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Government amends Lebanon constitution for presidential election
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan orders UN, EU officials to leave
Afghanistan has ordered a top European Union official and a United Nations staffer to leave the country for threatening national security, government and diplomatic officials said Tuesday. The two were declared persona non grata, apparently after allegations they had met with Taliban insurgents, a European diplomat said.
"What's the big deal? We're the U.N., we meet with the enemies of peace all the time!"
The office of President Hamid Karzai had at first announced at a press conference that the two, said to be British and Irish, had been arrested.

Spokesman Homayun Hamidzada later told AFP the pair, whom he did not identify, had been asked to leave the country. Another official said that two of the pair's Afghan colleagues had been arrested. "The foreign nationals have been declared persona non grata and their Afghan colleagues have been arrested and are being investigated," Hamidzada said.

He said his earlier statement that the pair were in custody was a "misunderstanding." In that statement, he said the unidentified pair "posed threats to the national security of Afghanistan."

A European diplomat said on condition of anonymity that the men had been given two days to leave, but the UN mission here said it was not aware of any deadline. They had been accused of "having had contacts with the armed opposition out of the knowledge of the government," the diplomat said. "Afghans claim they have documents proving these guys had contacts with the Taliban but have not given any proof," he said.
They really don't need any. It's their country. They want you out, you're out.
The UN mission said it was not sure on what basis the government had made the allegations. "The government has not made clear its justification for this action and we are trying to clarify this misunderstanding," said spokesman Aleem Siddique. "We have no reason to believe that there is any justification for such a request," he said. He said the UN official was a British national and that the EU staffer was an Irish national.

An Afghan foreign ministry official said the men were asked to leave because they had done something "not in their mandate." He would not give their nationalities, although other officials said they were British nationals.
Posted by: tipper || 12/25/2007 10:48 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Works for me. Having contact with the Taliban is over the top. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 12/25/2007 13:07 Comments || Top||

#2  "Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out."

Good advice, SPo'D.

The EUnichs and UNichs can't afford any more brain damage.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/25/2007 13:27 Comments || Top||

#3  The UN and the EU have two things in common: they are all unelected bureaucrats, and they all think they should run the world. I can't wait until the turf battles break out between them. Neither really has any legitimacy except what they convey upon themselves.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/25/2007 13:40 Comments || Top||

#4  #1 "Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." Is that the English translation for the Latin persona non grata?
Posted by: GK || 12/25/2007 18:24 Comments || Top||

#5  So how come Afghanistan can kick out U.N. Officials who are in cahoots with their enemies and we can't?

Outside of having an empty building in Turtle Bay I can't see a downside.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/25/2007 19:24 Comments || Top||

#6  That's not a downside, CF.

Donald Trump has already said he can renovate that building for a decent sum of money (not the ridiculous sum the UselessNitwits want us to pay.

Let's give The Donald a chance! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/25/2007 19:38 Comments || Top||

#7  As far as I can tell, there are four kinds of UN people.


  1. The type who do their jobs and do them well. The WHO doctors who helped eradicate smallpox. Rare.

  2. The type who run when things get difficult. The UN in Iraq. Common.

  3. The type who corruptly take advantage of most any situation, often for sex. UN peacekeepers in Africa. Usual.

  4. The bureaucrats and leaders who would never actually get their hands dirty but who collect their corruption tax anyway, or who allow their kids to collect. Kofi Annan, every organization in the UN headquarters except for the tour guides and postage stamp sellers. Ubiquitous.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 12/25/2007 20:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't forget the Vampire Vulture Elite. These are the ones who rush into a disaster area (in about 5 weeks - once 5-star hotels and 24-hour catering have been restored) to take credit for others work and then gorge themselves on the 'emergency funds' which others have generously provided to those poor bastards who were hit hiy by the original disaster and then by the Vampire Vulture Elite....

Or rush off to a 'conference' in some exotic location on their private jets in order to condemn us poor working slobs for driving our little cars to the grocery story once a week.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/25/2007 23:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
Laicism march in Turkey
A march celebrating laicism and democracy was held yesterday in Ýzmir's Menemen district to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the death of Second Lt. and teacher Hasan Fehmi Kubilay, who was killed by religious fundamentalists in 1930.

Among the important political figures attending the ceremony were Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer, Menemen Mayor Tahir Þahin, Konak Mayor Muzaffer Tunçað and a large group of citizens.

