Egypt's Opposition Leader Ayman Nour has been sentenced to five years in jail for forgery by a Cairo Criminal Court. The 41-year-old went on trial six months ago on charges of forging affidavits for the creation of his Ghad Party last year. Nour and his wife shouted "Down with President Hosni Mubarak" when the judge read the sentence.
Among Nur's six co-defendants, two were sentenced to five years in prison, three to three years and another was sentenced to 10 years in absentia. Nur, who was President Mubarak's main challenger in the September presidential election, has always denied the charges. He says they were trumped up by the regime to undermine his political career.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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An Egyptian forging documents? Doesn't he know if you want it forged right, you gotta go with the seasoned pros, the Pakistanis? Jeez, I thought everyone knew that by now...
People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) was founded by anti-crime activists in November 1995 to counter crime, violence, and drug use in the Cape Flats area on the outskirts of Cape Town. The group began waging rallies and vigilante activities soon after its founding. As a predominantly Islamic group, some members of PAGAD also see the South African government as a threat to Muslim values.
Vigilante groups arose in South Africa following the collapse of Apartheid, which brought about increases in crime. Between 1990 and 1996, rapes reportedly went up by 81 percent, serious assault 38 percent, vehicle theft 43 percent, and murder 26 percent. At the time of its founding, PAGAD sought harsher sentences for criminals, especially drug lords, and aimed to work with the government to curb crime. Dissatisfied with the results of their actions, PAGAD explains that it âchanged its strategy to one of confrontation, not with the government or the police, but with the drug merchants and gangsters themselves.â Specifically, PAGAD confronted criminals with ultimatums that, if not adhered to, would end with violence and murder.
PAGAD shares ties with Qibla, a militant Shiite fundamentalist group that emerged in South Africa in the 1980s. Qibla was inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution, and sought to transform South Africa into a Muslim state, adopting the slogan, âOne solution: Islamic revolution.â The organization serves as an umbrella for hundreds of other Muslim groups, and is suspected to have used PAGAD to promote its own aims. Qibla is led by Achmat Cassiem, an influential Muslim religious figure, whose philosophies have been used by PAGADâs leaders. Cassiem believes that politics cannot be separated from religion, and that Muslims have a responsibility to oppose a non-Muslim state, preaching martyrdom and revolution. âFighting injustice,â he says, âis as important to Muslims as fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.â
In 1996, a split arose within PAGAD as the result of a power struggle between the groupâs moderate leaders, Nadthmie Edries, Farouk Jaffer, and Ali âPhantomâ Parker, and Qibla extremists. Edries, Jaffer, and Parker, opposed the Qibla faction, claiming its agenda was more anti-state than anti-crime. The three leaders advocated a more community-based approach using constructive, non-violent solutions to crime rather than Qiblaâs more jihadist tendencies. The militant Qibla faction amassed under the leadership of Abdus Salaam Ebrahim, who advocated confronting gangsters and drug dealers in a violent manner. This faction would soon dictate PAGADâs Islamic objectives and violent tendencies.
In December 1996, Ebrahim formed PAGAD United, a national structure that would direct regional activities, raise funds, and assist the main contingent in the Western Cape, to attain armaments from around the country. The Western Cape base has an elaborate hierarchy of its own, employing its Working Committee of about 30 members to oversee several sub-committees including education, social welfare, finance, and the legal department. The Working Committee also ultimately approves all aspects of PAGADâs policies and strategies. PAGADâs Security Council or paramilitary wing, also called the âG-force,â remains out of public view, carrying out the groupâs covert and illegal activities with independent cells, each with its own commander. Members of these cells are alleged to have attacked suspected drug dealers and gangsters. But PAGADâs leadership denies the allegations of violence.
Between 1996 and 2000, 24 gang lords were murdered in the Cape Town region, pushing dealers out of Cape Flats to smaller towns. Initially, PAGAD received quiet support from the South African government, because of its perceived ability to crack down on drug dealers better than police. But tolerance waned in early 1997, when PAGAD-incited violence began taking the form of urban terrorism, leading to the deaths of innocent bystanders. The national police commissioner, Zoli Lavisa, declared, âPAGAD is now firmly part of the crime problem, not part of the solution.â
Public support followed a similar trend. PAGAD may have garnered a membership in the tens of thousands at the groupâs peak in early late 1996. Between 2,000 and 5,000 members appeared at rallies, with many others supporting the group passively, based on principle. But membership rally participation levels began to decline by 1998, perhaps because of the organizationâs shift toward violent and illegal activities.
From July 1996 to December 1997, PAGAD is alleged to have initiated 222 acts of violence against drug dealers and their property, involving attacks with conventional weapons and explosives, often pipe bombs. In 1997, PAGADâs G-force began targeting anti-Qibla Muslims. In 1998, academics and clerics critical of the G-force were also targeted. In 1999, bombings linked to PAGAD decreased, but the targeting of public places, police and government buildings, and American businesses continued. These included the 1998 bombing of a South African Planet Hollywood restaurant. Car bombs replaced pipe bombs, effectively injuring several more people with each attack.
Despite the South African police forceâs supposed failure in putting a stop to crime rate in the Cape Town region, it has captured members of PAGAD engaging in illegal activities. As of January 2000, 26 PAGAD members sat in jail without bail, with 117 charged for murder, attempted murder, or the illegal possession of firearms and explosives. None of those captured, however, were charged with bombings, casting doubt over the PAGADâs suspected bomb campaigns. The PAGADâs leadership has always denied bombing charges.
In September 2000, magistrate Pieter Theron, who was presiding in a case involving PAGAD members, was murdered in a drive-by shooting. South African Justice Minister Penuell Maduna blamed PAGAD for Theronâs murder, saying that it signaled a terror campaign âagainst the state.â Several witnesses were also murdered in related cases.
In March 2002, four current or former members of PAGAD were acquitted of the murder of gangster Rashaad Staggie in 1996 due to lack of evidence, effectively marking the end of South Africaâs five year quest to achieve a conviction for Staggieâs murder. Ebrahim however, was found guilty of public violence and sentenced to seven years in prison, where he sits today.
PAGADâs violent activities have slowed, but the organization remains active, with Cassiem Parker acting as its national coordinator. The group has returned in recent years to the marches that brought it initial fame. PAGADâs June 2004 demonstration in Bonteheuwel attracted about 200 protesters. PAGAD no longer enjoys the popularity it did in its heyday, but with Ebrahim in prison and the Qibla contingent fading from power, the organization may witness a return to the more moderate and accessible strategies it employed at its inception.
