The White House says President Barack Obama is placing heavy emphasis on how the United States eventually will withdraw from Afghanistan even as he plans to announce a troop increase next week.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that the United States is in its ninth year of military involvement in Afghanistan and "we are not going to be there another eight or nine years."
Gibbs says Obama's recent meetings with military advisers have often focused on how to train Afghanistan's police and army so they can secure and hold areas taken from the Taliban after U.S. forces are gone.
Obama will address the nation Tuesday night on his Afghan strategy from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He will brief key members of Congress earlier that day.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 12:36 ||
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#1
Where's the exit plan for out troops who've been tied down in Germany and Japan since 1945 or Korea since 1953? It's not like they lack an economy to support their own defense.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/25/2009 16:54 Comments ||
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#5
So all the Taliban and al Qaeda have to do is hunker down, with maybe a few attacks here and there to remind us, until we leave no matter what happens. Then they come back and take over once we're gone.
Brilliant plan, Obama, you idiot.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/25/2009 17:20 Comments ||
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#6
Looks like the Donks couldn't turn Iraq into another Vietnam.
So they are going to go for Afghanistan - no matter how many american bodies it costs.
They could try, but the Germans will insist on doing it properly with one of those impressive sopranos in horns and a breastplate, while the French will want something sparkling and witty... and you just know somebody is going to get hit over the head with a cello.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of Afghanistan's Taliban militia, on Wednesday rejected a call from President Hamid Karzai for peace talks, in a statement issued ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Oh well, Karzai tried. Back to shooting them peacefully dead.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 09:37 ||
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Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan. Mr Ainsworth took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising the US President and his delays in sending more troops to bolster the mission against the Taliban.
A period of hiatus in Washington - and a lack of clear direction - had made it harder for ministers to persuade the British public to go on backing the Afghan mission in the face of a rising death toll, he said.
Senior British Government sources have become increasingly frustrated with Mr Obamas dithering on Afghanistan, the Daily Telegraph disclosed earlier this month, with several former British defence chiefs echoing the concerns.
But Mr Ainsworth is the first Government minister to express in public what amounts to personal criticism of the US presidents leadership over the conflict which has so far cost 235 British lives. Polls show most voters now want an early withdrawal, following the death of 98 British service personnel this year alone.
Ministers say the mission is vital to stop international terrorists using Afghanistan as a base, but Gordon Brown has promised an exit strategy that could start next year.
The Defence Secretarys blunt remarks about the US threaten to strain further a transatlantic relationship already under pressure over the British release of the Lockerbie bomber and Mr Obamas decision to snub Mr Brown at the United Nations in September.
Mr Ainsworth, speaking to MPs at the defence committe in the House of Commons, welcomed that troop 'surge' decision, but lamented the time taken to reach it. He said that the rising British death toll, the corruption of the Afghan government and the delay in Washington all hamper efforts to retain public backing for the deployment.
We have suffered a lot of losses," he said. "We have had a period of hiatus while McChrystal's plan and his requested uplift has been looked at in the detail to which it has been looked at over a period of some months, and we have had the Afghan elections, which have been far from perfect let us say.
All of those things have mitigated against our ability to show progress... put that on the other side of the scales when we are suffering the kind of losses that we are."
Britain has 9,000 troops in Afghanistan and has announced it will send another 500, a decision some US officials saw as a move to put pressure on Mr Obama.
Mr Ainsworth said he is confident that once Mr Obama confirms his new strategy, allies will follow and British public opinion will shift back in favour of the mission. I hope and believe that we are about to get an announcement from the USA on troop numbers and I think that that will be followed by contributions from many other Nato allies and so we will be able to show that we are going forward in this campaign to an extent that we have not been able to in recent months with those issues still hanging, he said.
Mr Ainsworth was appointed defence secretary earlier this year, his first Cabinet post. A former factory worker and union official, he has faced questions about whether he has the stature or political clout to oversee the Armed Forces at a time of war. In August, he told The Daily Telegraph he was less intellectually accomplished than the commanders who answer to him and suggested that his critics are motivated by class prejudice.
A report earlier this week suggested that Mr Brown is considering removing Mr Ainsworth and replacing him with Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
Attempting to play down Mr Ainsworth's remarks, No 10 and the Ministry of Defence last night made a statement backing Mr Obama's deliberations. It stated: "It is right that Nato partners have taken the time to review next steps in the campaign. These are hugely important issues that rightly need careful and detailed consideration."
