Naval Station Rota personnel and their families were treated to an evening of dancing and entertainment when 12 of the Washington Redskins cheerleaders, the Redskinettes, performed Aug. 29 at Champions aboard the naval station.
The Redskinettesâ visit to Naval Station Rota was part of a 14-day Mediterranean tour of eight U.S. military bases in the region.
According to Air Force 1st Lt. Luke Hardaway, Europe and Balkans Circuit Manager for Armed Forces Entertainment, the Redskinettesâ mission during this trip is going to be to lift troopsâ spirits and morale, and help maintain troop readiness and effectiveness while serving in defense of the country.
âThey also want to bring a âtouch of homeâ to our military families and troops, to remind them that they are remembered and appreciated by those of us back in the United States,â said Hardaway.
The Redskinettes visit to Naval Station Rota was well received by troops and family members alike. Operations Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Jordan Villaros of USS Mitscher (DDG 57) was allowed the opportunity to interact with the Redskinettes during one of their dance routines and said that he really enjoyed the show.
âItâs really cool that they provide this sort of entertainment for us,â said Villaros. âIt is definitely a morale booster.â
For some on the Redskinettesâ squad, this was their first time traveling abroad with the team, while others were seasoned veterans. This is the first abroad trip for Elizabeth, who is in her first year with the Redskinettes. She said she was excited about the opportunity, her expectations were definitely surpassed and this would be something she would want to do again.
âEveryone is so excited to see us, and I enjoy making people happy,â said Elizabeth. âThis differs from performing at games because itâs smaller with a more intimate atmosphere and more interaction.â
While this was her first trip to Spain, Cyprus and Turkey, this is the sixth overseas tour with the Redskinettes for Tiffani. A six-year veteran of the squad, Tiffani has been to Japan, Guam, Micronesia, Hawaii, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. She said the tours are by far the âmost rewardingâ part of being a Redskinette cheerleader.
âWe are able to bring a part of home to the troops,â said Tiffani. âItâs the least we can do to show our appreciation. Itâs quite a humbling, yet amazing experience.â
Coming to Naval Station Rota was a homecoming for Redskinette Kimberly. A family member of a career Navy officer who was stationed here 20 years ago, Kimberly said coming to see her old house and DGF Elementary School, where she met with her former art teacher, was quite enjoyable for her.
âActually, I got teary eyed,â said Kimberly. âItâs quite an experience to be back here after so long.â
The Redskinettes will also be visiting Moron Air Force Base, Spain; Naples, Gaeta and Latina, Italy; and Cyprus.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 01:05 ||
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Outstanding, a little love for America's finest.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/08/2005 2:38 Comments ||
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Don't think I'd want to be stationed at Moron Air Force Base...
#8
No it is pronounced Moron (bothy Os as in Corps, not as in rose). If memory doesn't fail me its complete name is Moron de la Frontera (ie it was on the border between Moors and Christians). Moron could be Spanish superlative for Moro (Moor) ie the big Moorish City on the border.
Note: There is a number of "de la Frontera" cities in South Spain. The far better known of them is Jerez de la Frontera
In the latest step in the fight against crime, Saudi Arabia has installed surveillance cameras on its roads. The new technology registers every carâs registration plate and compiles them unto a national database. Those found to belong to wanted criminals are automatically forwarded to the relevant security departments who will take the appropriate measures. This new measure also traces traffic violations such as speeding and not following traffic lights. General Fahd al Basher, head of the Kingdomâs traffic authority told Asharq al Awsat the use of surveillance cameras to regulate the flow of traffic was made possible by a public bid for a number of companies specialized in surveillance technology. He said the cameras would mask road offenders as well as identify the vehicles of known criminals and fugitives from justice.
Security around Saudi Arabia was currently at its highest level, the official added, in the wake of the safety campaigns in the capital, al Qassim and the Western region with more random searches taking places on the Kingdomâs roads in the near futures. For its part, the Interior Ministry has established a new project linking private sector facilities to the national information center in order to track the movements of known criminal gangs. Companies accredited by the Ministry have created a computer program, entitled âshomosâ, which provides the information center with the names and addresses of hotels as well as information on residents of rented properties and users of car rental companies. Using this technology, Ministry officials were able to observe previously unobtainable details of the terrorist attack which took place near their offices on 29 December 2004 and monitor militantsâ phone calls. Increased surveillance capabilities assisted security forces in their fight against al Qaedaâs leader in the Kingdom, Saleh al Awfi, in Medina and the confrontation with terrorists in al Masyaf in Riyadh on 18th August 2005, including the death of one of the countryâs most wanted Islamic militants, Majid al Haseri.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Welcome to the 21st Century !
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/08/2005 6:11 Comments ||
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Will the program remember everyone equally, or will the upper ranks of society evaporate somewhere in the system? (Don't bother to answer, I 'm feeling just a tad cynical today>)
BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair dodged questions overnight about what his wife Cherie may or may not have told a group of Indian women journalists about the place of women in Islam. Mrs Blair, accompanying her husband, was quoted in Indian newspapers as telling members of the Indian Women's Press Corps that she was "fascinated" by Islam.
Some participants reportedly told British journalists travelling with Mrs Blair that she also described Islam as an "anachronism" and suggested that Islam treats women badly. Confronted at a pre-departure press conference, the prime minister, clearly wary of another round of attacks on his lawyer spouse in the British press, said: "I wasn't at the lunch. I haven't spoken to Cherie about it." "I've got enough issues on my plate... I think I'll not comment any further," he said.
The little woman got him into trouble again, did she?
Shubha Singh, a columnist who attended the event, said that Mrs Blair did indeed admit a fascination of Islam, and that she felt the religion had "a deep philosophical base".
"But there are some interpretations, especially about women, that I have problems with," Cherie Blair added, according to Mr Singh who was reading from her notes.
Mrs Blair accompanied the prime minister throughout his tour of China and India this week as part of Britain's turn at the rotating EU presidency. But all of the events she attended without her husband were classified as "private" and therefore off limits to the 30 journalists in Mr Blair's entourage - even if local reporters were present.
#1
If she is so fascinated by Islam then she should act like a Muslim woman and shut up. Seriously, she is merely the woman who sleeps (or slept) with Tony Blair and that gives her zero right to meddle in politics and voice her opinion.
#5
Chris Evert the tennis player suspected that her first husband was gay because he used the word "lovely" all the time... Now where does "fascinating" fit, in a scheme like that?
A video tape of Osama Bin Laden was found at the former home of a suspected terrorist, the Old Bailey was told. The recording of the al-Qaeda leader was played at the trial of Andrew Rowe, who denies three charges of having articles for use in terrorism.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The tape was found at his estranged wife's home in Birmingham. Mr Rowe, 34, of Maida Vale, west London, was arrested at the Channel Tunnel in France in 2003 as he was about to return to Britain. His luggage included a pair of socks, rolled into a ball, which had traces of explosives. The prosecution said the socks could have been used to clean a mortar launcher barrel. Mark Ellison, prosecuting, said he was playing the Bin Laden tape in court so the jury could have an insight into Mr Rowe's mind at the time.
Bin Laden, dressed in military fatigues, was shown sitting and speaking into a microphone to call on "the infidel" to leave the holy land. Later, 11 September bomber Sheikh Abu al-Abbas in his "living will" called on other young Muslims to give their lives for jihad.
Mr Rowe had also been given four new British passports in seven years, Mr Ellison said. He added Mr Rowe had visited several places of conflict in that time, including Bosnia. Mr Rowe had gone with his original passport to Bosnia in 1995 as a volunteer where he said he had been injured in a war zone, the court was told.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 00:32 ||
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Convert + Bosnian holiday that led to wounds + multiple passports + likes 82mm mortars + inspirational videos + traveling (not on holiday) = sure trouble. Sounds like he might have ideas about reliving his glory days as a Mujahid in Bosnia. Alot of the jihadi propaganda about Bosnia came out of the UK end of Azzam.com which also gave advice on how to prepare and go there as well as mythical tales of the martyrs of Bosnia (all were devout and their bodies didn't rot after they died) and the obligatory videos, books and audio tapes (In the Hearts of Little Green Birds etc). The since whacked original combat cameraman for the Khattab/Baseyev propaganda machine was a Uk muslim (a convert also as I recall). I wouldn't be suprised to find this guy's face on one of those videos.
#2
Mr Rowe had also been given four new British passports in seven years, Mr Ellison said.
The jihadis like to lose their passports in order to erase the records of where they've travelled.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/08/2005 8:03 Comments ||
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The counterfeit Super Dollar plot traced the $100 bills from NK diplomats in pouches through Moscow to David Levin, to ex-KGB Russian Mafia, to Sean Garland, and the IRA in Dublin. From there it went to lawyer Terence Silcock in Birmingham for further distribution, probably to fund terrorism. Birmingham seems to draw all flavors of extremists. Did Rowe operate an Internet cafe, too? Names aren't the only repetitious pattern emerging.
Britain was set to urge the European Union to do more to fight terrorism after the London bombings, including a rethink of its human rights laws that prevent the deportation of security suspects. In a speech to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Strasbourg, Home Secretary Charles Clarke will also call on the bloc's 25 member states to increase intelligence-sharing on terrorist activity. He will pursue the topic further at a two-day meeting of EU justice and interior ministers which starts Thursday in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, northern England.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government -- which currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union -- has launched a crackdown on Islamic fundamentalism in the wake of the July 7 attacks on London transport that left 56 people dead, including four apparent suicide bombers. But some of the proposed measures, such as deporting so-called preachers of hate even to countries with a reputation for torture, have raised serious concerns from the human rights lobby and civil liberties campaigners. Clarke aims to promote a debate on the content of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which prevents the deportation of a foreign terrorist suspect if it is thought the person will be put at risk of torture.
He is expected to say the convention was established half a century ago in response to different circumstances, The Daily Telegraph reported. It is now necessary "to balance these very important rights for individuals against the collective right for security against those who attack us through terrorist violence," Clarke will tell MEPs. He will add: "An important human right is the right to be protected from torture and ill-treatment. So too is the right to be protected from the death and destruction caused by indiscriminate terrorism, sometimes caused, sometimes instigated, or fomented by nationals from countries outside the EU. have concluded that the balance now is not right and that it needs to be closely examined in the heightened threat that we now face."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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The problem is that not "all have concluded" in the Ministers words. Good luck however I don't hold out much hope.
PRIME Minister John Howard today outlined a raft of tough new counter-terrorism measures to protect Australia, including using tracking devices on suspects.
