Though anti-jihadist operations will continue, negotiations geared toward further weakening those loyal to Mullah Omar and strengthening pragmatic leaders within the movement will become increasingly important in the months ahead, says a commentary on Taliban commander Mullah Dadullahs death.
The Texas-based news intelligence service Stratfor calls Dadullahs killing the first major success for Kabul and NATO against the Pashtoon jihadists since the recent resurgence of the Taliban. Until now, fighters and low- to mid-level leaders had been killed; this is the first time a major Taliban figure has been eliminated. He is known to have been a member of the 10-man Taliban leadership council.
Startfor speculates, Given the close ties between the Taliban and the Pakistani state and society, it is highly likely that Islamabad is the source of the intelligence on Dadullah. It should be noted that after several years of tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Kabul claiming that Islamabad was backing the Taliban, the Pakistanis with the Afghans against the Taliban. This was relayed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to Afghan President Hamid Karzai at an April 30 meeting in Turkey, during which they agreed to share intelligence on militant groups.
The commentary notes that although the Musharraf governments decision to work with Kabul on containing the Taliban is fuelled by its , Dadullahs death has certain implications for the domestic situation in Afghanistan. Though the insurgency will continue, it has been dealt a significant blow and the pace of the has likely been dampened. More important, the vacuum created by Dadullahs death could trigger infighting between hard-liners linked to Al Qaeda and more pragmatic elements.
Stratfor believes that the Taliban will be worried about how their organisational security net was penetrated and will be suspicious of many within their own ranks, which could lead to internal strife. Already those close to Omar and Al Qaeda are concerned about the more pragmatic elements talking to the Karzai administration. There are signs that such elements, knowing Kabul would not strike a deal with them unless they parted ways with Omar and his allies, might have actually helped in the elimination of Dadullah. Many within the movement actually did not approve of Dadullahs harsh policies.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > AL-QAEDA URGES "NON-WHITES" TO JOIN JIHAD AGZ USA, WEST. Move along, boyz, clearly no war for the world here.
An Afghan rebel leader said he had information that Osama bin Laden is alive but keeping a low profile by not issuing statements, according to a video aired on Sunday.
The Al Qaeda leaders long silence has fuelled speculation that the worlds most-wanted fugitive may be dead, reported Reuters. Based on information I have, I believe Osama is alive, said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose forces operate in southeastern Afghanistan near Pakistan, in an undated video broadcast on Al Arabiya television. His remarks were dubbed into Arabic. I also believe that it is good that he...not appear in the media and that it is wise that no statements or tapes are issued, said Hekmatyar, without elaborating.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
NEWSMAX > FBI Director MULLER WARNS OF NUCLEAR TERROR [agz America]. Among other things in article, believes Osama is still alive but is now forced to move around ala "horse-and-buggy days".
#2
Hello, home shoppers. Remember me? I'm still relevant. I'm still fighting the infidel. Well, as well as one can fight infidels from one's villa in Islamabad...
#7
I can see not appearing in media or issuing a tape, but a simple statement? This is a man who adores the spotlight and cannot have possibly restrained himself from commenting for as long as he has.
#13
I'm hoping every B-52 in the Middle East also shows up to pay their respects...
If these terrorist asstards hold an actual funeral for Dadullah we'd better bomb it to hell. Missing that last Taliban confab was a monumental blunder.
#1
This is what really pisses me off than in the West we let the mass growth of mosques whilst in the Islamic countries they dont allow the building of churches at all.
The double standards is appalling and shows us up as weak with no backbone to highlight the intolerance of islamic countries!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
05/15/2007 12:13 Comments ||
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#2
Some people, and most Muslims, seem to have a crying need to put down and oppress other people to make themselves feel good.
MOBILE phone calls in Sydney's CBD will be blocked by a sophisticated counter-terrorism measure to prevent bomb attacks during US President George W. Bush's September APEC visit.
The President's motorcade will be shadowed by a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment, News Limited newspapers report.
Terrorists have used mobile phones to detonate remote-controlled bombs in Iraq and in the second Bali bomb attacks.
It is expected mobile phone calls will drop out in an area the size of a football field as the helicopter passes overhead.
The technology was first used by the US President when Mr Bush attended the APEC summit in Pusan, South Korea, in 2005.
#1
Moonbats wailing about their "violated rights" in 3-2-1...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/15/2007 13:52 Comments ||
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#2
And now the brave soldiers in the helicopter will be a target as well if terrorists do intend on attacking. Douchebag reporters, there's no reason for you to report on security measures unless you want something to happen. I hope you are following Bush so they run you over in the rush to get him to safety.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/15/2007 13:56 Comments ||
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#3
The chopper will most likely be high enough to be out of the way of any small arms fire and the sniper patrol will be able to detact anybody going through the routine of a shoulder launched missle.
If you prefer, they could have just as easily had a couple of EA-6B Prowlers fly down and jam the entire town. That would have been a lot more fun; the entire town going dark and garage doors spazzing out (it's happened up here at NASWI).
#5
US soldiers in IRAQ-ME are now being targeted for death = kidnap as a "pressure tactic" to scare the US Congress-NPE into withdrawing from the region. IMO, 'tis also MOUD's + RADICAL ISLAM'S RESPONSE TO THE US ENTRENCHMENT + BUILDUP ALL AROUND RADICAL IRAN + MUSLIM WORLD. MOUD + RADIC ISLAMIES WANT DUBYA-NPE TO "BLINK".
Iff DUBYA REFUSES TO "BLINK", THE NEXT STEP MAY BE ESCALATORY, PER SE SUICIDE/TERROR ATTACKS AGZ DUBYA + USG-NPE. Both Moud = Dubya know it, espec iff Iran believes that having a anti-US, pro-OWG, pro-Isolationism, etc. POTUS after January 2009 may no longer have any benefit for Iran's = Islamists agenda.
A GROUP of right-wing politicians is gathering signatures to try to force a national vote on banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland. The planned building of minarets, the towers attached to mosques from which the Islamic call for prayer is issued, in small Swiss towns has sparked local protests.
A group of politicians from the Swiss National Party and Federal Democratic Union are seeking to prevent the construction of minarets in national law, saying they are a symbol of power and threaten law and order in Switzerland. The campaign has to gather 100,000 signatures by November 2008 to force a national vote on the initiative which, if it gains a majority vote, would then be written into law.
We have no doubt that we'll reach the goal, Ulrich Schlueer, a Swiss National Party parliamentarian for Zurich who is heading the initiative, said. We've now been collecting for a week and we've already got 10,000 signatures.
There are currently only two minarets in Switzerland, in Zurich and Geneva. The call to prayer is not made from these minarets.
But Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, a Social Democrat, said a ban on minaret construction would threaten the country's security. Such an initiative endangers Swiss interests and the security of Swiss people, Mr Calmy-Rey said.
"Because, after all, the followers of Allan could get very angry with us."
The liberty to practise a religion is guaranteed in Switzerland.
Efforts to set up a new Palestinian fund allowing donors like the European Union to send aid while formally maintaining their boycott of Hamas are close to being finalized, EU officials said Monday.
In a totally unrelated news item. 'Jews have too much sway in US policy'
Many Europeans believe the Jews dictate US policy in the Middle East, wield disproportionate global economic influence and talk too much about the Holocaust,
The First Secretary at the Chinese embassy in Stockholm is accused of having tried to stop a Member of Parliament from holding a speech on the democratization of China.
The Moderate Party's Göran Lindblad claims to have received a phone call from Chen Jinxiang last Thursday, a few days ahead of the Swedish politician's planned trip to Brussels and the Second International Conference for Global Support of Democratization in China and Asia.
"He said that we needed to meet. He wondered if I knew who was behind the conference and I answered that I knew very well. If they hadn't organized it, I would have done so myself.
"He then advised me not to travel. He didn't think I should; it wasn't a good idea," Lindblad told news agency TT.
As vice chairman of the Council of Europe and the organization's former reporter on crimes committed by communist regimes, Lindblad regularly gives talks at events of this kind. He says he is not surprised by the attempt to keep him from travelling.
"It's a communist technique. Communist regimes and other dictatorships work like this.
"As a supporter of immigration, I have the fascists after me as well as the communists. Now I am the Council of Europe's reporter on Iran, so I suppose soon the mullahs will join in too," said Lindblad. (emphasis added)
The Moderate politician intends meeting the First Secretary later this month. He also plans to take up the matter with the foreign ministry.
"Since Thursday I have also been getting anonymous intimidation calls. They let the phone ring one, two or three times before hanging up," said Lindblad.
#3
He had better be careful. The Chinese are starting to get aggressive with their foreign agents, against mostly ethnic Chinese who speak out against the Chinese government in other countries.
They are already acting at about the same level as the KGB was when attacking expats towards the end of the Cold War. And that ended up with an attempt on the life of the Pope.