In an article in this newspaper today Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, claims that the reason public opinion is switching against the war in Afghanistan is because of the lies told in the run up to the Iraq war. Mr Clegg also calls for a new approach to Afghanistan from the US. He writes: We now need a complete change of strategy, which we still hope President Obama will announce next week.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] US President Barack Obama promises to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, in an indirect admission to the absence of tangible results as the war trudges into its ninth year.
"After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job," the president said, speaking at a Washington press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"I will be making an announcement to the American people about how we intend to move forward. I will be doing so shortly," Obama added on his upcoming address during which he is supposed to unveil an allegedly overhauled battleground strategy.
The new strategic outline could involve assigning 40,000 extra US troops to the Afghanistan contingents.
"It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interest, to make sure that al-Qaeda and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively in those areas. We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks."
The United States led its mostly Western allies in occupying the war-ravaged country in 2001, accusing the Taliban government at the time of providing support and refuge to the al-Qaeda terror elements, which the US officials blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks. The US government also claimed a commitment to "bring an end to the suffering of the Afghan people."
The violence, however, has escalated steadily and has reached its height in the past months, though the war currently enlists less than 110,000 foreign troops.
Many thousands of Afghan civilians have died during fire exchanges between the militants and the Afghan and foreign soldiers, and as a result of heavy and miscalculated bombardments of alleged militant hideouts in civilian-populated areas.
In the wake of poll data indicating that more than half of the American public is opposed to the long-drawn-out war, the US commander-in-chief said he predicted that the prospective strategy would create a "supportive" disposition among the American nationals towards the operations.
The Opinion Research Corporation, commissioned by the CNN, found that 52 percent of the Americans were against the so-called counterinsurgency operations, while 45 percent favored them.
As Afghanistan rolls over in turmoil, Obama also claimed that stability there was closely intertwined with Washington's pursuits.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder what the "sell by date" is on this promise?
#2
In other news, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry told reporters that a military helicopter recently assigned to the U.S. embassy in Kabul was "a routine security measure"...
[Quqnoos] Afghanistan's chief prosecutor has told The Times that they have enough evidence to charge five ministers with embezzlement and fraud But President Karzai has so far refused to sign their arrest warrants, The Times reports.
"We have indictments with sufficient proof against five ministers," the British newspaper quoted Afghanistan's Attorney General, Mohammed Ishaq Aloko, as saying. "Two of them are in the current cabinet and three are former ministers. The President only has to grant his approval, then the trials can proceed."
Mr Karzai highlighted fighting corruption as a top priority during his inauguration speech last week as he began his second five-year term. He said his ministers must be "competent and just".
But Mr Aloko's deputy, Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar, told The Times that Mr Karzai is yet to waive their ministerial immunity. "We still haven't received any warrants from the President to arrest the ministers," he said.
President Karzai has been under pressure from his Western backers to tackle corruption in his administration. In an article published in The Sunday Times, the newspaper said warrants have been signed for the arrest of two Afghan cabinet ministers on charges of theft and fraud. The paper said investigators have gathered sufficient evidence to charge Sediq Chakari, the Minister of Hajj and Islamic affairs. A name of the second cabinet minister was not revealed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmed Hussein said Tuesday she had donned a full Islamic veil to sneak out of Sudan and travel to France, two months after she was freed from jail for wearing trousers.
On a visit to Paris to promote her new book, Hussein accused Khartoum of trying to block her departure and said she was determined to exercise her right to travel freely as she met Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
"They wanted to prevent me from leaving, I resorted to the niqab and managed to leave," said Hussein, who was jailed for a day in September for violating Sudan's clothing decency, laws by wearing trousers.
"I requested documents to be able to leave, to be able to travel, and this is the only means I found to be able to leave Sudan," she told journalists. "I did not flee Sudan. I am a Sudanese citizen."
Hussein faced a punishment of 40 lashes when she was convicted in July for wearing her green trousers in public.
But a Sudanese court in September ordered her to pay a fine instead, while 10 of the 12 other women arrested with her at a Khartoum restaurant on July 3 were lashed.
After she refused to pay the fine, Hussein served a one-day jail sentence.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Khartoum's United Nations envoy, rejecting a bleak U.N. assessment of the situation in Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region, said early Tuesday it was time for international peacekeepers to prepare to leave.
