The Obama administration is having trouble finding the hundreds of civilians it wants to bolster its troop buildup in Afghanistan, so military reservists might be asked to do many of the jobs.
In announcing the new strategy for the war last month, the administration said it would send several hundred civilians ? such as agronomists, economists and legal experts ? to work on reconstruction and development issues as part of the military's counterinsurgency campaign.
Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday that the military is trying to find ways to fill the gap. That would likely be with reservists, who often have the necessary skills because of the experience they have in their civilian lives, other officials said.
"It's just a realization that they are not going to be able to provide the 'civilian surge' in the near future and the need is now," Morrell said. "We're looking at ways to step into the breach and figure out how we can get additional personnel there to help out on the civilian side," Morrell said.
In another development, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress Thursday that local job creation is a key purpose of the $980 million in extra funds the State Department is requesting for its work in Afghanistan.
Clinton was testifying before a House appropriations subcommittee that is reviewing the administration's request for $7.1 billion in additional funds for the State Department this budget year.
She said the main goal is to improve security at the local level in Afghanistan by putting more people to work. And she said the Obama administration believes that many in the Taliban insurgency who are fighting against American and Afghan forces are motivated more by money than by ideology.
The phenomenon of looking to the military is far from new and was a sore point in Iraq as well after the Pentagon was asked to do tasks the State Department lacked staff to do. The military, among government departments, has long had more money to train and hire people and a greater ability to order its employees to war zones and other hardship posts.
The Obama administration over the coming months is sending about 17,000 additional combat troops and 4,000 more trainers to mentor Afghan security forces ? a buildup long delayed by the war in Iraq as the Afghan campaign became more and more violent in recent years.
Officials haven't released the number of civilians wanted to bolster the new effort and have said there is no firm number yet. But two officials said privately that the number of 500 to 600 was being considered at one point as the new war strategy was being developed in recent months.
#1
The phenomenon of looking to the military is far from new and was a sore point in Iraq as well after the Pentagon was asked to do tasks the State Department lacked willing staff to do.
#2
..not only willing but capable. Whether we like it or not, the best we have are in the uniform services not any place else in the rest of the bureaucracy or academia or the media. Better to do it right the first time than over and over again just to make someone happy about appearances.
#3
$7.1 billion in additional funds for the State Department this budget year.
Funding follows ability and effectiveness. Were State's or USAID budgets cut because they were unwilling to do the tasks assigned them? Why not?
Posted by: ed ||
04/23/2009 12:41 Comments ||
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#4
..the Obama administration believes that many in the Taliban insurgency who are fighting against American and Afghan forces are motivated more by money than by ideology.
That is one hell of a toxic belief. What kind of contorted thought process comes up with this BS rhetoric that gainful employment will dissolve the Arab and Muslim ideology of hatred and violence toward anyone not like them?
#5
That is one hell of a toxic belief. What kind of contorted thought process comes up with this BS rhetoric that gainful employment will dissolve the Arab and Muslim ideology of hatred and violence toward anyone not like them?
Because you see Islam means Peace and Love and Harmony and Flowers and CoolRain and stuff. So they can't really really want to kill us, rape our women and enslave our children. If we simply send in community organizers and sing happy songs and think happy thoughts they will, like, come to love us and we can gather around and sing campfire songs.
/SARC
Obama is going to get a lot of people killed. And ORDERING military reservists in like this ( and probably unarmed to boot - cause guns are icky ) is going to get a lot of very good people killed.
#6
The Obama administration is having trouble finding the hundreds of civilians it wants to bolster its troop buildup in Afghanistan, so military reservists might be asked to do many of the jobs.
Not flocking to "the cause" are they? Not very Hopey Changey of them. And isn't that a big surprise...
#8
Need community organizers in Afghanistan? Send ACORN to Afghanistan. Might take care of a problem at home--multiple voting and voting by fictitious people and dead people . Probably won't do much for Afghanistan.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Somalia's president cautioned on Wednesday against any US strike on the land bases of pirates who have seized dozens of ships off his country's coastline, saying such an attack would have no positive effect. Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmad told a news conference in Cairo that he preferred instead to strengthen Somali police forces to act against Somali buccaneers who have made millions of dollars seizing vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Asked about a possible US strike, Ahmad said: "We advise against this ... because strikes like these rarely hit their marks."
He knows better, but we could always demonstrate. Again ...
"Training and arming the Somali forces is what will secure an end to this phenomenon," Ahmad said. "The idea now is to strengthen the Somali police force so they can pursue [pirates], and to establish a coast guard whose mission would be to protect the Somali coast and prevent pirates from attacking passing ships."
The brief seizure of the Maersk Alabama and the subsequent hostage drama involving the ship's captain have led to calls from lawmakers in Washington and former military officers for US forces to attack the pirates' bases on land.
A senior US defense official has said the United States was unlikely to attack Somali pirate land bases due to the risk of civilian deaths but may help local authorities fight a scourge that has also driven up insurance rates for merchant ships passing through the waterways linking Europe to Asia.
US officials are also wary of action that could lead pirates to seek common cause with Islamist insurgents such as Somalia's Al-Shabaab group.
Ahmad, who headed the Islamic Courts movement that defeated Mogadishu's powerful warlords and brought some stability to the capital and most of south Somalia in 2006, said his movement had been able to deal with the pirates when it was in power. "The pirates live on land. They don't live in the sea. And we know the people. Previously, in the days of the courts, we with God's grace were able to stop them," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A Somalia coast guard? they must think we're idiot enough to give them fast boats and larger guns to go a pirating.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2009 1:13 Comments ||
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#2
How 'bout we just sink all your boats? Then you won't need a coast guard.
#3
Somalia's what? I thought they didn't have a functioning government, how can they have a head of state?
Oh, I see, it's one of the "Islamic Courts" turd-turbans. As far as I can tell, they never had any control over Puntland, which is where most of the active pirate bases are located. He's a fucking liar.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/23/2009 11:48 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Sudanese court on Wednesday sentenced 11 members of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to death and acquitted five others for a 2008 attack on Khartoum. "We sentence them to the death penalty by hanging," judge Issam Ismail said after the individual verdicts were read out, to shouts of protest from the condemned men.