Already the Chinese have sent agents to the US to bust up Falun Gong newspapers and beat up their people.
#4
China needs a serious smackdown. Their incessant meddling has done no more good than Soviet Russia's in its time. Hell, even modern Russia has proven incapable of working towards any betterment of the global community. A general boycott of Chinese manufactured goods would bring the Politburo to its knees in an instant. This really needs to happen soon, before China can do any more damage than it already has.
Oh, and pip-pip for Göran Lindblad. Maybe there's hope for Sweden yet.
A Pakistani terrorism suspect denied any connection to al-Qaida "No, no! Certainly not!"
and said he was tortured and his family was hounded by U.S. authorities, according to a transcript released Tuesday by the Pentagon. Majid Khan, in a lengthy written statement, said the CIA and the Defense Department tortured him after his capture in Pakistan as well as when he was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
Khan is Pakistani? I could have sworn he was a Canadian just last week. Or was that another member of the Kanadian Khan Klan.
``I swear to God this place in some sense worst than CIA jails. I am being mentally torture here,'' said Khan in a statement read by his personal representative about his time in Guantanamo. "Yarr! Won't talk will you? Mongo! Bruise his mind!"
"Duh! Yeah, boss!"
"Aaaaaiiiiieeeee!"
``There is extensive torture even for the smallest of infractions.''
"Hey, you didn't finish your carrots. To the rack with him!"
Khan, who grew up in Maryland and is the only U.S. resident among 15 detainees the government considers most dangerous, also described suicide attempts where he ``chewed my artery which goes through my elbow.''
He can chew his elbow?
"Igor! He's chewing his elbow again! Rattle his subconscious!"
"Yes, Mawstah!"
"Aaaaiiiieeeeeeee!"
The CIA and Pentagon have said their interrogations practices are legal and that they do not use torture. Well... Maybe an occasional Dutch rub. But only is special circumstances.
Khan's father, however, provided the most graphic descriptions of his son's treatment at the hands U.S. authorities, in a written statement that was also included in the hearing record. Ali Shoukat Khan said his son was kidnapped in Pakistan and that there, Americans tortured his son ``for eight hours at a time, tying him tightly in stressful positions in a small chair until his hands, feet and mind went numb ... He was often hooded and had difficulty breathing. They also beat him repeatedly, slapping him in the face, and deprived him of sleep.''
Here's a quarter, call someone who cares
Ummm... Did they kidnap Pop, too? Or did all this come to him in a dream?
The elder Khan, a retired gas station owner, said his son is not a terrorist and demanded that the government present its evidence, ``charge him with a crime and give him a fair trial in a real court.'' He also said he and his family were pressured by the FBI to speculate about his son's activities. "Speculate about Sonny's activities, Pop, or the bunny gets it!"
"No! Not Fluffy! I'll speculate! I'll speculate!"
The FBI, he said, ``followed us everywhere we went for a long time, requiring us to tell them in advance where we were going and what we were going to do there.'' "What're you doing in there? Did you die in there? There are other people who need to use that, too, y'know!"
During the hearing, the government said Majid Khan told others that he wanted to ``martyr himself'' in a plot to assassinate Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. They quoted his father and brother saying that Khan was involved with ``a group he believed to be al-Qaida'' and was involved in transporting people across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And why would they think that, you might ask....
U.S. intelligence also says Khan's cousin and uncle, who were both members of al-Qaida, introduced Khan to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who in a similar hearing at Guantanamo Bay depicted himself as al-Qaida's most prolific planner.
He's got a couple other brothers who are al-Qaida deaders or in the slammer as well, I think
Together, the government says, Kahn and Mohammed plotted to blow up American gas stations, poison U.S. reservoirs and kill the president of Pakistan. Other than that, he's pretty harmless.
Khan also is said to have helped pick possible operatives, including Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver who is now serving 20 years in prison for supporting terrorism. Faris was studying how to destroy New York City suspension bridges. Faris submitted a statement for the hearing, and said he was coerced and tricked by the FBI into make statements about Khan. ``If I don't tell them what they wanted to hear, they were gong to take me to Gitmo (Guantanamo).'' "They wuz gonna put ladies' underwear on my head and ever'thing!"
This article starring:
Ali Shoukat Khan
IYMAN FARIS
al-Qaeda
KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMED
al-Qaeda
MAJID KHAN
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Steve ||
05/15/2007 13:41 ||
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#4
If you read this story , you can see some of the inhumane torture he was subjected to: he was forced to use unscented deodorant and shampoo, he had to read a newspaper that was "full of crap", he had no DVD player for entertainment.
My God, I am so ashamed of being an American at this point. Putting this poor innocent boy through such horrible treatment.< /sarcasm>
I am sure that when the Red CrossThingy visits those soldiers from the Tenth Mountain Division, that we will see the proper way to treat POWs. < /Even more sarcasm>
#5
Hang him by his ankles from the Golden Gate Bridge, so that his head is about 30 inches from the waves at high tide. Then run a Carrier Battle Group directly at him. Swing aside as close to him as you can, but where none of the ships actually smack his now-brown-coated a$$. Maybe he'll catch the bow wave, and get a bath. THAT would be "mental torture", I guess, but it will probably work on his pea-sized brain. Rinse and repeat, if necessary. Then send him back to Pakiwakiland, first-class, so he could spread his tale of "woe". Taliwackers will commit suicide to keep from being captured - a good thing, I think.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/15/2007 19:42 Comments ||
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#6
And the hollandaise sauce on the asparagus was too salty!
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats are staging a dramatic anti-war vote this week, with moderates collaborating behind closed doors on legislation that could call on President Bush to rethink his war strategy.
Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday that members will decide whether to cut off money for the Iraq war next year, as well as consider a softer proposal calling for troops to leave this fall. The two measures would be offered as amendments to a water projects funding bill to be debated this week. The votes, expected by Wednesday, will probably fall short of the 60-vote threshold usually needed to advance controversial legislation. But they will help Reid, D-Nev., test the Senate's political waters at a time when the Democratic caucus is divided on how far Congress should go to end the war. ``On our side of the aisle, Democrats believe they should do something very, very close to what was done in the bill that was sent to the president to be vetoed,'' Reid said.
Accordingly, Reid and Sen. Carl Levin proposed that the Senate vote on legislation demanding troop withdrawals begin on Oct. 1 but allowing Bush to waive that requirement. Levin, D-Syria Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called the approach the Senate's ``second-best'' option. ``By providing for the presidential waiver, we are removing any reason for the president to veto the supplemental funding bill,'' he said.
And allow the Dhimmicrats to claim that it's all Bush's fault and thus avoid responsibility.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush opposes the Levin amendment. ``Such timelines tie the hands of our commanders, weaken our friends, embolden our enemies and enhance the risk faced by our troops in combat,'' Perino said. ``The bottom line is that a date for retreat is a date for retreat, and the president opposes such provisions.''
Under pressure from other more liberal party members, Reid also wants to give members a chance to cut off money for combat operations after March 31, 2008. Reid co-sponsored the legislation earlier this year alongside Sen. Russ Feingold, but he said he would not push it as a caucus position. ``The American people deserve to have the Senate go on record about whether or not it wants to end our misguided mission in Iraq and safely redeploy our brave troops,'' said Feingold, D-Iran Wis.
The votes come as nearly a dozen Republican senators have been discussing possible legislation on the war, including a proposal by Sen. John Warner that would call on the president to re-evaluate his Iraq strategy if the Baghdad government does not meet certain benchmarks. ``We're trying to put together a single document'' that would address concerns of GOP senators, Warner, R-Weasel Va., said in an interview.
Warner said he personally backs requiring reports before the August recess and in September on the extent to which Iraqis are making progress on political and security reforms. Warner said he wants to get a report by July at least ``so members of Congress have an evaluation of that situation as they presumably go back to their respective constituencies.'' If the Baghdad government fails in meeting the benchmarks, ``then the president is to determine whether he is to revise the strategy that he laid forward,'' he added.
Warner said he has been discussing the idea with the group and plans to talk about it Tuesday with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. The goal, he said, is to develop a proposal that attracts broad bipartisan support. The list of Republicans working with Warner include Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
Nelson has drafted similar legislation that would go even further. If the Iraqis failed to make progress on certain political and security reforms, the U.S. would cut off reconstruction aid. Under the bill, the president could waive the restriction if he provides public justification. Nelson's bill also would require the U.S. commander in Iraq to testify by Sept. 15 on whether Bush's troop buildup around Baghdad is working. ``The Senate needs to move forward,'' Nelson said. ``The president has signaled he will accept reasonable benchmarks.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I want to see the yes votes in every newspaper in the nation. On the front page. Where the voters can see who is a traitor.
