(SomaliNet) President Mohamud "Adde" Muse of Somalia's semiautonomous state of Puntland has denied growing speculation that Ethiopian soldiers might be deployed in the relatively stable territory.
According to reports, the Puntland leader spoke with reporters in the port city of Bossaso Sunday before he flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for talks with Ethiopian government officials. He was accompanied by Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar, army commander Ali Badiye and intelligence chief Osman "Diana" Abdullahi. Mr. Mohamud said his trip to Addis Ababa is linked to strengthening economic and security relations with Ethiopia.
President Muse dismissed reports that Ethiopian soldiers might be deployed in the region to protect the investments of foreign companies intending to explore for oil in Puntland. A military delegation from Ethiopia was in the Puntland capital of Garowe earlier this month, where they held private meetings with oil company representatives and Puntland government officials.
It's not like the mighty Uruguayans are going to defend them from the crazies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/01/2008 00:12 ||
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#1
AFRICAN CRISIS.org > USSR "SECRET SOLDIERS" FROM VIETNAM WAR SPEAK OUT. Officially only 3000 Sovs - YOU KNOW, NONE - fought agz Westmoreland's boyz, until now. DENIABILITY IS WHAT DIPLOMATS, INTEL, OR MAFIAS, ARE FOR.
3000??? - And a loud "YEAH RIIIIGGGHT" is heard over the Pacific, from someone whom didn't fight wid OSAMA BIN LADEN, etal. in AFRICA OR POST-VIETNAM VIETNAM, etal.
The terrorist being eliminated in Oran province, Saturday, was carrying 8 kg TNT explosives, while targeting blowing up himself on the same day against a state owned company, concordant sources told El Khabar.
Joint security forces have foiled a suicide attack in Oran, while managing countering a terrorist plot targeting spreading suicide attack operations to the western region of the country. The same sources said intelligence services decided conducting a field investigation for a couple of weeks, following seizing a truck with falsified papers and arresting the owners.
Investigations concluded by disclosing that people being arrested are truck drivers transporting goods from Oran to eastern regions of the country and suspected of belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.
However, investigations have also conducted in Relizene, and Setif, western and eastern the country, while managing localizing a group of people who used to be anonymous for security services as being involved in terror activities. And in less than two weeks, intelligence services managed collecting information saying Oran province is targeted by a suicide attack, likely to be executed against a state owned company.
Furthermore, the alleged suicide bomber eliminated in Oran holding 8 kg of TNT is called Mohamed Mahdjoubi, born on 1984 in Relizene province, western Algeria, and was wanted by security services since he left his family home later last week.
Why...yes, it is what you think it is.
A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged. The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.
The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.
Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation. "Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food," he said.
The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki's comments. Social customs and religious rules oblige women in Saudi Arabia to cover their head and figure with a veil so that men are not distracted by the female form.
Critics also allege that Facebook is an avenue for the promotion of homosexual relations in Saudi Arabia. More than 6,500 people have signed the online petition in a bid to stop the conservative Muslim kingdom following Syria in banning access to the network from local internet servers.
There are estimated to be more than 30,000 Facebook users in the oil-rich kingdom. Many Saudi women use nicknames and post comic images or drawings on their pages instead of photographs. Some Saudi bloggers have dubbed the network "Faceless".
Women users' contact details and email addresses are often pseudonymous. The popularity of sites for singles has broken taboos on people making contact outside family and class connections. One of the most popular Facebook groups among Saudi Arabian youth is Single and Looking in Saudi Arabia, which has 1,823 members and hosts many sexually explicit images.
#1
despite this young woman being murdered, technology will have a huge impact. Most parents won't kill their children and it will be next to impossible to prevent them from participating in these social activities - just like it is here.
Convicted Islamist terrorists are exploiting the growing gang culture in top security jails, fuelling fears that they are trying to radicalise other inmates and foment unrest.
The emerging contacts between terrorists and existing gangs in jails is occurring as the Prison Service is expecting a big increase in the number of terrorists it must look after in the next few years. The growing concern among senior Whitehall officials at the danger of Islamist terrorists seeking to radicalise other prisoners in eight top security jails is disclosed in a Ministry of Justice document.
It reveals that officials are looking at whether more high-security prison accommodation and high-security courts will be needed to cope with the predicted number of terrorists being prosecuted. It also outlines worries within the department over the radicalisation of nonterrorist Muslim prisoners and other offenders in the high-security estate.
The numbers of convicted and suspected terrorists entering the high-security estate is becoming ever higher. Concerns over the effects of radicalisation are growing, the paper says. Early work needs to be done to challenge terrorist behaviour and the threat of radicalisation.
The document, The National Commission Plan 2008/2009, admits that the Prison Service currently has no specific programmes aimed at the risk posed by extremism within top-security jails. There is an urgent requirement to understand the custodial behaviour of this group of offenders and its potential impact on other prisoners, the paper says.
Last year jail watchdogs gave warning of the effect of an influx of rival groups schooled in gun and gang culture. There are more than 130 terrorist prisoners in England and Wales, including 113 category A prisoners. A Whitehall document released in November said that the number of terrorist prisoners is projected to rise to 1,600 by 2016-17.
British Muslim Abu Omar has told how the mastermind behind 9/11 urged him to carry out a suicide bombing in London. Omar, who joined al-Qaeda after travelling to Afghanistan to study Islam under the Taliban, was asked during a private meeting with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to become "a martyr". Omar said: "He asked me if I'd be interested in doing a martyrdom operation. I just laughed and said there was no way I could do that."
Mohammed - described by the 9/11 Commission as the "principle architect" of the atrocity - did not attempt to pressure Omar into a suicide role. But he was encouraged to take an active part in al-Qaeda attacks in the British capital by carrying out surveillance missions for bombers. And he and other recruits were summoned to meetings with Mohammed and other al-Qaeda leaders and asked to propose terror targets.
Omar, who was raised a Christian, decided a year after converting to Islam to travel to Afghanistan and study his new faith under the country's radical and austere Taliban regime. But he was soon learning how to wage a terror war against the West, and within weeks had gone from someone with no interest in military affairs to being able to strip and reassemble an AK47 assault rifle in 60 seconds. He said: "I wanted to learn about Islam. I knew nothing about warfare. The closest I had been to that was probably watching Dad's Army."
Omar jetted out of the UK in October 2001, arriving in Pakistan just weeks after 9/11. He made contact with Islamic extremists and was smuggled over the border into Afghanistan - arriving in the capital Kabul as mujahideen fighters were retreating from coalition forces. Omar, who is in his 30s, said: "It was pretty frightening but we were not there for very long and eventually I caught a truck out. There were planes overhead and bombs were exploding in the distance."
Omar was taken to a training camp in Khost, where he met two fellow recruits from London, Kazi Rahman and Abdul Khalisadar. Rahman was jailed for nine years in May 2006 by an Old Bailey judge for trying to buy missiles to shoot down airliners. Khalisadar was jailed for 10 years last month for raping a 27-year-old woman in East London. Soon after Omar arrived at the training camp, he was advised to get himself some weapons - and was told to ask Ramzi Binalshibh, another key plotter behind 9/11.