Five defendants were found not guilty of the charges, which included trying to overthrow the government. The court referred one defendant to a juvenile court and another to mental hospital.
More than 70 rebels have now been sentenced to death for the shock attack in which more than 200 people were killed. None of those sentenced has yet been executed. The rebels drove hundreds of miles across desert and scrubland to reach the capital and were only a few kilometers from the presidential palace when government troops halted them.
Last year, the United Nations expressed concern over the trials in the Sudanese courts especially created for the case and urged Khartoum to abolish capital punishment. Defense lawyers have argued that the special courts are unconstitutional and have not guaranteed their clients' legal rights.
Under Sudanese law, any death sentence must be ratified by an appeal court and the high court. All death warrants must then be signed and approved by President Omar al- Bashir.
The JEM last month said it would no longer hold peace talks with the Sudanese government after Khartoum's expulsion of foreign aid agencies from the war-ravaged region.
It had signed an accord in the Qatari capital of Doha in February with Khartoum on a package of confidence-building measures, paving the way for substantive peace negotiations. But it said peace talks were no longer possible after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Bashir on March 4 for war crimes in Darfur.
The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur rose up against the regime in Feb. 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
[ADN Kronos] The Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader, Sayed Imam Abdel Aziz Sharif, has blamed Islamist movements in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon for recent wars that have resulted in pain and suffering for their people. "Hamas and Hezbollah have lit up the fire of Israeli wars to then unload their burden on the population," said Sharif, also known as Doctor Fazel.
He expressed his views in the second part of his latest book, 'The Gaza Shirt', published from his prison cell at al-Aqrab in southern Egypt, according to a report in the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat.
He strongly criticised both groups for their actions. "Their way of acting and governing is in strong contrast with what the Prophet Mohammed did. During his time there were many disenfranchised and oppressed Muslims in Mecca, however, the prophet never declared holy war at the beginning," said Sharif.
Sharif said what the Islamist Hamas movement did during the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza "has nothing to do with Islam" and said Islamist movements should "take responsibility and assess whether they are capable of fighting a war before unleashing it."
The title chosen by Sharif for his latest book uses the word "shirt" as a metaphor for achieving his own political objectives. The word refers to an episode in the history of Islam, when the caliph or Islamic leader Muawiya used it as a pretext to kill the previous caliph, Uthman, and seize control of the Islamic caliphate from Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law. He assumed the caliphate after Ali's assassination and forced the abdication of al-Hassan by threatening further bloodshed in 661. He ruled until 680 AD.
Israel claimed its three-week military offensive against Gaza in December and January (photo) was designed to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israel.
The 2006 Lebanon War was a military conflict between the Islamist Shia group, Hezbollah, and Israel that began in July that year and lasted for 34 days. A United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in August 2006, although the conflict formally ended in September when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > SUDAN: LEBANESE LOCALS INVOLVED IN HIZBULLAH ARMS SMUGGLING INTO EGYPT; + EGYPT'S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SUPPORTS HIZBULLAH, + HIZBOLLAH WILL STAY OUT OF GAZA FIGHTING. Physically, but perhaps not materielly, $$$.
[Bangla Daily Star] As the trend of suicide by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) jawans marked a rise after the February 25-26 mutiny in the Pilkhana headquarters BDR authorities instructed all its units to motivate jawans not to commit suicide, said a BDR press release yesterday. How y'gonna do that? Threaten them with punishment?
A total of 16 border guards died between March 9 and April 16 for various reasons. Of them, four committed suicides, six died of heart attack and six died of other diseases in Dhaka and outside the capital, the release said.
It said a total of 352 BDR members died in between 2001 and 2008. Of them, four committed suicides, 14 died of malaria, 38 in road accidents, criminals shot dead 11, 77 died of different diseases, 207 of heart attacks and one by lightening.
The news media are running news from different angels on the matter following deaths of BDR personnel in its different units and establishments after the Pilkhana massacre in the Pilkhana, it added.
In some units incidents of suicide by BDR jawans after the February 25-26 brutalities are on the rise and it seemed that offenders are committing suicide as they fail to cope with mental pressures, the release said.
The commanding officers have been advised to arrange motivational programmes to make jawans aware of the negative aspects of suicide from both religious and social perspectives.
25 BDR JAWANS REMANDED
A Dhaka court yesterday placed 27 suspected BDR mutineers on a five-day remand each for questioning in the mutiny case.
The Investigation Officer (IO) of the case produced them before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, and prayed for showing them arrested in the case.
The IO also submitted a 10-day remand prayer to quiz them about the carnage but the court granted five days for each.
A total of 1,171 suspected BDR mutineers have so far been arrested in connection with the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
"Beatings will continue until morale improves."
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2009 1:28 Comments ||
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#2
We are beating the BDR, and they are committing suicide at the gates of Dhaka.
[Kyodo: Korea] European ambassadors to Pyongyang stayed away from last weekŽs commemoration of the anniversary of the late North Korean founderŽs birthday to protest the countryŽs recent rocket launch, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The ambassadors from most of the seven European Union countries that have embassies in Pyongyang skipped events, including a ceremony at Kim Il SungŽs mausoleum and a weeklong song and dance performance, held to mark his April 15 birthday, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] The Al-Qaeda linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on Wednesday released a video threatening the "criminal" German government and citizens of the Jewish faith, according to German media.
In the video, the third released this year, shows a man identified as "Commander Mohammad", who criticises the presence of German troops in Afghanistan. The man accuses "the sons of Germany of being in the service of the Jews" unlike "Granddad Hitler".
Investigators believe the video's release may be linked to a major Islamist terrorism trial which opened on Wednesday at a high-security court in the northwestern German city of Duesseldorf. In the trial, three Germans and one Turkish national are accused of planning a series of simultaneous bomb attacks against discos and pubs and the United States airbase in Ramstein and against Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office.
