Senior Saudi defense officials expressed concern to the U.S. military's top general on Wednesday about terrorists in Iraq crossing the border into Saudi territory. Gotta make the commute before evening prayer.
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said after meeting with Prince Khalid bin Sultan, the deputy defense minister, and other officials in the Saudi capital that he was unsure whether significant numbers of terrorists were infiltrating. Boo, effin' hoo. Sorry. Can't do much when they flash their Saudi passports at the border crossing.
But he added, "Certainly the potential is there and I think the incentive is there as well, so it's something we have to worry about." A far bigger problem, Myers said, is a continuing influx of foreign fighters and terrorists from Syria to Iraq. The reverse commute is a b!tch and accidents are frequent. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 1:54:15 PM ||
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Not our problem when the Saudi terrorists rotate home at the end of their tour. If we were to capture and/or kill the Saudi terrorists, the kingdom would be very upset at our treatment of their nationals. Maybe at this point, the Iraqis would be better served by expelling all Saudis.
Although Yemen has openly, and actively, aided the United States in the war on terror, many Yemenis are fans of Osama bin Laden (whose father came from Yemen) and al Qaeda. There are many al Qaeda sympathizers in the Yemeni military and government as well. These sympathizers have been discreetly aiding Iraqi Baath Party officials who have fled Iraq, and now Syria. There has also been some active, but covert, support for the terrorists operating in Iraq. Cracking down on this is not easy, even with FBI and CIA agents stationed in Yemen. The problem is that the Yemeni government is a jumble of tribal and family relationships.
Even if you know an official is helping terrorists, you can't go after him if he is well connected. Unless, of course, such support for Islamic terrorists becomes public, thus embarrassing the culprit, and making him vulnerable to removal from office, or worse. There's also a lot of corruption in the government as well, so it's often the case that you can't step on a terrorist supporter because you are doing business with him on some dirty deal. This has been going on since (and before) September 11, 2001, and it's been driving American officials in Yemen nuts. But these things are typical of the Middle East (and many other parts of the world.) Family relationships, and making a buck are more important than what a bunch of foreigners think. The United States has tried to use money to deal with the problem, but it's often difficult to figure out how best to deploy the bribes. And some of the hard core Islamic radicals are on a Mission from God, and thus difficult to reach with mere cash.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:22:25 AM ||
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The Kuwaiti cabinet yesterday issued a "final warning" to leading Shiite cleric Syed Mohammad Baqer Al Muhri against violating "mosque code of conduct" in his Friday sermons, local newspapers reported. Al Rai Al Aam, a Kuwaiti daily quoted unnamed government sources as saying that the warning was issued after Abdullah Al Maatouq, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Minister, submitted a report to the cabinet during its weekly meeting on Sunday in which he accused Al Muhri of touching on sensitive political issues in his sermons. The minister told the cabinet that during last Friday's sermon, Al Muhri, head of the Shiite Clerics Congregation, spoke about the controversial issue of political rights of women and criticised the head of Egypt's Al Azhar Islamic University for not condemning a suicide attack on Shiites in Iraq last week.
The ministry of Awqaf last week ordered all mosque preachers to avoid talking about women's political rights because it is a controversial issue, after several Islamist activists used mosque sermons to criticise the drive for women's suffrage. But Al Muhri told the Kuwaiti daily that he has not received the warning from the ministry and said the government has no right to interfere in the affairs of Shiite-run mosques. "Shiite mosques do not come under the Ministry of Awqaf. They were built with our money. We are responsible for maintenance work and pay to employees of the mosque. No one in the Ministry of Awqaf can stop us from giving sermons," Al Muhri said.
This article starring:
SYED MOHAMAD BAQER AL MUHRI
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#3
The important thing here may not be the reliability of the poll results, but that the story ran in the Arab News. They've been using the paper to float new ideas and allow reactionaries to have their say as well.
With so many Arab TV stations covering the Iraqi elections, women in Iraqi government roles and what's going on in Lebanon, there will be a shift in consciousness even in the MK.
Posted by: too true ||
03/16/2005 9:55 Comments ||
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Give women the vote at your own peril, House of Saud.
Next thing you know they will want to be able to have a beer. That's what happened to Grandpappy...
Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdallah Al-Maatouq announced on Monday that an official fatwa (edict) will be announced Saturday "affirming that the supreme guardian has the right to settle the issue of giving women political rights." Clearly affirming that the supreme guardian (His Highness the Amir) has the power to settle such a controversial issue, Al-Maatouq in remarks to journalists at the National Assembly, stated, "The supreme guardian is empowered to settle such a controversial issue," referring to a fatwa, issued in 1985, which was against granting women political rights. The Fatwa Committee of the ministry has held several meetings on this issue "and its fatwa will be endorsed on Saturday so it may be released in an explicit manner." On measures to be taken by the government to ensure the adoption of the women rights bill, he affirmed the "government is serious and keen on granting women their political rights."
Reacting to those who have opposed this right, the minister indicated that they have based their arguments on some points in Islamic jurisprudence, affirming that the issue is of a controversial nature. "I know that most jurisprudence issues can be controversial but the supreme guardian can settle them," he pointed out. The new fatwa would replace one issued in 1985 which clearly stated that Islam forbids women from voting and contesting parliamentary elections. The new edict is expected to boost chances of Kuwaiti women winning political rights in the face of stiff opposition by a majority of Kuwaiti Islamists and conservative tribal lawmakers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 8:30:14 PM ||
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Sharia law will not be the sole source of law when Qatar's new constitution comes into force, a legal consultant said. The role of Sharia was discussed in a heated debate during the bill's drafting process, said Jamal Yahya, an Egyptian constitutionalist and legal consultant for the Qatari Government. "According to Article 2, the new constitution is inspired by Sharia and not based on it. It says that Sharia is one of the fundamental sources of the legislation, but not the only one. This leaves the door open for other laws to come into the picture. But to achieve this, we had to go through long discussions," Yahya told Gulf News.
The dispute erupted as a strong group in the Commission for the Constitutional Draft wanted Sharia law to be the only source of law, Yahya said. A more moderate trend, however, finally prevailed, he said. In April 2003, 96.6 per cent of Qataris voted in favour of a permanent constitution to replace the provisional constitution of 1970. It is set to come into force on June 7. He said in the future the Constitution could be further elaborated or integrated with inputs from other legislations in areas where the Sharia does not provide a legal framework. He said the charter does not mention what these other sources would be. Yahya said the charter, which provided for parliamentary elections and more women's rights, was advanced. "The new constitution provides for parliamentary elections and gender equality. It is one of the most modern of the Arab world," he said. Yahya has helped draft the new charter over the past two years, following a request by the Commission for the Constitutional Draft set up by the Qatari Emir, His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 9:14:09 PM ||
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Paraguay believes FARC has set up shop in the country. As a result, the government has allowed the army to receive support from the Colombian Army in training and intel ops. This makes three countries outside of Colombia in which FARC is operating, Venezuela (perhaps with the tacit consent of the leftist government), Ecuador, and Paraguay. Of the three, Paraguay does not border on, nor is particular near, Columbia. While FARC is getting hit hard, it has lots of money, thus it has options. Moving operations to other countries is one option. There's no doubt FARC is rich. As more FARC camps are overrun, captured equipment includes GPS systems, digital mapping equipment, computers of all sorts, SATCOM equipment, and so on.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 8:28:03 AM ||
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The big issue is, to what degree have they linked up with the Islamofascists.
Posted by: too true ||
03/16/2005 9:51 Comments ||
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too true---triple border region. Been reading stories about islamofascists for years since 9-11.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 11:22 Comments ||
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Yup, that's what I'm worried about ... but we don't know if they're really cooperating at the operational level yet.
Posted by: too true ||
03/16/2005 12:12 Comments ||
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North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its atomic arsenal in an angry response to upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercises which the communist state denounced as nuclear war games. The North justified its possession of nuclear weapons as establishing a balance of power to prevent a nuclear holocaust, ahead of the joint war games in South Korea starting Saturday. "The exercises will be nuclear war exercises aimed to invade the North to all intents and purposes in view of their nature, scope and contents," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency. "The DPRK (North Korea) will take necessary counter-measures including the bolstering of its nuclear arsenal to cope with the extremely hostile attempt of the US to bring down the system in the DPRK though it is the Korean people's own choice," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its atomic arsenal in an angry response..."
TEACHERS and parents today criticised the Immigration Department for taking the children of suspected visa overstayers from their schools. It was cruel and inhumane that students as young as six had been taken from their Sydney schoolyards in the past fortnight because their parents were apparently in Australia illegally, the NSW Teachers Federation said.
The Immigration Department has confirmed the raids but so far has refused to say more. The federation said it was investigating up to seven instances across Sydney in the past fortnight in which students from Stanmore, Kogarah and Chester Hill schools and an unnamed Seventh-Day Adventist school were detained in Villawood detention centre. Federation senior vice president Angelo Gavrielatos today called on the Federal Government to end the cruel policy. "We are shocked and appalled at the events of the last week or two which have seen officials from the Department of Immigration enter our schools and remove children from schools," Mr Gavrielatos said. "This is an absolute outrage, it has shocked us all. We call on the government to end the cruelty ... and observe the basic rights that these children have." NSW Parents and Citizens Federation Sharryn Brownlee said parents were horrified at what had happened and children had been traumatised. "The impact on these young children's lives will remain with them forever," Ms Brownlee said. lol, they look pretty happy on the bus
The NSW Opposition justice spokesman Andrew Tink today refused to comment on the Coalition's decision to reveal details of the police operation. "I'm not going to go back over old ground, I'm not going to traverse matters that have already been dealt with," Mr Tink said.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
03/16/2005 3:20:39 AM ||
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#1
What part of Illegal don't these people get?
Never ceases to amaze me, these "teachers" don't get it. My wife and daughter both teach and they "get it." Why is it so hard for most of teh rest of them?
#4
Comes from being too civilized, people. If we grabbed a couple of these illegals and strung them up in a public place, the left would whine and cry about "cruel and unusual punishment", but the number of illegals would drop like a rock. You can't be "nice" to criminals and deter crime. That's the major problem with our own border fiasco. Someone yesterday suggested two weeks of hard labor - too little! Catch someone and make them work for five years cleaning up the mess along the border, THEN send them back to their mother country, missing a hand or a foot. When the liberals yell, give them the same punishment. It's a shame that Australia has to arrest kids to get to their parents, but if it works, good! My mother woke me up one morning when I was about five by putting six rounds from a P-38 through a bedroom window at a prowler. I never had a bit of problem with it. Kids are flexible, and will recover. Using it as an excuse to ignore illegal behavior is stupid and self-defeating.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2005 14:26 Comments ||
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Russia's secret services are shielding Bosnian Serbs wanted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for atrocities committed during the Bosnian war, including the massacre at Srebrenica where more than 8000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. Gojko Jankovic, a Bosnian Serb who gave himself up to the tribunal on Monday to face accusations of torture and multiple rape, was one of a group of fugitive alleged war criminals living in Russia under official protection. According to sources at The Hague and other intelligence sources, those still enjoying protection from the Russian secret services are Vinko Pandurevic and Vujadin Popovic, two senior Bosnian Serb military figures accused of genocide over the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995.
Jankovic was flown to The Hague yesterday, having given himself up in the Bosnian Serb capital of Banja Luka, after four years in Moscow. There was no conclusive explanation last night as to why he had turned himself in. A senior diplomat said: "Jankovic suddenly phoned from Moscow saying he wanted to come in."
AdvertisementAdvertisement. Sources at The Hague pointed to pressure from the Bosnian Serb republic, Republika Srpska, "who are beginning to realise that this is not going to go away". The FSB, Russia's secret service, said: "We know nothing about this, and we have no comment on it."
A statement by Mrs Jankovic to the Bosnian Serb republic's Interior Ministry describes a voyage to Moscow from eastern Bosnia in December to meet her husband. Her account describes a visit largely supervised by a man driving a black bulletproof Mercedes and carrying an FSB identity card. The man produced the card over dinner but put it away when Mrs Jankovic's interest was roused. He was "a person of knowledge and experience in police work as he spoke about tapping devices, etc", the statement said. The man paid the couple's bills in expensive restaurants each evening of the visit, before taking them home in the early hours to a luxury flat with which Jankovic had been provided. "I was bothered by his constant presence, and then I realised that he was the one who paid the bills. I got the feeling that Gojko feels very safe in his presence," said Mrs Jankovic. According to her statement, Jankovic was given Russian citizenship under a pseudonym. There are a lot of interesting stories about the involvement of all types of intelligence agencies in the Balkans wars. It's too bad that there is no way of separating the truth from fiction.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/16/2005 12:10:28 AM ||
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Interesting legal theory.
Maybe the Senate's bill to shield gun manufacturers from liabilty for the misuse of their products should also include tractor manufacturers. ;)
#4
The D9 was used in the manner it was intended. It is a military dozer. That Corrie got in the way is not nor should not even be an issue. She was, after all, in a war zone aiding the enemies of civilization.
#5
GK
as you say an interesting legal theory; it asserts that the company, while designing a machine with the capacity to, among other things, topple houses, should have made this machine so that it couldn't topple houses which were occupied or which terrorist sympathizers would defend
--- sadly, there may actually be juries that would buy this
#6
I see another litigation inspired product warning sticker: Warning. Laying down in front of this bulldozer can cause an acute case of pancakitis.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/16/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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They have np legal leg to stand on. It' like suing Mac becuase a Semi ran over someone. Unless the Judge is a full-fledge Koolaid drinker he will have to throw the suit out. The lawyer that filed this should be disbared and deported to Canada.
#9
As part of the settlement, Caterpillar should require Corrie's parents to work in the hospital taking care of the wounded children from Belsan school until the last one's discharged. I'm sure Caterpillar will spring for the tickets.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2005 14:53 Comments ||
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This is just an attempt to grease the skids for future legal manuvering.
HA! Get it? I'm killing me!
If there was a test to become parents these two dipshits would have failed miserably. They should be ashamed of themselves. They killed their own daughter. . . .
