"Fringe fanatics" are behind the upsurge in violence in Iraq said UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Mr Blair defended his Iraq policy in the wake of the recent attacks on British troops. The way to stop innocent people dying was not to pull out troops but to stand up for democracy in Iraq, he told delegates in Brighton. He also said Britain should stick with America in the face of terrorism.
Attacks on British troops who freed two SAS soldiers arrested by Iraqi forces last week have fuelled calls for a time-tabled exit strategy. But Mr Blair told Labour delegates the struggle against global terrorism was at its fiercest in Iraq. He urged people to remember the 8.5 million people who turned out to vote in Iraq in January.
"The way to stop the innocent dying is not to retreat, to withdraw, to hand these people over to the mercy of religious fanatics or relics of Saddam but to stand up for their right to decide their government in the same democratic way the British people do," he said. Mr Blair said Muslims abhorred violence and "fringe fanatics" were using Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine to justify their campaign.
"Strip away their fake claims of grievance and see them for what they are: terrorists who use 21st century technology to fight a pre-medieval religious war that is utterly alien to the future of mankind," he said.
Mr Blair said the UK could have "hidden away" after 11 September and let other nations take the strain - but that was not the way of Britain or Labour. Britain should remain America's "strongest ally", he argued.
"I know there's a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off," he said. "But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there's the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause. "I never doubted after September 11 that our place was alongside America and I don't doubt it now. "And for the very simple reason terrorism struck most dramatically in New York but it was aimed then, and is aimed now, at us all, at our way of life." Bravo
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 14:21 ||
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Had to read it; I thought he was talking about his wife for a minute...
Cuban Defense Secretary Raul Castro discussed challenges facing Cuba and North Korea, two of only five remaining communist states in the world, in a meeting with the vice president of North Korea's parliament, state-run media reported Tuesday. Castro, who is the younger brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro, and other top officials received Yang Hyong Sop and his delegation on Monday, the Communist Party daily Granma said in an article on its front page.
They talked about shared experiences "in the construction of socialism" as well as "the fight to preserve ... national independence in the face of constant imperialist aggressions," Granma said. The world's other communist countries are China, Laos and Vietnam.
The newspaper also reported that the delegation told Raul Castro that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is interested in further strengthening ties, particularly commercial ones, between the two countries. The North Korean official, who made his first visit to the island in 1968, has met with several Cuban officials and visited biotechnology centers on this trip. His visit coincides with the 45th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the two countries.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 14:02 ||
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Time for a No Dong missile crisis?
Posted by: SLO Jim ||
09/27/2005 14:48 Comments ||
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Biotechnology centers in Cuba? Sharing NK expertise in "highly refining" substances like their methamphetamines intercepted off the coast of Australia?
#4
Danielle, were you thinking of the Pong Su case in April, 03? That was heroin, 125 kilogroms of it. But you are right, NK does make amphetamines in a big way too.
Any pipeline between NK and Cuba will bear close watching, thats for sure.
The U.S. is contemplating working out new guidelines for the use of nuclear weapons, rejecting the existing ones. So, it intends to go unchallenged in the field of strategic nuclear armed forces in a bid to beat its rivals and mercilessly destroy those countries challenging its bid to establish its order of world domination. Minju Joson Sunday observes this in a signed commentary.
What happened to Rodong Sinmun? Are they sick?
The U.S. new doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons is of increasingly belligerent and offensive nature, the commentary says, and goes on: The U.S. nuclear hysteria based on the nuke-all powerful conception has reached its height and gone far beyond the tolerance limit. Its modification of the above-said doctrine would be inevitably followed by other powers' reexamination of the regime for the use of nuclear weapons to keep the strategic balance. Then it would be as clear as noonday that this would spark off a nuclear arms race.
This proves that the U.S. is chiefly to blame for posing the threat of nukes to the world and proliferating them. It is beyond doubt that such U.S. high-handed and arbitrary practices as wielding its nuclear stick will become more undisguised than ever before. Such reality eloquently shows what just and wise Songun politics the Workers' Party of Korea has pursued to increase its deterrent for self-defence in every way in order to cope with the daily growing U.S. nuclear threat.
The army and people of the DPRK are proud of having built such self-defensive deterrent strong enough to protect the national dignity and security from the U.S. nuclear threat. The U.S. nuclear stick will not work on the DPRK that has extraordinarily strong spirit of independence and has sufficient self-defensive means in place. If the U.S. recklessly forces a nuclear war on the DPRK, its army and people will exercise their legitimate right to self-defence as a powerful means of retaliation. Nuclear weapons are no longer the monopoly of the U.S. and gone are the days when it considered nukes all-powerful. The U.S. would be well advised to cool its head overheated with nuclear hysteria and face up to the reality.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Once again the Norkies affirm they have nukes by proclaiming that they haven't any. They can criticize the USA because they know they're slaves to China and that China de facto controls their "sovereign" national army. Where Iran is concerned, Americans, Rummy, and the USDOD should just presume that Iran has nuke devices already - the Commies will NOT allow any Muslim state to possess nukes unless they the Commies control 'em.
#2
If the U.S. recklessly forces a nuclear war on the DPRK, its army and people will exercise their legitimate right to self-defence as a powerful means of retaliation.
A PROMINENT Islamic community figure has denounced Australia's new counter-terrorism laws, saying sunset clauses could mean the nation becoming "a fascist state" until 2016.
Have the Blackshirts been sighted yet?
His comment followed the agreement announced today by Prime Minister John Howard and state and territory leaders to implement a range of new security laws, with a sunset clause promising they will be reviewed after five years and expire in 10 years.
They're going to be a fascist state for ten years and then stop? The 10-year Reich?
Law enforcement agencies will be able to detain terror suspects for up to 14 days without charge, use tracking devices to monitor their movements, and seek penalties for people who "incite" terrorism. Keysar Trad, of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said the new laws were a severe erosion of individual freedoms and would create fear and division in society.
Perhaps among those who "incite" terrorism. My guess is that everybody else will continue going to work every day, drinking beer, and generally acting like Australians.
"The sunset clauses mean the laws will remain in effect for 10 years, and the review is more likely to increase them rather than moderate them," he said. "These laws will be unfair and could lead to the creation of a fascist state."
To whom will they be unfair? Other than to the guys who "incite" terrorism?
Mr Trad said Australians should be worried at the possibility they could be detained for questioning for up to 14 days, on the basis of nothing more than "intelligence".
The problem with "intelligence" isn't so much that it's not admissible into court, but that admitting it can compromise sources and methods. That doesn't mean that it's inaccurate. Obviously there have to be review mechanisms.
"It's very frightening to think of the future," he said. "People can be arbitrarily taken in (and detained)".
Based on "intelligence." But that makes it not arbitrary.
He said the counter-terrorism measures were also aimed at silencing criticism of the Howard Government's policies. "It's very scary, especially with these laws about incitement to terror," Mr Trad said.
Mr Trad frightens easily, doesn't he?
"They could be applied to people who call for the withdrawal of troops (from Iraq). It's a form of silencing debate."
More likely they'll be applied to people who build bombs because they can't have their way about withdrawing troops from Iraq. That's the intent of the law, isn't it?
"People like me ... who have seen these measures in other countries have seen how they have destroyed those societies. We'll be stuck with them until possibly 2016. I can't see how any of these laws are likely to lead to the elimination of the threat of terrorism. They will be dividing society and we don't need to divide Australia - we're already suffering from this atmosphere of suspicion and apprehension."
Much of it coming from mosques and similar places of unwholesome convergence. Hence the law.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/27/2005 06:27 ||
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"They could be applied to people who call for the withdrawal of troops (from Iraq). It's a form of silencing debate."
HUMMMMMM?? Could we use this HERE in the states????????
#2
You know, in a way he's right. We've lost so many freedoms for one reason and one reason alone. The Islamist Extremists. Thanks to them we all have to suck it up and worry what will happen if a Kerry or a Hildabeast gets elected with all of these powers we've granted our government to get rid of the Islamic Extremist cancer. If Mr. Trad of the Islamic Friendship Association doesn't like it, perhaps he should do what Americans should have done to KKK members back in the dayse of old - turn in the people who work to plan murder and terror. Until then, shut up and sit down and be glad we don't round you up into internment camps.
#7
A PROMINENT Islamic community figure has denounced Australia's new counter-terrorism laws, saying sunset clauses could mean the nation becoming "a fascist state" until 2016.
I'm curious: is he concerned about fascism in general, or is it just the Australian brand of fascism he doesn't particularly care for?
Leave it to the French to shoot themselves in the foot. Idiots. Their railway union is about to go on strike too. Of course, the French are not alone: Belgian unions are threatening to strike because of plans to keep pensions in line and Antwerp prison guards are striking, causing chaos there already. For socialists, they sure don't have much concern for the social impacts of their actions.
GONFREVILLE L'ORCHER, France, Sept 27 (AFP) - A refinery operated by French oil group Total here near the port of Le Havre was at a standstill on Tuesday after a week of strike action.
For a week no petrol (gasoline) or diesel fuel has left the factory and management has said that the strike is costing the business up to two million euros per day.
But it has said that there is no risk of fuel shortages, saying that the market can be supplied by other refineries in Europe.