Omar said: "Binalshibh was pointed out to me so I asked him and got a Kalashnikov, some grenades, and an ammunition belt with a few magazines on it. It was the first time I'd spoken to him but after that we fell in love I got quite close to him. He had a car and it was cold in the mountains so he'd let me sleep in it. Then I travelled with him in the car, a blue Corolla, to Kandahar. It took two or three days and I stayed with him there."
Omar - who has changed his name to avoid al-Qaeda reprisals - also told how, at one point, he met a Saudi claiming to have seen Osama bin Laden. The Saudi told him the al-Qaeda chief was fleeing his mountain stronghold of Tora Bora during an attack by US bombers. Omar said: "I didn't think much of it at the time. To be honest I didn't really know much about him and his name hardly came up."
Days later, Omar, along with other fighters fled Khost as American jets bombed nearby. As the coalition offensive intensified, Omar, Khalisadar and others were smuggled back into Pakistan. It was there - in a safe house in the city of Karachi - that Omar was taken to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who made the suicide bomber request.
Omar said: "He was No3 or No4 in al-Qaeda but I didn't really know that he was such a major figure. The understanding I had was that the people they wanted to go after were Army officers and other people involved in conflict, rather than civilians, because that might harm the jihad."
At another meeting, he took part in a brainstorming exercise about potential targets. He added: "When we had the meeting in the house to get ideas about who we could kill, there were about 15 of us sitting around on cushions. Mohammed and Binalshibh were there and there was an Egyptian who had a white board and we would go up and put our plans on it. I was with Khalisadar and his idea was to attack a convoy of VIPs. Other people suggested bombing a US embassy in one of the Arab countries and killing the Saudi king."
While Omar was at the Karachi house waiting for a chance to return to the UK, he was again asked by Binalshibh to carry out terrorist activities in London. Binalshibh suggested Omar use an internet cafe in Victoria to contact other al-Qaeda cell members. Omar added: "He asked would I carry out operations and I asked what that meant. He said, 'Surveillance and that sort of thing'. He didn't give me any targets and there wasn't anything specific mentioned but I was told to keep in touch when I got back."
During his time in Karachi, Omar also took part in training exercises using toy guns. He said: "We were taught how to clear rooms, that sort of thing. It does seem silly now, I'll admit, but it was a good laugh at the time."
Uk security sources said Omar - a former petty criminal and drug dealer - is no longer a threat. One added: "We are aware of this individual. He has been actively monitored and it is assessed that he does not currently pose a threat to national security."
This article starring:
ABDUL KHALISADAR
al-Qaeda in Britain
Abu Omar
KAZI RAHMAN
al-Qaeda in Britain
KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
RAMZI BINALSHIBH
al-Qaeda in Britain
Posted by: ryuge ||
04/01/2008 05:28 ||
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#1
But he was soon learning how to wage a terror war against the West, and within weeks had gone from someone with no interest in military affairs to being able to strip and reassemble an AK47 assault rifle in 60 seconds. He said: "I wanted to learn about Islam. I knew nothing about warfare. The closest I had been to that was probably watching Dad's Army."
Yet another group of Muslims who did not get the memo about it being a "religion of peace".
#2
Compare wid WAFF.com > THE IRA GOES/TURNS ISLAMIC? Great Britain's MI5 expands into IRELAND = IRISH REPUBLIC in search of AQ + Islamists - IRISH IRA ORGANZ NOW A CRIMINAL GANG???
BRUSSELS -- Georgia offered several hundred troops on Monday to support French and Dutch NATO troops in Afghanistan, two days before an alliance summit it hopes will boost its membership aspirations.
Wotta coincidence.
Foreign Minister David Bakradze said in an interview that Georgia had already indicated last year it planned to send troops and their deployment was not dependent on the outcome of this week's NATO summit in Bucharest.
However the formal offer of support to two countries which, according to diplomats, believe it is too early to offer Georgia and ex-Soviet Ukraine membership plans buttresses Tbilisi's argument that it can add value to the military alliance. "Whatever happens in Bucharest, they will go and fight," Mr. Bakradze told Reuters by telephone.
He said Georgia was offering to send some 120 troops to support the French contingent in Kabul and 200 to accompany the Dutch in the southern province of Uruzgan which has seen some of the worse violence in a Taliban-led insurgency. "Altogether there will be something over 350 troops ... The reaction was positive," said Mr. Bakradze, adding that they were expected to deploy in late August or early September.
The Georgian forces will be deployed without "caveats", the national restrictions on what tasks they may perform and where they will go, which NATO commanders say have hampered the 47,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
There's a subtle slap ...
Mr. Bakradze said some smaller units would also be deployed alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. A Georgian Defence Ministry source said the whole contingent could reach 500.
To date, the ex-Soviet state's only contribution to the NATO Afghan force has been one doctor, but it has several hundred servicemen in Iraq as part of a U.S.-led coalition.
Georgia hopes to be given a Membership Action Plan (MAP) -- a roadmap to eventual entry to NATO -- at an alliance summit starting on Wednesday in Bucharest. It has support from the United States and ex-communist central European NATO members but is facing resistance from up to seven or eight west European allies, with Germany the most vocal sceptic.
They argue that NATO cannot set the tiny Caucasus nation on the path to membership until it has settled territorial disputes with Russian-backed separatists on its soil, and point to its heavy-handed suppression of opposition protests last year. They further contend the move would unnecessarily damage ties with Russia, which is already seething over the Western-backed secession of Kosovo from its ally Serbia.
Used to be the whole point of NATO was to damage ties with the Soviet Union Russia ...
Georgia offered a power-sharing deal to its breakaway Abkhazia region on Friday which went further than previous offers, but Abkhazia's foreign minister rejected it.
#2
If McCain is elected, I hope that he goes out of his way to extend courtesies to both Georgia and Ukraine. Probably the best outcome would be if Georgia could form an alliance with Turkey and Iraq, though it would be difficult, in the form of a common market.
This would be a much easier sell to Russia than NATO membership, yet realign Georgia away from Russia to a lesser degree.
A similar idea for Ukraine, with a multilateral agreement with Romania, Moldova and Poland.
#3
DEBKA [Title paraph]> BUSH SAYS GEORGIA, UKRAINE ADMISSION INTO NATO IS IN THE INTEREST OF OTHER NATO MEMBERS.
FOX NEWS AM > Potential expansion of NATO = THREAT TO RUSSIA? wid admission of UKRAINE, GEORGIA, and Other > POTUS Dubya - THERE WILL BE NO TRADEOFFS as far as US is concerned.
The US-World has better hope that RUSSIA, FORMER CENASIA SSRS, + even CHINA had secured their nuclear arsenals as good as they like to claim, BECUZ OSAMA + RADICAL ISLAM IS HEADIN' THEIR WAY TO TEST THEIR THEORY!
#4
DEBKA [Title paraph]> BUSH SAYS GEORGIA, UKRAINE ADMISSION INTO NATO IS IN THE INTEREST OF OTHER NATO MEMBERS.
