[Tolo News] President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on his trip to New Delhi this week met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to encourage him to provide military equipment to Afghanistan. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... so far he has not had much success.
Reportedly, New Delhi wants to avoid getting swept up in Afghanistan's challenges, as supplying military equipment could irritate neighboring countries, especially Pakistain.
Just as Salman Khurshid, the Indian Foreign Minister, said that New Delhi doesn't want to provide weapons to Afghanistan at the moment, the Presidential Palace in Kabul has reported agreement between two sides on security and defensive cooperation along with training of the Afghan forces.
"Among the issues that were discussed between the sides, one was security and defensive cooperation," Karzai's Deputy Spokesperson Faiq Wahidi said. "Both sides agreed that training and meeting the needs of Afghanistan's security forces in equipment and infrastructural parts must increase."
President Karzai presented New Delhi with a list of military equipment in May. This list included heavy weaponry such as tanks, ground vehicles and helicopters. That request was originally declined by India.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
At least somebody's got some sense.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/15/2013 0:35 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Visiting Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... said in New Delhi on Saturday he no longer "trusts" the United States, accusing the Americans of saying one thing and doing another in his troubled homeland.
Karzai's statement to journalists came a day after he insisted he would not be "intimidated" into signing a security pact allowing US troops in Afghanistan to stay on after next year.
"I don't trust them," Karzai said in a wide-ranging discussion at a local hotel in which he singled out a letter US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... wrote last month assuring him that US forces would "respect" the safety of Afghans in their homes.
Karzai was speaking on the second day of a three-day visit to India during which the United States hopes New Delhi can persuade him to sign the troubled troop deal.
Karzai, who is due to stand down after elections next year, initially endorsed the so-called Bilateral Security Agreement, or BSA.
But he later said the agreement could only be signed after the presidential election in April, warning against a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... presence if it just meant "more bombs and killings".
His stance has outraged US officials and politicians, who have threatened a complete forces pullout if Karzai does not sign by the end of the year.
"When Obama writes to me that he will respect homes, they should prove it... implement the letter, respect Afghan homes," Karzai said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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We have that in common. (Of course I tend towards the X-Files dictum of 'Trust no one.')
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/15/2013 9:12 Comments ||
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Maybe he can get aid from Uzbekistan? Or Iran?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2013 12:09 Comments ||
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This chump would not even be alive today if we didn't provide bodyguards for him. He can't even trust his own people.
There was one assassination attempt (by the ISI)where Karzai's palace guards were in on the plot. If I were him I'd be busy scouting new restaurant locations in Baltimore.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/15/2013 12:11 Comments ||
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DON'T let this bastard back in the US
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2013 12:32 Comments ||
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Surely he wouldn't want to come back to the US, after all he doesn't trust us.
On the other hand, with the millions he has probably stolen and stashed safely in Swiss banks, he can retire any where he wants to.
Assuming he gets out alive.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/15/2013 13:25 Comments ||
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#8
SecState Kerry = USA has repor declared an extension of time for Afghanistan to review + sign the BSA.
IMO Karzai is only too aware of the OWG Globalist "Co-superpower" agenda where the tip-of-the-spear-in-setting-up-OWG USA covertly SSSSHHHH .... CCCCCC helps Shia Iran become the world's first Islamic Superpower or Nuclear Superpower. ALL OF AFGHANISTAN'S FORMER OVERLORDS/MASTERS IN ASIA, INCLUD BUT NOT LIMITED TO SHIA IRAN, HAVE DESIRES TO RESTABLISH POTENT INFLUENCE IN THEIR FORMER TERRITORY, wid opportunity for such occurring post-2014 ala US-NATO pullout.
I believe Karzai is uncertain about where post-2014 Afghanistan, wid or widout US support + Balochistan maritime access, "fits" between the Globalist halves or other as seemingly divided in future between Rising Iran + other Asia-specific OWG "Co-Superpowers".
MORESO AS DEPENDING ON THE OUTCOME OF ANY US-CHINA GLOBALIST WAR IN EAST ASIA [India?] + PACIFIC???
OWG AMERIKA = NAU + TRANS-PAC + TRANS-ATLANTIC, OTHER? GLOBAL FED "UNIONS", N-O-T ANY "ASIAN UNION", CENTRAL ASIAN UNION, OR WEST ASIAN UNION, ETC.