The strike is led by the left-wing CGT trade union on behalf of 70 workers in the 1,600-strong workforce who control the arrival and departure of products and materials.
Management, unable to ship out refined products, has had to close down all of the installations.
The strikers in the so-called Tmex department are demanding that their pay be increased by EUR 200 euros a month, that their status be revised and that security be strengthened.
#1
probably timed it to increase the demand for oil caused by our gulf crisis. Hey Look! The American's have been hit with a terrible crisis, let's strike now and make things harder for them!
Great idea Pierre!
No More Blood for Oil! Oh wait, More Money for Oil!
#2
Nah, the French aren't that well organised.
What we have here is a "Crazy Eddie" strike (Anybody here read Jerry Pournelle, "The Mote In God's Eye?) if not I'll explain)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/27/2005 13:39 Comments ||
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We don't import much in the way of refined petroleum products from France, so the only effect should be to reduce demand, and price, for crude. Let's hope this strike spreads.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/27/2005 13:47 Comments ||
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For socialists, they sure don't have much concern for the social impacts of their actions.
The rumors are true this time. I was arrested in front of the White House today. It was my first time ever being arrested. That can be verified...
We proceeded from Lafayette Park to the Guard House at the White House.
I, my sister, and other Gold Star Families for Peace members and some Military Families requested to meet with the President again. We again wanted to know: What is the Noble Cause? Our request was, to our immense shock and surprise, yeah, right denied. They wouldn't even deliver any letters or pictures of our killed loved ones to the White House.
We all know by now why George won't meet with parents of the soldiers he has killed who disagree with him. First of all, he hates it when people disagree with him. I am not so sure he hates it as much as he is in denial that it even happens. Secondly, he is a coward who arrogantly refuses to meet with the people who pay his salary. Maybe the next time one of us is asked by our bosses to have a performance review you don't work, Cindy, or we are going to be written up for a workplace infraction, we should refuse to go and talk to our bosses citing the fact that the President doesn't have to. The third reason why he won't talk to us is that he knows there is no Noble Cause for the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq. It is a question that has no true answer. Using a similar line of reasoning, blowjobs aren't sex because Prsident Clinton said so. See where that logic gets us?
After we were refused a meeting with the Disconnected One, we went over to right in front of our house...the White House (in front of the gate of course) and we sat down and refused to move until George came out and talked to us. We actually had a good time singing old church songs and old protest songs while we waited. I tied a picture of Casey on the White House fence and apparently, that is against the law, too. Fight the power!
After three warnings to get up and move off of the sidewalk in front of our house, we were arrested. Fight the police! It is so ironic to me that the person who resides in our White House swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The person who is the (p)resident of the White House now has no concept of the Constitution. He was appointed by the Supreme Court for his first term, invaded and continues to occupy a sovereign country without a declaration of war from the Congress, and violated several treaties to actually invade, Iraq too. Not to mention the condoned torture that pervades the military prisons these days. These are all violations of the Constitution. The Patriot Act and denying us our rights to peaceably assemble are serious breaches of the Bill of Rights. George is so hypocritically concerned about Iraq developing a Constitution when he ignores and shreds our own Constitution.
Being arrested is not a big deal. Even though we were arrested for "demonstrating without a permit" we were protesting something that is much more serious than sitting on a sidewalk: the tragic and needless deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans (both in Iraq and here in America) who would be alive if it weren't for the criminals who reside in and work in the White House. But wait... there's more!
Karl Rove (besides just being a very creepy man) outed a CIA agent and was responsible for endangering many of our covert agents worldwide. Dick Cheney's old company is reaping profits beyond anyone's wildest imaginations in their no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans. John Negroponte's activities in South America are very shady and murderous. Rumsfeld and Gonzales are responsible for illegal and immoral authorization, encouragement and approval of torture. Not to mention, violating Geneva Conventions, torture endangers the lives of our service men and women in Iraq. Along with the above mentioned traitors, Condi lied through her teeth in the insane run-up to the invasion. The list of crimes this administration has commited is extensive, abhorrent, and unbelievable. What is so unbelievable is that WE were arrested for exercising our first amendment rights and these people are running free to enjoy their lives of crime and to wreak havoc on the world. You're above filing for a permit?
The fine for "demonstrating without a permit" is $75.00. I am certain that I won't pay it. My court date is November 16th. Any lawyers out there want to help me challenge an unconstitutional law?? I think Lynne Stewart has some free time...
#1
NOW SHE NEEDS TO ARRESTED FOR TREASON!!!!!This is for raising $600,000 and sending it to terrorist organizations!!(or as THE BITCH calls them, freedom fighters)
#5
Sure Cindy. For you I quote the friends and family rate of $100,000.00 nonrefundable. Call George Soros and tell him I don't start until he wires the funds to a charity of my choice. Oh, given the circumstances of your arrest I can promise you nothing. No press conferences either. We'll abstain from circus antics and you'll be allowed to testify and hang yourself as it were. I'll argue you're completely insane and incapable of understanding the nature of your words and actions to the point where you don't know right from wrong.
#7
her pictures yesterday and the day before with Jesse make me gag. Why can't she drop from an aneurysm?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/27/2005 16:11 Comments ||
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George won't meet with parents of the soldiers he has killed who disagree with him
I'm still pissed about all the soldiers FDR killed on D-Day. And the soldiers Lincoln killed at Antietam. And George Washington has American blood on his hands. Those boys at Yorktown died for nothing! If only he had met with the Tory sympathizing families of Continental soldiers, he would have understood their pain and anguish and everything would have worked out different.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/27/2005 18:04 Comments ||
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Hail Gaius Billus Clintonious Caesar himself now argues that Dubya invaded an Iraq that was no threat to anyone, ergo Great Clintonious had no need to levy new UNO sanctions ags innocent Saddam, let alone set up new "no-fly" zones, nor make "regime change" in Iraq de facto US policy, AS WHAT MATTERED DURING THE CLINTON 90's WAS THAT AMERICA VV THE CLINTON ADMIN. PUT UP A FAKE PRETENSE OF OBEYING THE UNO AND WORLD COMMUNITY, WHEN BY SAINT BILL'S OWN ARGUMENT THERE WAS NEVER ANY GENUINE NEED TO OBEY THE "ILLEGAL" OR "UNNECESSARY" MANDATES OF THE UNO IN THE FIRST PLACE. Yessirree, sniff sniff, Good Clintonians and Demmies demand to be Fakers andor Faked Out.
(CNSNews.com) - Following five years of United Nations control and billions of dollars of international aid, Kosovo is a lawless region "owned" by the Albanian mafia, characterized by continuing ethnic cleansing and subject to increasing infiltration by al Qaeda-linked Muslim jihadists, according to a whistleblower interviewed by Cybercast News Service. The U.N.'s repeated failure to act on received intelligence has allowed illegal paramilitary groups to flourish and engage in terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing regional governments in the Balkans, said Thomas Gambill, a former security chief with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), self-described as the world's largest regional security agency.
Gambill was responsible for overseeing the eastern region of Gjilane in Kosovo from 1999 until 2004 under the authority of the U.N. His criticism comes as the United Nations prepares to launch final status talks on the troubled province of Kosovo, which has been a U.N. protectorate since North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces bombed Yugoslavia between March and May of 1999 to compel the Serb-dominated government of Slobodan Milosovic to withdraw its forces from Kosovo. The U.S. mission in Kosovo alone cost $5.2 billion between June 1999 and the end of 2001, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
NATO bombing leads to Muslim retaliation
The NATO bombings were also launched in response to reports of large-scale ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians by the Serbs. But as soon as the bombing campaign ended, ferocious, retaliatory ethnic cleansing allegedly took place with Albanians, who are predominantly Muslim, targeting Christian Serbs. The violence was witnessed and documented by the U.N. and OSCE. Gambill shared hundreds of pages of U.N. and OSCE documents with Cybercast News Service, showing how the Serbs and other minorities were systematically and successfully targeted for removal from Kosovo.
Following the NATO bombing of Kosovo, American troops under NATO command were stationed in neighboring Macedonia and Albania while then-President Bill Clinton decided on the size of the U.S. contingent to be deployed in Kosovo. When U.S. troops entered the province in June 1999, the alleged retaliatory ethnic cleansing was already underway. Incidents of sexual violence, torture, arson, murder, kidnapping, and verbal threats were allegedly widespread as part of an organized and successful campaign conducted "right under the U.N.'s nose," said Gambill. Minorities targeted by ethnic Albanian extremists for expulsion or death included Serbs, Roma, Muslim Slavs, Turks and Croats.
Reports filed by the OSCE indicate that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which had been trained and supported by the Clinton administration, was predominantly responsible for the ethnic cleansing. In April 1999, congressional Republicans also promoted legislation seeking U.S. military aid for the KLA, causing Michael Radu of the Foreign Policy Institute to warn of the consequences of such a move.
Other armed extremist groups also participated in the ethnic cleansing, said Gambill. The overall goal of the groups was the creation of an ethnically pure state that included Albania, Kosovo and parts of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia "They will push for more. That is the plan. It's called Greater Albania," said Gambill.
