A police force withdrew plans for a televised appeal to help catch an Afghan suspected of sexually assaulting women after a race watchdog warned that it might spark a violent backlash. Detectives were due to appear on an episode of ITV's Manhunt to ask for help finding Noorullah Seddiqi, 34. The Afghan had absconded from bail after being arrested in connection with the rape of one woman and the sexual assault of three others. Officers working on the case believed the appeal, due to be shown in May, could have proved vital in the search for Seddiqi. They thought he might be working as an unlicensed taxi driver in the south of England.
But the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall force, Stephen Otter, told officers not to go ahead with the programme after the Devon Racial Equality Council, funded by and affiliated to the Commission for Racial Equality, said the appeal could lead to a racist backlash. Detectives had at first refused to pull the plug on the appeal but were overruled by Mr Otter. Seddiqi is still missing though several addresses have been visited by police. Since his disappearance at least three more potential victims have come forward.
Posted by: Protocols of the Elders of Allan ||
07/18/2007 16:01 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Maybe they can run the show but alter the composite sketch to resemble an anglo dude so the public is looking for the wrong guy but nobody is offended. Its a shame to waste the film.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 21:34 Comments ||
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#2
So they decided that allowing a rapist to run free is more important than causing a "misunderstanding", that could "possibly" result in (white) racists not understanding that ALL male Afghans are not rapists.
I'm not sure who this is more racially insulting towards: white people or Afghans.
Fran Yeoman of The Times
Four British Muslims who sought to forment hatred and encourage killing at a protest outside the Danish Embassy in London were jailed today.
Angry demonstrators gathered outside the Old Bailey as Mizanur Rahman, Umran Javed and Abdul Muhid were sentenced to six years in prison for soliciting murder during a protest against a publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
A fourth man, Abdul Saleem, was jailed for four years for stirring up racial hatred at the demonstration in February last year.
Judge Brian Barker told the men that, only months after the 7th of July bombings, they had subjected the multicultural citizens of London to a constant barrage of hatred and intolerance.
Three of the men had delivered speeches designed to persuade and encourage any radicalised and impressionable young person to perform a terrorist act in the name of religion with potential for indiscriminate carnage with which we are all too familiar.
Rahman, 24, from Palmers Green had called for British soldiers to be returned from Iraq in body bags.
Judge Barker said: Freedom of speech has long been jealously guarded by our laws but with freedom of speech comes responsibility and respect, none of which was demonstrated by you and your hardcore of fellow protesters.
Outside the court building, a crowd of around 60 demonstrators held placards bearing slogans such as Muslims rise for our brothers and British regime, terrorist regime.
#4
OT but still speaking of toilets: today it was announced the Boeing was installing bidets in the 787s going to All Nippon and JAL, and carrying them as an option for other carriers.
Jus' thought y'all might want to know.
#6
They could, E.U. ( might want to rethink yer nym, what with THEM initials, but I digress), but I would prefer that the pilots would empty the holding tanks over Mecca. Blue Ice rain for all!!!!
The details of journeys taken by millions of motorists are to be handed to police under a government Big Brother plan to use road pricing technology in the fight against crime.
Police would be given instant access to number plate data from smart cameras monitoring congestion in cities and the movement of traffic on Britains major roads.
The Metropolitan Police are to get access to automatic number plate recognition data from 1,500 congestion charge cameras in London to help in the fight against terrorism.
But the document inadvertently released by the Home Office disclosed a much more sweeping plan.
The disclosure came as the department announced that the Metropolitan Police was to get access to automatic number plate recognition data from 1,500 congestion charge cameras in London to help in the fight against terrorism.
But the document inadvertently released by the Home Office disclosed a much more sweeping plan for the wider use of smart camera technology in the fight against all crime rather than just terrorism.
It also discloses that ministers were warned that the Metropolitan Police plan was likely to cause a high level of controversy.
Opposition politicians and civil liberties groups expresed alarm at the wider plans and cautioned that the proposals would give the State unprecedented access to car drivers movements.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: With this unintended act of open government the disingenuous attitude of ministers towards public fears about a creeping surveillance State is revealed for all to see.
Bit by bit, vast computer data-bases are being made interoperable and yet the Government seems to be running scared of a full and public debate on the safeguards needed to make such information sharing acceptable.
Mr Clegg accused ministers of using the announcement that the Metropolitan Police was to get real-time access to number plate data from the congestion charge database as a basis for much more far-reaching proposals affecting millions of motorists.
The London plan means that police will know the moment that a suspect vehicle enters and leaves the capitals congestion zone but the system will only apply for operations involving national security.
There are 1,500 congestion charge cameras recording number plates in London and a further 1,140 operated by the Highways Agency, including 108 deployed in the West Midlands. Fifty are on the M42.
However, under the plans being studied by the Home Office, police throughout England and Wales would get real-time access to number plate data from cameras operated by the Highways Agency and local authorities. If other cities adopt congestion charging or road pricing based on automatic number plate recognition, police would get instant access to the data. It would allow them to track vehicles moving around the country.
The paper released by mistake discloses that the Home Office sees the deal with the Metropolitan Police as an immediate solution pending the introduction of planned government agreement on proposed legislation which would allow the bulk transfer of automatic number plate recognition data from third parties to the police for all crime-fighting purposes.
Number plate data handed over to the police would allow officers to check against an existing hot list of vehicles on which there is intelligence. Officers would be able to track vehicles linked to individuals in whom they are interested, the paper said.
It also makes clear that crime analysts would use the data to identify unknown vehicles travelling regularly with a known suspect vehicle, enabling them to identify crime suspects. Offi-cers would also be able to identify vehicles in particular geographical areas after a crime has been committed.
There are 1,500 congestion charge cameras recording number plates in London and a further 1,140 operated by the Highways Agency, including 108 deployed in the West Midlands. Fifty are on the M42.
#3
I often point out that the year 1984 came and went, but Orwell never considered the possibility that things would continue to become even more intrusive and obnoxious after that date.
Ironically, he did consider that the language of Newspeak would continue to evolve, but not the oppression itself.
Yet it is the technology of oppression that has far outstripped what we call today "spin", and instead of the terse and succinct Doublethink, we have vast amounts of empty blather, fear mongering, and projected outrage.
#4
it was bad enough before Red Ken instituted the congestion charge and the need for additional cameras. But its Bush and Cheney who are reducing our civil liberities not the left, for God's sake, they would never do that. Read where Bloomberg's proposal for congestion charging in the city went down in council. Sanity reins where idiots roam free.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/18/2007 12:27 Comments ||
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#5
it is necessarily unsaid, but they merely want to track their Muzz physicians as they are on the move. And, any other Muzz who may require additional attention. They just didn't want to drop the hint. Got to remain quite proper a a Brit you know.
Seven Iraqis were arrested in Peru's capital with false passports they planned to use to travel to the United States, police said Tuesday. Authorities seized fake Dutch, Ecuadorean and Iraqi passports from three apartments in Lima's upscale Miraflores district late Monday, police Col. Roberto Lujan told The Associated Press.
There's the problem: no Pakistani-made passports. E'ryone knows you go Pakistani when you need the best.
Lujan, who headed the operation, said the suspects were linked to three other Iraqis who were arrested last month at Lima's international airport with false German passports and plane tickets to Los Angeles.
It was not immediately clear whether they were Iraqi Chaldean Christians, who frequently try to enter the U.S., correctly claiming they face persecution in Iraq. California is home to a sizable Chaldean community.
Posted by: lotp ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It was not immediately clear whether they were Iraqi Chaldean Christians, who frequently try to enter the U.S., claiming they face persecution in Iraq.
I'm sure they were Christians trying to enter the U.S. illegally. Going to pick lettuce in CA?
The blood-curbing(sic) declarations have been made: Moscow military experts are suggesting terrible scenario according to which the USA is going to attack Russia for providing itself with access to the Siberian natural resources. The cold war participants assumption is very clear, Manfred Quirring from the Die Welt German edition writes.
The war between Russia and the USA is probable in the near 10-15 years, Major- General Aleksandr Vladimirov does not exclude. And its aim, according to him, is obvious even now. It is the removal of the powerful geopolitical rival capable of deleting the USA from the earths surface within 30 minute.
Furthermore, according to the military man, the USA wishes to provide itself with access to the natural resources of Siberia and the Far East and threaten the rest of the world with armed victory and technological power of its weapons.
Vladimirov is the vice-president of the Russias board of military experts. He met with other Russian distinguished military experts and specialists on the global security for discussing when and why the USA is to unleash war against Russia and whether it is going to enlist it or not.