#11
Old Patriot you do have a good idea. Education is needed in this sad situation. The death of a child is a hard one to take but it's not an excuse for being stupid in the pursuit of hurting others who WERE NOT THE CAUSE of the loss. Why not sue the parents for failing to exercise reasonable care in raising their child to understand that legal means of activism are far more effective and safer than nutty stunts in somebody else's country involving heavy equipment? CAT's defense counsel in the civil action doesn't have much work to do defending this one. What jury is going to keep from laughing at this bs after they pay due respect to the fact that the parents have lost their child? I'd make it a point to counter against the family members and see the claims through to the end just to give them the civics lesson they obviously never received in junior high. Tell me, where do these people come from? Are they bred on some floppy brain puppy mill in the midwest or what? Ya play pure as the wind driven snow activist with heavy equipment and what do you expect to happen?
#13
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court here, alleges that Caterpillar violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces, knowing the machines would be used to demolish homes and endanger people.
The federal government moved to classify more than 15 million pieces of information in 2004 — the largest number since the peak of the Cold War. The unprecedented secrecy, say some members of Congress and government watchdogs, is hindering the War on Terror and putting Americans at risk. "Somewhere in the vast cache of data that never should have been classified, and may never be declassified, is that tiny nugget of information that, if shared, could be used to detect and prevent the next deadly terrorist attack," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., chairman of the National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee.
Lawmakers and witnesses attending a March 2 hearing on what one expert termed the "pseudo-classification" of documents say that in the government's zeal to protect information, thousands of documents that would not normally be considered top secret are being kept from congressional oversight, public view and other agencies relying on the data. "Some of the examples we reviewed involve absurd overreactions to vague security concerns," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter to Shays before the hearing. In one example, Waxman said the Department of Homeland Security had concealed the identity and contact information of its new Transportation Security Administration ombudsman, whose chief responsibility is to interact with the public over airport security measures.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:33:53 AM ||
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Article: A CIA spokesman told FOXNews.com that a lot has been done to change the culture and learn lessons. He pointed to a recent example in which government officials made public a transmission between Al Qaeda founder Usama bin Laden (search) and his top agent in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search).
This is absurd on its face. It means that bin Laden now knows that the means he used to communicate with Zarqawi is no longer secure. I hope there was a good reason for making this public disclosure other than the media wanted to know. I don't want to know - just kill the holy warriors and leave me out of the loop if it helps our people do their jobs.
#2
Just because something is secret doesn't mean it isn't shared within the intellignece community. All this stuff should be going into intelligence databases somewhere.
#3
"Some of the examples we reviewed involve absurd overreactions to vague security concerns," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter to Shays before the hearing.
If there's one Congressman familiar with the concept of absurdity, it's Waxman. Bring back B-1 Bob!
#5
the big brew ha ha is over the lack of information Bush gives the politicians that don't have a "Need to Know". Must be humbling to know that you are only a lowly congressman and NOT the leader of the country.
March 12: The Department of Defense announced today that it transferred three detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Afghanistan, Maldives and Pakistan for release. This transfer increases the number of detainees who have departed GTMO to 214. This transfer includes three detainees found to no longer be an enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
The decision to transfer or release a detainee is based on many factors, including whether the detainee is of further intelligence value to the United States and whether the detainee is believed to pose a continuing threat to the United States if released. There are ongoing processes to review the status of detainees. A determination about the continued detention or transfer of a detainee is based on the best information and evidence available at the time. The circumstances in which detainees are apprehended can be ambiguous, and many of the detainees are highly skilled in concealing the truth. During the course of the war on terrorism, the Department expects that there will be other transfers or releases of detainees. Because of operational and security considerations, no further details can be provided.
Prior to this transfer, 211 detainees had departed GTMO - 146 for release, and 65 transferred to the control of other governments (29 to Pakistan, five to Morocco, seven to France, seven to Russia, four to Saudi Arabia, one to Spain, one to Sweden, one to Kuwait, one to Australia and nine to Great Britain). Two hundred and fourteen detainees have now departed Guantanamo. There are approximately 540 detainees currently at Guantanamo.
WASHINGTON - At least 108 people have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them violently, according to government data provided to The Associated Press. Roughly a quarter of those deaths have been investigated as possible abuse by U.S. personnel. And the REST of them are natural or justified, except for the 22 were killed in an insurgent mortar attack - keep reading!
The figure, far higher than any previously disclosed, includes cases investigated by the Army, Navy, CIA and Justice Department. Some 65,000 prisoners have been taken during the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although most have been freed.
The Pentagon has never provided comprehensive information on how many prisoners taken during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have died, and the 108 figure is based on information supplied by Army, Navy and other government officials.So the Pentagon never provided any information, but the "Army, Navy, and other government officials" did?
Of the prisoner deaths:
_At least 26 have been investigated as criminal homicides involving the abuse of prisoners.This is ALL the story should be talking about
_At least 29 are attributed to suspected natural causes or accident. Out 0f 65,000? Sounds safer than living in D.C..
_Twenty-two are blamed on an insurgent mortar attack on April 6, 2004, on Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. SHAME on the military for not protecting the prisoners! SHAME!!
_At least 20 are attributed to "justifiable homicide," where investigations found U.S. troops used deadly force appropriately, primarily against rioting, escaping or threatening prisoners.
To human rights groups, the deaths form a clear pattern.of COURSE
"Despite the military's own reports of deaths and abuses of detainees in U.S. custody, it is astonishing that our government can still pretend that what is happening is the work of a few rogue soldiers," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "No one at the highest levels of our government has yet been held accountable for the torture and abuse, and that is unacceptable." Y'all asked, but Rummy wouldn't resign.
To the Pentagon, each death is a distinct case, meriting an investigation but not attributable to any single faulty military policy. Pentagon officials point to a number of military investigations which found that no policy condoned abuse.
Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. John Skinner said the military has taken steps to reduce the chance of violent uprisings at its prisons and the use of excessive force by soldiers, and also has improved the health care available to prisoners.
"The military has dramatically improved detention operations, everything from increased oversight and improved facilities to expanded training and the availability of state-of-the-art medical care," he said in a statement.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 1:43:31 PM ||
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Even beside the fact that they intentionally lie, conspire, obfuscate, and appease with disingenuous articles such as this, what does this (Afghaniztsan / Iraq / to today) cover - a 3+ year timeframe?
Where were the gutless asshole AP APologists during the reign of terror of the Taliban and Saddam?
#2
"Insurgents", "Activists", "Gunmen", "Freedom Fighters", "Holy Warriors", "Marytrs", and terrorists by any other name surpass those murder figures weekly in Iraq alone.
When can I expect reporting with a similar breakdown from the mainstream media about the cause, circumstances, and justigication or condemnation about those figures?
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday it was a mistake for Hawaii to post a confidential report on its Web site, but the department will continue to communicate openly with state and local authorities about potential terror threats. Hawaii officials published a draft copy of a confidential Homeland Security report that catalogues ways terrorists might strike in the United States. The report, requested by a presidential directive in December 2003, marks Homeland Security efforts to spur state and local authorities into thinking about preventing attacks. "My understanding is this was an error," Chertoff said in an interview with reporters. "... It's not going to deter us from working closely with our state and local partners in fashioning these plans."
The report was deleted from Hawaii's site late Tuesday night. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said several other states, which he declined to identify, had also linked to the report on their Web sites. But Chertoff said he is going to resist talking publicly about possible terror threats as they unfold until he has definitive information to give. Chertoff's comments followed a Washington-area anthrax scare this week that appears to have been a false alarm. The two-day scare was marked by conflicting information from local, state and federal officials that led to some broadcast media to inaccurately report anthrax contamination.
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Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 1:29:16 PM ||
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While many associate the World Health Organization (WHO) with projects to improve healthcare in developing countries, the millions who watch Arabic television can now link the WHO to terrorism. In a development that went almost unreported in the English-language media, a WHO-organized panel in Lebanon awarded prizes in December 2004 to television and radio stations controlled by the Hezbollah terrorist group, which has killed hundreds of Americans, including more than 250 U.S. soldiers and diplomats in the 1983 bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon. The awards came just days after France took Hezbollah's al-Manar off the air for a brazenly anti-Semitic broadcast and the U.S. State Department designated the station as a terrorist organization.
The WHO is mandated to achieve "the highest possible level of health" for all people. To achieve this goal, it has an $880 million annual budget, of which up to a fifth comes from the United States. The WHO uses local media outlets to educate people in developing countries about the dangers of tobacco and to encourage healthier diets. To back these goals, the WHO hands out accolades to local media with the best health education programs.
In Lebanon, these health education Oscars went to terrorist media that encourage suicide bombing. A Lebanese media panel supervised by the WHO decided that the best anti-smoking educational program was "Shadows and Visions," which is aimed at juveniles but which was broadcast by Hezbollah's television channel, al-Manar (The Beacon). Also feted by the WHO-supervised panel was the Hezbollah radio station, Al-Nur (The Light) for its nutritional show "Your food is your medicine." The prizes may appear trivial, but that's the point. By giving health promotion awards to terrorist media, the WHO trivializes their evil output. The WHO, and its local Lebanese partners, a committee of local media representatives, have sent the message that terrorist media are respectable.
Anyone who has watched al-Manar knows that respectable is the last word that can be applied to a channel that promotes terrorism with the same vigor that American television promotes the Superbowl. Set up in 1991 by Hezbollah using Iranian funds, al-Manar soon established a reputation as a mouthpiece for murder. Potential recruits are told that "the path to becoming a priest in Islam is through jihad" and mothers are encouraged to give up their sons, to prepare them "for battle knowing that their blood will mix with the soil."
In many ways, Hezbollah is a media innovator, but not the kind that WHO should be awarding. By founding al-Manar, Hezbollah was the first terrorist group to go into the television business, the first terrorists to realize that the media could be used as an effective operational weapon. Indeed, Hezbollah now has its own media empire, including Al-Nur, a newspaper, a radio station, and various websites, all of which promote its radical, hate-filled Islamist ideology and incite violence.
So while al-Manar makes the odd health information commercial that please the WHO, its output is mostly Hezbollah incitement to violence. The channel, which is under Hezbollah editorial control, mixes staple broadcasting to attract viewers -- including news, dramas, sports programs, children's programming and soap operas -- with a clear call to terrorism. Speaking on al-Manar the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah declared recently, "those who love death defeated those who fear death . . .The weapon of loving martyrdom, sacrifices, and readiness for death is one that nobody can take away." On al-Manar, the message is homicide, not health.
Those who dismiss al-Manar, and its parent Hezbollah, as Lebanese patriots who only oppose Israel will find little support from al-Manar's output. Al-Manar viewers are instructed that "the main source of terrorism in this worldâŠis the United States of AmericaâŠAmerica is a beast in all meanings of the word. A beast that is hungry for power and hungry for blood."
One of the most potent weapons in the battle of ideas against terrorism is the fact that in most societies terrorism is spurned and despised. If we want to defeat terrorism, then we have to delegitimize terrorists and their apologists. The mouthpiece of Hezbollah, al-Manar, is into death, not health. Neither deserves the respectability and legitimacy that they so clearly crave. Yet thanks to WHO, and by extension its UN superiors, terrorist media have been given an international seal of approval. The message: smoking may be bad for your health, but suicide bombing is good for your soul.
Avi Jorisch is the executive director of the Coalition Against Terrorist Media (www.stopterroristmedia.org), a project of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, where he is a senior fellow. He is the author of Beacon of Hatred, Inside Hizballah's Al-Manar Television.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 1:33:19 PM ||
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After [the] Tsunami there were no incidents of any kind in the Malacca Straits for two months. However, attacks have resumed since 28.02.2005. In the last two weeks there have been three serious attacks of kidnapping the crew for ransom in [the] Malacca straits. Heavily armed pirates have boarded ships and seized the master and one or two crew members and taken them ashore. Pirates have not stolen any property and sole aim has been to kidnap the crew.
Recently reported incidents
14.03.2005 at 1735 LT in position 04:25.6N — 099:40.7E, Malacca Straits. Several pirates armed with guns in three fishing boats boarded a tug towing a barge. They kidnapped master, c/e [chief engineer] and 3/e [3rd engineer] and escaped. IMB Piracy Reporting Centre alerted Royal Malaysian marine police who sent out patrol boats to escort the tug and barge to port. Whereabouts of the three hostages are unknown.
14.3.2005 at 1336 LT at Chennai outer anchorage, India. A robber climbed up anchor chain of a cable laying ship. Alert crew raised alarm and the robber jumped in to sea and escaped in a boat waiting with five accomplices. Port control informed.
12.03.2005 at 1755 LT in position 03:37.25N - 099:36.75E, 14nm SE of Berhala Island, Malacca straits . Several pirates armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) boarded a tanker underway. They kidnapped master and chief engineer and left. Pirates ordered the crew not to proceed to Belawan which was her next port. Pirates have demanded ransom for demand has been received and whereabouts of hostages are unknown.
11.03.2005 at 1905 UTC in position 01:15N - 104:05.2E, Singapore straits . Persons in three boats attempted to board a bulk carrier underway. Alert crew raised alarm, activated fire hoses and switched on deck lights. After 15 mins attempted boarding was aborted.
08.03.2005 at 1700 LT in position 13:28N - 048:07E, 30 miles off the coast of Yemen, Gulf of Aden. Two fast boats with four men in each boat approached two yachts underway and opened fire aiming at cockpits. Crew of one yacht returned fire and wounded one pirate. One yacht rammed one of the pirate boats and pirates aborted attempt and fled. Both yachts sustained bullet holes and damage to hull. Description of pirate boats — 30 ft length, blue hulled rib cage with outboard motors.
Posted by: Pappy ||
03/16/2005 1:17:29 AM ||
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Predictable drivel from an LLL talking head at the New Yorker. EFL but worth a read as a reminder of the LLL mindset towards the UN that's still so prevalent. "I'm pro-American," Bolton says, as if that required him to be anti-world. Foreshadowing I think they call it.
Negotiation as a way of dealing with rogue states? "I don't do carrots," Bolton says. [Standing ovation!]
It is easy to catalogue the things that John Bolton doesn't "do"—encourage payment of U.N. dues, support the International Criminal Court, strengthen international disarmament treaties. What he does do is less obvious. As Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, he has rightly been given credit for the Proliferation Security Initiative, which attempts to interdict shipments of fissile material and which is supported by sixty nations, including France and Germany. But on his watch North Korea, the chief target of his ire, reprocessed enough plutonium to make six new nuclear weapons. So Bolton's on the hook for the Norks now? I thought it was Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney, the RNC, red state voters, Corporate America, supply siders, Chimpy Bushitler.