FOX NEWS AM > Potential expansion of NATO = THREAT TO RUSSIA? wid admission of UKRAINE, GEORGIA, and Other > POTUS Dubya - THERE WILL BE NO TRADEOFFS as far as US is concerned.
The US-World has better hope that RUSSIA, FORMER CENASIA SSRS, + even CHINA had secured their nuclear arsenals as good as they like to claim, BECUZ OSAMA + RADICAL ISLAM IS HEADIN' THEIR WAY TO TEST THEIR THEORY!
The nation's constitutional court has taken a first step toward throwing the ruling AK party out of office.
What prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya proposes in his bid for the history books is that the constitutional court close Turkey's ruling AK Party and thus remove a duly elected government. He also wants the court to ban Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from politics for five years, along with 69 AK Party grandees. He charges that AK, which wants to remove a ban on headscarves, is "a focal point of antisecular activity." [and thus unconstitutional]
Caution - other than the part I posted, the article is a huge (liberal) Newsweek spin article condemning the court for acting - the Author is a typical lefty statist from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
#1
We will see. Turkey, after WWI set itself up as a sectarian nation and, until recently, managed to keep the Islamic nuttiness from permeating its government core. I like the fact that the Turkish supreme court has enough balls too call a spade a spade and I hope they can deal the radical Islam party a death blow instead of judges being killed themselves.
#4
I'm taking some perverse delight in the fact that the liberals have been reduced to defending the homophobic, women oppressing, anti-semitic, anti-democratic, anti-free speech Islamists.
#5
That's because most of the nations and groups that dedicated themselves to the destruction of the US are either in the trash-heap of history or impotent.
PARIS (AP) -- Boubakeur el Hakim traded his Paris neighborhood of boulangeries and halal butcher shops for the insurgent camps of Iraq. When he came home, he told his war stories to other young men on the forgotten edges of French society, allegedly persuading some to follow in his footsteps.
His younger brother did, and died fighting U.S. forces.
Good riddance.
After years of investigation by French authorities, el Hakim, 24, went on trial this month in a case exposing how the Iraq war has sucked radical youths from Europe to a battlefield where they have learned skills that officials fear may one day be used in domestic terror attacks.
#2
It also highlights a dilemma in many European nations with growing Muslim populations: Cracking down hard risks alienating or radicalizing Moderate Muslims and betraying western ideals of Tolerance.
Democrat Barack Obama took aim on Monday at potential White House opponent John McCain on Iraq, saying the Republican senator could not offer a clear definition of success in the conflict and could leave U.S. combat troops there for decades.
Obama looked past Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ahead of their showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22 and trained his fire on McCain, who has clinched the Republican nomination and will face the Democratic winner in November's election.
Obama said the Arizona senator shared a vision of Iraq with President George W. Bush and had not spelled out how the United States would be able to end its military involvement there. "The problem that we've had, both with John McCain and George Bush, is there's no clear definition of success. There never was. And that's why this has been such a profound strategic error," Obama, an Illinois senator, told reporters while campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Democrat Barack Obama took aim on Monday at potential White House opponent John McCain on Iraq, saying the Republican senator could not offer a clear definition of success in the conflict...
... offering in its place, Obama's crystal clear plan for failure.
#3
Obama said the Arizona senator shared a vision of Iraq with President George W. Bush and had not spelled out how the United States would be able to end its military involvement there.
Could somebody check the veracity of this statement, he may be lying again. I can tell when he's lying...his lips are moving.
#4
Barack has offered a clear cut plan for surrender of the mideast, capitualtion, certain escalation of violence, and failure. WWII did not have a clear cut stop date. We were in it to win and it would not stop until we won or were dead. Our wanna-be leaders are so wishy washy and namby pamby these days. All they can do is run against something--to be opposed to something even though it might be success. Why do these dhimmicrats always want to pull out or surrender or appease or talk something to death?
#1
Oderint Dum Metuant, reads a patch for an Air Force program that mines spy satellite images for battlefield intelligence, according to Mr. Paglen, who identifies the saying as from Caligula, the first-century Roman emperor famed for his depravity. It translates Let them hate so long as they fear.
#2
Not THOSE patches, no. Good times, hard work, and the freedom to act. And no damn 1348s either!
It's amazing what can happen when you give the right people resources and let them go. The risk is making sure that you don't have people who NEED constant supervision.
#3
I like to think of it as, for every overt mission undertaken by US military units, there is a complementary mission conducted by a SOCOM element.
And this applies to Iraq and Afghanistan. In the rest of the WoT, SOCOM dominates.
Within SOCOM, two forces are in contention, intelligence gathering and operations. That is, collecting information then acting on it. They have to be kept in balance for obvious reasons.
In an e-mail obtained by FOX News, scientists at Fort Detrick openly discussed how the anthrax powder they were asked to analyze after the attacks was nearly identical to that made by one of their colleagues.
Then he said he had to look at a lot of samples that the FBI had prepared ... to duplicate the letter material.
Then the bombshell. He said that the best duplication of the material was the stuff made by [name redacted]. He said that it was almost exactly the same -- his knees got shaky and he sputtered, 'But I told the General we didn't make spore powder!'
#4
Don't jump to conclusions so fast Ruby Tuesday. Conspiracy theory? Not seeing that, but am seeing that the court cases regarding Timini, as well as his connections, check out.
If someone is able to connect some dots, I'm ready to give them a chance to prove a theory. What's with the dismissal?
#8
The level of detail is astounding -- perhaps a bit too astounding.
Who is Ross E. Getman and what is HIS motive? Is he privy to and leaking information from inside the Amerithrax investigation? Why has he chosen to append a bibliography rather than use a citation format? Is it because he has interspersed information from sources he would rather not identify?
Why is Ross E. Getman, presumably a lawyer, hosting this massive document -- that represents perhaps thousands of hours of work -- without copyright notice?
And why, if he is indeed hitting the nail on the head, would he risk making himself a target of jihad?
QUETTA, Pakistan - Pakistans deposed chief justice revved up his campaign to win back his old job while Cabinet ministers, some wearing black armbands, took their oath of office under protest from President Pervez Musharraf. Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhrys return to the political spotlight Monday and the pledge of the new government to restore judges fired by Musharraf crank up the pressure on the U.S.-backed leader to quit after eight years of sweeping power.
In a move that could ease Western concern that Pakistan will ease up on Islamic militancy, the winners of last months elections installed a British-educated loyalist of assassinated ex-leader Benazir Bhutto as foreign minister.
Musharraf dismissed Chaudhry and about 60 other senior judges during a burst of emergency rule in November to halt legal challenges to his re-election as president the previous month. But new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani last week ordered the release of a man who has become a symbol of resistance to the former army strongmans increasingly strong-armed rule.
On Monday, supporters carried baskets of rose petals to shower Chaudhry as he stepped into the arrivals hall at Quetta airport. In the baking sun outside, jubilant lawyers in stiff black suits chanted Go Musharraf go! and Musharraf must go to jail!
Bhuttos party tapped Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the suave, Cambridge University-educated scion of a landowning family as the new foreign minister to face Western countries concerned that militants are regrouping along the Afghan border.