OSCE documents reveal that elderly Serbs who were unable to flee were threatened and women were thrown down staircases. Others were tortured, beaten and murdered. Some elderly Serbs fled to monasteries for protection, but the monasteries were later attacked as well, including as recently as March of 2004, according to the OSCE documents. Entire villages emptied in the wake of large-scale arson and looting. OSCE documents describe "massive population movements" by displaced minorities after so many of their homes were set on fire, that one region of Kosovo resembled "a war zone."
An OSCE report notes that in one particular month of 1999 ethnic-related crimes dipped, but the report adds that it is unclear if that was due to the success of NATO's KFOR (Kosovo Force) or simply because there were relatively few Serbs left. After six months of NATO presence, the violence aimed at the Serbs became less frequent, though grenade attacks, drive-by shootings and abductions continued as weekly occurrences for the next five years, according to Gambill. "Even as of a couple of weeks ago, it hasn't stopped," he added.
The perpetrators of ethnic violence were emboldened by a lack of functioning local police or a judiciary system, Gambill said. Even now, the "good cops" are threatened by former KLA members, who are also on the police forces. "One female cop, she was a real Serpico," recalls Gambill. "She wouldn't give up an investigation after being threatened. She was killed soon after being warned."
Minorities are still being denied health care by Albanian medical professionals who quickly dominated the health care profession following the NATO bombing, Gambill said. He recounted an incident in which a Serb doctor was taken behind a building and shot in the back of the head. "Sometimes they had to take wounded Kosovar Serbs all the way to Serbia for medical aid," said Gambill.
'Don't Rock the Boat'
Gambill told Cybercast News Service that he was most frustrated by what he saw as apathy on the part of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo and OSCE, despite what he described as lower-level officials who "worked really hard and cared about the mission. "There was a don't-rock-the-boat atmosphere," Gambill explained. "Many people deployed to the region simply wanted to make their hefty pay and have a good time vacationing in Greece. They didn't want any 'problems' on their watch."
Aggressive patrols were discouraged, Gambill said, for fear that any ensuing firefights would give the appearance that OSCE forces did not have control of the area. "It was all P.C. (politically correct). People were afraid to say anything," said Gambill, adding that those who spoke out on serious issues were subjected to transfers or other reprisals. "No one seems to want to listen or make waves. They said 'I can't do anything to change the system, so why speak out?'" The result of such an attitude, Gambill said, is that "every time there is an attack against a Serb, it's always described as an 'isolated case' -- an event swept under the rug, so to speak."
Gambill said his warnings and reports on grave security threats were often met with a condescending attitude and even laughter. During a briefing given at the end of 2000 to OSCE delegates from Vienna, Austria, Gambill identified illegal paramilitary groups operating in the Balkans in violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1244.
Albanian mafia flourishes
At the same briefing, Gambill said he tried to explain the regional mafia structure, however, U.S. and Russian delegates in the audience complained about the content of Gambill's speech. As a result, he said, OSCE headquarters in Pristina sent a message to Gambill's regional superiors with the message, "Shut Tom up." "You couldn't get up in front of meetings and say, 'We've lost control of [Kosovo], the mafia controls it,'" said Gambill. "But they do. They run the damn place."
Gambill cited OSCE data that showed 42 mafia leaders had moved into Kosovo in the wake of the NATO bombing in order to set up criminal organizations. They continued to thrive despite efforts to establish mature law enforcement operations in the province, he said. "Drug smuggling, counterfeiting, weapons, human trafficking were all booming when I was there," said Gambill. He also alleged that high-level mafia leaders are in senior political positions.
"Good cops," who want to target the corruption are "under threat," said Gambill, adding that the Albanian mafia maintains ties with Russian, Serbian, Croatian and Italian mafia organizations to further their common agendas. Gambill also warned his U.N. superiors that the newly formed paramilitary group, the Albanian National Army, was "highly dangerous and skilled" and operating in Kosovo as well as northwestern Macedonia. But those warnings, he said, were also met with disbelief.
Within months, the Albanian National Army was taking credit for terrorist attacks, prompting the U.N. to acknowledge the group's existence.
Now Kosovo has entered what Gambill calls "The Fifth Phase," characterized by attacks against the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) itself. A September warning from UNMIK to staff members warns, "Before you turn on your vehicle, inspect it all around, to see if anything is unusual or suspicious." The warning followed the blowing up of an UNMIK vehicle. "UNMIK Out!" reads the graffiti seen on many buildings in Kosovo.
A field officer currently working with the U.N. Mission in the Kosovo area spoke with Cybercast News Service on condition of anonymity. After noting that the explosives used by al Qaeda terrorists in the March 2004 Madrid bombing attacks had come from the Balkans, he stated: "I sit here watching special patrol groups surveying and doing nothing. How many more people will die; whilst terrorists rest and recuperate here in the not so moderate Muslim regions of the Balkans theatre?"
"The cat and mouse game is coming to an end," the field officer noted. "Kosovo is saturated with extremists so NATO [may] pull out before it all blows up in their faces. War on Terror! [It's] more like support [of] terror!" "My biggest concern has always been the incursion of radical Islam into the area," said Gambill. "They're making preparations in Macedonia for terrorist attacks against internationals if Kosovo is not granted independence."
If the United Nations recommends against independence, Gambill said, it will spur the Saudis to increase their involvement in the region. "They've got the money, they've got the power. They'll remind Kosovars that they are their true friends. And they'll help the extremists fight and prepare terrorist attacks against internationals and even NATO troops stationed there," Gambill told Cybercast News Service.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 08:53 ||
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You mean to say the U.N. screwed something up? Getouttahere.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/27/2005 9:29 Comments ||
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One of IMAO's top UN slogans:
"If an impotent, bloated bureaucracy can't solve it, then it's best left festering."
#4
I'd actually be surprised if this is a case of the UN screwing up or being generally incompetent. I mean, how many times can an organization behave in a criminal manner before you're forced to conclude the orgnization itself is a criminal organization?
Assuming the UN -- including the bureaucracy down to the guys who run the parking garage -- is on the side of dictators and criminals fits the facts of the last 10, 20 years MUCH better than simple incompetence.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/27/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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Arab officials began yesterday to hammer out tough new steps to fight terrorist financing and money laundering, including curbs on bulk cash couriers, informal money transfers and the abuse of charities. The officials from 14 Arab members of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA-FATF) also discussed pushing the fight beyond governments to the private sector, by helping vulnerable entities such as banks detect and fight dirty money.
"All our member states have suffered from terrorist attacks, and thus we have a true commitment to fighting money laundering and terrorism financing," Muhammad Baasiri, the head of the regional body, told delegates at the start of a two-day plenary meeting in Beirut. Western officials have expressed concern that the 10-month-old group had not moved ahead fast enough.
Among the concerns is that only five of the member states have so far set up fully functioning financial intelligence units, which collect, analyze and exchange financial information to help fight money laundering and terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Arab officials began yesterday to hammer out tough new steps to fool guillible kafirs by pretending they intend to fight terrorist financing and money laundering,
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/27/2005 18:17 Comments ||
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September 27, 2005: One of the major problems in the Iraqi army, and most Arab armies, is the low status of NCOs. In the West, sergeants were originally, literally, ânon-commissionedâ officers. That is, they had leadership and management responsibilities, but were not of the same status as the aristocratic officers. Commissioned officers were, back in the day, from a higher social class (often the nobility), literate, and used to giving orders. Those nations with a more educated population, were able to build a more effective NCO corps. But in areas with low literacy rates, and much class consciousness, the sergeants were not given much responsibility, or authority.
As a result of this, the American and Iraqi armies are opposites in the way they treat, and use, their NCOs. All American sergeants are well educated. Many of them have college degrees. In the Iraqi army, centuries of low literacy rates has led to sergeants who are given little respect, or authority. Officers typically supervise the most mundane tasks the troops perform. Despite relatively high literacy (over 70 percent for males) in Iraq, being an NCO is not seen as a very respectable job. Long years of training by Russian instructors did not improve the situation, because the Russians also had a bad attitude towards NCOs.
However, now the Iraqis have seen, up close, how effective well trained and respected sergeants can be. So American efforts to convince Iraqi officers and troops to adopt the Western type of NCO is showing results. But itâs slow going. For generations, Iraqis have gotten by with sergeants who got no respect, or authority. And not much additional pay, either. As with the officers, the young troops are more willing, and able, to accept these new ideas than the older NCOs who served in Saddamâs army. Another advantage the Iraqis have is the willingness of Jordan to help train NCOs. Jordan, which enthusiastically adopted the British model of what an NCO should be, have the best NCO corps in the Middle East. So the senior Jordanian NCOs can talk directly to their Iraqi counterparts, and convince them that they can make the change (from officerâs lackey to the guy-in-charge.)
But building an effective NCO corps will take at least a decade. The young sergeants, especially the ones getting combat experience, are proving their worth right now. But it will take years for them to acquire the experience and wisdom to become platoon and company sergeants. The platoon sergeants will be particularly valuable, because a major weakness in the Iraqi army was having young lieutenants in charge of platoons, without the assistance of an older and more experienced platoon sergeant.