Bolton, by contrast, seems averse to compromise, and is apparently committed to the belief that the U.N. and international law undermine U.S. interests. He's perfect!
If he is to be an engine for U.N. reform, he will have to jettison his core values. He will have to work on expanding the Security Council, even though, in 1997, he said, "Leave the veto alone, and leave the Security Council's membership alone." (More recently, he suggested shrinking membership to a single state: his.) He will have to work with European states, even though he believes that "some Europeans have never lost faith in appeasement as a way of life." He will have to coöperate with China, even though he has called for full diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. And, if the Administration is serious about prosecuting the perpetrators of atrocities in Darfur, he will have to allow the Security Council to refer the case to the I.C.C. Ah there it is, the old LLL saw of assuming the correctness of the path while ignoring decades of failed history littering the LLL worldview.
Kofi Annan, speaking in Madrid three days after the nomination, praised Bolton's Proliferation Security Initiative and said that the "most vital" aim of the U.N. should be denying terrorists access to nuclear materials. The Administration did not return the love: instead, Rice sent Annan a letter informing him that the United States had unilaterally withdrawn from yet another international agreement, this one regarding an international court's jurisdiction over the claims of foreigners held in American jails. They're ALL perfect!
At the U.N. last week, the most discussed Boltonism was the claim that if the U.N. building "lost ten stories it wouldn't make a bit of difference." One staffer sighed and said, "He didn't say which ten floors he would like to see disappear. Perhaps that leaves us some room for influence." I'll volunteer to move to New York and replace that staffer when Bolton cans him/her/it.
Posted by: AzCat ||
03/16/2005 1:33:38 AM ||
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Ten stories? Is Bolton referring to the five-story General Assembly building or the 39-story Secretariat building? I'd recommend removing at least five stories from each and then building a wall around what's left.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/16/2005 9:51 Comments ||
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#3
... and then fill the wall with water. I would recommend adding sharks but that would be cruel to the sharks.
#4
Bolton, simply an intelligent Man with clear convictions, obviously unnerves the Moonbats. They must not come into contact with Men in their circles.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 07:07 ||
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#1
Speaking on the first day of the 61st Session of the commission, Cuban official Juan Antonio Fernández charged the HRC "is being shipwrecked by the weight of its increasing lack of credibility and prestige." He characterized the commission as a "sinking ship."
#2
Had to check first that it wasn't Scrappleface. I think that the bozo is probably right, after all, who knows more about Human Rights abuse than the various and sundry dictatorships like Cuba on the panel. Vibrant democracies like the US should tell the panel to go fish and then set Condi's boots to walkin spreading real democracy all over the world. Someday, it may even get to Cuba.
#5
At least 99 journalists are imprisoned throughout the world for reporting the news or expressing their views. Seventy of them are in the countries that are members of the UN Commission on Human Rights for its 61st session. China (with 27 journalists imprisoned), Cuba (21), Eritrea (13) and Nepal (9) are the world¡¯s biggest prisons for the press. China is also currently holding 62 cyber-dissidents.
The 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is taking place from today until 22 April in the Palais des Nations in Geneva.(boxun.com)
#6
And isn't that bastion of inhuman treatment rights Sudan on the comission as well (that is when they can take the time from raping black village girls that is.....).
AUSTRALIA could be the target of the next Jemaah Islamiah attack to be launched from possibly Indonesia or the Philippines, new intelligence has warned.
Terrorism experts claim JI is rapidly building its support base in South-East Asia, effectively compensating for al-Qaeda losses in Afghanistan.
Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd told Parliament yesterday new terror intelligence suggested the Philippines and Indonesia as likely launch bases for attacks against Australian interests.
Experts told Mr Rudd that JI was providing terror training to smaller outfits in the two countries and growing its membership base.
"The reality is that JI is now acting more like al-Qaeda," Mr Rudd said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:43:30 AM ||
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INDONESIAN troops in West Papua are using money set aside for aid to the province to attack rebels, head of the province's Baptist church said today.
President of the West Papua Baptist Church, the Reverend Sofyan Yoman, said investigations by the church showed the Indonesian military has been siphoning off money from the province's Special Autonomy Fund. The fund, which includes money contributed by international donors, supports humanitarian projects.
"The special autonomy funds are being used for military operations," Mr Yoman told SBS's Dateline program to be screened tonight.
"According to the information I have obtained on the ground, the total amount is two and a half billion rupiah ($338,000)."
Mr Yoman said international donors to Indonesia such as Australia should pressure Jakarta to investigate the corruption claims, as well as secure access for human rights officials to visit areas where recent military operations have occurred.
"The regional government secretary has announced that they have used funds of approximately 19 billion (rupiah) to pay for medicine and food," he said.
"But the facts on the ground are that people are starving and dying. Many of them are out in the jungle. Who is that money being given to?"
Human rights activists in West Papua's Central Highlands secretly filmed footage showing villages which had been ransacked and destroyed by the Indonesian military, leaving an estimated 6000 people homeless.
A militia informant told the program the Indonesian military (TNI) were building up militias and storing ammunition in roadside food stalls.
"I am convinced that the TNI is preparing militias ... and that at some stage these militias will become a force used to attack the community as happened in East Timor," he said.
"We are very worried about this."
Mr Yoman said Indonesian authorities had a policy to resettle large numbers of Muslim immigrants in the territory to dilute its Christian majority and inflame religious tensions.
The program said that among the settlers were members of the terror group Laskar Jihad, which has been involved in attacking Christians on the island of Ambon.
A member of the group told Dateline that West Papua had up to 500 dedicated followers and training camps.
"The truth of Islam had to be realised so we had to wage Jihad against those who wanted to destroy Islam, whether that be people, or places of worship," he said.
"We were taught how to estimate the strength of the religious communities in Sorong, place of worships, Christian and others.
"We were also taught to observe where the Christian neighbourhoods were in Sorong."
He said the group's leaders openly discussed their allegiance to terror network al-Qaeda and that al-Qaeda received regular reports on Laskar Jihad's activities in West Papua.
Indonesian ministers are due to hold high-level talks in Canberra tomorrow on a range of issues in the lead-up to a visit by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:31:58 AM ||
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Andang, better known by his alias Commander Robot, and Sabdula, alias Commander Global, were allegedly involved in a 2000 raid on a Malaysian island resort of Sipadan in which 21 Western and Asian hostages were snatched. Global was also behind a 2001 mass kidnapping of several tourists, including three Americans, from a Palawan resort, among other kidnappings. Limbong, alias Commander Kosovo, was on trial for the Feb. 27, 2004 firebombing of a passenger ferry that claimed more than 100 lives the country's worst terrorist attack as well as the 2001 Palawan kidnapping. Two of three Americans in that Palawan raid were killed while in captivity. One of them was allegedly beheaded by Kosovo.
Kosovo was involved in a mass kidnapping of dozens of schoolchildren and teachers in Sumisip, Basilan, in 2000. He was arrested last year along with five other Abu Sayyaf suspects who were allegedly planning a wave of bomb attacks on several civilian targets in Metro Manila. One of them had a list of alleged bombing targets, including the US and Israeli embassies, malls, an oil depot near Malacañang, Manila's airports, Congress, a power plant north of the capital, churches, passenger ships, hotels and television stations.
Most of the Abu Sayyaf's kidnappings including the Sipadan and Palawan raids were allegedly planned by Global. He had a P5-million bounty on his head and was considered by security officials to be the Abu Sayyaf's mastermind. Global was arrested in 2002 along with two other Abu Sayyaf members in General Santos City. He was also believed to be the brains behind the 1994 raid on the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, the Abu Sayyaf's first major attack that put them in the headlines. Fifty-seven people were killed.
Police and military sources say Global had contacts with Indonesian Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, an alleged bomb maker of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian arm of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. In July 2003, Al-Ghozi escaped undetected from a Camp Crame cell, bringing huge embarrassment to the government. He was killed in a shootout with troops in North Cotabato a few months later that year.
Among the three prison uprising leaders, Robot is one of the better known Abu Sayyaf figures because of the retarded nickname Sipadan abductions. But he was not originally in the Abu Sayyaf's roster. He only made it into the ranks because of the size of his bandit group. Even before he reached the peak of his infamy, he was already known as Robot because he loved to dance the strut, a robotic dance popular in the early 1980s. He started as a janitor at the Sulu capitol during his younger years. He later became one the most sought-after bodyguards of Sulu politicians and warlords in the 1980s because of his retarded nickname tough-guy reputation. But he did not keep his job because he sold guns that were issued to him. He later had to flee to the mountains and hide from his former masters for selling the guns. Robot was captured by troops in a December 2003 clash, in which he was wounded in both legs. One leg was later amputated and the other inmates started calling him "Commander Funky Chicken" behind his back..
The deaths of Robot, Kosovo, and Global have whittled down the number of key Abu Sayyaf figures left for security forces to hunt down among them, Khaddafy Janjalani, Radulan Sahiron and Jainal Sali, alias Abu Solaiman. Sali was in telephone contact with the prison uprising's three leaders, according to state prosecutor Leo Dacera. Last month, Sali went on the radio claiming responsibility for the Valentine's Day bombings that killed 13 people and wounded over 100 in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Makati. "We will find any means to inflict more harm to your people's lives and properties, Allah willing," he said in a statement read over the telephone. "We will not stop until we get justice for the countless Muslim lives and properties that your people have destroyed. May the almighty Allah punish your nation again through our hands."
This article starring:
ABU SOLAIMAN
Abu Sayyaf
ALHAMSER LIMBONG
Abu Sayyaf
COMANDER GLOBAL
Abu Sayyaf
COMANDER KOSOVO
Abu Sayyaf
COMANDER ROBOT
Abu Sayyaf
FATHUR ROHMAN AL GHOZI
Abu Sayyaf
FATHUR ROHMAN AL GHOZI
Jemaah Islamiyah
GHALIB ANDANG
Abu Sayyaf
JAINAL SALI
Abu Sayyaf
KHADAFY JANJALANI
Abu Sayyaf
NADJMI SABDULA
Abu Sayyaf
RADULAN SAHIRON
Abu Sayyaf
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/16/2005 12:02:13 AM ||
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#1
Don't worry Sali. God willing, you will be following your "dearly" departured homies shortly.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front said yesterday that although the slain Abu Sayyaf inmates were considered criminals, they had inalienable human rights granted to them by law, including the United Nations Charter. The Abu Sayyaf detainees should have been given the right to due process, speedy trial, food and water, and to practice their religious belief, according to Mohammad Ameen, secretary of the office of MILF chairman Al Hadj Murad on the MILF website luwaran.com.
Fr. Robert Reyes, an activist Catholic priest, meanwhile blamed the PNP's "apparent lack of patience" for the violent resolution of the hostage crisis. Reyes said new Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Arturo Lomibao must remedy the "attitudinal problem" of the police. "There is an attitudinal problem in the PNP," he said. "It is a bad start for Lomibao. He should rectify himself. He should train his men to become good negotiators." Reyes said Lomibao also should improve on the PNP's intelligence gathering to prevent a repeat of the hostage-taking incident. "(The PNP) knew about it (the jailbreak plot) last December," he said. "But having known about it does not exonerate them. Who is showing better intelligence here? In the few times that Abu Sayyaf bandits have tried to escape, they have shown better intelligence." A new wave of violence could occur in Mindanao and possibly in Metro Manila following the assault, Reyes said.
Except the head cheezes are all Tango Uniform. How will the faithful know where to explode?
This article starring:
AL HADJ MURAD
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Arturo Lomibao
Fr. Robert Reyes
MOHAMAD AMIN
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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"Criminals have rights too"
So did their victims, but y'all don't give a rat's ass about them, do you?
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Joel Virador yesterday raised questions about the killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, who was among the hostage takers at the MMRC. Virador said he learned from Andang, when he celebrated Eid'l Fitr with Moro detainees last year, about the alleged involvement of civilian and military officials in collusion with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in numerous terrorist activities in Mindanao. He said Andang had told him the kidnapping of Jeffrey Schilling was actually staged and that the American was actually a CIA agent providing training to the Abu Sayyaf. Virador said many of the Moro detainees, who were mostly Tausug, also told him they were tortured by the military into confessing to the crimes with which they were charged. "The rash and inordinate use of force by the police and military to resolve the hostage crisis has effectively quashed any prospect of determining the real reasons behind the incident," he said. "It has also imperiled the resolution of numerous pending cases lodged against the detainees, especially considering that most of them could have been falsely accused and used as unwilling scapegoats."
"Pure as the driven snow, they wuz...and now they're dead at the hands of an inhuman killing machine!"
The detainees also decried that they had languished in jail for more than four years because of continued inaction by the Department of Justice, he added.
Languishing away, no gun sex for months at a time. Leading lonely, empty lives, in which a beleagured Robot was forced to call his friends on the outside and instruct them to have eight safehouses ready for himself and the lads...
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
...You'd think he'd have had a few fembots waiting for him...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/16/2005 0:07 Comments ||
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Yes disasemble.
Posted by: Johny Five ||
03/16/2005 2:23 Comments ||
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Between conjuring up fantasies about Uncle Sam's doings and stealing government money, Filipino politicians are clearly earning their keep.
All of which you would have guessed from reading bits and pieces of the Belmont Club but Greg Sheridan puts it together in a respectable and scholarly way. Philippines prisons are places where inmates devote nearly limitless ingenuity to devising mind-boggling schemes. It's a place where inmates implant plastic pellets in their Johnsons using razor blades, merthiolate and ignorance; it's a place where inmates have passed messages to each other using cockroaches tethered to thread; it's a place where people play a game of 'attract the fly' by betting on which coin a fly will choose to light upon in the toilets. It's a place where your life depends on your shiv and the guys you've chosen as your friends. Poetry has been written and forgotten within its walls. It is a place of closely held ritual, where by tradition all prisoners beat their cups against the bars when a man is led to the electric chair. It is as alien to the Philippine ruling elite as the surface of Mars.
I can imagine the Abu Sayyaf assaulting the police raiders in the teargas clouds, running with that peculiar comedic gait characteristic of people sprinting in flip-flops, lighting up the mattresses with a spluttering match possessed with the indomitable spirit of Bahala Na (I don't give a damn) and the cops shooting them down in the same part. One day, after the action has died down in the Middle East, popular culture may turn its attention to the Second Front against terror in Southeast Asia. Instead of the desert the images will be of small boats flitting among islets under a whitening moon and of strange chases in stinking cities between grotesques that would do justice to the Army of Darkness. Kipling would have been the writer of choice to capture the atmosphere, only he is seventy years dead.