#2
Year 2018-2022 +/- > Russians said it already times before, i.e. "WAR AGZ USA NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED". The Russians were accusing the USA of so-called "STATE TERRORISM", etc. during the late 1990's. THEY BLAMED THE USA, NOT OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL-QAEDA, OR RADICAL ISLAM, FOR the 1990's TERROR EVENTS AND OSAMA'S FATWA/DECLARATION OF WAR + TERROR AGZ THE USA. They know that for the time being, the USA STILL has to get through the IRAN-NORTH KOREA-TAIWAN issues, RADICAL ISLAMISM + CHINESE COMPETITION FOR EAST ASIA-PACIFIC RIM. Russia fears China's national + economic modernization, etc. as affective agz Russian Manifest Destiny = Russian domination of Eurasia.
#3
IMO, few iff any Netters truly believe a US-Iran conflict = US-North Korean = US-China over Taiwan, etc. will be limited to only these nations or regions. IOW, Year 2018 and USA vz Russia can easily become mid-2009 [Israel vz Syria-Iran???] iff opportunity + military advantage, etc. arises. Remember, Iran has already asked the UNO and world community to intervene on its behalf against US imperialism/aggression = defense agz US invasion.
#6
If the Russkies really believe this stuff, they are nuts. But on the bright side, it's good they're focusing on Siberia, because if they're not careful, the Chinese will take it away from them.
#7
Putin is too paid-off by the arms exporters to be talking about the real enemy - the energy-hungry Chinese dragon just to the south of the Russian Far East. So he is ginning up a threat to the Far East for the Russian public, based on a foe that Russia will never have to fight unless they get incredibly stupid. That way, he can continue the arms sales to China, using them as a way to prop up his weapons industry and get the cash to rebuild at least part of the Russian conventional forces.
Unfortunately, supplying your enemy with weapons and/or raw materials tends to come back to bite you in the ass : just ask Joe Stalin, roasting in Hell next to Hitler.
#8
I dont know what the Russians are smoking, but Al Gore III wants a prescription for it. The last time we fought a war to annex property we ended up with Puerto Rico and some other headaches. The chances that we will opt for what's behind door number two is infinitesimal. Our worst nightmare is that Haiti will ask for statehood.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 21:22 Comments ||
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#9
Our worst nightmare is that Haiti will ask for statehood.
Nice one, Hose. Expect to see this within the next year as a fine-print rider that some Quislingcrat attaches to a 2000-page appropriations bill.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/18/2007 21:52 Comments ||
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#10
Zhang, they really do. I have 2 friends who spend lots of time working in Russia. They tell me that they actually believe we want to physically conquer their lands.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
07/18/2007 22:14 Comments ||
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#11
I have 2 friends who spend lots of time working in Russia. They tell me that they actually believe we want to physically conquer their lands.
Nothing new here. During the 80s the Russians were convinced we would start WWIII, thanks to the propaganda. Same shit, different day.
We would rather buy the stuff than take it from you kids. Don't piss us off because our nation building patience is at extreme lows and we would rather dust your ass than deal with you after we kick your ass over stupid shit.
And we CAN drill through green, glowing glass too.
#12
We're going to amphibiously attack the Kamchatka penninsula with kayaks because we don't already own enough tundra to freeze in.
Tell all your Russian friends that we refuse to invade them. We are concerned that an invasion would cripple the international economy because the Democrats will immediately declare Siberia a national park thus preventing exploitation of a wealth of more valuable reasources than the world can afford.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 23:03 Comments ||
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#13
#10 Captain - Better yet, tell your Russian friends to get over themselves.
It amazes me how many people in foreign countries are absolutely obsessed with America, while we don't give a rat's ass in hell about them.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2007 23:27 Comments ||
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Swiss Senator Dick Marty, author of a Council of Europe report on CIA jails, says dissident United States intelligence officers angry with former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped a European probe uncover details of secret CIA prisons in Europe.
Swiss Senator Marty said senior CIA officials disapproved of Rumsfeld's methods in hunting down terrorist suspects, and had agreed to talk to him
The senator said senior CIA officials disapproved of Rumsfeld's methods in hunting down terrorist suspects, and had agreed to talk to him on condition of anonymity. "There were huge conflicts between the CIA and Rumsfeld. Many leading figures in the CIA did not accept these methods at all," Marty told European Parliament committees, defending his work against complaints it was based on unnamed sources.
The report issued last month said the Central Intelligence Agency ran secret jails in Poland and Romania, with the complicity of those governments, and transported terrorist suspects across Europe in secret flights. Poland and Romania have repeatedly denied hosting CIA prisons on their soil.
"People in the CIA felt these things were not consonant with the sort of intelligence work they normally do," said Marty.
Yes, we noticed. Pity we needed a parallel structure to accomplish anything.
Natural result of the transformation of the CIA: they used to hire the best and brightest from Ivy League schools, who were establishment and conservative. Now they hire the best and brightest from Ivy League schools, who are leftist-establishment and progressive. The result was not in doubt.
He said he had based his findings largely on conversations with "high officials of the CIA (and) highly placed European office-holders, who for different reasons, often honourable reasons, were ready to explain what had happened".
And none of whom can be named, of course.
"The Americans themselves admitted there were secret prisons, that they abducted people from the streets, that people were handed over to countries like Syria, Yemen, Egypt where they were tortured," he said.
US President George W Bush acknowledged last year that the CIA had held top al-Qaeda suspects in secret overseas detention centres but did not say in which countries. "The president of United States made a very important statement. I think we can all expect... in the near future further admissions," said Marty.
Banking on a Democrat in the White House soon, are you?
Or yet another Congressional hearing.
He also said he would not remove the names of former Polish and Romanian government officials from the report, although they threatened on Tuesday to take legal action against the senator.
The report said former Polish national security adviser Marek Siwiec and former Romanian Defence Minister Ioan Pascu knew their countries had hosted secret CIA detention centres. "I have no reason to withdraw his name. I would certainly not be prepared to apologise. He knew exactly what was happening as did his president," Marty told a news conference, referring to Siwiec and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. "I am not shaking in my shoes," he said of the libel suit that Siwiec vowed to launch in a Polish court unless Marty removed his name from the report within seven days.
Pascu challenged Marty in the hearing to substantiate his allegations or withdraw them, but the Swiss legislator did not respond directly.
Of course not. Doesn't need to in order to damage their work.
Done in the best Seymour Hersh tradition.
Posted by: lotp ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
This shit has gone far enough ! First, defund the CIA, next, inform each overt CIA person that they will pass a lie detector in order to receive any retirement benefits. Once we have an outline of who 'leaks' politically convenient info to the MSM, we start digging in earnest and stand the guilty before the firing squad. Anyone who decides to take the fifth amendment, Gitmo awaits.
If innocent, they have nothing to fear, but if they are or were playing politics fast and loose, make an example of them.
My exit question is;
Can anyone tell me one GOOD reason for an intelligence agent to undermine his president, and his country ?
#4
Russian Military Intelligence, which used to be called the GRU, would show its operatives videos of GRU men who had betrayed the organization. These videos showed them tied to stretchers, fully awake and alert, being shoved head first into a large incinerator.
#7
Dante put those who betray their benefactors in the lowest circle of hell....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
07/18/2007 12:14 Comments ||
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#8
Can anyone tell me one GOOD reason for an intelligence agent to undermine his president, and his country ?
I can give you 3 reasons (none good but rational):
1. He/she is a partisan democrat (this has already been shown to be true)
2. They are on the payroll of the NYTs and WaPo and New Yorker
3. They hate Bush.
Its all about Bush.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/18/2007 12:37 Comments ||
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#9
If that's their reasons then they have earned a trip to the wall blindfolded.
It certainly is an insult to us taxpayers to pay them and allow them to retire to Pleasantville for a job well done.
Kill them.
#10
How many years have I been telling the Burg about this stupid "Old Boys" network in the CIA that is responsible for failures - and yet manages o use the press and leaks to shift the blame? Now its coming to light. Now you see how 9/11 happened (Tenet's buckpassing moron club), and why the intel system is so damn disfunctional (so risk averse they called off ops that may have prevented other casualty events)- a good chunk of the IC is LYING to the command authority to protect their ass or else for political gain.
Bastards. They should not be shot, they should be bayoneted.
#11
Yup. OS has lots of told-you-so chits built up. I suspect the upshot of this will be that in a few years the Director of Central Intelligence will be renamed Director of Open Source Intelligence as the CIA is walled off from classified information. Then it might be spun out and sold to the Brookings Institution.
#12
As a lurking, low-functioning DON drone, I have to say that it was perfectly evident to me 6 years ago, that the CIA had become radically politicized; most likely at the -15/SES level. This is untenable and totally demoralizing. These money-grubbing, ego-tripping traitors need to be taken out very unceremoniously. I'd love to support that "effort"...
