en route to or out of Afghanistan, according to US Central Command.
#1
Troop flights don't matter. Plenty of other staging bases and total distances traveled are a little longer. The important function of Manas is aerial refueling. It's the closest and most efficient use of tankers. In addition, I think some of the NATO members were using Manas to base CAS aircraft, though I don't know if any do so currently.
As for Kuwait, a lot of the troops are leaving Iraq and heading straight to Afg. So they are leaving from Kuwait anyway.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
Who do the Kyrgy want to be subject to; Russia, China, Wahabbistan, NATO/Western Europe, US?
Sure, they're in a tough spot, but so are others.
Alas, I fear we're just too far away to offer much, and they can only reach out so far. Still, they'd fit in an Indo-Viet-Japanese cooperative/alliance.
#7
13 hours ago from a Bishkek online newspaper (registration required): The US military has reversed a decision to resume normal operations at its base in Kyrgyzstan and decided to divert all ...
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 20:01 Comments ||
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SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea lashed out at the new U.S. nuclear policy Friday, saying it shows Washington is "hostile" toward the communist nation, and vowed to beef up its atomic arsenal. It was North Korea's first reaction to the U.S. "Nuclear Posture Review" issued Tuesday. The new guideline renounced the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, but left open all options, including a nuclear attack, on countries such as North Korea or Iran that defy international nuclear nonproliferation obligations.
"This proves that the present U.S. policy towards the DPRK is nothing different from the hostile policy pursued by" the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush, the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul.
"As long as the U.S. nuclear threat persists, the DPRK will increase and update various type nuclear weapons as its deterrent in such a manner as it deems necessary in the days ahead," the North said.
The North also said the latest U.S. nuclear policy "chilled the hard-won atmosphere for the resumption" of stalled six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S., were last held in late 2008.
Friday's statement came after Obama warned the North of isolation because of its nuclear defiance.
"I believe that our ability to move forward already on sanctions with respect to North Korea, the intense discussions that we're having with respect to Iran, will increasingly send a signal to countries that are not abiding by their Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations, that they will be isolated," Obama said in a joint news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on Thursday. Boy howdy, that worked well, eh Barack? You have the Norks eating out of your hand ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
everyone can smell Barack's weakness. It smells like Sheriff Joe's Depends and a week-old SOS pantsuit
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 1:16 Comments ||
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#3
So much for sing-along Kumbaya sessions in the White House...and the bowing...and the apologies...and the sucking up to our enemies...and the alienation of our allies and friends...and the, in general, ticking off of the American people on a daily basis.
#5
Poor simple minded, narcissistic BASTID! He can't stand it when Palin pulls his chain and snarks him off. He just can't keep his yap shut. I hope and pray she stays under his thin skin!
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held the annual meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament on Friday, its official media reported, a session marked by the absence of leader Kim Jong-il and and a focus on drives to rebuild its broken economy.
It was unclear why Kim missed the session, though it is not the first time he has done so. His name was not mentioned when North Korean TV introduced a list of key participants. Might be another stroke, might be his diabetes kicking up ...
The reports by the official Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul, did not reveal any sign of the hereditary power transfer apparently underway in the secretive communist state.
The 687-member assembly pledged efforts to normalize production in light and agricultural industries while making an unspecified revision to the North Korean constitution, the KCNA said. Oh boy, another five year plan with expanded army first and juche ...
"The Cabinet will expand and develop foreign trade and conduct economic and technical cooperation with other countries in a bold and big manner," it quoted a senior North Korean representative as saying during the session.
The assembly gives rubber-stamp routine approval to Kim's decisions, ratifying an array of foreign and military policy directives and approving pre-ordained Cabinet shake-ups.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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Reached for comment, Kim Jong-il responded "Brrrrains!"
HT to HotAir - I read this and I feel unworthy for his/others dedication and love of country. Jihadis fear them
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 20:47 ||
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"So with a brief ceremony, delayed by about 20 minutes after the post was on lockdown for a visit by Vice President Joe Biden"
Good grief - these clowns screw with real people just out of habit, even without trying. I'm sure Cpl. Bradford just took it in stride. People like him deserve so much better.
Where do we find such men?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/10/2010 21:26 Comments ||
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Citizens we want and need
Kwame James had to wait nearly 10 years to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen, a long time compared with the time he spent helping subdue would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid on a trans-Atlantic flight.