#8
Wretchard quotes the Left Wing Philippine Inquirer spinning the raid this way:
Their (the Abu Sayyaf ) deaths also mean that they have escaped trial and, more importantly, put any information that they possessed irretrievably beyond the government's reach. ... And the shrugging continued when other things were pointed out, such as the dangers posed by having firearm-bearing guards in close proximity to the Abu Sayyaf prisoners. ... Human rights activists, for one, have been battling for years against overcrowding in our jails, which puts underage offenders in close proximity to hardened criminals, and which makes it even more difficult to properly isolate dangerous inmates such as captured members of the Abu Sayyaf. ... The fact is that the Abu Sayyaf won yet another round against the government. Its captured members died with guns blazing, drawing the world's attention to their cause and their refusal to let their detention circumscribe their actions.
#9
From the opposite perspective Wretchard quotes Max Soliven:
When the gunsmoke â and tear gas â cleared, the most notorious kidnappers-killers-and-bombers were dead: the bully Alhamzer Manatad Limbong, alias Bro. "Kosovo" who had been identified by Gracia Burnham as one of their cruel kidnappers, suspected of masterminding the SuperFerry 14 bombing which killed 110 helpless passengers, and triggered off the motorbike "bomb" in Magutay, Zamboanga City, which killed US M/Sgt. Mark Jackson, and seriously wounded US Capt. Mike Hummel in October 2002; Ghalib Andang, alias Commander "Robot" who had led the gang which kidnapped foreign tourists and Filipinos from the Malaysian tourist isle of Sipadan, and raped women hostages repeatedly, humiliating the Estrada government for months and collecting millions of dollars in ransom; and Nadzmi Sabdullah, alias Commander "Global", the noisy spokesman of the Sipadan kidnap caper. Also slain was ASG detainee Hasbi Dais alias Lando, who had conducted the Monday "negotiations" and rejected all the governmentâs calls for the groupâs peaceful surrender.
Sounds like there were not enough Fat Ladies Singing on yesterday's announcement
Serious but sporadic clashes opposed Tuesday many young Iranians to security and police forces, leaving several injured, according to eyewitnesses.
"Young boys and girls, angry at the decision of the Prosecutor for Tehran and the Islamic Revolution tribunals to ban traditional and popular festivities of "chahar shanbeh souri", or the last Wednesday of the Iranian Year, fought with Law Enforcement Forces in several areas of Tehran, shouting slogans against the Islamic Republic and some of the regime's senior leaders like Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i", witnesses reported.
A pre-Islamic tradition, the "chahr shanbeh souri", meaning the Wednesday Festivity is celebrated throughout the nation by all Iranians of all ethnic and religions by preparing bonfires in the streets or in public parks and houses, jumping over the fire chanting "my yellowishness to you, your reddishness to me", meaning one throw all its misfortunes, miseries, bad health and troubles, represented with the yellow colour, -- that of illness — met in the past year to the fire in exchange of the red colour, that represents health, wealth and good luck etc..
Immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the new clerical masters of Iran, in order to islamise the nation banned all pre-Islamic traditions, including the Now Rooz, or the New Year.
The decision met with a national resistance from the population and after years of unabated efforts coupled with uninterrupted propaganda, the clerics softened their attitude and let people celebrate the festivities by closing their eyes.
Witness said eth the exception of some major cities like Shiraz, where the local authorities had arranged and prepared special places for the bonfires, there were clashes between the population with the LEF and other forces urged by the officials to stop people from performing the ceremonies.
In the north eastern city of Tabriz, at least 100 demonstrators were rounded up and arrested by plainclothes men belonging to the Ansar Hezbollah pressure group, sources reported, adding that at least two young girls were badly beaten up.
According to some witnesses from different places in the capital, the population prepared bonfires in the streets and exploded fire crackers, some of them as strong as hand grenade from early as in the afternoon.
The authorities said as a result of the fire crackers and bonfires, at least 2 people were killed and more than 40 others were taken to hospitals, with injuries due to the fire.
But informed sources said most of the injured had been beaten up by plain clothes security men dispatched by the Judiciary.
"The result was clashes with the police resulting in huge traffic jams, allowing people, mostly young ones, to chant anti-regime and anti-clerics slogans, with "Referendum, this is the wish of the people" as the main leitmotiv", one eyewitness told Iran Press Service.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:59:27 AM ||
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#2
Lol - the Mullahs are the most clueless 'tards ever to try to rule a large population. Total fools.
This "tradition" sounds incredibly benign - but they just can't seem to STFU, these days. Keep it up. Beat up lots of people. Every single beating victim will make you 50 enemies - at least, with these extended family thingys, it might be 5x that. 99% of those you beat up will heal - except for the burning hatred for the New Savak. For every one that dies, well now, there will be hundreds in that clan who hear about it and take offense... maybe even the blood oath variety. Hard-earned mannah from heaven.
If time allows - and they continue to be themselves, i.e. petty dictatorial morons, they will, indeed, be swinging from the lampposts - sooner or later. They could not be more helpful to our efforts to find Persians who want them toppled. I hope we're busy hooking up with these people. Goss, baby -- spend some time on this - it will be very important very soon.
is that, this year, the Persian New Year celebrations included people holding pictures of anti-mullarky figures and many people chanting for a referendum (essentially a yes/no vote on the current system).
Having something positive to be for, as well as potential leaders of a new govt. is very, very good news.
As far as the CIA's job, probably for now if they just made sure the opposition has cell phones and that opposition radio gets good reception, that might be enough to take the opposition to the next level.
#5
..the Persian New Year celebrations included people holding pictures of anti-mullarky figures and many people chanting for a referendum (essentially a yes/no vote on the current system).
If these people honestly believe that voting no en masse is going to result in the Mullahs voluntarily relinquishing their hold on the country, they're in for a big disappointment.
WASHINGTON — US President George W. Bush said yesterday that Hezbollah could "prove" it is not a terrorist group by disarming and not challenging the Middle East peace process. Asked whether he supported a political role for Hezbollah in Lebanon, Bush replied: "We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, and I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they're not by laying down arms and not threatening peace."
This is sublime ...
Bush's comments came as he met in his Oval Office Jordan's King Abdullah to discuss Iraq, democratic reforms in the Middle East and efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "One of our concerns, which his majesty and I discussed, is that Hezbollah may try to derail the peace process between Israeli and the Palestinians," said the US president.
"And it's very important that this peace process go forward, for the sake of the Palestinians, for the sake of the Israelis, and for the sake of all the people in the region," said Bush.
"So, we might just have to kill them all, unless they surrender their arms and save their lives," he added carefully.
"Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organisation by the US because of terrorist activities in the past," said the president.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2005 12:08:37 AM ||
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Bush should have brought up the 242 Marines murdered in Beruit in 1983 by Hizb'Allah, and that it was over 20 years ago, but we do not let murder go. A little nuanced subtilty.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 1:46 Comments ||
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#2
I think this is classic W. The onus is on them to prove they aren't terrorists by:
1) Not interfering in the peaceful exit of Syria from Leb and the re-birth of Leb democracy
2) Not interfering in the Israeli-Paleo situation
This, of course, will be unacceptable to the MMs. What's the point of funding these asstards if you can't use them to stir up trouble and do your nasty bidding? Nasrallah's totally screwed. There is the Rock and the Hard Place...
Cause trouble - and invite "suppression". Don't cause trouble and you're out of a job and prolly #1 on the Hit Parade of the new MM-backed leader.
#6
After the huge pro-Lebenon rally, I can't see how Hizbullah can think that we would allow them to stop the peace process. That being said they are not stable people, just look at their rally and the anti-Syrian rally. One was violence based and full of threats, the other was CALLS for reform and departure of Syrian forces. Hell even the Phrench were smart enough to cast their lot witht he side of freedom. I suspect that days once the elections are held, Hizbullah will realize (through the polls) that they are not the majority party and hold less sway with the people. When that happens the MM can't keep the charade of being for the 'People'.
#7
Let's say Hezbollah is linked to the killing of Hariri or Hezbollah causes another suicide bombing in Israel. Then what does Mr. Bush say when Hezbollah party members are elected?
#8
Oh, they'll try to keep the charade up: look at how long the American Democrats have kept up pretenses.
However, it's not a problem for Hizbullah to regain majority party status: just shoot enough of the PRESENT majority members to intimidate the others into silence, then PROCLAIM that they are the majority party.
DAMASCUS — Syrian authorities prevented a human rights activist from travelling to Egypt to attend a forum on Arab political reforms, his group said yesterday. The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said in a statement that Syrian security forces on Saturday banned Mohammed Da'edoun, the head of the organization, from travelling.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2005 12:09:33 AM ||
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LONDON - Iran is prepared to offer the United States a half share in any future nuclear programme to demonstrate it is not pursuing atomic weapons, a senior Iranian official was quoted on Wednesday as saying.
Lookee, Fred, a 1968 Ford Falcon, just as up to date as the Iranian nuclear programme ...
The Financial Times said it was unclear how far the remarks of Hossein Kazempour, Iranian governor to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an energy adviser to the government, represented the policy of Teheran. "I am telling you that the Americans can come and have 50-50 (of an Iranian nuclear programme)," Kazempour was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "This offer is on the table. But they have their suspicions. This could be removed by their presence (in the programme)."
Don't say 'remove' around GWB, he might take you up on it.
In a policy shift last week, the United States offered Iran economic incentives to try to persuade it to scrap nuclear work which could be used to make atomic bombs. Washington said it would drop its opposition to Iran's membership of the World Trade Organisation and the sale of civilian aircraft parts to Teheran as part of a coordinated strategy with the European Union. Iran has dismissed the US offer as insignificant. Failure to abandon any sensitive nuclear activities would see Iran's case referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions, US officials say.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Failure to abandon any sensitive nuclear activities would see Iranâs case referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions, US officials say.
#2
Hossein Kazempour
Sounds like his name came from Fred's anonymous comments name algorithm. The number is missing. It should be 7734, which is "hell" upside down, see:
Hossein Kazempour7734
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 1:49 Comments ||
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#3
Bribing the wrong country. Try calling Chirac and TotalElfFina.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 2:50 Comments ||
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#6
This is just another "muddy the waters to buy more time" move. They must be getting close to having a bomb because they are pulling out all the stops to gain time. I think W should take them up on it just to see their reaction.
It's simple: we got the best German Scientists at the end of WW-II. We built the nuke program that worked, first - I saw the movie. The only way the Russkies ever got one was by stealing it from us and our Germans... here the movie was all wishy-washy and namby-pamby about it cuz it was made by LLL PC Twitters from Hollyweird, after all. So I read some books and know better than the Hollyweird Producers and Directors - they stole it and we burned the right fucking asshole spies for it. And then we went and shared with our allies. Duh. So Khan and the PakiWaki's got theirs by the same route as the Russkies, though they stole it from our lax pissant soon-to-be-non-allies and they just up 'n gave it to the Mad Mullahs. A Muslims First, thingy.
Why would we want to be party to a start-up operation by ham-handed amateurs? We have the best nuke pgms on the planet - and we don't even need to import Germans, anymore. Shit. these boys are spitting in the wind, as usual, jumping up 'n down, waving their arms, hoping we'll look where they point, rather than where our experience and intel tell us.
#9
The Iranian Ayatollahs are obviously throwing up anything against the wall to see if it sticks. Muhammadan spin has an entrainment value same as the Russian and Chinese communists (capitalist running dogs) used too. What's not funny at all is these Allah intoxicated flakes might soon have nukes to back up their adventurism and ravings.
#12
Wait a minute guys. This sounds like a good deal. If we are half owners than we get to staff half the employees at all levels and at all facilities. Now if I recall rightly there are a lot of nuclear trained folk in the Army Navy and Air Force (don't know about the Marines) right?
This would make inspections pretty easy, no?
Now, all these folk would have to live there on bases or something. And they'd have to interact with the locals.....
#13
Uh oh, Alan seems to think the MM bait is "real". Better get his pills, Ethel, before he starts packing, heh. ;-)
Not a chance in the world this was, in any sense of the word, a "serious" offer. Just more rope-a-dope stalling and obfuscation, as Spot pointed out in #6.
#16
AlanC: Yeah, that's the first thing I thought too. This "offer" was made by an energy advisor. I don't think he's got the actual authority to see it through, even if Bush took him up on it (which he won't).
"the United States offered Iran economic incentives to try to persuade it to scrap nuclear work which could be used to make atomic bombs"
In other words, this is your last chance before this situation ends up in the Security Council. I already know which way John Bolton is swaying. The next step after the SC, should be scarier for the MM's.
#18
Cheez Whiz guys, I thought that you were all smart enough to see the "facetious" "/facetious tags there. ;^)
But it would still be a lot of laughs to take them up on it with a 50/50 demand and that our military types get to run our half.
Re: rope a dope.....since we all know that GW is a master, and the MMs seem to use this (at least when dealing with the nEUtered) what kind of fight do you get? Unfortunately I think that MMs have the clock on their side since their plans go forward as we speak.
#19
AlanC - I was just funnin' - no offense intended - I know you know, lol!
As for the clock, my take is simple... There are 3 main options:
1) Airstrikes on all know facilities involved in nuke (and prolly missile) production. This could be US or Israel, though the latter would be, by capabilities and logistics, much more limited in scope / effectiveness.
2) Decap + #1. Take out the MM's, the Rep Guard, the Doodah Council, Basij, Army, Navy, Air Force, everything that has anything to do with MM power. Maybe even their Toyota Dealerships, the pricks.
3) Cooperate with internal unrest to overthrow the MM's and apply any part of #1 / #2 that is mutually agreeable... Special note here: to be honest, I don't doubt we will probably just do #1 and #2 regardless of whether they agree to them or not, as #1 MUST be done and #2 would probably be agreeable anyway... arm and assist the "revolution" cooperatively.
So time isn't a show-stopper, it's the chair we'll choose when the music stops playing.
#20
The MMs are playing a world class game of chicken. They are betting that we or Israel don't wack the plants. Meanwhile they are moving forward. It's gonna be showdown time, soon. The Bushehr reactor will have to be wacked before it is loaded with fuel, for one thing. Then you have the other track on the uranium concentrators. Both tracks have to be killed. There is no way to stop the inevitable chain of events unless the MMs are toppled, or the plants are destroyed. That is why we call them MMs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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#21
Hey .com, wish this was a funny situation.