PS: "BREACH" (FBI, not CIA) is a DVD that deals with FED ego issues like nothing I'd seen before. I was surprised to learn that I wanted to watch it multiple times. That's SO not like me.
Posted by: Asymmetrical T ||
07/18/2007 21:00 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON, July 17 Nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives expended in the name of the war on terror pose a single, insistent question: Are we safer?
On Tuesday, in a dark and strikingly candid two pages, the nations intelligence agencies offered an implicit answer, and it was not encouraging. In many respects, the National Intelligence Estimate suggests, the threat of terrorist violence against the United States is growing worse, fueled by the Iraq war and spreading Islamic extremism.
The conclusions were not new, echoing the private comments of government officials and independent experts for many months. But the stark declassified summary contrasted sharply with the more positive emphasis of President Bush and his top aides for years: that two-thirds of Al Qaedas leadership had been killed or captured; that the Iraq invasion would reduce the terrorist menace; and that the United States had its enemies on the run, as Mr. Bush has frequently put it.
After years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq and targeted killings in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere, the major threat to the United States has the same name and the same basic look as in 2001: Al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, plotting attacks from mountain hide-outs near the Afghan-Pakistani border.
The headline on the intelligence estimate, said Daniel L. Byman, a former intelligence officer and the director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, might just as well have been the same as on the now famous presidential brief of Aug. 6, 2001: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.
The new estimate does cite some gains; known plots against the United States have been disrupted, it says, thanks to increased vigilance and countermeasures.
But the new estimate takes note of sources of worry that have arisen only since 2001. The Iraq war has spawned Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as the most visible and capable affiliate of the original terrorist group, inspiring jihadists around the world and drawing money and recruits to their cause. The explosion of radical Internet sites has created self-generating cells of would-be terrorists in many Western countries. Lebanese Hezbollah, rarely considered likely to attack in the United States, now may be more likely to consider doing just that in response to a perceived threat from American forces to itself or its sponsor, Iran.
And if there had been progress after 9/11 in isolating and immobilizing Al Qaedas leaders in the tribal areas of Pakistan, some of it has come apart in the past year, with Pakistani troops abandoning patrols in North Waziristan and allowing greater freedom of movement to Al Qaedas core.
All told, despite the absence of any new attack on American soil since 2001, the conclusion that Al Qaeda will continue to enhance its capabilities to attack the United States suggests some miscalculation in the administrations basic formula against terrorism: that attacking the jihadists overseas would protect the homeland.
I guess we have to fight them over here even though were fighting them over there, said Steven Simon, a terrorism expert who served in the Clinton administration and is the co-author of The Next Attack.
Democrats proclaimed the document a devastating indictment of Bush administration policies, in the words of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate. The documents pessimism was striking; it may reflect a determination of the intelligence agencies, accused of skewing some reports to back the presidents Iraq invasion plans in 2003, to make clear that their findings have not been tailored to suit the White House this time around.
But Max Boot, a security analyst who has generally supported the president, said the estimate cuts both ways politically. Even if some administration policies have been ineffective or have backfired, the estimate also concludes that Al Qaeda will probably try to capitalize on the network built up by its affiliate in Iraq, lending some support to the argument that a rapid exit from Iraq might prove dangerous for American security, said Mr. Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of War Made New.
It makes clear that the threat from Al Qaeda in Iraq is not just to Iraqis its to the U.S. homeland as well, he said.
The new assessment in some respects harks back to a National Intelligence Estimate in July 1995, which predicted terrorist attacks in the United States, specifying Wall Street, the White House and the Capitol as potential targets. It described a worldwide network of training facilities and safe havens.
An update of that N.I.E. in 1997 was the last such assessment issued before Sept. 11, a gap that the 9/11 commission decried in its review of the attacks. A new estimate earlier in 2001, as the spy agencies alarm about a possible attack increased, might have better focused government efforts to detect a plot, the commission argued in its report.
An estimate of the global terrorist threat last September described the emergence of the Iraq war as a cause célèbre for jihadists around the world. But that document also highlighted American actions it said had seriously damaged the leadership of Al Qaeda and disrupted its operations.
The bleak new assessment relegates almost to an aside those achievements, saying that Al Qaedas ability to attack is constrained and that the United States is now seen as a harder target. And it does not emphasize the absence of successful new strikes against the United States, a development that few security experts would have dared predict in late 2001.
The dreary judgment reflected in the new estimate emerged in part from Britains discovery in August 2006 of a major plot to take down trans-Atlantic airliners, said Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University, who has studied terrorism for three decades. Mr. Hoffman said that there were indications that Qaeda leaders may have had a role in the plot, adding, It became impossible to ignore Al Qaedas evolution and resilience.
But the same plot underscored one of the notable bright spots for the United States: jihadist sentiment has so far turned out to hold little attraction for American Muslims, by contrast with those in Europe generally and the United Kingdom in particular, with its large population of South Asian immigrants.
#3
Six years after 9/11, the same NYT. But six years ago Saddam was pursuing missile research and violating no-fly zones and the Taliban were openly planning our demise from Kabul. I suppose the NYT would prefer 59 million people living under Saddam and Mullah Omar, but I wouldn't.
Posted by: AT ||
07/18/2007 19:33 Comments ||
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#5
Nearly six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives expended in the name of the war on terror pose a single, insistent question: Are we safer?
Not while the NYT consistently sides with America's enemies.
The Iraq war has spawned Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as the most visible and capable affiliate of the original terrorist group, inspiring jihadists around the world and drawing money and recruits to their cause.
They act like it's a bad thing for us to have a nice off-shore killing field for the global jihadi supply. At first, I was skeptical of the "flypaper" effect. Now, I'm all for it. Whatever we can do to draw off the hordes of Islamic psychos is just fine. I'll go so far as to say that holding Mecca and Medina as physical hostages would create the ultimate flypaper.
The explosion of radical Internet sites has created self-generating cells of would-be terrorists in many Western countries.
Wrong! Far be it from the NYT to admit how it is Islam that creates "self-generating cells of would-be terrorists".
Lebanese Hezbollah, rarely considered likely to attack in the United States, now may be more likely to consider doing just that in response to a perceived threat from American forces to itself or its sponsor, Iran.
This is nothing more than a thinly warmed-over version of "killing terrorists only makes more terrorists". Hezbollah has little in the way of infrastructure to make attacks on American soil. It is no shock that the NYT would so easily mistake hot air for real substance; A feat they engineer with stunning regularity.
jihadist sentiment has so far turned out to hold little attraction for American Muslims, by contrast with those in Europe generally and the United Kingdom in particular, with its large population of South Asian immigrants.
... some of it has come apart in the past year, with Pakistani troops abandoning patrols in North Waziristan and allowing greater freedom of movement to Al Qaedas core.
Exactly how is it America's fault that a traitorous Muslim nation happens to have an incredibly ineffectual military?
All told, despite the absence of any new attack on American soil since 2001, the conclusion that Al Qaeda will continue to enhance its capabilities to attack the United States suggests some miscalculation in the administrations basic formula against terrorism: that attacking the jihadists overseas would protect the homeland.
Gah! The Bush administration's only "miscalculation" has been to keep calling Islam the Religioin of Peace [spit]. Anything short of nuclear annihilation will permit the MME (Muslim Middle East) to continue with its program of assaulting the West. Perish the thought that these ink-stained wankers would ever conceive of such a notion.
Democrats proclaimed the document a devastating indictment of Bush administration policies
To a flea, even the footfall of a horse is an earthquake. The democrats' total lack of any cohesive game plan excludes them from consideration.
jihadist sentiment has so far turned out to hold little attraction for American Muslims
That's because many of them know that there will be little mercy shown to those who willingly undermine America's constitutional law.
Yet another Little Green Footballs find. Here's a taste, blatantly stolen, because Charles Johnson is much cleverer, much harder working, and much fitter than I.
On the face of it, the nations two biggest metropolitan forces seem to have adopted kindred counterterrorism strategies. Both have roving SWAT or Emergency Service Unit teams, equipped with gas masks and antidotes to chemical and biological agents. Both have set up fusion centers to screen threats and monitor secret intelligence and open-source information, including radical Internet sites, and both have started programs to identify and protect likely targets. Both have tried to integrate private security experts into their work. Both conduct surveillance that would have been legally questionable before September 11. Both have sought to enlist support from mainstream Muslims and have encouraged various private firms to report suspicious activity.
