(Xinhua) -- A senior Pakistani scientist on Thursday denied that Pakistan had dumped nuclear waste in southern Afghanistan during the 1996-2001 Taliban rule. "There is no possibility of dumping waste in other country," News Network International (NNI) quoted Pakistan nuclear scientist Samar Mubarakmand as saying.
Reports said Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appointed a team of experts to investigate allegations that Pakistan had dumped nuclear waste in southern Afghanistan during Taliban rule. Mubarakmand said that the claim by Afghan government is a political one and the government must deal in the same way. "It is not feasible to shift nuclear waste and dump far way," he said.
This article starring:
Samar Mubarakmand
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Unless they find the waste. Then its, uh, it was Kahn!!!!!
#1
So where are the secular humanists? Where are the Socialists? Where are the atheists, Buddhists, "Native American" religious practioners? Where are the environmentalists?
At home in their comfy chairs vilifying Christians, that's where.
I can tolerate quite a bit, but hypocracy is one of the things on the short list that makes my hackles rise.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo sought an arrest warrant for Bashir on Monday on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, a move that some powers fear could derail the fragile Darfur peace process. "There will be no direct cooperation with the International Criminal Court and no sending any Sudanese citizens to The Hague," presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail told a forum on Thursday.
The decision to refer Darfur to the ICC came from the U.N. Security Council so any proposal to resolve the crisis should also come from there, he said. ICC judges are expected to decided in October or November whether to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest. Ocampo asked the ICC for the warrant, accusing Bashir of a campaign of genocide in which 35,000 people were killed outright, at least 100,000 more died a "slow death" and 2.5 million were forced to flee their homes in Sudan's western Darfur region.
Sudan has asked Russia, China and members of the Arab League and the African Union to help it pursue a Security Council resolution suspending a warrant for Bashir for 12 months.
This article starring:
ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
International Criminal Court
MUSTAFA OSMAN ISMAIL
Government of Sudan
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will pursue charges against rebel groups that attacked African Union peacekeepers in Darfur last September, killing 10 of them. Just days after bringing charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Sudan's president, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday he would next seek charges against rebel leaders in the war-torn Darfur region.
Moreno-Ocampo said he has information about the names of two Darfur rebel commanders who were allegedly responsible for the attack at Haskinita in south Darfur last year that killed 10 African Union soldiers. He called on the rebel groups to cooperate with the court.
"I think it is a good opportunity for me to urge the rebels -- the rebels cannot commit crimes, they have to control their people, and they have to help the Court," said Moreno-Ocampo. "In fact, the Security Council called on all the actors - they have to help the court -- provide it evidence against those who committed the attacks in Haskinita and even arrest them."
He added that all attacks against peacekeepers come under his jurisdiction, including the July 8 one, that killed seven peacekeepers from the joint AU-U.N. force known as UNAMID.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
"...And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/18/2008 6:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Note the "Nose of the Camel" tactic being used: Attacking "peacekeepers" is now a war crime. They are setting up "peacekeepers" as super-special-soldiers, not as regular ones.
There will, of course, be classifications and grades within grades: US peacekeepers being the bottom of the pile and fair game.
Note that this is from "The Long War Journal" but is printed in the leftist Worldpress.org.
The boundaries of the war in Yemen are expanding beyond the northern Saada governorate. Bombing is audible from the nation's capital for the first time. Recent battles are among the bloodiest in memory.
After four years of armed conflict between the government and a group of Zaidi rebels, the war's impact has spread far beyond the combatants and the field of combat. Military, judicial, and civil policies targeting the rebels have precipitated a humanitarian crisis in Saada and a civil crisis in the nation with rights groups protesting mass arrests and other tactics.
Malnutrition is widespread among the 750,000 Saada residents after a long-standing government blockade.
Opposition party leaders in Saada condemned the unannounced military bombing of Dhahian City in July, calling the tactic "an unprecedented crime." In May, rebel spokesman Sheik Saleh Habrah said government shelling in Dhahian, Al-Mahader, and Al-Ghabair killed 30 civilians and wounded scores. Over 85,000 Saada residents fled indiscriminate government bombing and are internal refugees. Malnutrition is widespread among the 750,000 Saada residents after a long-standing government blockade.
#4
When Marxists ruled the south, northerners retreated into fundamentalism. The war will end when the south annihilates the northern enemy. Prediction: bloodbath.
SOB killed the man who saved his life as a baby. Bastard should have swung. Instead he did a couple years then opened a store just below the widow's apartment so she'd have to walk past him every day.
European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.
Chertoff's comments on Capitol Hill comes as the country is entering a potentially vulnerable period with the presidential nominating conventions coming up next month; the presidential election in November; and the transition to a new administration in January - all of which may be attractive targets for terrorists.