Two of the German suspects are converts to Islam while the third is a German citizen of Turkish descent. They face charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation, plotting murder, and conspiracy to conduct a bomb attack. The trial is expected to last one to two years. If the defendants are found guilty, they could face prison terms of up to 15 years.
Prosecutors claimed the men were planning to use about 10 times as much explosives as were used in the deadly July 2005 attacks on London transport that killed 56 people and injured thousands. The plot was at an advanced stage and the attacks could have killed over 50 people, according to police.
Around 300 German federal agents were involved in monitoring the cell for several months, before police swooped in on the group in what was one of Germany's biggest anti-terror operations to date.
Three of the defendants were arrested in the Germany's western Sauerland region and the fourth was arrested in Turkey and extradited to Germany in November last year. Prosecutors say the four men belong to a little-known group called the Islamic Jihad Union with roots in Uzbekistan and ties to Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Jeb Babbin reports that "White House lawyers are refusing to accept the findings of an inter-agency committee that the Uighur Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay are too dangerous to release inside the U.S."
Put them in Detroit. Couldn't get worse ...
After President Obama promised to close Gitmo, the White House ordered an inter-agency review of the status of all the detainees. Apparently, it believed that many of those held would be quickly determined releasable. If so, this belief was perhaps naive, considering that a large percentage of the detainees, presumably the comparatively "innocuous" ones, had already been released (some of whom promptly returned to their terrorist ways).
The inter-agency committee -- comprised of all the national security agencies -- was told to start with what the Obama administration believed to be the easiest case, that of the seventeen Chinese Muslims, known as Ughurs, who were captured at an al-Queda training camp.
According to Babbin, the inter-agency panel found that the Ughurs weren't "the ignorant, innocent goatherds the White House believed them to be."
Scales fall from our eyes ...
The committee determined they were too dangerous to release because they were members of the ETIM terrorist group, the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement," and because their presence at the al-Queda training camp was no accident (realistically, how could it have been).
That's the sort of coincidence that's almost a religion in the Bambi administration's foreign policy think tank ...
Babbin's sources in the Defense Department say that "the White House legal office has told the inter-agency review group to re-do their findings to come up with the opposite answer."
Would anyone be surprised if, indeed, the Obama administration is overruling the intelligence community in order to implement preconceived policy preferences? Would anyone be surprised if those policy preferences include erring on the side of aiding suspected terrorists (to "repair our image," of course) rather than protecting the United States?
We've been educated that last eight years that it's not right to put 'politics' before facts. Apparently that's now wrong.
As Babbin puts it, "there is now no ETIM terrorist cell in the United States: there will be one if these Uighurs are released into the United States."
#3
If they release the Uighars in America, the Chinese will kill every damn one of them as high priority targets. They do NOT want them on the lecture circuit in the US, telling us of how the Chinese are demographically exterminating them by flooding their lands with Chinese.
The U.S. government's wall of isolation around a man held for more than seven years as an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent has parted in recent weeks with telephone calls to his family and the chance to read newspapers and magazines, according to one of his brothers.
Ali al-Marri, 43, sounds surprisingly strong during the calls from a federal prison in central Illinois, his brother, Naji al-Marri, told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview from his home in Saudi Arabia. Naji al-Marri also insisted his younger brother has no ties to al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden, as federal prosecutors have claimed. "I know some of that stuff is not true," said Naji al-Marri, 47. "Because some of the stuff that they're saying (is) something that I know Ali would not do."
Ali al-Marri was arrested in 2001 while attending college in Illinois and accused of plotting terrorist attacks inside the U.S. He had been the last enemy combatant held without charges on U.S. soil until his March move from the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., to the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, just south of Peoria. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. His next hearing is April 30 in Peoria.
Since being moved to Pekin, al-Marri has been allowed to call his family once a week, his brother said. Occasional letters had accounted for the only previous contact other than a handful of calls after the Red Cross won him permission following his father's death last year. Naji al-Marri said he never responded to the letters because, at the time, he doubted their authenticity.
Ali al-Marri's telephone calls are monitored by federal authorities and Naji al-Marri said his brother is only allowed to call a Red Cross office in Saudi Arabia about 150 miles from the family's home. Most discussions dwell on what al-Marri has missed since his arrest, his brother said. "His son now, when he was (arrested) he's 8; now he's 16 years old. Can you imagine?" Naji al-Marri said.
Ali al-Marri is kept isolated in a special housing unit in Pekin, according to Andy Savage, one of his attorneys. But the conditions are better, Savage said, than those al-Marri experienced during most of the years he spent alone in South Carolina. Savage has said he faced interrogations and conditions that amounted to torture while in the brig. TV is forbidden, but al-Marri now gets magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics and fitness and computer magazines, Savage said. "In the case of The New York Times, it has to be reviewed before he gets it," Savage said, adding that he doesn't know why.
Federal prosecutors routinely refuse to comment on al-Marri's case, which a federal judge in Peoria has said he hopes to try by the end of the year. In court documents filed prior to the five years al-Marri was held as an enemy combatant, the government said the Bradley University graduate met with bin Laden in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 and was sent to the U.S. to help al-Qaida operatives carry out attacks following Sept. 11, 2001. Al-Marri had faced credit card fraud charges after his 2001 arrest in Peoria, but those were dropped when he was placed to military custody in June 2003.
In some of the early court documents, FBI agents who searched a computer from al-Marri's Peoria apartment said they found an Arabic-language prayer asking God to protect bin Laden, audio files of lectures delivered by the al-Qaida leader and lists of Web sites such as "Jihad arena." Naji al-Marri said he doesn't believe his brother, a devout Muslim, traveled to Afghanistan, only to neighboring Pakistan, where he worked to help orphans and other poor people.
Ali al-Marri followed his brother to Bradley in Peoria in 1987, graduating four years later with a bachelor's degree in business management administration before returning to his native Qatar to work for a bank. He came back to Peoria for graduate school, arriving Sept. 10, 2001, with his wife and five kids. He was arrested that December.