He said the first initiative would be a new regime to allow the Australian Federal Police to apply to court for a 12-month control order on people who posed a terrorist risk to the community.
"These will be similar to apprehended violence orders, but would allow stricter conditions to be imposed on a person such as travel and association restrictions and tracking devices," he said.
Mr Howard said a special meeting of the Council of Australian Governments would consider changes to state and federal laws to fight terrorism.
He said the Government proposed a new Commonwealth preventative detention regime allowing suspects to be detained for up to 48 hours.
"As is the case in the UK, the focus of preventative detention is primarily about stopping further attacks and the destruction of evidence," he said.
"At the COAG meeting, we will propose to the states that they legislate as they have greater power to do so constitutionally for longer detention periods and we have in mind a period of up to 14 days."
Mr Howard said a new notice-to-produce regime was proposed to facilitate Australian Federal Police (AFP) requests for information to aid terrorism investigations.
Powers would also be sought for greater access to airline passenger information for ASIO and the AFP.
"We propose to strengthen the existing offences for the financing of terrorism, providing false or misleading information under an ASIO questioning warrant."
Mr Howard called his plans "very significant changes which will further strengthen our counter-terrorism laws".
State and territory leaders will meet with Mr Howard on September 27 to discuss the new counter-terrorism tools in the wake of the London bombings.
PARIS â The French government plans to increase jail terms for those convicted of belonging to terrorist organisations under a new anti-terrorism law, the Justice Ministry said yesterday. Under the law, to be presented to the cabinet in October, sentences for ârunning and organising a terrorist organisationâ could rise to 30 from 20 years, a ministry spokesman said.
Following the bombings in London on July 7, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said France planned to reinforce its information-gathering procedures and crack down on militants. His ministry has said the new law would include measures on video surveillance and the storage of telephone data. Someone convicted of being involved in a life-threatening attack as a member of a terrorist group could face 15 or 20 years in prison, up from 10 at the moment, the ministry said. An adviser to Justice Minister Pascal Clement said the measures had not been finalised. Although Paris firmly distanced itself from the US-led war in Iraq, the government believes France could also be a target.
Can't imagine why.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:42 ||
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DAYTONA BEACH (Florida) â A Muslim woman who, for religious reasons, wanted to wear a veil in her driverâs licence photo must follow a Florida law that requires a picture of her full face, a state appeals court ruled.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal upheld a 2003 ruling by an Orlando judge that Sultaana Freemanâs right to free exercise of religion would not be burdened by the photo requirement. âWe recognised the tension created as a result of choosing between following the dictates of oneâs religion and the mandates of secular law,â Appellate Judge Emerson R. Thompson Jr. wrote in Fridayâs opinion. âHowever, as long as the laws are neutral and generally applicable to the citizenry, they must be obeyed.â Freemanâs attorney, Howard Marks, said yesterday he was considering an appeal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:44 ||
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I saw a picture on her on smoking gun and I really think that the courts are not looking after our best interests. (Woof Woof) I seem to remember that the hubby was a wife beater?
#4
no veils dammit, especially if you drive, dingbat
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2005 11:38 Comments ||
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From an earlier RB article:
"Freeman, a former utilities-company engineer and Pentecostal churchgoer from Illinois, converted to Islam in 1997 and began wearing a veil shortly after that."
Pentecostal to Muslim -- quite a leap!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The heroic struggle by airline passengers who thwarted a terror attack on the nation's capital on Sept. 11, 2001, will be commemorated in a 2,000-acre memorial site that includes a chapel with metallic wind chimes.
The "Crescent of Embrace" memorial, created by a team of designers led by Paul Murdoch Architects of Los Angeles, was chosen Wednesday by the Flight 93 Advisory Commission. The aim of the one-year competition was to honor the 40 passengers and crew who died after their plane was hijacked and crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania.
The chapel, featuring 40 chimes symbolizing each of the victims, will stand at the entryway to the vast park. "The idea is, as the wind continues through the site, there will be sounds generated that will act as a living memory to those who died," Murdoch said.
The memorial in Shanksville, Pa., will also include pedestrian trails and a roadway leading to a visitor center and the actual crash site, which will be surrounded by a crescent of maple trees. The victims' names will be inscribed on a white marble wall. The winning design was warmly received by more than 50 friends and relatives of the flight victims. They cheered and gave a standing ovation to the design, which was chosen from five finalists. "It was very important for me for the area to retain its simplicity," said Christine Fraser, 53, of Elizabeth, N.J., whose roommate, Colleen L. Fraser, 51, died in the crash.
Flight 93 was en route to San Francisco from Newark, N.J., when it was hijacked. With the words "Let's roll," passengers rushed down the airliner's narrow aisle to try to overwhelm the hijackers. The Sept. 11 Commission report concluded the hijackers crashed the plane - believed to be headed toward either the White House or the U.S. Capitol - as passengers tried to take control of the cockpit. It was the only one of four hijacked planes that day that did not take a life on the ground.
"The design did a good job of incorporating the landscape," said Calvin Wilson of Herndon, Va., whose brother LeRoy Homer Jr. was a co-pilot on the plane. "It was important for us to not disturb the sanctity of the site. It really harnesses the spirit of our 40 heroes."
A 15-member jury made up of family members, community members and design professionals was tasked with making a final recommendation on the design. Five finalists were selected from 1,011 designs. Murdoch's design still must get the approval of the director of the National Park Service and the secretary of the Interior.
By unveiling the design in Washington, organizers hope to garner more publicity for their campaign to raise $30 million in private money for the project. The fundraising campaign is being co-chaired by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who was the first Homeland Security Secretary, and retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw operations in Afghanistan and Iraq after the terrorist attacks. The state of Pennsylvania has already donated more than $10 million for the memorial. A projected date for the opening has not been set.
Since the crash, more than 130,000 people annually have visited a temporary memorial.
Forty ordinary Americans. Each one a hero. Thank you.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Sounds like they got it right.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/08/2005 13:43 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to turn away a challenge to the military commissions the Bush administration created to put some detainees at Guantanamo Bay on trial for war crimes.
Lawyers for the terrorist named Salim Ahmed Hamdan are seeking Supreme Court review of an appeals court decision. In its brief to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department said the trial of Hamdan, a Yemeni who once was al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's driver, should be allowed to proceed and said he will have ample opportunity later to raise any legal objections. Even if acquitted at trial, he will still be detained as an enemy combatant, the department said.
Hamdan's lawyers object to the possibility that classified documents will be introduced against him at trial and that he would not be given opportunity to spread the information around access to the information. It is entirely possible that no classified material would be presented by the prosecution, the government said in asking the Supreme Court not to hear Hamdan's case.
The Justice Department pointed out that the Pentagon relaxed the rules for tribunals a week ago, enabling classified information to be shared with defendants "to the extent consistent with national security, law enforcement interests and applicable law." The rewritten rule also bars the admission of classified information if it "would result in the denial of a full and fair trial." The rule changes also mean that the makeup of the tribunal hearing Hamdan's case is likely to change, overcoming another of Hamdan's objections, said the Justice Department.
Hamdan was not allowed to be present when his lawyers challenged the impartiality of the U.S. military officers sitting on the commission that was to hear Hamdan's case.
Under the new rules, the presiding officer is more like a judge in a court martial or civilian court and is required to rule on all questions of law; the other members of the commission will function more like a jury and are no longer permitted to participate in deciding most legal questions.
The shift in responsibilities is likely to result in replacing the other members of the commission. They were the ones challenged by Hamdan's lawyers, so the fact that Hamdan was not allowed to be present when their impartiality was called into question is no longer an issue, the department said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A yearlong investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program issued a strong indictment of the United Nations and its top leadership Wednesday, concluding they tolerated corruption and allowed Saddam Hussein's government to pocket $10.2 billion.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the findings ``deeply embarrassing to all of us'' and said he accepted the criticism leveled at him personally. But he said he had no intention of resigning.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Instead, Annan urged world leaders at next week's U.N. summit to use the ``golden goose opportunity'' to adopt U.N. reforms the Independent Inquiry Committee said were imperative for the world body to regain its respect and credibility.
New rules, old bosses. A sure-fire formula for respect.
Presenting the report at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who chaired the committee, said: ``Our assignment has been to look for mis- or mal-administration in the oil-for-food program and for evidence of corruption within the U.N. organization and by contractors. Unhappily we found both.''
``In essence, the responsibility for the failures must be broadly shared, starting, we believe, with member states and the Security Council itself,'' he said.
The powerful 15-member council came in for stinging criticism because its main oil-for-food committee often ignored evidence of corruption, while some council members condoned oil smuggling to Iraq's neighbors.
The report does not say why the corruption was overlooked but notes that Russia was one of the nations that long blocked efforts to probe the claims. Russian companies were heavily involved in oil-for-food and the country was a leading proponent of lifting the U.N. sanctions.
What's two plus two again?
The United States and other members of the council allowed oil shipments to Jordan and Turkey because those two countries were desperate after the Iraq sanctions blocked access to their largest trading partner and interrupted oil supplies.
The report criticized the almost total lack of oversight of the program by the secretary-general and Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who was the direct boss of Benon Sevan, the program's executive director now being investigated for allegedly accepting kickbacks. It issued ``adverse findings'' against all three. ``No one seemed clearly in command,'' Volcker said, and the report gives meticulous accounts of Annan, Frechette and others dodging responsibility.
Nonetheless, an outside review commissioned by the committee concluded that the oil-for-food program ``reversed a serious and deteriorating food crisis,'' thereby preventing hunger and deaths from malnutrition. The program also helped keep Saddam from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, the report said.
First time I've ever heard anyone say that.
The report criticized the way the program was created in 1996 by then-U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Saddam was allowed to choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods, which he used to curry favor by awarding oil contracts to former government officials, activists, journalists and U.N. officials who opposed the sanctions.
Lax oversight allowed Saddam's regime to pocket $1.8 billion in kickbacks in the awarding of contracts during the program's operation from 1997-2003, the committee said. The smuggling of Iraqi oil outside the oil-for-food program in violation of U.N. sanctions poured much more money - $8.4 billion - into Saddam's coffers during the same period, it said. Saddam also violated U.N. sanctions before the oil-for-food program started, illegally selling oil to Jordan, with the acquiescence of the United States and other Security Council members, and pocketing an additional $2.6 billion, the report said.
``This estimate of illicit incomes - $12.8 billion - sets out in quantitative terms the consequences of the United Nations' failure to properly oversee the program and maintain the integrity of the sanctions regime,'' the committee said.