James, now 32, wore a gray pinstriped suit and blue tie at Thursday's ceremony in Atlanta, which ended years of immigration limbo that began after he helped thwart the terror attack aboard a Paris-to-Miami flight in December 2001.
The 6-foot-8 basketball player -- who had played two years in high school in the U.S. and four years at Division I Evansville -- was napping when a flight attendant roused him. Ten rows back, Reid was scuffling with passengers and the crew after he tried to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes.
James helped tie up Reid with belts and headset wires, and took turns holding Reid by his ponytail with another passenger until the plane could land in Boston.
Nearly 10 years later, James would rather talk about how happy he is to be a new citizen and his passion for music.
"I became a citizen of one of the best countries in the world and I am very happy," he said. "All the things that people come here for, that's what I'm here for, the opportunity. You can come from nothing and become something here, just through hard work."
James, who was born in Canada and raised in Trinidad, was playing professional basketball in France at the time of the incident. He had been traveling to the U.S. to meet his then-girlfriend and take her to his family's home in Trinidad for the holidays.
He returned to France after the trip but asked his basketball coach for some time off when the reality of the flight's close call set in.
"I didn't understand the magnitude of what happened at first," he said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/10/2010 18:29 ||
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Republican Senate candidate in California Tom Campbell is the frontrunner in the nomination fight and his ties to radical Muslims, specifically Sami al-Arian, have become an issue, but the story is bigger. Campbell has surrounded himself with people tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, who recruited him for their political agenda in a campaign that ultimately reached the Bush White House.
In November 2001, a Brotherhood document called "The Project" from 1982 was found by Swiss police raiding the home of Youssef Nada, a Brotherhood leader thought to be financing terrorism. It detailed a sophisticated plan to incrementally bring Sharia Law to the world, including deep political influence operations in the democratic institutions of the West. The Muslim Brotherhood has been diligently following this plan ever since.
The story of the infiltration of the Republican Party should start with Sami al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor now convicted of being a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and admitted Muslim Brotherhood member. In 1997, his brother-in-law, Mazen al-Najjar, was held without bail based on classified evidence connecting him to terrorism after he appealed his deportation. Al-Arian began using his political connections to try to free his brother-in-law, arguing that his civil liberties were being violated. This effort ultimately failed, and al-Najjar was deported in 2002.
One of al-Arian's political allies was Suhail Khan, the Director of Policy and Press Secretary of Congressman Tom Campbell of California. Campbell introduced legislation to ban the use of secret evidence in immigration court, which would free al-Najjar. This was not merely a consequence of Campbell's legislation, it was the intent. Campbell wrote a letter defending the man and visited him in jail in May 2000.
Khan's father served as vice president of the Muslim Students Association and was in the leadership of the Islamic Society of North America, two Brotherhood-created groups. The mosque his father founded was later visited after he moved by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh" involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, where he preached violent jihad. In 1983, his father founded the Muslim Community Association, which was used by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad to fundraise twice, including one appearance by Ayman al-Zawahiri. His mother served on the board of the mosque and was also on the board of the California branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose founders are now known to be secret members of the Brotherhood's "Palestine Committee."
Lots more at the link, all of it chock full of useful details and connections.
#1
Thomas J. "Tom" Campbell (born August 14, 1952) is a former congressman from California's 12th and 15th districts, a former professor at Stanford Law School, the former dean of the Haas School of Business, and a former professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Chapman University School of Law. He served as the Director of Finance for the State of California in 2004 and 2005, and he previously served five nonconsecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. He is currently running for the Class 3 Senate Seat held by Barbara Boxer, attempting to represent the Republican Party in the November 2010 election.
Egghead progressive professor? Islamic sympathies? California Director of Finance (not a howling success). Running against Barbara Boxer. Is there not a better candidate to run against Boxer? Seems like California is trading a pain-in-arse for a headache.
#2
Is there not a better candidate to run against Boxer?
Unfortunately, the best that California Republicans (a vanishing breed - I used to be one until my wife and I fled the state about 12 years ago) can come up with is either Campbell, a proven failure as a public official, or Carly Fiorina, a proven failure as a business executive. I can't remember which veteran Rantburger it was - but one of the Burg's old regulars had a REALLY adverse reaction to news that McCain was thinking of making Carly his VP pick. This 'Burger, an ex-HP employee and a firm conservative, stated flatly that if Carly was McCain's choice, he would march down to his local Obama campaign office the next morning and sign up a a volunteer.