The Iraqis need a strong NCO corps, because the Iraqi armed forces have long been the most ineffective in the Arab world. Thatâs saying something, because Arab armies in general have been pretty bad for a long time. Well trained officers and NCOs will make a big difference in the combat capabilities of the Iraqi forces. Unfortunately, that wonât solve the problem of the military taking over the government. Saddam ruled as the result of a military takeover in the 1960s, and put down dozens of subsequent attempts by the military to overthrow him. Throughout the Arab world, power is maintained by dictators of kings who know how to keep the troops loyal, or too afraid to attempt a coup. This approach makes combat effectiveness less important than loyalty, and is part of the reason for the dismal battlefield record of Arab troops.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 09:34 ||
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During the Six Days War Israel suffered more casualties at the hands of the Jordanian Army than in the Egyptian and Syrian fronts put together. But Jordania's NCOs are NOT the best of the Middle west (cf what Ralph Peters said about the skill, or lack of it of an elite Jordanian unit during the crushing of Palestinian rebellion).
#2
For some reason, why do I think it won't be terribly hard to convince Saddam-era NCOs that they are far more important, responsible and respectable than they thought.
NCOs just *hate* the idea of being important and valuable.
#3
Well, the Jordanians used to have the best force in the region. They haven't seen combat in thirty-five years now, so it's all hypothetical, I suppose. But a certain degree of degradation in the Jordanian force has been noted since the days of the Arab Legion. Ken Pollack claims that the removal of the British officer cadres in the early Sixties had a significant effect on the Jordanian armed forces. They certainly didn't do so well against the Syrians in 1970 when Syria tried to intervene in favor of the Palestinian revolt.
As for the Iraqis being the worst in the region, the Iraqi corps on the Golan Heights admittedly did worse than the Syrians did in '73, who weren't any shining beacon of competence themselves. However, the extended warfare of the Iran-Iraq War knocked a lot of the stupid out of the Iraqi Army, and Iraq's twenty-five years of near-continuous war has given everyone involved more experience than anyone really needs.
The Syrians haven't had any real combat experience since the Israelis pulped them in the Bekaa over twenty years ago, and their brand of bootleg Soviet doctrine doesn't age well in peacetime. I'd hand the hypothetical laurel of ineptitude to the modern Syrian army.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/27/2005 14:11 Comments ||
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In 1970 Jordanians were busy with the Palestinians, so Israel sent a flight of four F4 Phantoms to overfly a Syrian column. The Syrians understaood the hint and withdrew. I haven't heard about Jordanians and Syrians firing at one another but I could be wrong.
Anyway we weren't talking about if the Jordanian Army was strong enough to cope with Syria because size is a factor, but who had the best quality. Just as the 1940 Finnish Army wasn't strong enough to defeat the Red Army but would have made mincemeat of it if sizes had been comparable.
September 27, 2005: Casualties, and terrorist attacks, continue to run at half the rate of the last few months. It is believed there is a connection between this and the growing number of patrols and raids in Sunni Arab towns, places that have not seen such activities for the last two years. These battles are a deliberate effort to break the power of the gangs that provide the support that make the terror attacks possible. All of this is possible because of more information about the gangs, and the increase in such information is no accident.
American intelligence efforts, a war-in-the-shadows that has been fought with great intensity for over two years, has revealed a lot of detail about how Iraqi society really works. It is not a pretty picture. Saddam left behind a culture of armed gangs that use on terror and intimidation to control populations. This is the system that kept Saddam in power, and it is a clever perversion of traditional Iraqi society. Saddam took advantage of family, clan and tribal loyalties to increase the power of tribes or clans that would cooperate with him. For the groups that remained hostile (mainly Kurds and Shia Arab, but some Sunni Arabs as well), he allowed loyal "gangs" to terrorize and exploit these hostile groups. Many of these loyal gangs were, literally, criminal enterprises that controlled illegal activities in an area. The most valuable of these scams was the smuggling, especially oil smuggling, where the gangs with official permission, kicked back to Saddam part of their profits.
When Saddam's government fell in early 2003, and his army and civil service were dismissed shortly there after, Saddam's gangs were largely unaffected. The gangs actually thrived in the aftermath of the invasion, often being responsible for much of the organized looting. Some of the gangs, especially the ones doing dirty work for Saddam in the Shia south, were destroyed by their armed, and vengeful, victims. Saddam had provided overpowering military force to back up the gangs, and this backup disappeared when Saddam was run out of office. But in the Sunni Arab areas, the gangs became the heirs to Saddam, and carried on in his tradition of rule-by-terror and large scale theft.
The decision of the gangs to join forces with al Qaeda was a practical one. Both groups were hostile to the foreign troops who had deposed Saddam, and al Qaeda had an endless supply of suicide bombers, and cash. It was a marriage made in hell, and it is coming to a bad end. Al Qaeda was about more than suicide bombings. Al Qaeda has a plan, and that plan includes imposing a theocracy on all Moslems. Many Iraqi Sunni Arabs are cut from the same cloth as the Saudi, Yemeni and Egyptian religious fanatics that founded al Qaeda, and enthusiastically joined forces with al Qaeda. But most Iraqis wanted nothing to do with another dictatorship, even a religious one. Over the past year, divorce has set in. The al Qaeda terror campaign, which stresses spectacular attacks that will play well in the media, have backfired for the less religious Sunni Arab gangs. Too many of the people getting killed in these gangs are Sunni Arabs. Even more Sunni Arabs are being killed by Kurdish and Shia Arab death squads, who are delivering traditional payback for terror attacks.
The terror campaign in Iraq has caused al Qaeda's popularity (which peaked in the months after September 11, 2001) to plummet. Those kind of numbers have consequences, the most visible one being growing hostility between al Qaeda groups and their Sunni Arab hosts. This has led to outright combat between Sunni Arabs and the (largely foreign) al Qaeda gunmen. Worse, it has led to the growth of a government informer network in the Sunni Arab community, and that has led to more and more al Qaeda big-shots getting ID'd and busted. Several senior al Qaeda people have been killed or arrested recently, because of this. The decline in terror attacks is partly the result al Qaeda being distracted by these arrests, and attacks by government forces, and Sunni Arab groups fed up with al Qaeda posturing and bullying.
Saddam may be out of business, but many of his ideas are not. The gang warfare he used to rule Iraq lives on.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 09:26 ||
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How did such an interesting and insightful article slip through the MSM cracks?? Oh ... it's Strategy Page.
September 27, 2005: A new poll by the Pew Research Organization, revealed that support for al Qaeda, in Moslem nations, was declining. In only one Moslem country, Jordan, was support for Islamic terrorism increasing (from 55 percent in 2002, to 60 percent now.) More typical was Morocco, where support for al Qaeda dropped from 49 to 26 percent. In Lebanon, only two percent of the population supported al Qaeda.
Jordanâs attitudes are influenced by the fact that most of the population considers themselves Palestinian (or at least descended from Palestinian refugees). Jordan has also seen very few al Qaeda attacks. This is mostly due to the efficient police force, who are dominated by the Bedouin minority that runs the kingdom. One aspect of that control is to allow people to say, and believe, what they want. While the Palestinian majority may not like the monarchy, they know that the Bedouins would respond violently to any uprising. That has happened often enough in the past half century to convince most Jordanians that, while you can shout nasty things at the king, donât take a shot at him. That said, the current king of Jordan, and his late father, went out of their way to be nice to their Palestinian citizens, as long as there was no violence against the government. The occasional violation of this understanding is met with a swift, and sometimes violent, response. Jordan is not a police state, but it is very well policed.
Speak softly, carry a really big stick and don't be afraid to use it
The rest of the Moslem world has come to see al Qaeda as an aimless and violent group, who appear to have no realistic goals. That, plus the al Qaeda fondness for bloody attacks against Moslem civilians, turns most people off. The Pentagon Information Warfare operations against al Qaeda had something to do with this shift in opinion, but those operations cannot be discussed in detail without weakening their effect.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 09:39 ||
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The rest of the Moslem world has come to see al Qaeda as an aimless and violent group, who appear to have no realistic goals.
Instead, they prefer Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/27/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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"when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse."
UBL
Posted by: Mark E ||
09/27/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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Well, when you kill a bunch of your own people the rest have a tendency to not like you.
#4
"That said, the current king of Jordan, and his late father, went out of their way to be nice to their Palestinian citizens, as long as there was no violence against the government."
King Abdullah II's beautiful wife is Palestinian. He's often put in untenable positions, yet has been a good friend to the US.
#5
One aspect of that control is to allow people to say, and believe, what they want.
what a concept. The problem they have is that communications allows them to realize that the idea of an absolute monarchy died about ..oh say..three or four hundred years ago.
#6
the idea of an absolute monarchy died about ..oh say..three or four hundred years ago.
Remember the old saying, If it's stupid-but it works, then it isn't stupid.
Monarchy works for them, leave it alone.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/27/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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The rest of the Moslem world has come to see al Qaeda as an aimless and violent group, who appear to have no realistic goals. That, plus the al Qaeda fondness for bloody attacks against Moslem civilians, turns most people off.
There's nothing wrong in principle with blowing up infidel civilians, mind you, they're just asking "what's in it for us?"
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/27/2005 18:10 Comments ||
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RJ remind me of that stuck on stupid thing again?