After Volcker addressed the council, the 15 members gave their preliminary reactions. Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie, who was also invited to respond, said the Iraqi people ``for various reasons ... were robbed of a great deal of what was theirs by right.''
And so far, no one who's pocketed any of the money has been asked to return it.
``The lessons will continue to be studied and various actions will be taken, but that loss is permanent,'' he said.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said ``the U.S. may or may not agree with all of the findings,'' but everyone can agree ``there was corruption both inside and outside the U.N. system.'' The most important thing now is to use the oil-for-food shortcomings ``as a catalyst for change,'' he said. ``This report unambiguously rejects the notion that business as usual at the United Nations is acceptable,'' Bolton said. ``We need to reform the U.N. in a manner that will prevent another oil-for-food scandal. The credibility of the United Nations depends on it.''
While the report focused primarily on management, it again addressed the most damaging allegations against Annan and reaffirmed previous findings of insufficient evidence that he knew about an oil-for-food contract awarded to a company which employed his son, Kojo. Neither was there any evidence to demonstration that he interfered in the contract won by the Swiss company, Cotecna. It reiterated that Annan did not sufficiently investigate conflicts of interest involving his son.
"You have to be more careful next time, son!"
"Yes, father dear."
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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i need a job at the UN, doesn't seem you can be fired for a damn thing.
UNITED NATIONS - Iraq paid more than $1 million in cash to bribe former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali but investigators said they had no evidence he ever received the money.
Covered his tracks, did he?
The findings were contained in a 1,000 page report by the UN appointed Independent Inquiry Committee, set up to investigate the defunct $64 billion oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq.
Boutros-Ghali was in office in 1996 when the program was created that allowed Iraq to sell oil in order to buy food, medicine and offset the impact of 1990 UN sanctions. During negotiations to set up the program, âthe back channel discussions evolved into something more: an Iraqi scheme to bribe Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali in order to ensure that he would be flexible,â the report said. But the report said it had no evidence that Boutros Ghali was aware of Iraqâs intentions or received any money.
The money was to have been passed through Iraqi American businessman, Samir Vincent, and Tongsun Park, a South Korean lobbyist. Both are accused by federal prosecutors of attempting to bribe UN officials.
"Legume! Round up the usual suspects!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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paint dries, birds sing, grass green, etc.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/08/2005 2:40 Comments ||
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So it's a tradition, not just something Goofy started?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/08/2005 7:51 Comments ||
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Well, here's an easy way to check. Now that he's retired, is he living in a modest home in a suburb near where he grew up? Or is he living in the south of France in a palatial villa?
#4
Article: Iraq paid more than $1 million in cash to bribe former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali but investigators said they had no evidence he ever received the money.
That's what bags of unmarked $100 bills are for. You stick 'em in an account in some out of the way tax haven, and no one's the wiser.
THE radical cleric convicted over the Bali bombings wants to get out of jail - because he has a sore back.
Lawyers for Abu Bakar Bashir confirmed yesterday they had written to Indonesian Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin asking to take the 67-year-old to hospital. "Nerves in his tail bone are causing (Bashir) to feel pain, especially when he prays. We're afraid it's a pinched nerve and he could suffer palsy if it's not treated," counsel Mohammed Assegaf said.
Put a rod in his spine. Curve the rod properly and he'll always be in position to pray.
The Jemaah Islamiyah spiritual leader was lodging his latest application to escape jail as Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday announced Indonesian had promised to stop automatic jail remissions for convicted terrorists.
Last month Bashir received a 4 1/2 month reduction on his 30-month sentence as part of an amnesty granted on Indonesia's Independence Day. The decision means Bashir could be free by June next year. Treatment of the sore back outside Jakarta's Cipinang prison could mean even more time is slashed from Bashir's sentence for conspiracy over the bombings, which killed 202 people.
Indonesia fears this would spark international concern over the commitment of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to fighting terrorism.
Spark?
Mr Assegaf yesterday said he had written to the justice minister about Bashir's sore back after Indonesia's Supreme Court turned down a release request last month. "The person who suggested outside treatment was the prison doctor and he said it was serious," he said.
Yesterday Mr Costello said Mr Yudhoyono, popularly known as SBY, was sympathetic to Australian outrage over remissions to terrorists. Remissions are automatic for prisoners with good behaviour records and occur every six months under a process introduced in 1999. "I raised the concern of families in Australia about remissions for those convicted of terrorist offences," Mr Costello said after meeting the Indonesian president. "The president reiterated the Government of Indonesia will be reviewing those laws to fix the problem of automatic remissions in relation to very serious crimes."
Mr Costello said he had not raised the issue of Australians facing drug charges in Indonesia with Mr Yudhoyono. But he said Australians should be aware that Indonesia had tough drug laws. "Young Australians ought to know that if you try and run drugs into Indonesia the penalties are severe. Don't try it," he said.
"By the way, don't try it in Australia either.
"The most you can expect if you do try running drugs is a fair trial."
After touring Aceh, Mr Costello said Australia's $1 billion in aid was ensuring the best possible relief efforts were being financed. The rebuilding of the tsunami ravaged province of Aceh had fostered a strong relationship between the two countries, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 01:00 ||
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He'll prolly start crying, again, if they don't grant the request. It's a Lions of Islam⢠thingy.
Stricter controls for pre-paid phone cards will kick in from November as part of increasing moves to tighten the security landscape against possible terror attacks.
Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng made this announcement on Tuesday as he declared September to be Homefront Security Month.
Pre-paid phone cards have become a big concern of security agencies world-wide.
In Singapore, the issue was first brought up in Parliament earlier this year by Mr Wong who is also the Home Affairs Minister.
What worries the authorities, when it comes to terrorism, is the ease and anonymity these pre-paid cards offer.
Mr Wong said: "In the region, we have seen elements of the Jemaah Islamiyah using pre-paid cards extensively to avoid detection and sometimes to rig improvised explosive devices. The Homefront Security Division in MHA has been working closely with the IDA and commercial service providers to work out a practical regulatory regime."
The new controls are expected to kick in two months' time.
But security is not just limited to specific concerns like this.
Opening Singapore's first civil defence headquarters-cum-fire station-cum-neighbourhood police centre, Mr Wong said all of September would be dedicated to homefront security issues.
The activities will involve not just the civil defence but others, like the police and other security partners.
Mr Wong said: "As terrorism analysts have observed, ultimately terrorism is not defeated by Governments but by communities."
And so, the plan is for a month-long series of activities in September from now on - such as emergency preparedness exercises and fire drills.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 00:58 ||
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Iran's top nuclear negotiator sought to soothe international unease over his country's nuclear programme during a visit to Pakistan on Wednesday, days after a U.N. watchdog confirmed Tehran had resumed uranium conversion. Ali Larijani has been seeking support from non-Western nations for Iran's plan to pursue what it says is a programme designed for power generation and not atomic weapons. "Having stated this principle that we are determined to have nuclear technology... We are fully prepared to have any international negotiations, discussions to remove the international concerns," Larijani said after meeting Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a fresh initiative that will "facilitate work to assure the international community of the exclusively peaceful (nature) of our activities," Larijani told reporters, without expanding on what that initiative contained. Larijani, appointed last month by Iran's new president, was due to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, after his talks with Aziz.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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"Having stated this principle that we are determined to have nuclear technology... We are fully prepared to have any international negotiations, discussions to remove the international concerns," Larijani said after meeting Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Translation: We will have nukes, but we will talk with you guys and placate your fears with soothing words.
The Iranians are playing the international community⢠like a fish. It is up to W and Israel, bottom line.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/08/2005 0:09 Comments ||
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President Bashar Assad will not attend next week's UN world summit in New York, a Syrian official said. In a related development, the United States said it had granted a visa to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the General Assembly. Diplomats had said Assad would try to use the meeting to polish Syria's image, which has been tarnished by Lebanese accusations of involvement in the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The visit would have been the first by a Syrian president to New York to take part in a United Nations function. "The Syrian president will not head the Syrian delegation to the summit," an official familiar with Syria's preparations told Reuters. "It has not been decided who will head the delegation, but this does not undermine Syria's keen interest in the subjects on the agenda of the summit." The official did not elaborate.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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"The Syrian president will not head the Syrian delegation to the summit,"
THE United Nations has refused to start printing Iraq's draft constitution, yet again delaying efforts to get millions of copies to voters before a referendum on October 15.
One negotiator from the Sunni Arab minority which has been lobbying for changes to the text adopted by parliament on August 28, said non-Arab Kurdish leaders agreed to an amendment to the draft to strengthen wording on Iraq's nature as an Arab state. Others involved were not available for comment.
"Leave us alone. Go away."
"We haven't been given authority to print it," said Nicholas Haysom, a UN official in Baghdad, adding that he could not say whether the existing draft had been amended. "From our perspective, and we are helping in printing and distribution, we are awaiting a text certified by the National Assembly. We don't expect that to happen before Sunday."
He then returned to his lunch and glass of wine.
Iraqi parliamentary officials had said earlier in the week that printing would start after last-minute efforts to fine-tune wording to appease Sunni leaders had failed.
Mr Haysom could not say whether the difficulty with the text as it stood was that parliament had failed to approve the text properly last week or whether that text had changed.
Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Mutlak said that in talks with Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani, other Sunni leaders had persuaded the non-Arab Kurds to amend the wording of the draft referring to Iraq's Arab nature. It had said Iraq's Arabs were part of the Arab nation. He said it now read "Iraq is a founding and an active member of the Arab League".
But Mr Mutlak said the text still did not meet with approval from the once dominant Sunni minority, which has voiced concerns about devolving power to Kurds and majority Shiites in northern and southern provinces. "We will start a campaign to vote 'No' in the referendum," he said. If two thirds of voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject the constitution it will be vetoed and an election in December will choose a new interim parliament to draft a new text.
Earlier, the Independent Electoral Commission said the date of the referendum had now been fixed for October 15, the latest date possible under the interim constitution. With little over a month for the electorate to digest the charter, Mr Haysom said starting printing was a priority to ensure that voters were fully informed.
Not that it caused him to get off his butt and do anything, you understand.
The next scheduled sitting of the National Assembly is on Sunday.