#2
3DC, where were you last November when the 'voters' changed the Congress because of "W"'s stubbornness to yield to the American People's will on this matter. The other shoe will drop in November 2008 when the Executive Branch will be given to the democrats! Six months from now, we'll see the 'bloodletting' leading up to that when the 'Coat Tail' republicans in the Congress will take a 'lickin' to pacify "W"'s veto stubbornness. The handwriting is on the wall!!
#3
O'REILLY [paraphrased] > ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS ARE WILFULLY WORKING FOR DE FACTO US DEFEAT, in Iraq-ME + WOT. NOT MERELY "ENDING THE WAR", "PULLOUT",
"WITHDRAWAL", or so-called "REDEPLOYMENT". FREEREPUBLIC > AL-QAEDA WANTS NON-WHITES TO JOIN JIHAD AGZ USA, WEST; + FR Poster - OBAMA LOSES HIS OBL MOMENT. Obama stays silent as Zawahiri video calls on US African-Amers = Minorities? to resort to 1960's, MALCOLM X-style street demonstrations, riots, andor armed violence, to protest against US war in Iraq + for Race Rights, etc.
#4
My congress critter won.
Too many dead crook county voters negate my county's votes for the senate.
But, our senate critters were not up for re-election. (Its a blue state already.)
To top it off the Republican party in Illinois has had too many crooks including a gov now in jail, too much nepotism and too much cronyism.
The Republican party in Illinois needs gutting and replacement.
#5
WORLDTRIBUNE > MARK STEYN -THE GATE OF FORTRESS AMERICA'S IS OPEN. Among other thingys, America is at high rosk becuz CONGRESSCRITTERS WANT TO PROCLAIM THEIR PC DESIRE TO PROTECT AMERICA, WHILE SIMUL ALSO MAKING DURN SURE ILLEGALS STAY ILLEGAL = IN THE SHADOWS AND SUPPORTED BY MASSIVE GOVT ENTITLEMENTS, ETAL. D *** ng it, the only thing better = worse than massive National entitlement is higher Regional entitlement is TransRegional is Global entitlement is Lunar is Space is ............@Alpha Centaurian, etal; + SOL SANDERS > TIME TO USE THE OLYMPICS AGZ CHINA'S EXCESSES. The Kindler, Gentler, Motherly Chicoms love us in order to kill us wid finesse and correctness - Oh the Panda-manity.
#6
FARSNEWS.com [Iran] > IRAN MP [paraphrased]> CULTURE OF ISLAMIC REVOLUTION + ISLAM IS THE GREATEST DANGER/THREAT FOR THE USA. The USA fears Iran's Revolution + Islam, and as Khameini sezzes, THE 21st CENTURY IS THE ERA OF THE DEFEAT, DEMISE, AND ANNIHILATION OF THE USA. Also in FARSNEWS > IRAN'S [nuke] PROGRESS IS IMPORTANT FOR REGIONAL NATIONS.
#7
Almost forgot, CHINESE MIL FORUM > DEFENSENEWS > CHINA'S PLA WANTS 5 BOOMER + 30 ATTACK SUBS BY Yarn 2016. See also SPACEWAR > SUBMARINES LEAD THE WAY IN ASIA-PACIFIC BUILDUP.
#8
Senate Democrats are stuck on stupid and treason. Where's Cromwell when we need him to march in and take over the congress and arrest all these scoundrels.
I know, our form of government allows stupidy to reign supreme. But I got to tell you, Reid and Pelosi and these other clowns makes my blood boil. Can't Bush just have them drawn and quartered in addition to vetoing stupidity.
#9
From #2 above 3DC, where were you last November when the 'voters' changed the Congress because of "W"'s stubbornness to yield to the American People's will on this matter.
smn, I find your conclusions without merit. In fact, the single group who benefitted most from the 2006 elections were the 'close the borders' group. Of course, you could be right about 2008, but if you would like to bet some hard cash, I'm your Huckleberry.
#10
Whether a Democrat or Republican is in the presidency in 2008, the war will go on. Whether or not the funding is pulled, the war will still go on. The Democrats have "minunderestimated" the threat and the foe. Should they win the election they will own the ugly baby and have to deal with it. They can wish it will go away but it won't. To the Muslims, we are the enemy and we will continue to be the enemy. We are considered the infidel and they will not be satisfied just because the Democrats might happen to win.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/15/2007 16:43 Comments ||
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"Should they win the election they will own the ugly baby and have to deal with it. They can wish it will go away but it won't."
Very true. But the Dems have made it clear that they prefer the so-called "Law Enforcement Approach" to fighting terrorism, as it was during the Clinton administration; and that's what we're likely to see instead of anything we'd recognize as a "war" if one of them wins in '08.
Not only that, but remember the Democrats are very, very good at sweeping unwanted news (other than sex scandals) under the rug with the help of their media buddies; once a Dem is in the White House (God forbid) we're unlikely to hear much in the news about "war".
More than anything else the Democrats want to take America back to 9/10, and "help" America by making new "safety nets" that their favored parasites can use as hammocks in exchange for votes.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/15/2007 17:50 Comments ||
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#14
DaveD, what you say about the Dems is absolutely true. They WANT to go back to 9/10. But the reality of the situation will not permit it. The enemy knows that they are weak. They will be unable to stop themselves from attacking this perceived weakness. And so the cycle will begin again, hopefully with at least some lessons learned, even by the dems. The attack will be their baby. The news will not be able to ignore it. They may not want the war, but it will come to them nevertheless.
#15
"They WANT to go back to 9/10. But the reality of the situation will not permit it."
But it won't stop them from doing a damn good job of pretending. Remember the 1993 WTC bombing, and how after a few months it receded into the background of the news and became "just another criminal investigation"; that's how I'd expect any future Democratic administration to handle further terrorist attacks on the homeland, for anything short of one of our cities getting nuked.
"And so the cycle will begin again, hopefully with at least some lessons learned, even by the dems."
You've got more faith in them than I do, I suspect; I'm no longer willing to risk my childrens' lives on the Democrats being able to learn ANY lessons with regard to handling terrorism. Not even a little bit.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/15/2007 19:52 Comments ||
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Paging ex-JAG, paging ex-JAG to the yellow comment box ...
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Navy lawyer accused of passing secret information about Guantanamo Bay detainees sent a human rights lawyer their names and intelligence about them tucked into a Valentine's Day card, prosecutors said Monday.
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz's actions endangered the lives of the detainees and American troops on the front line in the war on terror, prosecutor Lt. James Hoffman said during opening statements in Diaz's court-martial at Norfolk Naval Station. ``This case deals with the deliberate, intentional, conscious release of classified information,'' Hoffman told the jury of seven Navy officers.
But defense attorney Lt. Justin Henderson said that the information was not marked classified and that Diaz had no reason to think the document ``could be used to injure the United States.'' ``We don't expect the evidence will show that Diaz made the right decision. We don't expect the evidence will show he made a wise decision,'' Henderson said. ``He made a decision that was less than forthright, but he did not make an unlawful decision.''
Seems pretty simple to me: if the information was classified, Diaz's opinion -- or Henderson's -- as to whether it would 'injure the United States' is immaterial. Classified means just that.
Diaz was near the end of a six-month stint at the U.S. military base in Cuba when he went to his office the night of Jan. 2, 2005, and used his classified computer to log into a classified military network and accessed a Web database with information about the detainees, Hoffman said. Diaz printed information including the names of 550 detainees, their nationalities, the interrogators assigned to them and ``intelligence sources and methods,'' Hoffman said.
Seems pretty classified to me.
Diaz then ``cut that document into 39 sheets so that the nation's secrets fit inside this card,'' Hoffman said as he held up to the jury a copy of the card, with a big heart and a Chihuahua on the front. He said Diaz mailed the card in an unmarked envelope on Jan. 15, 2005, his last day of duty at the base.
And it seems like he knew it.
Human rights attorney Barbara Olshansky testified that the document in ``this weird valentine'' she received was not marked classified. At the time, Olshansky worked for the Center for Constitutional Rights.
AH-HA! BINGO! The CCR is a quasi-commie, Soros-funded, hard-left organization that has its hands in all sorts of nefarious issues. They've been raising a stink about Gitmo since day one. That's all the proof I need to know that Babbles was on the receiving end of classified information. When does she go on trial?
She said the nonprofit legal group was suing the federal government to obtain the names of detainees because the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the detainees had the right to challenge their detention.
And this is how she got the information, since she couldn't get it legally. When does she go on trial?
Olshansky said that she asked the judge in the lawsuit to hold on to the document, but that the judge referred the matter to a Justice Department security officer.
Since the judge knew it was classified information and knew Babbles had gotten it illegally. When does she go on trial?
Olshansky also testified that she never had met or spoken with Diaz and that the center was able to obtain some detainees' names from lists compiled by other organizations, such as Amnesty International.
Baloney, of course. The military investigators need to toss this chick's life and office. Then she needs to go on trial.