On the bright side, Mickey Kaus has filed to run against Boxer in the Democrats' primary. He's well to my left politically, but he's not clinically insane about it. If he won (yeah, I know it's a long shot), I'd feel a little better about finally seeing a Dem Senator who's neither a machine crook nor a shrieking Marxist moonbat.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/10/2010 13:24 Comments ||
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#3
Is there not a better candidate to run against Boxer?
Not really. Unlike the Democrats, the CA GOP doesn't have a deep bench of potential candidates, and is rather limited to certain parts of the state. It also doesn't help that they're run by an ineffective leadership that values name recognition and go-along-to-get-along.
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said that the people arrested from Kala Dhaka were not religious leaders; they were terrorists who had fled from Swat due to the military operation.
No reason the arrestees couldn't be both; there is plenty of precedent, after all.
Responding to a point of order raised by the JUI-F parliamentarian Rehmatullah Kakar, Malik told the House that no arrest had been made on the basis of anyone's beard or dressing.
Malik also revealed that currently between 10-15 terrorist groups were operating in Kala Dhaka.
Speaking on point of order, Kakar, expressed concern that innocent people, including religious leaders, had been arrested from the Kala Dhaka area located in Hazara division.
According to a political agent of Kala Dhaka, Anwarzab Khan, security forces had arrested seven militants and recovered a huge cache of arms, suicide jackets and rocket launchers from the hideout of a Taliban commander Maulana Noor Majeed in Kala Dhaka during the current month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
VARIOUS > KALAT/KHALIT DHAKA is repor the NEW SAFE HAVEN for those former SWAT TALIBAN whom fled/escaped from the recent offensives.
[Dawn] More than 200,000 civilians have fled a military offensive and violence in Pakistani tribal districts near the Afghan border, where gunfights on Friday killed up to 24 militants, officials said.
The United Nations said the mass exodus began in November from the districts of Orakzai and Kurram, which have been hit by Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militancy as well as sectarian violence.
Pakistan launched a punishing assault against Taliban militants in Orakzai last month and the operation entered its 17th day on Friday.
"More than 35,000 families or approximately 210,000 individuals from Orakzai and Kurram have been registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs) since November last year," UN refugee agency spokeswoman Ariane Rummery told AFP.
She said of the 35,000 families, 16,376 had been registered as IDPs since February, mostly in the northwestern towns of Hangu and Kohat.
She said Pakistani authorities had also registered this week fresh IDPs fleeing to Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, from Kurram and Orakzai.
However, she gave no breakdown of the latest movement of people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Former US president George W. Bush and his top aides were accused Friday of covering up that many Guantanamo Bay detainees were innocent, amid fears releasing them could harm the 'war on terror.'
The allegations were made in a document by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to Bush's first secretary of state, Colin Powell, in a lawsuit filed by a former Guantanamo inmate and published by The Times in London.
Wilkerson alleged Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld knew that most detainees held at the US detention camp in 2002 were innocent but believed it was "politically impossible to release them."
That, of course, is why military tribunals were set up at Guantanamo Bay to determine who was innocent and who guilty, and those determined to be innocent (or not too terribly guilty) were sent home if at all possible. One wonders how it is that Colonel Wilkerson is so confused about the facts.
They were also keen to avoid revealing the "incredibly confused" detention operation, Wilkerson said, claiming prisoners were often rounded up by Afghan and Pakistani forces in return for cash, with little or no evidence as to why.
No doubt that is true. Hence the Gitmo tribunals.
He alleged Cheney "had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees were innocent... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it."
Wilkerson, who according to The Times has been a long-time critic of the Bush administration's approach to counter-terrorism, said he discussed the issue with Powell, who left his job in 2005. "I learnt that it was his view that it was not just vice president Cheney and secretary Rumsfeld, but also president Bush who was involved in all of the Guantanamo decision-making," the newspaper reported him as saying.
*blink* I thought that they were hired for exactly such decision making. It seems to me that's in the Constitution or something.
Wilkerson's statement was filed in support of Adel Hassan Hamad, a Sudanese man held at Guantanamo Bay from March 2003 until December 2007. He claims he was tortured by US agents and filed a damages action Thursday, The Times said.
Some 183 detainees remain
Out of how many who have passed through those gates? Statistics matter.
at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba, including dozens already cleared for release. Most have been held without charge or trial.