#6
Put in a clause calling for Iraq to be constitutionally committed to the destruction of the Zionist entity and they'd have those presses fired up in no time.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/08/2005 17:24 Comments ||
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Wasn't it Ion Pacepa who reported that the east-european handlers of Arafish back in the olden days used to record his bodyguards-based homosexual orgies? Or shrugged with disgust when the "rais" sent his security men to bring him back young boys? Or did I see that in a "Queer eye for the straight guy" episode? JERUSALEM â A massive stroke caused by an infection killed longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last year, though it remains unclear what led to the rapid deterioration in his health, according to French medical records kept secret since his death in November. The records were obtained from the military hospital outside Paris where Arafat died by The Associated Press. Yet the report did nothing to clarify the nature of the infection that caused the 75-year-old leader's stroke.
The medical dossier initially was obtained by the New York Times and two Israeli media outlets, which conducted separate reviews of the information, resulting in different explanations for the cause of the stroke and deepening the puzzle. "The mystery around Yasser Arafat will only grow bigger and bigger after reading this report," said Avi Isacharoff, the Israel Radio reporter who obtained the medical records with the Israeli daily Haaretz. He shared the contents of the dossier with AP.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa, an Arafat nephew and one of the few people who had access to the leader and his French doctors, also said the revealed reports shed no new light and the cause of death remains unknown. Arafat fell ill in his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah â where he had been confined by the Israelis for three years â a month before he died. He spent his last two weeks at the Percy Military Training Hospital in Clamart, France.
Arafat's wife, Suha, and Palestinian officials have never given a definitive cause of death and kept Arafat's medical records a closely guarded secret. Mrs. Arafat also rejected calls for an autopsy. The Israeli reporters got the records from an unidentified senior Palestinian official, then shared the information with the Times, which conducted its own review. Israeli and American medical experts were consulted. According to the French report, Arafat suffered a digestive ailment about 30 days before his death. He also had an "acute" case of a blood disorder, disseminated intravascular coagulation, or D.I.C. The report was signed by Bruno Pats, a senior doctor at the hospital.
The Times reported that Arafat's stroke was caused by D.I.C. stemming from an unidentified infection, though it rejected AIDS or poisoning. The newspaper cited an unidentified Israeli infectious-diseases expert as criticizing the French medical team for not testing for AIDS. But the expert said after studying the records, AIDS was unlikely due to the sudden onset of an intestinal illness. The Haaretz report, however, quoted Dr. Gil Lugassi, president of the Israel Hematologists Association, as saying the symptoms described could be typical of AIDS. "What is simply unacceptable and seems very perplexing is the absolute disregard for the possibility of AIDS," Lugassi, one of the doctors to review the records, was quoted as saying. Contacted by AP, Lugassi declined to comment.
Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician, asserted that Arafat had the AIDS virus in his blood. "It was given to him the old fashioned, ass-bandit way to cover up the poison," he told AP. Al-Kurdi, however, did not say where the AIDS virus or poison had come from. He did not join the French doctors and would not say whether he had seen their records.
Israeli officials reject accusations of poisoning from senior Palestinians, and the Times review said poisoning was highly unlikely. It noted that toxicology reports conducted by the French doctors were negative.
See? Iocaine powder! I'd bet my life on it!
The French doctors said Arafat did not suffer the extensive kidney and liver damage they would expect from poisoning, the Times reported. It said that Arafat's condition improved in the hospital and that he was able to walk and talk before slipping into a coma on Nov. 3. Such an improvement would make poisoning unlikely. Al-Kidwa reiterated that Arafat died from massive organ failure following a brain hemorrhage. He told AP that doctors had ruled out cancer and poisoning, and that a Palestinian medical committee was still investigating the 558-page French report. "We are waiting for the results. Any other thing will be just speculation, and we don't think it's wise to speak about speculation," he said.
A senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, suggested Arafat's family ask the French doctors to publicize the records and "put an end to all these allegations and rumors." The biggest unknown was the nature of an infection that appears to have led to the blood disorder D.I.C., which was never controlled and led to his death. The Times medical experts, like the French doctors, could not determine where in Arafat's bowel the infection was located and what microbes caused it. It said one possibility might have been food contamination. Arafat became ill with nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating dinner in his compound last Oct. 12. The symptoms continued for more than two weeks before he was evacuated to France. He died Nov. 11.
#1
A Google search turned up seval discussions. This one - http://rnbob.tripod.com/dic.htm - offered the following tidbits:
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) is always a secondary disease and is a consequence of many other primary problems.
Trauma patients are at increased risk for DIC. Widespread areas of tissue damage (particularly the brain), sepsis and multiple organ failure.
Sepsis may occur in about 40% of trauma patients and is an important primary cause of DIC in all patients.
Fibrin deposition in DIC may lead to further organ dysfunction. DIC is a major cause of acute renal failure and it also contributes to multiple system organ failure. The converse is also true with damaged organs contributing to DIC.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/08/2005 14:55 Comments ||
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Or, from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000573.htm comes these tidbits:
DIC is when your body's blood clotting mechanisms are activated throughout the body instead of being localized to an area of injury. Small blood clots form throughout the body, and eventually the blood clotting factors are used up and not available to form clots at sites of real tissue injury. Clot dissolving mechanisms are also increased.
This disorder has variable effects, and can result in either clotting symptoms or, more often, bleeding. Bleeding can be severe. DIC may be stimulated by many factors. These include infection in the blood by bacteria or fungus, severe tissue injury (as in burns and head injury), cancer, reactions to blood transfusions, and obstetrical complications (such as retained placenta after delivery).
Risk factors are recent sepsis, recent injury or trauma, recent surgery or anesthesia, complications of labor and delivery, leukemia or disseminated cancer, recent blood transfusion reaction, and severe liver disease.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/08/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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AIDS would explain the tremors and dementia that surfaced towards the end.
Intelligence agencies have identified 10 Islamist non-government organisations that are channelling funds to various Islamist extremist outfits and fuelling Islamic militancy in Bangladesh. A report of the intelligence agencies, submitted to the home ministry a week after the August 17 chain-bombing, suggested vigilant monitoring of the activities of these organisations and taking strict action against them.
May I suggest taking them to look for arms caches?
Perhaps the RAB could lead the sweeps. Make sure Dr. Quincy is on call.
I'd recommend banning them all and arresting any of their officers you can lay hands on...
The report was prepared by three intelligence agencies â the National Security Intelligence, the Special Branch of police and the Defence Forces Intelligence â after a six-month investigation of the Islamic NGOs working in Bangladesh. The government ordered the above-mentioned agencies to carry out the investigation after the rise of three Islamic extremist outfits â Al Hikma, Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh in greater Rajshahi division. All the three outfits have been banned.
The investigators found that more than 100 foreigners, from different Middle East and African countries, have been working in the organisations illegally. âThey came to Bangladesh with tourist visas and joined the organisations without getting work permits,â said the report. The report said that no government agencies, not even the Bureau of NGO Affairs, were aware of the illegal foreigners who had been staying in the country for years.
Those would be the traveling islamic "humanitarian aid workers", they always are found in the neighborhood of explosions
âThese persons should be identified and the nature of their activities should be verified,â said a top official of the Special Branch. He added that intelligence agencies had been working hard to trace these foreigners.
Sic the RAB on 'em. They'll know how to handle them â by the numbers.
The government is considering the illegal stay of the foreigners a major crime and may go for stringent action against them due to the recent rise of Islamic militancy and the frequent bomb blasts in the country. âFive such persons who worked in the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society have already been deported from the country and the rest may face the same punishment,â said a home ministry official, adding that some might also be arrested.
Deporting them merely dumps the problem on somebody else. A nice 7,000 year jail term is a lot better. Taking them to the abandoned warehouse at 3 a.m. to recover their secret stash of shutter guns is even better.
The report detected a âdeep-rootedâ relation of some leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote, two major components of the alliance government, and their other affiliated organisations with these Islamist NGOs.
Which is why any serious investigation will be shortstopped...
These organisations, the report says, are very interested to work in Chittagong, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which should be looked into. âThey show interest to work in the region to preach Islam and convert non-Muslims but a thorough investigation is needed to know their real intention,â the report observed. The investigators opined that they needed another six month to carry out a thorough investigation into the countryâs Islamist NGOs and uncover the nature and extent of their activities.
By which time the heat should be off and the whole matter can safely be dropped until the next round of explosions.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/08/2005 10:42 ||
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Al Forkan Foundation
What?! He helped scam Gloria Wise out of all that cash, and now he's tied to Bangladeshi terrorism? That asshat certainly gets...
Oh. Wait.
Never mind.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/08/2005 13:16 Comments ||
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Everyone's a critic theses days. Wasn't Abbas the money man of the Munich terror strike, by the way?
GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics raid, in which 11 Israeli athletes died, said director Steven Spielberg should have consulted him about a new film on the episode to be sure to get the story right.
In an irony worthy of a John le Carre novel, Mohammad Daoud echoed veterans of Israel's Mossad spy service in questioning the sources used for "Munich," a thriller chronicling the massacre and the Israeli revenge assassinations that followed. "I know nothing about this film. If someone really wanted to tell the truth about what happened he should talk to the people involved, people who know the truth," Daoud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location in the Middle East.
"Were I contacted, I would tell the truth," Daoud said.
As planner for Black September, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) splinter group, Daoud sent gunmen to abduct Israeli athletes at the 1972 Games. Two hostages were killed in the raid, another nine during a botched rescue by German police. Daoud blames Israel and West German authorities for the deaths.
"Wudn't me. I just had a gun in my hands."
Reeling from the loss of its countrymen -- particularly on what had been the staging ground for the Nazi Holocaust -- Israel retaliated with shootings, booby-trap bombings and commando operations that killed at least 10 PLO men and drove their comrades into hiding.
Daoud, who survived a 1981 gun attack in Poland which the PLO blamed on the Mossad, said Israel targeted some innocents and he hoped that would also be portrayed in the film. "They carried out vengeance against people who had nothing to do with the Munich attack, people who were merely politically active or had ties with the PLO," he said.
Close also counts in horseshoes ...
"If a film fails to make these points, it will be unjust in terms of truth and history."
Spielberg is best known in Israel for his Holocaust epic "Schindler's List," which ends with a stirring scene of survivors seeking new lives in the nascent Jewish state.
He has vowed that "Munich" will be sensitive to all sides. "Viewing Israel's response to Munich through the eyes of the men who were sent to avenge that tragedy adds a human dimension to a horrific episode that we usually think about only in political or military terms," Spielberg said in a statement.
"We'll be sure to make clear that the dead athletes are still dead."