Yet despite such similarities, the terror-fighting approaches of New York and L.A., like the cities themselves, reflect very different traditions, styles, and, above all, resources. New York, which knows the price of failure and thus has a heightened threat perception, sets the gold standard for counterterrorismand has the funding and manpower to do it. Kelly, 65, views his highest priority as ensuring that al-Qaida doesnt hit the city again. When your city has been attacked, the threat is always with you, he tells me. Deploying its own informants, undercover terror-busters, and a small army of analysts, New York tries to locate and neutralize pockets of militancy even before potentially violent individuals can form radical cellsa preventive approach, as Kelly calls it, that is the most effective way that police departments, small or large, can help fight terror.
In L.A., a city that has never been attacked, terrorism is a less pressing concern than gang violence and other crime. Lacking the political incentive, and hence the resources, to wage his own war on terror, Bratton, 59, has instead pooled scarce funds, manpower, and information with federal and other agenciesan approach that federal officials hold up as a model for police departments that cant afford New Yorks investment.
#2
That's what I thought, too, JohnQC. Although I don't live in either city, it's comforting to know that others are working through what needs to be done and doing it to keep us safe. We've been concerned here about the issue, after all. It's also good to be able to send the message to the men and women fighting out there that the home front is being taken care of, too.
First this: Nicholson, 69, is the latest in a line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the Bush administration.
Ah, yes, I guess this near 70 year old with no job prospects hated Bush Co. so much he just headed to the exits on his own accord.
But wait - there's more from our bi-polar reporter:
It also ends a beleaguered two-year tenure in which Nicholson repeatedly fought off calls for his resignation over the VA's unexpected $1.3 billion shortfall in 2005 that put health care at risk; last summer's theft of 26.5 million veterans' personal data in what was the government's largest security breach; and, more recently, the award of $3.8 million in bonuses to senior officials who were responsible for the agency's budget problems.
Posted by: A T ||
07/18/2007 2:55 Comments ||
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#2
just so I'm not misunderstood - I meant no offense to rantburg for its fine reporting of this news - just to the crap-o reporter who couldn't make up his mind how he wanted to spin it.
Posted by: A T ||
07/18/2007 2:59 Comments ||
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#4
Good riddance! lost vet's data (twice) and crappy hospital care. Walter Reed was not entirely his fault but somebody had to go and it was deemed this loser drew the short straw.
Aid efforts for thousands of earthquake and flood victims in Pakistan have been affected by violence sparked by the recent siege of the Red Mosque. UN and relief agencies have suspended operations in part of North-West Frontier Province following a spate of attacks last week. A mob ransacked stores and torched offices belonging to Care International, the Red Thingy Cross and four other organisations in Batagram, an area badly affected by the October 2005 quake that killed more than 73,000 people.
Foreign staff have been evacuated to Islamabad and local staff advised to lie low. Work continues in nearby Mansehra, a big aid hub, but staff movements are restricted. "We're not expecting more trouble but we'll wait and see what happens on Friday. That's usually the hot day," said a UN security official.
Right after services led by the usual spittle-spewing holy men.
Islamic Rage Boy is having his beard specially oiled and his eyes extra-bulging for the occasion.
Tensions are high in pockets of the quake zone where many mosque students, some of whom are still missing, came from. The UK-based charity Plan said it had imposed a curfew on female employees and suspended work on 10 schools it is building in the Siran Valley. "Field work has stopped," said Natasha Kamal, Plan's communications officer, who said there were 85 madrasas in Batagram. "The danger is not from the communities we work with, which have always welcomed us. It's the fundamentalists that are the real problem."
Who come from .. somewhere else.
Dorothy Blane, country director for Concern, another charity, said relief operations were continuing but the surge in suicide attacks was "of particular concern".
The fallout from the siege was also felt hundreds of miles to the southwest in Baluchistan and Sindh provinces, where 30,000 people have been displaced by catastrophic floods earlier this month. British aid agency Shelterbox was forced to evacuate its personnel to the UK last weekend after security warnings from Pakistani and British authorities. "It's a quite toned-down Islamic area but you don't know how the situation will go," said Mark Pearson, who had been working in the coastal town of Turbat in Baluchistan, but is now in the UK. "But we're hoping to get back out there within a week. We've got to get back on top of the situation."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Kailash tradition is that they are descendants of the troops of 'Iskander' (Alexander the great).
The area they live was once the province ruled by one of Alexander's Generals - Selucius Nicator.
Selucius lost this province to the Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya.
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/18/2007 8:19 Comments ||
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#2
Interesting, John - thanks.
The assumptions of today's 'progressives' notwithstanding, history has a tendency not to disappear but to reverberate for a very long time.
Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani on Tuesday condemned the Islamabad blast, which claimed several precious lives. Talking to PTV, the minister called the blast an inhuman and an un-Islamic act.
I keep trying to figure how it is that those un-Islamic acts 95 times out of 100 are committed by Islamists. Is a puzzlement.
Allan works in mysterious ways.
He reiterated to evolve a national strategy to eliminate the menace of extremism from the society. Durrani said when there were reports about possible terrorist attacks such gatherings should have been avoided. He said a collective strategy was required to tackle the terrorism wave faced by the country.
This article starring:
Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
. . . the minister called the blast 'an inhuman and an un-Islamic act'.
The suicide bomber's blast only becomes "un-Islamic" when it strikes too close to home. Otherwise, like Muslims world-wide, the minister turns a blind eye.
Pakistan has requested International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), a US NGO, to hold seminars for educating its madrassa teachers on interfaith harmony, religious tolerance, human rights and womens rights. An ICRD delegation will reach Islamabad shortly to discuss the request with Pakistani officials, Daily Times has learnt. ICRD is already training Pakistani madrassa teachers under a madrassa reforms programme, which includes incorporation of social and scientific courses in madrassas.
Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary Vakil Ahmad Khan confirmed the development to Daily Times. He said he had telephonic talk with a top official of the ICRD Monday night in which he (the secretary) had proposed ICRD workshops for madrassa teachers. He said the ICRD delegation was likely to visit the country in a month or two to discuss arrangement of the workshops. Last month, a five-member delegation of Ittehad Tanzeematul Madaris (ITMD), a representative body of countrys madaris, visited the US and attended a training workshop of the ICRD. The delegation consisted of five clerics, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Maulana Hanif Jalandhri, Allama Qazi Niaz Naqvi, Maulana Naeemur Rehman and Dr Attaur Rehman.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
A couple of seminars will prepare madrassah teachers to take on courses like science and mathematics that in the West require a four-year university degree? How clever the Lions of Islam are, to be sure!
"America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America," was Jinnah's reply. "Pakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed" -- he revolved his long forefinger in bony circles -- "the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves." He leaned toward me, dropping his voice to a confidential note. "Russia," confided Mr. Jinnah, "is not so very far away."
This had a familiar ring. In Jinnah's mind this brave new nation had no other claim on American friendship than this - that across a wild tumble of roadless mountain ranges lay the land of the BoIsheviks. I wondered whether the Quaid-i-Azam considered his new state only as an armored buffer between opposing major powers. He was stressing America's military interest in other parts of the world. "America is now awakened," he said with a satisfied smile. Since the United States was now bolstering up Greece and Turkey, she should be much more interested in pouring money and arms into Pakistan. "If Russia walks in here," he concluded, "the whole world is menaced."
In the weeks to come I was to hear the Quaid-i-Azam's thesis echoed by government officials throughout Pakistan. "Surely America will build up our army," they would say to me. "Surely America will give us loans to keep Russia from walking in." But when I asked whether there were any signs of Russian infiltration, they would reply almost sadly, as though sorry not to be able to make more of the argument. "No, Russia has shown no signs of being interested in Pakistan."
This hope of tapping the U. S. Treasury was voiced so persistently that one wondered whether the purpose was to bolster the world against Bolshevism or to bolster Pakistan's own uncertain position as a new political entity. Actually, I think, it was more nearly related to the even more significant bankruptcy of ideas in the new Muslim state -- a nation drawing its spurious warmth from the embers of an antique religious fanaticism, fanned into a new blaze.
Jinnah's most frequently used technique in the struggle for his new nation had been the playing of opponent against opponent. Evidently this technique was now to be extended into foreign policy. ....
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/18/2007 8:01 Comments ||
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#3
Pakistan has requested International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), a US NGO, to hold seminars for educating its madrassa teachers on interfaith harmony, religious tolerance, human rights and womens rights.
Jeebus, as if the jihadis don't think we're weak enough already, they have to go spew this crap in the hornet's nest? Better to shut up and keep stupidity in doubt than to open your mouth and remove all doubts!
The delegation consisted of five clerics, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Maulana Hanif Jalandhri, Allama Qazi Niaz Naqvi, Maulana Naeemur Rehman and Dr Attaur Rehman.