My take is that we'll do #1 when the music stops and then try and use #3 to accomplish #2.
I'm not crazy about targeting the leaders without a more concrete PR push then that they're bad guys.
As a spy novel I read many years ago said...we don't kill them just because they're bad, cause how would we know when to stop?
But I doubt if it will be. Succulent bunch of carrots, but the decision's made in Teheran.
President Bush yesterday left open the possibility that the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah could be part of the political mainstream in Lebanon despite its terrorist past. "We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization," Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Jordan's King Abdallah. "I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they are not by laying down arms and not threatening peace."
Yeah. They might all reform and become choirboys or something...
Hezbollah has been involved in Lebanese politics for over a decade, with an extensive social welfare program and nine lawmakers in the current 128-seat parliament. But it has steered away from major decision-making in national politics as its army — the most organized and best-armed faction in Lebanon — focused on fighting Israel. Lebanon considers Hezbollah a legitimate resistance movement that led the guerrilla war against Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Lebanon considers Hezbollah a large army of gunnies who can be expected to wreak havoc on the country if they're messed with.
Lately, Hezbollah has been flexing its political muscle by organization two huge pro-Syrian rallies.
... thereby demonstrating that its sympathies lie with Damascus, rather than with Beirut...
A UN Security Council resolution demands that Hezbollah disarm and that Syria, which has 14,000 troops in Lebanon and has enormous control over political affairs there, withdraw its soldiers. Some European leaders and some in Lebanon have been urging the United States to back moves to nudge Hezbollah into mainstream, legitimate political life in Lebanon. Bush appeared open to the idea, emphasizing the chance for Hezbollah to change its ways even as he issued new warnings to the group. "One of our concerns, the majesty and I discussed, is that Hezbollah may try to derail the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians," Bush said. "Hezbollah has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States because of terrorist activities in the past."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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In about 20 years, they'll be part of the mainstream in Europe.
Crown Prince Abdullah will pay a three-day visit to France from March 19 before leaving for Algiers to attend the Arab League Summit, press reports said quoting high-level sources. Prince Abdullah will hold talks with French President Jacques Chirac and his top aides on major issues including Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine, Al-Riyadh Arabic daily reported. "The crown prince's talks in Paris will focus on the situation in Lebanon following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri as well as on the withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country," the newspaper said. President Chirac contacted Prince Abdullah about two weeks ago to discuss the consequences of Hariri's assassination in a central Beirut bomb blast on Feb. 14. After his talks in France, Prince Abdullah will lead the Saudi delegation to the annual summit of Arab heads of state scheduled for March 22-23.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said Tuesday he was in Washington as a "friend of democracy" and to promote friendship between Lebanon and the U.S. Speaking upon his arrival in the American capital, where he is due to meet U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday, Sfeir said: "We want for Lebanon to live in peace, to be a free, sovereign and independent country, a country for all people. Let's give it an opportunity to regain its special status within the international community."
It has been understood that Sfeir's visit is aimed at convincing the Bush administration to soften its stance toward the Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah, which the U.S. deems a terrorist organization. But Sfeir said his visit to the U.S., which he described as a "democratic country par excellence," was aimed at promoting "brotherly relations between Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon and the people of this great and noble nation." He added: "The message I am carrying is that of love, respect and appreciation for the United States. We appreciate and thank all those who can help Lebanon regain its sovereignty and independence."
The Patriarch is on a one-week trip that will take him to Washington and New York for meetings with top-level U.S. and UN officials. Commenting on the ever-changing political developments in Lebanon, Sfeir said he was "proud the Lebanese people are determined to live side by side and work together for a better future." He added that he had thanked God "because we have moved toward a true reconciliation, peace, dialogue and unity."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 9:03:48 PM ||
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#1
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said Tuesday he was..
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Gen Michel Aoun said Monday he will return to Lebanon from exile, with plans to foster national reconciliation as Lebanon awaits parliamentary elections. "My return ... will take place in the next weeks," said the former commander of the Lebanese army who fled the country in 1990. Speaking at a news conference in Paris, Aoun indicated he would fix the exact date after a timetable is announced for the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence services from Lebanon. He said it appears "that this condition will be met before the holding of legislative elections." Election dates have not yet been set, but the current parliament's mandate expires May 31.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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America's top general said Wednesday that Afghanistan is secure and the United States is considering keeping long-term bases here as it repositions its military forces around the world.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Taliban religious militia was "essentially in disarray" since failing to disrupt Afghanistan's landmark presidential election last year.
He stressed that a hard core was likely to fight on and Afghanistan remained "a target" for al-Qaida, but he said a reconciliation drive aimed at "non-criminal" Taliban could further weaken the militia.
"Security is very good throughout the country, exceptionally good," Myers told reporters at Kabul airport after talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. commanders.
Myers said no decision had been reached on whether to seek permanent bases on Afghan soil. "But clearly we've developed good relationships and good partnerships in this part of the world, not only in Afghanistan," he said, also mentioning existing U.S. bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
"That'll all be considered as we go forward with the whole global basing construct," he said. "Clearly the United States has an interest in the long-term security and stability in Afghanistan, so we'll be discussing that future relationship."
The Afghan government has said it is seeking a "strategic partnership" with the United States spanning economic and political ties as well as military. It has yet to say whether that would include permanent U.S. bases in the country, which neighbors Iran, Pakistan and oil-rich Central Asia.
Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, who served until Tuesday as the No. 2 U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press last month that the sprawling Soviet-era base at Bagram, north of the capital, "is a place where we see a long-term presence of coalition and, frankly, U.S. capabilities."
Three years after driving out the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, the U.S. military has about 17,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and operates air bases at Bagram, Kandahar in the south and Jalalabad in the east...
#2
Say, Eric, where shall we put that base in Afghanistan?
Oh, I don't know Rich. How about on the west side. Good runways there.
Right. Let's do it...now.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/16/2005 15:45 Comments ||
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#3
If Uncle Sam is in Afghanistan, that ups the odds of being able to run a pipeline from Central Asia (via Afghanistan) through Pakistan. I suspect many of the stans would prefer to broaden their customer base beyond their large and truculent neighbor to the east.
#6
I always knew it was about capitalist, running-dog hegemony over the poor, oppressed peasants who only want to be left alone to their goats! (Or is that with their goats?) It'll be another Viet Nam! The mother of all quagmires! We need a withdrawal plan, now!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 17:21 Comments ||
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#7
These bases will make the troops long for the good old days along the DMZ in Korea. Stand by for more screams when the BRAC list comes out in May. A lot of folks are not going to be happy as bases close in Blue States only to reappear in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, et. al. where the real estate is cheaper, the people friendlier, and the bases more useful. Blue Staters aren't real good at cause and effect.
#8
I would hope that these bases would be used, in more peaceable times, like they were in Germany, to pump billions of dollars into the local economy. In a way, they are like a pebble in the pond, economically, every dollar sent there leveraging as much as $10 in economic improvements.
Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush. The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster — a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies. The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said. The oil industry has sought for more than two decades to get access to what is believed to be billions of barrels of oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northern eastern corner of Alaska. Environmentalists have fought such development and argued that despite improved environmental controls a web of pipelines and drilling platforms would harm calving caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds that use the coastal plain.
Bush has called tapping the reserve's oil a critical part of the nation's energy security and a way to reduce America's reliance on imported oil, which account for more than half of the 20 million barrels of crude use daily. The Alaska refuge could supply as much as 1 million barrels day at peak production, drilling supporters said. "We won't see this oil for 10 years. It will have minimal impact," argued Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a co-sponsor of the amendment that would have stripped the arctic refuge provision from the budget document. It is "foolish to say oil development and a wildlife refuge can coexist," she said. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., argued that more oil would be saved if Congress enacted an energy policy focusing on conservation, more efficient cars and trucks and increased reliance on renewable fuels and expanded oil development in the deep-water Gulf where there are significant reserves. "The fact is (drilling in ANWR) is going to be destructive," said Kerry.
But drilling proponents argued that modern drilling technology can safeguard the refuge and still tap the likely — though not yet certain — 10.4 billion barrels of crude in the refuge. "Some people say we ought to conserve more. They say we ought to conserve instead of producing this oil," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., "But we need to do everything. We have to conserve and produce where we can."
The vote Wednesday contrasted with the last time the Senate took up the ANWR drilling issue two years ago. Then, an attempt to include it in the budget was defeated. But drilling supporters gained strength last November when Republicans picked up three additional seats, all senators who favored drilling in the refuge. Opponents of drilling complained that Republicans this time were trying "an end run" by attaching the refuge provisions to the budget, a tactic that would allow the measure to pass with a majority vote. "It's the only way around a filibuster" which requires 60 votes to overcome, countered Stevens. The 19-million-acre refuge was set aside for protection by President Eisenhower in 1960, but Congress in 1980 said its 1.5 million acre coastal plain could be opened to oil development if Congress specifically authorizes it. Bush, who has urged Congress repeatedly to allow oil companies to tap the refuge's crude, said Wednesday it's "a way to get some additional reserves here at home on the books."
About damm time
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 2:32:37 PM ||
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#1
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CARIBOU???????
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/16/2005 15:34 Comments ||
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Not the part that will be drilled; that looks like a moonscape.
Of course, in a few years, once the pipeline is in, the area will be more "ecologically rich" than it was before, as the caribou and other arctic animals move in to live around the pipeline's warmth, just as they have around the original pipeline.
Whatever "journalist" wrote this is either lazy, a propagandist for the far left, or a lying sack of shit. But I repeat myself.
Oh, by the way - I'll have my caribou rare with plenty of garlic, skip the steak sauce. Take that, PETA!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/16/2005 15:58 Comments ||
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#10
"We won't see this oil for 10 years. It will have minimal impact..."
Well, perhaps if you and your kind haven't blocked this for a decade with this same stupid argument we would already be seeing the benefits from it, you ignorant slut.
#18
Wine with game...I'd go with a Zinfandel or good Pinot. But then, they go good with anything - even corn flakes.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/16/2005 19:13 Comments ||
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#19
"We won't see this oil for 10 years. It will have minimal impact," argued Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash
So my representative finally admits what we have known about her all along: she is a short-sighted Democratic snatch.
Funny how they rant and rave about the necessity of more pollution controls and environmental regulation for the future, but when it comes to having energy or food on the table a few years down the line--it's something we can do without. What a strange mentality.
I had a discussion yesterday with a local surveyor who objected to the pipeline on the grounds that it would (intentionally) be built so low to the ground that elk and caribou wouldn't be able to get under it, thereby disrupting migrations and causing them all to die. It apparently didn't cross his mind that it would be silly for maintenance vehicles to have to drive hundreds and hundreds of miles down the pipeline to get to the other side to do routine inspection and maintenance, which isn't the case anyhow. If you can get a dumptruck under the pipeline, I'm damned certain you can get an elk under it.
#20
Had Reindeer sausage with eggs for breakfast every day for a week when I was last up at the Hotel Captain Cook! Was seriously great! Didn't have any sauce at breakfast, but we washed it down with peppermint schnapps at the ski course.
#21
Asedwich - The Captain Cook in Anchorage? I stayed there for 3 weeks in '79... Still have the 5-egg King Crab Omelet for $15? Lol! Did you ski at Alyeska? Do you have to go up over Turnagain Pass to get to it? I was there on biz - back in the pipeline daze - and my memory is of 20 hour days and sleeping on an office floor about half the time I was there, heh.
#22
As an Alaskan for the past 15 years, it's about dang time. The piece of ANWR they propse drilling represents less than 1% of the entire refuge. The total BS vomited by the dimocratic propaganda machine is incredible.
Currently the Porcipine Caribou herd (that migrates east-west through the Alyeska pipeline) is at an all-time high number. Truth-bells should go off in the heads of all but the criminally insane LLL-dimocrats.
The actual footprint of the drill/pumping sites will likely be measured in hundreds of acres in that postage stamp sized portion of ANWR where they will drill.
As for 8-20 billion barrels of recoverable ...Prudhoe Bay/North Slope was only thought to have a tad less than 10 billion recoverable when they drilled in the 70s. More than 14 billion barrels (nearly 550 billion gallons)have moved through the Pipeline System since start. The volume of oil flowing through the pipeline has decreased from a peak of 2.1 million barrels per day in 1988 to about 1 mbpd today. That still represents 20% of domestic oil production in the US.
#23
Ate caribou three years ago and loved it. My brother and I thought that might be enough to get us to leave Europe for good. I've done it, still waiting for him...
#25
Caribou is tasty. My son got three this fall in NW alaska. Brought me some good meat, heart, and tongue. Good stuff. Lived off of caribou meat for 20 years. PETA all the way, heh!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 23:23 Comments ||
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Prime Minister John Howard refused to rule out sending more Australian troops to Iraq after Italy's surprise decision to pull its 3,000 soldiers from the war-torn country. Australia announced last month that it would deploy an additional 450 soldiers to southern Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian project and train Iraqi troops after the withdrawal of 1,400 Dutch military from the area.
That decision was opposed by most Australians and Howard came under sharp questioning in parliament Wednesday over whether he would again boost the number of Australian troops in Iraq to fill the gap left by the Italian pullout. "We don't have any current plans to increase that number, but I cannot rule out some changes in the future and I don't intend to do so," Howard said, adding that Australia had received no requests for more troops.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer earlier had described the chances of more deployments to Iraq as "highly unlikely". "We don't have any intention of sending any further troops to Iraq at this stage," he said. Italy's contingent was the fourth largest in Iraq after those from the United States, Britain and South Korea. Australia currently has about 400 troops inside Iraq and a further 450 support personnel in the region.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced the withdrawal of his country's troops on Tuesday amid widespread public anger over an incident in which US troops killed an Italian secret service agent who was escorting a freed Italian hostage to Baghdad airport. But Berlusconi said the withdrawal was contingent on "the capacity of the Iraqi government to give itself an acceptable security structure".
Downer said it was too early to say for sure that Italy would actually carry out its withdrawal in the timeframe announced. "We'll have to wait and see what the situation will be, the Italians will make a decision then in light of the circumstances in six months' time," he said. Downer reaffirmed Australia's refusal to set down a timeframe for its troop commitment to Iraq. "It would be catastrophic for the international community, in particular the Americans, ... to abandon the Iraqi community in the wake of their elections and as democracy develops in Iraq -- to abandon them to the insurgents and the terrorists," he said. "That would obviously be an utterly foolish thing to do," he said.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 1:40:55 PM ||
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Even if nothing actually comes of this, it gives Me a warm, fuzzy feeling. There are very few reliable friends in the world, and y'all are one of them.