⢠Area of Operation: Cape Flats, on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa
⢠Purported Goals: To put an end to gangs and drugs in South Africa by raising public consciousness of such matters, mass mobilization, and mass action; the militant Muslim faction aims to use violence to oppose the non-Muslim South African state and to promote radical Islamic ideals
⢠Affiliated Groups: Qibla
⢠Leaders: Abdus Salaam Ebrahim (militant Muslim faction), Cassiem Parker (current national coordinator)
⢠Activities: Bombings and assassinations targeting gangsters and drug dealers; militant Muslims have targeted anti-Qibla Muslims, American businesses, and police and government buildings in South Africa
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2005 09:12 ||
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Follows the typical curve of vigilante organizations.
MANAMA â Nearly 2,100 civil defence Iraqis personnel have till date completed their training in Bahrain, following a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries.
The last of the 12 batches graduated with the training provided by the Civil Defence Directorate. The training of Iraqi personnel began in batches in October last year. The event was celebrated at a special ceremony under the patronage of the Director of Public Security, Major-General Abdullatif Rashid Al Zayani.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2005 00:05 ||
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Anti-Ahmadiyya bigots yesterday demanded resignation of State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and passing of a censure motion in parliament for Friday's police attacks on its activists. The International Khatme Nabuwat Movement, Bangladesh also demanded an unconditional apology from the government for the attacks. It has threatened to topple the government if their demand of declaring Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim was not met. Meantime, an unknown caller on Friday night threatened to demolish the Ahmadiyya complex in Nirala Residential Area in Khulna.
"The main obstacle to our target is Jamaat-e-Islami," said president of the organisation Mahmudul Hasan Mamtazi yesterday. Some pro-Jamaat police officials were behind the Friday's attacks that left at least 50 activists injured, he claimed. Mamtazi, who is leading the countrywide anti-Ahmadiyya campaigns for over two years, was addressing a rally in protest against Friday's incidents at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque's north gate in the city. At least 57 people including seven policemen were injured in the city on Friday as IKNMB bigots locked in sporadic clashes with the cops. The stretch between the mosque's north gate and south gate turned into a battlefield for over an hour.
Nazmul Haq, secretary general of the organisation, said nothing can be expected of State Minister of Religious Affairs Mosharref Hossain Shajahan, who "used to act in theatres." Neither the BNP nor the Awami League wants a solution to the Ahmadiyya issue, fearing an end to the political benefits being gained from the crisis, he added. He said Babar is only serving the interests of the Ahmadiyyas by betraying the "touhidi janata" [agitating people], who voted them to power. He demanded that Babar be replaced by someone, who will look after the interests of the "true Muslims". Terming Friday's attacks heinous, Mamtazi vowed to resist any further attacks on anti-Ahmadiyya activists. "The attacks prove we must carry sticks to counter such attacks," he said.
Mamtazi said although Jamaat was elected from an Islamic platform, they are yet to table a bill in parliament against the Ahmadiyyas. "Had they raised the issue in parliament, the Ahmadiyyas could have been banned long time ago and we would not have had to suffer the police brutality."
IKNMB Nayeb-e-Amir Enayetullah Abbasi warned the government that they it would be deposed before the tenure. "If they continue treating Muslims this way, the barrels of the police and the armed forces will be pointed at them," Abbasi added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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When Fatima Tekayeva heard that her son was about to be returned to Russia from the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, she felt an aching fear.
Don't do it, she begged anyone who would listen. It's bad there, yes. It's worse here. Please don't send my son home.
All the same, the scenario unfolded like a scripted nightmare. Rasul Kudayev was put on a plane back to Russia. Soon, he was released. He came home to the Caucasus region nothing like the broad-shouldered wrestling champion who had gone off to study Islam with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He could barely walk unaided. His eyes were yellow from hepatitis, his heart fluttered, and his head throbbed, family members said. Kudayev would sit up in the kitchen all night, telling his brother how guards at Guantanamo forced him to take medicine that made him sick and left him alternately to freeze and suffocate by opening and closing the ventilation system in a cramped isolation cell. By morning, his stories spent, he would fall asleep.
It ended as Tekayeva feared it would.
On Oct. 23, a truckload of soldiers showed up outside the family's small house and seized Kudayev, accusing him of having participated in an attack by Islamic militants on police and government targets in Nalchik 10 days earlier. Tekayeva threw her body in front of her son's thin frame.
''Handcuffs, what handcuffs?" she cried. ''He's already had enough handcuffs for a lifetime!" But he disappeared into the feared Department 6 organized crime unit of the Kabardino-Balkaria police.
Kudayev, 27, is a veteran of an increasingly borderless campaign against terrorism, in which suspects may be ferried among prisons around the globe without facing trial. He survived an uprising at an Afghan prison, followed by two years at Guantanamo, only to find himself in the hands of Russian police.
Several days after local police arrested Kudayev, his lawyer was brought in to witness his confession.
''He looked awful," attorney Irina Komissarova said. ''He couldn't sit or stand straight because of the pain he experienced. He dragged one of his feet and couldn't step down on it. His face was covered with cuts and scabs."
Komissarova filed a complaint. Russian authorities responded last month by dismissing her from the case, saying that the complaint made her a witness.
But Komissarova has continued to follow developments. Last week, after she alleged that Kudayev had been beaten again, this time so severely that his leg was broken, authorities opened a criminal investigation against her for allegedly revealing investigative secrets.
As a boy, Kudayev was not particularly religious, said his brother, Arsen Mokayev. When he was named wrestling champion of the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in 1996, ''my mother would say, 'I wish he were pious. But that's not his way.' "
That changed as the North Caucasus felt the effects of unemployment, ethnic resentment, and corruption, as well as Islamic militancy and harsh police tactics spilling over from nearby Chechnya.
Kudayev left to study Islam in Saudi Arabia. From there, he made his way to Afghanistan. How, when, and why he went there is unclear.
Mokayev said his brother was attempting to flee Afghanistan with men from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere in Central Asia when they were captured by the US-backed Northern Alliance and imprisoned in the ancient Qala-i-Jangy fortress at Mazar-i-Sharif.
A three-day uprising at the prison in November 2001 was crushed by Northern Alliance fighters and US airstrikes. About 60 of the more than 500 prisoners survived.
Kudayev and many other non-Afghans were handed over to US forces for eventual transfer to Guantanamo. Many of his letters from the prison there had large sections blacked out by censors, Mokayev said.
But Kudayev told Tekayeva that he was being fed well and allowed to perform religious rituals.
When US authorities sent Kudayev and six others from Guantanamo back to Russia in March 2004, they said they still considered the men a threat and that Russia had pledged to detain and investigate them. Russia filed charges but released the men in late June that year.
Family members said Kudayev was haunted by his treatment at the US naval base prison.