Diaz, 41, of Topeka, Kan., worked as a staff judge advocate at Guantanamo Bay, where he provided counsel to the military command in charge of the detention center but was not involved in detainees' cases, the Navy said.
So his logging into a classified computer to get detainee names was immediately suspect, since he had no reason to be around those names. Bet they got a log of his access, which files, etc. He's just plain toast at this point. Wonder if he'll roll over on Babbles?
Diaz is charged with failing to obey a lawful general regulation, engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer by wrongfully transmitting classified documents to an unauthorized person, and turning over to an unauthorized person secret information related to national defense. He originally faced 36 years in prison if convicted, but some charges have been consolidated and the maximum punishment now is 24 years, Navy spokesman Kevin Copeland said. Diaz remains free and is stationed in Jacksonville, Fla.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It's when I read stories like this I wish McCain had gotten elected back in '00. While I definitely recognize his numerous flaws (amnesty for illegals, McCain-Feingold, etc.), I can't help but think that if he was in the White House, this story would have prominently featured the words "treason", "espionage" and "firing squad".
Posted by: RIcky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/15/2007 2:06 Comments ||
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#2
Total max punishment of 24 years -- good, someone is finally getting serious about this shit. It ought to be a hanging offense, but seeing him celebrate his 60th birthday in prison would be okay too. The military is often far too lenient with officers. And, seeing as these are crimes of moral turpitude, disbarment is likely, regardless of whether he's convicted.
As for Babs: "Suspecting that the document was sensitive, she turned it over to federal authorities." Mm-hmm, since human rights lawyers are so well known for their unflagging sense of civic duty. Sounds like she got what she wanted, then sold him out. Heh.
And now he's pled not guilty and asked for a panel, which will be composed of officers senior to him, and will include some Marines. Dumb, but typical. More trial documents here.
Hadn't heard about this one -- I'll track it. In other traitor news, Watada's new trial is supposed to start June 16. I predict he walks. We shall see.
#7
Mmmm, Harm is a hunk. But in the real world, the hunks are senior NCOs. Traded my commission for one, and never regretted it. :)
My favorite case of officer misconduct: an O-6 showed up at a US embassy, having lost his passport. He was directed to the attache, a Marine, to whom he presented his military ID and identified himself as an active duty AF colonel.
. . . while in full drag. dress, heels, makeup, long talon nails painted red, hair matted down as if he'd been wearing a wig. The Marine said, no problem sir, we'll get right on it and put you up in the BOQ for the night. "However," he said, nodding at his suitcase, "you may want to stop off in the restroom and, ah, clean up."
So the colonel disappears into the bathroom for ten minutes . . . and comes out looking exactly the same, only he'd taken the red nail polish off. So the attache sighed and escorted him to the BOQ in that condition.
The O-6 was disciplined for conduct unbecoming an officer. But I don't know, who are we to say that it wasn't becoming?! LOL.
#8
Sounds like his defense is "I am too stupid to judge what can hurt the U.S." Hang this turd from a yardarm even if we have to build one to get it done.
#10
Hey Ex-Jag didn't he cross over into illegal when he printed the list with intent to distribute OUTSIDE Defense channels? I remember something just like that in the statement I signed for my clearence.
#12
Cyber Sarge, I'm no expert, but yeah, I'd say was illegal as soon as he formed the intent to distribute the info to unauthorized persons (which could also be persons inside DoD without proper clearance).
I did some digging around, to see if Matt and Barb were law school chums, or lovers, or what, since they seem to be about the same age. Haven't turned up much, other than:
-- Olshansky went to Stanford Law, class of 85
-- Diaz is a member of the Kansas bar, school unknown
-- Olshansky has that severe man-hating-lesbo-radical look (so probably not doinking Diaz)
-- Olshansky received Diaz's valentine while CCR was in the midst of a trial, the goal of which was to get the gov't to release the names. She gave the papers to the judge, saying they came in "this weird valentine," and testified that she never had met or spoken with Diaz." (Link)
If Olshansky is being truthful (big if, I know), it would seem that Diaz read about the lawsuit in the news and took it upon himself to help out. Without being asked, threatened, paid, or otherwise Or perhaps he was. If he's not a moonbat, it's a mystery why he would do this. If he is a moonbat, 24 years isn't enough.
#13
I am willing to bet that there will be letters or emails or phone records produced that tie these two losers together prior to the transmittal of the documents. Then they can both hang.
#15
The military investigators need to toss this chick's life and office. Then she needs to go on trial.
I gotta go with the Good Doctor on this one. Both Olshansky and Diaz should be made to rue the day they decided to meddle in America's anti-terrorism program. Simply put, the scumbags in Gitmo have no rights. They abandoned them the instant they went to war against America in civilian mufti. That our military did not shoot all of them on sight is only because of a need to gather intelligence and not any possibility of innocence. Had we executed every single one of these maggots, I doubt the mistake rate would have been over one percent.
Finally, America really needs to begin executing people for treason. Promise these traitors life sentences in exchange for turning then just as swiftly hang them afterwards without any further access to counsel. Betraying one's own country must be made the capital crime it is and the penalty must suitably match that vile deed.
U.S. citizen Jose Padilla provided the ultimate support for terrorism by offering himself to al Qaeda as a trainee, a prosecutor told a jury on Monday in the trial of the former "dirty bomber" suspect. Padilla, 36, and two co-defendants face life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" around the globe and providing material support for terrorists.
The defendants were part of a Florida support cell that provided money and recruits for Islamists waging a violent international jihad, or holy war, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier said in an opening statement to the jury. Padilla's attorney said had no ties to al Qaeda and was wrongfully accused by an over-reaching U.S. government at a time when fear ran high, he said.
Frazier said defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi provided plane tickets, sleeping bags and satellite phones to al Qaeda-affiliated groups fighting in Lebanon, Somalia, Kosovo and Chechnya in the 1990s. Padilla went farther by going to an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 2000 to train as a fighter for a group bent on destroying his homeland, Frazier said. "Jose Padilla was an al-Qaeda terrorist trainee providing the ultimate form of material support - himself," he said. "Joining an al Qaeda training camp was an incredibly rare thing for an American to do."
Padilla's attorney, Anthony Natale, said Padilla spent five years in the Middle East studying Arabic and the Koran in hopes of becoming a Muslim cleric. "Do not be fueled by fear, persuaded by politics," he urged jurors.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke forbade prosecutors from linking the defendants to the Sept. 11 attacks, which they are not accused of supporting or taking part in, and the defense also did not directly refer to them.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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WORLDNEWS/ABCNEWS.com > Padilla's alleged JOB APPLICATION for AL-QAEDA [copied and interpreted for ABC site] is reportedly one of the best evidences the FBI = DOJ has agz him. That being said, IMO Padilla is NOT the personage depicted or sketched as "JOHN DOE #2" as per OKC.
Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed Gondal of PUs Islamic Studies Department repeatedly urged the vice chancellor to make sure Islamic culture was maintained on campus. Before inviting the VC for his presidential address, Dr Ishtiaq said on stage that PU students did not like the culture of music and Valentines Day on campus and that the VC should make sure Islamic culture persisted on campus. He said, PU students want jihad and not foreign culture and music. In an apparent reply to Dr Ishtiaqs comment, the VC briefed the conferences participants about the developments in the university during the past few years. He also announced Rs 100,000 for the Faculty of Islamic Studies. Dr Ishtiaq is a former nazim of the Islami Jamiat Talabas PU chapter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
D *** ng it, so its NOT Madonna + the Pepperdine University Swim Team, ala her late '80's
"CHERISH" video??? STHENNO the MIGHTY ONE - FLEX THOSE MUSCLES, MADONNA, LIKE THE ENTIRE MOUD-IAN??? APOCALYPSE DEPENDS ON IT, BABY!
#4
Theyre pickin up the prisoners and puttin
em in the pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Rebels been rebels since I dont know when
And all she wants to do is dance
Molotov cocktail-the local drink
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
They mix em up right in the kitchen sink
And all she wants to do is dance
Crazy people walkin round
With blood in their eyes
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Wild-eyed pistol wavers
Who aint afraid to die
And all she wants to do is-
And all she wants to do is dance
And make romance
She cant feel the heat comin off the street
She wants to party
She wants to get down
And all she wants to do is-
And all she wants to do is dance
Well, the government bugged the mens
Room in the local disco lounge
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
To keep the boys from sellin
All the weapons they could scrounge
And all she wants to do is dance
But that dont keep the boys
From makin a buck or two
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
They still can sell the army
All the drugs that they can do
And all she wants to do is-
And all she wants to do is dance
And make romance
Well, we barely made the airport
For the last plane out
As we taxied down the runway
I could hear the people shout
They said, dont come back here yankee!