In his last scheduled appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee, Chertoff said that the more time and space al-Qaida and its allies have to recruit, train, experiment and plan, the more problems the U.S. and Europe will face down the road.
"The terrorists are deliberately focusing on people who have legitimate Western European passports, who don't appear to have records as terrorists," Chertoff told lawmakers. "I have a good degree of confidence we can catch people coming in. But I have to tell you ... there's no guarantee. And they are working very hard to slip by us."
Chertoff and other intelligence officials have delivered similar warnings before, and he offered no new information about specific threats or an imminent attack.
Chertoff reiterated his concern that terrorists could sneak radiological material into the country on small boats or private aircraft. This material could be used to create an explosive device known as a "dirty bomb."
The Homeland Security Department has a strategy to protect against this small boat vulnerability and is testing radiation detection equipment in Seattle and San Diego ports.
Chertoff said that getting out a regulation to prescreen and enhance security of general aviation aircraft coming to the U.S. from overseas is one of his top priorities.
He also said he expects to approve new radiation detection technology this fall.
#1
Small boats from Mexico carrying illegal drugs and aliens have become a BIG problem in San Diego lately. Every week or so there is a local news report about one of these old, beater boats being washed up on the shore...sometimes full of marijuana. They are usually old and in very bad shape, probably stolen or abandoned, so they are probably considered expendable by the cartels that send them. But it's bad news if you're an immigrant out at sea without food or fresh water when the boat's motor dies. It's also worrying if the Coast Guard is looking for drug and immigrant smugglers while a terrorist slips through.
#2
That's a problem. Bosnians are indistinguishable from the average white European. And one report found that 10% of them prescribe to radical Wahabism.
The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents. Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun.
Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff members and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money.
Air Force documents spell out how each of the capsules is to be "aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders using the capsule," with beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers, and a full-length mirror. The effort has been slowed, however, by congressional resistance to using counterterrorism funds for the project and by lengthy internal deliberations about a series of demands for modifications by Air Force generals. One request was that the color of the leather for the seats and seat belts in the mobile pallets be changed from brown to Air Force blue and that seat pockets be added; another was that the color of the table's wood be darkened. Changing the seat color and pockets alone was estimated in a March 12 internal document to cost at least $68,240.
In all, for the past three years the service has asked to divert $16.2 million to the effort from what the military calls the GWOT, or global war on terrorism. Congress has twice told the service that it cannot, including an August 2007 letter from Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) to the Pentagon ordering that the money be spent on a "higher priority" need. Officials say the Air Force nonetheless decided last year to take $331,000 from counterterrorism funds to cover a cost overrun, partly stemming from the design changes, although a senior officer said yesterday in response to inquiries that it will reverse that decision.
The internal Air Force e-mails, provided to The Washington Post by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a nonprofit Washington group, and independently authenticated, make it clear that lower-ranking officers involved in the project have been pressured to create what one described as "world class" accommodations exceeding the standards of a regular business-class flight. "I was asked by Gen. [Robert H.] McMahon what it would take to make the [capsule] . . . a 'world class' piece of equipment," an officer at the service's Air Mobility Command said in a March 2007 e-mail to a colleague, referring to the mobility command's top officer then. "He said he wanted an assurance . . . that we would be getting a world class item this week."
A military officer familiar with the program, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it, likewise said that its extravagance has provoked widespread contempt among lower-ranking Air Force personnel. "This whole program is an embarrassment," the officer said, particularly because transport seating for troops en route to the battlefield is in his view generally shoddy. Much more at link
Please explain the above term. I always felt it an honor to sit in troop seats in the back of a C-17 medivacs carrying the wounded from Balad to Ramstein and Landstuhl.
#10
They always assume that it is being done for petty reasons.
That is, why go to all this trouble for a military aircraft when you can get much better right now on civilian aircraft? This is not an idle question. Who wants to fly in a military aircraft when you have a *choice* to fly in a luxurious civilian aircraft?
Obviously, someone who does not want to get noticed, either traveling discreetly, or in an area with a lot of surface to air missiles.
#11
What's next: the escape capsules as wonderfully demonstrated in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK?
_____________________
Snake Plissken Rules! Purple Hearts in Leningrad and Siberia for operations "Black Light" and "Texas Thunder"!
Then, just as the bomber reached an altitude high enough to go over the mountain range, the engine abruptly stopped. Eisenhower was not very concerned since a B-17 with a light load could easily fly on three engines. But then there was something to worry about when an engine on the left wing began shaking and belching black smoke. Fortunately, the aircraft had just passed over the mountain peaks and had clearance to make a long, almost gliding, descent towards their destination. But just as they started down, the cranky engine on the left wing stopped. Then a third engine began to misfire. They werenÂ’t far from Casablanca, but not close enough to make the airfield on one engine. The pilot ordered all of the passengers to put on their parachutes.