Any of these names ring a bell? And just who is this Dr.?
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2007 9:52 Comments ||
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#4
Note that three of the five have the same "Rehman" surname. Wasn't one of the Red Mosques also a "Rehman"? They're obviously all from the same tribe, if not from the same family. Wonder how trustworthy they are?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2007 13:43 Comments ||
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Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Tuesday opposed the recent deployment of troops in the troubled districts of NWFP, saying the NWFP chief minister should have taken the MMA leaders into confidence before requesting troops from the federal government. The MMA was not taken into confidence. Army deployment will trigger hatred among people in the province, Qazi told reporters after a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) meeting at Markaz-e-Islami. He said it was questionable that Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had requested the federal government to deploy troops in the province to control the situation in Malakand. He said the JI had never supported military deployment in NWFP and FATA, and had always urged for the resolution of tribal problems through dialogue.
Qazi said security forces had been deployed in Dir and Swat districts when people were mourning the casualties of the Lal Masjid operation. Suicide attacks in Matta Bazaar, Swat and Dera Ismail Khan were in response to the killings of innocent students in Islamabad, he said. He said local elders in several districts of Malakand division had shown their strong determination to curb the emerging insurgency in the region through a tribal jirga. He said a military operation would not solve the issue and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the army from NWFP to avoid further casualties.
Concerning Lal Masjid, Qazi said the nation had not expected such brutal killings of innocent students at the hands of their own army. The bloody Operation Silence has created a gulf between people and the army, he said, while demanding Lal Masid and Jamia Hafsa be reconstructed. He said thousands of MMA party workers would enter the Lal Masjid compound by force to offer Friday prayers on July 20 if their demands were not met. He also said the party would soon move the Supreme Court against the government for the killings during Operation Silence.
Former senior minister and JI NWFP Ameer Sirajul Haq, Finance Minister Shah Raz Khan, Social Welfare and Womens Development Minister Kashif Azam, Health Minister Inayatullah Khan, MMA Peshawar President Hakim Abdul Waheed and Science and Technology Minister Hussain Ahmad Kanju also attended the briefing. Answering a question, Sirajul Haq said the NWFP chief minister should have informed the JI leaders of the army deployment. He said the presence of the army was prompting public anger in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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There is a serious risk of Pakistan going the way of Afghanistan if the state and Islamist militants remain in conflict, say former Afghan commanders who fought in the jihad against Soviet forces.
Afghanistan has been ravaged by almost continuous war since the late 1970s, when mujahideen challenged the Moscow-backed regime in Kabul. With growing unrest in the NWFP and the tribal areas, where there have been repeated suicide attacks on security forces, Pakistan is exhibiting similar symptoms to Afghanistan, the Afghan commanders say. Pakistan may face a worse crisis than Afghanistan as this country has nuclear weapons, former Afghan commander Haji Muhammad Zaman warned.
Pakistan was the transit route for US-backed Muslim volunteers and weapons sent into Afghanistan against the Red Army occupation and Balochistan and NWFP bore the brunt of the wave of Islamisation that the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq, with US-backing, promoted to inflict defeat on the former Soviet Union. Peshawar was the de facto capital of the Afghan resistance against the communists.
Zaman said the angry reaction of people in NWFP and the tribal areas to the Lal Masjid operation shows and suicide attacks on security forces show how deeply radicalised the Pashtuns have become. How can you change the people so soon who underwent 30 years of radicalisation? Excessive use of force is no solution to keep people away from what we call extremism, the Afghan commander said. In 2007, the phenomenon of Talibanisation has spilled over into several Frontier districts from Waziristan. Things are happening even outside Waziristan now, Haji Masood Khan, former commander for Afghan leader Pir Syed Ahmed Gilani, told Daily Times. There is a danger that Pakistan may go Afghanistans way as I look at the current situation in this country.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
There is a serious risk of Pakistan going the way of Afghanistan [or Hamastan] if
The term "risk" implies that a different outcome is possible.
#2
Sooner or later, the malignancy known as "Pakistan" will have to be eliminated, especially the uncontrolled and unsupervised "madrassas". The Pashtuns are valiant fighters and all, but a few ARCLIGHT strikes through their major cities will convince them they cannot win against overwhelming force. Unfortunately, the US isn't even CONSIDERING overwhelming force. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2007 13:48 Comments ||
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State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday at his regular daily briefing that, President Musharraf is serious about fighting violent extremism and terror. He is as much threatened by terror and violence as we are. He no more wants to see the tribal areas turned into a sanctuary and safe haven for the Taliban or Al Qaeda or other violent extremists than we do. So we are going to continue to support him in his efforts. Were there where we think course corrections are needed, required and advisable, then of course were going to talk to him about them, but were going to do it through diplomatic channels. Were not going to necessarily advertise it in public. But we have said in the past that this is the agreement, as it was originally structured, was not hasnt worked out. It hasnt worked out the way that we had hoped, and he has said that it hasnt worked out the way that he had hoped.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
'mazing how an assassination attempt or two can focus the mind
Posted by: kelly ||
07/18/2007 9:58 Comments ||
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KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) - Orange gas flares from Iraq's northern oil fields illuminate the night horizon outside Kirkuk, lighting the extraterrestrial panorama like several pregnant dawns. But most of the poor Sunni Arab villages along the 100 kilometres of underground pipelines running southwest to the Baiji oil refinery are shrouded in pre-industrial darkness.
The oil-rich region could export more than a million barrels per day, but the Baiji refinery receives just enough oil to keep it operating, and the onward export pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan is dry.
Those who enjoyed few, if any, benefits from the country's vast oil reserves in the days of Saddam Hussein are enjoying even fewer now.
"They are capable of exporting 1.2 million barrels per day, but right now are exporting zero," says US military Lieutenant Colonel Jack Pritchard of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery. His unit is charged with guarding underground pipelines running through those dusty Arab villages against tribal turf fights and smuggling networks built to evade international sanctions in the 1990s.
The only crude line that is operational is a 26-inch (66-centimetre) pipeline with a capacity of 220,000 barrels a day, enough to keep the Baiji refinery running. Other lines bring refined products back to Kirkuk.
But the 40-inch (102-centimetre) export pipeline, the one that could bring untold wealth to the war-torn country - "that's our biggest musykila," Pritchard says, using the Arabic word for problem. "This pipeline is the Achilles heel of the whole system. You put a quarter-size (coin-size) hole in it and you have a pretty big problem on your hands."
Which is what happened last October when insurgents bombed the line, sending a sea of oil gushing out over the brown grassy plains. It took two months just to clean the site enough to begin to repair the hole. "Meanwhile you had a half-million barrels of oil sitting in the line between Kirkuk and Baiji, and depending on the security situation it was there for the taking," Pritchard says.
The pipelines are guarded by a special brigade of around 5,000 US-led Iraqi army soldiers, but of the seven battalions under Pritchard's command only four are effective - and at least one was believed to be collaborating in attacks. "We are sending them to be retrained. It was either that or send them to prison," says Pritchard.
On a searing July afternoon the misfit soldiers sit in a line outside the battalion office, waiting to head back to training.
The problem, they say, is that they were posted too close to home, where family and tribal ties made it impossible to go after insurgents and smugglers. "It was hard because I was guarding the area where I live," one soldier says.
Adds another: "Everyone knows us. If we strike someone they will come after us, and they know where our houses and our families are." Both refused to give their names.
With Iraq's warring factions deadlocked over a draft law aimed at fairly distributing the country's oil wealth, no one appears terribly interested in bringing Kirkuk's oil to market, at least not immediately. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of motivation to export, except from the United States," Pritchard says.
Meanwhile, insurgents continue to hit the pipelines, denying the government revenues, driving up petrol prices and forcing everyone from professional smugglers to local farmers to tap into the black market. "It's not unusual in the winter to see black smoke coming out of chimneys, so that says to me that people are burning crude oil in their homes to stay warm," Pritchard says.
RAMADI, Iraq Upbeat on what could be his final visit to Iraq before retiring, the top U.S. general said Tuesday that parts of Iraq are undergoing a "sea change" in improved security.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took some people in war-battered Ramadi by surprise during a sandstorm that kept his helicopter grounded and gave him extra hours to tour. He was driven down streets that U.S. soldiers had called "The Gauntlet" and "The Racetrack" before the combination of a U.S. offensive and new Sunni Arab tribal alliances against al-Qaida in Iraq brought a remarkable, if uncertain, peace to this provincial capital.
Pace told two reporters accompanying him that his unplanned interlude, which included a chat with Mayor Latif Eyada, reinforced his sense of optimism about the U.S. troop buildup, which is focused mainly on Baghdad but includes Ramadi and other areas of Anbar province.