US = "OVER THERE" IN THE AMERICAS, NOT "OVER HERE" IN WEST, CENTRAL, SOUTH ASIA.
* IIRC TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > ANALYSIS: STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF ASIA IS STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD.
"MACKINDER'S WORLD ISLAND" DOTH NOT OWG NORTH-SOUTH AMERIKA MAKETH.
The EU naval force said Friday it successful completed a three-day escort of a UN World Food Programme (WFP) chartered food supplies to Somalia from Kenya, APA reports quoting Xinhua. In a statement, the anti-piracy taskforce said its Spanish EU Naval Force ship ESPS Tornado escorted WFP ship from Kenyas coastal city of Mombasa to the port of Kismayo in Somalia to deliver the much needed assistance to Mogadishu.
During the escort, members of the Spanish Navy crew remained on constant look-out, with the ships helicopter ready to launch at short notice to help deter any pirate attack, the statement said.
The UN food agency has delivered over 100 shipments to the Horn of Africa despite lack of protection and now reduced piracy incidents in Somali waters.
Several governments have provided naval escorts for ships carrying food aid since November 2007 to troubled Somalia, and since then, no ship carrying WFP supplies has seen pirates attacks.
The Spanish Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel ESPS Tornado is currently on her first deployment with EU NAVFOR. The protection of humanitarian aid carried by WFP ships is one of the key tasks of Operation Atalanta. European Union navies participating in EU NAVFOR also deter, prevent and repress acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and protect vulnerable ships. The EU Naval Force warships are also providing protection to the UN chartered vessels supplying the AMISOM which is supporting the transitional Somali government to stabilize the lawless nation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Fifty tonnes of ammunition has been destroyed in one of the largest ever controlled demolitions in Libya.
Organised by international NGOs specialising in the removal of unwent kaboom! ordinance, Handicap International and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), two batches -- each of 25 tonnes -- were destroyed on Friday near Misrata.
A team from the humanitarian NGO Handicap International conducted the first detonation of 577 high explosive projectiles, which had been removed from bunkers in an ammunition storage area damaged by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... bombing.
"After Air Traffic Control ceased flight movements and roads were closed in and out of the area, teams executed the meticulously-planned demolition of scores of 152mm projectiles, each weighing 43kg a piece," Handicap International said. The NGO added that, ahead of the kaboom, an announcement warning about the kaboom had been made on local radio to alert people.
A high-profile audience included representatives from the German and Dutch embassies, which have contributed funds to the ongoing clearance of ammunition stores and unwent kaboom! ordinance in and around Misrata.
'You see the kaboom before you hear it,' said Sönke Lorenz. 'It was amazing to see and I'm extremely happy the German government could fund Handicap International's activities in Libya." Lorenz added that finding, securing and disposing of unwent kaboom! ordnance could help Libyan people live free from the threat of injuries.
Thirty minutes later, a second demolition of 25 tonnes of ammunition was conducted by MAG.
"Ammunition destroyed ranged from 30mm projectiles, to 120mm mortars, to 152mm projectiles, with items weighing anywhere between 500g and 43kg," MAG said. The ammunition, it explained, was no longer serviceable, and inhibited and endangered rehabilitation inside the storage area, threatening the lives of civilians in communities across Misrata.
Since April 2012, MAG has been clearing the ammunition storage area, which includes 15 bunkers, and it was joined by Handicap International early in 2013. So far, 50,000 explosive items have been removed and MAG said that 85 percent of the area had now been cleared.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Destroyed? Dudes, you could sell this stuff on eBay and make a crap ton of money. Do you know how hard it is to find mortar rounds in the middle of deer season?
[Al Ahram] Initial reports suggest that the Moslem Brüderbund candidates standing in elections for positions in the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate stand to lose majority control to a rival independent coalition for the first time in over two decades.
The 'Independence' list, a broad coalition of non-Brotherhood candidates, has won 11 of the 12 seats available on the syndicate's main board, according to reports. The Brotherhood's 'Doctors' for Egypt' list won the twelfth vacant seat.
Half of the seats on the syndicate's main board are being contested in the mid-term elections held on Saturday, as are half the seats on the board of each of the provincial syndicate branches, present in all 27 Egyptian governorates. The official results are due on Saturday night.