Qureshi said "good governance should take priority over political rhetoric as the government settles into office. "I expect the international community to support democracy in Pakistan, Qureshi told reporters after the swearing-in. "I am sure that the world community has accepted this change wholeheartedly.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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SRINAGAR Kashmir separatists yesterday called on Amnesty International to discover the identities of bodies in nearly 1,000 unmarked graves found in the revolt-hit region.
Unmarked graves you say? And the terrorists separatists have no idea how they got there?
The Association of Parents of Disappeared People, or APDP, says around 8,000 people have vanished during the nearly two-decade-old nsurgency. The group on Friday said it had discovered close to 1,000 nameless graves in 18 villages in the district of Uri.
It is a matter of grave concern for us. We want to know who are buried in these graves, said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a leading cleric and head of the moderate wing of the regions main separatist alliance. We urge Amnesty International and other rights groups to identify the people buried in these graves, Farooq said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Bodies from the LOC are carried to nearby border villages for burial.
Some will be locals who crossed over for jihadi training, most will be foreign fighters (Pakistani mostly). A minority will be false encounters (killed by Kashmiri Police in centralJ+K and and dumped there).
Posted by: john frum ||
04/01/2008 6:26 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A lot of the poeple the APDP claims to be searching for are at home:
Mufti traces 26 missing to their homes
a civil liberty group said 84 persons disappeared in custody of various security agencies since Mufti took over November last.
On Monday, police said they have completed investigations into 58 cases. Of them, police traced 26 at their homes and one in Central Jail, Srinagar.
Besides, police said six disappeared persons have joined the militant ranks as two others were confirmed to have been taken away by militants. Five others, according to police, had joined the fugitives and were killed in militancy related incidents.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/01/2008 6:46 Comments ||
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Dozens of female students of Jamia Hafsa protested outside Zardari House here on Monday, and demanded the release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.
Led by human rights activist Khalid Khawaja, the students carried placards and banners inscribed with slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, and called for the immediate release of Maulana Aziz. The security around Zardari House was tightened ahead of the protest, as a heavy contingent of police was deployed there.
Khawaja went to Zardari House but failed to meet Asif Ali Zardari, the co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and handed over the demands of the protesters to party officials. The students demanded the reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa in accordance with a judgment given by the Supreme Court. The students refused to end their protest unless Zardari met them. However, they ended the protest after PPP leaders Fauzia Wahab and Zamurd Khan assured them that their demands would be conveyed to the co-chairman.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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The international community should take notice of the religious feelings of Muslims, demanded chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain Monday. According to a press release issued by the International Secretariat of the MQM in London, Hussain said that the film Fitna was against the feelings of Muslims. Muslims all over the world are uncomfortable with the release of the controversial work in the West and no Muslim will bear such acts against them.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I guess they can't find a good rebuttal when their own words are used against them in an age of videocameras.
I guess someone finally managed to get these guys to feel a bit of shame. Maybe even prod a few to do a bit of introspection and make some necessary changes.
Muslims all over the world are uncomfortable with the release of the controversial work in the West and no Muslim will bear such acts against them.
#3
The people who died in 9/11 too and not by a film, the journalist who was beheaded in Pakistan too and not by a film. We are also hurt by the diatribes of those imas who call us pigs and monkeys and call for our murder.
#4
They are not ashamed of their "holy" book, not ashamed of the mass murder and not ashamed of their violent reaction to criticism. They are only ashamed anyone should question them in any way and get away with it even for a moment. Such a one must have his head struck from his neck lest Orc pride be tarnished.
#6
"The international community should take notice of the religious feelings of Muslims"
We've noticed. That's why you're getting the backlash.
"no Muslim will bear such acts against them"
For the Religion of Peace, you're getting mighty worked up over a short documentary that quotes directly from your holy book. Tell you what, go ahead and make a counterpoint film that quotes from the New Testament. I can take it.
#8
Fitna, a 17-minute film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, juxtaposes passages from the Islamic holy book with graphic footage of terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe. In one scene, the sound of paper ripping can be seen as a reader pages through the Quran.
So? Why does the truth offend the muslims so much? Are they not into truth?
The new governments in both Islamabad and Peshawar are likely to face problems after security analysts have termed recent statements by both the United States and the Al Qaeda-backed Taliban as causes for concern.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US spy network, said on Sunday that Al Qaeda was recruiting and training fighters with a Western appearance to try to bypass security checks. It also reiterated its claims that Osama Bin Laden was hiding somewhere along the Pak-Afghan border. Similarly, local Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said that his group would stop activities inside Pakistan, but would continue their operations against US-led forces in Afghanistan. CIA chief Michael Hayden also said that the US has an interest in targeting the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he claimed Al Qaeda was plotting attacks on the West.
Future talks: I think the statements of the CIA chief in Washington and of Maulvi Faqir Muhammad in Bajaur do not bode well for the future of talks between the Taliban and the new governments in Islamabad and Peshawar, said Brig (r) Mehmood Shah, former security chief for the Tribal Areas. The US has shown a lack of patience for negotiated settlement and also lobbed a veiled threat that it will not wait very long if militants continue to attack American interests in Afghanistan, he added.
Azmat Hayat Khan, senior researcher and head of the Area Study Centre at the University of Peshawar, said it would be hard for the government of the Awami National Party (ANP) in NWFP to accept the local Talibans continuance of attacks in Afghanistan even if they stopped such activities inside Pakistan. In the first place, it will not be acceptable for (pro-Kabul) ANP to negotiate with someone who refused to abandon an armed struggle on the other side of the border, he said. Even if the ANP accepts the Talibans jihad against the US in Afghanistan, the US will not accept any such negotiated settlement, he added.
Khan said that such a situation would place any government-initiated talks in jeopardy. He warned that this would necessitate a return to the use of force to combat extremism.
Not help: Afrasiab Khattak, ANP provincial president, said Maulvi Faqir Muhammads statement would not help dialogue. However, he said that the ANP would sit with all stakeholders to ascertain their stance before taking a final decision.
Another barrier to talks between the government and the militants is the increase of airstrikes by the US in the Tribal Areas. Senior government officials, pleading anonymity, did not rule out more such US airstrikes in the Tribal Areas. Before militants are involved in talks, the US may use precision-guided weapons against the same militants with whom we will soon holds talks, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
See NEWSMAX > A LOT AT STAKE IN AFGHANISTAN; + RIAN.RU > RUSSIA - FSB CHIEF SEES [rising]THREAT FROM ISLAMIC EXTREMIST GROUPS. Shifting operations = focii to RUSSIA + URALS Region.
Ahmedzai Wazir tribes in South Waziristan opposed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillanis statement on Saturday that the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in FATA will be removed, and a tribal elder said on Monday that the only acceptable alternative to the FCR, was the implementation of Shariah law.
A jirga of Ahmedzai Wazir has decided to oppose any attempt to abolish the FCR in absence of a pre-arranged alternative system, which should be no less than Sharia, tribal elder Malik Behram Khan told Daily Times by phone from Wana.
He said the jirga had decided that only Sharia law was an acceptable alternative, if the government was bent on removing the FCR.
As alternative system, we would agree to no less than the enforcement of Shariah, he said.