''There was constant psychological pressure on him," Mokayev said. ''Imagine a man sitting in a cage for days on end, being constantly watched by another person who keeps writing down everything that the caged man does and ignoring him even when he speaks to him. Never turning off the lights. Just imagine that."
Mokayev said his brother told him of being forced to kneel with his hands cuffed to his ankles, being sprayed with a gel that caused a painful rash, then carried out, still shackled, and hosed down with a stream of water.
Kudayev and several other prisoners said Guantanamo guards would turn up the air conditioning to the freezing point, then turn it off until breathing became difficult.
He was forced to take unidentified pills that gave him chest pains and made his muscles feel like stone.
The United States has denied forcing medication or any other abuse at Guantanamo, but as a matter of policy does not comment on individual cases.
On Nov. 22, 12 days after his lawyer was dismissed, Kudayev was charged in Russia with terrorism, banditry, attempted murder of a police officer, homicide, and illegal trade in weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2005 08:39 ||
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He could barely walk unaided. His eyes were yellow from hepatitis, his heart fluttered, and his head throbbed,...
Right. I wonder what the eval said upon his departure from Gitmo. This smells of the usual MSM unverified slander. And just how did the reporter know that the subject was suffering from heart flutters?
#2
This story actually reads plausibly - may not BE true, but not impossible if interpreted in a different way.
It is quite possible he had hepatitis when he was captured in Afghanistan - it may have shown up on his blood work at Guantanamo Bay even before he was seriously symptomatic. Weakness, headaches, heart palpitations could all flow from the hepatitis, or as side effects of medication given for it. I wouldn't be surprised if the gel sprayed on his legs was also for some medical condition - at least they didn't delouse him Nazi-style.
It's tough to see how someone who was used to Russia and Afghanistan could complain about freezing in Guantanamo.
His description of 'torture' - uncomfortable positions, 24 hour light, large temperature variations, someone always watching and taking notes - is not far from what Rumsfeld had authorized at one point; it's just a matter of definition whether it qualifies as torture. I don't think it would meet Saddam's threshhold, for instance.
#3
He kept clutching at his chest and hollering "This is the big one, Elizabeth!"?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 10:26 Comments ||
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A tragic, heart wrenching tale of man's inhumanity to man. Reminds me of the time I rolled this bum for his bottle of Mad Dog on the train platform last year...
#6
A tragic, heart wrenching tale of man's inhumanity to man.
The legs of a biker, the heart of an artist.
Posted by: Leon Clavin ||
12/25/2005 18:26 Comments ||
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Boston.com is teh unrepentant hyper-liberal child of teh NYT - should I say any more? They hired Derrick Z Jackson - an affirmative action hire to satisfy the stupid anti-american anti-white caucus
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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Mokayev said his brother told him of being forced to kneel with his hands cuffed to his ankles, being sprayed with a gel that caused a painful rash, then carried out, still shackled, and hosed down with a stream of water.
#9
Imagine lying through your teeth as a matter of routine, and having an LA Times reporter lap up every word as if it were gospel truth. Liberals are anti-American propaganda fundamentalists - they believe in the literal truth of any bits of anti-American propaganda they hear.
The Ittehadul Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deenia (ITMD) refuses to follow a final reminder sent to seminaries across the country to expel their foreign students from the country by December 31. âWe have told the government that we will neither expel foreign students nor hand them over to the government,â ITMD Secretary General Dr Mufti Sarfraz Naeemi told Daily Times. Wafaqul Madaris Secretary General Maulana Hanif Jalandhari and Jamia Ashrafia Lahore Vice Principal Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ashrafi confirmed that officials of the Interior Ministry visited or called them and told that the government would take stern action against seminaries which did not send foreign students back to their countries by December 31.
Naeemi said that ITMD President Maulana Saleemullah had also told him that the government sent officials to big seminaries in Karachi asking them to expel their foreign students. He said that the ITMD would resist the governmentâs ârather foolishâ move against foreign students, and further strategy would be decided in an ITMD meeting probably on December 28. Jalandhari said that the governmentâs move would tarnish Pakistanâs reputation amongst Muslim states.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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The Ahle Haidth Youth Force (AHYF), the youth wing of the Markazi Jamiat-e-Ahle Hadith demanded that the federal government expel foreign troops and non-government organisations from earthquake hit areas in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and NWFP.
"Eeeew! Infidels! Ucky!"
Addressing a press conference, AHF leaders said that they would also arrange a national conference on the present political condition of the country to discuss major issues, including the Kalabagh Dam. Youth Force President Imtiaz Ahmed Mujahid, Senior Vice President Abdul Haleem Janbaz, Central Information Secretary Shakeelur Rehman Nasir and other leaders said that leaders from all four provinces and AJK would be attending the conference scheduled on December 25 at Lahore. They alleged that the government was trying to secularise the country under pressure from the United States and Western powers and giving it the name of modernisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Sounds like perfect little future UN workers to me. (Notice how they aren't doing a damn thing really to bring relief....they are just making demands and holding conferences.)
If they issued an anti-Israel statement, they'd have the act down perfect.
#2
"They alleged that the government was trying to secularise the country under pressure from the United States and Western powers and giving it the name of modernisation."
Did he add also ' contaminate the sanctity of our bodily fluids'? Also its a plot to add fluoride to the drinking water.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed a new $685m (£395m) loan for Iraq, in a move seen as an endorsement of its economic reforms. The loan represents the IMF's seal of approval that the Iraq government is taking the correct fiscal measures to mend its war-ravaged economy.
It will also encourage funding from other countries hoping to take part in Iraq's reconstruction...
...The IMF's agreement is regarded as a crucial step to help Iraq borrow money from foreign investors, and clears the way for wealthy creditor countries to begin implementing a debt relief programme for Iraq.
One group of creditor countries - the 19-member the Paris Club - has been waiting for the IMF's seal of approval before implementing its own proposed 80% reduction in the $38.9bn debt owed to them by Iraq...
Since results from Iraq's national assembly election trickled out this week showing that Shiite Muslims -many backed by neighboring Iran - would dominate the new parliament, Sunni Muslims have begun to ask: Is Israel really Iraq's enemy, or is it neighboring Iran?
Sunnis are often not comfortable talking openly about Israel, especially in a region where most Arabs won't refer to it by name and blame Israel for the conflict with the Palestinians. But privately many said Israel has not done anything lately to harm them; Iran has.
Apparently the memory of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s and the more recent attempts by Iran to influence Iraq's majority Shiite population have overwhelmed recollections of Israel's 1981 bombing of a French-built nuclear reactor near Baghdad.
Many Sunnis here say that Iran sent money and fake ballots across the border to support the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance slate. Now that the slate likely has won over a third of the parliament seats, many worry that Iranian influence is here to stay.