Saying it omitted key information, Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdul Mahmoud Abdul Haleem, criticized the latest report about Darfur by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which says Khartoum has broken a deal on deploying the peacekeepers.
"One big fact should be the focus of the report -- that the war is over," he told Reuters. "With peace in sight, the U.N. should, in coordination with the African Union and Sudanese government, plan for an exit strategy."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] As confrontations between Saudi forces and infiltrators enter its fourth week, information received from the battlefront indicates that the infiltrators have resorted to new combat tactics, including disguising themselves as animals after their previous ploy of using women's clothes had failed, as they try to penetrate the fortified southern Saudi borders.
According to the reports of Saudi soldiers from the battlefront, the small groups of infiltrators which are usually made up of 10 to 20 fighters tried deceiving the Saudi army by using animals, placing searchlights on them, and releasing them in various parts of the border strip so as to give the impression that these were moves by the infiltrators intending to attack Saudi military positions. They stressed that the infiltrators also resorted to setting up ambushes, deceptions, and using animals' hides as disguise after they failed to disguise themselves in women's clothes for penetrating, outflanking the Saudi forces, and attacking them from behind. These ploys succeeded at first, especially as the infiltrators were well acquainted with the area's topography and relied on the hills to discover the Saudi army's moves inside its territories which are relatively lower than the areas on the other side of the borders with Yemen.
It became evident that the military reinforcements sent recently to the battlefield and the intensive deployment of Saudi land forces, marines, and paratrooper brigades supported by "F15" and Tornado aircrafts and reconnaissance and Apache helicopters reduced the infiltration attempts during the past days.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The much-talked-about trial of BDR mutiny began yesterday through pressing charges before the three-member court against nine soldiers of 12 Rifle Battalion of the Rangamati sector.
This is the first time in the history of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) that the border guards set up own courts to try soldiers on charges of mutiny on February 25-26.
The three-member court headed by BDR Director General Maj Gen M Mainul Islam sat at 3:00pm at a makeshift courtroom at the Mechanical Transport Shed of the sector headquarters.
During the fifty-minute proceedings, Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of Rajanagar 12 Rifle Battalion Reaz Uddin Ahmed read allegations before the court against the nine alleged mutineers.
Of them, five are now in Rangamati jail and the rest are in Unit Quarter Guard, the BDR chief Maj Gen Mainul told journalists after adjourning the proceedings.
DAD Reaz in his submission told the court the nine mutineers supported the incidents at Pilkhana Headquarters and were ready to revolt. They also misbehaved with the officers and their families, cut telephone wire and kept arms and ammunition in open without permission, he added.
The prosecutors in the court said they have adequate evidence and documents against the nine accused.
They added after nine months of investigation they have identified the nine as guilty with the help of the enquiry teams.
None of the accused was however produced before the court yesterday.
The court heard and accepted statements of the prosecutors and ordered to produce the accused before it today when the court sits again at 9:30am.
At first members of the special court-4 -- Maj Gen Mainul, Lt Col Abdur Rouf and Maj Mostafa Al Mamun -- took oaths one by one by themselves and began the proceedings.
The trial is being conducted under the Bangladesh Rifles Order, 1972. The BDR has set up six such special courts to try the alleged mutineers in Dhaka and elsewhere under the BDR law.
During the bloody incidents in Pilkhana, mutiny also spread in some other battalions and garrisons including in a few battalions under the Rangamati sector.
The mutineers outside Dhaka, if found guilty, will get a seven-year jail term in maximum punishment, the DG said.
However, another trial will be held under the civil law (Penal Code) for the grievous offences committed by the soldiers in Pilkhana including murder, loot and arson. Investigations into these offences are still on by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
During the Pilkhana carnage, 74 people were killed including 57 army officers. Among the dead were the then BDR DG Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed and his wife.
During yesterday's trial, Deputy Attorney General Shoharawardi was present as the government law officer to advise or suggest the court. Besides, Mosharraf Hossain Kazal and Monzurul Alam Monzu were present as the senior public prosecutors on behalf of the state.
Three separate cases were filed accusing 39 BDR soldiers who allegedly revolted during the mutiny in Rangamati. The cases were filed with three police stations in Barkal, Baghaichhari and Longudu upazilas.
The mutiny in Rangamati took place at three of the sector's five battalions. The three battalions are 12 Rifle Battalion in Rajanagar in Longudu, 9 Rifle Battalion in Marishya in Baghaichhari and 18 Rifle Battalion in Chhotohorina in Barkal.