Erm... President Obama ordered all trials halted while his people explored the issues. Did he ever come to a conclusion about that?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
My bull$hit detectors go off clanging wildly. KSM an alumnus. Others in the Gitmo catch and release program ended up returning to the conflict to engage in man-made disaster events.
#2
Yet strangely enough these innocent "barbers" and "accountants" picked up on the battlefield, once released, a good number of them re-joined up with Al Qaeda, even becoming regional commanders in some instances.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
04/10/2010 23:58 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel's Prime Minister called off his trip to Washington next week to attend President Barack Obama's 47-country nuclear security summit, officials in his office said, fearing Israel would be singled out over its own nuclear program.
Benjamin Netanyahu had said he would attend the conference to underline the dangers of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons, but suddenly called off the trip less than two days after he announced he would take part.
Officials in his office said early Friday that Netanyahu reversed himself because some nations planned to use the conference to target Israel over its barely concealed nuclear weapons program. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement has been made.
Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East but has never confirmed or denied that it possesses atomic weapons. It has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, or NPT.
Netanyahu saw Obama at the White House late last month for talks on the stalled Middle East peace process with the Palestinians, but they failed to see eye to eye and relations between the two leaders remain at low ebb.
"The prime minister has decided to cancel his trip to Washington to attend the nuclear conference next week, after learning that some countries including Egypt and Turkey plan to say Israel must sign the NPT," the official said.
Israeli media said Netanyahu feared that Islamic countries attending the summit would try to shift its focus from nuclear terrorism to a concerted attack on his country's presumed nuclear weapons capacity.
The White House said it had been informed Netanyahu would not attend the summit and that Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor would lead the Israeli delegation.
"We welcome Deputy Prime Minister Meridor's participation in the conference. Israel is a close ally and we look forward to continuing to work closely on issues related to nuclear security," Mike Hammer, White House National Security Council spokesman, said.
Republican support
In New Orleans, hundreds of party loyalists at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference applauded when they were informed Netanyahu had just canceled his visit to Washington.
At the gathering, Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, blasted Obama for his "shabby" treatment of Netanyahu at the White House recently, saying it was "disgraceful."
She added: "Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East and one of our strongest allies anywhere around this globe. And President Obama is playing a reckless game of continuing down the path of diminishing America's ties to Israel."
Up to 200 warheads?
Foreign analysts believe Israel has been a secret nuclear power for the past 40 years and may possess a sizable arsenal.
Based on estimates of the plutonium production capacity of its Dimona reactor in the southern Negev desert, experts say it could have 100 to 200 advanced nuclear explosive devices.
Dozens of world leaders are due in Washington next week for the unprecedented conference, with Obama hoping they can agree on how to keep atomic bombs out of the hands of terrorists.
The summit will not focus on individual nations, but the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea -- and possible new U.N. sanctions against Tehran -- are expected to come up. Both countries are excluded from the meeting.
Israel considers Iran's suspected drive to build nuclear warheads a threat to its existence, but it hopes that diplomatic persuasion and sanctions will be sufficient to make the Islamic Republic drop its nuclear weapons aspirations, without resorting to the use of military force.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
earing Israel would be singled out over its own nuclear program.
This was a set-up deal. Israel was going to be confronted by Egypt and Turkey about a nuclear program Israel has never acknowledged. Israel is not a signer of the NPT. Israel never tipped their hat about program for several strategic reasons: 1. survival and self-defense, 2. enemies have difficulty countering what is unknown, 3. the press (our MMSM and the islamic press) and muslim countries have difficulty yammering away at something which is unknown.
Tehran says the controversial declaration by the Obama administration, which gives Washington the green light to use nuclear weapons against certain countries, is a step in the wrong direction.
Earlier in the week, US President Barack Obama unveiled the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a 22,000-word policy document under which the United States promises not to use nuclear weapons against states that do not possess nuclear warhead, but excludes Iran.
The NPR has provoked a tidal wave of criticism and condemnation in Iran, which has been a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1968, and yet was excluded from the list of non-atomic states that the use of US nukes is banned against.
In a statement released on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Washington as the possessor of "one of the largest atomic arsenals in the world has put the international community at danger. Moreover, threatening other state with these weapons has escalated insecurity in the international community."
"The United States is the first country to use these weapons and has perished hundreds of thousands of live in Hiroshima and Nagasaki [during the final days of World War II]," said the statement.
The Iranian foreign minister called on the US to set a deadline for a complete nuclear disarmament.