But if I ever do-
Ill bring more money
cause all she wants to do is dance
And make romance
Never mind the hear comin off the street
She wants to party
She wants to get down
All she wants to do is-
All she wants to do is dance
All she wants to do is dance
And make romance
All she wants to do is dance
Mullahs from the Jamia Haqqania madrassa in Nowshera district of Frontier province have declared that Uzbek militants killed in South Waziristan are martyrs. A pamphlet distributed here on Monday said that the mullahs rejected previous fatwas issued soon after clashes between Uzbek militants and Ahmedzai Wazirs began on March 18 around Wana, South Waziristan, stating that the Uzbeks died a haraam death as it was a war between Uzbeks and Pushoons. The pamphlet from an unnamed group urged the government officials to stay away from operations against mujahideen. The Jamia Haqqanian clerics who signed the fatwa, written in Pashto, are Sheikhul Hadith Maulana Dr Sheikh Sher Ali Shah, Sheikhul Hadith Hazrat Ustaz Naseeb Khan, Hazrat Mufti Saeedur Rehman and Mufti Rashid Ahmed, the pamphlet claimed. It said the US and its allies were involved in a vicious propaganda against Uzbek mujahideen, who were fighting in the way of Allah.
This article starring:
HAZRAT MUFTI SAIDUR REHMAN
Jamia Haqqania
MUFTI RASHID AHMED
Jamia Haqqania
SHEIKHUL HADITH HAZRAT USTAZ NASIB KHAN
Jamia Haqqania
SHEIKHUL HADITH MAULANA DR SHEIKH SHER ALI SHAH
Jamia Haqqania
Jamia Haqqania
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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So when will North Waziristan declare Jihad against South Warziristan? I would kind of like to know so I can be ready with my popcorn futures.
Indonesia and Pakistan have agreed to work together to stamp out radical Islam as part of efforts to stop future deadly militant attacks, a report stated Monday. The two countries have formed a joint working group amid concerns that some Indonesians have attended Islamic schools in Pakistan and have later undergone training in extremist camps, said Indonesian senior anti-terror officer Ansyaad Mbai. We will work together in a joint working group to find, among other things, a new method to eradicate Islamic radicalism that often becomes the root of terrorism, Mbai was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency. He did not say whether Pakistani officials had visited the Southeast Asian nation recently to formalise the agreement, nor who would makeup the group. Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim nation, has seen deadly bombing attacks in recent years blamed on the Al Qaeda-linked regional extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Posted by: Fred ||
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In other news, the Mafia and Nuestra Familia team up to fight organized crime.
The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) Monday warned MQM ministers not to visit NWFP and urged lawyers and Pushtoons to shoot the ministers if they crossed Attock bridge. Burn down MQM offices and wage a jihad on its members on seeing them anywhere in the province, PHCBA President Abdul Latif Afridi told a lawyers meeting before the joint opposition joined them at Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Pushtoons will avenge the bloodshed of innocent Pushtoons in Karachi by the MQM, which is a group of terrorists, Afridi said. He said President Pervez Musharraf, Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Governor Ishratul Ebad should be charged with deliberate murders. Barrister Masood Kausar, provincial organiser of the PPP lawyers forum, said the lawyers should take action against the MQM to avenge Pushtoons killing. We have considered Karachi mohajirs our brothers since 1947 but the recent bloodshed proves they migrated from India to destabilise Pakistan, he added. Only the PPP acted against the MQM terrorists on May 12. Political parties are now united to wipe out this terrorist group from Karachi and help Sindhis get rid of them forever, Kauser said. Sources told Daily Times that the MQM provincial president had closed the party office in Peshawar to avert possible attack.
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05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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AMMAN - Pro-US ally Jordans King Abdullah on Monday urged US Vice President Dick Cheney to support a greater political role for Iraqs Sunnis to restore stability and curb Irans growing influence, officials said. They said Cheney was told by the monarch during a meeting in the Red Sea port of Aqaba that Washington should pursue more vigorously the benchmarks on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Malikis government on national reconciliation, that include dismantling Shia militias and giving Sunnis a greater say.
Even though the Sunni Iraqis haven't earned much of a right to have a say, and they're only 15% of the population, their brethern Sunnis in Saoodi-controlled Arabia and Jordan want them to get plum jobs and a veto on everything in Iraq. Cheney has to be a hell of a diplomat not to laugh in their faces.
His Majesty stressed that the only way to end the infighting is reconciliation between all components of the Iraqi people and participation of all groups in the political process, the monarch was quoted by a palace official as telling Cheney.
Part of which is the Sunnis accepting their place in the new republic.
The increase in violence lately is disrupting efforts to restore stability and increases tensions in the region, the monarch was quoted as telling Cheney.
Officials said Cheney was told by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that Washington had to put more pressure on the Maliki government, which is seen as dominated by Iranian backed Shia religious parties, to increase Sunni representation in Iraqs security forces. They told the top US official it was difficult to back Washingtons goals of containing Irans nuclear threat as long as a flawed Iraq strategy fails to redress the political imbalance tilted in favour of Irans fellow Shias in Iraq. The dogged obsession on reining in the insurgency has only helped to give Shia parties aligned to Iran greater power which they abused to further marginalise Sunnis from government, one official who requested anonymity told Reuters.
Which tips the Saoodi hand here: they want us to do more to stop Iran, but at the expense of putting all Shi'a down. Whereas the Iraqi Shi'a, managed properly, could be among our better long-term allies in the region.
Cheney also heard Arab concern that absence of a political deal with Sunnis would doom to failure the US military surge in Iraq, seen as a last ditch effort to avert all out civil war.
Sunnis must be having their asses handed to them, you usually see Arabs bleat like this only when they're getting whacked hard.
Arab moderates warned Cheney failure in Iraq would not only damage broader US interests in the region but destabilise its allies and stoke radicalism, another Jordanian official said. We are very worried about the disastrous consequences of the failure of the US in Iraq and its impact on the rise of Irans power. It will be a double blow to Americas allies and its vital strategic interests in the region, said the official.
How's about you 'Arab moderates' tell your Sunni cousins to drive al-Qaeda out of Iraq and otherwise respect the new law in town? Then and only then will we see if we can 'persuade' our pal Maliki to pull in his horns a little.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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STRATEGYPAGE > IRAN WANTS TO GET BOMBED - Iran, NOT the USA, is the one doing most of the Media rantin' about US-led attacks agz it; + IRAN: SCARY SPRING - Iran's economy going down for the count.
For the Arab residents of Jerusalem, the construction of the security fence around the city has been both a blessing and a curse. Those living on the Israeli side of the fence feel more comfortable now that they know Israel has no intention of cutting them off from Jerusalem. These residents enjoy freedom of movement, work in Israel and are entitled to all the privileges that Israeli citizens receive.
In the past four years, thousands of Arab Jerusalemites living outside the municipal boundaries of the city have moved back into Jerusalem for fear of being left on the other side of the security fence. Many of them abandoned their large houses and villas in favor of small and expensive apartments inside the municipal boundaries of the city.
The security fence has virtually cut off the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem from the West Bank, making the Arab residents fully dependent on Israel's economy. Dozens of merchants who owned businesses in Ramallah and Bethlehem have moved back to the city in the past few years. "People see the anarchy and instability in the Palestinian Authority areas and prefer to leave to a safer place," explained Ibrahim Barakat, a businessman from Beit Hanina, a large Arab neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. "Also, people are afraid of losing their status as permanent residents of Israel and that's why they are moving back into Jerusalem. After all, life inside Israel is much better than the West Bank."
But perhaps the most significant change that took place over the past few years has been Israel's success in eliminating the presence of a Palestinian political address in east Jerusalem. The death of Faisal Husseini, the top PLO representative, and the subsequent closure by Israel of Orient House, the unofficial PLO headquarters in the city, eliminated one of the most prominent symbols of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem. Today, PA officials can't hold political meetings in Jerusalem for two reasons: first, they can't enter the city as easily as they used to because of the security fence and second, Israel does not allow such meetings to take place inside the city.
The construction of the fence, together with strict Israeli security measures, also resulted in a sharp decline in the activities of PA security agents inside the city. Until a few years ago, hundreds of PA security agents were operating almost freely in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, sometimes kidnapping residents to Ramallah or Jericho for "interrogation."
The departure of Faisal Husseini from the scene in 2001 left a huge political vacuum in east Jerusalem that has yet to be filled. Six years later, no Palestinian leader has been able to step into Husseini's large shoes. The absence of Husseini and Orient House has strengthened the Arab population's ties with the Israeli establishment. In recent years, for instance, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of residents who seek the help of the Israeli police in solving various problems.
Although different services provided by the state to the Arab residents continue to be relatively insufficient, there is no ignoring the fact that Israeli institutions remain the largest employer of Arab Jerusalemites. Thousands of teachers are employed in dozens of schools run by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education. These teachers receive higher salaries and better privileges than their colleagues who work for private or PA-controlled schools inside the city.