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12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] President Mansour announces date of national poll on the draft constitution, a replacement of the 2012 charter drafted during the presidency of Mohamed Morsi
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] The April 6 Movement (Democratic Front) has said that four of its members were placed in durance vile Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on Saturday in downtown Cairo for unknown reasons, as a security crackdown on activists critical of the authorities seems set to continue.
Spokesman for the front Mostafa Hegazy said during an interview with Al-Ahram's Arabic website that the whereabouts of the incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! members remains unknown.
The front, a breakaway group from the April 6 Youth Movement, planned to stage a protest on Saturday but canceled it in order to avoid possible festivities with security forces amid the current inclement weather, according to Hegazy.
The canceled protest, Hegazy said, cannot therefore be the reason behind the arrest of the four members, named as Hamdy Keshta, Ahmed Fahmy, Ahmed Abou-Treika, and Maher Mohammed.
Protests that have not obtained the prior permission of state authorities are illegal, according to a law issued last month.
According to Hegazy, the detainees were near Mostafa Mahmoud Square in the up-market district of Mohandiseen in Giza, where the protest had been supposed to take place, when they were arrested.
Hegazy said one of the detainees managed to call him to inform him of the arrest.
Thousands of Islamist protesters have been detained since the summer, when the Moslem Brüderbund's Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... was ousted from the presidency. Since the issuing of the new protest law, security forces have also started arresting non-Islamist protesters and activists.
Among the detained are Ahmed Maher, co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, and Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a well-known blogger and rights activist. They are accused of inciting an unauthorised protest against military trials of civilians in Cairo last month.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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Every week, about a dozen Syrians arrive at Benghazi's airport for what's described as myrmidon training. When they fly out, they're carrying fake Libyan passports, according to three officials familiar with the comings and goings of foreigners at the airport. The accounts of the officials, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the topic, are more evidence that this city in Libya has become a regional hub for Islamist snuffies seeking to hone their combat skills.
Fighters from Tunisia and Algeria also are thought to be training here, driving across Libya's borders to reach Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising that, with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... 's help, toppled Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... two years ago. But the Syrians' routine arrival and departure by air indicates that the training process is better organized and financed than had been realized. It also raises questions about the role of Libya's homegrown militia, Ansar al Shariah, in the global jihadi movement. Ansar al Shariah has its roots in the anti-Qadaffy uprising and it's thought to have participated in the attack last year on U.S. facilities in Benghazi. Any effort to train al Qaeda-linked fighters here is unlikely to have gone forward without the backing of Ansar al Shariah, experts in the organization say.
The Benghazi airport officials said that in the face of weak government forces and Ansar al Shariah supporters among their personnel, there's little they can do to stop fighters from arriving or from leaving illegally, even though their fake passports are easily detected. By leaving on Libyan passports, they avoid legal requirements that they report their activities while they're in the country, the airport officials told McClatchy.
"It is easier to leave Libya that way. They fly to Istanbul and sneak back into Syria," one airport employee said. "They use the Libyan passport once." The three airport officials said they saw anywhere from 10 to 15 fighters each week. Airport authorities can't stop them because they themselves fear the repercussions of confronting bully boys. As one employee explained, pointing to an immigration official: "He is with Ansar al Shariah."
"There is nothing we can do to stop it," a second official told McClatchy. "But everyone knows who they are."
Libya's minister of justice, Salah al Marghani, told McClatchy that the government is unaware of fighters coming to the country for training, but he acknowledged that Libya's security situation would allow "such groups to move freely."
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan conceded in a recent interview with The Washington Post that government investigations have turned up Tunisians, Algerians, Sudanese and Nigerians undergoing training in Benghazi. Despite the regular arrival and departure of fighters undergoing training, Zeidan told the Post that "there are no permanent camps." He said he thought most fighters stayed only one or two days. Other officials told McClatchy they don't know how long the fighters stay.
What is clear, however, is that in the months since U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others died here, Ansar al Shariah's presence in Benghazi has grown, despite the initial public reaction, which drove it from its headquarters into hiding in the days immediately after Stevens' death. Beyond Benghazi, where it was founded, the group has spread to eastern cities that were key to the 2011 uprising. Residents told McClatchy that the difference now is that rather than operate as an open organization from a headquarters, the group has melted into the population. The group also is working hard to provide services, such as health care, in a push to earn the support of residents, who generally say they'd like government forces, not militias, to secure their cities.