Around 39 alleged mutineers from the three battalions are now in Rangamati jail. Of them, nine from the 12 Rifle Battalion will face today's trial.
The nine mutineers are havilders Sabbir Ahmed, Md Shamsul Haque and Sohrab Hossain, signalman Abdur Rahman, sepoys Md Abul Kalam Azad, Md Sakhawat Hossain, Md Rasel Kabir, Md Zahir Uddin and Md Sarwar Kamal.
Eighteen alleged mutineers are from 9 Rifle Battalion of Baghaichhari. Of them, 16 names have been confirmed so far. They are Sohrawardi, Humayun Kabir, Delwar Hossain, Abdul Mannan, Shafiqul Islam, Kartik Chandra, Amir Hossain, Abul Kashem Sikder, Sohrab Hossain, Mofiz Rahman, Abdul Motaleb, Abul Fazal, Abdul Mukit, Abdul Latif, Abdul Hannan and Enamul Haque.
Eleven allegedly revolted from 18 Rifle Battalion. They are Kamruzzaman, Shahin Ahmed, Abdul Haque, Solaiman Ahmed, Mobarak Hossain, Ramjan Ali, Kazi Enamul Karim, Rafiqul Islam, Kamal Hossain Khandaker, Salimur Rahman and Mizanur Rahman Mizan.
All of the alleged mutineers are now behind bars.
BDR MEMBERS WANT TO RETRACT CONFESSION
In Dhaka, 19 BDR members yesterday appealed to a Dhaka court to let them retract their confessional statements in the BDR mutiny case.
Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Sahadat Hossain kept the petitions in the carnage case file after holding hearing on the appeals.
The petitioners divulged their confessional statements before different courts on different dates.
In the petitions, BDR members said they earlier were taken on remand and were tortured to give confessional statements.
Earlier, 58 other BDR jawans submitted same appeals to different Dhaka courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited several industrial factories in a region that borders China and called for their facility modernization "as required by the IT age," state media said Wednesday.
He could also call for food production as required by the age of agriculture ...
"In order to bring about a radical turn in bearing production it is necessary to continue dynamically pushing forward the modernization and scientific progress of the factory," Kim was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying during his visit to Ryangchaek Bearing Factory, the first leg of his industrial visits.
Kim "made the rounds of the computer control room and the room for incubation and other places to acquaint himself in detail with its technological updating and production," the report said of his chicken farm visit.
Kim also visited the Sinuiji Shoes Factory, the Sinuiju Grass Craft Production Cooperative and the Sinuiju Chicken Farm, the report said. Workers at the chicken farm greatly contributed to improving the people's diet, he said.
I'm almost afraid to ask how ...
The workers "have made progressive leaps in the production of meat and eggs by intensifying the technological updating of the production processes and putting the breeding on a scientific basis as required by the IT age," Kim said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
You you calling a puppet?
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
Luckily the Norks have all the ingredients for the Stone Age.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 0:21 Comments ||
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#3
He could also call for food production as required by the age of agriculture ...
I think he's still working on on the Agricultural Age. he'll get it, eventually.
#9
I once worked for Teledyne Continental (Continental Aircraft Engines) we had a Vice-President DETERMINED to force the plant to modernize, he damn near bankrupted them, Ripping out whole Production lines and replacing 20 machines with ONE CNC monster.
When I first started working there, we could make 52 engines working around the clock (Maximum capacity) when I left the top capacity was 16.
He damn near "Modernized" Continental to death. Anybody who KNEW how to make engines he fired,(Union, what he'd do is have a "layoff" Then about 6 months later he' call folks back IF they'd agree to leser pay and lower status, A regular routine, and got newer, cheaper Non-Machinists to replace skilled workers. A lot of highly skilled folks didn't come back.
This spunds much the same, Pigheadiness and Managment By Decree instead of brains.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/25/2009 12:10 Comments ||
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#10
No Mr. GMore. I'm currently unemployable. Life at the incredible shinking Daily Planetoid has made me take up with low lifers and lewd wymens. I give them the old Ima an archietek angle.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/25/2009 12:32 Comments ||
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The North Korean media have returned to abusive language in talking about South Korea after a brief interim that saw unusually polite terminology. The charm offensive started when a delegation attended the funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung and met with President Lee Myung-bak in late August, but now the South is once again being called a "puppet" state under a "traitor" government.
Oh boy! Extra sea of fire!