An Israeli actress cast in the film confirmed press reports that it is based, at least partly, on "Vengeance," a book on the reprisals campaign that has been widely discredited. "I am surprised that a director like him has chosen, out of all the sources, to rely on this particular book," retired Mossad chief Zvi Zamir told Israel's Haaretz daily in July.
The ex-spook's view was supported by ex-guerrilla Daoud. "I read 'Vengeance'. It is full of mistakes," he said.
#1
Daoud blames Israel and West German authorities for the deaths.
Uh huh. And we needed to hear this, why, exactly? Who doesn't know that terrorists are deluded madmen worthy of getting a "short sharp shock to the neck" and a shallow grave?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/08/2005 9:36 Comments ||
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"Just make sure you film me from my good side, ok?"
Medical records of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appear to show that doctors could not determine the underlying cause of his death. The records, obtained by the New York Times newspaper, say that Arafat died from a stroke that stemmed from an unknown condition. But Israeli newspaper Haaretz says the records point to him dying from poisoning, Aids or an infection. Both newspapers say the records, have been withheld by senior Palestinian officials and Mr Arafat's widow until now, show that doctors could not agree on the cause of the 75-year-old's death.
"Excellent work, Smithers"
"Thank you, Minister"
The New York Times says the records show that it was highly unlikely that Mr Arafat died from poisoning or Aids. It reported that the actual infection that led to the stroke that caused late Palestinian leaders death was still a mystery. The Haaretz report cites an Israeli Aids experts as saying that many of Mr Arafat's symptoms were typical of the disease. Another senior Israeli doctor quoted by Haaretz describes the death as "a classic case of food poisoning." Mr Arafat's medical records are set to be published in an Israeli book next week.
"There are three possible causes of death: infection from a germ that poisoned the blood, Aids or poisoning from a dinner at his Ramallah headquarters on October 12, 2004," Avi Isacharov, one of the book's authors, told the AFP news agency. Speculation on the cause of Arafat's death has continued with many Palestinians believing that he was poisoned by Israel.
Yasser Arafat's nephew, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa, has said the late Palestinian leader's medical file does not allay suspicions that he may have died of "unnatural causes". But senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the French doctors should publish their report in full to put an end to the rumours.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/08/2005 08:39 ||
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well known that he bagged boys - he got the bug
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician, asserted that Arafat had the AIDS virus in his blood. "It was given to him to cover up the poison," he told AP.
Using AIDS to cover for the Zionist Death ray? That's pretty slick, Mossad.
Al-Kurdi, however, did not say where the AIDS virus or poison had come from.
Gimme your address, doc. I'll send you some phamplets.
The government fears further countrywide explosions as it has intelligence reports that Islamist militants and outlawed extremists have recently joined hands to carry out bomb attacks on important establishments in a bid to force the government keep hands off them. According to an intelligence agency report, militants of banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Janajuddha, a faction of the Purba Banglar Communist Party, have buried the hatchet. The Islamist group has joined hands with the outlawed outfit in the question of existence as many Janajuddha operatives died in 'crossfire' and the government launched countrywide crackdown in February after banning the JMB.
They've got that down to an art form. I'm wondering if RAB's going to be unleashed against the Islamists, too?
The extremist groups, who cling too hard to opposite ideologies, had decided at a meeting a couple of months ago to cooperate with each other to intimidate the government into leaving them alone and letting them continue their activities, the agency reported.
Ow. My head just spun around 360 degrees. And that bad part is, in Bangla that's a tactic that makes sense...
"Doctor Quincy! There are some guys here who want one of your patients!"
Bangla Bhai was also furious as a number of JMJB men were arrested after he went into hiding last year. After the arrest of Galib and banning of the JMJB and JMB on February 23 and subsequent arrests of the JMB, JMJB and Ahab men, they planned an attack to frighten the government and show off their strength, according to the agency.
"God made rabbits and he made Bengalis. What harm?"
The report however confirmed Janajuddha was not involved in the August 17 explosions and blamed it on the JMB following seizures of leaflets and confession of its activists.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/08/2005 01:06 ||
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...militants of banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Janajuddha, a faction of the Purba Banglar Communist Party, have buried the hatchet.
Commies and Jihadis, like peanut butter and chocolate. Yeah, right. They'll probably be burying that hatchet in each others neck soon enough.
While the government has international support for its military operations in Waziristan, opinion abroad differs over whether these forays against Al Qaeda have been terribly effective. It was South Waziristan to start with and now, in the third year, it is North Waziristan too. From Wana the focus has shifted to Miranshah, despite official declarations of containment of the trouble in the south. Three people were killed and four injured on Monday when a gunman opened fire at officials who tried to confiscate his Kalashnikov in that town.
The unidentified man was accosted because he was defying a ban on carrying weapons in the marketplace. He fled after the incident. More significantly, the sole killer who made his getaway took the life of Miranshahâs political agent, Iftikhar Ahmad, and his assistant, apart from injuring four others. After that, another ban on carrying weapons was imposed on the town. While the mayhem was taking place in Miranshah, bombs exploded at a school in Wana and a clinic in Kaniguram in South Waziristan, proving that all was not well there either.
Another operation has been launched in the territory after these incidents following information that the terrorists were mustering in Shawal valley near the Afghan border. The Peshawar Corps Commander, Safdar Hussain, who had earlier said that he had beefed up security in Waziristan to âprotect Afghanistan during the September 18 elections thereâ has now deployed more troops backed by helicopters to counter the new spate of violence. He has also imposed curfew on Miranshah to facilitate the hunt for the absconding gunman. But all this signifies that earlier claims of having tamed the local sympathisers of Al Qaeda were not so credible after all.
Talking to a TV channel on July 28, 2005, General Safdar Hussain had said that new militants in Waziristan were under the command of Qari Tahir Yuldashev of Uzbekistan. He also said local people used to be in sympathy with the Uzbeks when there was an operation against them in Afghanistan, but now there was no sympathy for them. It is obvious now that the corps commander was being overly optimistic. The Pakistan army has failed to catch ex-Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abdullah Mehsud who kidnapped two Chinese engineers and caused the death of one of them. (General Hussain says, âHe is a nobodyâ.) He may also be overstating the case about another local terrorist Baitullah Mehsud who, he says, has rectified his past behaviour and become a good man.
General Hussain was also more emphatic about âforeign forcesâ interested in fomenting trouble inside Pakistan. Most of us would think he was talking about India but the reference could actually be to the Americans in Afghanistan who have been complaining about laxity on the Pakistani side to take a decisive step in Waziristan. General Hussain denied infiltration into Afghanistan from the Pakistani side, but there is sinister talk in Peshawar that infiltration is actually being orchestrated from the Pakistani side. In addition, despite official denials, there were widespread reports of the Peshawar corps commander or the governor of the NWFP having bribed Baitullah Mehsud and others to buy peace in the area.
Unfortunately the latest tape played on Al Jazeera TV shows the 7/7 London bomber Siddiq Khan possibly somewhere in Pakistan proclaiming jihad in the name of Al Qaeda. He had stayed in Pakistan for three months before returning to London early this year. Where did he go to link up with Al Qaeda? The world is going to focus on North and South Waziristan soon if the Siddiq Khan tape throws up more clues. It is not in Pakistanâs interest to allow the trouble in the Tribal Areas to continue simmering. It is not good internally where the combined opposition says the operation is a lie told to the Pakistani people on behalf of America. And it is not good policy to say that the trouble is fomented by âforeign forcesâ. The trouble must be removed as soon as possible and the operation wound up before it becomes a permanent fixture and is used as a dangerous counter in Pakistanâs national politics.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 00:43 ||
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Islamist militancy requires a complex response because it is a complex phenomenon and whereas military force is sometimes necessary, it cannot serve as the exclusive focus of the response, according to a briefing or analysis prepared by Paul Stares and Mona Yacoubian of the US Institute of Peace. According to the two experts, the phenomenon of Islamist militancy consists of three main constituent groups whose memberships are constantly evolving and overlapping in significant ways. These groups are: first, transnational jihadist organizations with a global agenda, principally Al Qaeda and its affiliates; second, the nationalist insurgent groups with a local agenda like Hamas, Hizballah and some of the Kashmiri groups; and third, the myriad groups and networks that directly and indirectly support these organisations. âDistinctions among these groups are increasingly difficult to discern,â they point out. Stares and Yacoubian write that many commentators have employed disease metaphors to describe the challenge of Islamist militancy. Similarly, madrassas and mosques are described as âincubatorsâ of a âvirulent ideology.â
The two authors argue that Islamist militancy is in many ways a social contagion; its underlying ideas and beliefs possess an âinfectiousâ appeal that continues to attract the terrorists and their many supporters. Still, whereas those infected by disease are typically passive receptors of the pathogen, Islamist militants willingly adopt the ideology and play an active role. Yet, if we accept that their actions are in large part driven by information and ideas to which they have been âexposed,â and which they have found to be attractive and compellingly âinfectious,â then the phenomenon of Islamist militancy can be seen to have epidemic-like qualities. It too, therefore, can be deconstructed using the classic epidemic model.
Carrying the analogy further, the two experts argue that the âagentâ of the epidemic of terrorism is Islamist militant ideology which is made up of two âstrainsâ: a transnational, Salafist/jihadist ideology, as espoused by Al Qaeda; and a nationalist/insurgent Islamist militant ideology, as espoused by groups such as Hizballah, Hamas, and some Kashmiri militant groups. A disproportionate number of transnational jihadists appear to come from a few countries - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and the Muslim European diaspora.
Stares and Yacoubian recommend an intensified effort to resolve the violent conflicts that have a particularly strong resonance within the Muslim world. Besides reducing their direct role in jihadist recruitment and training, conflict resolution efforts will help invalidate militant propaganda and buttress moderate support.
The two scholars write that economic reforms that create an environment that is more appealing to foreign investors will help the Muslim world to integrate more effectively into the broader global economic system and help bridge the gap in relative performance. According to them, âThe combined effect of these containment, protective and remedial measures would divide, isolate and weaken the Islamist militant organisations and marginalise their operational impact. The pool of âsusceptiblesâ would also shrink, while the Muslim world, through various remedial efforts, would become more integrated into the broader global community.
As with any global health campaign, success in countering the challenge of Islamist militancy will depend on a sustained commitment over years by a broad coalition of like-minded states acting in partnership with a multitude of non-governmental actors. There is no quick or easy cure to this complex threat.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 00:41 ||
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Islam is a pathogen. Islamists - jihadis - are the visible symptom of those in the dementia phase. Something like furious rabies with a thin candy shell of what passes for sanity among fellow demented fuckwits.