Analysts said that the prime minister had made the announcement about doing away with the FCR in haste as the situation in Tribal Areas was not peaceful, and that the Taliban had percieved Gillanis statement as the appropriate time to demand for Shariah law.
Behram said that amendments to FCR were also acceptable, referring to Clause 40 in the FCR, under which the political administration could jail anyone for three years without a trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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The deaths came the day after an explosion killed 16 passengers on a bus traveling near Nasiriyah, about 45 miles from Basra. Conflicting accounts emerged Wednesday about the incident, with the bus driver and a passenger asserting that passing American soldiers opened fire on them, an allegation that U.S. military officials denied.
The bus was carrying about 60 people, all but five of them women and children, who were traveling home to Basra after attending a memorial service, as an American military supply convoy drove past them in the northbound lane, according to passengers. About 1:40 p.m., an explosion tore into the driver's side of the bus and blew out the other side, filling the vehicle with black smoke and the screams of the passengers, witnesses said.
The U.S. military said in a statement that a lethal roadside bomb known as an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, slammed into the bus and also blasted the passing convoy, wounding a U.S. soldier and a civilian traveling in the convoy. The bomb, which shoots heated copper slugs, was similar to EFPs that American military officials say are manufactured in Iran.
But the driver, Zeki Abdul Qader, and a passenger, Qasim Salih Jubur, said they believed the U.S. soldiers opened fire on the bus after it had already safely passed what they were later told was a spot where a roadside bomb had exploded. They said their bus was struck with bullets seconds before they were hit with the explosion, which they believed was some sort of rocket or grenade fired from the U.S. convoy.
"The Americans shot us," Jubur said. "One hundred percent it was the Americans."
"We absolutely did not fire on the bus," said Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "Absolutely not."
The passengers on the bus left Basra on Sunday to visit holy Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf, and to attend the commemoration for a woman from their tribe who had died 40 days earlier. The bus was passing through a desert area when the explosion occurred.
Qader, the driver, said he was reaching the tail end of a long military convoy when he heard gunfire and the sound of bullets striking his bus.
"They shot me with small arms from the beginning of the bus to the end, the whole side, then they shot this rocket," Qader, 58, said in a telephone interview. The explosion tore through three rows near the middle of the bus -- four passengers per row--killing 12 people almost instantly, he said. Four others on the bus were also killed, he said.
"The bus turned to all black smoke, you could see nothing, and all the windows blew out except one or two," he said. "The bus went off the road and I tried hard to keep it from flipping over."
After the bus stopped, U.S. soldiers cordoned off the surrounding area and Iraqi forces arrived at the scene. Qader and Jubur said they themselves did not see American soldiers firing but heard the gunfire and were told by the Iraqi soldiers that the American troops had fired.
Abbas al-Khafaji, director of the funeral home in Najaf where the bodies were taken for burial preparation, said one infant and at least four women had bullet holes in their bodies in addition to shrapnel wounds. Ali Hussein, 37, the uncle of the slain 6-month-old, Abbas Jihad, confirmed that the boy had two bullet wounds in the chest.
Unfortunately for WaPo, Toby Nunn a Blogger with Bad Voodoo Platoon was there
When I was a boy my Dad used to tell me don't believe everything you hear, read or see. Again, I find myself reminded of his wisdom. Here in the last couple days I have been reading, hearing and watching the complete and utter failure in journalism. The other day the boys of Bad Voo Doo and I were on a mission in southern Iraq and where only a short distance from what has been reported as a travesty, tragedy and another example of the reckless US Army.
While assisting a bomb blast that struck a civilian bus that was in the vicinity of the convoy immediately to our front I did not see a single news reporter or media person. By the time I got to my destination the reports were already online about the casualties and conduct of the US Forces. Pray tell where were the media getting their information?
In an account printed in the coveted Washington Post, the reporter quoted the bus driver and passengers from the damaged bus as saying the US Army engaged the bus with machine guns and rockets after the nearby convoy was attacked by an EID or Road Side Bomb. There was a qoute saying that the driver was 100% positive he was attacked by Americans. I also noted that the reporter at no time mentioned even an attempt to contact the US unit involved for a statement but only a Army representative in Baghdad. This Saigon style of reporting should not be tolerated. The media's political agenda's SHOULD NOT outweigh their ethical obligation to report the news objectively and accurately. If the reporter is even here in Iraq he should know that US Soldiers do not carry Rockets so how could the bus driver have been attacked by some? Where did the casualty numbers come from? How were the facts checked? THEY WEREN'T plain and simple.
The true story of the event was the Iraqi security forces took point on the attack. The police responded, brought ambulances and helped secure the scene with out prompting or prodding. Their execution was not great BUT the spirit in the attempt was amazing. It might seem like a small step but its monumental in the advancement of a fledgling force to operate organically. I was proud to see them in action.
Sorry Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan of the Washington Post foreign service, your account was completely inaccurate with potentially the only truth being an Iranian influenced Improvised Explosive Device. There were no American casualties and the US forces never fired a shot just helped some innocent bus riders. The two of you should be ashamed and have your credentials pulled for your utter lack of journalism or professional ethics. Perhaps I should write and submit an article on Iceland's cruelty to Unicorns because it will be as objective, honest and accurate as your sorry offering.
#1
A very, very useful perspective on the article, GolfBravoUSMC. We join you in your pride at the progress of the Iraqi Police and security forces. They reflect the competence of their teachers and the pride of their country.
#5
The media's political agenda's SHOULD NOT outweigh their ethical obligation to report the news objectively and accurately.
Wow! You do not understand the media's function in this war. It is to ensure the defeat of the United States by whatever means necessary.
This is clear by the way Sadr's defeat is being turned into a victory. This is an even more egregious example than Tet. But nobody is calling them on it. Bush should hold a press conference and call the reporters "liars" and demand a front page apology to the troops in Iraq for the libel. But he won't because he doesn't understand the first thing about leadership. When McCain gets in office, he will have no excuse for avoiding a confrontation with the country's most dangerous enemy.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister says the military operation to clear the southern city of Basra of Shiite militia violence has been a "success." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement Tuesday that his office will recruit 10,000 more police and army forces and will move to enhance public services in Iraq's second-largest city.
His comments come after a peace deal between radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi government has brought a tense calm following a week of clashes.
The ferocious resistance by militia fighters has left the U.S.-backed prime minister politically battered and humbled within his own Shiite power base. But he says the crackdown achieved "security, stability and success" in Basra.
"The Charge of the Sadrs" is spray painted in black all over the numerous Iraqi Army and police checkpoints now abandoned in eastern Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods.
The graffiti mocks Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's security operation "The Charge of the Knights" launched in Basra, the southern Iraqi oil city, last week that put Iraqi and US forces in direct confrontation with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in the capital and across the south.
On Monday, one day after the Shiite cleric's call for a truce following the battle that killed hundreds of people and wounded scores of others, several conclusions are clear.
Mr. Sadr has demonstrated his power, despite the blows dealt to his movement over the past few years. The government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, thanked him profusely on Monday for his decision, but vowed that the fight would continue in Basra, where militiamen have now largely melted away from the streets, but remain very much in control of their strongholds.