Participants chanted, "Turkey is a secular country and it will remain so,” during the event. Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt meanwhile said in a written statement marking the event that “Laicism is the essential and indispensable principle of the republic.” He said some powers had tried to prevent the Turkish nation from achieving its goal of going beyond the level of contemporary civilization since the establishment of the republic.

“Violation of laicism means the violation of the republic and its contemporary achievements,” he said, noting that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, left to the Turkish nation a belief system that is far removed from dogma.

“This belief system had all the qualities to meet the requirements of today and the future... The Turkish Armed Forces will work in line with this system using its utmost power,” Büyükanýt said.
Posted by: lotp || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad


Dutch firm admits kickbacks in Oil-for-Food programme
The Dutch firm Akzo Nobel NV has admitted to paying thousands of dollars in kickbacks to the Iraqi government during the UN-administered programme that allowed Saddam Hussein's regime to sell oil to buy food or other humanitarian goods, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

Akso Nobel acknowledged two of its subsidiaries, NV Organon and Intervet International BV, paid Saddam's government USD 280,000 to help win contracts between 2000 and 2002, the department said. The companies would artificially inflate the value of the contract to conceal the payments from the United Nations. Akso Nobel sold the two subsidiaries earlier this year.

Under the agreement with the Justice Department, NV Organon must reach an agreement with Dutch authorities to pay EUR 381,000 in fines within 180 days or pay USD 800,000 to the US government.

The United Nations in New York oversaw the programme that was set up in 1995 and ended under the US invasion in 2003. The programme allowed Iraq to sell oil for food and medicine to ease the burden of international sanctions enacted after Saddam ordered the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The oil for food programme was later found to be the subject of widespread corruption and abuse that involved payments to the Iraqi government and in some cases to UN officials.
Posted by: lotp || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party

#1  The company is among the world's largest chemical manufacturers and a major salt producer. Akzo Nobel divides its business into two lines. Its coatings group makes decorative paints, automotive finishes, and industrial coatings. The chemical unit makes pulp and paper chemicals, functional chemicals (flame retardants, crop nutrients), surfactants, and catalysts. A third unit, pharmaceuticals, produced contraceptives, fertility treatments, antidepressants, OTC drugs, and veterinary medicines. Akzo sold the division, called Organon, to Schering-Plough for $14 billion in 2007, the same year it agreed to buy ICI for $16 billion.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/25/2007 6:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Nobel? Any relation to the Nobels of Sweden?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 12/25/2007 12:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Man Wanted On Terrorism Charge Caught At Casin0
MICHIGAN CITY - Sometimes a fake ID is used by a teenager wanting to buy alcohol or play pöker. But not always. Sometimes it's used by people not wanting to be found for serious crimes - so serious, Interpol sends out alerts and judges are shaken from sleep for paperwork. "Apparently, all the bells and whistles went off," MCPD Capt. Larry Kunkel said of a situation that began late Friday and continued into early Saturday morning. Michigan City authorities found themselves in the middle of that bit of international intrigue after taking a man into custody. That man is apparently wanted in the country of Colombia for "dangerous terrorism."

The incident began Friday at Blue Chip Cas1n0 when Indiana Gaming Police arrested a man going by the name "Antonio Cruz" for using false state identification. According to an incident report filed by MCPD Lt. Mark K. Zummak, identification papers for Cruz indicated he was born Jan. 30, 1976. Another piece of identification indicated he was Carrillo Luis, born Aug. 25, 1962. Cruz indicated to authorities he was in the country illegally. He had been living in Wyoming, Mich., a town just southwest of Grand Rapids.

As Zummak began making reports to federal and international authorities, he was told there was a lot of interest in Cruz. An Interpol official in Washington, D.C., the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center all stressed keeping Cruz in custody. He may be wanted for crimes, and he may be sought in the U.S. for deportation processing. At 4:20 a.m., ICE issued a detainer against Cruz. That detainer can keep him held for a period of 48 hours until a federal agent can take custody of him. Due to the holidays, though, that likely won't happen until Wednesday. However, the 48-hour period does not include weekends nor does it include federal holidays, including Dec. 25.