Despite that, the Libyan government's nascent security forces have been unable to impose their will on Ansar al Shariah, which apparently now can call on foreigners to fill out its ranks. Last month, when forces of Evil attacked an army checkpoint here near the now-abandoned Ansar al Shariah headquarters, imported muscle were among the attackers, witnesses said. They said they knew the forces of Evil weren't Libyan by their dialect.
Marghani, the justice minister, said Ansar al Shariah's growth had hampered Libya's investigation of the Stevens case.
"Maybe if the security forces improve, that case will move faster," he said.
Monaco: An influential Saudi prince has blasted the Obama administration for indecision and a loss of credibility with allies in the Middle East, saying that American efforts to secure a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians would founder without a clear commitment from President Barack Obama.
''We've seen several red lines put forward by the president, which went along and became pinkish as time grew, and eventually ended up completely white,'' said Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia. Guy knows his colors
''When that kind of assurance comes from a leader of a country like the United States, we expect him to stand by it.''
He added: ''There is an issue of confidence.''
Mr Obama had his problems, but when a country had strong allies ''you should be able to give them the assurance that what you say is going to be what you do'', said the prince, who no longer has any official position but has lately been providing the public expression of internal Saudi views with clear approval from the Saudi government. A good guy, or another Baghdad Bob?
The Saudis have been particularly shaken by Mr Obama's refusal to intervene forcefully in the Syrian civil war, especially his recent decision not to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with military strikes even after evidence emerged that Dr Assad's government used chemical weapons on its own citizens.
Instead, Mr Obama chose to seek congressional authorisation for a strike, and when that proved difficult to obtain, he co-operated with Russia to get Syria to agree to give up its chemical weapons.
Prince Turki and Israeli officials have argued that the agreement merely legitimised Dr Assad, and on Sunday, the prince called the world's failure to stop the conflict in Syria ''almost a criminal negligence.''
Syria, Iran, nuclear issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were the main focus for Prince Turki, who spoke at the World Policy Conference, a gathering of officials and intellectuals largely drawn from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Saudi unhappiness with Iran's growing power in the region is no secret, and the Saudis, who themselves engage with Iran, have no problem with the United States trying to do the same, the prince said.
But he complained that bilateral talks between Iranian and US officials had been kept secret from US allies, sowing further mistrust.
The prince said Iran must give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapons program (Iran says its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes) and stop using its own troops and those of Shiite allies such as the Lebanese organisation Hezbollah to fight in neighbouring countries, such as Syria and Iraq.
''The game of hegemony toward the Arab countries is not acceptable,'' the prince said.
A prevalent theme at the conference was the waning of US influence in the Middle East.
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said: ''Today we live in a zero-polar, or a-polar, world. No one power or group of powers can solve all the problems.''
The US, Mr Fabius said, was often criticised for being ''overpresent, but now it is being criticised for not being present enough.'' It's like pulling the petals from a daisy, "We want you here. We don't want you here. We want you here. We don't want you here. We want you here. We don't want you here.
While ''it is perfectly understandable'' that Mr Obama would refrain from new military engagements in the Middle East, he said, ''it creates a certain vacuum'' that has allowed Russia ''to make a comeback on the world scene'' and has encouraged France to intervene in the Central African Republic, Libya and Mali.
[Al Ahram] Angry relatives of Yemeni civilians killed in a drone strike, which Sanaa insists hit Al-Qaeda chiefs, have demanded an apology and compensation, warning of tribal protests, an official said Saturday.
The Supreme Security Committee said late Friday that an air strike that killed 17 people, mostly civilians, near Rada in the central province of Bayda, had targeted Al-Qaeda.
Tribal mediators headed for the capital on Saturday, a day after they succeeded in calming protesters who blocked the road between Rada and Sanaa during the funeral of 13 relatives said to be all civilians, the official said.
"The first demand is an end to strikes. They also want financial and moral compensation," the official said.
The security committee headed by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi said Thursday's strike targeted "a car that belonged to one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda".
"On board the vehicle... were top leaders who plotted several terrorist attacks against the armed forces, police, civilians and vital government installations," it said in a statement carried by the state news agency Saba.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
OK.
We're sorry we missed some of you.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/15/2013 0:36 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Some eminent citizens of the country have demanded a ban on the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and the quick execution of all war crimes convicts.
They came up with the demand in response to the widespread violence following the hanging of war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah.
They also urged all political parties to refrain from imposing hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... s, carrying out destructive activities on railway, roads and houses and from triggering communal violence in the country.