"It's the same old ending," says Juliana Dawood, a Basra resident, referring to previous battles with Sadr's Mahdi Army in 2004 that have finished with similar truces.
In August 2004, US and Iraqi forces battled Sadr's militias in Najaf, Iraq. It was billed as a crucial test of then-Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's ability to extend authority over a key city in Iraq that was controlled by armed militias. The Najaf showdown ended in much the same way this one did: a Sadr negotiated truce.
But this time, analysts say, the widespread instances of surrender among the Iraqi forces and the seizure of their equipment and vehicles by the Mahdi Army shows that despite all the funding and training from the US, Iraq's soldiers remain greatly swayed by their sectarian and party loyalties and are incapable of standing up in a fight without US backing.
The fighting has also firmly wedged the US in an intra-Shiite struggle that has been bubbling for some time and will probably only intensify. The battle has also spawned more popular anger and frustration, especially in places like eastern Baghdad, toward both US forces and Mr. Maliki's government, which already had been teetering on the verge of collapse.
This popular anger is like an adrenaline rush for the Sadrist movement, which, in contrast to other Shiite parties, particularly the one led by rival Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, is seen as being on the side of the young, poor, and downtrodden.
Already Sadr is gearing up to capitalize on this comeback with a huge anti-American rally planned in Baghdad on April 9, the day Saddam Hussein's statue was brought down in the capital five years ago.
In Baghdad, the government lifted a three-day curfew but US and Iraqi forces maintained a siege of sorts on Mahdi strongholds in eastern Baghdad, such as Sadr City and Shaab and Shuala on the northwest side. All vehicles were banned from going in and out except for authorized food and medicine deliveries.
Everyone going in was searched by Iraqi forces. US troops kept a close eye from a distance. A US Abrams tank, a Bradley fighting vehicle, and an armored truck stood guard at Mudhafar Square on the edge of Sadr City. US soldiers have also moved into the main municipal building off the square. "They killed him here, look," recounts Salem Dhiab, pointing to the bullet-riddled gate where he says his neighbor, Ahmed Bayrouzi, was shot by a US sniper after venturing out Sunday in violation of the curfew to check on his sister who lives close by.
Nearby, two lone policemen sat outside and simply smiled when asked how they fared in the fight. The street was charred from the remains of burning tires that militiamen set ablaze.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
From the NYT,
Iraqi Army and police forces immediately moved into Basra neighborhoods abandoned by the Mahdi Army, which is the armed wing of Mr. Sadrs political movement, setting up checkpoints and searching for roadside bombs.
Just cos one side says its a truce, don't make it so. No matter how much the MSM wants it to be true.
#2
"pointing to the bullet-riddled gate where he says his neighbor, Ahmed Bayrouzi, was shot by a US sniper after venturing out Sunday in violation of the curfew to check on his sister who lives close by."
Please. "bullet-ridden gate"? I call B.S. A US sniper would need just one shot. Who writes this crap?
#5
an enemy is not defeated UNTIL you break his will.
Sadr's will is not broken. he portrays himself as not broken, and his supporters fully believe they are not broken.
Their will has to be broken. It isnt even perceived that their bodies have been harmed, their neighborhoods may be quiet, they may be off the streets, but they themselves do not perceive that they have even been harmed.
You can not win a war in which the enemy is not even afraid of you.
Worse, Maliki, actually BEING a shiite should have KNOWN this in his planning. He isnt fit to lead. We need a man who carries the kill into the center. Maliki cant, he inspires derision even among his own soldiers. They know a wuss when they see one.
Maliki doesnt have the will. The Iraqis know it now.
The next act will see him removed by someone who does have the will to carry the killing into the center and close.
If you dont have the guts for it, go play with the children. alQaeda wont be short of will. For our side it must be perceived that we will kill everybody who raises a gun. And then pour quicklime into their sightless eyesockets and stack them in a basement and bulldoze the house over it. Then we let in the Journalists and put up Port-o-Lets for them on the site where the house used to be.
In Fallujah there were eight Marines against eight Jihadis in a single house. ONE man in the American squad killed four and was then forced out of the house alongside his squad to care for two wounded Marines. He re-entered the house ALONE...faced and killed one man downstairs. Then proceeded without backup up the dark stairs to the upper story. He fought at close quarters and killed the last three Jihadis in the dark, the last man was killed with a boot knife the Marine used in desperation.
The last two Jihadis had come at him together in the dark. One had chanted," I am going to cut your head off, I am going to cut your head off."
He shot the first one who was shown by night vision coming through the door and the second one with a boot knife when they grappled on the floor.
He didnt get a medal, there were no witnesses, and he is still leading men today. Maliki isnt of that calibre. Maliki cant lead at all.
You cant win a war unless your will is stronger than your enemy's will. Blink and you die. Make the other bastard blink.
#9
Lots of Mahdi Army boys were killed, wounded, and captured/surrendered. That last category should have a great deal to reveal, and their cell phones even more. The next round, though likely much quieter, should be very interesting. Happy hunting, y'all!
#10
These men prob don't realize or grasp yet that OSAMA, etal. is redirecting the MAIN ISLAMIST STRATEGIC DIRECTION TOWARDS RUSSIA + CENTRAL ASIA. As per the Cold War USSR + WARPACT/Commie Bloc, only the latter has the quantities of UNSECURE? NUKE-WMD + OTHER MILTECHS NEEDED TO PRESERVE THE ISLAMIST JIHAD + GLOBAL AGENDA. This is what the US-West feared post 9-11 > NOW OSAMA + RADICAL ISLAM HAVE CHOSEN TO DE FACTO TEST = PUSH THEIR FEAR TO ITS LIMITS???
Israel is considering allowing the Palestinians to station armed soldiers in Tulkarm and Hebron after next month's planned deployment of 700 such soldiers in Jenin, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad in Jerusalem on Sunday and presented them with a detailed list of goodwill gestures Israel planned to begin making to the Palestinians in the West Bank in the next few weeks.
Barak pledged to allow the PA to deploy 700 soldiers in Jenin, and to remove 50 dirt roadblocks in the West Bank and one major checkpoint - most probably between Jericho and the Dead Sea. The lifting of the roadblocks will ease travel for Palestinians driving between Jenin, Tulkarm, Kalkilya and Ramallah.
The gestures also include the transfer of 25 Russian-made armored vehicles to PA forces; the establishment of PA police stations in Area B, where Israel has security authority and the PA has civil authority; the establishment of industrial zones near Jericho and near Tarkumiya, west of Hebron; the opening of a VIP lane at checkpoints; and exempting Palestinian businessmen who are approved by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) from inspections at checkpoints.
In the 35-page document that Barak presented to Rice, the defense minister also pledged to invest in renovating existing checkpoints, build new housing for Palestinians in 25 villages and a new city near Ramallah, connect Palestinian villages to the Israeli power grid and allow more Palestinian laborers and businessmen to work inside Israel.
Following next month's planned deployment of Palestinian soldiers - currently being trained by the US in Jordan - in Jenin, the Defense Ministry plans to offer the PA the opportunity to do the same in Tulkarm and Hebron.