Continued on Page 49
Iran expressed its unease with a possible cross-border operation into northern Iraq by the Turkish military, daily Milliyet reported yesterday. A military operation will create new justification for the invaders and this could have very negative affects, Isfendiar Rahim Mesai, the Iranian vice president said in an interview.
Especially on our own Kurds, who might get ideas ....
... golly gosh, who would ever encourage that ...
The Turkish military insists on authorization from Parliament to conduct an operation in Iraq but the government has rejected the notion.
Our region is very sensitive nowadays, the presence of invaders causes a security deficit. To provide more stability, we should give a chance to the Iraqi administration, Mesai said. He also said Iran suffered a lot from the terrorist organizations.
especially the one in charge of the country
All the countries in the region should cooperate to end these destructive activities by the terror organizations. This cooperation can also be carried out by armed forces.
Said that without his lips falling off? Wowzers, he's good.
Meanwhile, Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the semi-autonomous regional government in northern Iraq, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, argued that any military operation into Iraq would not yield a positive result. The only way is to find a political solution, he said.
Claiming that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is Turkey's internal problem, Barzani reiterated that the terrorists are located in a wide area in northern Iraq and in Turkey. We don't give logistic support to the PKK. These press reports are false, said Barzani.
"No, no, certainly not!"
According to the Web site of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Pukmedia, the Shiites are also against a cross-border operation into Iraq. A group of delegates led by Beha Ereci, who are in close contact with Shiite leader Muqtada al Sadr, paid a visit to Suleimanya to meet officials of the PUK. We are against Turkey's operation in the region because Kurdistan is a part of Iraq. We can't accept the interference of any neighboring country into the internal affairs of Iraq and Kurdistan, Ereci said.
You're not getting the oil and we're not giving the Kurds further motivation to create their own country.
This article starring:
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Posted by: lotp ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Referendum on joining Kurdistan is coming up in Kirkuk and elsewhere in the area. Excerpt:
Some outsiders have urged the Kurdistan and Iraqi governments to hold off on implementing Article 140. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group suggests the process lacks legitimacy among Arabs, Turcomans and others. But Kurdish officials say they have had little luck trying to negotiate any practical compromises with their main Sunni or Turcoman opponents.
We are talking about a constitution. It is not a menu for a restaurant, says Mohammed Ihsan, a Kurdish member of the multi-ethnic commission overseeing Article 140. The constitution is something fixed and you have to implement it.
TEL AVIV Israel's military has been developing plans for halting the flow of weapons and insurgents from Egypt to the Gaza Strip. It MUST be properly stocked with ominous creatures! Pirhannas, Gators, and Water Moccasins!
One proposal is to construct a huge moat along the 14-kilometer Egypt-Gaza border. Officials said the moat would be built in stages, with the first portion to be located in the area of the arms smuggling tunnels along the divided city of Rafah.
Officials said the military believes that at least 30 arms smuggling tunnels connect Sinai to the Gaza Strip. They said Egypt, despite the deployment of 750 police commandos, has not made a dent in the smuggling.
Officials said the General Staff has been working with the Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry to draft technical measures designed to halt or reduce arms smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula. They said some of the measures would revive proposals examined in 2004, a year prior to the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. Wallace D. "Wally" Gator (above) threatened to contact PETA, as being forced to consume Islamofascists give him gas.
In 2004, the Defense Ministry sought to promote the construction of a moat. The ministry issued a tender for digging a four-kilometer-long canal, with a width of 100 meters and depth of 25 meters.
At the time, Egypt opposed such a project. But the Foreign Ministry has renewed discussions with the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Any arrangement will have to provide an answer to the problem of the arms buildup," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.
One in four Israeli men eligible for national service last year dodged the draft, the highest proportion in the history of the Jewish state.
Figures released yesterday by the Israeli Army showed that in the 2006 intake, just 75 per cent of eligible men joined up. The figures date from before last year's Lebanon war, widely viewed in Israel as a failure, and there are worries that this year's numbers could show an even greater rate of non-participation.
The declining participation rate in a country that since its foundation in 1948 has repeatedly had to use its army to fight for its existence led to strong criticism from officers inside the Israeli army.
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"Israeli society has to condemn draft dodgers," an unnamed officer said. "This is not just a military matter, but a social issue as well. Those who do not shoulder their share of the burden have to be made to feel ashamed."
Israeli men can avoid service in several ways. The growing number of Ultra-Orthodox Jews have special dispensation to continue religious studies, while convicted criminals are barred from serving, as are the ill and infirm.
But some young Israelis travel overseas beyond the reach of the army authorities and there is some evidence of people pretending to have mental illness to avoid service.
There have been calls to reverse the decline either by limiting exemptions, or by allowing those with a criminal record to enlist.
The reduced levels of participation reveal a change in attitudes among young Israelis as the memory of the country's early days, surrounded by hostile, aggressive Arab neighbours, becomes more distant.
With peace treaties signed with Egypt and Jordan, the imminent sense of threat is not as strong for today's young Israelis as it used to be.
I'ts been my impression that there has been a lot of immigration from Russia and Eastern Europe by nominal Jews who were going to Israel more for economic opportunity rather than anything else.
If true, then I wonder how much of the recent immigration is reflected in the 25% not joining up.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/18/2007 13:31 ||
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#1
A lot of this would change overnight by doing just a few things. First would be to deny money to any Orthodox sect that does not encourage its young men to serve in the military.
Second would be to suspend the citizenship of any Israeli living overseas who ignores a draft notice. That is, they would still be citizens, but their travel visas would be revoked, and the countries they were visiting would be notified that they were now there illegally.
In the US and Europe, this would make them illegal aliens, and subject to expulsion. In addition, starting with their given induction date, they could add additional time to their enlistment based on their time of absence.
#2
Ah. That explains the number of kiosks at festivals and shopping malls staffed by young Israelis I've seen lately. I think you may be right about the economic opportunity angle, Laurence of the Rats. After all, Israel has a growing illegal immigrant problem for that very reason.
#3
The reduced levels of participation reveal a change in attitudes among young Israelis as the memory of the country's early days, surrounded by hostile, aggressive Arab neighbours, becomes more distant.
How deranged is that comment?! Such a ridiculous statement only serves to put the rest of the article in doubt.
Posted by: A T ||
07/18/2007 15:15 Comments ||
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#5
I think the Israeli perception is that there is no longer a danger of an Egyptian blockade or a Syrian invasion. This change of the threat from tanks to suicide vests coupled with a steady diet of self-hatred has sapped the will of younger Israelis. Like the US, I think there is a lower level of patriotism without angst.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 21:43 Comments ||
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Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema warned the West against isolating Hamas, saying there was a risk of pushing the movement into the arms of al-Qaida, according to Corriere della Sera and other reports on Tuesday.
Massimo is a little behind the times, isn't he ...
Last week, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement claimed that thanks to Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June, al-Qaida is entering the coastal strip. Hamas denied the accusation.
D'Alema described Hamas, which has been shunned by the West, as "a real power that represents a large part of the Palestinian people," D'Alema said Monday evening in Tuscany. "Hamas has committed terrorist acts but it is also a movement of the people. For the West not to recognize a government that was democratically elected ... it is not a very good lesson in democracy," he said.
We recognized them allright, we recognized them for what they were, a bunch of terrorist thugs. We reacted accordingly. So did Massimo, which is a big part of the problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
With all the problematic groups in the MidEast... Why do the Euro folks always put the Pals at the front of the line?
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal blamed Israel's prime minister on Tuesday for the lack of progress in negotiations over the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-allied militants in the Gaza Strip since last year.
Egypt has been negotiating between Hamas and Israel for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, seized by Hamas-allied militants last year. But Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in exchange for Schalit's freedom. Israel has balked at meeting the demand, and Hamas's leader blamed its resistance on Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert's "stubborness."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Britain resumed direct financial support to the Palestinian Authority to help pay debts and free up funds for salaries in the territories, officials said Tuesday, urging other donors to follow suit. The move came after US President George W Bush called for a conference to revive Middle East peace talks and announced a direct US contribution of 80 million dollars to help president Mahmud Abbas reform his security services.
Britains 6 million dollar aid package is aimed at helping the Palestinian Authority pay debts to suppliers in order to free up funds to pay public sector salaries, British officials said. The money will be funnelled through the Abbas-headed ministry of finance and monitored by an international accounting firm. The recent conflict in Gaza has compounded the hardships faced by the millions of ordinary Palestinians in trying to live normal lives, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said. The Islamist Hamas movement seized power last month in the Gaza Strip from its secular Fatah rivals in the Palestinian Authority, rupturing the unity government they had formed months earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed to wrest control of all territory held by his Tamil Tiger rebel foes following the assassination overnight of a top government official in the restive east, his office said.