#2
Ya know, especially after the Lord of the Rings movies, I decided I'd rather visit Australia and New Zealand than France, anyway.... But it's SO far!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 22:10 Comments ||
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EFL: Premier Silvio Berlusconi spoke with President Bush on Wednesday and told him Italy wants to begin a gradual pullout of its 3,000 troops from Iraq as soon as possible, perhaps in September. Berlusconi, one of Washington's most stalwart allies in the war, said the pullout would depend on security conditions in Iraq and would be discussed with the Iraqi government and coalition allies.
Bush said at a Washington news conference Wednesday that he had spoken by telephone with Berlusconi and he understood the desire of U.S. coalition partners to withdraw troops from Iraq. "He wanted me to know there was no change in his policy that any withdrawals would be done in consultation with allies," Bush said. Berlusconi assured him that the Italian withdrawal would be phased and would not undermine "the ability of Iraqis to defend themselves," Bush added. "What you're going to find is that countries will be willing, anxious to get out when Iraqis have got the capacity to defend themselves. And that's the position of the United States: Our troops will come home when Iraq is capable of defending herself."
Berlusconi's phone call came a day after he announced that Italy would start drawing down its 3,000-strong contingent based in the southern city of Nasiriyah in September if security conditions in Iraq permitted. That announcement came amid widespread anger over the recent killing of an Italian officer by U.S. troops. Berlusconi on Tuesday made a reference to Italian public opinion, which is strongly against the war, though he stopped short of saying that was the reason for the pullout. "Premier Berlusconi has reiterated to President Bush the desire to be able to begin a gradual and progressive withdrawal of the Italian military contingent as soon as possible, possibly in September," said a statement Wednesday by the premier's office.
"The premier has confirmed that the possibility will depend on the Iraqi's government increasing ability to take care of the country's security and public order, and in full agreement with the Iraqi government and allied governments."
Berlusconi sent in the Italian contingent after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country. The contingent suffered its 21st casualty there when a soldier accidentally shot himself in the head during target practice, officials said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 1:22:31 PM ||
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Remembering Halabja -- Seventeen Years Since the Massacre
By Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Bureau for International Relations
March 16, 2005
On this sad and tragic day seventeen years ago, the government of Saddam Hussein committed one of modern history's most tragic crimes. The indiscriminant destruction of the town of Halabja with the use of chemical weapons left 5000 men, woman and children slaughtered and more than 10,000 injured... [the slaughter went on for a few more days, but this was the peak slaughter day; also there were other slaughter days in other cities].
In memory of the thousands who died on March 16th 1988, this day should be [but it won't because the MSM, the EU, etc. won't allow it] a day when the world stands against the use and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
[al J has been carrying various 'scholars' who are Halabja deniers ;]
#2
Be suspicious. Like the recent shift in troops in Afghanistan, placing NATO troops between Iran and US troops, I suspect there is more in this than meets the eye. It could be anything from using the troops back home as a PR campaign: "We did very good things and they liked us there!"; to a strategic redeployment, freeing the troops up for duties elsewhere. If nothing else, when they get home, they might as well reorganize those units into a training regiment--their otj experience is priceless to the rest of their military. Last but not least, they get a battle streamer for giving Italy a military victory. They are national heroes.
#3
The Italians did their part. I salute them. They stayed, without complaint, through the elections. They even took a truck bombing that killed 19 Carabinieri. When the muslims carve out their empire in Europe, I will be willing to support the Italians efforts to keep them north and west of the Alps.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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#4
Bu suspicious? Yikes. The job is done and they don't have stomach for the next one, so they're going home. No problem and thanks for helping.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/16/2005 13:11 Comments ||
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#5
Bless them. They have done more than their share.
#8
Did their committments, regardless of the commie hostage episode, our thanks. Not everyone can be an Aussie or Brit
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2005 21:31 Comments ||
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#9
Someone maybe can write again the name of the courageous Italian man who underwent a horrificly unjust death with immeasurable courage and valor. Quattro...?
While I'm at Policy Review... Even if it doesn't really bring any revelation, it might be worth posting, because it contains the word "soteriology" which I truly didn't even know existed. Shame on me.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 ||
03/16/2005 9:59:57 AM ||
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soteriology = the theory of salvation
This is critical to an understanding of Jihad.
Basically, if you die while engaging in Jihad you get a free ticket to heaven. No need to pass GO.
This 'direct ticket' is the motivating force which results in such a high percentage of the world's suicide bombers being moslem.
Very interesting piece about the absolute power of the mass-media cast; add Fonte's transnational progressism, and you've got a winner... I wonder what Atomic Conspiracy will think of this. Btw, found it through its translation at http://www.checkpoint-online.ch, a swiss military site that "gets it", for thoses who speak the language of Dominique Galouzeau aka "de Villepin".
Posted by: Anonymous5089 ||
03/16/2005 9:49:21 AM ||
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#1
As a subscriber to Policy Review I should post the link to them each month.
This month has 2 good articles:
IDEALISM AT THE U.N.
UNDERSTANDING JIHAD
DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE CULTURE WAR helps explain the EU.
and the book review: "Out, Damned Lout" is a must to mail to the leaders of your churches.
(an out take) This surrender, says Anderson, can be seen in any number of the public spaces that once were the domain of Middle England. A tragic example is the church: âThe c of e was the Established Church and the church of the established values. . . . There, until the 1970s you could hear the voice of moderate middle-class values in Received Pronunciation perhaps a retired major and a local solicitor as sidesmen and the gpâs wife reading the lesson.â Now, he says, the Anglican church is just another liberal mouthpiece; the ad-libbed intercessions are âcareless, second-rate toshâ; and sentimentality â anathema to old Middle England â is the âcentral characteristic of the entire service.â Nobody protests this. For that matter, nobody even turns off his cell phone."
#2
Looks like good stuff, but a tad bit long, doncha think? I did save a copy, and will read it on the train, sometime soon.... Will the author tell us how to limit the power of the media?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 11:01 Comments ||
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#3
Excellent article. Goes well with one that Austin Bay linked. The media have really become an unaccountable and unrestrained power. I just hope blogs do them in soon.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/16/2005 15:55 Comments ||
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MOSUL, Iraq (AP) A suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners Thursday, splattering blood and body parts over rows of overturned white plastic chairs. The attack, which killed 47 and wounded more than 100, came as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad said they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government.
Optional
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) Yet again, almost as if scripted, a day of hope for a new, democratic Iraq turned into a day of tears as a bloody insurgent attack undercut a political step forward.
On Thursday, just as Shiite and Kurdish politicians in Baghdad were telling reporters that they overcame a major stumbling block to forming a new coalition government, a suicide attacker set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners in the northern city of Mosul.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/16/2005 17:10 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, and can't keep their agenda out of sight in either piece!
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 17:29 Comments ||
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Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Wednesday denounced terrorist acts targeting Iraqi civilians and kidnapping of foreigner journalists and workers.
"But....."
Brotherhood leader Abdel Majid Thuneibat said, however, the Iraqi people have a legitimate and religious right to resist foreign occupation by all means, including military.
...."It's your duty to kill the infidels, and anyone helping them, and people who look at you funny..."
"We reject terrorist acts targeting civilians and foreign journalists and humanitarian workers in Iraq," Thuneibat told reporters.
"Don't you know they're all on your side, the journalists, I mean.."
He said many criminal acts have been falsely attributed to the Iraqi resistance, such as terrorist attacks against civilians, and "these acts are strongly denounced by the Muslim Brotherhood."
Thuneibat's comments were seen as a response to accusations by Iraqi Shiite leaders that a suicide attack that killed 100 people in Hulla last month was carried out by a Jordanian identified as Raed Banna.
"He wasn't really a Jordanian, or a islamist either. We're all a peaceful sort, trust me.."
This article starring:
ABDEL MAJID THUNEIBAT
Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 9:36:05 AM ||
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The usual have it both ways "legitimate resistance" / "Religion of Peace" bullshit. I'm wondering what took them so long to issue their version since it's the same as all the other Muzzy asshat statements. The Jordanian MB must ride the Muzzy Short Bus.
#2
Abdel and the Muslim Bro'hood jumping' on the Peace Train, eh? Who would have thunk it? Must have read a RB Master of the Obvious comic book.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/16/2005 11:06 Comments ||
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#3
The inability to engage in introspection and recognize crippling inconsistencies make these kinda folks the pathetic beings they are. They sling their Sh?? and actually believe it too! They'd make a great government if they ever had power. Strongly denouncing stuff but never doing much about it seems the M.O. Kinda like Maskhadov in Chechnya saying that the perps behind Breslan (remember Basayev personally took credit) would be put on trial after the war. Uh Huh. And a whole lotta people who you've killed for far less don't get the benefit of a trial. That's real cool. Is it something in the water that makes em all seem to go nutty in the same way?
#4
#1- "The usual have it both ways "legitimate resistance" / "Religion of Peace" bullshit."
Agreed: to Achnod Mageehod Tunethubat and the MSM ass he rode in on, this trite disclaimer is supposed to mask the fact that his little jihadees are all drug addicted homicideophiles on the payroll of an international crime syndicate: Its nothing but sport to them. (nothing but sport and Satan, more like). They probably got bored with WFW, and now have moved on to the harder stuff.
"He said many criminal acts have been falsely attributed to the Iraqi resistance, such as terrorist attacks against civilians, and "these acts are strongly denounced by the Muslim Brotherhood."
But that in itself won't cover it; he denies that Islamicist killers committed the acts in the first place, by issuing the retroactive denunciation by the equally homicidal "Muslim Brotherhood".
Is it any wonder why the LSM eats up this doublespeak-gruel and says "Thank You Sir, May I Have Some More?
Posted by: Annie War ||
03/16/2005 13:43 Comments ||
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#5
The British and the French drew up the "national boundaries" of the Middle East following World War I. There's no reason the United States can't do the same thing after Middle East War II. Countries that "just appeared" can "just disappear". After all, the guy with the biggest stick makes the rules in Arabland, right? I think Bush wins hands down.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/16/2005 14:39 Comments ||
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Iraq's al Qaeda wing said on Wednesday Italian troops "humbled" by insurgent attacks would still be targeted despite Rome's plans to start pulling out from Iraq in September, according to an Internet statement. "We tell those whose might was humbled in Iraq and we tell Italy, the worshipper of the cross, that we will continue to fire bullets at you," said al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The longer Italy stays in Iraq the greater will be its losses," the group's military leader said in a statement posted on Web sites used by Islamic militants. It could not be independently verified. "Jihad (holy war) has started to bear fruit."
They've been reading the world press. With the uproar over the shooting they see a weak link, italian "public opinion".
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of President Bush's staunchest allies, said Tuesday Rome would start to pull its troops out of Iraq in September. Berlusconi said he was in talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about a total exit strategy from Iraq, adding people in both countries wanted their troops to return home.
They also stated it would be when the Iraqis are ready to take over, that part doesn't get much press
Insurgents blew up the headquarters of Italian forces in the southern city of Nassiriya in 2003 killing 19 Italians. Despite strong opposition at home, Berlusconi sent some 3,000 troops to Iraq -- the fourth largest foreign contingent after U.S., British and South Korean forces. Zarqawi's group has claimed Iraq's bloodiest suicide bombings and hostage beheadings in a Sunni-led insurgency against U.S.-led forces and the American-backed government.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2005 9:24:18 AM ||
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Sheesh. Blood in the water, again.
Silvio, baby, haven't you figured it out, yet?
Any perception of weakness attracts them. Think of the most negative traits of the hyena, as defined in human terms. If you fight back and kick ass - they run like the cowardly scum they are. If you flinch, or blink, or appear wounded or weak, or if you attempt to appease - you're toast. You'll be on their hit list from that instant forward.
This has to be obvious to even the most casual observer, by now.
#2
Since when was AQ so selective? Mostly they just blow up anybody that happens to be close. But I suppose they can always kidnap another commie jounalist.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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#3
Iraq's al Qaeda wing said on Wednesday Italian troops "humbled" by insurgent attacks would still be targeted despite Rome's plans to start pulling out from Iraq in September, according to an Internet statement.
More evidence that appeasement doesn't pay off. At least not in a positive manner.
#4
"We tell those whose might was humbled in Iraq and we tell Italy, the worshipper of the cross, that we will continue to fire bullets at you,"
We will maker pocketa pocketa pocketa sounds and dress up in our fun suits of cammie and wear our masks liker the IRA. We will ride into the dessert like our great grannies did! We're AraBs! We're Not haVing A CluE!
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to press President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for more information on the help a rogue Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan, is believed to have given Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Speaking on the eve of talks that Ms. Rice plans to hold with Indian and Pakistani leaders on the first leg of her trip to Asia, the official said that Pakistan had been helpful in the past on sharing information from its own investigation of Dr. Khan, but that the administration wanted more. "We have been getting good cooperation from the Pakistanis," the official said when asked about the investigation into Iran. "They have been pursuing this. Of course we always want more. We always discuss nonproliferation with the Pakistanis. I am sure we will discuss it this time. I am sure A. Q. Kahn will come up."
The official did not specify what sort of information the United States wanted. But there is heightened interest in what European and American officials have said was a document recently turned over to international investigators showing that Iran had discussed with Dr. Khan's network the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons technologies some 18 years ago. A European diplomat said last month that the discussions had included an offer by Mr. Khan's representatives to provide technologies that included the process of casting uranium metal, a critical step toward making a bomb.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:30:50 AM ||
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I prefer Kingsford charcoal briquettes, myself. Need the tongs, Dr Rice? I think he's getting singed on the edges, there.
Two years after US tanks thrust into Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, the Middle East is no safer but is being swept by political changes challenging a decades-old stalemate of power. The US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, triggered two simultaneous and contradictory phenomena in the region, by inviting increased terrorist activity whilst prodding other regimes into taking steps towards democratic reform. The past two years have seen the spread of extremist organisations such as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network to previously stable countries such as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.