"I think that Iran is more dangerous to Iraq than Israel because of the assassinations that the Iranians have been doing. I think Israel would have been more merciful," said Added Hamid Hashim, 30, referring to recent killings of prominent Sunnis, even though there is no proof that Iranians were involved. "I hated Israel before the war, but now I hate Iran even more."
Added Mustafa Mohammed Kamal, 58, a retired schoolteacher: The Iranian interference in the election "was very clear and that makes Iran the number one enemy of Iraq. The Iranians have many supporters in Iraq. Israel is an enemy, but they are not as egregious."
During Saddam Hussein's time, the Sunni Muslim dictator was considered one of the most outspoken and active supporters of the Palestinians. Indeed, he paid some families of Palestinian suicide bombers up to $25,000 as a reward. Of course, Iran was no friend of Saddam, who launched an attack on Iran in September 1980 that touched off a war in which up to a million soldiers and civilians may have died.
Mithal al Alusi just ran a campaign for a seat on the new parliament while calling for stronger ties between Israel and Iraq, and appears to have won a seat.
In May 2004, al Alusi publicly admitted to visiting Israel the year before and faced repeated assassination attempts apparently provoked by the visit. His only two sons were assassinated in January because of his support of Iraqi-Israeli cooperation, he said.
But he said that some Iraqis are warming to a stronger relationship with Israel, in part because they are frightened of Iran's influence.
"They are afraid of Iran's extremist political system. If Iran were a democracy, they wouldn't be afraid," Alusi said. "We don't have border problems with Israel. We don't have historical problems with Israel," just Iran.
U.S. officials have said that Iranian political groups have funneled money into Iraq trying to influence the Dec. 15 elections. Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said earlier this month that Iran was "putting millions of dollars into the south to influence the elections."
One of Iraq's most fanatical opponents to Iran, Mujahedeen of Iran, claims that Iran pumped $84 million into Iraq's December elections, although no one has verified that number.
"We have always argued that Iran is the problem. The Iranian status in Iraq is a mass occupation," said Hossein Madani, a political representative of the group. "If you don't want to deliver Iraq to Iran on a silver platter, you need to do something soon."
For many Shiites here, the alliance with Iran is natural. Besides sharing a border, Iran is the largest and most powerful Shiite-dominated government in the world.
In the Shiite-dominated south, political parties often serve Iranian-made pastries at their events, women wear Iranian-made jewelry and markets offer an array of Iranian products, such as potato chips and photo albums. Residents there are unapologetic about their allegiance, but they said they are loyal to Iraq first.
"I don't think there is an Iranian interference in Iraq or in the elections," said Balasim Rizoki Jassim, 28, a Shiite supermarket owner. "I think they can be our friends."
Alusi believes Sunni politicians sometimes stoke fears of Iranian influence to galvanize their base, which is struggling to define its place in the new government.
A year ago, they would have used Israel to scare up votes, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2005 08:49 ||
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Is Israel really Iraq's enemy, or is it neighboring Iran?
This is what's known in the normal world as a DUH! moment.
But privately many said Israel has not done anything lately to harm them
Whaddaya mean "lately," dipshit? When was the last time Israel did anything to harm you at all?
(And don't even bother mentioning that little incident with the nuclear bomb factory - Israel's taking that out probably saved your asses from being turned into radioactive glass at a future date when your megalomaniac "leader" tried to use weapons yet again to prove he had a penis.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/25/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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This bears repeating:
"If you don't want to deliver Iraq to Iran on a silver platter, you need to do something soon."
It's finally becoming common understanding what I've been screaming, for years now: that the war on Iraq did not decrease but increased rather the power of Iran and the Islamofascist axis it represents.
Let us hear it again:
"If you don't want to deliver Iraq to Iran on a silver platter, you need to do something soon."
This sentence summarizes the whole point and I have nothing more to add to it. 'Nuff said.
Once more:
"If you don't want to deliver Iraq to Iran on a silver platter, you need to do something soon."
Ofcourse the chorus will now say that I "Arisified" the thread, and for the first time ever they will be absolutely correct. For the first time ever I'm *indulging* myself, not in order to contribute a political opinion (the post above said it all and I have nothing more to add), but to say "I told you so, you bunch of infantile baboons, and you not only didn't listen, you self-destructive idiots went out of your way to avoid listening."
Don't mistake it for anything else, this time I'm truly wanking here. For the first time ever in this forum. Everything previously was from a sense of duty, even the insults against the morons (Frank G., .com, Robert, etc) -- but this is for sheer pleasure's sake.
Ah, glorious glorious rest! Now that my hysterical screaming is commonplace knowledge I can finally relax. The odds of victory may still be against us but atleast there's a slim chance of fighting the *true* enemy, the *true* Axis of Terror, right now.
I'm off to the cinema to see the resurrected Saviour Aslan, so I'll be gone for several hours and you can bash me for the above wanking without hesitation. I'm feeling happy enough for these glimpses of awareness from Iraq, that I won't give a damn for anything else right now.
#3
Don't mistake it for anything else, this time I'm truly wanking here.
Your shipment of paper towels and Windex has been sent via Fedex and will take three business days for delivery. In the meantime, best of luck with your keyboard and monitor.
#4
"If Iran were a democracy, they wouldn't be afraid..."
That is the most telling statement I've heard in a while: it is the view held by democrats around the world that only other democracies can be friends--that dictatorships are always to be deeply distrusted.
ROFL. Wotta self-indulgent, self-excusing, self-glorifying, self-centered, self-destructive - what was it? Oh yeah, "infantile baboon".
The Strawman Murders
- Aris Katsaris
---
Regards Iraq. Whew! Good grief. How myopic. Writing a tome, in spite of having no desire to do so... mainly because I have a couple of quiet hours to kill before my flight, LOL.
Iraq is what it is, a confabulation of irreconcilable belligerents. It never made any sense outside of the drawing room where Sykes and Picot tipped a few whilst playing God. It makes no sense now - a farce that only arrogant diplomats could love, Iraq is doomed. Despite the absurd illusion of international power to grant, or refuse, "legitimacy", it will have no effect in the end. Indeed, the UN, Arab League, and all other collections of irrelevant influence peddlers will accept what comes, since they will have no choice or substantive say in the matter, and will "do business" with whatever falls out of this situation.
The Kurds, bless their souls, make lousy Muslims - in the Caliphatist sense of the word - and outstanding capitalists and civilized world citizens.
The Sunnis, damned by their own actions for the last 40+ years, are finding out about the other end of the power stick. This will continue, regardless of the form of government that eventuates.