The soldiers in Jenin will be allowed to carry weapons and operate during the day, enforcing law and order.
A top defense official told the Post on Sunday that while Hebron was a perfect place for the program, it was a sensitive issue due to the Jewish population in the city.
Hebron Jewish Community spokesman David Wilder said he opposed the placement of Palestinian security forces in Hebron.
"It would be extremely dangerous," said Wilder. The community is already under constant attack, he added.
Shots were recently fired at his apartment, he said, leaving a hole in his son's closet.
"Today a rock was thrown into the home of a family that lives next to me," Wilder said, adding that on Sunday evening a boulder was thrown at the Kiryat Arba-Hebron road by Palestinians. "The violence is continuing," he said.
Following her meeting with Barak and Fayad, Rice said that Lt.-Gen. William Fraser, the US road map monitor, would check that Israel removed the roadblocks as Barak had pledged.
"General Fraser will be following up on the specifics and will be also... making certain that in fact there are 50 and they are being removed, and that they in fact have some impact on the access issues," Rice said.
Barak also discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip with Rice and Fayad.
Officials traveling with Rice said the Palestinians had agreed to step up their efforts to prevent terrorism in the West Bank.
The US issued a statement after the meeting, saying that Barak and Fayad had "agreed on concrete steps to implement the road map," the US-backed peace plan that envisions the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
"This is a program that will improve the daily lives of Palestinians and help make Israel secure," the statement read.
Defense officials said the West Bank access plan would be implemented in the coming weeks, but declined to say which dirt roadblocks would be removed. The officials said the plan was the result of serious staff work that spanned several weeks and took "calculated risks."
"The ultimate goal is to strengthen [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas and Fayad," a top official said. "The idea is to show the Palestinian people that there is an alternative to Hamas. To do this, some risks need to be taken."
A total of 76 percent of Israeli Jews give some degree of support to transferring Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state, a poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel revealed, Monday. Well, if paleoland is to be judenfrei and that doesn't bother anyone, you might just want to return the favor...
The poll, conducted over the Internet, included 668 adult Israeli Jews representing the entire political spectrum, cites a 3.7% margin of error.
The poll asked participants whether as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state there would be justification to demand that Arabs with Israeli citizenship relocate to Palestinian territory. Only 24% were totally against the idea.
Of the remaining 76%, 29% said all Israeli Arabs should relocate. An additional 19% said only Arabs living in close proximity to the Palestinian state should relocate, and 28% said transfer should be decided based on loyalty or disloyalty to the State of Israel.
The data reflects Jewish Israelis' distrust of Arabs national priorities. A total of 50% said Arabs identify first and foremost with the Palestinian cause and see their Israeli loyalty as secondary, while 40% said Arabs identify solely with Palestinians, and only a single percent thought Arabs identify wholly with their Israeli identity. Despite their belief that Arabs' right to retain their property was not obvious, 52% thought Israeli Arabs were not discriminated against by the state, while 43% said they were discriminated against and 1% remained undecided.
Hadash Chairman MK Muhammad Barakei was furious that the Knesset Channel initiated such a poll. "The Knesset Channel should express Israeli democracy and cannot act as a private company advancing insane and racist ideology," he said. The racist card, right on cue.
#1
Rezone Jerusalem so that any companies that employ Palestinians are there. Build a wall around Jerusalem so that it can be isolated from Israel and the West Bank. Use financial incentives to convince Israeli Arabs to move to Jerusalem as managers and leaders. Be mentally prepared to write off the city and the Israeli Arabs if things don't improve.
What this does is gets Arabs out of Israel proper in a way that doesn't provoke cries of ethnic cleansing. It creates a zone the Arabs need for jobs and hopefully some incentive for them not to destroy the jobs/area.
#3
Now, all that remains is
(i)For majority of Israelis to realize that Palestine = "Hasemite Kingdom of Jordan".
(ii) Not doing it (transfer) in order "not to upset the rest of the World" is buying us nada.
#4
I'm sure the results would be different if Israeli Arabs were enthusiast supporters of Israeli sovereignty. But they aren't, and Israeli Arab support of Palestinian terrorism continues to grow.
#5
Israel will not simply transfer populations until some major event has happened. I do not think the Palestinains are capable of that major event and the other Arab nations are unwilling to risk the humiliation of another attack so the ongoing cancer will continue.
If Israel doesn't have serious plans for such an event they are in a coma.
At the very least Israel could depopulate the areas next to the border and push the Pals away from their border mile by mile, depending upon the sources of contnuing attacks and such. Transfer the populations towards Jordan or into Gaza, whichever is more convenient.
#6
Any Israeli Arab who gives aid and support to the terrorists should, along with his extended family, be stripped of Israeli citizenship and expelled into Gaza. Bulldoze the houses and have the State confiscate all real estate owned by the family. If they don't like and support where they live and aid the country's avowed enemies, then they get to go live someplace else. They should actually consider themselves lucky at such an outcome. It's pretty sweet compared to what they would receive in a Muzzie country for such traitorous actions.
#7
There are two ways to approach the problem. One is to gradually push the Muslims out of the way, in reaction to their affronts. The other is to grin and bear it until you lose your temper, and push them all out at the same time.
The former action is better, because it gives many chances for good behavior and supports the forces of moderation. It is also humanitarian, because it gives them time to relocate.
However, the Israelis seem to have chosen the latter path. It is one with the most harm to the most people, including Israelis, and guarantees that the Paleos will never even try to control themselves.
JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said he would consider reopening Gaza's border crossings if violence from the territory ceases, but defense officials warned Tuesday that such a move is a long way off.
The officials said Ehud Barak's statement was aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Barak has previously opposed opening Gaza's borders since the Hamas militant group, which often fires rockets into southern Israel, violently seized control of the area last June.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Barak during a visit this week to consider easing Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has caused widespread economic hardship in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians, the officials said. Abbas, who wants to reassert his authority in Gaza, has offered to have his forces man Gaza's border crossings to help ease the humanitarian situation while preventing direct contact between Israel and Hamas.
Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and closed Gaza's crossings after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza. It has only let in limited humanitarian supplies since.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas hope to work out a peace deal by the end of the year. But the Gaza situation threatens those efforts. The Israeli army regularly clashes with Hamas militants, and Israel has warned it won't carry out an agreement with Abbas if rockets continue to fall in southern Israel.
In new violence Tuesday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Hamas gunmen during a raid on the central Gaza Strip, Hamas said. The army said the gunmen approached troops operating against rocket launching squads.
Despite the incident, there has been a sharp drop in Gaza violence in recent weeks as Egyptian mediators try to work out a truce between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas insists that, as part of any cease-fire, Israel stop its military activity in Gaza. "The solution is a synchronized and mutual calm that includes an end to Israeli attacks and the lifting of the siege, in exchange for halting the rockets. This is a solution that can please all sides," said Taher Nunu, a spokesman for Gaza's Hamas government.
In his announcement, Barak set several conditions that must be met before restrictions at the borders would be relieved. "When conditions have matured in the future for an end to the rockets, the terror and the reduction of the weapons' smuggling, we will be willing to consider easements in the Gaza crossings through cooperation with representatives of (Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam) Fayyad's government," Barak said.