Naji al-Marri has applied for a U.S. visa to attend his brother's trial. But he said he's nervous about coming back to the United States because he no longer trusts the government. He said he wonders why federal officials would have held his brother without trial for so long if they had legitimate evidence to convict him. "The (military) came and took him, and they put him there, and they forget about him," Naji al-Marri said as the evening call to prayer wailed from a nearby mosque. "It's like luggage they put him some place and forget about him; nobody allowed to talk to him, nobody allowed to speak to him. He's a human being."
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Muslim legal advocacy group in the United States is accusing federal agents at borders and airports of routinely selecting Muslim American travelers and those with ethnic backgrounds perceived as Muslim for searches and interrogations on the basis of race, religion and national origin without any "evidence or even suspicious wrongdoing."
In a report issued in April Muslim Advocates, a non-profit group of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML) accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agents of privacy violations by carrying out "profound privacy intrusions" against law-abiding Muslim, Arab and South Asian Americans returning home from overseas travel without any cause.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
NAML - National Association of Muslim Lawyers Liars
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Taliban advances pose "an existential threat" to Pakistan and urged Pakistanis worldwide to oppose a government policy yielding to them.
Pakistanis "need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the [Taliban]," Clinton said, underscoring "the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing [Taliban] advances, now within hours of Islamabad."
Clinton testified Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where Chairman Howard Berman told her the panel is concerned about extremists gaining momentum in Pakistan.
Clinton cautioned that any conditions to the US assistance should encourage and not stop anti-terrorism cooperation from Islamabad. At the same time, she said "we are not interested in putting money into doing what has not worked".
"We are creating measures of performance that we will share with Congress so that we can follow whether or not we are getting the positive outcome that we are attempting to achieve," Clinton said.
Afghanistan: Clinton told the committee that the core goal of President Barack Obama's anti-terror strategy is to defeat Al Qaeda and prevent its return to Afghanistan.
Clinton asserted in response that the international community is working closely together to address the problem of extremism in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iran: Clinton said stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is an imperative for the US, which is taking a more active role in pursuing that goal.
"After years during which the US basically sat on the sidelines, we are now a full partner" in international talks on Iran.
Howard Berman asked Clinton how much time it would take to get results on Iran. She did not reply directly but said the administration believes it has set the stage for progress by interacting more directly with allies and by reaching out to Iranian authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
This is a full blown alert. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan or none.
#2
Hillary actually looked stressed at the gravity of the situation, unlike others in the Admin. Let them gather and fill the valley and get them all in one swoop of the Great Eagle. Saves $ on J-Dams.
Orakzai Agency residents have been warned to leave the area before a major military offensive against the Taliban, as army gunship helicopters and air force jets pounded the Taliban's positions in the tribal agency on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said. The hideouts were targeted in the Ghaljo, Mohajir Camp and Garhi areas. Pamphlets saying "leave the area before April 24, as a major offensive against the Taliban will be launched" were dropped by helicopter in the areas targeted on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation is linked to peace in Swat and can be revisited if peace is not restored, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.
"The regulation is bracketed with peace in Swat. If the peace is not restored in Swat, it can be revisited," he told reporters after a visit to the Ministry of Housing and Works. "The president signed the regulation after the approval of parliament." He said he believed that the situation was improving and the agreement was succeeding. "But if peace is not restored we can think otherwise. That option is always available."
The prime minister said that militancy had spread as a result of a vacuum created after the end of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
"No single party can handle this situation alone. It is the collective duty of parliament and political parties to deal with this menace," he said. Responding to a question about Sufi Muhammad's remarks terming the parliament and judiciary of the country un-Islamic, the prime minister said that it was only the opinion of an individual. "The people should not worry as long as their elected representatives are in parliament," he added.
Gilani said that a national policy would be framed on the basis of the recommendations given by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and all the provincial chief ministers would be taken into confidence on this policy. "This will be an indigenous policy and will be formed keeping the national interests supreme. It will reflect the wishes of the people," he said.
He said no action had ever been taken against dictators who imposed martial law in the country or overruled the constitution. Gilani said his government was cognisant of the situation in Balochistan and was doing all it could to end a sense of deprivation among the Baloch. "We need to empower the people of Balochistan. We will provide them rights and full share in development," he said. Regarding the murder of three Baloch leaders, the prime minister said the government was awaiting report of the judicial commission. Gilani said his government was working on a plan to provide countrywide low-cost housing for the poor and the federal government employees.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#2
Gentlemen that they are, I'm sure the Talibunnies will offer the gov't a mulligan after this whole affair reaches its obvious and unfortunate conclusion. Assuming there is anyone left in Islamabad to ask for the do-over, of course.
Haneef Mehsud was a normal teenager who spent most of his time hanging out with friends and playing cricket before he was recruited by the Taliban and turned into a suicide bomber. Less than a month after his 17th birthday in late 2008, Haneef killed two soldiers when he rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into an army convoy on a road not far from his home in Pekai, a hamlet in the militancy-plagued South Waziristan.
"We tried to stop him when he visited his family two weeks before the attack and informed us that he was soon going to embrace martyrdom," Haneef's father, Ghazi Mehsud, told DPI.
Ghazi moved to the neighbouring district of Tank in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), to save his second teenage son from the influence of his fellow tribesman and local warlord Baitullah Mehsud, who he blames for Haneef's recruitment and death.
But hundreds more children are still undergoing brainwashing at dozens of 'suicide nurseries' run by the ethnic Pashtun Taliban commander. Mehsud, in his 30s, has emerged as the most dangerous Taliban commander in Pakistan in recent years. He heads Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group for around a dozen Taliban outfits and has close links with Al Qaeda. The notorious commander is believed to have been behind several dozen suicide bombings across the country, including the one that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in late 2007.
During the Bhutto case investigations, the authorities detained Aitzaz Shah, 15, in NWFP. Shah told the investigators that he was deployed as the "backup bomber" for Bhutto's assassination by Mehsud's men.