In addition, there has been a significant improvement in health services to Arab residents with the opening of scores of medical centers and clinics by Israel's Kupot Holim Clalit and Meuhedet. These centers employ thousands of doctors, nurses and administrative workers from east Jerusalem. Thousands of Arab Jerusalemites have also replaced the West Bank and Gaza Strip laborers who used to work in Israel until the beginning of the intifada in September 2000. As holders of Israeli ID cards, the Arab residents of Jerusalem receive higher salaries and are entitled to most privileges, including National Insurance payments. The Arabs of Jerusalem are free to work in any part of the country and are not subjected to any restrictions.
Yet not all the Arab residents have benefited from the "disengagement" from the West Bank. Many continue to live outside the municipal borders of Jerusalem [in the West Bank] because they can't afford to pay high rent and municipal taxes [arnona] in Beit Hanina, Shuafat and other Arab neighborhoods. Moreover, the security fence and checkpoints around the city have cut them off from their work places and relatives.
Attempts by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the past three years to establish centers of power in the Arab neighborhoods have been repeatedly crushed by Israel. Three Hamas legislators from east Jerusalem, including the minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Khaled Abu Arafeh, have been in detention since the abduction last June of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit. "Let's be honest, we have lost the battle for Jerusalem," admitted a Fatah legislator from the city. "The Palestinian Authority hasn't done anything to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem. The Arabs in Jerusalem have lost confidence in the Palestinian leadership and that's why most of them prefer to live under Israeli control. Frankly, when I see what's happening in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I can understand why."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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For the Arab residents of Jerusalem, the construction of the security fence around the city has been both a blessing and a curse.
Make up your minds you thankless assholes.
The security fence has virtually cut off the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem from the West Bank, making the Arab residents fully dependent on Israel's economy. Dozens of merchants who owned businesses in Ramallah and Bethlehem have moved back to the city in the past few years. "People see the anarchy and instability in the Palestinian Authority areas and prefer to leave to a safer place," explained Ibrahim Barakat, a businessman from Beit Hanina, a large Arab neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. "Also, people are afraid of losing their status as permanent residents of Israel and that's why they are moving back into Jerusalem. After all, life inside Israel is much better than the West Bank."
Perish the thought that any of these stinking Palestinian ingrate bastards could ever bring themselves to admit it.
The construction of the fence, together with strict Israeli security measures, also resulted in a sharp decline in the activities of PA security agents inside the city. Until a few years ago, hundreds of PA security agents were operating almost freely in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, sometimes kidnapping residents to Ramallah or Jericho for ransom "interrogation."
Is there nothing a well-constructed fence cant do?
Thousands of teachers are employed in dozens of schools run by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education. These teachers receive higher salaries and better privileges than their colleagues who work for private or PA-controlled schools inside the city.
But, of course, the Palestinian Terrortories remain an idyllic Islamic hellhole utopia.
Three Hamas legislators from east Jerusalem, including the minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Khaled Abu Arafeh, have been in detention since the abduction last June of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit. "Let's be honest, we have lost the battle for Jerusalem," admitted a Fatah legislator from the city. "The Palestinian Authority hasn't done anything to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem. The Arabs in Jerusalem have lost confidence in the Palestinian leadership and that's why most of them prefer to live under Israeli control.
Id say the Palestinain Authority [spit] has done PLENTY "to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem. Lets go ahead and start with how they treated The Church of the Nativity.
It has long been my personal contention that Jerusalem should be overseen by a multinational occupying force like post-World-War Berlin. If not that, then Israel is the only competent and qualified government to do so. All other local entities lack the requisite qualifications to safely administer a used cotton swab.
#2
We've seen what multinational forces do when Israel is on one side of the equation, Zenster. There's the Hizb'allah side of the Lebanese border, which the blue berets have guarded so very effectively since 2000 or so, and of course the blue berets down in the Sinai who left so nicely in 1967 when Nasser asked so politely, the ones so effectively guarding the Egyptian-Gaza border...
There's a good reason why Israel has never turned over Jerusalem to an international force. Can you imagine the neutrality of British or French troops in a Jerusalem that used to belong to the hated Zionists, never mind the famous soldiers of Bangladesh.
#6
You are absolutely right, trailing wife. The suggestion of an international body for oversight of Jerusalem is only a very old idea of mine that I trotted out for the sake of posing at least one compromise position. I now withdraw the idea. In reality, Israel has shown a stunning degree of restraint with its handling of Jerusalem and the entire Palestinian conflict in general.
If the security fence has barred access to Jerusalem for a large number of the Palestinian cretins, it can only be a good thing. It is an ultimate poetic justice that the Palestinians elected Hamas to govern them. No other single measure could have possibly highlighted so many different facets of their own endemic corruption, persistent internecine conflict, endless petty larceny, comprehensive dissembling and sheer overall incompetence.
Even the International community's blindest of the blind cannot ignore just how futile their support of the Palestinians has been. Few other examples exist of such willful refusal by a people to improve their own circumstances. The squandering of opportunity, foreign aid and endless chances at resolving this festering political sore now can be laid directly at the Palestinian's feet without any further dispute.
A day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised benefits to Jerusalem amounting to NIS 5.75 billion over the next five years, he headed to the North and continued spreading the largesse, promising NIS 95 million to refurbish the bomb shelters there.
Olmert said that NIS 50 million of the sum would come from the government's budget, and the other NIS 40 million from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein's International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. "We will present a budget to upgrade and refurbish all the shelters in the North, from the Acre-Amiad line northward, within a number of months," Olmert told a meeting of local and regional council heads in Karmiel.
Adi Eldar, the mayor of Karmiel and the head of the Local Authorities Union, said this should have been started earlier. However, he acknowledged that government bureaucracy works slowly, and said he was optimistic that within a number of months, the majority of shelters in the North would be prepared for the possibility of absorbing people for extended stays.
During the tour, which began in the town of Shlomi and included a stopover in Arab el-Aramsha, Shlomi Mayor Gabi Na'aman took Olmert to a lookout post to see where Hizbullah outposts had been positioned before the war. "We are no longer under daily observation [from Hizbullah]," he said, adding that until the war, "every time we opened up our mouths, we knew that they were listening to us."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Why doesn't he do something honorable like call a snap election?
#3
WAFF.com Poster > THE OLMPIAN.org article > THE 2006 WAR IN LEBANON - WHY ISRAEL CAME OUT STRONGER WHILE HIZBULLAH CAME OUT WEAKER. The IDF truly won the war but lost agz Nasrallah on "Lebanese/Amer Idol" = MSM-Hollyweird Popularity.
#5
The IDF truly won the war but lost agz Nasrallah on "Lebanese/Amer Idol" = MSM-Hollyweird Popularity.
I'd say, rather, that the IDF didn't lose, but Hizb'allah and Lebanon most certainly did, JosephM. But what on earth are you doing at the website of a local NBC affiliate television station in the wilds of Tennessee/Alabama?
The Palestinian Authority decided Monday to deploy thousands of policemen on the streets of the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop fighting between Fatah and Hamas militiamen. Hamas leaders, meanwhile, claimed that the clashes were part of a US security plan designed to remove their movement from power.
The decision to beef up the police presence followed the collapse of an internal Palestinian cease-fire that was announced late Sunday night and the deaths of four more Palestinians in fierce fighting between the two parties.
The decision to beef up the police presence followed the collapse of an internal Palestinian cease-fire that was announced late Sunday night and the deaths of four more Palestinians in fierce fighting between the two parties. Previous attempts to deploy PA policemen on the streets failed to halt the violence.
The decision came after the resignation of PA Interior Minister Hani Kawassmeh, who is formally in charge of all Palestinian security forces. Kawassmeh said he had decided to quit because he had not been given power over the forces. "The government, after a thorough discussion, decided to accept Kawassmeh's resignation," said PA Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti. "The government also decided to deploy a special security force under the supervision of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to impose law and order. These forces will be deployed [in the Gaza Strip] in coordination with President Mahmoud Abbas."
Barghouti added that Haniyeh would serve as acting interior minister and would personally supervise the work of the security forces in the Strip. Barghouti warned against turning the Gaza Strip into a failed state, saying:
"There is a very dangerous conspiracy aimed at turning the Gaza Strip into another Somalia. Those behind the conspiracy want to turn the Gaza Strip into a safe haven for gangs and criminals."
"There is a very dangerous conspiracy aimed at turning the Gaza Strip into another Somalia. Those behind the conspiracy are trying to cut off the Gaza Strip from the West Bank. They want to turn the Gaza Strip into a safe haven for gangs and criminals. This is something that this government can't accept, and we will work hard to eliminate the anarchy."
Monday's violence began early in the morning when dozens of Hamas gunmen attacked a Fatah office in Gaza City, killing two men. The attack was directed against the office of Maher Miqdad, a senior Fatah spokesman in the Strip. Miqdad was not in the office during the attack; the two fatalities were his bodyguards - Ala Shbair and Muhammad al-Abassi.