Posted by: john ||
09/27/2005 21:11 Comments ||
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Ariel Sharon's Likud party narrowly rejected a move yesterday to force the Israeli prime minister into a November leadership contest against archrival Benjamin Netanyahu. "The result is final. Sharon has won," Likud spokesman Shmulik Sisso said. The vote by the party's central committee means that no leadership primary will now take place before April of next year.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Reliable Syrian sources said that preparations are under way to form units for administrating crises and files of the issues that link Syria with some Arab and foreign countries (whose relations with Syria have some differences or tension.
That would be a long list
Sources made it clear a unit will be soon formed to tackle the Syrian Lebanese file. The unit will include five Syrian officials (security and senior political dignitaries plus figures from the Regional Leadership of the ruling Baath Party).The unit will submit a report in detail to the higher political leadership and to the President Bashar Al-Assad.
They've put together a blue ribbon panel to study the issue and make recomendations.
"In case the experiment scores a success, the Syrian leadership will form new crises units as regards other files such as the Syrian-Iraqi file and the Syrian-American ties.
"And if it doesn't, well, Paris is lovely in the fall."
Al-Watan âSaudi Arabia
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 14:44 ||
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It's been a rough year for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and it may get even rougher. With tensions high after another Lebanon bombing, Assad's regime could be shaken to its core if a U.N. probe points to Syrian involvement in the murder of a former Lebanese prime minister.
Ash heap of history, target date: 9-11-2006.
Assad has endured a humiliating pullout from Lebanon, ending 29 years of Syrian domination over its tiny neighbor. The former eye doctor who came to power five years ago also has been at the receiving end of increasingly menacing U.S. demands to stop insurgents from going into Iraq. German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who is leading the U.N. probe into the Feb. 14 killing of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, is scheduled to present his findings to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Oct. 21.
With few friends left to turn to, Assad flew to Egypt on Sunday to enlist the help of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally, according to two officials familiar with their talks. Mubarak advised Assad to fully cooperate with the probe and surrender any Syrians U.N. investigators name as accomplices in the killing. The Egyptian leader also counseled Assad to order a halt to harshly anti-U.S. comments by Syrian officials and in the state-run media. But Mubarak's plea for cooperation is potentially difficult for Assad because the U.N. search for conspirators could lead them to senior Syrian security officials, members of Assad's inner circle or even relatives.
Or to Bashir himself, if the story about the taped conversations is to be believed. I have this vision of him holed up in the Presidential Palaceâ¢, hollering "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
Some Assad family members hold powerful positions in the intelligence and security services. Assad would be risking his credibility at home if he were to hand over suspects to U.N. or Lebanese investigators, especially because Syrian media and officials have suggested the probe had a political slant. Failure to comply with extradition requests, on the other hand, could bring the United States and France to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution slapping punitive measures on Syria, including economic and trade sanctions. It could also lead to the freezing of assets or even a ban on foreign travel by senior officials. Assad "is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't," said Rosemary Morris, a Middle East expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "Who will trust him again in his country if he hands over Syrians to be tried?"
Syria's media, a mirror for government thinking, all but ignored Mehlis last week when he visited Syria to question officials in connection with Hariri's killing. Neither he nor Syria disclosed the names of those questioned, but Lebanese media said they included Syria's last intelligence chief in Lebanon, Brig. Gen. Rustum Ghazale, two aides and Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan, who was intelligence chief in Lebanon until five years ago. The Syrian media's treatment of Mehlis' visit, says dissident Michel Kilo, showed the absence of a cohesive government strategy to deal with a potentially dangerous issue. "There has been confusion in the way we dealt with all major issues in the past two years," said Kilo, reached in Damascus by telephone. "If half of what we hear is true, then we are faced with a very dangerous situation and have reason to be very concerned."
Syria has denied involvement in the Hariri killing. On the issue of Iraq, it says it is doing everything it can to stop militants from using its territory to join insurgents there. It also says it has no intelligence operatives left in Lebanon after it completed a troop pullout under pressure last April. However, a series of bombings in Lebanon targeting anti-Syrian figures has raised questions about how much influence Syria retains there. Political talk show host May Chidiac was the latest victim. She had just started her car Sunday when a bomb exploded, ripping off an arm and a leg. Chidiac worked for the private Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, which opposes a Syrian role in Lebanon.
The United States has not directly blamed Syria for Hariri's killing, but its impatience with Syria appears to be growing. The Bush administration accused Syria last week of meddling in its neighbors' affairs, blocking democracy and failing to stop insurgents from entering Iraq. The State Department also has called Syria a "destabilizing element" in the region, and President Bush has warned that Assad must understand that Washington "takes his lack of action (on Iraq) seriously." Yet the continuing mayhem in Iraq may give Washington pause about doing anything more drastic to bring about regime change in Syria, says one Western government official. One analyst loyal to Assad's regime says Washington will never be satisfied regardless of whether Syria cooperates or not. "The Americans are using the stick, but there is no sign of the carrot," said Imad Fawzi Shueibi. "It makes no sense for Syria to be told to do this, this and that - and get nothing in return."
Not killing you all is the carrot. Think hard on that.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/27/2005 09:12 ||
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These guys don't play much chess, do they?
Posted by: Curt Simon ||
09/27/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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Enough with the jabbering! It's time to scrape you off our collective shoe, Doc.
Lebanon vowed Monday to confront the wave of attacks against anti-Syrian figures after a top woman television anchor was targeted in a car bombing, adding to a climate of fear in the country. May Shidyaq, 40, a Christian news presenter and political talk show host on LBC television, was maimed when a bomb planted in her car blew up on the northern outskirts of Beirut on Sunday. It was the 13th in a wave of bombings unleashed in February, when Lebanon's billionaire former prime minister Rafiq Hariri was assassinated in a huge bomb blast on the Beirut seafront. "It is a terrorist plot ... and the state is doing everything it can" to tackle the attacks, Interior Minister Hassan Sabeh told reporters after Prime Minister Fuad Siniora met with security chiefs.
Maybe they should try hiring some German investigators to hunt them down? The Lebs don't seem to be up to the job.
"I have drawn up together with the defence minister a plan to exchange information among the different security services to foil terrorist acts at the stage of preparation," he said. But the interior minister warned: "We should expect more attacks like this."
That means they're not going to hire any German investigators. Pity.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, who himself survived an assassination bid a year ago, pointed the finger of blame at Syria, Lebanon's intelligence services and its pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. "It was the same people as the ones who tried to kill me," the Druze minister said, accusing "Damascus, Baabda (site of the presidential palace) and the intelligence services."
Y'think? Saaaaaay! Maybe that's why they haven't caught them...
The unsolved attacks have instilled fear among many critics of former power-broker Syria, with a number of anti-Damascus figures such as Hariri's MP son Saad Hariri spending much of their time out of the country. "These attacks are aimed at terrorising the Lebanese while the inquiry into the murder of Rafiq Hariri is going on," Siniora said on Sunday after visiting Shidyaq in hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Can't we all agree to save electrons and photons and just not post any more 'news' about Iraninan nuclear threats/promises? It's all just sabre-rattling, and tiresome.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/27/2005 7:57 Comments ||
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Looks like Indian orders for the JSF may be invited. The US is slowly drawing India away from its traditional defence partners and into the US orbit.
As Washington's most ambitious and classified fighter aircraftâthe F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)âreadies for a first flight next year, the Pentagon is preparing to extend a special invitation to New Delhi to witness the event at Fort Worth, Texas. This is significant given that India is not a partner country in the multi-billion dollar project.
Posted by: john ||
09/27/2005 16:00 ||
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#1
Makes sense.
The worlds largest democracy - who is next to the worlds largest dictatorship (China) and large producer of whacko Islamists (Pakistan).
Natural ally with common intersts and a common form of government, and not just one of convenience.
Bout damn time we started talking to India in a serious manner.
#3
They way the Bush administration managed to befriend both india AND pakistan at the same time is nothing short of a diplomatic miracle. And to top it off all but ending hostilities between the two... amazing.
#5
W made a point of reaching out to India even before 9/11. I recall an article from the '1st 100 days' that had Rice pulling him in to talk to her Indian counterpart when no official meeting was planned. It's clear Rice, Cheney and Rumsfeld were interested in defrosting relations with India as a counterweight to China. We're now seeing the press releases of stuff that's been cooking for a while: aircraft deals (JSF and Boeing commercial), ABM tech, joint exercises, services trade deal, etc. Hopefully things keep going in this direction. We have no strategic conflict on the horizon with India.
Iran has informed India that the five-million-tonne a year Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export deal, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2009 for a 25-year period, is off. This was conveyed to Indian officials in Vienna soon after the anti-Iran vote cast on Saturday by New Delhi in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) governing board.
In a communication to the Prime Minister's Office and South Block dated September 24, India's Permanent Representative in Vienna, Sheelkant Sharma, wrote that his Iranian counterpart had told him the LNG deal, signed between the two sides in June, was off.
The Iranian Ambassador in Vienna came up to Dr. Sharma after India's vote and conveyed a message from Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, that Teheran was no longer willing to go ahead with the $21-billion deal.