The defense officials said Israel would not be fully opening the crossings in the near future since the violence has persisted.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that the cease-fire contacts, which involve talks on the Gaza crossings, were ongoing between Fayyad's administration, Israel and Hamas. He said the efforts to work out a deal were "complicated."
Erekat said he wasn't sure Barak's statement was serious. "Announcements are one thing and action and deeds are another thing," Erekat said.
While the sides have held numerous meetings, there has been little visible progress in the U.S.-backed peace negotiations, and Gaza is only one of several complications. The talks have been plagued by Israeli settlement construction on land Palestinians want for a future state and Palestinian violence.
Just as Rice left Israel on Monday, Israeli officials announced the construction of 800 apartments in the West Bank and another 600 in a disputed part of Jerusalem. Rice later said Israel should stop such construction projects, but to no avail.
At a U.S.-hosted peace conference in November, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to relaunch long-stalled talks and base negotiations on the 2003 "road map" peace plan. The U.S.-backed proposal calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and the Palestinians to rein in militants.
JERUSALEM - Israel is going to build 1,400 new apartments in the West Bank and the disputed part of Jerusalem, officials announced, despite objections by Palestinians and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The move reflects the political weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who continues to support construction in disputed areas because it allows him to keep his fragile coalition intact and further damages Abbas standing. Olmert insisted Israel is not building new settlements, nor is it confiscating additional land for existing ones. Instead, he said, Israel is building only in places it intends to keep even after a peace treaty is signed.
Palestinians charge that the ongoing construction is sabotaging peace efforts. Though they tacitly agree that Israel will, in the end, retain some or all of these areas, the bulldozers, cranes and work crews are tangible evidence to Palestinians that peace negotiations are not helping their cause, further complicating Abbas position.
Nope, still haven't figured out 'cause and effect', have they ...
Political realities are also driving Olmert. He depends on Shas, a hawkish ultra-Orthodox party, for his coalition governments parliamentary majority.
An announcement of 600 new housing units to go up in Jerusalem came from the Jerusalem city hall, but the larger project 800 new apartments in Beitar, an ultra-Orthodox settlement outside Jerusalem, came from Shas. Olmert is not in a position to deny it: Shas leaders have made repeated threats to bring down his government if Olmert crosses them.
East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed by Israel shortly afterward, is home to 180,000 Jews, who live in neighborhoods built after the war. Because of the annexation, Israel does not consider construction there to be settlement activity, but the Palestinians and the international community do, because no one has recognized Israels annexation. An additional 270,000 Jews live in West Bank settlements, most of them in three major blocs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Palestinians charge that the ongoing construction is sabotaging peace efforts.
The leader of the radical Palestinian Hamas movement has told Sky News he is offering Israel a deal to attack only military targets and that an abducted Israeli soldier is alive.
In an exclusive interview in Damascus, Khalid Meshaal said he was renewing an offer first made to the Israelis 10 years ago. "We renew our offer to Israel to let the civilians on both sides not be a part of this conflict," he said. "We renew this offer today."
Mr Meshaal, who is a target for Israeli assassination, said if Israel agreed it would not kill any Palestinian civilians then Hamas would only carry out attacks against Israeli military targets. He also gave confirmation for the first time in almost a year that the Israeli soldier captured in 2006 and held in Gaza is alive.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Lying shit-stain offers what he can't possibly deliver...
#3
The usual justification we hear for committing mass murder is either that all Israelis are military targets and not civilians because they are required to serve in the military or have voted for the Israeli government which is waging Brutal Oppression(tm) against the peaceful and innocent Paleos.
Syria promised Arab leaders at an annual summit on Saturday to cooperate in ending a political crisis in Lebanon, and regional power Saudi Arabia said it saw Damascus as part of the solution.
The conciliatory language on Lebanon offered some relief from the tensions that have built up during preparations for the two-day meeting, which Lebanon and key pro-U.S. Arab leaders are skipping in protest against Syria's Lebanon policy.
The Beirut government is boycotting the summit while Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have sent low-level delegations.
Eleven heads of state from the Arab League's 22 members were present at the opening, less than normal for an Arab summit, reflecting suspicions that through its local allies Syria has obstructed the election of a new Lebanese president.
The conflict over Lebanon is part of the wider struggle for regional influence between the United States and Syria's ally Iran. Assad dismissed accusations that his country was behind the deadlock in Lebanon, which has not had a president since November because the government and the Syrian-backed opposition cannot agree on the composition of a new cabinet.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Austrian radio reported Monday that Islamist militants holding two Austrian tourists in North Africa have made new demands for their release.
The report, which did not cite any sources, said the hostage-takers want the withdrawal from Afghanistan of Austria's four soldiers, who are part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. The report also said the kidnappers are demanding the release of a couple recently convicted in Vienna of involvement in a March 2007 video threatening Austria and Germany with attacks.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal declined comment on the report.
Last week, al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which says it kidnapped Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber in February, said the pair would be freed only if several of its members were released from Algerian and Tunisian prisons by April 6.
The couple disappeared in Tunisia.
The report Monday also seemed to suggest that the hostage-takers were demanding a ransom and had increased the requested amount. Reports about a ransom have circulated for some time.
Launsky-Tieffenthal said the ministry was not aware of a ransom demand.
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.
Convicted Islamist terrorists are exploiting the growing gang culture in top security jails, fuelling fears that they are trying to radicalise other inmates and foment unrest. 
British Muslim 
SRINAGAR Kashmir separatists yesterday called on Amnesty International to discover the identities of bodies in nearly 1,000 unmarked graves found in the revolt-hit region.
Dozens of female students of Jamia Hafsa protested outside Zardari House here on Monday, and demanded the release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.
The international community should take notice of the religious feelings of Muslims, demanded chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain Monday. According to a press release issued by the International Secretariat of the MQM in London, Hussain said that the film Fitna was against the feelings of Muslims. Muslims all over the world are uncomfortable with the release of the controversial work in the West and no Muslim will bear such acts against them.
Sorry Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan of the Washington Post foreign service, your account was completely inaccurate with potentially the only truth being an Iranian influenced Improvised Explosive Device. There were no American casualties and the US forces never fired a shot just helped some innocent bus riders. The two of you should be ashamed and have your credentials pulled for your utter lack of journalism or professional ethics. Perhaps I should write and submit an article on Iceland's cruelty to Unicorns because it will be as objective, honest and accurate as your sorry offering. 
Israel is considering allowing the Palestinians to station armed soldiers in Tulkarm and Hebron after next month's planned deployment of 700 such soldiers in Jenin, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. 
JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said he would consider reopening Gaza's border crossings if violence from the territory ceases, but defense officials warned Tuesday that such a move is a long way off. 
JERUSALEM - Israel is going to build 1,400 new apartments in the West Bank and the disputed part of Jerusalem, officials announced, despite objections by Palestinians and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The leader of the radical Palestinian Hamas movement has told Sky News he is offering Israel a deal to attack only military targets and that an abducted Israeli soldier is alive.
Austrian radio reported Monday that Islamist militants holding two Austrian tourists in North Africa have made new demands for their release.