Immigration officials said Cruz' ID indicates he may be, or be related to, Antonio Carrillo Cruz - a man wanted in yet another country. "To get someone like that in the middle of the night ... to wake up a judge and get a temporary hold on him, it had to be important," Kunkel said.

Messages left with the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center were not immediately returned Sunday night. A Wyoming, Mich., phone listing for Antonio Cruz had been disconnected. Cruz is being held in La Porte County Jail through the holidays.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What all the interest about? Is "dangerous terrorism" something like an appocolyptic virus?
Posted by: Woozle Uneath8763 || 12/25/2007 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Or is he just scary?
Posted by: Woozle Uneath8763 || 12/25/2007 0:28 Comments || Top||

#3  being in Columbia he may have something too do with drug trafficking or FARC
Posted by: sinse || 12/25/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  My money's on a database spewing out bogus data.
Posted by: gromky || 12/25/2007 18:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'Musharraf, Fazl, Sherpao, Muqam face life threats'
Interior Minister of the Obvious Hamid Nawaz said on Monday that President Pervez Musharraf, former federal ministers Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Amir Muqam and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman were facing life threats from Al Qaeda.
Anybody who's anyone gets threats on their lives from al-Qaeda, among others. It's a sign you've arrived socially.
Yeah, but not everybody gets their convoys and prayer meetings blowed up. Blowed up real good.
About threats to former PM Benazir Bhutto, he said the government had informed Benazir about threats to her life. Hamid said the government was trying to meet the security requirements Benazir had asked for. He said progress had been made in investigations into the Charsadda suicide attack. He said the government was also providing security to former premiers Nawaz Sharif and Shaukat Aziz.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  actually, it sez "life threats". Tells you what a shithole Pakistain is when your enemies threaten to keep you alive there
Posted by: Frank G || 12/25/2007 8:49 Comments || Top||


JUI-F defector blames ex-MMA govt for turmoil in Swat, FATA
Local Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Amir Nawaz Khan on Monday accused the former Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government of creating a law and order problem in Swat and the Tribal Areas He said the JUI-F chief had lost the confidence of the people by cheating them in the name of Shariah. He alleged this at a press conference to announce his and Tekreek-e-Istiqlal (TI) leader Malik Sardar Bahadur’s resignations from their respective parties and their joining of the Awami National Party (ANP). A large number of workers from both parties also joined the ANP. ANP provincial President Afrasiab Khattak, central Senior Vice President Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Bashir Ahmed Bilour were also present at the press conference.

Amir said Maulana Fazlur Rehman gave safe passage to President Pervez Musharraf and allowed the latter to continue his ‘dictatorial’ rule through the 17th Amendment. He said Rehman and his religious alliance obtained votes from the electorate with a pledge to root out obscenity and corruption from the society and shift offices to mosques. “But the corruption and obscenity grew during the MMA era and the protocol was promoted,” he said. Amir said the Hasba Bill passed twice by the NWFP Assembly was also “a drama staged by the JUI-F chief and his MMA”.

Sardar Bahadur, on the occasion, said Air Marshall (r) Asghar Khan was also “a failed politician” and had no role in politics anymore. “I resign from the party and join the ANP,” he said.

Postpone polls: Afrasiab Khattak said the government wanted to postpone the elections in some parts of the province, warning that results would be disastrous if it (the government) delayed the polls in the Pushto-speaking areas. He said it was the government’s responsibility to protect the public and the candidates.

Khattak said Musharraf had proved — by bringing former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif back to the country — that PML-Q-Q’s leaders were “failed politicians” and were no longer capable of ruling the country.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami


PPP shocked over squandering of US aid
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday expressed shock over the New York Times report about squandering of US aid aimed at providing assistance to Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. The report said Pakistan had received up to $11 billion in aid from the US, of which over $5 billion never reached the military units.

“This is an insult to the brave soldiers of Pakistan who have always upheld their commitment to safeguard the country’s borders,” PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman said. She said the NYT report had exposed corruption in certain sections of defence, as there was hardly any justification for purchases made under various heads with the US money. She also expressed PPP’s concern over the mismanagement of the US funds.

“The purpose of war against terrorism is not only to eliminate terrorists, but to eradicate the root cause of terrorism. How can terrorism be rooted out if such a paltry allocation is made to critical social sectors,” she added.