With this, India's energy security has suffered a major blow. The June agreement was considered a good deal for India; in the variable component of the price formula the Brent price of crude was capped at $31 a barrel.
In September, during External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's visit to Iran, India was told that the deal was through and that permission from the National Iranian Oil Company board would be forthcoming.
The External Affairs Ministry spokesman told presspersons on September 3 that Iran was considering an additional 2.5 million tonnes of LNG a year being sought by India. On September 2, Mr. Larijani said in Teheran: "The issue of exporting LNG to India has been finalised."
On Monday, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, asked whether India's vote against Iran would affect the country's energy security, said, "I see no reason why there should be ... any kind of impact on our energy security."
In Teheran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed surprise on Tuesday at the manner in which India had voted. He said: "Iran will revise these [economic] relations, and these countries [that voted against Teheran in the IAEA] will suffer. Our economic and political relations are coordinated with each other."
Posted by: john ||
09/27/2005 16:46 ||
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A three-member team from the United States will discuss the erection of a fence along the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan's US-based Ambassador Jehangir Karamat would accompany the US team. Congressman Mark Wood will led the American team. Daily Times reported in its Monday issue that the team would meet the Peshawar corps commander and other officials to discuss the option of erection of a fence along the porous border.
When contacted, the director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations, Major General Shaukat Sultan told IRNA that he had no knowledge of any visit by a US team. "At the moment, I have no knowledge of any US delegation visiting Pakistan. I am sorry," the spokesman of the armed forces maintained. Similarly, Foreign Office Spokesman Naeem Khan was not available for comments on the possible visit.
President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf floated the proposal during his recent visit to the United States. He believes that in this way the allegations of cross-border movements could be put to an end.
Kabul reportedly welcomed the proposal and promised to look into it, insisting that demarcation of the border must be done prior to erection of a fence. Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2400-kilometer-long rugged and porous border.
Pakistan has been denying accusations it is letting unwanted elements cross into Afghanistan to carry out attacks. Islamabad has stationed some 70,000 security forces along the border and beefed up security with the deployment of another 10,000 in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
09/27/2005 08:11 ||
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Fencing in Israel, along the Mexican border, and now in Pakland. Time to invest in fencing futures. One each Halliburton Fencing and Storm Door Division coming right up!
#4
Remember that in a region as mountainous as that, where the only major route is the Khyber pass, fencing only needs to be sporadic, to cover the blind spots between outposts. Out of a 1400-mile border, perhaps 100 miles would need fencing.
Of this, really inexpensive fencing like concertina wire would do for the bulk. Ten stacked rolls of concertina would be almost impassable to all but the most determined, would take them several dangerous hours to penetrate, and would be very obvious if tampered with. Even those who could cross it could not bring any serious amount of equipment or supplies with them.
It proved very effective against the Viet Cong.
Such fencing could for the most part be installed in under a month.
#5
An "impenetrable" wall of concertina wire can be cut in seconds with a Bangalore torpedo. In other words, a wall of concertian wire has no value if you don't have troops at a reasonable distance.
#7
Of this, really inexpensive fencing like concertina wire would do for the bulk. Ten stacked rolls of concertina would be almost impassable to all but the most determined, would take them several dangerous hours to penetrate, and would be very obvious if tampered with. Even those who could cross it could not bring any serious amount of equipment or supplies with them.
Moose, a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma. ;)
/and I can find the refrigerator in the pitch black dead of night.
Posted by: Sapper Dog ||
09/27/2005 13:45 Comments ||
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#8
Any bangalore torpedo would attract so much attention that it would defeat the purpose. This border has outposts on much of the high terrain, and the mountains themselves are obscenely difficult to cross. About the only way through are on small goat trails, passes and draws.
So it is not unreasonable to assume that the passable routes are very limited indeed. Note the major bridges on this map, and the terrain:
http://tinyurl.com/dgrjb
Remember also, that the purpose of this fence is not to utterly stop entry and exit from the country. It is to greatly slow down transfer, and to severely inhibit arms flow across the border. This is why a single solution won't do. There is just too much variation. However, as I said before, much of the border could really be made impassable with stacked concertina wire.
This past weekend, tens of thousands of protesters against the war in Iraq -- some chanting that President Bush was a liar, a criminal and a killer -- marched through the streets of Washington past the White House.
Talk about raining on their parade.
Marching 50 yards ahead of the demonstrators -- holding up a sign that said "Freedom is Not Free" -- was Ryan Ponder, 25, a former sergeant in the 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army who until last year was fighting in Iraq.
"At one point, the anti-war protesters got so upset that he was marching ahead of them -- and was the first person that onlookers saw -- that they stopped the whole 150,000-person march so that he would get farther ahead of them," said one onlooker, a Capitol Hill staffer who asked not to be identified.
"But he stopped, too," he added. "He truly is like the man who stood in front of the tanks in [China's] Tiananmen Square in 1989, unafraid to stare down a much more powerful force."
We reached Mr. Ponder yesterday at the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Chris Cannon, Utah Republican, where he is an intern hoping to climb the ladder.
Mr. Ponder said he was proud to have marched, calling it his "patriotic duty."
Asked whether he had any close calls with a far deadlier enemy -- the Islamic insurgents in Iraq -- he said: "Of course I did. That's what happened when you're fighting a war."
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/27/2005 04:28 ||
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This is what it's going to take!!! I wish I could have been there with him!!These people have to be stopped!! This march was funded by FRAUDING the people of hurricain katrina to boot.
KUDO'S Ryan!!!!!!!!!!
#2
Yesterday it was 100,000; today it's 150,000. Next week it'll be 250,000. Yesterday the 'Burg linked to a photo showing less than 20,000.
Anybody seen a picture of 100,000?
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/27/2005 7:24 Comments ||
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#3
I've looked damn hard for photos showing these allegedly huge crowds, and I find... nothing. Only a couple of photos on Yahoo of the crowd at the Ellipse at the height of the demonstration; about 18,000 people altogether.
These idiots are trying to manufacture a legend, at least in their own minds; some moron on Kos this weekend had even talked himself all the way up to 500,000.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/27/2005 8:17 Comments ||
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#4
I've been part of march of close to 90,000 before. It was leaving FedEx field on opening day.
#6
Good for him. Great idea and excellent execution. As an aside, numbers don't mean shite when there are things you have to do to survive. It wouldn't be the first time thousands were completely wrong.
#7
I was there and I don't think there was 100,000. I would estimate that it was only 20-30,000 on the parade route. Then again, not everyone marched I'm sure or made all the way to the finish where I was at. I have pics at my site. keep scrolling.
http://stupidrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/
#8
smart boy, just got himself elected! Deserves it too, braving those crazy moonbats. Most are the harmless species, but there are always rabid ones present when they fly in formation.
#9
interesting reading the comments about parade size. Interesting because we all just assume the MSM won't give us an accurate assessment and turn to the blogs to get real reporting on the parade, who was in it and what they said in their speeches. After the MSM dismal performance in New Orleans, I don't see how they are going to survive.
#10
The numbers were manufactured determined by the Hiroshima Memorial Numeration Committee. Guaranteed to grow faster than a Congressman's pork spending.
#13
Folks, we should all realize by now that moonbats aren't good at numbers (or facts for that matter).
I would like to see this "number" of diverse interest groups (Save the whales, Code Pink, Screw the Joos, etc.) go over to Iraq and conduct a protest in the Anbar Providence.
Ever see headless protesters?
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/27/2005 10:50 Comments ||
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#14
"I would like to see this "number" of diverse interest groups (Save the whales, Code Pink, Screw the Joos, etc.) go over to Iraq and conduct a protest in the Anbar Providence."
Great idea!! If American freedoms aren't worth dying for, they can stay, too.
Last week's Israeli withdrawal from Gaza appears to have received the approval of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, who was quick to rule that normalisation with Israel was religiously acceptable.
"Islam does not prohibit normalisation with other countries, especially Israel, as long as this normalisation is in non- religious domains and serves some worldly interests," Tantawi told a gathering at a festival held to mark the national day of Al-Sharqiya governorate.
Tantawi's statement immediately provoked heated debate inside and outside the Sunni world's most prestigious seat of Islamic learning.
Prominent Palestinian Islamic scholar Sheikh Hamed Al-Beitawi, who is also head of the Palestinian Scholars League (PSL), was quick to denounce the fatwa on the grounds that it "greatly serves the Israeli occupation, which is unacceptable in Islam," and urged the Grand Imam to retract it.
"It is obvious that the fatwa was issued following increased American and Israeli pressure on Arab leaders who already have relations with the Zionist state," El-Beitawi said in a PSL statement. He condemned the fatwa as contradictory to Islamic tenets "because it is the religious duty of all Muslims to help their brothers in driving the enemy out of their lands."
The PSL statement also criticised Egypt's agreement to deploy border guards along the Gaza Strip, saying it expected Tantawi to issue a fatwa that would instead "call for the mobilisation of Muslim armies to expel the Jews from the rest of the lands of Palestine instead of deploying troops to defend the enemy's borders."
Tantawi's ruling seems to have created rifts within Al-Azhar where many scholars criticised the edict, saying it only reflected the personal opinion of the Grand Imam and not Al-Azhar as an institution.