The Shia are pulled in several directions and are splintered in every respect except one: payback. They are the key as an outright majority, but they will not actually act as a block except where it facilitates payback for Sunni depredations. All of the theories I've seen, especially regards Qom domination, the hand-wringing and worry, the screaming, enthusiastically and onanistically evidenced in this comment thread, in fact, are facile exercises, merely projections of non-Muslim, non-Arab, non-Iraqi, and especially irrelevant thought processes. It's non-sense.
I suggest the outcome will be dissolution. No other outcome has a snowball's chance in Hell, given the facts and sans the mental masturbation.
What is commonly forgotten or left out of the equation is the fact that the closer to the hearth and home, the more power. The blood debt is a family issue, and carries the greatest weight. Prosperity comes next, then tribalism, which feeds into both with duties to share in both repaying blood debts of tribal kin as well as sharing the wealth within the tribe. This is what you can count on.
Beyond that is sect, nationalism, and racism. How these mix together or separate, how much weight they bring, depends upon living memory and legend, with the former bringing it closer to the hearth & home and, thus, trumping.
That sect is utterly irreconcilable is patently obvious - one will dominate the other, with some cruelty always present, period. It obviously so in living memory. And with Saddam's fall comes the inevitable, at least in the Arab world, payback. Blood debts mounted for 40 years. All as fresh as yesterday.
In living memory they have growing nationalism - encouraged by the British to make a reality of the hodgepodge Sykes-Picot yielded, which was quickly turned against them in the 1920's. This propelled Arif to power. Then, keeping their real agenda somewhat under wraps in the process, by the Ba'athists in 1963 under Bakr, and then, very quickly, came Saddam. Saddam, in classic strongman style, perverted the movement and party to personal ends, dividing and controlling with wedges at every level to keep opposition in check and subjugating the Shia and Kurds.
Seems to me there are two obvious open questions:
Is nationalism still in evidence? Did Saddam, who fostered it at every opportunity, completely taint it in the minds of the Shia? Forget the Kurds here, they'd vacate the Iraqi Arab miasma in a heartbeat - the issue is the Shia mind. Is there any sense of nationalism evident? Though the US has great hope for this, it is not easy to instill and, regardless, doesn't directly address hearth & home. The gap, the disconnect, will be very hard to fill. The Iraqi forces are, apparently beginning to understand, but it will take decades to find its way to the ballot box.
Then racism, an ancient antipathy between the Arabs and Persians, reinforced in living memory by Saddam's pointless war on Iran. This cannot be discounted - though some seem confident in doing so. Some people think the world is flat and the holocaust is a myth, too. Only the Iraqi Shia know - all else is bluster and guessing. When you add in the fact that the racism is a compound issue with sect, it becomes a non-starter to claim Qom will now dominate. Balderdash. See "non-sense" projection above.
Then comes a more subtle issue - political leadership. Leaders attempt to lead, and whether for good or ill, the people follow - until they decide to remove the leaders. Many lead their people to ruin, and we know this can be done in full view, if done incrementally. Witness the decline of Europe into the failed idiocy of socialism and the economic ruin of the nanny state. Obvious. Pathetic. Back on track, the question is, what of the political leadership in Iraq? Particularly the Shia leadership, since they represent a majority in and of themselves. Sub-questions are:
Are they "independent" of Iran - or have they been bought or co-opted? Will the people follow them anywhere they direct?
Chalabi, architect of a "modern" Chalabian, er, Iraqi Empire from Najaf to Qom, was handed his hat. Pffft.
Sistani, grand old man of the "old school" Shia fared well. But he has several rather serious problems...
al Sadr is a problem, but a small one - they are a loud and bloody, but a tiny, tiny sliver of the Shia. His influence is trumpeted by the press, but it has not, and will not, equate to power from the ballot box. He's a Qom mercenary who plays well in the press scramble for bloody headlines. It ends there.
SCIRI, though claiming Sistani as their putative leader, should have done very well - and putting the vote-rigging issue and any future corrections aside, it appears they have. Many Shia did as the Old Man asked. But was it due to Sistani's power, or other factors? How far will they follow? SCIRI has actually held the reigns of power for some time, leading the last interim government, and has failed to improve the lot - the hearth & home - of the public. They are administrative failures and, more importantly, security failures. That is the current hallmark of SCIRI leadership.
As hearth & home failures, the question becomes was this a pro-Shia vote, a pro-Sistani vote, or an anti-Sunni vote, a blood-feud vote?
I think the latter is the obvious answer. This was, and still is, and will be for a long time to come, payback time.
In sum, the sect war trumps at the moment. Sistani / SCIRI / Iranian influence only gain marginally, superficially, as they are dismal failures in improving the hearth & home issues that might have brought them real appeal and power. Had they been competent administrators, had they accomplished hearth & home advances, then there would definitely be something to fear regards Iranian influence. At the moment, labeling it a pro-SCIRI victory, a pro-Iranian victory in the more fevered non-sense minds, is simply specious. It was an anti-Ba'athist victory. SCIRI and Sistani are only temporary beneficiaries. If the leadership that SCIRI puts forward leads them toward Qom, they will only go when it helps them regards hearth & home. They despise the Persians historically, have living memory blood debts from the recent war, and would have to be managed exquisitely to lead them into Iranian arms. SCIRI politicians have shown no such expertise. None. They can't seem to do much of anything competently, much less exquisitely. Iran will not become the beneficiary as the vast majority of Iraqi Shia will expect improvements that will not be forthcoming from the SCIRI leadership's stable of incompetent buffoons and, if the screamers are correct, tools. Will it matter if they're Qom's tools? LOL - No.
I fully expect these eventual outcomes, with some stepwise intermediate, but only momentary, plateaus:
The dissolution of Iraq into Kurdistan and, temporarily, "Arab Iraq", eventually into Sunni and Shia "Iraqs".
Continued Shia payback against the Sunni. While Iraq exists, and long after it collapses.
Escalation of the conflict as oil-rich Sunni states support Sunni survival against the Shia.
Kurdistan, beginning within Iraq alone, will prosper. It will grow to include parts of Syria (certainly, as Syria will fracture soon), Iran (very likely, see below), and Turkey (very possibly, due to Kurdistani prosperity as the magnet). This growth will occur over the next decade or so. The more they prosper in Kurdistan, the greater the attraction for those lands they occupy which are currently arbitrarily divided among other "nations".
Iranian influence, and the attached fears which we've heard so much about, will become moot. The Iranian theocracy will destroy itself - commit national suicide - with the able assistance of the outside powers it threatens. In the aftermath, Iran will fracture. As with all M.E. countries, it is a Yugoslavian disaster-in-waiting and they are busily lighting the fuse themselves. It is remarkable to watch such a slow-motion suicide.
Oh well, this is one observer's take. Easily as valid as the onanist's spew. LOL. Retire to your barracks, sonny, your personal issues play no part in reality - outside your fatigues.