The calls came from a rally organised by Bangladesh Rukhe Darao, a platform of eminent citizens, at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday marking the Martyred Intellectuals Day.
Addressing the rally, Prof Anisuzzaman said, "The current government can ban the politics of Jamaat under the anti-terrorism act, as International Crimes Tribunal has already described Jamaat as a criminal organization."
Rights activist Sultana Kamal said, "The Jamaat activists have been committing atrocities like killing and burning people since 1971."
She also urged the political parties not to liaise with Jamaat for political gains.
Asked about the stand of international community over Mollah's execution, educationist Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal recalled how international forces had abused their powers in harming weaker countries.
"On the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction, the USA carried out destruction in Iraq ... The people of this country will have to stand against the anti-liberation forces to keep the dreams of our deaders alive ... They have to come forward to resist Jamaat," he said.
They also stressed the need for mobilising public opinion to counter the "smear campaigns" run by the anti-liberation elements "to foil the war crimes trials" and "pursue their religion-based politics and violence."
Later, a mass procession carrying the national flag was brought out from there that ended at Shahbagh.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] Dozens of Muslim protestors gathered to demand that businesses stop selling alcohol in a popular East London area yesterday.
The group, led by former Al-Muhajiroun leader Anjem Choudary, warned restaurants and shops in the Brick Lane area that they face 40 lashes if they continue to sell the product, which is banned under Sharia Law.
Around 60 men and women in burkhas handed over warning letters to Muslim-owned businesses in the area after the protest was initially delayed by a small number of English Defence League members staging a counter-protest.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Fuck you assholes.
Try your lashes and you will get more than you bargain for.
[Breitbart] The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that tunnels along the southwest border are a growing and significant threat to security.
According to a report by the DHS OIG released December 11, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, charged with protecting the U.S. borders, lacks the technological capability to detect subterranean tunnels.
"Illicit cross-border tunnels along the southwest border are primarily used by criminals to transport illegal drugs into the United States, and they are a significant and growing threat to border security," noted the report. "In an effort to counter this threat, CBP has modified its operations through patrols, intelligence gathering, and closing of illicit cross-border tunnels, but it does not yet have the technological capability to detect the tunnels routinely and accurately."
CIA officers revealed a clash over how quickly they should go help the besieged U.S. ambassador during the 2012 attack on an outpost in Libya, and a standing order for them to avoid violent encounters, according to a congressman and others who heard their private congressional testimony or were briefed on it.
The senior CIA officers in charge in Libya that day told Congress of a chaotic scramble to aid Stevens and others who were in the outpost when it was attacked by militants on the 11th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Those CIA leaders decided they and their security contractor team should wait before rushing from their annex into the violence roughly a mile away. They said they were trying to first gather intelligence and round up Libyan militia allies armed with heavy weapons, according to the testimony by the CIA officers in charge.
Some CIA security contractors disagreed with their bosses and wanted to move more quickly.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who heads a House intelligence subcommittee that interviewed the employees, said he believes this disagreement was the source of allegations that the CIA ordered security personnel to "stand down" and not help the people inside the diplomatic mission, and perhaps was the source of accusations the administration failed to answer a call from the CIA security team for combat aircraft.
"The team leader knew he was on his own," said Westmoreland, R-Ga.
He explained that the lack of air support was clear to all CIA employees working in Libya because of a 2011 CIA memorandum sent to employees after NATO forces ended their mission in support of the Libyan revolution.
"It basically told people in Benghazi ... if you are attacked, you get your 'package' (the personnel they are charged with protecting) and you get out," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
A senior intelligence official confirmed that the CIA officers on the ground in Benghazi responded to the diplomats' call for help by trying "to rally local support for the rescue effort and secure heavier weapons." When it became "clear that this additional support could not be rapidly obtained," the team moved toward the diplomatic compound. Really? the local support? Huh? Duh? And you got a Ranger yelling in your ear piece to move?
One contractor testified that he shouted repeatedly over the agency's radio system to his CIA security boss that they should request combat aircraft. But the security chief explained to lawmakers that he ignored his subordinate's demands because he said he knew that no combat aircraft were available for such a mission, Westmoreland said. A haunting report/interview I remember (it has stayed with me)from the beginning of the Benghazi reporting was a report from Catherine Herridge of Fox News reporting on a "stand down" order being issued during Bret Baier's Special Report. Bret answered with, "This is strong. You got good sources 'cause you could get creamed on this?" Catherine answered with "On the ground." Bred repeated, "On the ground." I've often wondered about her "on the ground" source.