Inability: She said the report had revealed the inability of the military regime to fight a war that was most important for the safety of its own citizens. “This also reflects the importance of a sovereign and strong parliament to safeguard the life and interests of both civilians and the military,” she said. She termed the 2002-2007 parliament as the “rubber stamp parliament”, which had failed in performing its constitutional duties and safeguarding public interests.

“The PPP is clear in its anti-terrorism stand and will work towards empowering the parliament, the public and the military to work jointly against the menace of terrorism,” she added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  “The purpose of war against terrorism is not only to eliminate terrorists, but to eradicate the root cause of terrorism. How can terrorism be rooted out if such a paltry allocation is made to critical social sectors,” she added.

More anal moonbatery. One must wonder if Rehman has a future in US politics. She's certainly got tax, spend, and pi**-away money mantra memorized.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/25/2007 5:38 Comments || Top||

#2  11 billion = paltry allocation. Nuts.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/25/2007 16:04 Comments || Top||


Pakistan rejects allegations of squandering aid money
The Pakistan Foreign Office on Monday rejected a report published in a US daily that Pakistan has squandered $5 billion in aid, saying the report was baseless. The New York Times, in its Monday edition, alleged that $5 billion in US aid for bolstering military efforts against Al Qaeda and the Taliban was not being used for the purpose intended and was instead being diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India. A Foreign Office spokesman told a private TV channel that the report was false and negated the counter-terroism efforts made by Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "We didn't squander it---it was used to finance terrorism worldwide."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/25/2007 9:53 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fatah official: Hamas takeover of Gaza "a political gift to Israel"
A "gift" that just keeps "giving".

Mohamed Dahlan, a senior Fatah movement leader said Tuesday that the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas's takeover of Gaza Strip in mid June by force "was a political gift for Israel."

Dahlan, a major rival Fatah leader to Hamas, told Palestinian Radio "Voice of Palestine" that Hamas takeover of Gaza "was a real geographical separation of Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian territories," which is exactly what Israel wants. "Isolating Gaza Strip from the rest of the Palestinian territories was an Israeli dream, and Hamas movement made this dream come true," said Dahlan.

He added that the existing political battle is now against Hamas and the bloody stream, "and this political battle is a priority for all Palestinian factions, because those who are under siege, is not Hamas, but the Palestinian people." Dahlan accused Hamas movement of seeking to keep its grip on the Gaza Strip by offering Israel "a free Hudna (truce)."
Posted by: ryuge || 12/25/2007 09:02 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Fatah


Marwan Kanafani: Yasser Arafat was the leader of "Black September"
Ma'an – The Cairo-based Egyptian magazine Al-Ahram Al-Arabi revealed in its last issue on 15 December 2007 a 36-year- old secret; they quoted the Palestinian leader Marwan Kanafani as saying that late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat was the founder and cammander of the "Black September" organization which claimed responsibility in 1971 for assassinating the Jordanian Prime Minister then Wasfi At-Tal.

The magazine quoted parts of Kanafani's diaries entitled "years of hope" which will be published later, as referring to late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat as the real commander of "Black September."

These diaries and an interview with Kanafani will be published in episodes on the Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, and are expected to arouse controversy.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  That Nobel Peace Prize was sure appropriate...
Posted by: john frum || 12/25/2007 7:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "are expected to arouse controversy"

What controversy? That the "peaceful"
arafish wasn't responsible for even more deaths?

Pfui.

Hope you're enjoying HELL, you bastard.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/25/2007 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2007/12/former-aide-admits-arafat-founded-black.html

Maan Agency founded by European money http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=Content&Do=Aboutus
omits from the original article the attack against olympic athletes.
Posted by: Pholugum Stalin1270 || 12/25/2007 13:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Old news, of course.

Who Murdered Cleo Noel?
Posted by: mrp || 12/25/2007 19:18 Comments || Top||


Palestinian source says Hamas and Israel likely to reach a comprehensive ceasefire soon
Ma'an – A Palestinian source, who spoke to Ma'an on condition of anonymity, revealed on Monday that a prisoners' swap deal between Hamas and Israeli is being completed. The deal includes releasing the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit , and Israel in exchange releases 500 Palestinian prisoners in addition to all the detained Palestinian Legislative Council PLC members.

The source also told Ma'an that the deal would include halting the launching of Palestinian homemade projectiles from Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns. Furthermore, inter-Palestinian dialogue will start three months after the agreement is in effect in order to form a new Palestinian government and prepare for new legislative elections.