Merry Christmas, Whiskey Mike. And a recommendation to all y'all: "The Chronicles of Narnia" is probably the best movie adaptation of a book I have *ever* seen. Truly lovely and delightful, in the characters, the atmosphere, the themes, everything.
BAGHDAD â Iraqâs national security adviser said yesterday he wanted to re-arrest Saddam Husseinâs former top weapons experts, as the US military confirmed the release of 14 more high-ranking detainees. Scientists Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash â âDr Germâ and âMrs Anthraxâ to the Western media â were among eight former senior figures under Saddam freed on December 17. Along with several of the 14 more now technically freed, they appear to be still in US care for their own protection, awaiting flights abroad.
Where we'll continue to pick their brains apart.
A lawyer for Ammash and others dismissed the announcement of Iraqi arrest warrants as âpure theatreâ, saying the government had agreed to a deal under which, he said, US forces had freed the 22 Saddam aides on condition they leave the country.
Yup, they gotta go. Someplace tropical. I know just the place.
National Security Adviser Mowaffak Al Rubaie said after he met top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani in Najaf that he would not accept their being at liberty: âThere are warrants of arrest for them issued by Iraqi judicial authorities and if they are released, weâll arrest them.â
The Shia Islamist-led government, bolstered by last weekâs election success, is clearly eager that supporters see it as being tough on Saddam, now on trial, and his followers. Many minority Sunni Arabs, dominant under the old regime, view the government as vindictive and accuse it of abusing human rights. US officials have declined formally to name those freed.
âThe 22 individuals no longer posed a security threat to the people of Iraq and to the coalition forces,â US commander General George Casey said yesterday in a joint statement with the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. US forces âtherefore, had no legal basis to hold them any longerâ, the statement went on, adding: âThe detainees have been released in Iraq. We have not transported any of them outside Iraq or provided them with passports or other travel documents.â
"But all the new government has to do is ask."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2005 00:11 ||
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release with actually being fred has gotta demoralize them...bummer
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2005 13:10 Comments ||
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freed....not a bummer to be Fred *sorry, master*
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2005 13:11 Comments ||
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Iraq's electoral commission is striking off 100 candidates who ran in the 15 December general elections for links with the banned Baath party. Adil al-Lami, a commisson official, said: "A court has overruled the commission's initial decision to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names of about 100 candidates. We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral lists to replace the candidates struck off."
He gave no details about which parties and candidates were affected. The electoral law does not allow former senior officials from the Baath party to run for parliament. Final election results are not expected before January.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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The governing Shiite coalition called on Iraqis yesterday to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a ânational unityâ government. But as they reached out to Sunnis and others, senior officials in the United Iraqi Alliance headed by cleric Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim deepened the postelection turmoil by claiming that extremists and Saddam loyalists were the ones questioning the results.
âThere will be no going back and no new elections,â said senior alliance official Jawad Al-Maliki. âThe results must be accepted and the will of the people must be respected.â The alliance said that preliminary results showing them with a clear lead in the Dec. 15 elections were not the result of fraud or intimidation. They charged that many violations took place in Sunni areas, and claimed that many of its âopponentsâ conspired with insurgents to alter results. âWe, the United Iraqi Alliance, were surprised by the results. We were expecting more seats,â Al-Maliki said at a news conference attended by five senior alliance members. âThe opponents have made it clear through their statements and warnings that they stand alongside the terrorists.â
He was referring to statements by senior Sunni politicians who openly thanked some insurgent groups for not attacking polling stations, and to reports that masked militants were guarding some of them. Adnan Al-Dulaimi, the head of the main Sunni coalition known as the Iraqi Accordance Front openly thanked âresistance groupsâ in the days after the elections. âThey have stated that what they call âresistanceâ has protected the ballot boxes in their areas. This is a confession that rigging has happened,â Al-Maliki said.
The harsh comments demonstrated the difficulty that Iraqi parties will face when they sit down to form a government after final results from the elections are released in early January. The officials added that the alliance had begun talks with other groups about the possibility of forming a ânational unityâ government.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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[Rumsfeld makes a surprise stop in Baghdad, rallies the troops, puts on a cook's hat, serves them dinner.]
"You folks have helped liberate some 25 million people for whom hope was never there before," he added.
Before he spoke, Rumsfeld helped serve the soldiers a dinner of rib-eye steak, lobster, crab legs, Cornish game hens and all the seasonal fixings. Grinning widely and wearing a white cooks hat, he worked his tongs as many of the soldiers snapped pictures of him and politely asked for their helpings.
Repeating a theme he struck throughout his visit, Rumsfeld cautioned against an early exit from Iraq. He said that giving up would mean allowing terrorists to impose "their dark vision on the rest of the world. Let there be no doubt: if the United States were to withdraw from Iraq today the terrorists emboldened by their victory would attack us elsewhere in the region and at home in the United States, he said.
Posted by: ST ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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There is a lot of trouble out there but at this Christmas I feel confident that we have good men and women at the helm. We've been lucky. It could easily have been different in 2004. We need to work harder so as to continue to deserve the blessings we have.
Posted by: mac ||
12/25/2005 8:05 Comments ||
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rib-eye steak, lobster, crab legs, Cornish game hens and all the seasonal fixings
But will there be a Plastic Turkey(TM)? (see tim blair for discussion)
Seriously, a good PR and MWR move. Especialy after seeing all the defeatism on the TV.
Sec. Rumsfield "Grinning widely" can be an alarming prospect--for a dictator.
To all at Rantburg--I wish you all a pleasant Christmas/Haunaka/Solstice/whatever holiday.
Posted by: N guard ||
12/25/2005 10:42 Comments ||
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I think my original submission was misunderstood ("No Christmas Pig Meat For US Troops.") What caught my attention was that traditional Christmas ham appears to be absent from the menu. Shellfish was served, so it wasn't out of respect for Jewish sensibilities. I just wonder what we expect to teach Muslims about pluralism by obediently dhimmifying our every move -- or what message we send to, say, Chaldeans.
Posted by: ST ||
12/25/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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Thousands of pilgrims have descended on Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus Christ enjoyed its busiest Christmas of the young century. Municipal officials and shop owners said that the numbers of foreign visitors was higher than at any other stage since the Palestinian uprising broke out five years ago, devastating the tourist industry.
All visitors had to enter Bethlehem from Jerusalem via a huge security terminal in a gap in the towering concrete barrier that has cut Bethlehem off from the Holy City around eight kilometres away. Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah called on Israel to tear down its separation barrier as he arrived in the city ahead of Christmas mass at midnight. "We have to remove the walls and put in their place bridges of peace and love," the Patriarch told journalists and the faithful after arriving in Bethlehem at the head of a procession from Jerusalem.