Many Iraqis, even among those who welcomed the US intervention, now resent the presence of troops, which have failed to bring stability, security and basic services to large swathes of the territory. Bomb attacks, including suicide operations, are a daily occurrence in the troubled country, where both US and Iraqi forces have failed to bring several lawless areas under their control. With the emergence in Iraq of the first Shiite government in 1,000 years and the two most powerful countries in the region being non-Arab Israel and Iran, the old order of a Middle East dominated by Sunni Arabs is becoming a thing of the past.
The reaction of radical Sunni organisations in Iraq and elsewhere is key to the stability of the region. In a recent report, the International Crisis Group argued Washington's hamfisted policies in the region risked radicalising the population and bolstering the Jihadist brand of Islamic activism. But the United States claims that its forceful approach has paid off and cites as the latest example the massive popular movement in Lebanon demanding an end to Syria's 30-year-old occupation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:28:18 AM ||
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"...basic Arab grievances..."
Lol! Who GIVES a shit? The Sunnis are the assholes of Saudi Arabia. They are the assholes of Iraq. The Shi'a (the clergy, anyway) are the assholes of Iran. I think the message is becoming clearer - and it's not the one the author wants to illuminate.
In the Arab world, whomever has the power abuses it, works to perfect pure raw arrogance, and proudly becomes pluperfect assholes. Their privilege, if in power. This is why they resent the hell out of America and call us arrogant - they obviously do believe we are, mainly because that's what they'd be, if in our position.
On the grievances thing, well, as usual you're mad at the wrong people and for the wrong reasons. Israel? 95% of you asshats live hundreds of miles from there, never even been to Jerusalem, know any Israelis, detest the Paleos, and a change in their fate will have zero effect upon your lives. It's your own Mullahs, and Kings, and Dictators, and Kleptocracies that have made your lives hopeless, pointless, failures. Got nothing to do with Israel or America - it's all right there at home. Grab a clue, fuckwits.
A new research study released Tuesday refutes commonly accepted assertions about the popularity of madrassas in Pakistan. The report, titled "Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A look at the Data," is the first study to use publicly available and nationally representative data sources to examine the enrollment trends of Pakistani students at religious schools.
Madrassas provide basic training to would-be Muslim clerics, teaching them how to read the Koran and lead daily and weekly prayers. Professor Asim Ijaz Khwaja of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and co-authors Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das and Tristan Zajonc found that madrassas account for less than 1 percent of the total student enrollment in the country, with 200,000 children enrolled fulltime before 2001. They also concluded that there is no evidence of a dramatic increase in madrassa enrollment in recent years. These findings contradict many recent press accounts. For example, between March 2002 and July 2002, figures for madrassa enrollment cited in The Washington Post tripled from 500,000 to 1.5 million.
WaPo said that? I knew we should have checked it out.
A report about madrassas by the International Crisis Group in 2002 puts madrassa enrollment between 1 million and 1.7 million. The report claimed that this number represents 33 percent of all Pakistani children enrolled in schools, "when in fact it is less than 1 percent," the authors say. Similar numbers were reported in other major newspapers and influential publications like the 9-11 commission report. "We felt compelled to examine the data carefully to determine precisely the popularity of madrassas in Pakistan," Khwaja said. "And our conclusions run counter to the numbers reported in many newspapers and by influential publications like the 9-11 commission report."
According to the authors, enrollment in madrassas accounts for just 0.3 percent of all Pakistani children between ages 5 and 19. Since the overall school enrollment rate in this age group is 42 percent, this represents less than 0.7 percent of all Pakistani children attending school. Even in regions that border Afghanistan, where madrassa enrollment is relatively high, it is less than 7.5 percent of all enrolled children. The authors point out that the real revolution in the Pakistani educational landscape in recent years has been the rise of affordable and mainstream private schools. Even among the less than 1 percent of families who have children enrolled in madrassas, more than 75 percent send their other children to private and public schools.
According to this study, total primary enrollment -- grades 1-5 -- in public and private schools stood at 17.4 million in 2003. In terms of proportions of the enrolled population, the top 10 districts out of a total of 101 lie in the Pashtun belt on the western border of Afghanistan. Outside the Pashtun belt, madrassa enrollment is thinly, but evenly, spread across the rest of the country. Among the households covered by this team's 2003 census, the researchers found the same pattern. "The prevailing hypothesis that households do not have other schooling options and thus send their children to religious schools, or that households are religiously minded and thus choose madrassas over private and public schools is not supported by the data," the researchers note. "There is weak evidence to support the hypothesis that poorer and less-educated families are more likely to send a child to a madrassa, and somewhat stronger findings that poor children in settlements without a school use madrassas more often."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2005 12:35:37 AM ||
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My question is how much and, what kind of religious instruction goes on in the "private" schools that are not "madrassas"? Where do the materials used to educate thses children come from? Is it Saudi provided or sponsored?
Who are the studies backers and can we trust the study?
#2
This was first reported about 3 weeks ago, and posted here on RB... the same study (though it was identified then as being associated with the World Bank in some fashion - this time they're invoking Harvard), the same the 7-11 clerk authors, just a little slicker summary of the data to show how benign PakiWakiLand is.
That "200,000 children were enrolled fulltime in madrassas" and there "is weak evidence to support the hypothesis that poorer and less-educated families are more likely to send a child to a madrassa, and somewhat stronger findings that poor children in settlements without a school use madrassas more often." doesn't change the fact that there is a jihadi fodder farm system.
That it is bottom-feeding system sucking up the poor, dysfunctional, social chaff doesn't bother the Saudi Wahhabists in the least - Hey, it's not a problem, it's a feature! It's the Islamic Way!
#4
well, the enrollment doesn't increase because the large numbers of jihadis that they pump out to be killed in foreign lands is balanced by the influx of new ready-to-be-brainwashed robots
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2005 8:31 Comments ||
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Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim and Kurdish politicians are nearing a deal to form a government after six weeks of wrangling following historic post-Saddam elections, officials from the two sides said on Tuesday. "We expect to sign a declaration in the next few days on general principles that include dealing with the city of Kirkuk according to the interim constitution," Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum, a member of the majority Shi'ite bloc in parliament, said.
That means Iraq would still be without a new government when its first parliament convenes on Wednesday and the session could be largely ceremonial.
Another Shi'ite politician expressed doubt a new government was imminent, saying there were internal disagreements between both blocs that could delay a deal.
"We have been having arguments of the deaf," he said.
In Rome, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday Italy would start to withdraw from Iraq in September, adding to the list of U.S. allies looking to cut their troop levels.
The Shi'ite alliance won a slim majority in the Jan. 30 vote and the Kurds came second, winning between them the two thirds of seats needed to form a government.
But efforts to form a government have been stymied by haggling over sharing posts and Kurdish demands over the northern oil centre of Kirkuk.
A senior Kurdish politician said the Kurds had agreed to deal with Kirkuk according to the interim constitution, which says land disputes there must wait until a new constitution is written by October and a census is held to determine the ethnic mix of the city. "There is agreement with the United Iraqi Alliance on these principles," he said.
The parliament session, to be held under U.S. protection, will be televised live to Iraqis desperate for a government that can quickly deliver security after relentless violence since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Politicians say resolving delicate issues requires patience, but some Iraqis who risked their lives to vote are starting to question whether their ballots were worth anything.
Iraqi officials hoped the elections would help reduce suicide bombings, shootings, kidnappings and beheadings. But insurgents have kept up the violence in a bid to topple the government and drive out U.S. troops.
A car bomb that targeted a U.S. convoy near a petrol station in Baghdad killed one person and wounded four others on Tuesday, police sources said. In a separate incident, a blast near the Ministry of Health wounded two people.
A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up, killing a U.S. soldier on patrol and injuring several Iraqis and a policeman, the U.S. military said.
Six other soldiers were wounded in the attack which raised to at least 1,158 the number of American troops killed since the 2003 invasion.
Al Qaeda organisation in Iraq said in an Internet statement it carried out the attacks on a highway near al-Amel neighbourhood in Baghdad.
Frustrations with the security crisis were underlined by a third day of protests in several cities by Iraqis enraged by reports that relatives of a Jordanian suicide bomber suspected of killing 125 people in the town of Hilla had celebrated him as a martyr after the attack last month.
In Hilla, thousands of people condemned the blast, the single bloodiest attack in postwar Iraq. They held up banners saying "no to terrorism" and called on Arabs to speak out against praise of suicide bombers.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the blast which targeted people lining up for jobs in the Shi'ite town.
The Iraqi government, led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has strongly condemned what it called "the expressions of joy" exhibited by the bomber's family.
A prolonged political stalemate could work in favour of pro-American Allawi, who will stay in power until a new government is formed. Allawi has been trying to forge political alliances in a bid to keep his job.
The United Iraqi Alliance has put forward Shi'ite Islamist Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister. But the Kurds fear that Islamic fundamentalism could spread under him.
The Kurds are demanding one of their main leaders, Jalal Talabani, become president.
But Arabs at a gathering in Kirkuk on Tuesday said that would be unacceptable.
"The demands of the Kurds over the presidency are unreasonable. Iraq is an Arab country and its president must be an Arab," said Wasfi al-Assi, general secretary of the Arab Front in Kirkuk, which boycotted the elections.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:25:22 AM ||
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This is to be expected. They've never done this Democracy thingy before. I'd expect progress to come in fits and starts, with mustache cursing and the like -- if it works at all.
It takes time to figure out how to peacefully deal with an "adversary" -- what you have in common falls away during the confrontation - giving the appearance (to the twits) that there are only differences. The deals can be made, they just have to acquire a few new concepts: cooperation, compromise, and true common cause (where all choose to subordinate tribe / clan / flavor of Islam / whatever for the actual common good - some think it merely Nationalism, but it's much more than that, as the EU is belatedly discovering), for starters.
Another concept they might like to try out would be dueling, y'know - the whole Order of the Garter / Chivalry thingy - we had to go through that stage ourselves, and it served its purpose.
If 75% of the legislators and officeholders survive their first year or two of governing, I'd think that a clear success for people leap-frogging a millenia or two in time.
A little known Islamist group has pledged allegiance to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted man in Iraq, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday.
The group calling itself the Brigades of Islamic Anger said it had joined al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq "in response to the orders of God and his Prophet to seek unity and to intimidate God's enemies".
"We have pledged allegiance (to Zarqawi), to hear and obey, for good and bad and never to rest or resign. We are going ahead on the path of jihad (holy struggle), never to abandon jihad or fighting until God's laws rule the country and the people," the Arabic-language statement said.
A group calling itself the Brigades of God's Anger said last August it kidnapped two relatives of interim Iraqi Defence Minister Hazim al-Shaalan and demanded that U.S. forces leave Iraq's Shi'ite holy city of Najaf. It was not immediately clear if it was the same group.
In a separate statement, a previously unknown Islamist group calling itself the Brigades of Abu al-Yaman al-Madaeni said its fighters operating in Salman Pak area, southeast of Baghdad, also had pledged allegiance to Zarqawi.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Iraqi Defence Minister Hazim al-Shaalan
Brigades of Abu al-Yaman al-Madaeni
Brigades of Islamic Anger
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2005 12:23:25 AM ||
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Old group, new name, fewer living members, what do you want to bet?
#2
In related news, the little known Islamic Peeved and Somewhat Upset Brigade is trying to obtain Zarqawi's telephone number. It was not immediately clear why the telephone number they called answered with a heavy American accent.
#5
A little known Islamist group has pledged allegiance to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, Washingtonâs most wanted man in Iraq, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday.
It's amazing how these little cockroaches have no individual initiative. They seem to feel it constantly necessary to pledge "allegiance" to scumbags of various stripes.
Part of the continuing slide of Pakistan into a Sunni state. The Ismailis are a moderate, easygoing people, and how many other religions are led by playboys? There is also the inevitable ethnic/tribal issue here, as most of the Ismailis are physically similar to Tibetans, unlike most Pakistanis. An alliance of Sunni religious organizations in Pakistan proposes to have the Nizari Ismaili community, also known as Aga Khanis, declared infidels. The proposal comes amid increased targeting of members of the Ismaili community and criticism of the educational institutions they run in Pakistan. The Nizari Ismaili community is an Islamic sect whose members are followers of the Aga Khan. The Koran is their primary religious text. They could be described as a Shi'ite sub-sect, as like the Shi'ites they regard Ali as the Prophet Mohammed's successor. However, they broke away from the Shi'ite mainstream centuries ago when they adopted Ismail as their seventh imam, instead of his younger brother. Another difference between Shi'ites and Ismailis is that the latter consider the Aga Khan's birthday and the anniversary of his inauguration as more important than Muharram - the most important event on the Shi'ite calendar, when the battle of Karbala and the death of Hussein are commemorated. Ismailis, unlike other Muslims, rarely undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Ismailis regard themselves as "proper Muslims". However, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Pakistan (and other countries where Ismailis live) believe they are "different". For one, they seem quite "Westernized". Ismaili women are not expected to wear the burqa (veil). In their congregation halls, women pray alongside men - on separate but similar and adjacent carpets, denoting equality between the sexes. The schools run by Ismailis are co-educational. A distinct Hindu influence is also discernible in their style of worship. They sing hymns while praying and believe in reincarnation.
Ismailis, who had escaped by and large the attention of Pakistan's Sunni hardliners, are now under attack. About 22 Sunni organizations have come together as the Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (Front for the Defense of Islam) to spearhead the anti-Ismaili campaign. A Karachi-based Ismaili businessman told Asia Times Online via e-mail that the current campaign of Sunni hardliners to declare Ismailis infidels might be in its preliminary stage, but it has already triggered considerable alarm within the community. "There are fears that we will suffer the fate of the Ahmadiyyas," he said.
Like the Ismailis, the Ahmadiyyas have a liberal interpretation of Islam. In 1953, anti-Ahmadiyya violence in Pakistan resulted in the deaths of thousands of Ahmadiyyas. In 1974, the Pakistani constitution was amended to declare Ahmadiyyas non-Muslims, because they do not consider Mohammed to be the last Prophet of Islam. They were subsequently threatened with death if they tried to pass themselves off as Muslims. It is illegal for Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan to pray in mosques or inscribe Islamic prayers on their gravestones. Ismailis now fear that they, too, will be declared non-Muslims and, worse, be targets of mob violence. They have bitter memories of Sunni mob violence.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Difa-e-Islam Mahaz
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/16/2005 12:09:02 AM ||
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Fred, that's the picture worth a thousand words. *sigh* The more things change, the more that people remain the same?