In a commentary on Tuesday, the Minju Chosun, the organ of the North Korean Cabinet, complained about Seoul's support for a UN resolution on human rights in the North. "The 'human rights' racket of these puppets is an expression of their ignorance of our republic," it thundered. "The puppets are an anti-reunification group of traitors harboring deep-rooted feelings of hostility."
The paper used the word "puppet" no fewer than 11 times plus one "puppet authorities." The previous day, the Rodong Shinmun, the official daily of the North Korean Workers' Party, also wrote, "We'll never tolerate puppets' anti-reunification confrontational maneuvers."
So far, North Korea has not returned to personal abuse of the South Korean president. Prof. Lee Jo-won of ChungAng University said, "Having taken a conciliatory attitude toward the South since August, the North recently seems very displeased with our government."
The trouble became evident when Pyongyang ignored Seoul's offer of 10,000 tons of corn over the past month, apparently because it fell short of its demands. The North also bypassed official channels when it proposed inter-Korean governmental talks about the resumption of package tours to Mt. Kumgang by going through tour operator Hyundai Asan.
One security official said given imminent North Korea-U.S. talks and the food shortage, the North "will find it difficult to take as confrontational an attitude as it did in the first half of this year. But it's true that there is less room for our government to move until the bilateral talks produce results."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Khalid Sheik Mohammed has acknowledged doing what his nephew Ramzi Yousef couldn't: toppling the World Trade Center towers.
He will soon be given a chance to repeat another of his nephew's endeavors: using a Manhattan federal courtroom as a pulpit to argue that he is a political prisoner in a war between the West and Islam.
Yousef was convicted of trying to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993 with a powerful bomb packed into a rental van. Mohammed is accused of fulfilling their shared dream in 2001, this time with hijacked airliners.
If Mohammed does follow the legal path set by Yousef, he may get his message out, but he would almost certainly seal his conviction with his own words, and could push jurors toward imposing the death penalty for his apocalyptic vision of violence.
"Yes, I am a terrorist and am proud of it," Yousef defiantly proclaimed at his 1998 sentencing at the same lower Manhattan federal court complex where his uncle is scheduled to appear in a matter of weeks or months.
Vincent M. Cannistraro, a former Central Intelligence Agency counterterrorism chief, said a trial of Mohammed in Manhattan "gives him an opportunity for political theater."
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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A Minnesota man hosted a gathering for several young Somalis days before they left Minneapolis to fight with a terrorist group in their war-torn homeland, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday in a sweeping federal investigation.
Mohamud Said Omar, 43, who is in custody in the Netherlands, is accused of being involved with many of the roughly 20 young men who left Minneapolis in waves from December 2007 through November 2008.
Omar is among 14 charged in the investigation some terrorism experts call one of the largest of its kind.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Iraq on Sunday for the first time said that the bombers who killed more than 150 people in Baghdad on October 25 came from neighbouring Syria, but steered well clear of accusing Damascus of collusion. "The group came from Syria but we are not accusing Syria again," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh on state television.
His comments followed the broadcast of confessions from three men said to have plotted the two massive bombings in the Iraqi capital that killed 153 people and wounded hundreds.
Iraq's relations with Syria plummeted when it accused Damascus of sheltering suspects whom Baghdad said orchestrated similar deadly attacks on government buildings in Baghdad on August 19, killing 100 people.
The diplomatic spat in the days after the bombings triggered a mutual recall of ambassadors, and there has been no recovery in ties since.
Iraq had not previously linked Syrians to the October blasts.
"We have proof that condemns all those who justify terrorist acts from groups based in Syria," Dabbagh said.
"I imagine that there are some countries in the area that support these people because those countries until now are not convinced that these groups could be a danger to them."
The earlier televised confessions, however, were by members of the Baath party, the outlawed political movement of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. Baathists are also blamed for mounting deadly attacks throughout Iraq.
Dabbagh added: "What we showed to the journalists today represents only part of the confessions. There are lots of names and secret information that we cannot reveal."
Major General Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi army's Baghdad division, said the men confessed to a judge that they orchestrated the bombings that hit the justice ministry and the capital's local government headquarters.
Two of the three men had been officers in Saddam's army, and in recordings shown to reporters they said a Saudi national assisted them as they drove three cars from Taji, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Baghdad.