He added that the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank had transformed Bethlehem into an "immense prison". "Those who want to exercise power in the Holy Land must know that they cannot do it through violence but only by winning the hearts of Palestinians and Israelis." While the barrier restricts Palestinians from entering Jerusalem, Israelis are also forbidden from entering Bethlehem as it is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. "It's a strange feeling to know that foreigners can come here but Israelis can't even though they live so close," said Martina Sorenson, from Gothenburg in Sweden, who was hoping to attend the mass.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Of corse its all Israels fault for wanting to defending its innocent women and children from murders, rapists, and thugs.
I notice that this gues doesn't actually *live* there.
Ahmed Qurei, who quit as Palestinian prime minister to stand in forthcoming elections, has blamed his subsequent decision not to run on Israel's threat to ban voting in east Jerusalem.
"It's all their fault!"
Qurie - who also unilaterally announced that he was back in the prime ministerial role that he had to renounce as a condition of standing - said he thought that the polls on 25 January should be postponed because of the Jerusalem issue. "It is the main issue. We must not go to elections without Jerusalem," he told a news conference. However, Qurie was earlier quoted as saying that he was pulling out of the race because he opposed a decision to merge two rival lists of candidates from the ruling Fatah movement.
"Well... Yeah... That, too."
The governing body of the ruling Fatah movement had on Thursday decided to merge the rival lists of candidates submitted by the old guard and the youth wing of the movement as a compromise formula. The decision to have a common list would require senior leaders, including Qurie, to contest district polls before they could be considered for the final list. As a veteran leader, Qurie had expected to be at the top of the list without running the whole gauntlet.
He's much too important to The Movement for that...
Also, a re-election is not guaranteed at the district level voting and party officials believe that Qurie, who was placed near the top of Fatah's original list of candidates, will have a difficult time winning his local district.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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[Thank you Helmet]
For many Soldiers, even the new Army Combat Helmet is a necessary evil, it can be cumbersome when in the dining facility trying to handle a tray of food and it causes headaches and tension in the neck when worn on lengthy missions.
I love the bit in Bond films where 007 goes round Qâs laboratory checking out the latest top-secret gadgets. Thatâs why I enjoyed talking to Capt.Wegner and his colleagues at ScorpWorks, source of a variety of laser weapons and other one-of-a-kind devices.
The ScorpWorks is the Air Force Research Laboratoryâs in-house development team for laser system prototypes. Although it has existed since 1992, they have shunned publicity until this year. A laser weapon does not need to convert the target into smoking rubble: they are much more versatile than that.
The Laser AirCraft CounterMeasures (ACCM), which I detail in this week's New Scientist, is a nonlethal coaxial laser that sits alongside a helicopter door gun. It dazzles the target, preventing them from firing accurately and providing protection for the helicopter, but without risking civilian casualties.
Itâs more than a dazzler. Experience with the Saber 203 laser dazzler in Somalia showed that it was too low-powered to affect vision, but anyone illuminated beat a hasty retreat as they knew a weapon was being aimed at them. The ACCM should have a similar effect, scattering potential threats on the ground and leaving only the truly dangerous ones - and the 4,000 rpm minigun should deal with them.
The PHaSR laser-dazzling rifle unveiled a few weeks ago is similar (and not a hoax). In a riot-control situation, the idea is that lighting people up with this portable laser will separate peaceful protesters from the stone-throwers. The PhaSRâs dual-wavelength laser will also make countermeasures difficult, and Capt. Wegner points out that the end product will probably be very different to the bulky prototype.
The PHaSR is a relative of the Portable Efficient Laser Testbed (PELT). This is another riot-control weapon, but one that works by heat â "the first man-portable heat compliance weapon of its kind" Take a close look at the picture of PELT on page 52 here and you'll see a signature Scorpion logo â a rare visible sign of ScorpWorks handiwork.
Elsewhere they've been utilizing the laser as a sensor. By picking up the reflections back from the human eye, invisible laser sensors can detect people looking at them - similar to the way animal eyes light up when you shine a flashlight on them. A sniper detection system is in the works.
Even more sophisticated is BOSS, the Battlefield Optical Surveillance System. This is a vehicle-mounted setup which uses retro-reflection and a number of other technologies to spot targets in pitch darkness. It can be locate, identify and invisibly designate targets, so they wonât even know they've been spotted until a laser-guided weapon hits (and probably not even then). Exactly how far advanced BOSS or its successors are is not known.
The ScorpWorks name is a deliberate echo of Lockheedâs famous Skunk Works, renowned for producing world-beating aircraft like the F-117 stealth fighter and SR-71 Blackbird on time and within budget, a feat achieved following a set of bureaucracy-busting rules laid down by the legendary Kelly Johnson.
ScorpWorks reckon that many projects get completed within two years and with prototypes built for less than $300k. At that price you could get about 20,000 different projects for the price of one Airborne Laser.
The Skunk Works is famous for the many black programs that originated there, and you do get the impression with ScorpWorks that what they have revealed is the tip of the iceberg. We know their customers include Special Operations Command, Air Force, Marines, DARPA and the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, but we donât know what they bought. Even their unclassified programs can only be discussed in broad terms. If they told me more, theyâd probably have to kill me â but I bet theyâd use a really impressive laser.
Posted by: The Terminator ||
12/25/2005 12:24 Comments ||
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Here's an idea. You marry data mining with aerial surveillance. Lets say you want to find people planting IEDs, so you look for patterns of people and vehicles that indicate one is being, prepared, shipped or planted, and then sent a unit to investigate. The more hits you get the more pattern data you get and the more you then find.
The Lebanese authorities have discovered mass graves near the town of Anjar in the Beka'a Valley over the past week. The discovery of this site, along with another one discovered last month in the Ministry of Defense compound, have sparked a series of speculations and condemnations.
The latest grave site was near a Syrian army and intelligence headquarters. This command post was notorious among the Lebanese for the horrors that used to take place during interrogation by the Syrian intelligence.
Some politicians are using this incident as a pretext to launch political attacks based on their agendas. On his last speech to Parliament prior to his assassination, Right-wing MP Jubran Tueini has called on the government to investigate President Emile Lahoud for the mass grave uncovered at the Ministry of Defense at Yarzeh. This grave contained seventeen Lebanese Army soldiers and four civilians (including one cleric) who were killed during a battle against the Syrian Army in 1991 when the Syrians toppled General Michel Aoun. Lahoud was the head of the army at that time, and he had close ties to Syria.
MP Tueini was also pushing for the idea of distinction between these newly-discovered graves that are used to cover atrocities committed by the Syrian Army after the end of the civil war in 1991, and other still-unknown mass graves that hide massacres of the 1975-1990 civil war, citing the Lebanese General Amnesty Law.