Mottaki further added that the bedrock of Washington's new nuclear policy, which allows the application of nukes in some cases, is clearly an extension to the doctrines of the previous administrations and in fact defies US disarmament commitments under article VI of the NPT.
"Reassurances that the US will not use its nuclear weapons [against some countries] are not enough for states that have been repeatedly subjected to double standards and the deceitful policies of US officials," said the Iranian foreign minister in the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
HMMMMM,HMMMMM, so it comes down to
To wit,
YEAR 2012/2012-PLUS > IRAN, ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION includ NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM.
versus
US PUTTING CONVENTIONAL-ONLY WARHEADS ON ITS BALLISTIC MISSLES, or else WRITE STRONGLY-WORDED LETTERS???
#2
Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a 22,000-word policy document under which the United States promises not to use nuclear weapons against states that do not possess nuclear warhead, but excludes Iran.
First, NPR is a dippy name...national posture review. BO must have reviewed our posture and decided we need to prostrate ourselves before our enemies. Dogs bare there necks to other dogs to signify submission. What a woozy thing to do. The image is that of BO's opening pitch of the baseball season--really a sissy pitch. Same thing with the NPR...a really sissy pitch. Little deterrence there.
This kind of signal will have no effect on Iran, Syria, or NK's nuclear programs other than maybe accelerating it. At the same time, it will most likely accelerate planning by our enemies for the use of biological and chemical weapons on a large scale against us. Iran will use proxies to wage war against us in the shadows under the cloak of deniability.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Shares of 6 state-owned power stations and petrochemical plants have been passed to the Armed Forces' Social Welfare Investment Organization (SATA).
The transfer was facilitated through a cabinet decision and sealed by the signature of Mohammad Reza Rahimi, First Deputy to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehr News Agency reported Friday.
According to the decision of the council of ministers, shares of the Bushehr Petrochemical Company (100 percent), Marun Petrochemicals (23 percent), Pars Petrochemicals (40 percent), Pardis (aka 'Ghadir') Petrochemicals (49 percent), Gilan Combined Cycle Power Station (100 percent), as well as 40 percent of the state's shares in the Gilan Development Management Company were transferred to SATA.
The transfer was reported to have been in lieu of the government debt to the Armed Forces Pension Fund.
In return, SATA is obliged to complete and commission the Bushehr petrochemical project within four years.
At the same time, the order permits the Iranian Privatization Organization to offer these shares directly on the market on behalf of SATA and to credit the proceeds to the organization and deduct the amount from the total owed by the state to SATA.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's "allies around the globe" would retaliate against any strike by the United States, an influential cleric said on Friday ahead of a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the progress of Iran's nuclear project.
Ahmad Khatami, a staunch Ahmadinejad supporter, said Washington would run into a quagmire if it attacked. President Barack Obama is pushing for new U.N. sanctions against Iran but has not ruled out military action to stop it getting a nuclear bomb.
"If America makes a crazy move, its interests will be endangered by Iran's allies around the globe," Khatami, a member of Iran's powerful Assembly of Experts, said at Friday prayers at Tehran University.
The United States and Israel say Iran finances militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as well as armed groups in Iraq.
A Hezbollah official told Reuters last month: "Any attack on Iran could ignite the whole region."
On Thursday Iran's military commander said U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East would be targeted for retaliation in the event of any U.S. strike.
Obama is urging world powers to back a new round of sanctions against Iran over a nuclear program he believes is aimed at developing an atomic bomb.
In a speech later on Friday to mark Iran's annual national nuclear day, Ahmadinejad was expected to announce news on the atomic program which he says is purely for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity and for medical treatments.
On Thursday, when Obama said he expected "tough" sanctions to be agreed this spring, Ahmadinejad said he would rather see sanctions than have to beg to avoid them.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
IOW, what KHATAMI is trying hard NOT to say is that VARIABLE-SCALE TERROR ATTACKS WILL BE LAUNCHED AGZ US-CONUS IFF IRAN IS ATTACKED BY ISRAEL ANDOR US.
PERTS > any attack by the US-ISRAEL MUST BE A "SUSTAINED ATTACK/CAMPAIGN".
Read, AIR, MISSLE, COMMANDO STRIKES TAINT ENUFF -IRAN MUST BE INVADED, OCCUPIED BY GROUND TROOPS.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has met with Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in Damascus as the country eyes rapprochement with neighboring Syria.