The cars contained explosives that were transferred days later to the truck and minibus used in the attacks, according to the broadcast.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on November 10 announced the arrest of 73 people from the Baath party and Al-Qaeda whom he said were implicated in the attacks, the deadliest to hit Iraq in more than two years.
Separately on Sunday, a senior local government official was arrested northeast of Baghdad in connection with suspected terrorist activity, officials said.
"The second vice-governor of the province of Diyala, Mohammed Sakaa, a member of the Islamic party, was stopped this evening at his home in the centre of Baquba by forces of the ministry of the interior," a security official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
They need to crush the Baathist remnants in Syria. What deal do they give Assad to make it happen?
Can you imagine if we had anti-US bombers active in Mexico? We'd invade. Iraq has that right as well.
However, I would think giving Assad 10 Billion dollars in oil would probably work.
#3
These fascists must be exterminated to a man. Many of them were prime Saddam henchmen and therefore are men without countries.
You would think the administration would be all over this problem, but there must be an issue with how the Iraqis intend to prosecute these murderous thugs.
"Wetworks" my left hind toenail. A dozen B-52s over Damascus, each dropping 50-60 500-lb iron bombs, and you MIGHT get Ass-ad's attention. That's if you happen to catch him on a day when he's sober. Keeping such bombings up for six or seven weeks would do wonders for the prestige of the US in the Muddled East. The term "play nice or be dead, your choice" only works when you're willing to be really, REALLY nasty. Until the US shows that kind of capability, the Muddled East will remain a catastrophe one day short of completion.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/25/2009 22:34 Comments ||
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#5
Can you imagine if we had anti-US bombers active in Mexico? We'd invade. Iraq has that right as well.
not this admin... it would probably be the 'crisis' that pushes through amnesty and the repeal of the 2nd amendment.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/25/2009 23:19 Comments ||
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The blood debt is a custom in many cultures, but unknown to many Westerners. We used to know all the details about Wehrgeld, but we gave it up about the time Charlemagne was knee-high to a duck.
In Iraq the tradition of the blood debt helped fuel the sectarian killing sprees that nearly plunged the country into a civil war. That's kinda the reason the Franks gave it up, too, I think.
In Iraq and Afghanistan tribal leaders often negotiate the blood debt to a cash or property settlement. The family and tribe of the deceased agree to not seek blood if they are compensated.
Just yesterday I witnessed a highly formalized negotiation about the blood debt by the nascent Tribal Union in Dujayl, Iraq. The goal of the Tribal Union is to unify the tribes in this agrarian community so to have a unified voice before the civil government.
To do that, the any disputes need to be resolved quikcly and equitably. The leadership of the Union is proposing standardized procedures to resolve grievances.
Meeting a school auditorium and sitting on plastic chairs, more than 100 Sheiks took part in the open meeting of the Union.
The Tribal Union is a relatively new creation in Dujayl. In the early years of the war, US forces went looking for anyone and everyone who would cooperate with them.
In Dujayl a man who spoke English was the first to shake the hand of US forces. He said the right things and put on a good act. But he was not a real Sheik and had no real influence. He did make a lot of money off the US though.
During the Surge and after, it became obvious that the Sheiks Council of Dujayl was populated by scoundrels. The US officers began to follow the tribal roots back to the real Sheiks. The fake Sheiks fled, the Council was dissolved and the Tribal Union formed.
US Army CPT Justin Daubert sits on the stage during the meetings, as a representative of the strongest and richest tribe in Dujayl, but does not take an active role in the open meetings.
Much more at the link about this event and the political evolution of the Iraqi tribes.. Go ye and be sated.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/25/2009 8:24 Comments ||
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#2
The relevant parts....
Hinkle & Foran limits its practice to catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases. By handling only a limited number of major cases, we can devote our time and attention to those who need it most. Our clients receive individual attention as our personal injury lawyers seek to maximize their recovery.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/25/2009 8:27 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo assailed Hamas on Tuesday morning, accusing the group of plotting to "ally with the devil" in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The criticism comes amid media reports that Hamas is poised to conclude a deal with Israel that would involve the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a soldier held by guerrillas in Gaza. Both Fatah and Hamas prisoners would be released.
An exchange of this magnitude would be a victory for Hamas and a potential embarrassment for the Fatah-dominated PA and PLO leadership in Ramallah, who have not secured any similar victories vis-a-vis Israel. President Mahmoud Abbas demanded a halt to settlement construction before he would head back to the negotiating table, but the recent Israeli approval of 900 homes to be constructed in the Bethlehem-area settlement of Gilo further highlighted the failure of the move.