A federal judge on Thursday refused to postpone the first military trial set for next week at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, rebuffing a last-minute plea from lawyers for Salim Hamdan, an accused member of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's former driver. Judge James Robertson, of the district court in Washington, ruled that Mr. Hamdan's claims that the military commission he faces is unconstitutional can be appealed to a civilian court only after his military trial is completed.
The ruling clears the way for the start of the first trial of a detainee at the prison complex in Cuba, opened in 2002 to hold prisoners captured in the campaign against terrorism. The trials have been delayed for years, in part by courts that found legal fault with the commissions created to try people designated by the government as "unlawful enemy combatants."
It was Judge Robertson who ruled in 2004 that the original procedures set for military commissions by President Bush were inadequate, a finding later upheld by the Supreme Court. In response, Congress in 2006 passed the Military Commissions Act, setting up new procedures for the trials.
On Thursday, after hearing two hours of arguments from lawyers for Mr. Hamdan and the government, Judge Robertson said the Congressional action was sufficient to permit the trial to begin. "Hamdan is to face a military commission designed by Congress under guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court," the judge said.
Judge Robertson noted that his ruling applies only to the case of Mr. Hamdan and is not binding on the many other Guantanamo cases pending before other judges. He also did not rule on what he said was a central question, the constitutionality of a provision of the Military Commissions Act that permits only limited appeals by Guantanamo detainees to a single court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
You can't demand a speedy trial and then ask for delay after delay, no.
A grand jirga of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has failed to come up with a final decision to end fighting between two militant organisations in Khyber Agency.
The 56-member jirga met here on Thursday to discuss its meetings with the chiefs of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and Ansarul Islam (AI) and to announce its decision regarding an end to fighting in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. The meeting, however, merely set another date for further negotiations. More than 50 people have been killed in fighting between the LI and AI in the past month.
Another round: JUI-F provincial secretary general and head of the jirga Shujaul Mulk told reporters after the meeting that another jirga would be convened in Khyber Agency on July 22 to discuss an end to fighting and the restoration of peace. Mulk said that they would launch a decisive round of talks with both militant outfits and the negotiations would continue until a ceasefire was achieved between the warring sides. He said three members each from LI and AI and five members from the JUI-F would participate in the July 22 talks. The JUI-F jirga met LI chief Mangal Bagh and his AI counterpart Mullah Mehboob in Tirah last week. Mulk said that they had also decided to constitute a three-member committee to discuss peace in Mohmand Agency. The members included Mullah Samiullah, Mullah Mohabbat Khan and Mullah Sardar Ahmad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir, a Bara-based militant group, has warned United States-led coalition troops against carrying out attacks inside the Tribal Areas, Dawn News reported on Thursday. According to the channel, Amar Bil Maroof spokesman Munsif Ali said at a press conference held in the Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency that the groups' fighters would fight alongside the Pakistan Army if the NATO forces launched an attack inside Pakistani territory. The spokesman said that if the NATO forces entered Pakistani territory, the militants would retaliate in a way that would remind the US of the devastation of the September 11 attacks.
This article starring:
Bara
Khyber Agency
Tribal Areas
MUNSIF ALI
Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#5
While I don't consider the threat much more than hot air, as comments go on Pakistani army, you have to remember who's guarding those Pakistani nukes.
This may very well be insight into the possibility that opposition forces in Pakistan have allies in critical areas.
Pakistan might be a smoking hole in the earth sooner than we think (sequel, of course, to something very egregious)...
#8
Things are pretty simple Amar Munkir. We are fighting terrorists and Taliban in Afghanistan, and when chesed they run for sanctuary on your side of the border.
Either you stop those people on your side, or we will. We will pursue them, and if you get in our way, you will die. In large numbers. Quickly.
Threaten a 9/11 attack? Fine, we will flatten your entire region.
#9
I really do wish we'd take one of these goat-rapers up on his bs and do a "shock and awe" on them the RIGHT way - a dozen B-52s with iron bombs from 45,000 feet, a couple of dozen B-1s on the deck with JDAMs and incindiaries, and a half-dozen AC-130s down low for a follow-up on the survivors, if there are any. Of course, the demoncritters would never let us wage REAL war against anyone - heaven forbid! I'm getting really sick and tired of fighting a two-front war - one in south Asia and one in Washington, DC.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2008 12:26 Comments ||
Top||
#10
"Bite us, sons of pigs and munkirs"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2008 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#11
I dunno. Maybe an old Israeli thign woudl work (back when they had balls)...