"There is no quick or easy cure to this complex threat.â
Um, actually, yes there is. It's just not personally palatable, at this time, to most of us.
#4
"...Stares and Yacoubian recommend an intensified effort to resolve the violent conflicts that have a particularly strong resonance within the Muslim world..."
In other words, the Rx is preemptive surrender. Typical of academics in leftist institutes.
#5
My prefered method of treatment is 7.62 suppositories as a prophylactic once an outbreak of the virus is dectected.
There are smart munitions who arch toward the top of a tank (where armor is thin) and impact there. Time to develop a smart munition who arches towards the suppositories dockyard and impacts there.
The Jihad - the holy war against the infidels being waged by al-Qaeda and other Islamic terror formations - will end in 2020 with the defeat of the West, predicts Fuad Hussein in his controversial new book 'Al-Zarqawi - al-Qaeda's second generation'. The book, published one chapter at a time by the London-based Arab newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, details al-Qaeda's global game plan, which was conceived before the 11 September, 2001 terror attacks and is divided into seven operational phases.
The first stage, called the 'the awakening phase', started in 2000 with the preparation of the 11 September's attacks. With the attack on the World Trade Centre, ''the Muslim world woke up and saw the real America''.
Fuad Hussein argues that the turning point towards the second phase was the war on Iraq. During the "eye-opener phase", from 2003 to 2006, Muslims will become aware of the Americans' abuses against their land and belongings. And Al-Qaeda's leadership will experience a generation change in favour of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.
The third phase of ''rebirth and re-positioning" will last, according to al-Qaeda's strategic thinkers, from 2007 to 2010. The period should be characterised by al-Qaeda's reshaping of Iraqi's neighbours, concentrating at the beginning on Syria, Jordan and Palestine.
''This phase takes into account the current attacks led by Americans, Europeans and Jews against Syria" writes the Arab author in his book. "The battle will shift to Syria as al-Qaeda will start a frontal attack on Israel''.
Fuad Hussein indicates the fourth phase, from 2010 to 2013, is aimed at ''preparing the final victory and acquiring the necessary force for change''. According to the Arab writer, al-Qaeda will then concentrate on a war against the Arab leaders.
The fifth phase, from 2013 to 2016, refers to the "annoucement and birth of a state".
The plan also forsees that China and India will become world leaders while the States and the European Union will undergo a severe economic crisis. Great Britain will also exit the European Union ''to saveguard its interests''.
Bin Laden's men, according to the new book, believe that when "European countries will encounter problems they will retrieve their troops and abbandon their interests in the Arab world, leaving the States alone''. Times might then be ripe for an Islamic state and the creation of the Caliphate.
The sixth phase, labelled menacingly as "total war'', should start in 2016 and forsees a traditional battle between what the author labels the front of Faith, ie al Qaeda and its supporters, and the front of the unbelievers.
The last phase is that in which al-Qaeda believes it will secure a final victory. The period won't last long - says the book - and it marks the end of Israel and the growing power of an Islamic State.
Similar analyses of al-Qaeda's plans and strategies for the future have been published in less comprehensive form on extremist Islamic forums without ever being denied by the organisation itself.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 00:36 ||
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"Muslims will become aware of the Americans' abuses against their land and belongings."
#2
Article: The sixth phase, labelled menacingly as "total war'', should start in 2016 and forsees a traditional battle between what the author labels the front of Faith, ie al Qaeda and its supporters, and the front of the unbelievers.
Notice how vague these guys are. They trumpet the rise of China and India as if these were good things for Islam. Actually, they are horrible. Let's say Europe and Uncle Sam stay roughly where they are economically and China and India become dominant. The Muslim lands no longer have to deal only with a strong non-Muslim West - they also have to deal with a strong non-Muslim East. How does this improve their position? There's a huge disconnect here. Note also that Japan's not disappearing. Korea isn't, either. They must be hoping that the hand of Allah just sweeps the non-Muslim chess pieces off the board, because these developments are definitely not in Islam's favor.
#3
The seventh phase, known as the ass kicking, is when Dar al Harb gets tired of these violent fanatics and puts them down like the rabid dogs that they are.
The eighth phase is the burial, and pretty much speaks for itself.
#6
The book, published one chapter at a time by the London-based Arab newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, details al-Qaeda's global game plan, which was conceived before the 11 September, 2001 terror attacks and is divided into seven operational phases.
Scoff. The book is published one chapter at a time so that he write about the present and pretend that he predicted it as future events. Boy, Howdy, that Binny sure was smart....even predicting that Al-Qaeda's leadership will experience a generation change in favour of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. *snicker*
#8
Thanks, .com. They say that brevity is the soul of wit. In my case, I think that my wrists are too sore for verbosity. You really don't want to get me talking.
#12
"2020" - the maxima the Clintons and Lefties give for the USA to accept Socialism and Socialist OWG, after which the Lefties and Commies reserve their unconditional and undeniable right to use force, warfare, violence and destruction ags free America, or remnants thereof;
"2016" - weirdly, mysteriously, and oh so PC close to 2015-2018 where both Russia and China feel they'll be ready to fight any de facto nuclear war ags the USA, and only the USA. US-specific, anti-US CIVIL WAR = LIMITED WAR = GLOBAL-TOTAL-MAD NUKE WAR. Reminds me of one of my fav BUGS BUNNY toon dialogues - ELMER FUDD: "GEE, MR BUNNY, I'M SORRY I HURTED YA WHEN I KILLED YA"!? CLINTONISM > America is a Socialist and Communist country in everything except name, and that "FASCISTS" both are controlled by the Commie majority while existing as autonomous fraction of the anti-Unitarian Unitarian, CPUSA Commie majority, aka the Washington-National Political Establishment: Capitalists, Free Traders,Federalists, Libertarians, Americanists, Sovereigntists, and believers in decentalized or Republican form(s) of Govt, etc. are essens ANTI-SOCIALIST = ANTI-"CONSERVATIVE" REBELS, SEPARATISTS AND TRAITORS!?
And so it is, boyz and girlz, that among other things the Demmies have no problem with America and the GOP warring and invading around the world post 9-11, dev and spreading Amerikan Socialist = USSA power and reach for Empire, the Demmies prob is Free = Socialist, as opposed to Communist Amerika, winning the WOT!? REALITY SHOWS > NO ONE, NOT EVEN THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF HOLLYWOOD, CAN BE TRUSTED FOR ANYTHING, ERGO REGUL AND SUPER-REGUL, BIG GOVT AND BIGGER GOVT, ETC, IS GOOD FOR GRANDMA, APPLE PIE, AND YOUR PET DOG, WHEN AUTHORITARIAN FASCISM JUST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH OR STRONG ENOUGH OR COMPETENT ENOUGH TO PROTECT FREE = SOCIALIST AMERIKA, D *** YOU!? GOOD CLINTONIANS DEMAND THEIR CURRENT NATIONAL "FASCIST" GOVT. TO BE "PERFECT", BUT NOT TO BE COMMIE "TOTALITARIAN" OR "ABSOLUTIST".
CAIRO - The polling station was waiting for voters, but 150 meters (492 feet) up the road, Walid Ali couldnât be bothered to cast his ballot. He was playing dominoes at a pavement table outside a coffee shop. âIâm not sure itâs fair,â Ali said of Egyptâs first-ever presidential election, âand (President Hosni) Mubarak has already won it.â
The belief that the results of Wednesdayâs election were fixed appeared widespread as a reporter for The Associated Press walked Cairoâs streets randomly interviewing people. Egyptians are long leery of their political system, which has been widely criticized as corrupt and out-of-reach to ordinary people. Few doubt Mubarak could lose, considering he has run Egypt for 24 years. âIâve longed for an election like this,â Ali Gamel Eldin, a young computer programmer, said of Wednesdayâs polls, the first in which Egyptians have a choice of presidential candidate. âBut in this election the results are already known.â
Well duh.
Others said they wanted to vote but didnât because they had not received the mandatory voter registration card to lodge their ballots. Yasser Noaman, a laboratory technician, said he even called a telephone number published in Egyptian newspapers to get his card, but there was no answer.
And there were those who didnât want to vote but did only to escape paying a fine of 100 Egyptian pounds (US$17.30) for not doing so. In the narrow dirt streets of western Cairoâs low-income neighborhood of Imbaba, driver Ibrahim Said said he was intimidated by the fine and dismissed his ballot as âmaking no difference.â
Khaled Mohammed, a student visiting Cairo from Banha, 70 kilometers (43 miles) to the north, was scornful of the prospect of being penalized. âI donât think they will apply this because lots of people didnât vote,â he said. He said he boycotted the poll because âIâm 100 percent sure that President Mubarak will win.â
I think we can get you a job in the 11th ward in Chicago.
Garment worker Khaled Ibrahim, who was finishing a takeaway meal by the side of the Nile with his girlfriend, cracked a joke when asked why he had not voted. âIf I were to vote, I would choose Mubarak because he has eaten his fill, but if a new person became president he would steal a lot because he would not have money,â said Ibrahim.
Similarly, Tarek Ismail, a butchery worker standing at a bus stop in Cairoâs crowded quarter of Sayeda Zeinab, said, âIf Hosni (Mubarak) were not a candidate, I would have gone to vote.â
Aza Mohammed Baha, a mother of three, said she boycotted in protest against the whole system and a common view than none of the 10 candidates, including Mubarak, were viable. âWe didnât vote because we have no faith in the election,â she said. âThe high prices, and everything that we cannot afford, has made us lose faith in the polls and all the candidates.â
Many boycotters said they were scared of getting into trouble if they explained why they had not voted. One changed her reason for not voting after being asked her name. âAre you going to get us imprisoned?â said another nonvoter.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/08/2005 00:02 ||
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"Few doubt Mubarak could lose, considering he has run Egypt for 24 years."
A source at the Syrian Foreign Minister revealed Farouq al Sharaa met Farouq al Qaddumi, head of the PLO Political Bureau earlier this week and discussed the latest developments in the region in light of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. During their meeting, the Syrian minister is said to have emphasized the need to strengthen national unity to ensure the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate right of return and establish an independent state. Both leaders had also agreed that Israel had decided to withdraw from Gaza after a 37 year occupation because of the intifada (popular uprising) and underlined the need for continued dialogue between all factions to safeguard national unity.