Two more Palestinians were killed in confrontations between Fatah and Hamas in different parts of the Gaza Strip. Muhammad Abdo, a 22-year-old journalist, died of his wounds early Monday. Abdo is the second journalist to die in the violence in the past 24 hours. On Sunday, Suleiman Ishi, an editor with the new Falasteen daily, was kidnapped and fatally shot by Fatah gunmen. He had been kidnapped together with Abdo in retaliation for Sunday's assassination of top Fatah operative Baha Abu Jarad. PA security sources said about 30 people were wounded Monday, some seriously. According to the sources, 185 Palestinians have been killed and 1,146 wounded in internal fighting since the beginning of the year.
Explaining his decision to quit the government, Kawassmeh complained that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had refused to give him power over the security forces. "I didn't want to serve as an interior minister with no authority," he said. "I had promised my people to end the anarchy and lawlessness. But I can't carry out my duties if I don't have control over security."
Jamal Tirawi, a Fatah legislator from the West Bank, warned that the Palestinians were headed toward a "third Nakba" (catastrophe) because of the continued fighting in the Gaza Strip. He accused unnamed Hamas leaders of seeking to ignite civil war in the Palestinian territories "to serve the agenda of non-Palestinian parties."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Confirming the worst fears of the international community that Burma is going the North Korea way, Russia and Burma have signed an intergovernmental agreement to build a nuclear reactor in the military ruled country. This was announced by the Russian atomic energy agency on Tuesday.
The nuclear reactor will include a 10-megawatt light water reactor working on 20 percent enriched Uranium-235, according to a statement by Rosatom, the atomic energy agency.
The agreement signed between the head of Rosatom, Sergey Kiriyenko and the Burmese Minister of Science and Technologies, U Thaung, is expected to "promote mutually beneficial economic and scientific ties between Russia and Myanmar [Burma]," the statement said. The centre will also include an activation analysis laboratory, a medical isotope production laboratory, silicon doping system, nuclear waste treatment and burial facilities, Rosatom said.
The research centre will be under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it added.
And we know all about the vigilance of the IAEA.
Burma has been under military rule in some form or the other since 1962 and has faced relentless criticism by the West for its appalling human rights violations and undemocratic practices. The Burmese military junta has maintained a close relationship with both Russia and China and relied on them for much of its military supplies, since the west imposed sanctions in late 1988.
Earlier this year, Russia and China, the two veto wielding countries at the United Nations Security Council, bailed out Burma by rejecting a US-drafted resolution, which urged the Burmese junta to stop persecution and release political prisoners.
According to a 2004 research paper by the Australian National University, Burma in 2000 had sought Moscow's help to pursue a nuclear civilian programme but Russia had backed off in 2003.
Roland Watson, a researcher from United States based 'Dictator Watch', told Mizzima that evidence revealed that the Burmese military junta has been involved in mining and refining Uranium and bartering it to North Korea in return for missiles and possibly technical assistance from North Korea for its own nuclear weapons programme. Burma recently revived diplomatic relations with North Korea, which were severed in 1983 following a bomb attack, allegedly carried out by North Korean assassins that killed several South Korean ministers visiting Burma.
The west views both countries as "rouge nations" and now that they have re-established diplomatic ties, the criticism will be that they are getting their nuclear act together in tandem.
Besides building the centre, the agreement also includes Russian universities to train about 300 to 350 specialists.
#3
I have no doubt the ruskies hope one of these clowns they're "helping" will explode a nuke in the US.
What they seem not to have considered is that said clowns are just as likely to explode a couple in Mother Russia.
Just sayin', 's all.
And, of the two countries, the U.S. is far more likely to survive economically.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/15/2007 15:31 Comments ||
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#4
It is so long gone the United States, Israel, the UK, hell, even France, should have announced that a 50km exclusion zone exists around any unauthorized reactor. Building any such reactor should be considered a clear and present danger and be subject to immediate nuclear sterilization. It is a complete joke we are allowing Hitler and worse to have these weapons.
When one of our cities is destroyed we will have nobody but ourselves to blame. I am sick of this. Sick.
#5
Russia and China are both global pariahs. How is it that their overt support for the world's most brutal tyrannies goes unpunished? No more Stoli or Wal-Mart would shitcan both of these thugocracies.
By so patiently awaiting a most assured nuclear terrorist atrocity, Western governments betray their populations en mass. Never have I seen this degree of willful blindness to such a clear and present danger.
#8
As said before, when and iff the USA finally goes down for the count, to anti-US [Western] OWG + Global Socialism, THE HONEYMOON WILL BE OVER BTWN RADICAL ISLAM, SECUUUULAAR COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM, and ANY ALIGNED. The USA is paying the post-Cold War/9-11 price for our geopol ignorance = underplaying of Burma, and other smaller states, during the Cold War. IMO, ITS NOT TOO LATE FOR THE USA, AND THAT RUSSIA IS REALIZING THE FUTURE THREAT TO HER OWN AGENDAS FROM ANTI-US "PARTNERS" CHINA + RADICAL ISLAMISM. This is also Russia's way of getting back at China for China's decision to cut back on HT arms purhcases from Russia in favor of indigens, Chinese-label production. AS PER RIAN/KOMMERSANT/ROBONEXPORT > Russia itself wants to procure more hi-techy mil hardwares + REBUILD HER NAVAL-MERCHANT FLEETS. RUSSIA IS ALREADY SENDING SCIENTIFIC-EXPLOR TEAMS TO LOOK FOR ROUTES OVER THE ARCTIC = NORTH POLE.
Iran's progress in enriching uranium has rendered unrealistic world powers' quest to prevent Tehran from gaining nuclear expertise, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency director said. Mohamed ElBaradei did not take issue with a U.N. Security Council demand that Iran suspend enrichment in exchange for a suspension of sanctions against it and talks on a solution that would allay suspicion Tehran is trying to build atom bombs.
"Quite clearly, suspension is a requirement by the Security Council, and I would hope the Iranians would listen to the world community," ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in remarks published by the New York Times and confirmed by an IAEA official.
"But from a proliferation perspective, the fact of the matter is that one of the purposes of suspension - keeping them from getting the knowledge - has been overtaken by events," ElBaradei said.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/15/2007 20:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
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#1
A shameless attempt to wash his hand of all responsibility despite being one of Iran's chief enablers. ElBaradei needs to answer in open court for his complicity in Iran's success to date.
#4
From yestiddy, FARSNEWS > IRAN MP says or claims that the USA fears the merits of Iran's Islamic Revolution + Islam in general, and as per Khameini > THE 21st CENTURY WILL MARK THE DEFEAT, DEMISE, AND ANNIHILATION OF THE USA. HENCE, SO HOW SHOULD THE USA DEAL WID IT???
#5
DEMS > mianstream AMer needs to go to their favoriite fast-food restuarant, order from the BIG GOVT + TOTALITARIANISM + REGULATION Menu,etal. and then proceed wid their happy family picnic since clearly the USA is neither "at War" nor in any "War to the Death" nor under threat.
#7
So the guy who was supposed to keep them from going nuclear is just saying "oh, well"?
El Baradei needs to be arrested and thrown into a PMITA prison if he ever sets foot on US soil.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/15/2007 21:28 Comments ||
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#8
WND.com > TELEGRAPH.UK > BOLTON - WE MUST ATTACK IRAN BEFORE IT GETS NUCLEAR BOMBS. Alludes Iran to HITLER - iff not properly stopped, FATE OF THE WORLD WILL REST IN IRAN = HITLER'S HANDS, NOT THOSE NATIONS WHOM DESIRE PEACE.
PRAVDA > WARSAW PACT SAVED WORLD/EUROPE FROM AGGRESSION.
#9
As iff the above taint presure enuff, FREEREPUBLIC/WORLDNEWS > FIVE YEARS LEFT FOR PLANET TO LIVE + WORLD ENVIRON HAS FIVE YEARS BEFORE DISASTER. World + Humanity has to now Now NOW N-O-W NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW begin to plant the seeds of our own future, lest the enviro "tipping point" be passed and recovery = LT survival becomes un-achievable, aka WE'RE DOOMED.
Rajai believed that if Iran was incapable of building something itself it had better wait until it could do so at a later date. And that included oil refiners. With most Iranian technicians and engineers fleeing from the Khomeinist revolution in 1980 and 1981, there were few Iranians who knew how to build refineries. Thus pre-revolution plans to build 25 new oil refineries between 1980 and 2000 had to be shelved. The Khomeinist leadership would not allow the infidel to come and build refineries.
The Islamic Republic imports almost half of all food it consumes and has managed to prevent large scale starvation thanks to heavily subsidized prices. If subsidies were removed, the price of bread, for example, would more than double. Most Iranians are still able to consume sugar because the state picks up a third of the real bill for imports.