According to the DPI report, in January 2008, during a short offensive, the military discovered a suicide nursery in the Spinkai area of South Waziristan.
Four months later, the military showed reporters video footage of a classroom where a masked teacher taught children how to carry out a suicide attack. The children, sitting in rows, were wearing white headbands inscribed with Quranic verses. Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman, said that soldiers had rounded up over 50 boys who were undergoing suicide attack training.
The training centre was reopened months later after the military retreated from the area under a controversial peace deal with the Taliban.
5,000 so far: According to intelligence estimates, more than 5,000 child suicide bombers between the ages of 10 and 17 have been trained by the Taliban so far.
Most of them are dispatched to Afghanistan to target international troops and Afghan security forces, but some are deployed for strikes inside Pakistan. On April 6, a child suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shia mosque in the Chakwal district, killing 26 people and injuring more than 50.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
#2
I can only think of one permanent solution, ask everyone of middle east ancestry "Can you recite the Koran? from memory?" all who say "yes," Kill them.
Only when that evil teaching is gone forever will there be any peace.
Don't think it'll work?
Ask any Hassassan?(sp)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2009 1:26 Comments ||
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#3
The Taliban: I KEEEL YOU!!!
Our president: Im busy, this gourmet pizza is too good.
#5
#4: Our president: Michelle, pass the Beluga please. I want to try it with this leftover deep dish Pi.
Our judges give you a 3.1416......
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/23/2009 19:27 Comments ||
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#6
I'll never understand how these youth don't ever seem to harbor the obvious thought and wonder why the guy telling him to be a suicide bomber isn't one himself, if it's such a good thing to do.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/23/2009 19:44 Comments ||
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#7
They're taught from birth to memorize, not think, Jan.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/23/2009 21:41 Comments ||
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#8
"ask everyone of middle east ancestry 'Can you recite the Koran? from memory?'"
Fixed, RJ.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/23/2009 21:43 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman warned that Margalla hills would be the only buffer between Islamabad and Taliban if the later reached Tarbela dam. While Khwaja Asif asserted that nobody would be allowed to take over the country in the cover of Islam. Expressing his views at the National Assembly session today (Wednesday), Fazlur Rehman said that terrorism would swallow up the entire country if war against terror policy continued. Pakistan will be the looser in its own war, he feared. He said that militants would also lay down their arms if Pakistan parted ways with the terror war. Â"According to my knowledge, Taliban have seized control of Buner District too after the Swat valley,Â" Rehman said, adding that militants are moving closer to Tarbela Dam from Hazara. Â"What kind of a message was given to the world by singing deal with a banned militant outfit,Â" he questioned. The JUI-F chief further said that MQM could not give shelter to its leader Altaf Hussain how could they give refuge to anyone else.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen today met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the military General Headquarters Rawalpindi. According to sources, two sides exchanged views on bilateral military relations, regional situation and issues of mutual interest.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Qazis will soon be appointed to courts in Malakand division, Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) said on Wednesday, as the banned TNSM threatened to back out of the Swat peace accord if the government did not establish qazi courts in the region today (Thursday).
Talking to a delegation led by Malakand Nazim Haji Fida Muhammad, the TNSM chief said the names of the people to be nominated as qazis had been sent to the government for approval. He said he had already taken steps to ensure lasting peace in the region and was sure that not only the people of Malakand but the entire country would see the benefits of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation (NAR).
Sufi said the problems in the country could be resolved through the implementation of Islamic laws and that was what the TNSM was striving for.
Warning: Meanwhile, TNSM spokesman Ameer Izzat warned that the TSNM would back off from the peace deal if the government did not establish the Darul Qaza and the qazi courts in Malakand division today.
Izzat told Daily Times the TNSM chief had said cases continued to be heard under the British judicial system even after President Asif Ali Zardari had signed the NAR and it was unacceptable for them.
"The TNSM guarantees to restore peace in Malakand division if the NAR is implemented in its true sense. Otherwise, the government will be responsible for the law and order situation," the spokesman said. He said the Taliban had started armed patrols in the region again because of the government's delay in implementing the Swat peace accord.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad is himself a little kafir (unbeliever), as he fought the elections for counselor in the past and won them, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hassan said on Wednesday. He told media after a meeting with Khaksar Tehreek chief Hamidud Din Almashraqi that Sufi should avoid making statements that have the potential to damage the peace deal, and should take care before giving statements about the current system, a private TV channel reported. Commenting on the US drone attacks, the JI chief said it was regretful to say that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had declared US President Barack Obama his favorite personality. He claimed drone attacks had killed more than 950 innocent Pakistanis under Obama's administration, and Nawaz's statement implied that he did not care for those martyrs.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani are reluctant to meet with the British special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles who is presently visiting the country, sources told Geo News on Wednesday. According to sources, the government has expressed its resentment over Pakistani students' arrest in Britain in the absence of evidence and the ensuing media trial. The British envoy was to meet the President and Prime Minister but they refused in protest of the above. Meanwhile, Pakistani High Commissioner in Britain, Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan has said that Lodon should offer an apology to Islamabad. However, spokesman of British High Commission has said that a request for meeting with President and Prime Minister has been forwarded but there is no information of it being turned down.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The spokesman to Foreign Office (FO) Abdul Basit has said that Pakistan will ask British government not to deport its citizens who were rounded up on suspicion of links with terrorists but later were released, as UK government could not produce evidences against them. Talking to Geo news, FO spokesman said Pakistani students had to undergo harsh time during their detention period behind bars and now it is up to UK government that how does it compensate students' abuse. Discussing the issue, Pakistani High Commission to London Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan said British government must beg pardon to Pakistan government over this illegal action taken against our students sans availability of evidences. "We are in contact with British officials so that Pakistani students may not be deported", he maintained adding, "As many as 11 Pakistani students in UK were arrested from Manchester and Liverpool areas without evidences and were kept in custody for 12 days and they underwent media trail". Media reported on Tuesday that UK government was mulling to deport those Pakistani students.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Now we have a failed state dictating to a once great nation what to do. Oops, I forgot, this tact is on page one of the UN Charter.