Against this backdrop, Abed Rabbo claimed that Hamas had refused reconciliation with its rivals, and refused to be involved in the political process.
Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio, "If Hamas is not part of the negotiations, they will label them the atrocities of the devil. All they did is attack the PA and endeavor to damage national legitimacy."
The official asserted that the PA was an extension of the PLO and its institutions, and therefore "the PLO will do whatever they can to protect the PA, the Palestinian presidency, and the Palestinian government along with all its institutions."
These issues, he added, will be discussed during the PLO Central Council meeting on 15 December in Ramallah. The meeting will also discuss president Abbas' decision not to seek a new term. Analysts say the PLO leaders may appoint Abbas to stay on as president, in spite of his stated desire not to continue.
With regards to the political process, Abed Rabbo said, "Two-state solution based on 4 June [1967] borderline is a basis for any negotiations, and everything should be clarified before sitting for negotiations."
He also charged that Israeli claims that the country is ready for negotiations are an effort to escape international isolation.
Abbas dissolved a Hamas-Fatah unity government in June 2007 after the Islamic movement seized full control of the Gaza Strip, leaving it politically split from the West Bank.
In a further sign of sour relations, Hamas reported on Tuesday that the Fatah-allied Palestinian Authority security forces detained thirteen people affiliated with the Islamic movement in the last two days.
Hamas said in a statement that the detentions took place near the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarem.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Which one? Big Satan? Little Satan? Itsy-bitsy-teeney-weenie Satan? I'm confused.....
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and might not happen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after a senior cabinet colleague predicted a breakthrough within weeks.
"There is still no deal, and I do not know if there will be one," Netanyahu, whose reticence on the state of the Egyptian- and German-mediated negotiations has helped stoke speculation about imminent progress, told reporters.
Leaders of Hamas, the Islamist group ruling the Gaza Strip, were in Cairo to discuss the proposed swap of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for hundreds of jailed Palestinians.
Officials close to the talks said on Monday that Israel had dropped its objections to some 160 prisoners that Hamas wants included on the release roster. But both sides have demurred at anticipation, disseminated mainly by Arab media, of an exchange being in place as soon as Friday's Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.
Israel had long balked at granting amnesty to Palestinians jailed for attacks that killed its citizens. While signaling flexibility in its bid to recover Shalit, the Israeli government is wary of a domestic backlash over a deal that bolsters Hamas.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Philippine police have named a political ally of President Gloria Arroyo as the prime suspect in an election-linked massacre of 57 people.
''According to the initial reports, those who were abducted and murdered at Saniag were initially stopped by a group led by the Mayor of Datu Unsay,'' a national police spokesman, Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, said yesterday.
The Mayor of Datu Unsay is Andal Ampatuan jnr, a member of Mrs Arroyo's ruling Lakas Kampi CMD coalition and son of an extremely powerful regional politician who has ensured local support for the President in previous elections.
The military had named bodyguards hired by the Ampatuan clan as the suspected gunmen in Monday's massacre in which relatives and aides of a rival politician, plus a group of journalists, were abducted and shot dead.
Eleven more bodies were found yesterday when police uncovered another mass grave.
At least 13 journalists were killed, ''the largest single massacre of journalists ever'', according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.
The Ampatuan son was being groomed to succeed his father, the three-term governor of Maguindanao province on the southern island of Mindanao.
Mrs Arroyo has vowed justice will be served but refused to say if an ally blamed for the murders would be arrested. She insisted she was committed to tracking down those responsible.
''This is a supreme act of inhumanity that is a blight on our nation,'' presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde said.
''The President has vowed that the perpetrators will not find the way to escape justice.''
However, two days after the massacre, authorities indicated an arrest of Mr Ampatuan jnr was not imminent.
Speaking on DZMM radio, Superintendent Espina said investigators still needed to speak with witnesses before they could secure a court order for the arrest of the suspects.
Asked if Mr Ampatuan jnr would be arrested, Mr Remonde replied: ''I will not telegraph our punches''.
But he said Mrs Arroyo had delivered a message to the Ampatuan clan, which has its own private army, not to obstruct the police investigation.
The victims' relatives have alleged the Ampatuans organised the murders so that their rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, would not stand for governor.
Mrs Arroyo on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao and neighbouring Cotabato City, a stronghold of the Ampatuans, amid fears the killings could trigger a clan war.