Run a pair of 16's or F-18s at 200 ft above his ville, going mach+, with maybe a bone trailing it on full afterburner (B-1B, rated Mach 1.2 at sealevel), and a buff to rattle the windows. Too bad we dont have an SR-71 to use... (or do we? heh)
Sonic boom would shatter tons of things. And two within seconds would be sure to indicate that it was no accident.
That would scare the hell out of the locals, and let him contemplate just how bad the screams of his children and relatives are now, and how they would be were a real attack ordered.
from af.mil...
The strongest sonic boom ever recorded was 144 pounds per square foot and it did not cause injury to the researchers who were exposed to it. The boom was produced by a F-4 flying just above the speed of sound at an altitude of 100 feet.
In recent tests, the maximum boom measured during more realistic flight conditions was 21 pounds per square foot. There is a probability that some damage -- shattered glass, for example, will result from a sonic boom. Buildings in good repair should suffer no damage by pressures of less than 16 pounds per square foot.
#13
Wouldn't it be nice if we could tell these bast**** that we will pursue anyone anywhere who has shot at our troops. You come to Afghan turf. We will likely tolerate you. You shoot at us, you die. Whether it's on Afghan soil, Pak soil, or anyplace else, the results the same. We will go after you until you are captured or dead. Either way is fine with us. I know I'm daydreaming on this one, but isn't it such a lovely dream? And wouldn't it change a lot of people's behavior?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/18/2008 13:53 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Do they even have windows in their 7th century hovels?
Posted by: Cowboy is a compliment ||
07/18/2008 13:58 Comments ||
Top||
#15
The strongest sonic boom ever recorded was 144 pounds per square foot
144? Jeebus, is that the same as overpressure? If it is that would knock down the Sunsshine Skyway. Maybe it's measured differently.
#17
I like OS's idea; and the data re: the Phantom would be ideal to use and since the US has retired all it's F-4's ( of all flavors) then we could hide behind the plausible denaibility shield. HEE-HEE, wudn't us.
Bet there are several Phantom Phliers and Phixers out there that would love to wind those J-79's back up........
An opinion poll conducted by reputed international agencies has revealed that a majority of people in India want a resolution to the Kashmir issue as per the Kashmiris' aspirations.
The poll found that people in both India and Pakistan have expressed a readiness to have the Kashmiri people decide their own fate, adding that if the Kashmiris chose independence, a majority of Indians and Pakistanis would find it tolerable. In India, the opinion poll was conducted by reputed agency C-Voter, while in Pakistan, AC Nielson gathered views on behalf of the WorldPublicOpinion.org polling site.
The poll revealed that more than half of the population of India and Pakistan were open to a range of possible outcomes for Kashmir. It found no strong majority opposition on either side to Kashmir becoming an independent country or to dividing the state between Pakistan and India.
"Given the deep roots of the conflict over Kashmir, it is surprising that the conflict has not polarised majority of the Pakistani and Indian people, as they do not fall in line with their governments' positions," said Clay Ramsay, the research director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project run by the University of Maryland, United States.
In the survey, Indians and Pakistanis were asked to consider a range of possible outcomes for Jammu and Kashmir and to say whether they found them desirable, acceptable, tolerable, or unacceptable.
The idea that received the lowest level of opposition was for Jammu and Kashmir to become independent.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The poll revealed that more than half of the population of India and Pakistan
Wonder what sample size you use to poll 1.3 billion people, the majority in rural areas?
Posted by: john frum ||
07/18/2008 7:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Wonder what sample size you use to poll 1.3 billion people
Assuming a geographical diserpershun, not all that many. 32 to 50 in each discreate secktor. These would have to be face to face, which naturally carries it's own bias risk, still, it's the only way. So rought estimater.... 640.
#4
Damn this is easy.
A well thought out poll in China would require 1742 individual interviews. The interviewer should were a poka dot shirt and clam diggers. This you should know from BS 101. The new line of heliostats will make it remarkablly easy to airlift thousands and thousands of polltakers to insure a non-biased outcome.
Now in the future the Chineese government will find it easy to to communicate with their citizens once this first (initial) poll is over. The hydrogen motorcycles will make it very easy to folllow up. The infrastructure is already being built, the hydrogen/oil wells in Shifcan Province (a traditionally Tan area) are in particular ready to um.... go.
#5
Noooooooooooo. Wait a second. Hinjooooos are prescribed from wearing Polka Dot shirts unless they are King-of-the-Mountain. Therefore the answer is 1796 and Reeboks.
Since the Hinjoos invented tennis shoes this should be a cinch. Matter of fact 12 out of the 14 largest sneaker factories in the Solar (from Sol the sun) System are in India. They employ thou........................