[Geo News] British envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles called on PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain here on Wednesday. On this occasion Shujaat said that US drone attacks in tribal areas were fanning terrorism in the country as innocent people were also being killed in the raids. Tariq Azeem told newsmen after the meeting that Chaudhry Shujaat said that the sacrifices of Pakistani nation and army rendered in the war against terrorism were not acknowledged. Azeem said that Hussain also apprised the visiting British team of Indian involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. The British envoy admitted that terrorism could not be eliminated without solution of Kashmir dispute and other vital issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: ed ||
04/23/2009 12:17 ||
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#1
Would be nice if someone with more methodological flair and diligence than I would render these findings intelligible in a military context. That is, explain in plain terms why and how the numbers are the way they are. That way, anyone with a brain could understand that Coalition forces killed very, very, very few civilians, and most of those killed by the coalition were mostly at risk due to the war crimes of our enemies (e.g. deliberately seeking military advantage by using non-combatants as cover).
The StratPage article notes that around 3 percent of civilian deaths involved use of air power. That's a tiny hint to the intelligent that the Coalition's nearly unbelievable care and deliberation in using force (from the ROE to the higher-level orders/approvals given in specific situations to the fire discipline of each soldier and Marine) did in fact mean that the enemy caused Iraq's suffering since 2003.
Sounds simple, but the utter incomprehension and laziness of most people in thinking about war and civilian casualties - all of this within a false framework created and nurtured by culture, "education", and mass media - is a significant factor reducing public support for needed military actions. It's bittersweet satisfaction to patiently disassemble someone's false premises and misunderstanding of this topic brick by brick, using facts not in dispute (though often news to the other person), and then see how they think about Iraq and related topics. An ounce of intelligence and intellectual honesty on their yields (in my experience) pretty humble and altered views. And don't forget that many people have little to go on save monstrous slanderous absurdities like the "cluster data" surveys that show a zillion Iraqis killed by the evil invaders.
#2
AP Exclusive: Secret tally has 87,000 Iraqis dead
A previously undisclosed Iraqi government tally obtained by The Associated Press shows that at least 87,215 Iraqis have been killed in violence since 2005.
An in-depth AP review shows the total for the entire war exceeds 110,000 Iraqis. That figure is based on the government tally and counts of casualties from earlier years from hospital sources and media reports.
A government official shared the Iraqi death tally on condition of anonymity, providing the most authoritative accounting to date of the war's toll.
It still excludes thousands of people who are missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official notice.
Posted by: ed ||
04/23/2009 15:57 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON The Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Barack Obama's choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq despite fierce opposition from conservatives who complained about the nominee's diplomatic record.
Senators voted 73-23 to confirm career diplomat Christopher Hill as Washington's new envoy to Baghdad over the strenuous objections of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Brownback had stalled the approval process for three weeks.
Brownback accused Hill, the Bush administration's chief negotiator with North Korea, of ignoring North Korean human rights abuses and agreeing to a flawed disarmament pact with the regime. A small group of Brownback's fellow Republicans joined him in voting against Hill on those grounds, because of his lack of experience in the Middle East and over concern that he might have overstepped his authority in negotiating with the North Koreans.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel's former chief rabbi invited Iranian President Ahmadinejad's to visit Jerusalem to see proof of the Holocaust with his own eyes as the Israeli tourism ministry urged the Pope Wednesday to cancel a meeting with a mayor of an Arab Israeli town, calling the latter a "terror supporter and warmonger."
Israel's response to Ahmedinejad's critical speech at the United Nations racism conference in Geneva came as an invitation from former chief rabbi, Yisreal Lau, who invited the Iranian president to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Occupied Jerusalem.
"Come to Yad Vashem, we'll show you all of the archives documents and memoirs. We will present you with all the evidence until you are convinced that the Holocaust actually happened," said Lau, was quoted by Israeli newspaper Haaretz as saying. "Under the international umbrella of the United Nations, the president of Iran appeared dripping with hatred toward the Jewish people," Lau added.
In his conference speech on Monday Ahmedinejad condemned Israel for its aggression against Palestinians and accused the west of using the Holocaust as an excuse for Israel's ongoing persecution of Palestinians.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If AJ keeps looking down that well for the mahdi, he may fall into it.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh operated a command and control center inside Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza City throughout Operation Cast Lead in January, the IDF revealed on Wednesday.
IDF probes opened following the offensive discovered that Haniyeh and other senior Hamas commanders took over a ward of the hospital, the Gaza Strip's largest, and set up a command center for the duration of the campaign.
Hamas believed that Israel would not target the hospital due to the high risk of collateral damage.
Guards were posted at the entrance to the ward and field commanders took advantage of the humanitarian corridor and cessation of action that the IDF instituted every day for several hours, to enter the hospital and meet with senior Hamas officials to receive instructions.
Senior Hamas commanders also set up a command center in a Red Crescent Society clinic in Khan Yunis and used it as a detention center.
An IDF investigation, conducted by Col. Erez Katz, focused on the targeting of health facilities, vehicles and medical teams. The probe discovered that out of seven medical personnel claimed to have been killed by the IDF, five were Hamas operatives, including a nephew of the Hamas health minister. Two were civilians.
The probe also uncovered a number of cases during which Hamas used ambulances to transport operatives. Testimony by a Gazan medical worker and obtained by the IDF revealed how Hamas forced the Red Crescent to hand over medic and nurse uniforms for its operatives.
During the probe, the army also looked into a complaint filed by the United Nations that the air force had bombed an UNRWA vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City. The probe revealed that the vehicle was bombed since it did not have markings and was driving at night in an area off limits to civilian vehicles.