The Singhalese have only been running things there for the past 2500 years or so. They probably can't see any pressing reason to give their land away to a bunch of Tamils.
But analysts say the fatal shooting of Herath Abeyweera, Secretary of the Eastern Province, in the northeastern district of Trincomalee on Monday shows the Tigers are still a force to be reckoned with in the east - even though the military says it has captured much of the region after months of fighting.
The military's captured it, the Tigers aren't in control of it anymore, and they're still murderers. Only the first two statements are news.
Fighter jets roared low over the capital on Tuesday, rehearsing for a fly-past when Rajapaksa holds a national celebration ceremony on Thursday to mark the fall of the Tigers last eastern stronghold this month. This is yet another act of savagery by the LTTE in its campaign of terror to achieve its goal of a separate state, allegedly for the liberation of the Tamil people who are themselves severely oppressed by its violence and terror, Rajapaksa said in a statement issued by his office overnight. This assassination further strengthens our resolve not to give in to the forces of terror, but to proceed with our task of restoring freedom and democracy to the East, and all of Sri Lanka.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Tuesday denied involvement in the assassination, but analysts said it bore the hallmarks of countless past killings by the rebels, who have vowed to attack major economic and military targets in a bid to crippled the $23 billion economy. We had nothing to do with it, rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi. We dont have any idea who was behind this. Maybe it was for political gain.
The Tigers have rarely admitted to assassinations, but few have any doubt the group - widely outlawed as a banned terrorist group by the likes of the United States, Britain and the European Union - was responsible. There is no doubt it was them, said Iqbal Athas, an analyst for Janes Defence Weekly. This is proof that the rebel group is very much active in the east. There is no doubt this is a retaliatory strike for the military operation to capture Thoppigala (in the east).
An estimated 4,500 people have been killed since last year after a 2002 ceasefire broke down on the ground and civil war resumed, and fierce fighting has now spread from the east to the north. The foes fought an hours-long battle on Saturday as government troops advanced past defence lines that separate government from rebel-held territory in the north, with at least 10 troops killed and dozens injured after they were caught in a minefield.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So there won't be any habitat for tigers any more? What about leopards?
Posted by: Gary (no Samoyeds in hotel) ||
07/18/2007 0:56 Comments ||
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#2
Didn't the Tamils originate from India, brought in by the British? I don't think they're indigenous. Sounds a lot like the rest of the world - invasion by emigrees who then try to take over. I have no sympathy.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2007 14:15 Comments ||
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July 18, 2007: The Iranian government is losing control of its security forces and secret police. Islamic radicals increasingly refuse to obey orders from the top, claiming God has commanded them to do otherwise.
#2
Thusly arises one of the principal problems with theocratic governance. When the word of God commands all, which voices in whose head are we supposed to listen to?
#5
Once again the irony sets in. In Japan prior to and during WWII, the Bushido code was such that a subordinate could overrule a superior if the junior wanted to immediately and foolishly attack, and usually against overwhelming odds. An unsuccessful suicide attack was even seen as more macho than a methodical plan that succeeded.
This resulted in a lot fewer believers in Bushido.
The bottom line is that the Iranian subordinates will not rebel against the Mullahs, but will want to show up their direct superiors by demonstrating greater "piss and curl papers."
What do you care that the Captain tells you to wait. Allah himself has told you to attack now!
UNITED NATIONS (KUNA) -- Syria on Tuesday strongly rejected UN accusations, based on Israeli intelligence sources, that it is smuggling weapons through its border into Lebanon.
Syria is "surprised at the acceptance by the UN of these fabricated claims put forward mainly by Israeli intelligence sources, (Syria) wishes to remind the Secretary-General and members of the Security Council of the fact that Israel's accusation that Syria is smuggling weapons is baseless," Syria's UN envoy Bashar Al-Jaafari said in letters to the Secretary-General and the council president, China, stating his country's position on the UN fourth report on the implementation of resolution 1701 of last summer.
In that report issued late last month on the implementation of resolution 1701, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "I urge the Syrian Arab Republic to do more to control its border with Lebanon and look forward to specific proposals from the Syrian authorities in time" for the next quarterly report due in September.
Al-Jaafari noted in his letters that Israel's claim that it possesses evidence of its accusation is, in itself, flagrant evidence that Israel is in contravention of council resolution 1701, as the claim is an implicit admission that Israel is violating Lebanese airspace at the Syrian borders, which in this case enables it to photograph any "vegetable or goods truck and tout the pictures as being of trucks carrying weapons." He said what is "most regrettable" is the inability of the council to take a single measure that would deter Israel and put an end to its encroachments and provocations, and its inability to address the root cause of the conflict in the region, namely the Israeli occupation of Arab territories.
He reiterated Syria's position that the demarcation of the border with Lebanon is a "bilateral sovereign matter" with Beirut and that Shebaa Farms will be dealt with bilaterally with Lebanon once Israel ends its occupation of the Golan Heights.
In the meantime, he stressed that his government has doubled the number of border guards on the Syrian side of the border and that it has "confiscated weapons that had been smuggled from Lebanon" into Syria and from Iraq to Lebanon through Syria.
Al-Jaafari urged the council, when carrying out its mandate to maintain international peace and security, "should not deal with the region's problems selectively."
#1
Let's see, Israel has two spy satellites up right now, including one that's a Radar Imaging Satellite. No need to "violate airspace" to see what's going on. Plus there are several other nations, many with treaty agreements with Israel (the US, India, etc.) who also have dozens of capabilities for detecting Syrian perfidity without "violating airspace". We've seen Iranian 107mm rockets being launched from the Tripoli Palestinian refuge camp by Fatr-al-Islam against Lebanese civilians. We've seen IEDs, unheard of until recently, and promoted heavily by Iran, striking the UN hostage"peacekeeper" force in southern Lebanon. Syria's suddenly making all sorts of assinine claims about the Golan, and threatening military action there. All in all, it seems that Syria is screaming, "Hit Me!" for everyone to hear. "Someone" needs to take them up on it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2007 17:15 Comments ||
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#2
I don't think the Syrian government is doing the smuggling. They pay civilians to do that type of work ... with Iranian money.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 23:16 Comments ||
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Iranian Defense Minister Mohammed Mustafa Najjar rejected recent threats directed towards his country by Israel, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency.
Following the difficult defeat against Hizbullah, Israel is busy with psychological warfare. Israel doesnt have the power that Iran does at the moment. If we see that a country wants to invade Iranian land, we will respond decisively, he said. (Dudi Cohen)
#1
Ah-ah, I know what you're thinking, punk Mustafa. You're thinking, "Did he fire six shots or only five?" And to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum - the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?!
Britain's tense relations with Iran are likely to be further strained next week by an officially linked campaign demanding the handover of the British embassy residence compound in Tehran. Hardliners will stage a conference demanding the return to Iran of Gholhak gardens, a 200,000 sq metre (50-acre) compound providing accommodation for British diplomats and their families.
The compound, in north Tehran's up-market Shemiran district, was presented to Britain at the height of its imperial might by the Qajar monarchy in the 19th century. It is separate from the sprawling British embassy complex several miles further south. Bordered by high walls and guarded round the clock by Iran's diplomatic police, the grounds are home to the British Council. They also contain a school and a graveyard, where the remains of British soldiers killed in the first and second world wars are buried.
But the hardliners say Britain's ownership was asserted illegally during the reign of Reza Shah in the 1930s.
Just another way of rattling the chains. Pinch a few sailors, make a few claims, fund a few boomers, that sort of thing ...
"During the Reza Shah period the British embassy, without going through the proper legal processes, registered this area under its name," Muhammad Mehdi Shirmohammadi, the conference secretary, told the Guardian. "This is while they could have bought it. They can buy it now if they like. But first they should accept that the historical process was wrong and then they are free to buy."
British diplomats have avoided commenting on the controversy. But organisers of the conference on Monday are seeking to end the official silence by inviting Geoffrey Adams, Britain's ambassador to Iran, to attend, along with Iranian experts in Islamic and civil law. A British embassy spokesman said Mr Adams had yet to decide whether to go. The event is being organised under the auspices of the Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defence Works and Values, a state body ultimately controlled by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Is the Foundation related to the Committee for the Preservation of Virtue and the Elimination of Vice?
The Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defence Works and Values houses this:
It follows a long-running campaign spearheaded by pro-government groups such as the Islamist Basij volunteer terrorists militia and fundamentalist MPs. Several demonstrations have been staged outside the gardens by militant student groups. Last year, 162 MPs wrote to the parliamentary speaker, Gholamali Haddad-Adel demanding an investigation into the gardens' status.