According to the source, Hamas accepted that deal because they wanted to get rid of the burdens which resulted from the detention of Shalit as that was one of the reasons behind the continuation of the siege on Gaza Strip. The source also said he believed Hamas has realized that it can't stand to the promise to release large numbers of Hamas' prominent prisoners who pinned hopes on the "Shalit's deal", and so Hamas preferred to make a more comprehensive deal to avoid embarrassment.

The source believes that the expected visit by the Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak to Cairo is related to the completion of the prisoners' deal which, according to the source, includes:

1- Releasing about 500 Palestinian prisoners most of whom were jailed before the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

2- Releasing PLC members who have been detained after the abduction of Gilad Shalit.

3- Hamas guarantees that neither its military groups, nor other Palestinian factions fire homemade projectiles or undertake military operations against Israeli targets.

4- Three months after commitment to appeasement, inter-Palestinian dialogue begins in order to compose a new government and prepare for new legislative elections.

For his part, the spokesperson of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades Abu Ubayda denied the presence of any deal between Hamas and Israel over the issue of Gilad Shalit.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Sri Lanka
I refused to shoot him in the back & paid a price for it
Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, ordered the cold blooded murder of V. Pirabhakaran, the Tamil Tiger chief in September 1987. An order was given to this effect to the Indian Army on peace-keeping duty in Sri Lanka at that time. Pirabhakaran was invited by the chief of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) Major General (retd.) Harkirat Singh, for a meeting on September 16, 1987 to find ways to implement an accord signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardene to bring peace to Sri Lanka.

At midnight on September 14, Maj. Gen. Singh received a call on the special army communication network. The call was from Colombo — J.N. (‘Mani’) Dixit, then Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka, wanted to speak to the general officer commanding, IPKF. The general was ordered to kill Pirabhakaran, when he would come over for a meeting on September 16, under the white flag, to discuss the formation of an interim administrative council. This despite the fact that no professional Army would kill an adversary called for a meeting under the white flag.

But Harkirat Singh refused to execute the order, because he says, “Good soldiers do not shoot an adversary in the back.”

The general, who recounted this episode briefly in his book (Intervention in Sri Lanka) told MAIL TODAY that he had no doubts or no dilemma about what he had to do.

He asked Dixit for time and put a call across to his boss, Overall Forces Commander Lt Gen. Depinder Singh. Depinder wanted Harkirat’s assessment. Harkirat said that he would not be party to a murder.

In the autumn of his life, trying to catch some winter sun in his study at his south Delhi home, the 71-year old general still remains resolute. “Killing someone during a war is fine. But killing under a white flag is just not done.”

But would his act not have saved Rajiv’s life? After all, without Pirabhakaran, would the LTTE have been able to carry out Rajiv’s assassination? The general had never ever thought about it. “This was something I should have never done. So I never thought about what could have happened had I killed Pirabhakaran. At that point the order had nothing to do with Rajiv’s life,” reminds Harkirat Singh.

Still, that night had its share of drama. After his conversation with his boss, General Depinder Singh, Harkirat rang up Dixit in Colombo. Singh calmly told the high commissioner, “I will not obey your directives.”

He tried hard explaining that he had invited the LTTE supremo to find ways to implement the accord signed by the Indian Prime Minister and Jayawardane. And he was coming to meet the general at his headquarters at Palaly airbase in Jaffna.

Dixit would have none of it. He threatened the general: “Rajiv Gandhi has given these instructions to me and the Army should not drag its feet, and you as the GOC, IPKF will be responsible for it.” The all powerful high commissioner was not spewing empty threats. Singh was soon posted out and never promoted. Though he never spoke to Dixit afterwards, he badly wanted Dixit to be around when his book, the tell-it-all, Intervention in Sri Lanka finally came out a few months ago. Dixit unfortunately died in January 2005.

“When we met socially for cocktails, he used to tell my wife that the general is still angry. I never talked to him because I didn’t want the conversation to end in unpleasantness. But he was alive when I started the book,” Harkirat recalls.

The two men, Rajiv and Dixit, who ought to contest Harkirat Singh, are not alive. Dixit later went on to become the national security adviser before he died of a heart attack.