Sayed Khodeir, former head of the research and translation section at the Islamic Research Academy (IRA), said Tantawi's ruling "was political rather than religious. "It is religiously correct to normalise relations with a country you have peace with but not when this country is usurping Muslim lands and killing Muslim brothers and children," Khodeir explained, saying it would perhaps be in the interest of Egypt to have peace and economic ties with Israel but from a religious viewpoint. "Those who don't care about the affairs of their Muslim brothers do not actually belong to them," Khodeir said.
"As Muslims we consider ourselves in a state of conflict with Israel so long as it insists on occupying Muslim lands, desecrating Al-Aqsa Mosque and Islamic shrines and massacring Muslims," Khodeir said. "Egypt cannot be regarded as separate from what is going on in neighbouring Palestinian lands."
Prominent Al-Azhar scholar Abdel-Azim El-Mataani added that normalising relations with Israel "is not religiously -- or even logically -- acceptable at this particular time when it is using all sorts of aggression and tyranny against Muslims and posing a threat to Arab national security."
El-Mataani said the IRA had formerly issued an edict condemning normalisation with Israel. Former IRA member Sheikh Ali Abul-Hassan had previously issued a fatwa forbidding an Israeli judo team from playing in Egypt or any other Arab and Muslim country. He described such an invitation as an acceptance of what Israel has done and is still doing to Muslims, including usurping land, money and honour.
"This IRA fatwa sounds more logical because we should never accept the Israeli humiliation of Arab and Muslim nations," El-Mataani said.
Omar El-Bastawisi, spokesman of the IRA secretary-general, would only say that "scholars at the academy should not bypass the Grand Sheikh and issue a contradictory fatwa."
Tantawi was not available for comment but a senior cleric in his office explained that his statement on normalisation was mentioned at a festival speech and thus would not be considered a formal edict. He added that Tantawi's opinion was probably based on the fact that Israel is currently leaning toward peace, having already withdrawn from Gaza, and that it would be religiously acceptable to normalise relations with any nation in times of peace.
Many religious scholars and political analysts, however, were not persuaded. Many observers regard the latest edict as further proof that Al-Azhar is increasingly becoming a mouthpiece of the government. Fully dependent on the state for its funding, Al-Azhar's scholars are government employees who may, in some cases, adopt a pro-government discourse. The Grand Sheikh and the mufti -- the institution's two most prominent voices -- are both selected and appointed by the government, which was not the case before the 1952 Revolution: the Grand Sheikh then was elected by a committee of senior clergy and his authority was fully independent of the state.
Amr El-Choubaki of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies says the once-venerated institution has increasingly lost its credibility after adopting a discourse that would only justify government policies. "As the leader of the Muslim Sunni world, Al-Azhar should remain neutral on such controversial issues that would create a storm of criticism," El-Choubaki said. By legitimising normalisation with Israel, El-Choubaki said, the Grand Sheikh is taking sides -- something he should not do.
Tantawi himself has been repeatedly lambasted for being a government official willing to compromise the principles of Islam for the sake of state policies. Many critics point to his controversial edict equating the boycotting of May's vote on a presidential referendum with "withholding testimony" in court while remaining silent on many of the regime's violations of human rights and state security abuse of prisoners.
For many observers, the very fact that Al-Azhar may issue two conflicting fatwas on the same topic on different occasions is equally perplexing. For instance, Al-Azhar contradicted itself when it first slammed any reconciliation with Israel following the 1967 War, then legitimised it when former President Anwar El-Sadat sought a peace treaty with Israel. Again, in the 1990s, Al-Azhar retracted an earlier fatwa legitimising nationalisation when the current government needed to change those laws on nationalisation.
Prominent Islamic thinker Tareq El-Bishri, however, explained in the last chapter of his book, The National Cluster: Exclusion and Integration that the change of fatwa should not be the issue since edicts normally depend on the circumstances and timing in which they are passed. Imam El-Shafie' would provide different edicts simultaneously in Iraq and Egypt according to the circumstances present in each country. "Those conflicts (in edicts)," wrote El-Bishri, "stem from a difference in the perception of reality -- not an explanation of text -- and thus do not mean that one edict is right and the other is wrong."
Not that El-Bishri is in favour of Tantawi's edict. He told the Weekly, "We cannot actually consider ourselves in peace with Israel so long as occupation persists."
Some analysts speculate the Grand Imam made his statement about normalisation in order to provide a legitimate cover for state policies regarding the deployment of border police along the now free Gaza Strip to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Egyptian territory. Abdel-Aziz Shadi, an assistant professor of political science at Cairo University, said Al-Azhar usually serves as a tool to justify government policies in issues pertaining to higher politics. "Al-Azhar must depend on state information in issues related to foreign, strategic and economic policies that have to do with national security because it does not have the financial or professional means to gather its own data. Therefore, its edicts in those domains must be in line with government policies," Shadi told the Weekly.
It is in domestic politics, according to Shadi, that Al-Azhar would have the upper hand, issuing edicts independently from state hegemony. "Al-Azhar usually has the final say on issues related to society, family, gender and so on," said Shadi. "It is in those fields that people still resort to Al-Azhar as the most reliable source of fatwa."
On Tantawi's latest religious opinion on normalisation, Shadi speculated it was based on "state information that Israel is leaning toward peace now and that it would present a good image of Islam to show some tolerance in response."
It remains questionable, however, whether the Grand Imam was not equally aware of the fact that Israel is still occupying most Palestinian lands, desecrating Islamic shrines and killing women and children. Shadi conceded that "Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh is part of Egypt's political elite and consequently it is expected that his opinions would fall in line with government policy." That said, however, Shadi explained that it is also the character of the Grand Imam that equally decides the degree of Al-Azhar's independence.
"The former Grand Sheikh, for instance, showed more independence in his edicts than Tantawi who regards himself as no more than a government employee -- not a man on a mission or a leader of the Sunni world," Shadi said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2005 01:40 ||
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#2
Khodeir explained, saying it would perhaps be in the interest of Egypt to have peace and economic ties with Israel but from a religious viewpoint. "Those who don't care about the affairs of their Muslim brothers do not actually belong to them," Khodeir said
*snicker* now they want to diss Egypt too. Poor little Paleo's their catty little clique is getting smaller.
#6
So many Islamic countries' leaders have been looking for an excuse for a long time to improve relations with Israel. It is obvious to them now that most if not all of this anti-Israel bulldada was created by their worthless peers as a gimmick to promote their own sorry behinds.
#7
all of this anti-Israel bulldada was created.. as a gimmick to promote their own sorry behinds
So true. Just like here at home. Tantawi is a brave man. Too bad he made the national news as it endangers his life. But it makes you wonder how much of this is being said in mosques across the world that isn't making the headlines. Probably much more than we realize.
The split between the underworld dons of India â Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan â has turned into a war between the super intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan. The Indian sensitive agencies and military intelligence have failed so far to achieve their goal of eliminating Dawood Ibrahim, despite their successful penetration into the D-Company. Likewise Chota Rajan, once the second in command of Dawood, is being protected by the Indian agencies. But observers watching the underworld scene say Chota Rajan is fast losing ground as it has become difficult for him to lie low in Muslim countries. One highly placed source told the South Asia Tribune Rajan is in constant touch with the underworld of Japan. Recently, he said, a meeting of the underworld dons was held in Tokyo directly under the nose of the Japanese police. Had he not been under protection of the Indian sensitive agencies, the Dawood hounds would have eliminated him by now. In fact, the whole issue has become a Hindu-Muslim showdown. In Muslim countries Chota Rajan cannot develop his base but Dawood has an advantage there.
Dawood still has influence in the Mumbai underworld and many responsible persons are on his payroll including sharpshooters of the Mumbai police. This has become the matter of investigation as many of those shot for being members of the Dawood gang actually belonged to the Chota Rajan gang. While Mumbai police is hunting the Rajan gangs, the Indian sensitive agencies support Rajan, though discreetly. This is evident by the fact that Rajanâs right hand man Babloo Srivastava is also being âusedâ by sensitive agencies whenever his services are needed. At present Babloo is in the Lucknow jail but he is enjoying the full âfive-star facilitiesâ inside, courtesy the security agencies. He still manages his kidnapping business with Rajanâs help. Babloo Srivastava was first allegedly used by Indian sensitive agencies in the murder of Mirza Dilshad Beg who was a Dawood-ISI front man in Nepal. Sources say that Bablooâs henchmen Ravi and Vikki had killed Beg, an MP in the Nepalese Parliament, on June 29, 1995 when two âunknownâ assailants fired at him.
These sources told the South Asia Tribune Babloo Srivastava is providing information about Dawood to the sensitive agencies who used this info during the Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan. In fact, this is all being done at the instance of Indian sensitive agencies to put pressure on Pakistan to hand over Dawood to India or abandon him to be killed by the goons of Chota Rajan-Babloo Srivastava. Intelligence experts say that Dawood would be eliminated by the ISI itself whenever he becomes irrelevant. The US has already declared him as a Global terrorist for his alleged links with Al-Qaeda. International pressure is gradually mounting on Pakistan on this issue. Sources say that the ISI has already started nurturing another group. Under this strategy the group of Anwar (Chota Shakeelâs brother), Syed Muzaffar, and Yusuf Ghodrawala is being raised to substitute the D-Company. It is said that Anwar is in Pakistan while the two others have made their base in Thailand.