#8
Hindus have legitimate interests in maintaining sovereignty in Kashmir. Currently over half million Hindus are exiled from same. In a free vote, the Muslim majority would vote against Indian sovereignty. Since Partition, Pakistan has reduced native Hindus from 20 to 1%. They would do the same to Kashmir and Jammu.
#9
J+K state also includes mainly Buddhist Ladakh as well as mainly Hindu Jammu. It is the relatively small Kashmir valley with its Muslim majority population that is vulnerable to the calls to jihad.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/18/2008 16:47 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Meanwhile....
Pakistani demonstrators burn tires in condemnation of a huge decline of stock market in front of the Islamabad Stock Exchange in Islamabad
Posted by: john frum ||
07/18/2008 20:08 Comments ||
Top||
Inferior electrical work by private contractors on U.S. military bases in Iraq is more widespread than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to a published report. Aha! A published report! That's at least a step above 'an unnamed source.'
A Senate panel investigating the electrocutions of Americans on bases in Iraq was told last week by former KBR Inc. electricians upset that more of their friends weren't brought over that the contractor used employees with little electrical expertise to supervise subcontractors in Iraq and hired foreigners who couldn't speak English. Couldn't even speak English, is the way it was reported on the radio this morning.The Pentagon has said 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003. It has ordered Houston-based KBR to inspect all the facilities it maintains in Iraq for electrical hazards.
The New York Timesparagon of virtue reported on its Web site Thursday night that many more people have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to internal Army documents. A log compiled this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters almost daily, the paper reported.
During just one six-month period - August 2006 through January 2007 - at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military's largest dining hall in the country, according to the documents obtained by the Times. In a country where the grid is soooo reliable; how shocking!
An Army survey issued in February 2007 said electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq. More so than up-armored Humvees rolling over into canals?
KBR, which is responsible for providing basic services, including housing, for American troops in Iraq, said last week that its investigation had not turned up evidence of a link between its work and the electrocutions. The Army report, however, said KBR did its own study and found a "systemic problem" with electrical work, according to the Times. Quagmire! Short circuits!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/18/2008 05:58 ||
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#1
Does this include the air-guard guys who keep getting caught by low-hanging powerlines from the tangles of freelance electrical infrastructure over public throughways? Or is that why the study only goes back to September 2003? Because I seem to remember one of our local Iraq losses was killed in that fashion during the original invasion.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/18/2008 7:37 Comments ||
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#2
Several times in the past I have had to go behind and clean up wiring mistakes made by 'professional' (lisenced, union) electricians right here in the USA. Little things, like finding three prong outlets on ungrounded wires, copper service bus bars and connectors on aluminum wires - and loose at that (discovered because molten metal was sizzling as it hit the water in the flooded basement.) Etc. So not sure 'foreign' or 'non-English-speaking' is the whole problem.
Posted by: Menhaden S ||
07/18/2008 8:11 Comments ||
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#3
One of the requirements for those contracts in Iraq was the hiring of Iraqis.
Are those the foreigners they are talking about?
I wouldn't wipe my butt with this report.
Posted by: James Carville ||
07/18/2008 10:56 Comments ||
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#4
My thoughts, exactly, James. Sounds like disgruntled private contractors lost out on an opportunity to gouge the government to allow training of locals.
GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has for the first time since 2003 redeployed expatriate staff to Iraq, the United Nations agency said on Thursday. It said several international staff had quietly returned to Iraq in late June, reestablishing a "permanent international basis" in the country after 5 years. U.N. agencies withdrew international staff after the deadly bombing of its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003, but Iraqi nationals continued their aid projects. The U.N. refugee agency recently sent back staff to Iraq.
Dr. Naeema Al-Gasseer, WHO country representative to Iraq, and a Bahraini who had been based in Jordan for the past few years in charge of WHO's Iraq programme, said WHO experts were helping the Iraqi health ministry expand vaccination programmes, monitor for diseases and improve standards of medical care.
"Needs are very huge," she said, noting hepatitis and rotavirus vaccines will be introduced for Iraqi children over the next year, complementing programmes for polio and measles. "We can deliver more, while not losing sight that security is still a concern. We have a challenge to continue to come up with innovative approaches to be able to move around inside Iraq," Al-Gasseer said.
"I managed during this past month to visit a women's prison, hospitals and public health services outside the Green Zone. I have seen a difference in the streets and in the movement of people," she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
Oh, crap! The scumbags are returning to Iraq to see how much they can screw up before the government cracks down on them. The UselessNosies is the least helpful organization ever put together. If you don't want something done, give the job to the UN. Barf!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2008 12:35 Comments ||
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#5
We must be winning. The U.N. Vampire Vulture Elite are returning to claim credit....