Westmoreland said the CIA security contractors loaded into two vehicles, with weapons ready, the moment they heard the radio call for help from the diplomatic building. Some wanted to rush to the U.S. compound roughly a mile away, and their agitation grew as they heard increasing panic when the diplomats reported the militants were setting the compound on fire.
The CIA team leader and the CIA chief at the Benghazi annex told committee members that they were trying to gather Libyan allies and intelligence before racing into the fray, worried that they might be sending their security team into an ambush with little or no backup. CYA?
At least one of those security contractors, a former U.S. Army Ranger, was told to "wait" at least twice, and he argued with his security team leader, according to his testimony, related by Westmoreland. Westmoreland declined to share the names of the officers who testified because they are still CIA employees. Makes me also remember the testimony of Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, head of a team of 16 security guys (read EX military) that was removed against his force-able request to stay, before the House when asked, "If your team would have been there, could you have made a difference?" The look on his face as he responded told the story, "I wish we had been there." View his opening statement to Congress here
According to previous accounts by U.S. officials, the attacks began at approximately 9:40 p.m., and the CIA team arrived roughly 25 minutes into the attack.
None of those who testified would say they believed the ambassador or the others could have been saved had they arrived any faster, according to two officials, who also were briefed on the testimony.
When the seven CIA employees reached the diplomatic compound, they fought their way in and found the five State Department security personnel who had taken shelter in various parts of the compound.
They found computer specialist Smith, dead from smoke inhalation, but couldn't find Stevens and decided to fall back to the CIA annex, because the crowd was building outside again, Westmoreland and the other officials said.
Stevens was found in a safe room and taken by Libyan civilians to a nearby hospital, but he died from smoke inhalation.
The CIA team believes their convoy was followed back to their compound, where they were first attacked by small arms fire around midnight local time, which quickly stopped when the CIA team returned fire, Westmoreland said. One of the only believable parts
Roughly five hours later, the CIA team testified that mortars hit, killing former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who had helped rescue the diplomats, and former SEAL Glenn Doherty, who had just arrived with a team from Tripoli.
The lawmakers wanted to hear directly from the contractors about their account before a book the contractors have written is published in September 2014, if it passes the CIA's security review. Thinkn' the contractors have the "real story."
[WashingtonPost] A program that gives coveted immigrant green cards to wealthy foreign investors was so susceptible to fraud and abuse that it was used by an Iranian network that sought to send banned high technology home and spread terrorism abroad, federal Sherlocks said.
The EB-5 program was used by "a network involved in a series of international liquidations and terrorism operations" that also was "procuring a variety of goods for Iranian entities," states an unsigned memo from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made public Thursday. The memo was written in response to questions asked by Janet A. Napolitano as homeland security secretary.
The memo called the EB-5 program a weak point in the nation's immigration security because visa holders can become green card holders and eventually citizens -- without going through the background checks that most prospective immigrants face. The program is designed to attract foreigners who pledge to invest in the U.S. economy.
The memo was made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, in a letter to ICE acting Director John Sandweg asking a series of questions about the case.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/15/2013 09:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
The Chicago Tribune reported last year that Illinois Governor Pat Quinns administration had originally supported Sethis project. In January 2012, however, state officials demanded that Sethi remove Quinns image and the states seal from materials he used to solicit investors, the Tribune reported.
[INVESTIGATIONS.NBCNEWS] A 58-year-old airport worker was charged Friday with allegedly planning a suicide kaboom at a passenger terminal at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas.
The suspect, Terry Lee Loewen, an avionics technician who lives in Wichita, was placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! earlier in the day as he attempted to use his security pass to drive a vehicle that he thought contained explosives onto the tarmac at the airport, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Wichita. In fact, the car contained only dummy explosives.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[WSJ] A decade ago, a Wall Street Journal reporter happened to befriend the Tsarnaevs. The story of his surprise--and the family's--when the sons emerged as suspects in the attack. Very, very observant reporter. Damn shame he chose save his discoveries and observations [or did he?] for a string of WSJ stories or book, as opposed to alerting law enforcement.
#1
Difficult to read about the family's downhill struggle.