Furthermore, the UN vehicle was used to transport a Palestinian anti-tank squad and was bombed after it unloaded the squad. The driver was wounded; he was later identified as the former driver of Hamas co-founder Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel in 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Firms run by sons of ineffectual President Mahmoud Abbas won US government aid contracts to repair roads - and America's image - in the Palestinian territories, previously undisclosed documents show. A review by Reuters of internal US government records about aid programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip found that construction and public relations firms managed by Tarek Abbas and Yasser Mahmoud Abbas received over $2 million in contracts and subcontracts since 2005, when their father became president.
Other ventures backed by President Abbas' allies have received loan guarantees, grants and agricultural assistance, the review showed. But US agencies would not disclose the identities of all of the Palestinian firms which have been awarded contracts, grants or guarantees.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said Yasser Abbas' Falcon Electro Mechanical Contracting Company and Sky Advertising Company, where Tarek Abbas is general manager, won the contracts through "full and open" competitive bidding. Family ties were not a consideration, the US agency said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Watchdog groups questioned USAID's level of transparency. "When we're supposed to be promoting democratic ideals and restoring trust and faith in the Chicago and Cook County American system of government, it's ridiculous
[Al Arabiya Latest] American President Barack Obama dived Tuesday into Middle East peacemaking as he invited the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to the White House in the coming weeks for separate talks on moving forward with the Middle East peace process, the White House said Tuesday. Obama called for "good faith" gestures from all sides, including Israel.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president, who received Jordan's King Abdullah II earlier in the Oval Office, invited Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to the White House. Gibbs told reporters the visits were expected in the coming weeks.
Obama signaled deeper involvement in the peace process weeks after Netanyahu took the helm of an Israeli government that resists the two-state solution endorsed by the new U.S. administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] The Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday no war crimes were committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by IDF troops during Israel's recent military offensive, according to an internal probe. Human rights groups have repeatedly alleged war crimes took place during the Israeli military operation in Gaza in December and January.
The IDF probe, which was carried out by five colonels who did not fight in Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead', examined reports of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, medical personnel and facilities, and United Nations buildings. It also investigated the alleged use of the controversial white phosphorous munitions in densely populated areas of Gaza, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
Israel has faced mounting criticism over how it handled the three-week long offensive. Earlier in April, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed former war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone to investigate alleged violations of international law. However it is not clear whether Israel will cooperate with the UN-led probe, which is due to begin its work within weeks.
According to the report, the Israeli military "operated in accordance with moral values and international laws of war", and made "an enormous effort" to avoid harming uninvolved civilians.
The IDF's willingness to probe itself "one again proves that the IDF is one of the most moral armies in the world," said Israel's defence minister Ehud Barak, commenting on the probe findings.
However, rights group Amnesty International said in mid-January that its delegates, who visited the Gaza Strip, found indisputable evidence of the widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north.
In late March, the New-York based Human Rights Watch also accused Israel of using artillery shells containing white phosphorous in Gaza during its recent military offensive. White phosphorous is primarily used to obscure military operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It can also be used as an incendiary weapon.
The Israeli army first claimed it did not used white phosphorous, but later retracted its comments after mounting evidence. In the report, it said the army had not illegally used white phosphorous.
There were also reports of hospitals and Palestinian medical workers being shot by the Israeli army during Operation Cast Lead, as well as attacks on and near UN and international facilities.
In another case, Israeli artillery fire reportedly hit a UN school where hundreds of Gazans sought refuge, killing at least 42 people. Israel insists that its troops were responding to fire from militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, despite declarations from Lieberman's Egyptian counterpart earlier this month that Cairo would not deal with him, nor would he be welcome in the Arab nation, until his attitude changed.
Lieberman held "an important and constructive meeting" with Suleiman "in a friendly atmosphere," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Suleiman invited Lieberman to visit Cairo, according to Israel Radio.
During the meeting, the foreign minister "expressed his respect and appreciation for Egypt's leading role in the region and his personal respect for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Minister Suleiman."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"An Arab is either at your feet, or at your throat"
Winny the Buldog.
[ADN Kronos] As thousands of civilians continued to flee the tiny rebel-held coastal strip in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Tamil Tiger militants accused the government of killing about 1,000 Tamil civilians and injuring many more during its ongoing military offensive.
Tamil Tiger leader S. Puleedevan told the pro-rebel TamilNet website the Sri Lankan army had begun advancing at Valaignar-madam and at Maaththa'lan, and was moving its troops shielded by hundreds of civilians who were being forced to walk through Tamil Tiger defences at gunpoint.
The militants, aligned with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, claimed the army used internationally banned cluster shells, napalm and phosphorous munitions against civilians. The army was also using trapped civilians to clear landmines, the rebels claimed.
TamilNet reported the Tamil-controlled territory was littered with the bodies of civilians and Tamil supporters released a video they claimed to have filmed on Monday, showing mutilated bodies.
"These are serious war crimes and the Sri Lankan government and the head of the armed forces are directly responsible for this carnage," Puleedevan said.
Sri Lankan troops killed more than 1,000 civilians and injured another 2,300 on Monday, according to the Tamil Tigers. They called on the Red Cross to rescue trapped civilians, to evacuate by ship over 2,000 injured people and provide medical supplies for the wounded.
The Tamil Tigers also appealed for "immediate" food aid, saying civilians were facing starvation.
The government has denied Tamil Tiger claims it has harmed civilians and accused the rebels of targeting civilians.
By midday local time on Tuesday, nearly 50,000 civilians had fled the rebel-held area, according to the government. Aerial footage showed thousands of people filing out of the combat zone.
The army has denied shelling civilians inside the rebel-held area and said rebel suicide bombings had targeted fleeing civilians and killed 17.
The United Nations said around 150,000 civilians remained trapped in the conflict zone and the Red Cross said it was "extremely worried" about those trapped in the region.
"What we are seeing is intense fighting in a very small area overcrowded with civilians who have fled there," said the Red Cross director of operations, Pierre Kraehenbuehl.
"The situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Ongoing fighting has killed or wounded hundreds of civilians who have only minimal access to medical care."