(Xinhua) -- Two ambulance planes belonging to Turkish General Staff were dispatched to Mosul city in northern Iraq on Thursday to pick up 21 wounded Iraqis and their 21 companions, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkish military has taken this action upon direction from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the report. It said the 21 Iraqis were wounded in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar on Wednesday due to a car bomb.
The Iraqis will receive medical treatment at Gulhane Military Hospital (GATA) and Ataturk Research Hospital in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
A car bombing attack in a market of Tal Afer on Wednesday left at least 13 people killed, over 30 others injured, said Najem Abdulla, mayor of the city, some 80 km west of Mosul.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
That's pretty remarkable. Turks helping anyone other than themselves.
BAGHDAD, July 17 (VOI) – A Baghdad-based newspaper on Thursday welcomed the security handover of Diwaniya province, describing the transfer as a "blessed step" to restore security and stability to Iraqi cities. Badr, the daily mouthpiece of Badr Organization, one of the main components of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hakeem said in article entitled, 'Diwaniya…self-security,' by Kareem al-Nouri, that the handover has proven the province's ability to assume security responsibilities.
On Wednesday morning, Diwaniya received its security file from the Multi-National Force (MNF) during a ceremony attended by National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaei and Diwaniya Governor Hamed al-Khudari. Bad weather conditions and logistic miscommunication problems between the central Iraqi government and the MNF delayed a power handover of the province, which was scheduled to take place in last June.
Diwaniya, 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, became the 10th Iraqi province to receive the security file from the coalition forces. In 2002, the population of Diwaniya was estimated at 420,000. The area around the province, which is well irrigated from the nearby Euphrates River, is often considered to be one of the most fertile parts of Iraq, and is heavily cultivated. The town is located on the main rail transport corridor between Baghdad and Basra. For birdwatchers, Diwaniya is a city with a rich bird list, as it has a wide range of biodiversity.
Under a main headline that read, 'Tragedy of a province', al-Ra'i newspaper, an independent daily, lamented what it described as the deteriorating situation in Diala province, citing "killings, robberies, plunder, forced displacement and terrorist operations in the province."
The author of the article, Sabah al-Ghareery blamed the situation on the central Iraqi government in Baghdad and tribal forces, demanding prompt action to destroy terrorist strongholds and drive out criminals and outlaws from the province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Four Israeli Arabs from east Jerusalem and two from Nazareth have been indicted for allegedly setting up an Al-Qaida cell in the capital and offering their services to Global Jihad elements, security officials announced Friday. One of the suspects allegedly made contact with those elements in an attempt to assassinate US President George W. Bush during his visit to Israel in May.
The group, arrested in a joint Shin Bet-Israel Police investigation, includes two Hebrew University students, one of whom lived in the university dormitories with a view of a helicopter landing pad. Using a camera, the student filmed helicopters taking off and landing and made contact via the Internet with Al-Qaida elements to discuss bombing one of Bush's helicopters on his visit for Israeli Independence Day.
The six were identified as, Ibrahim Na'ashaf, 22, from Taiba - a physics and computer science student at Hebrew University; Muhammad Najam, 24, from Nazareth - a chemistry student at the university; Yousef Sumarin, 21, from Beit Hanina; Anas Shwayke, 21, from Jebl Mukaber; Kamal Abu Kweidar, 22, from Jerusalem's Old City; and Ahmad Shwayke, 21, from Shuafat.
According to security officials, the six created a closed religious terror cell and contacted different Al-Qaida and Global Jihad elements over the Internet. They were also active in the Temple Mount's Al-Aksa Mosque as well as throughout east Jerusalem. Investigators found bomb-making instructions on the personal computers of several of the suspects.
On June 9, two Israeli Beduin from the Negev town of Rahat were charged with plotting terrorist attacks via the Internet with al-Qaida members overseas and marking out civilian and military sites as targets. Officials said Friday that the latest indictments were further indication of an Al-Qaida presence in Israel.
#3
I don't think these Arabs (Israeli or otherwise) thought this all the way through.
Do they really want Dick Cheney to be suddenly President, and extremely pissed off at Arabs? 'Cuz you know the paleotards would be whooping for joy and claiming responsibility.
I suspect Gaza just might disappear. For practice. And that's before he really got mad.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2008 22:39 Comments ||
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#4
Heh! They had an episode of NCIS where Hamas or Hezbollah terrorists were plotting to shoot down Marine 1. I'd bet good money that's where this plot was hatched.
(Xinhua) -- A senior Islamic Hamas movement official on Thursday warned Israel that Hamas would quit an Egyptian-brokered truce if Israel keeps Gaza Strip border crossing points closed. "If Israel doesn't commit itself to the truce and reopen the crossings, this truce should go to hell," Ahmed Yousef, an advisor to deposed prime minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas government in Gaza told reporters.