For the first time, ever, the Islamic republic may soon find out that at least some of its enemies are prepared to pay it in its own currency, that is to say try and wage low intensity war against it. The United Nations Security Council has already passed two punitive resolutions against the Islamic Republic. A third resolution looks likely later this month when the ultimatum fixed by the council for the Islamic Republic ends.
Ahmadinejads high-risk strategy may soon force the Islamic Republic to fight on two fronts: inside the country against a growingly restive population, and outside against a coalition of determined enemies that will not be content with limited fire-works as imagined by him.
Iran is on a one-way slide into economic ruin. We need to grease the skids for them.
Its been more than two months since General Ali Reza Asgari, former deputy Defense Minister of Iran vanished into thin air in Istanbul two months ago, there have been numerous reports in the press speculating on how and why it happened. But mostly theres been silence. Suddenly, a new account appeared on a Persian language blog, which, if true, would mean that Asgari defected from Iran and applied for political asylum to the United States of his own free will, and utterly de-legitimize repeated attempts by the Iranian regime to suggest that he was somehow kidnapped.
The account appeared promising. After all, it provided documentation something all of the rumors, speculation and anonymously sourced news stories havent provided until now. Theres just one problem the organizations whose documents these are meant to be, say they are fake.
Either scenario is intriguing in its own right either one in which the documents are real, the denials are a cover-up and Asgaris defection is being kept top secret not only by the U.S. government, but by the United Nations. Or the alternative that somebody, for some reason, had enough interest in promoting a false tale of a deal and defection with the U.S. to go to the trouble of whipping up these falsified papers and feeding them to the Persian-language blogosphere. continued at link
#2
Suddenly, a new account appeared on a Persian language blog, which, if true, would mean that Asgari defected from Iran and applied for political asylum to the United States of his own free will, and utterly de-legitimize repeated attempts by the Iranian regime to suggest that he was somehow kidnapped.
#3
Asgaris defection is being kept top secret ... but by the United Nations
Sure! The first thing the USA would do if an Iranian general defected, would be tell the UN.
It's stuff like this that makes me not a big fan of Pajamas Media. That, and in the English language, when you create a collective noun by putting an adjective before the noun or compounding two nouns, you don't use a plural form for the first word even when it is usually used in the plural form.
#7
Its been more than two months since General Ali Reza Asgari, former deputy Defense Minister of Iran vanished into thin air in Istanbul two months ago, there have been numerous reports in the press speculating on how and why it happened.
#8
I remember some journalist went to Turkey to investigate what had happened to the general, and the Turks just ran circles around him, sending him on wild goose chases, in a comic frustration of his search.
Though they were serious, you could tell that their intelligence service had gone to such great lengths to confuse the issue that not even Sherlock Holmes would have a clue.
#9
It's the new "Big Lie" technique. Instead of trying to sell "One Big Lie", you flood the media with thousands of lies. There are so many versions of this story out there, you can't pick out the real one.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/15/2007 15:21 Comments ||
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#10
I lost me a pair of Blue Suede Pajamas and it's got me All Shook Up.
Posted by: Elvis P ||
05/15/2007 15:27 Comments ||
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#11
#9: "It's the new "Big Lie" technique. Instead of trying to sell "One Big Lie", you flood the media with thousands of lies."
Why bother, Steve? The MSM floods itself with thousands of lies every week.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/15/2007 15:36 Comments ||
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#12
The MSM floods itself with thousands of lies every week.
Ah, but that's just what we want you to believe.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/15/2007 17:45 Comments ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Monday that Iran would retaliate severely to any possible US attack over Tehrans nuclear programme.
They (the Americans) understand that if they should make this mistake, the retaliation of the Iranian people will be severe and they will repent, he told reporters at the end of a landmark visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Ahmadinejad, who was speaking three days after US Vice President Dick Cheney warned that the US would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, said the era when a state could come from thousands of miles away to strike another country had gone.
They cannot strike Iran. The Iranian people are able to retaliate. They are able to protect and defend themselves well, he said. Ahmadinejad repeated Tehrans assertions that its nuclear programme, which the US suspects is a cover for developing atomic weapons, was being pursued within the context of the law in keeping with its right to acquire this energy.
He dismissed Cheneys warnings made from the hangar deck of a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf on Friday, saying The message did not contain anything new.
The Iranian president said talks on Iraq between US and Iranian delegates, announced by both sides on Sunday, would take place in Baghdad, but the date has not been decided.
The US requested to talk with Iran to solve security issues in Iraq, he said. In order to support the Iraqi people, we declared that we are ready, he added. Ahmadinejad, whose country has a longstanding dispute with the UAE over three strategic Gulf islands, said his visit the first by an Iranian head of state had turned a new page in the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[5 views]
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#1
I am not into this religious repentance thingy.
What happened to the Great Satan thingy.
I like being a little Satan making up the Greater Satan to make Ahmadinejad days painful. Its fun to give him pain.
Please Ahmadinejad bring back the Satan thingy. Its more fun. Repentance is no fun. In fact it is boring. Being evil is fun.
What fun would it be to let a PEST like you be?
PESTS are made to be tortured. Like maybe a limb or two pulled off and a stabbing or one.... You know like those great loving paintings by Hieronymus Bosch.
Ahmadinejad, I know you don't know much about the west so here are some links to his paintings care of wikipedia.
#2
FREEREPUBLIC > UN IAEA believes Iran is well-capable of [indigenously] producing and gener controlling REACTOR-GRADE/LEVEL enrichment process. In addition, SPACEWAR > International signatory nations to NPT are arguing that Iran must comply wid provisions of NPT in order to prove its intentions are only for nuke domestic energy, as opposed to dev weapons.
#3
NEWSMAX > FBI's MULLER WARNS ABOUT NUCLEAR TERROR [agz = inside USA by AQ]; + [paraphrased]US OFFICIALS FEAR HOMEGROWN RADICAL ISLAMIST JIHADISTS-TERROR. In support of AQ = Radical Islamism but NOT necessarily or always the AL-Qies.
#4
I've always been intrigued by Hieronymus Bosch. His paintings are so surreal. And disturbing.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/15/2007 8:16 Comments ||
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#5
They (the Americans) understand that if they should make this mistake, the retaliation of the Iranian people will be severe and and our arrows will blot out the sun they will repent, he told reporters at the end of a landmark visit to the United Arab Emirates.
#8
Crushing Iran rapidly is becoming a matter of sheer principle. We must not allow belligerant Islamic Theocrats to spew their shit and go unpunished. The prestige they gather by being able to act with such impunity only exacerbates all downstream situations. Other thugs and terrorists are emboldened by such a lack of retribution. Every time Ahmadinejad opens his yap with yet another threat to America, another Iranian refinery needs to mysteriously explode in flames.
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.
An Afghan rebel leader said he had information that Osama bin Laden is alive but keeping a low profile by not issuing statements, according to a video aired on Sunday. 
A Pakistani terrorism suspect denied any connection to al-Qaida 
U.S. citizen Jose Padilla provided the ultimate support for terrorism by offering himself to al Qaeda as a trainee, a prosecutor told a jury on Monday in the trial of the former "dirty bomber" suspect. Padilla, 36, and two co-defendants face life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" around the globe and providing material support for terrorists.
The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) Monday warned MQM ministers not to visit NWFP and urged lawyers and Pushtoons to shoot the ministers if they crossed Attock bridge. Burn down MQM offices and wage a jihad on its members on seeing them anywhere in the province, PHCBA President Abdul Latif Afridi told a lawyers meeting before the joint opposition joined them at Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Pushtoons will avenge the bloodshed of innocent Pushtoons in Karachi by the MQM, which is a group of terrorists, Afridi said. He said President Pervez Musharraf, Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Governor Ishratul Ebad should be charged with deliberate murders. Barrister Masood Kausar, provincial organiser of the PPP lawyers forum, said the lawyers should take action against the MQM to avenge Pushtoons killing. We have considered Karachi mohajirs our brothers since 1947 but the recent bloodshed proves they migrated from India to destabilise Pakistan, he added. Only the PPP acted against the MQM terrorists on May 12. Political parties are now united to wipe out this terrorist group from Karachi and help Sindhis get rid of them forever, Kauser said. Sources told Daily Times that the MQM provincial president had closed the party office in Peshawar to avert possible attack.
AMMAN - Pro-US ally Jordans King Abdullah on Monday urged US Vice President Dick Cheney to support a greater political role for Iraqs Sunnis to restore stability and curb Irans growing influence, officials said. They said Cheney was told by the monarch during a meeting in the Red Sea port of Aqaba that Washington should pursue more vigorously the benchmarks on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Malikis government on national reconciliation, that include dismantling Shia militias and giving Sunnis a greater say.
A day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised benefits to Jerusalem amounting to NIS 5.75 billion over the next five years, he headed to the North and continued spreading the largesse, promising NIS 95 million to refurbish the bomb shelters there. 