The Red Cross called on the two sides to "take immediate action to prevent further mass casualties among civilians," and said it was concerned that the government's final offensive in the area could lead to "a dramatic increase" in civilian casualties.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday it was "ready to assist" the 100,000 civilians who are estimated to have fled to government-controlled areas from the conflict zone in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] In her first appearance in Congress since becoming Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton on Wednesday warned Iran of tough sanctions if Tehran refuses to overtures on its nuclear program and said the U.S. will only deal with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas under certain conditions.
"We are more than willing to reach out to the Iranians to discuss a range of issues," if Tehran reciprocates, Clinton said at the Congress hearing on U.S. foreign policy.
"We are also laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough sanctions, I think you said crippling sanctions that might be necessary in the event that our offers are either rejected or the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful."
Iran ready for dialogue
" By updating last year's package, the Islamic republic is announcing its readiness for constructive dialogue and interaction "
Chief nuclear negotiator Said Jalili
Meanwhile Iran said it is ready for "constructive dialogue" with world powers on its nuclear drive.
"By updating last year's package, the Islamic republic is announcing its readiness for constructive dialogue and interaction," chief nuclear negotiator Said Jalili said, quoted by Iranian news agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A top Iranian military commander says Iran's enemies are fully aware that engaging in a military conflict with Iran is 'impossible'.
"The enemies of the Islamic Revolution have realized that a full-scale war with Iran is impossible," the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Chief Commander, Brigadier General Mohammad-Ali Jafari said.
"The IRGC has no problem to counter enemy attacks as far as military hardware is concerned," Fars news agency quoted Jafari as saying in his speech to the IRGC forces in the western city of Sanandaj on Wednesday.
He stressed that considering the great achievements Iran has made in its defense industries over the past years, the country's military might cannot be compared with the years of Iraq-Iran (1980-1988).
The Iranian commander noted that the IRGC forces are organized in different provinces across Iran to counter any threats.
The comments come as the new Israeli government led by hawkish Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has voiced its commitment to halt Iran's nuclear program, even through a military option.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And in the words of Jesus, Nothing is Impossible.
#2
ION REDDIT > THE HANKYORE [Koreas] > NORTH KOREA COULD BEGIN BUILDING NUCLEAR BOMBS WITHIN FOUR MONTHS; + CHINA TO BUILD 93,000-TONNE ATOMIC-POWERED AIRCRAFT CARRIER.
*Artic > Once CV deployment/patrols begin. PLAN CV = NAVY range COULD REACH GUAM; + initiate a MAJOR ARMS RACE IN NORTHEAST ASIA.
* FYI ISRAELI MIL FORUM > DEBKA article claims IRAN could build a NUCBOMB in 60 days???
[Iran Press TV Latest] Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has praised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his anti-racism remarks at Durban II conference.
The resistance movement said Wednesday that Ahmadinejad's 'brave and responsible' stance against Israel has offered hope to the oppressed who do not have the power to fight against Israel's tyranny.
During a UN-backed anti-racism conference, dubbed Durban II, which opened in Geneva on Monday, President Ahmadinejad called Israel "the most cruel and repressive racist regime."
President Ahmadinejad's speech attracted disruptions from protestors within the conference room, and several EU delegates walked out of the UN anti-racism summit at the first mention of Israel in support of Jewish entity.
Ahmadinejad described the countries which boycotted or walked out of the conference as "arrogant and selfish."
Hezbollah has also accused the West of having double standards with regards to racism and human rights and criticized their unconditional support for Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine.
The popular resistance group, which defeated Israel during the 33-day war in 2006, called on the world to play an active role in fighting racism, aggression and crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Obama administration is having trouble finding the hundreds of civilians it wants to bolster its troop buildup in Afghanistan, so military reservists might be asked to do many of the jobs.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Sudanese court on Wednesday sentenced 11 members of the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to death and acquitted five others for a 2008 attack on Khartoum. "We sentence them to the death penalty by hanging," judge Issam Ismail said after the individual verdicts were read out, to shouts of protest from the condemned men.
[ADN Kronos] The Al-Qaeda linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on Wednesday released a video threatening the "criminal" German government and citizens of the Jewish faith, according to German media.
The U.S. government's wall of isolation around a man held for more than seven years as an alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent has parted in recent weeks with telephone calls to his family and the chance to read newspapers and magazines, according to one of his brothers.
Haneef Mehsud was a normal teenager who spent most of his time hanging out with friends and playing cricket before he was recruited by the Taliban and turned into a suicide bomber. Less than a month after his 17th birthday in late 2008, Haneef killed two soldiers when he rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into an army convoy on a road not far from his home in Pekai, a hamlet in the militancy-plagued South Waziristan.
Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Sufi Muhammad is himself a little kafir (unbeliever), as he fought the elections for counselor in the past and won them, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hassan said on Wednesday. He told media after a meeting with Khaksar Tehreek chief Hamidud Din Almashraqi that Sufi should avoid making statements that have the potential to damage the peace deal, and should take care before giving statements about the current system, a private TV channel reported. Commenting on the US drone attacks, the JI chief said it was regretful to say that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had declared US President Barack Obama his favorite personality. He claimed drone attacks had killed more than 950 innocent Pakistanis under Obama's administration, and Nawaz's statement implied that he did not care for those martyrs.
[Geo News] British envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles called on PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain here on Wednesday. On this occasion Shujaat said that US drone attacks in tribal areas were fanning terrorism in the country as innocent people were also being killed in the raids. Tariq Azeem told newsmen after the meeting that Chaudhry Shujaat said that the sacrifices of Pakistani nation and army rendered in the war against terrorism were not acknowledged. Azeem said that Hussain also apprised the visiting British team of Indian involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. The British envoy admitted that terrorism could not be eliminated without solution of Kashmir dispute and other vital issues.
[ADN Kronos] The Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday no war crimes were committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by IDF troops during Israel's recent military offensive, according to an internal probe. Human rights groups have repeatedly alleged war crimes took place during the Israeli military operation in Gaza in December and January.