Egypt has brokered a truce between Israel and Gaza militant groups for six month in the Gaza Strip without including the West Bank. According to the deal, Israel should ease restrictions it imposed on Gaza Strip crossings. "Our fingers are still on the triggers if Israel is not committed to the truce," Yousef said, adding that "Israel has deliberately restricted the goods' movement at Gaza crossings during the truce term to exert more pressure on Hamas."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I think Israel should also supply water to Gaza. In order to be more efficient, the fuel and water should be delivered at the same time, in the same trucks.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
07/18/2008 1:23 Comments ||
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#2
Dont forget the cement, throw that in there too.
(Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official announced on Thursday that Israel has decided to increase the amount of fuel allowed into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Husein al-Sheikh, chief of civil affairs and liaison with the Israeli side in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in Ramallah said in a statement that the decision would come into effect on Friday.
"We were informed by the Israeli side that the amounts of diesel, cooking gas, gasoline and industrial diesel for operating Gaza power plant would increase on Friday," said al-Sheikh.
Following an Egypt-brokered truce between Israel and Gaza militant groups in the Gaza Strip which came to effect on June 19 and intends to last six months, Israel has eased restrictions imposed on the entrance of fuels and goods into the Gaza Strip.
However, the deposed Hamas-led government in Gaza complained that in spite of the truce, Israel only allowed limited amount of goods and fuel into the Gaza Strip.
After Hamas movement ousted President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces and took control of the Gaza Strip last summer, Israel imposed a tightened blockade on the enclave and only allowed humanitarian aids into Gaza.
Following an increase of homemade rocket attacks carried out by militants from Gaza at Israel before the truce was reached, Israel reduced the amount of fuel into Gaza, leaving Gaza population in hard living condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Does this seem like a truce, or more like a protracted campaign of blackmail and threats on a daily basis?
#4
Does this seem like a truce, or more like a protracted campaign of blackmail and threats on a daily basis?
Indeed.
I wonder what's going to happen when the wonder-chain is broken. Bushitler & O'Mart and the USDOS are the only entities keeping the Jooooooooooooo state in their lair.
Srsly, you can look it up.
We'll find out soon. Meanwhile, if you're looking for my permission I left it in the mailbox. If you don't need my permission then that's cool too.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe. Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters he believes Iran now has a missile with a range of 1,250 miles, but he declined to say whether the weapon has been test-fired.
Iran said last week it conducted two missile tests involving a number of weapons including what Iranian state television called a "new" Shahab-3 missile, a medium-range missile that could be used to strike Israel.
Older versions of the Shahab-3 have a 800-mile (1,300-km) range. But a new extended version is believed to have a range of up to 1,250 miles, making it capable of hitting targets as far away as Greece, Serbia, Romania and Belarus.
Iran is also developing a solid-fuel missile known as the Ashura with a range of 1,250 miles, according to the Pentagon.
U.S. officials and independent missile experts have said last week's tests involved no new or enhanced technology, or even the latest generations of missiles known to be in Iran's arsenal. Obering did not dispute those assertions in a briefing for Pentagon officials on Tuesday. But his description of Iran's missile capability was stronger than what U.S. officials have said up to now.
"The Iranians themselves are describing ... a 2,000-km range missile launch," Obering said of last week's tests, adding that Iran also claimed to have such a missile in November. "I believe, based on what I have seen, that they have the ability to do that and to continue to advance in the future, based on what I have seen so far from those (Iranian state media) reports and from the intelligence reports," he added.
"I won't go into detail as to what was fired when. That's something I think the intel community should answer," he said.
The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, which monitors major weapons threats to the United States and its allies, was more vague in its February 27 testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Iran continues to develop and acquire ballistic missiles that can hit Israel and central Europe, including Iranian claims of an extended-range variant of the Shahab-3 and a new 2,000-km medium range ballistic missile called the Ashura," DIA director Army Lt. Gen. Michael Maples told the panel.
U.S. officials and analysts dismissed last week's missile tests as an angry Iranian response to recent military exercises including an Israeli air exercise in June that some have called a rehearsal for an attack on Iran. He probably means a missile "in mass production". Iran has long had the SHAHAB-4, SHAHAB-5, and IRIS missiles for years now.
#3
Iranian wunderweapons have always seemed to have a Wile E Coyote/Acme vibe to them. Impressive looking and with high hopes, but never quite living up to the hype.
That said, You just can't take a chance on them not working given the stakes with potentially nuclear tipped missiles. Call it a reverse Pascal's wager.
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/18/2008 9:14 Comments ||
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#4
You'd think the EUnicks would be worried about this.
But they think they can talk their way out of anything.
At any rate, they just became larger stakeholders in this gambit, like it or not.