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday sought to block the Bush administration from using funds in an emergency war spending bill to build an embassy in Baghdad, a move that could delay construction. The House voted 258-170 in favor of a measure, introduced by a Republican, that would stop the money being used for embassy construction, maintenance and security. House supporters of the amendment to the $81 billion spending bill argued that building an embassy could not be considered an emergency. They said because of the tight fiscal situation and record budget deficit it should be considered through the regular budget process later in the year.
I dunno, it's got to get built at some point.
President George W. Bush asked for $658 million for the embassy but lawmakers cut it back last week to $592 million. The Senate, which is expected to take up its version of the bill in April, would need to back the same measure for it to become law. The House is expected to easily pass its bill on Wednesday. "We need an embassy in Iraq but we've always known we need an embassy in Iraq, so why did it come in an emergency bill," said North Carolina Republican Rep. Sue Myrick. The decision is a blow to the Bush administration which argues that the funds need to be released quickly so building could get under way. "We must begin construction of this compound as soon as possible in order to improve the safety and security of our employees," the White House budget office said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Can't see how the new place would be much safer or secure than this Palace is, in the current circumstances. Of course indirect fire will fade away as the "insurgency" is finished off, so any facility will be more secure as time goes on. I think it's more of a diplomatic emergency in the making -- down the road, whenever the Iraqis start to get their act together, our presence in this place is going to suddenly be an issue. Sort of wrapped up with the whole Green Zone problem.
Heck, I'd settle for $3 million in emergency funds to put a sand-bag and plywood cover on our trailers to make them less vulnerable to mortar and happy fire .....
In the past its been traditional (security, access, etc.) to group embassy's and consulate's, more or less together in urban areas. (w/exceptions of course)
Given the state of communication technology today you would hope they would build the new embassy on the outskirts of Baghdad. Maybe near the airport. It would favor security and have less road congestion.
You guys deserve better cover than trailers..I hope you have a bunker close by.
Thanks again for your service..my family and everyone I know appreciates it big time!!!
BTW....I'd like to bid on a 3 million dollar sand-bag and plywood job.
Posted by: Rick ||
03/16/2005 2:25 Comments ||
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Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will march from Nasir Bagh to Faisal Chowk on March 23 with or without government permission. Hafiz Sulman Butt, ameer of JI Lahore, had written a letter to Mian Amer Mehmood, Lahore district nazim, seeking permission for the rally on March 23 but the nazim refused due to the imposition of Section 144. However, Mr Butt said on Tuesday that the JI would hold the rally regardless. "We shall inform the administration and are not bound to seek approval from the government," he said. March 23 is a public holiday and there is no chance of traffic disturbance on that day due to the rally, he added.
This article starring:
HAFIZ SULMAN BUTT
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Iraq will plunge deeper into violent turmoil unless Sunnis get powerful positions in the new government, a major Sunni political group has warned. Ahmad Rushdi of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) insisted it would be unacceptable for Shiites to dominate the government and the nation's security services. If that happened, Sunnis would feel excluded and the country could descend into open sectarian warfare, he said.
Guess you shoulda turned out the Sunni vote, huh?
"If there is a Shiite majority in government and security, this will make the situation worse — it will say to the Sunnis 'we have a war on you' and the Sunnis will fight back," he told Gulf News in a telephone interview from Baghdad.
The Sunnis have been shooting up everything in sight all this while. What's gonna change?
Dr Rushdi stressed there was still time to avert such an outcome and praised both Shiite and Kurdish blocs for holding talks with the IIP — Iraq's main Sunni political movement. But he declared that action, not words, were needed. "We have heard so many promises yet on the ground, in reality, we don't see much seriously from them," he said.
"We need an offer before we can reject it."
A central issue concerns the ethnic mix of Iraqi's police force and National Guard. In many areas, including flashpoint districts such as Baghdad's Haifa Street, recruitment for particular units is dominated by Shiites. This can cause friction when forces move into Sunni neighbourhoods.
As opposed to when the particular units are dominated by Sunnis, who change sides when the bullets start flying...
Rushdi revealed his party had already made tough political demands, likely to further complicate the already fraught process of setting up a new government. Attention has focused on lengthy and thus far inconclusive negotiations between Kurds and Shiites. However Rushdi said the IIP had entered into talks with both blocs and insisted Sunnis get control of one third of Iraq's ministries. That would mean Sunni leadership for 33 per cent of government departments, despite Sunni Arabs comprising just 20 per cent of the population. By comparison 60 per cent of the populace are Shiites and 17 per cent Kurds.
So what's the Arabic word for "no"?
If ministerial posts and security services reflect these proportions, Shiites would form a majority in both. "We are a heavyweight group and want to be treated as such. If there are to be 30 ministries, we must take 10 of them, including at least two of the more important ones," Rushdi said. The IIP is a peaceful group and there is no suggestion it has encouraged the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
On the other hand, they haven't done much to stop it, have they?
However Rushdi promised defiant political steps would be taken if the demands were not met, with Sunnis opposing the new constitution in October's expected referendum. "There are arrangements in place between us and the Shiites and Kurds, so many of the problems will be solved. If they are not, we have a red card when it comes to the referendum and we will use that," he said.
What's the red card involve? Boycotting the referendum, too?
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Iraq will plunge deeper into violent turmoil unless Sunnis get powerful positions in the new government, a major Sunni political group has warned.
Uhh, no. But if y'all want to pick a fight, we won't object if either the Kurds or the Shiites skin your asses alive.
#5
The Sunni terrorists are so damnably vile. Killing, bombing their Shi'ite "brothers" en masse at their religious gatherings and mosques. Some payback is in order. Some demolition of Sunni mosques is in order. Only problem is it might spark a religious war which is the Sunni Jihadist's objective in the first place.
War, chaos, mass murders, assassinations, are Muhammad's legacy to their Allah driven lives.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with different factions yesterday to convince them to accept the cease-fire he has agreed with Israel. Already under pressure from Israel, Abbas has come to Cairo to convince the militant groups to declare and live by the 12-month truce, even though Israel says one year is not enough. "The coming period requires all forces to work with more responsibility, and to behave with greater political consciousness," said Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as the meetings began.
Suleiman said: "The Israeli forces have to withdraw from Gaza Strip as a step toward peace that should be followed by other steps to end the occupation that has been in Palestine since 1967⊠we are looking forward to the day on which our prisoners return to their families." Leaders from 13 factions sat around a table as Abbas told them that fewer militant attacks have eased the Palestinians' everyday plight. "There is no alternative but for dialogue between us now," he said.
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Already under pressure from Israel, Abbas has come to Cairo to convince the militant groups to declare and live by the 12-month truce, even though Israel says one year is not enough.
No one who is genuinely seeking peace is going to talk truce; the end aim is a settlement of any disputes and a permanent cessation of fighting. Until he starts framing his actions publicly and privately along these lines, he can't be taken seriously.
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.
Senior Saudi defense officials expressed concern to the U.S. military's top general on Wednesday about terrorists in Iraq crossing the border into Saudi territory. 
Although Yemen has openly, and actively, aided the United States in the war on terror, many Yemenis are fans of Osama bin Laden (whose father came from Yemen) and al Qaeda. There are many al Qaeda sympathizers in the Yemeni military and government as well. These sympathizers have been discreetly aiding Iraqi Baath Party officials who have fled Iraq, and now Syria. There has also been some active, but covert, support for the terrorists operating in Iraq. Cracking down on this is not easy, even with FBI and CIA agents stationed in Yemen. The problem is that the Yemeni government is a jumble of tribal and family relationships. 
The Kuwaiti cabinet yesterday issued a "final warning" to leading Shiite cleric 
Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdallah Al-Maatouq announced on Monday that an official fatwa (edict) will be announced Saturday "affirming that the supreme guardian has the right to settle the issue of giving women political rights." Clearly affirming that the supreme guardian (His Highness the Amir) has the power to settle such a controversial issue, Al-Maatouq in remarks to journalists at the National Assembly, stated, "The supreme guardian is empowered to settle such a controversial issue," referring to a fatwa, issued in 1985, which was against granting women political rights. The Fatwa Committee of the ministry has held several meetings on this issue "and its fatwa will be endorsed on Saturday so it may be released in an explicit manner." On measures to be taken by the government to ensure the adoption of the women rights bill, he affirmed the "government is serious and keen on granting women their political rights." 
Sharia law will not be the sole source of law when Qatar's new constitution comes into force, a legal consultant said. The role of Sharia was discussed in a heated debate during the bill's drafting process, said Jamal Yahya, an Egyptian constitutionalist and legal consultant for the Qatari Government. "According to Article 2, the new constitution is inspired by Sharia and not based on it. It says that Sharia is one of the fundamental sources of the legislation, but not the only one. This leaves the door open for other laws to come into the picture. But to achieve this, we had to go through long discussions," Yahya told Gulf News. 
Paraguay believes FARC has set up shop in the country. As a result, the government has allowed the army to receive support from the Colombian Army in training and intel ops. This makes three countries outside of Colombia in which FARC is operating, Venezuela (perhaps with the tacit consent of the leftist government), Ecuador, and Paraguay. Of the three, Paraguay does not border on, nor is particular near, Columbia. While FARC is getting hit hard, it has lots of money, thus it has options. Moving operations to other countries is one option. There's no doubt FARC is rich. As more FARC camps are overrun, captured equipment includes GPS systems, digital mapping equipment, computers of all sorts, SATCOM equipment, and so on.
North Korea said Tuesday it would strengthen its atomic arsenal in an angry response to upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercises which the communist state denounced as nuclear war games. The North justified its possession of nuclear weapons as establishing a balance of power to prevent a nuclear holocaust, ahead of the joint war games in South Korea starting Saturday. "The exercises will be nuclear war exercises aimed to invade the North to all intents and purposes in view of their nature, scope and contents," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency. "The DPRK (North Korea) will take necessary counter-measures including the bolstering of its nuclear arsenal to cope with the extremely hostile attempt of the US to bring down the system in the DPRK though it is the Korean people's own choice," he said.
TEACHERS and parents today criticised the Immigration Department for taking the children of suspected visa overstayers from their schools. It was cruel and inhumane that students as young as six had been taken from their Sydney schoolyards in the past fortnight because their parents were apparently in Australia illegally, the NSW Teachers Federation said.
Russia's secret services are shielding Bosnian Serbs wanted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for atrocities committed during the Bosnian war, including the massacre at Srebrenica where more than 8000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered. Gojko Jankovic, a Bosnian Serb who gave himself up to the tribunal on Monday to face accusations of torture and multiple rape, was one of a group of fugitive alleged war criminals living in Russia under official protection. According to sources at The Hague and other intelligence sources, those still enjoying protection from the Russian secret services are Vinko Pandurevic and Vujadin Popovic, two senior Bosnian Serb military figures accused of genocide over the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995.
The federal government moved to classify more than 15 million pieces of information in 2004 — the largest number since the peak of the Cold War. The unprecedented secrecy, say some members of Congress and government watchdogs, is hindering the War on Terror and putting Americans at risk. "Somewhere in the vast cache of data that never should have been classified, and may never be declassified, is that tiny nugget of information that, if shared, could be used to detect and prevent the next deadly terrorist attack," said Rep. 
"I'm pro-American," Bolton says, as if that required him to be anti-world. 
The 
DAMASCUS — Syrian authorities prevented a human rights activist from travelling to Egypt to attend a forum on Arab political reforms, his group said yesterday. The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said in a statement that Syrian security forces on Saturday banned Mohammed Da'edoun, the head of the organization, from travelling.
President Bush yesterday left open the possibility that the militant Shiite Muslim group 
Crown 
Maronite Patriarch 
Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President Bush. The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster — a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies. The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said. The oil industry has sought for more than two decades to get access to what is believed to be billions of barrels of oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northern eastern corner of Alaska. Environmentalists have fought such development and argued that despite improved environmental controls a web of pipelines and drilling platforms would harm calving caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds that use the coastal plain.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to press President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for more information on the help a rogue Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan, is believed to have given Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Speaking on the eve of talks that Ms. Rice plans to hold with Indian and Pakistani leaders on the first leg of her trip to Asia, the official said that Pakistan had been helpful in the past on sharing information from its own investigation of Dr. Khan, but that the administration wanted more. "We have been getting good cooperation from the Pakistanis," the official said when asked about the investigation into Iran. "They have been pursuing this. Of course we always want more. We always discuss nonproliferation with the Pakistanis. I am sure we will discuss it this time. I am sure A. Q. Kahn will come up."
Two years after US tanks thrust into Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, the Middle East is no safer but is being swept by political changes challenging a decades-old stalemate of power. The US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, triggered two simultaneous and contradictory phenomena in the region, by inviting increased terrorist activity whilst prodding other regimes into taking steps towards democratic reform. The past two years have seen the spread of extremist organisations such as Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network to previously stable countries such as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.
A new research study released Tuesday refutes commonly accepted assertions about the popularity of madrassas in Pakistan. The report, titled "Religious School Enrollment in Pakistan: A look at the Data," is the first study to use publicly available and nationally representative data sources to examine the enrollment trends of Pakistani students at religious schools.
An alliance of Sunni religious organizations in Pakistan proposes to have the Nizari Ismaili community, also known as Aga Khanis, declared infidels. The proposal comes amid increased targeting of members of the Ismaili community and criticism of the educational institutions they run in Pakistan. The Nizari Ismaili community is an Islamic sect whose members are followers of the Aga Khan. The Koran is their primary religious text. They could be described as a Shi'ite sub-sect, as like the Shi'ites they regard Ali as the Prophet Mohammed's successor. However, they broke away from the Shi'ite mainstream centuries ago when they adopted Ismail as their seventh imam, instead of his younger brother. Another difference between Shi'ites and Ismailis is that the latter consider the Aga Khan's birthday and the anniversary of his inauguration as more important than Muharram - the most important event on the Shi'ite calendar, when the battle of Karbala and the death of Hussein are commemorated. Ismailis, unlike other Muslims, rarely undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Iraq will plunge deeper into violent turmoil unless Sunnis get powerful positions in the new government, a major Sunni political group has warned. 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with different factions yesterday to convince them to accept the cease-fire he has agreed with Israel. Already under pressure from Israel, Abbas has come to Cairo to convince the militant groups to declare and live by the 12-month truce, even though Israel says one year is not enough. "The coming period requires all forces to work with more responsibility, and to behave with greater political consciousness," said Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as the meetings began.