It can happen to folks, no question.
The unifying theme of the losers with no prospects who blow up civilians is....
No, give me a minute. I've almost got it.
Sheesh.
This is hard.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/15/2013 7:22 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Oh, yeah.
Ahem.
ALERT LAW ENFORCEMENT! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?
THE RUSSIANS ALERTED LAW ENFORCMENT. SILVER PLATTER! FBI INTERVIEWED!
How much more alert do you think this clownshoe posse could be?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
12/15/2013 7:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
All published long ago in the MSM. I'm surprised that the wsj printed it.
[Al Ahram] Syrian rebel commanders from the Islamic Front which seized control of bases belonging to Western-backed rebels last week are due to hold talks with US officials in Turkey in coming days, rebel and opposition sources said on Saturday.
The expected contacts between Washington and the radical fighters reflect the extent to which the Islamic Front alliance has eclipsed the more moderate Free Syrian Army brigades - which Western and Arab powers tried in vain to build into a force able to topple Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... .
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: al-Nusra
#1
"Eclipsed the more moderate Free Syrian Army" > unless I've missed something, the FSA has been all but absolutely defeated in Syria vee a combo by Assad andor the Qaeda Boyz.
The Bammer = US-Allies wants to see what help Rising Iran can do agz Al-Qaeda over the next six months [Jan-Summer 2014] lest we return to mil threatening Iran + its NucProgs again.
Iff Iran as a Muslim country refuses to take serious MilPol action agz Al-Qaeda, etal, foreign groups in Syria + ME, i.e. refuses agz other Muslims as expected under Islamic law, Iran's only alternative will be to resume going Nukulaar under new threats of US, Israeli milaction.
A rapidly increasing flow of Europeans is streaming to Syria to fight on the side of rebel groups aligned with al-Qaeda, raising concerns about homegrown terrorism, top European security officials said Thursday.
Europeans? Sven? Heinrich? Jose? Nigel? Pierre?
The number of Europeans who have traveled to fight in Syria "is estimated at between, more or less, 1,500 and 2,000 people, based on what we've heard from our colleagues," Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet told news hounds in Brussels on Thursday, giving an estimate more than double the figure offered last month by U.S. intelligence officials.
Europeans are able to reach Syria far more easily than other past locations of jihadist activity, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. All it takes to get to Syria is a budget flight to Turkey and a quick transit over the mostly non-existent border. European security officials have said there are an increasing number of training camps on Syrian soil that are composed almost exclusively of Europeans. Many fear that combatants could return home and commit acts of terror on European soil or serve as inspiration to others.
European officials said they were stunned by the speed of the radicalization and flow of their citizens to Syria, and some officials urged new measures, such as collecting and sharing more airline passenger information, in an effort to slow the migration. Individual European countries have also stepped up their own efforts to stop citizens from fighting in Syria. The Interior Minister of the German state of Hesse, Boris Rhein, this week proposed a nationwide hotline and network of counseling centers to try to combat radicalization. He said a new government-sponsored study in Hesse had found that jihadist recruiters had begun to systematically target students.
A White House review will conclude that a sweeping US spy agency program to collect data on telephone calls and Internet use should continue but with new privacy safeguards, reports said Friday.
The New York Times also reported that President Barack Obama's study would recommend making public the privacy protections foreign citizens can expect when their telephone or Internet records are gathered by the National Security Agency. The Wall Street Journal meanwhile said the task force would recommend that records of phone calls held by the NSA after the massive data mining operations should be held by telephone companies and not the spy agency.
The report comes as the administration finalizes a review ordered by Obama into the NSA's sweeping worldwide data and phone record collection, following revelations by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
The Times said that the committee conducting the review would recommend that top White House officials directly examine the list of foreign leaders whose communications are monitored by the NSA. The protection will be introduced in the wake of a furor over revelations that US spies eavesdropped on the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Times also said that the White House review would create a body of legal professionals who would argue against lawyers for the NSA over espionage operations in the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees surveillance.
White House officials declined to comment on the Times report, saying that the review was not yet finalized. But officials said that the study into NSA operations in the wake of the Snowden affair was still expected to be delivered to the president by Sunday.
Mr. Obama said last week that he would introduce some restraints on the NSA following the review. It remains unclear when Mr. Obama will present unclassified findings of the report publicly.
Better to set up a ""Honey Trap" for the listeners to flock to.