#7
The thing is, they got these from the Norks, who got them from the Chinese. So they are not indigenously invented, and may actually be fairly capable.
#9
The photos I saw last week of some of their "missile" firings were late-50s technology rockets. Even those were probably photo-shopped. I wouldn't just ignore them, but I'm not going to get excited about it - now. Europe, on the other hand, needs to pull their heads out of their collective nether regions and take a long, hard look at the world as it is, not as they wish it to be. They have some serious problems, and they're getting worse daily. Not doing anything about them, or to prepare for even more dangerous future problems, is national suicide.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2008 13:27 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Thai army expressed doubts on Thursday about the announcement of so-claimed insurgency leader to end the insurgency operation in the south, saying they have never known or contacted the group who claimed to be rebel leaders.
Thai Army spokesman Akra Thiprote said the army has never contacted or knew the three men who announced the ceasefire in the recorded video broadcast on televisions Thursday.
The army is looking for involvement of the group to the insurgency in the south, he said.
"The army plays no role in the incident or any negotiation that led to the said ceasefire. We believe that it is the job of former army chief Gen Chetta Thanajaro and his team," the spokesman said.
It would be an excellent work if the ceasefire can restore peace and stability in the southern provinces of Thailand, he said, adding that however, in spite of the announcement, the army will still be on alert to provide security for people.
The three men from a group calling themselves Tai Ruam Pak Tai Khong Prathet Thai appeared on television, saying that from July 14 onwards, all the militant and political units of our group will support peace formation in Thailand.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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Imam Samudra and the brothers Amrozi and Ali Ghufron have never shown any remorse for the 2002 bombings and have repeatedly said that they embrace death and wish to be martyrs. That can be arranged.
Indonesia's attorney general Henderman Supanji, in announcing that no further legal avenues are available to the condemned men, said, "the process would not be drawn out". Good
The bombers' lawyer, Fahmi Bachmid, said afterwards: "All of them have repeatedly said they will only ask pardon from God, not the president. This is their faith." Hopefully, Indonesia will help them meet their maker
Al Qaeda and its video production group are also distributing reruns. At least twice this summer, al Qaeda's media arm As Sahab has reposted old videos on jihadist websites, without identifying them as reruns. The move signals a shift in al Qaeda's strategy, and a decline in the frequency and quality of its propaganda videos.
Terrorism video experts point to the reruns as a change in focus among al Qaeda's leadership. Just last night As Sahab re-released its video "Windows of Paradise Part I." This time around, the video was translated into Urdu. In June, As Sahab re-posted an address from al Qaeda's number two man translated from its original Arabic into Urdu. Experts say these translations indicate al Qaeda's conscious effort to recruit Urdu-speaking Pakistanis.
Al Qaeda leaders have long railed against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani government. In January, al Qaeda's Adam Gadahn called Musharraf one of the "world's worst dictators and tyrants," who "is holding on to power by the skin of his teeth." Last year, Osama bin Laden himself called for jihad against Musharraf.
Terrorism video experts have also commented on the drop in jihadist propaganda frequency. As Sahab has rolled out very few original productions this summer compared to its almost weekly releases earlier this year. This summer, jihadist websites have also relied on video postings from other production companies like Al Fajr and Al Furqan. The decline in As Sahab videos has raised questions in some national security circles as to whether al Qaeda's media operations division has taken a hit.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Speaking of reruns, has anyone heard from Adam the Traitor? I know there was specualtion he had bought the farm.
Does anyone know for sure?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/18/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents. Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun. 
A federal judge on Thursday refused to postpone the first military trial set for next week at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, rebuffing a last-minute plea from lawyers for Salim Hamdan, an accused member of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's former driver. Judge James Robertson, of the district court in Washington, ruled that Mr. Hamdan's claims that the military commission he faces is unconstitutional can be appealed to a civilian court only after his military trial is completed.
BAGHDAD, July 17 (VOI) – A Baghdad-based newspaper on Thursday welcomed the security handover of Diwaniya province, describing the transfer as a "blessed step" to restore security and stability to Iraqi cities. Badr, the daily mouthpiece of Badr Organization, one of the main components of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hakeem said in article entitled, 'Diwaniya…self-security,' by Kareem al-Nouri, that the handover has proven the province's ability to assume security responsibilities.
Four Israeli Arabs from east Jerusalem and two from Nazareth have been indicted for allegedly setting up an Al-Qaida cell in the capital and offering their services to Global Jihad elements, security officials announced Friday. One of the suspects allegedly made contact with those elements in an attempt to assassinate US President George W. Bush during his visit to Israel in May. 
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe. Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters he believes Iran now has a missile with a range of 1,250 miles, but he declined to say whether the weapon has been test-fired.