Disclaimer: I did not make up the name Babaloo Srivastava. Really.
If you're into Sanskrit, "sri" is holy, or blessed. I'm not sure about the meaning of vastava on its own, but the term "Vastava Vastu" refers to the Absolute (with capital A). The Club Babloo, of course, was run by the famous Cuban philospher R. Ricardo.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/27/2005 00:42 ||
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Algeria's national referendum aimed at ending more than a decade of conflict will help Islamists reach their goal of forming a purist Islamic republic, an influential former leading militant said on Monday.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hopes Thursday's referendum on a charter that offers a partial amnesty to Islamist rebels in exchange for laying down arms will end violence that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and establish the country as a peaceful state -- neither fundamentalist Islamic nor secular.
But Madani Mezrag, former leader of the armed wing of a now-defunct Islamic party, said the referendum would not fail to dash hopes for the eventual formation of a purist Islamic state.
"Our goal as an Islamic movement is to set up an Islamic republic in Algeria. Unlike you would think, it is much more possible today than ever," Mezrag, who headed thousands of armed rebels fighting the authorities in the 1990s, told Reuters in an interview.
Mezrag, 45, said the referendum would free Islamist rebels to fight for the cause democratically. Authorities expect hundreds of armed rebels hiding in the mountains to come down and surrender.
Human rights groups criticise the so-called "charter for peace and national reconciliation" and say it will sweep under the carpet crimes committed by militants and state agents.
But Mezrag said the referendum would bring peace.
"We see the referendum on the charter as going in the right direction in bringing peace and stability to Algerians.
"But it is just one of many steps that need to be taken," he said at the home of Mustapha Kartali, former feared rebel leader of the Larbaa region, also known as the "triangle of death".
Mezrag said the image of Islamists among Algerians had not been tarnished by the violence that engulfed the oil-producing country and isolated it abroad.
"The positive aspect of this war (of the 1990s) is that it allowed the Islamists to understand their limits ... and to talk to others even if they disagree with them," he said.
Mezrag, who negotiated the surrender of his Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) in the late 1990s, estimates 800-1,300 rebels exist but only a few hundred are active. Most belong to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Mezrag said the use of force by Islamists had proved unsuccessful and that democratic means should be used to obtain their goal of a conservative Islamic state.
"The regime was responsible for this national tragedy and we will work day and night to change the system through democratic means," he said, adding that Iran's recent presidential election was proof that Islam and democracy could go hand-in-hand.
Mezrag said some violence would continue after Sept. 29 but he expected the majority of GSPC members would surrender. He was in contact with rebels on surrenders, but declined to elaborate.
But Kartali, who was a senior member of the feared Armed Islamic Group (GIA), warned: "But there are some dangerous and bad people who will be the cause of their own death."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/27/2005 00:21 ||
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Mezrag, 45, said the referendum would free Islamist rebels to fight for the cause democratically. Authorities expect hundreds of armed rebels hiding in the mountains to come down and surrender
I blame George Bush!
Say what you will, because it's probably just a clever ploy for a hudna, but that they even talk like this, that the thought even entered their brains, leaps them from the seventh century into at least the tenth. Way to go Georgie.
#5
Ah the charms of these thugs. They kilt all they could and got nowhere so now they're twice as nice as ice and ready to win hearts over with the new improved Compassionate Democratic Jihad Thingy tm. Give the people what they want eh!?
The runner-up in Egypt's presidential election, Ayman Nur, asked for the judges in his trial to be replaced Monday, complaining they were conducting the proceedings in a way that humiliated him. "Prison was better than this trial," Nur told the three judges in the Cairo court where he is standing trial with five other defendants on charges of forging signatures to register his Al Ghad Party last year. Early this year Nur was detained for six weeks, a move that drew protests from the US State Department. A populist politician, he is regarded as the foremost critic of the Mubarak government inside Egypt's parliament.
Monday was the first time Nur had been allowed to leave the caged dock and stand before the judges since the trial began in June. Wearing a dark blue suit and striped tie, he complained of the court's questioning whether he was the son of his father and the presence of state security officials who take notes of the trial. "Why are they taking notes?" he asked. "It's very humiliating," Nur said of the trial. "This is more than I can take." A lawyer himself, Nur said: "I have never before requested the removal of a panel of judges." But defence lawyers for two other accused told the judges they wanted them to remain.
Presiding Judge Abdel Salam Gomaa adjourned the proceedings for nearly three hours, and then returned to adjourn the trial to Tuesday without comment. After the judges had left, Nur told the Associated Press he would not attend Tuesday's session, but go instead to parliament for the swearing-in of President Hosni Mubarak.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Former southern Sudan rebels are to join peace talks aimed at ending more than 30 months of civil war in the western region of Darfur, a Sudanese daily reported yesterday. The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement has already named a delegation to participate in the African Union-sponsored negotiations in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Akhbar Al-Yom said. It added that the team included senior SPLM officials Deng Alor, the new minister for Cabinet affairs, Yasser Arman, a northerner, and Abdul Aziz Hilu from the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan. âThe SPLM is now part of the national unity government and it is illogical to let the National Congress party negotiate alone in the name of the government,â the paper quoted SPLM deputy leader Riek Machar as saying.
The national unity government was formed last week, eight months after the signing of a peace agreement with Khartoum that ended more than two decades of north-south conflict that left some two million people dead. International observers have said that power and wealth-sharing arrangements in the Jan. 9 peace deal could be used as a model to end the conflicts in Darfur and eastern Sudan. The SPLM has expressed sympathy with the cause of the people of Darfur and their demands for greater political and economic autonomy from Khartoum. Sudanâs new Foreign Minister Lam Akol Ajawin said Sunday that his SPLM movement would propose a solution to the Darfur conflict to the government in Khartoum.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif told a top U.S. envoy his government was committed to lifting a 24-year-old state of emergency but that the process needed more time.
"Nope. Nope. 24 years ain't nearly enough time. Maybe another 24..."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Yep, Considering how many 'emergency' acts are in effect in the US that permits the federal government to do things which would be open to 'unconstitutional' assumption of powers. Shame on Egypt *cough*.
#2
We need to determine how much time needs to elapse before an emergency becomes a chronic condition. I wil think about it and issue a fatwa in the near future.
Posted by: Al Aska Paul ||
09/27/2005 11:58 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The U.S. is contemplating working out new guidelines for the use of nuclear weapons, rejecting the existing ones. So, it intends to go unchallenged in the field of strategic nuclear armed forces in a bid to beat its rivals and mercilessly destroy those countries challenging its bid to establish its order of world domination. Minju Joson Sunday observes this in a signed commentary. 
A PROMINENT Islamic community figure has denounced Australia's new counter-terrorism laws, saying sunset clauses could mean the nation becoming "a fascist state" until 2016.
Arab officials began yesterday to hammer out tough new steps to fight terrorist financing and money laundering, including curbs on bulk cash couriers, informal money transfers and the abuse of charities. The officials from 14 Arab members of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENA-FATF) also discussed pushing the fight beyond governments to the private sector, by helping vulnerable entities such as banks detect and fight dirty money.
It's been a rough year for Syrian President 
The United States has not directly blamed Syria for Hariri's killing, but its impatience with Syria appears to be growing. The Bush administration accused Syria last week of meddling in its neighbors' affairs, blocking democracy and failing to stop insurgents from entering Iraq. The State Department also has called Syria a "destabilizing element" in the region, and President Bush has warned that Assad must understand that Washington "takes his lack of action (on Iraq) seriously." Yet the continuing mayhem in Iraq may give Washington pause about doing anything more drastic to bring about regime change in Syria, says one Western government official. One analyst loyal to Assad's regime says Washington will never be satisfied regardless of whether Syria cooperates or not. "The Americans are using the stick, but there is no sign of the carrot," said 
Lebanon vowed Monday to confront the wave of attacks against anti-Syrian figures after a top woman television anchor was targeted in a car bombing, adding to a climate of fear in the country. 
The split between the underworld dons of India â Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan â has turned into a war between the super intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan. The Indian sensitive agencies and military intelligence have failed so far to achieve their goal of eliminating Dawood Ibrahim, despite their successful penetration into the D-Company. Likewise Chota Rajan, once the second in command of Dawood, is being protected by the Indian agencies. But observers watching the underworld scene say Chota Rajan is fast losing ground as it has become difficult for him to lie low in Muslim countries. One highly placed source told the South Asia Tribune Rajan is in constant touch with the underworld of Japan. Recently, he said, a meeting of the underworld dons was held in Tokyo directly under the nose of the Japanese police. Had he not been under protection of the Indian sensitive agencies, the Dawood hounds would have eliminated him by now. In fact, the whole issue has become a Hindu-Muslim showdown. In Muslim countries Chota Rajan cannot develop his base but Dawood has an advantage there.
The runner-up in Egypt's presidential election, 
Former southern Sudan rebels are to join peace talks aimed at ending more than 30 months of civil war in the western region of Darfur, a Sudanese daily reported yesterday. The 