Then track the listeners, for disposal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/15/2013 15:02 Comments ||
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#3
The job - the very reason for existence of the NSA - is to listen in on whatever foreign communications it can. If foreign "friends" can't secure their communications, that is THEIR problem, not ours.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/15/2013 15:39 Comments ||
Top||
#4
If I was this loose with credit card info, I would be responsible for fraud.
Since the creation of the US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), the Department of Defense's joint command in charge of operating and defending the military's network, one man has been at the helm. He is also Director of the National Security Agency and the Chief of Central Security Service. Those combined roles have put responsibility for a huge swath of the US military's "network warfare" under a single man's purview--a concentration of power that has caused a great deal of concern. In fact, the Director of the Office of National Intelligence and the panel appointed by President B.O. to review the operations of the NSA have both recommended that the NSA and the DOD's Cyber Command be put under separate leadership. The review panel, appointed in the wake of leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, submitted a draft recommendation to President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... recommending that a civilian should be appointed head of the NSA, while Cyber Command should remain under military leadership.
But the B.O. regime has ignored that advice, announcing that it will continue the arrangement that let Alexander command most of the nation's military and civilian offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. "Following an interagency review," White House spokeswoman Caitlyn Hayden wrote in an email to the Washington Post, "the administration has decided that keeping the positions of NSA Director and Cyber Command Commander together as one, dual-hatted position is the most effective approach to accomplish both agencies' missions."
The NSA has been under a military commander since its inception. But General Alexander is the highest-ranking military officer ever to lead the agency, and the combination of responsibilities he has retained since being "dual-hatted" are unprecedented. As USCYBERCOM Commander, he has operation control over the Army's, Navy's, and Air Force's cyber commands and their component network operations and intelligence collection units. He also oversees the network operations of the Defense Information Systems Agency, which provides information infrastructure to all of the services as well as communications support to the "national leadership"--the White House and other key government officials.
That means that the Commander of USCYBERCOM is responsible for nearly everything that passes over a military network and for the units responsible for offensive and defensive operations on any network worldwide that the military touches. As director of the NSA, Alexander's duties put him in charge of all electronic signals intelligence, crypto breaking, and the development of security rules, regulations, standards, and practices for all of US intelligence. The NSA operates, on its own, more than 500 different intelligence "platforms." The Central Security Service, which is also under the NSA Director's purview, is responsible for coordinating all cryptography for military and intelligence networks.
While having a single chain of command for both CYBERCOM and the NSA does ensure a high level of coordination between the two, critics say it reduces the amount of oversight and transparency of the organization. The White House decision, the Post suggests, is in line with an attitude that there isn't much wrong at the NSA. The one concession the B.O. regime may make is to adopt the review panel's suggestion that the phone records currently collected by the NSA be held by either the phone companies themselves or by some third party for the sake of privacy protection.
#1
"While having a single chain of command for both CYBERCOM and the NSA does ensure a high level of coordination between the two..." Awesome. Glad we have a coordinated group grope between the arrogant and the incompetent unified under overweening "leadership".
#4
Glad we have a coordinated group grope between the arrogant and the incompetent unified under overweening "leadership".
So you're basically lumping together as all one gang the people doing domestic surveillance here, people doing military surveillance abroad, and the guys who wrote the stuxnet virus in hopes of stopping Iran from getting the bomb and starting the next holocaust.
If you don't like the leadership at the top write your senator about impeachment.
Databases, networks, applications are designed to meet goals and objectives. Normally those goals and objectives are determined by what the user/users want to use the system for. Usually a committee is selected to formulate how the system is to be used.
But, it is far easier for something like the Obama regime to keep under wraps goals, objectives and control for these systems by having one loyal person under the regime's command who is responsible for ALL systems. They also can use it for the needs of the regime, not for US security, military security, etc..
If the regime wants the data warehouse built to be able to drill the data from top down to provide certain types of information that constitutionally they should not be privy to, no one will know except the man who reports to the regime.
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.
Every week, about a dozen Syrians arrive at Benghazi's airport for what's described as
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
A rapidly increasing flow of Europeans is streaming to Syria to fight on the side of rebel groups aligned with al-Qaeda, raising concerns about homegrown terrorism, top European security officials said Thursday.
A White House review will conclude that a sweeping US spy agency program to collect data on telephone calls and Internet use should continue but with new privacy safeguards, reports said Friday. 