For his part, al Qaddumi briefed the Syrian minister on the PLOâs view of the latest developments in the Occupied Territories and indicated the withdrawal from Gaza was the result of the Palestinian peopleâs sacrifices and not an Israeli commitment to peace. Speaking after the meeting, al Qaddumi said, âWe discussed issues of common interest, beginning with the Israeli withdrawal and the future of the Gaza Strip, as well as the Palestinian reaction to the new reality. Israel should not leave any trace of its occupation in Gaza . We will not agree to any sort of Israeli presence in the area; this out land and we intend to resist any attempts by Israeli to control us from the sea or the air. Israel âs refusal to negotiate with the Palestinians about the future of Gaza means it does not recognize the Palestinian side as a partner in this process. We therefore will treat it the same way. Recognition needs to be mutual. We will not accept what has been said in the past because the Sharon government did not follow the peace track to peace. It destroyed the political settlement and was only forced to leave Palestinian land against its will. For the first time in our history, territory has been liberated by the Palestinian rifle.â
On reports that Syria and Lebanon had agreed the Palestinians open embassies in Damascus and Beirut, al Qaddumi said, âThe PLO already has an office in Damascus . Without going into specifics, our office carried out the necessary measures and has excellent relations with the Syrian government. Since Syria has no embassy in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority will not establish an embassy in Syria until all of Palestine is liberated.â
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Egyptian voters had a choice for president for the first time Wednesday in an election the United States hopes is a key step towards democracy across the Middle East. But the ballot was marred by charges of fraud and the near-certainty that President Hosni Mubarak will win another six years in office. Ordinary citizens, opposition party members and human rights monitors told the Associated Press that election workers inside polls in Luxor and other towns instructed voters to choose Mubarak. In Cairo and Alexandria, supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party promised food or money to poor people if they voted for the president, voters said.
The leading opposition candidate, Ayman Nour, charged the elections "are not fair at all," and vowed to reject rigged results. But Osama Attawiya, spokesman for the country's election commission, said the group had received no major complaints or reports of problems. A top official in the other major opposition party, Sayed Badawy of the Wafd, said that while fraud and intimidation were apparent: "This is the first time for a president to reach out to the citizens and ask for their support. This is a positive thing." He and several independent monitoring groups said they expected turnout to be low, despite government predictions of high turnout. The number of voters might indicate whether recent calls for reform have shaken ordinary Egyptians out of an apathy generated by years of stagnation.
In Washington, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the US was following the election closely and called the vote "a beginning." "These elections really mark a historic departure for Egypt, in the fact that you have multi-candidate presidential elections. I think it's safe to say that Egyptians have not seen a presidential election like the one they have just seen in their lifetimes," he told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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GCC foreign ministers yesterday urged Israel to withdraw completely from all occupied Arab territories. They also voiced their commitment to the Arab peace plan proposed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The ministers, who met here on Tuesday, emphasized the need for making the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. The international community must force Israel to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and open its nuclear facilities to UN inspectors, they added. The ministers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, said they wanted to improve relations with Iran and called for a peaceful settlement to Tehranâs long-standing territorial dispute with Abu Dhabi.
The ministers âhope the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip will be followed by other initiatives for a complete withdrawal from all the occupied Palestinian territories so that the Palestinian people can establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital,â the Saudi Press Agency said, quoting a GCC statement. âThe establishment of a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East can only come about through the creation of an independent Palestinian state,â the statement said, reiterating GCC support for the Arab peace plan. The GCC chief diplomats called on the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to revitalize the latest peace road map which was unveiled in 2003 but has made virtually no progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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"If the Jooos would simply go ahead and take the initiative, yet again, to march into the sea and drown, there would be "peace". All this procrastination upsets the UN, the International Community, and their peace and stability-loving Arab neighbors. Why, it's so humiliating for us that they're still breathing that none of us has had a normal bowel movement since 1948. We understand that many non-Arabs, particularly in Olde Europe and PakiWakiLand, have sympathy constipation. But, Allan be praised, we all have the Sphincter of Allan. So you can expect more statements from Jooo-haters like us in the future, insh'allah... as long as we're on solid foods, anyway."
- Kingy Thingy Abdullah commenting on an unpublished unanimous GCC Resolution
Algeriaâs Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has said some 1,000 armed Muslim fundamentalists are still at large in the country, long wracked by an insurgency, ahead of a referendum later this month on a national peace plan. During talks Tuesday with managing editors of Algerian newspapers, Ouyahia answered a question regarding âthe number of terroristsâ in arms by saying there were âabout 1,000,â the daily LâExpression reported yesterday.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Aug. 14 announced a referendum to be held Sept. 29 in the troubled North African country on a âproposed charter for peace and reconciliationâ aimed at âbringing an end to the bloodshed.â Under this charter, authorities would end legal proceedings against extremists âwho have already halted their armed activity and surrendered to the authorities,â Bouteflika said. Ouyahia told newspaper chiefs that he was expecting â200, 300 or moreâ guerrilla fighters to turn themselves in under the plan. âThe most important thing is to bring down their numbers. We donât have any illusions, they wonât all come out of the maquis,â he said, according to the report on the meeting.
The maquis consists usually of arid highlands or scrubland across northern Algeria, where fundamentalist groups bent on establishing an Islamist state and overthrowing the secular regime have hidden out in ever dwindling numbers since launching a bloody campaign characterized by bombings and massacres in the early 1990s. The project to go to a referendum would not be the first of its kind and Bouteflika stressed that any end to legal action excluded âthose involved in mass massacres, rapes and bomb attacks in public places.â For the past two years, Algerian defense and security officials have repeatedly asserted that remaining armed extremist groups have all but been wiped out, either by troops or by internal feuds and fighting, while thousands turned themselves in under a 1999 amnesty. At its height, the low-level war that erupted in 1992 is officially estimated to have claimed 150,000 lives, left thousands wounded, hundreds of civilians vanished and unaccounted for and done more than $20 billion worth of damage to infrastructure and property.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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1,000 sounds about right - it tracks with GSPC losses and debunks the smaller 200-400 figures that have been thrown around elsewhere.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/08/2005 0:30 Comments ||
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Islamist group Hizbut-Tahrir said yesterday that the Jordanian authorities had detained eight of its members in recent days, and launched a virulent attack on the regime. Two were arrested on Friday after they tried to organize a demonstration in a Palestinian refugee camp, and another six have been detained since, it said in a statement, without giving a reason for the arrest. It attacked the Jordanian regime over the detentions, reminding it of âwhat happens to partisans of fallen regimes ... (they are) trampled on by people in the street and humiliated.â
Meanwhile, three out of four Jordanians fear that criticism of the government would have security repercussions despite the fact that a majority for the first time describe their country as a democracy, an annual survey said yesterday. A total of 77 percent of those polled said âthey could not criticize the government publicly and differ in opinion with it without themselves or their families being subject to security repercussions.â Last yearâs survey by the Center of Strategic Studies of the University of Jordan showed that 80.6 percent feared criticism of the government would trigger repercussions. Likewise, 51 percent of the 1,385 Jordanians polled by the CSS said âJordan is a democracy,â compared to 49 percent last year, while 10.4 percent described it as âauthoritarianâ compared to 12 percent in 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Afghanistan is having politix! That's good, right?
The head of Afghanistanâs opposition yesterday said President Hamid Karzai was a weak leader and a new Parliament, to be elected on Sept. 18, would have to improve government policy across the board. Yunus Qanuni a former interior minister and education minister in Karzaiâs transitional government and runner-up to Karzai in last yearâs presidential election, said he and his allies expected to win up to 50 percent of Parliament seats. âAfghanistan faces a leadership crisis, the main crisis is the weakness of the leadership,â Qanuni told Reuters in an interview at his home in the northern outskirts of Kabul. âThe governmentâs economic policies are unsuccessful, its policy against terrorism has collapsed, its policy against drugs has collapsed, corruption is rising daily and international aid has not been used effectively and transparently.â
âThese are the priorities which parliament should debate and help the government move toward improvements.â Afghans will vote for a lower house of Parliament and provincial councils to complete the last step in an international plan to restore democratic government after 25 years of conflict with security worries mounting on a surge of Taleban violence. Qanuni, an ethnic Tajik from the Panjshir Valley, the heart of opposition to Soviet occupation and Taleban rule, said the government had no strategy to end the insurgency. âThe problem of the Taleban is not because of the Talebanâs power and strength, it is because of the weakness of the government,â he said. âIf we had a powerful government and a strong leadership, the issue of Taleban and terrorism would have been solved,â he said.
Despite his criticism, he said he did not want to see hostility between the legislature and the government. âWeâre hopeful that at the beginning there wonâtbe hostility... Our vision of a future parliament is a moderate one. We hope to have a real national parliament, through transparent elections, which is neither an enemy of the government nor its tool,â he said. But in a sign of possible trouble ahead, Qanuni said the new Parliament may not approve all of Karzaiâs Cabinet, which will be one of its first tasks. âThe current Cabinet of Afghanistan has no tangible achievements... Iâm not so hopeful that all members can be approved,â he said without elaborating.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Given that this guy is a Tajik I fear the Pashtoons will close rank against him. But if that does not happen he will take no gloves with the Taleban who were as much a Pashtonn supremacist movement (but strangely silent on subjects such as the territories stolen from Afghanistan by their Pakistani sponsors) as an Islamist one.
#3
I also saw that guy in Easy Rider. He was riding a chopped Harley (for awhile anyway). Isn't he Jane (traitor, vegetable-oil-powered peace train groupie) Fonda's brother?
India and the 25-nation European Union (EU) yesterday launched an action plan to deepen their strategic partnership and jointly combat terrorism. âWe have had a good and extremely productive discussion at the 6th India-EU summit today. The most important outcome has been the adoption of a joint action plan which provides the necessary framework for our fast evolving multi-faceted relations,â Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a press conference attended also by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Hyderabad House here.
Manmohan and visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, unveiled the action plan to strengthen trade and security ties between Europe and the emerging economic power. âI have no doubt this does mark a change, a significant change and turning point in relations between the EU and India,â Blair told a joint news conference. âIt sets a framework for further action and discussion across a whole range of issues from trade and security through to education and science and technology,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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A senior Indian Muslim leader has warned that if the community does not remain united, its bargaining power will be eroded. âThe worst example of Muslim disunity is reflected in the countryâs Muslim Personal Law Board, a highly respected body. Itâs now opposed by some so-called Muslim leaders,â Abu Asim Azmi, Rajya Sabha (parliamentâs upper house) member and Samajwadi Party leader said. âIndian Muslims do not have bargaining power and thatâs why they donât get what they desire,â Azmi said. He stressed that his partyâs rule in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has restored confidence among the community.