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights chairwoman, Leila De Lima, also called for immediate action. ''I am appealing to President Gloria Arroyo to show political will, for her to show to the public that the investigation by the Government is serious,'' she said.
An Iranian cleric says religious authorities have started taking control of schools, part of a wider ideological drive by hard-liners to wage what authorities call a "soft war" against Western influence.
Posted by: ed ||
11/25/2009 09:26 ||
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#1
I expect Zero is looking on in delight and figuring how he can wage a war on Western Influence too.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Six world powers have drafted a resolution at the United Nations nuclear watchdog urging Iran to clarify the purpose of its previously secret uranium enrichment site and confirm it has no more hidden atomic work, diplomats said.
The draft text, backed by the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China, is to be presented at the year-end meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board that starts on Thursday.
Russian and Chinese support could be significant since they have often blocked tougher action against Iran in the IAEA's governing body and the U.N. Security Council, including the pursuit of tough sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
No doubt, there'll be more pressure on Dean Wormer to put Delta House on Double Secret Probation.
A top Iranian military official says Tehran may respond to Moscow's failure to fulfill the S-300 delivery contract through legal action.
"The Russians have failed to meet their commitment due to pressure form the Zionist Lobby and the Americans," Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian said on Tuesday.
"And as this agreement is an official one, it can be pursued through international legal bodies " Mansourian told reporters at the site of the Iran's five day large-scale defense drills.
Iran on Sunday launched a five-day drill that will cover an area a third of the size of Iran and spread across the central, western and southern parts of the country. Tehran says the drill is aimed at strengthening the country's aerial defense against potential attacks on its nuclear facilities.
In 2007 Tehran and Moscow signed an $800 million contract, which required Russia to deliver five S-300 systems to the Islamic Republic. Israel vociferously opposed the deal and has ever since been lobbying Russia not to deliver the sophisticated missile defense system.
Russia is running behind schedule on its agreement to deliver to Iran the mobile land-based system designed to shoot down aircrafts and cruise missiles.
The S-300 surface-to-air system, known as the SA-20 in the West, can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away. It also features high jamming immunity and is capable of simultaneously engaging up to 100 targets.
In early 2007, Iran received a reported $1billionn-plus delivery of the sophisticated Russian Tor-M1 air-defense systems.
Iran seeks the delivery of the sophisticated S-300 system to counter potential Israeli air strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Tehran says the only aim of its nuclear program is the civilian applications of the technology. The US, Israel and their European allies -- Britain, France and Germany -- accuse the country of pursuing military purposes.
Under the allegation, Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran.
Iran -- unlike Israel -- has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has opened its nuclear facilities to inspection by the IAEA, whereas Israel is widely believed to possess some 200 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Putin to Aquavelvajad: "Go ahead. Make my day."
#4
Well, even Iran can hang it's hat in the Zionist Lobby evidently. Heh... I'd love to know their legal team...
Mohammed, Golderberg, Goldberg, Goldberg, Silverstein and Hummadinker
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/25/2009 10:08 Comments ||
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#5
To get enforcement of Russian contract law, you need a contract but more importantly, you need enforcers that are better armed than the people they are visiting.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/25/2009 10:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
More kabuki from two masters of the art. Or chess, if you like-- remember, the game was invented by the Persians and perfected by the Russians.
Bottom line is that GazPutin, wealthiest thief man in Europe, and his crew will benefit hugely if Israel attacks Iran and oil prices spike. Putin's foreign policy is not based on any grand strategy, or even calculation of national interest; it's all about the price of oil, the pipelines, and the estimated future cash flows accruing to his private accounts in Switzerland. For Putin and the other bandit-thugs who've criminalized the Russian state, it's all about loot, not political or geostrategic advantage.
Think John Gotti, in control of one-quarter of the world's natural gas reserves and a goodly chunk of its oil and minerals as well.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Khartoum's United Nations envoy, rejecting a bleak U.N. assessment of the situation in Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region, said early Tuesday it was time for international peacekeepers to prepare to leave.
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited several industrial factories in a region that borders China and called for their facility modernization "as required by the IT age," state media said Wednesday.
[Ma'an] Senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo assailed Hamas on Tuesday morning, accusing the group of plotting to "ally with the devil" in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority (PA).
[Al Arabiya Latest] An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and might not happen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after a senior cabinet colleague predicted a breakthrough within weeks.