Lebanon has passed a General Amnesty Law in March 1991, shortly after the end of the civil war. The law, which was passed by a parliament closely allied to the various warring militias, gave amnesty to all politically-motivated war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the civil war. This has effectively allowed warlords to escape prosecution and hold high posts in later governments until present day.
Many politicians consider this matter a political minefield because many of them were directly involved in the events that took place during the civil war. However, several civil society organizations are demanding the government to investigate and uncover ALL mass graves that might still exist. The Committee of Parents of the Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Lebanon, for instance, has been active in pressuring the government on this issue to help determine the fate of their missing relatives. Many still do not know whether their loved ones are dead or still held in Syrian jails. The committee believes that there are around 35 such mass graves throughout the country, and unearthing them would bring to several families' agonies to closure.
One of these grave sites, according to Al-Diyar newspaper is in the village of Aintoura, where the right-wing Lebanese Phalanges militia is believed to have executed entire families associated with the SSNP party in 1984.
Another suspected grave site is believed to be near the notorious Barbara Checkpoint, controlled by the Lebanese Forces north of Lebanon. Ironically, the longtime commander of this checkpoint, Antoine Zahra, was elected into parliament during the last elections that took place this year. In an incident portraying the bizarre workings of Lebanese politics, MP Zahra was elected by the people of Tripoli and Dinnyeh areas, the very same people whom he used to persecute at the checkpoint during the civil war.
One famous war-era mass grave is the Sabra & Chatila burial site, which holds the remains of those who fell during the Sabra and Chatila massacres. These massacres took place in 1982, when right-wing militias were admitted to defenseless Palestinian Refugee camps by the Israeli army and were given logistical support to 'wipe out terrorists'. The human death toll of these massacres is still unknown, and the numbers vary by the sources quoted from 700 to 3500.
Shiekh Maher Hammoud held a press conference in Sidon on Dec 9, where he made public the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 10 bodies on February 23th, 2005 in the town of Mrah al Habbas. He asked Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces, to come forward about this grave, which dates back to the 80s, when his militia was in control of the region. According to him, admittance of such terrible crimes would be the first step in the agonizing healing process. Via Indymedia, so take CGS (cum grano salis).
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Farouk Qaddoumi said that the Palestinian weapons are for "resistance and nothing more."
"Resistance," of course, is subject to a wide range of definitions...
Qaddoumi was speaking following a meeting on Friday in the Rashidieh camp with the secretary of Fatah Movement in Lebanon, one of the largest factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Colonel Sultan Abu al-Aynayn. "We are with the resistance and in 1990 we gave in all heavy weapons and what remains are the light weapons," he added.
Commenting on the purpose of his trip to Lebanon, Qaddoumi said: "I didn't ask to meet with any of the Lebanese officials during this visit but at the beginning of the new year, a Palestinian delegation will come to Lebanon to meet with Lebanese officials when they believe they are ready to do discuss the Palestinian-Lebanese relations."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2005 00:00 ||
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Resistance!
Quoth the Mizen
Only thisn and nutin more.
Suddenly there came a boomin
A great big honker boombin
A boombin at my dugout door.
Quoth the Mizen
Resistance!
Only thisn and nutin more.
Posted by: Leon Clavin ||
12/25/2005 7:33 Comments ||
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adequate current or voltage can overcome resistance if I remember my EE101 class
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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Fatah Central Committee Secretary Farouk Qaddoumi said that the Palestinian weapons are for "resistance and nothing more."
Yeah, they're going to "resist" giving up their weapons.
From senior Al Qaeda commanders killed or arrested in Pakistan, to multiple bombings in Bangladesh and new attacks on tourists in Bali, the terror threat in Asia is more diffused and difficult to combat than ever.
Experts say the Al Qaeda network has been definitely weakened but the four-year US-led war on terror has not brought to its knees the network of world's most hunted, Osama bin Laden, whose fate remains unknown.
More than 800 people have been killed, mostly in Asian countries, in more than 14 attacks blamed on Al Qaeda since 9-11 attacks.
Analysts say the terror group has won to its side several local and regional Islamist militant groups, particularly in Asia.
Al Qaeda has been providing them with finances, training and counselling in target selection.
"The Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Caucasian Groups within Al Qaedas ideological orbit of global jihad that received support now emulate Al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna, head of the terrorism research centre in Singapore, said.
"They conduct co-ordinated simultaneous mass fatality bombings including suicide attacks, hallmark of Al Qaeda attacks," he said.
Since its formation, Al Qaeda has supported some of the key Mujahideen groups who were forced out of Afghanistan in the aftermath of US-led invasion and created a network of support and hideouts for the group's hardcore members in Pakistan.
"Many top leaders of Al Qaeda have been arrested, their safe heavens busted but the capability of Al Qaeda to regenerate new crop of militants has remained intact," said a top Pakistani anti-terrorism official.
Its link-ups in Southeast Asia "are creating a situation where groups with purely local and regional agenda have now started contributing to Al Qaeda's global efforts," said Pakistani security analyst M A Niazi.
Gunaratna said Al Qaeda, dispersed from its Afghanistan-Pakistan core, was increasingly relying on the Southeast Asian groups for sanctuary, support and strike operations.
"As the intentions and capabilities of Southeast Asian groups to target regional governments and Western interests have not diminished, the region is likely to witness more attacks in the immediate future," he added.
He said bombings in Bali, Casablanca, Djerba, Chechnya, Mindanao and Karachi had demonstrated the threat from Al Qaeda's regional associates was as lethal as their parent group. "Despite being aggressively hunted worldwide, Al Qaeda's greatest success has been to provide ideological direction. Today, the threat is more diverse, dispersed and diffused," the Lanka-born terrorist expert said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2005 08:29 ||
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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.
Egypt's Opposition Leader 
Anti-Ahmadiyya bigots yesterday demanded resignation of State Minister for Home Affairs 
"The main obstacle to our target is 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed a new $685m (£395m) loan for Iraq, in a move seen as an endorsement of its economic reforms. The loan represents the IMF's seal of approval that the Iraq government is taking the correct fiscal measures to mend its war-ravaged economy.
BAGHDAD â Iraqâs national security adviser said yesterday he wanted to re-arrest Saddam Husseinâs former top weapons experts, as the US military confirmed the release of 14 more high-ranking detainees. Scientists Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash â âDr Germâ and âMrs Anthraxâ to the Western media â were among eight former senior figures under Saddam freed on December 17. Along with several of the 14 more now technically freed, they appear to be still in US care for their own protection, awaiting flights abroad.
The governing Shiite coalition called on Iraqis yesterday to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a ânational unityâ government. But as they reached out to Sunnis and others, senior officials in the 