What Harkirat says is recorded in the War Diary of 54 Division headquartered in Secunderabad and would be part of the military archives. In fact, after every telephonic conversation during a war, the exchange is noted down and passed on to the next higher authority and it reaches all the way up to the chief of Army staff. The very next morning after Singh turned down Dixit’s order, he got a call from the then director-general military operations, Lt. Gen. B.C. Joshi, congratulating him. Then Army chief, General K. Sundarji, thought differently. He was annoyed. But none of them asked Singh to alter the correspondence or objected to the Prime Minister’s name being referred to in the communication.

Though Singh is uncomfortable rekindling the controversy, he still wants to put the record straight. But he said that he waited all this while because he did not want to be harassed by the Army or the government for making these startling revelations. “There is a 3 to 10 year-old security embargo period. That is why I didn’t write my book earlier. Look at what happened to that RAW guy (Maj. Gen. V.K. Singh). I didn’t want them to create problems for me,” he said, as he chuckled.

Singh, in fact, doubts whether Dixit was completely honest when he invoked Rajiv Gandhi’s name. “How do you cross check, when somebody tells you that he is speaking on behalf of them"
Posted by: john frum || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe this would have been called "Perfidy". Illegal, and most damning of all, dishonorable. General Singh made the right call.
Posted by: Ptah || 12/25/2007 7:01 Comments || Top||

#2  yeah i agree ptah, but in these day and times and how terror goes now what would you do. seeing as we now have enemies that would cut your kids throats in front of you i would shoot the shit out of him
Posted by: sinse || 12/25/2007 9:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like the government wanted the military to do its dirty work. The government gets the benefits, the military gets tarred with a bad reputation.
Posted by: gromky || 12/25/2007 18:36 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bishop Rahi: Aoun is being used as a tool by Hezbollah
Christian Maronite Bishop Bechara Rahi said that Syria is still trying to return to Lebanon and noted its role in obstructing the presidential elections. Rahi criticized Speaker Nabih Berri for ‘closing the parliament’s door.’ “Everyone knows that Berri is not free in taking decisions,” he said.

He also denounced the opposition’s attempts to implicate the Christians in the Sunni-Shia struggle through naming MP Michel Aoun as its negotiator with the pro-government party. “Aoun is being used as a tool by the ( Hezbollah -led) opposition,” Rahi told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Ray. “His proposal aimed at reconsidering the president’s authorities as stipulated in the Taef Agreement was strongly denounced and criticized by factions of the opposition,” he added.

Rahi reiterated the Church’s rejection to prior-conditions ahead of the election of Army Commander General Michel Suleiman as president. He also noted that a simple majority elected president likewise the presidential vacuum is a problem.
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  [online poker has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: online poker || 12/25/2007 16:04 Comments || Top||


Berri rejects indirectly Government's constitutional amendment
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri indirectly rejected a constitutional amendment bill adopted by the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to facilitate the election of Army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as the next president to replace Emile Lahoud whose term expired November 23.

Berri's statement on the rejection of the bill was outlined by MP Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of the speaker's parliamentary bloc and AMAL Movement. Khalil, reading the statement to reporters at Berri's residence in Ein al-Tineh, said: "The Parliament would not break the constitutional rules by accepting an anti-constitutional move from an illegitimate government." Addressing the Siniora majority government, Khalil added: "Your bill has no constitutional value."
Posted by: Fred || 12/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2007-12-25
  Government amends Lebanon constitution for presidential election
Mon 2007-12-24
  Hindu nationalists win Indian election
Sun 2007-12-23
  Somalia Islamic movement appoints new leadership
Sat 2007-12-22
  Paks raid madrassah after mosque boom
Fri 2007-12-21
  France Detains Five Men In Connection With Algeria Bombing
Thu 2007-12-20
  Hamas leader appeals for truce with Israel
Wed 2007-12-19
  Turkey's military confirms ground incursion; claims heavy PKK losses
Tue 2007-12-18
  Turkish Army Sends Soldiers Into Iraq
Mon 2007-12-17
  Paks form team to rearrest Rashid Rauf
Sun 2007-12-16
  Kabul cop shoppe boomed, 5 dead
Sat 2007-12-15
  Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Thu 2007-12-13
  Leb car boom murders top general
Wed 2007-12-12
  Qaeda in North Africa claims Algiers blasts
Tue 2007-12-11
  Taliban abandons Musa Qala


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