âPolice is no more raiding madrasas and no one now alleges that Madrasas are a breeding ground for ISI agents,â Azmi said. In the post-Babri Masjid demolition scenario, Muslims are âfrustrated and directionless,â he said, adding that the Muslim educated class is also creating confusion among the community. âMajority of them are not aware of ground reality. They may have science (academic) degrees but they donât have knowledge of social and political problems. This is causing social and political imbalances,â he said and emphasized that the knowledge of history is a âmustâ for every Muslim student.
About the Babri Masjid issue, he said the historical mosque should be rebuilt. âIf justice is still alive, the mosque should be built at once and the government should apologize to the Muslim community for its demolition. This alone will wash away the blood stains on the face of secular democratic India.â
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09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel is planning to open interest sections at the Turkish embassy in a number of Islamic countries, well-placed Turkish sources revealed Wednesday, September 7. The sources told Turkish NTV network that Israel finds it hard to open embassies in any Islamic country like Pakistan , but believes that the best way to reach out to it is through setting up an interest office based at the Turkish embassy. They maintained that Tel Aviv was very much interested in Turkey 's Middle East mediation efforts like last week's meeting between the Pakistani and Israeli foreign ministers in Istanbul .
Last Thursday, September 1, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met in Istanbul with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri, the first official high-level contact between both countries. The sources said both ministers agreed during their Istanbul meeting that the Israeli office, if it opened, would be based at the Turkish embassy and would work on cementing cultural and trade ties.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called for eradication of feudalism and tribalism to control violence against women in the country. âWe have to eliminate tribalism and feudalism through education and enlightenment,â he said, declaring them root causes of violence against women. The president, who himself enjoys the support of tribal and feudal lords of the ruling coalition, was speaking at the Regional Conference on Violence Against Women.
He also lashed out at individuals and non-government organisations which âdemonisedâ Pakistan internationally on the same issue, explaining that violence against women was a universal menace. He said the government would make laws to curb crimes against women, but a moral commitment from law enforcement agencies and the judiciary was required to implement the laws. âHow one could expect justice from law enforcers of a feudal mindset in violence cases,â he said. âThis is the fight to change hearts and minds of the people. To emancipate and enlighten them.â
The president expressed his disappointment with individuals and organisations who usually tried to project Pakistan as a country where violence against women was commonplace. âMay God give them wisdom,â he went on to say. He said he would support NGOs highlighting women-related violence in Pakistan. âBut if they raise the issue only to malign Pakistanâs image, then I will oppose them with all my power and will,â he declared.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Ladies and gentlemen, a big Motor City welcome back for...Parliment Funkadelic! Let's hear it for them!
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has decided that its president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, and its general secretary, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, will meet its local leadership to end differences within the party. The differences surfaced between Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), two major component of the six- party religious alliance, during the local council elections when they both competed against each other in many constituencies.
The agenda of a recent meeting of the party focused on the issue of promoting harmony within the party, sources told Daily Times. They said it was decided that Qazi and Fazlur Rehman would visit all those districts where both parties had contested the elections, and meet the local leaders there. They said the step would be the second one in a strategy to resolve the partyâs internal differences as the central leadership of the MMA had already imposed a ban on local and provincial leaders of the MMA from issuing statements against any member of any party of the alliance. âThese visits will start by the third week of this month and it is likely that both the leaders will address public rallies during their visit,â sources said. They said the party had adopted a policy to resolve the disputes at a local level with the help of central leaders.
"Up, up and awa-a-ay, in our beautiful, our beautiful ballooooon..."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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Violence against women is a global problem and global efforts are needed to tackle it, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday. âViolence against women is a reprehensible act that needs to be banished globally. We are working towards zero tolerance for violence against women,â Aziz said in a speech at a dinner for delegates in Islamabad for a regional conference on violence against women. He said violence against women was not particular to any faith, region or people and called for global efforts to fight the menace. Violence against women was present in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. âNo society, developed or developing, can claim to be free of such violence; the only variation is the patterns and trends that exist in countries and regions,â he added.
The prime minister said Islam believed in the equality of man and woman. The first person to have accepted the message of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was his wife Hazrat Khadeeja, he recalled. âViolence is a product of negative, social, social, cultural and traditional practices that perpetuate patriarchal attitudes at different levels of society and restrict female empowerment,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2005 00:00 ||
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"The prime minister said Islam believed in the equality of man and woman."
No it doesn't.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
09/08/2005 11:34 Comments ||
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So don't blame us, okay?
Posted by: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ||
09/08/2005 11:35 Comments ||
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#3
"The first person to have accepted the message of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was his wife Hazrat Khadeeja, "
She was the first one threatened with death if she didn't convert.
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.
In the latest step in the fight against crime, Saudi Arabia has installed surveillance cameras on its roads. The new technology registers every carâs registration plate and compiles them unto a national database. Those found to belong to wanted criminals are automatically forwarded to the relevant security departments who will take the appropriate measures. This new measure also traces traffic violations such as speeding and not following traffic lights. General Fahd al Basher, head of the Kingdomâs traffic authority told Asharq al Awsat the use of surveillance cameras to regulate the flow of traffic was made possible by a public bid for a number of companies specialized in surveillance technology. He said the cameras would mask road offenders as well as identify the vehicles of known criminals and fugitives from justice. 
BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair dodged questions overnight about what his wife Cherie may or may not have told a group of Indian women journalists about the place of women in Islam. Mrs Blair, accompanying her husband, was quoted in Indian newspapers as telling members of the Indian Women's Press Corps that she was "fascinated" by Islam.
A video tape of Osama Bin Laden was found at the former home of a suspected terrorist, the Old Bailey was told. The recording of the al-Qaeda leader was played at the trial of 
Britain was set to urge the European Union to do more to fight terrorism after the London bombings, including a rethink of its human rights laws that prevent the deportation of security suspects. In a speech to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Strasbourg, Home Secretary Charles Clarke will also call on the bloc's 25 member states to increase intelligence-sharing on terrorist activity. He will pursue the topic further at a two-day meeting of EU justice and interior ministers which starts Thursday in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, northern England.
PARIS â The French government plans to increase jail terms for those convicted of belonging to terrorist organisations under a new anti-terrorism law, the Justice Ministry said yesterday. Under the law, to be presented to the cabinet in October, sentences for ârunning and organising a terrorist organisationâ could rise to 30 from 20 years, a ministry spokesman said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The heroic struggle by airline passengers who thwarted a terror attack on the nation's capital on Sept. 11, 2001, will be commemorated in a 2,000-acre memorial site that includes a chapel with metallic wind chimes.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to turn away a challenge to the military commissions the Bush administration created to put some detainees at Guantanamo Bay on trial for war crimes.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A yearlong investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program issued a strong indictment of the United Nations and its top leadership Wednesday, concluding they tolerated corruption and allowed Saddam Hussein's government to pocket $10.2 billion.
UNITED NATIONS - Iraq paid more than $1 million in cash to bribe former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali but investigators said they had no evidence he ever received the money.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator sought to soothe international unease over his country's nuclear programme during a visit to Pakistan on Wednesday, days after a U.N. watchdog confirmed Tehran had resumed uranium conversion. 
President Bashar Assad will not attend next week's UN world summit in New York, a Syrian official said. In a related development, the United States said it had granted a visa to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the General Assembly. Diplomats had said Assad would try to use the meeting to polish Syria's image, which has been tarnished by Lebanese accusations of involvement in the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. 
JERUSALEM â A massive stroke caused by an infection killed longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last year, though it remains unclear what led to the rapid deterioration in his health, according to French medical records kept secret since his death in November. The records were obtained from the military hospital outside Paris where Arafat died by The Associated Press. Yet the report did nothing to clarify the nature of the infection that caused the 75-year-old leader's stroke. 
Intelligence agencies have identified 10 Islamist non-government organisations that are channelling funds to various Islamist extremist outfits and fuelling Islamic militancy in Bangladesh. A report of the intelligence agencies, submitted to the home ministry a week after the August 17 chain-bombing, suggested vigilant monitoring of the activities of these organisations and taking strict action against them. 
According to an intelligence agency report, militants of banned 
Egyptian voters had a choice for president for the first time Wednesday in an election the United States hopes is a key step towards democracy across the Middle East. But the ballot was marred by charges of fraud and the near-certainty that President Hosni Mubarak will win another six years in office. Ordinary citizens, opposition party members and human rights monitors told the Associated Press that election workers inside polls in Luxor and other towns instructed voters to choose Mubarak. In Cairo and Alexandria, supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party promised food or money to poor people if they voted for the president, voters said. 
India and the 25-nation European Union (EU) yesterday launched an action plan to deepen their strategic partnership and jointly combat terrorism. âWe have had a good and extremely productive discussion at the 6th India-EU summit today. The most important outcome has been the adoption of a joint action plan which provides the necessary framework for our fast evolving multi-faceted relations,â Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a press conference attended also by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Hyderabad House here.
A senior Indian Muslim leader has warned that if the community does not remain united, its bargaining power will be eroded. âThe worst example of Muslim disunity is reflected in the countryâs Muslim Personal Law Board, a highly respected body. Itâs now opposed by some so-called Muslim leaders,â Abu Asim Azmi, Rajya Sabha (parliamentâs upper house) member and Samajwadi Party leader said. âIndian Muslims do not have bargaining power and thatâs why they donât get what they desire,â Azmi said. He stressed that his partyâs rule in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has restored confidence among the community.
President General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called for eradication of feudalism and tribalism to control violence against women in the country. âWe have to eliminate tribalism and feudalism through education and enlightenment,â he said, declaring them root causes of violence against women. The president, who himself enjoys the support of tribal and feudal lords of the ruling coalition, was speaking at the Regional Conference on Violence Against Women.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has decided that its president, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, and its general secretary, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, will meet its local leadership to end differences within the party. The differences surfaced between Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), two major component of the six- party religious alliance, during the local council elections when they both competed against each other in many constituencies. 
Violence against women is a global problem and global efforts are needed to tackle it, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday. âViolence against women is a reprehensible act that needs to be banished globally. We are working towards zero tolerance for violence against women,â Aziz said in a speech at a dinner for delegates in Islamabad for a regional conference on violence against women. He said violence against women was not particular to any faith, region or people and called for global efforts to fight the menace. Violence against women was present in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. âNo society, developed or developing, can claim to be free of such violence; the only variation is the patterns and trends that exist in countries and regions,â he added. 