The talks between Nasrallah and Jumblatt focused on the latter's visit to Syria and assessed his March 31 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, said a Friday statement by Hezbollah.
The Lebanese lawmaker and the leader of Lebanon's Progressive Socialists Party (PSP) thanked Nasrallah for his mediating role in making the visit possible.
The visit came in the wake of improvements in ties between Syria and Lebanon.
Jumblatt is known as one of Syria's harshest critics, but in March he said he was ready to bury the hatchet.
During the meeting, both leaders reiterated their commitment to resistance against Israeli threats.
"They also agreed on enhancing the coordination efforts between Hezbollah and the PSP, in order to consolidate coexistence and national unity," the statement added.
Jumblatt also called for cooperation between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is the "world's most powerful country in the international arena."
Speaking on Thursday in a gathering of the "elites" of East Azerbaijan province in northwest Iran, Ahmadinejad said that current conditions -- both domestically and internationally -- are the best in conditions throughout the country's history, reported ILNA.
"The national solidarity that is prevalent today is unprecedented in the history of Iran," he said. "Many try to muddy the waters with false news, but the understanding of the nation is at its peak and all divisions have been eliminated."
Turning to the worldwide financial crisis, he said, "although the world economic situation has forced [certain] countries to retreat, but we are moving along the path of economic growth. They imposed sanctions against us and thought that they could prevent our progress, but [instead] we accelerated our progress."
"Although we have not yet bloomed fully, but we are moving forwards," Ahmadinejad said. He moved on to say, "Witness that on the international arena, Iran is the world's most powerful country, and they themselves admit this."
"Up until 15 years ago, the measure of countries' power was weapons and control over global resources, but today the gauge of power is the power of self-defense and influence on international relations," he continued.
Highlighting Iran's expanded relations with Latin American states, Ahmadinejad noted that the US government had invested hundreds of billions of dollars in South America. However, he recalled, "although Iran had not invested even one hundredth of this amount in these countries, but the Americans themselves say that they are worried about Iran's penetration in South America, because in Europe and even in the US itself, a state of suppression has been established and they do not allow their peoples to express their views."
With the continued foreign pressure against Iran, Ahmadinejad said that the enemy's threats and sanctions must be converted to opportunities.
"First of all, we must think about the development of the country and we must get involved in all matters of the world and not permit the implementation of plots against nations and our nation. Therefore, we must control the topics from their source."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/10/2010 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#5
"Surely something must be terribly wrong with a man who seems to be far
more concerned with a Jew building a house in Israel than with Muslims building
a nuclear bomb in Iran ."
Attribution -- Columnist Burt Prelutsky of the Los Angeles Times.
#7
Heck with cash crops like pistachios, Anonymoose. Iran's scheduled to get the hell kicked out of it by that nasty new strain of wheat stem rust that jumped over the Red Sea two years ago. Pistachios pay the bills for the mullahs, but wheat feeds Teheran and Qom. And it isn't Islamic "science" which is going to find a solution for the wheat stem rust problem, you betcha.
You know the malevolent little dwarf will shout himself hoarse blaming us for the coming famine even as we work hard to keep his fucking children from starving to death.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/10/2010 22:00 Comments ||
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AL-QAEDA have vowed to bomb the World Cup - specifically the match between England and the USA in South Africa in June, warning "hundreds" of fans could die.
A branch of al-Qaeda which last year killed British hostage Edwin Dyer, 61, in Mali made the threats.
They also vowed to target resorts, hotels and car parks used by supporters during the tournament. And they claimed explosive devices which cannot be detected by security scans would be used.
The threats appear on al-Qaeda-linked websites. A statement said: "How beautiful would the game between England and the USA be when broadcast live from a stadium full of spectators - when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands. The resulting death toll is in the dozens and hundreds - Allah willing."
#1
A statement said: "How beautiful would the game between England and the USA be when broadcast live from a stadium full of spectators - when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands.
Naw that's not beautiful. That's grotesque.
Allah willing, a work accident will occur while they are preparing the bomb in the mosque run by a radical mislimb somewhere--now that's justice.
#2
Another endeavor muslims are crap at, therefore unislamic. It's past time to teach them just how crap they are at unrestricted war. Maybe then the survivors might learn.
Posted by: ed ||
04/10/2010 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
This might get the euroweenies excited about fighting al-queda.
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.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai took small but public steps on Saturday to signal he was still friends with the United States after a war of words that tested their alliance.