Last month MPs tabled a bill calling on the government to force Britain to return Gholhak and turn it into an anti-colonial museum. Iranian officials have been reported as saying they would be prepared to grant Britain ownership in exchange for Hyde Park in London.
The row is symbolic of the seething resentment felt by many Iranians towards Britain, which is still widely seen as an arrogant colonial power
in the newsroom and executive offices of the Guardian,
and comes amid a prolonged period of tension between the two countries, particularly over Iran's nuclear programme. Last month, Iranian guests attending the Queen's birthday party at the British embassy were harassed by demonstrators after an officially orchestrated campaign aimed at urging invitees to boycott it.
A British embassy spokesman said Iran had not mounted an official challenge to Britain's ownership of the gardens. "As far as we're concerned, there is no question about their ownership," he said. "Our lawyers have looked up all the proper legal documents and found no problem at all," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Brit's let us know when you need a partner to kick some ignorant asses
Posted by: Omavinter Scourge of the Sith ||
07/18/2007 8:36 Comments ||
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#2
No, no. Mark Moloch Brown sez the Brits rely on us too much. They're going to rely on the Spanish in this one.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 9:07 Comments ||
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#7
"They can buy it now if they like. But first they should accept that the historical process was wrong and then they are free to buy."
Instead of buying, they should simply retake the country and be done with--its long ago been demonstrated that Islam isn't compatible with self-government.
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt traveled to the Red Sea city of Jeddah last Saturday for talks with King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz Sunday evening. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, who accompanied Jumblatt said there was "no connection whatsoever" between the visit to Riyadh and the meeting of the rival politicians at Saint Cloud, outside Paris explaining that the visit to Riyadh "was scheduled a long time ago."
Jumblatt also met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Defense Minister Sultan bin Abdel-Aziz on Sunday. Aridi said Jumblatt's talks focused on the international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, among other key issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Hezbollah denied that representatives to the Saint-Cloud Lebanon dialogue had revealed information about the fate of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, the daily As Safir said Monday. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday said he had raised the fate of the two Israeli soldiers -- Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006 -- with Hezbollah and that he was told they were still alive. "I received the assurance that the negotiations (for their release) are continuing, that they are on the right track, in particular with the United Nations," Kouchner said.
As Safir, citing Hezbollah sources in Paris, said Kouchner had inquired about the mediation chances of the release of the kidnapped soldiers. The sources said one of the Shiite group delegates gave Kouchner an unofficial reply, saying: "Hezbollah welcomes (such a measure)," adding that the release of the Israeli soldiers should be done through United Nations channels.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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Syria will enter peace talks with Israel only if the Jewish state commits first to a complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights, President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday.
That's the usual Syrian method of killing peace moves.
There must be guarantees to return the whole land. We cannot enter negotiations without knowing what theyre going to be about.
Yeah, none of this give and take nonsense!
They must present a word of trust or something written, Assad said in a speech to the Syrian parliament after he was sworn in for a second 7-year term.
That statement makes no sense. Why have negotiations if you've already gotten your way?
It's a A-rab thing. We wouldn't understand.
Syria has intensified its calls in the last two years for Israel to resume negotiations on returning the Golan in exchange for peace.
And now doesn't want to negotiate.
Ahmadinajad is visiting Damascus Thursday
Gentle reminder as to who's holding the leash ...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Baby Assad is apparantly unclear on the concept of "negotiations", must be taking lessons from lil' Kim.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered on Monday to facilitate any future peace talks between Israel and Syria, which the United States has shunned. Ban, was responding to comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week that he was "ready for direct talks" with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the occupied Golan Heights.
Facilitation, in diplomatic language, means helping the parties to get together rather than mediating. "It is encouraging that Israel has expressed the willingness to talk with the Syrian president and all other regional players," Ban said told a news conference. "I would be happy to facilitate such peace initiatives."
A new country has begun mediating between Israel and Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Tuesday. "There were delegations here which brought messages from the Israeli prime minister, saying that he wants peace. One even came here during the war. We said that this is a positive thing, but our stance is that we do not support secret negotiations. What is required from the Israeli officials is an official statement that they want peace," he added.
In a speech which dealt with the possibilities for negotiations rather than with threats, Syrian president revealed that "there is one party, which we are proud of, which has begun mediating in the past few weeks and got into the thick of things. The Israeli prime minister said that he wants peace and this is a good thing, but it's not enough. "We are waiting for the conditions to mature for a Syrian official to go to that country, not in order to meet with an Israeli official, but in order to talk to this country. If there is progress, I will stand up and say it. I will not hide."
According to one estimation, the country Assad was referring to was Turkey. Assad made the remarks in a speech to the Syrian parliament after being sworn in for a second time for a seven-year term. But his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, two days later rejected talks, saying that Syria was supporting Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd like to "facilitate" you, the organization that you head, and everyone sharing your worldview.
Discovery will certainly be interesting.
The widow of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl filed a lawsuit at U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday against al Qaeda, other radical groups and Pakistan-based Habib Bank Ltd over the 2002 abduction, torture and murder of her husband.
"Plaintiffs seek to hold responsible those terrorists, terrorist organizations and the supporting charitable and banking organizations for the senseless kidnapping, torture and murder of Daniel Pearl," the suit said. It seeks an unspecified amount of money, whatever the court "deems appropriate", to prevent the defendants from committing similar acts.
Pearl was the South Asia bureau chief of the Journal when he was kidnapped in Karachi in January 2002 while seeking an interview with suspected Islamist militants. After several days in captivity he was beheaded on video.
Among those sued is Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, or Sheikh Omar, who was convicted and sentenced to death in a Pakistani court for his role in the abduction and murder. Three others were jailed for life. Another defendant is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a suspected high-ranking al Qaeda leader and September 11 mastermind who is in U.S. custody. Mohammed admitted to a U.S. military tribunal that he beheaded Pearl, the U.S. military said.
Habib Bank Limited is one of Pakistan's biggest banks. The lawsuit alleges the bank and its subsidiaries knowingly conducted financial transactions on behalf of charities linked to extremist groups. "In doing so Habib and its subsidiaries aided, abetted and provided material support in the form of financial services for the terrorist support organizations," the suit said.
#1
I don't know that someone suing Adolph Hitler would have been more than a distraction to people who should have been concentrating on fighting WWII.
If Habib Bank Limited has branches in the US or other Western countries then maybe it will be a payday for the same class of lawyers who parlayed suing big tobacco into large personal fortunes.
It will be interesting to see whether te ACLU represents KSM pro-bozo.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/18/2007 21:52 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Fran Yeoman of The Times 
Seven Iraqis were arrested in Peru's capital with false passports they planned to use to travel to the United States, police said Tuesday. Authorities seized fake Dutch, Ecuadorean and Iraqi passports from three apartments in Lima's upscale Miraflores district late Monday, police Col. Roberto Lujan told The Associated Press. 
Aid efforts for thousands of earthquake and flood victims in Pakistan have been affected by violence sparked by the recent siege of the Red Mosque. UN and relief agencies have suspended operations in part of North-West Frontier Province following a spate of attacks last week. A mob ransacked stores and torched offices belonging to Care International, the Red 
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Tuesday opposed the recent deployment of troops in the troubled districts of NWFP, saying the NWFP chief minister should have taken the MMA leaders into confidence before requesting troops from the federal government. The MMA was not taken into confidence. Army deployment will trigger hatred among people in the province, Qazi told reporters after a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) meeting at Markaz-e-Islami. He said it was questionable that Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had requested the federal government to deploy troops in the province to control the situation in Malakand. He said the JI had never supported military deployment in NWFP and FATA, and had always urged for the resolution of tribal problems through dialogue. 
There is a serious risk of Pakistan going the way of Afghanistan if the state and Islamist militants remain in conflict, say former Afghan commanders who fought in the jihad against Soviet forces. 
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday at his regular daily briefing that, President Musharraf is serious about fighting violent extremism and terror. He is as much threatened by terror and violence as we are. He no more wants to see the tribal areas turned into a sanctuary and safe haven for the Taliban or Al Qaeda or other violent extremists than we do. So we are going to continue to support him in his efforts. Were there where we think course corrections are needed, required and advisable, then of course were going to talk to him about them, but were going to do it through diplomatic channels. Were not going to necessarily advertise it in public. But we have said in the past that this is the agreement, as it was originally structured, was not hasnt worked out. It hasnt worked out the way that we had hoped, and he has said that it hasnt worked out the way that he had hoped.
KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) - Orange gas flares from Iraq's northern oil fields illuminate the night horizon outside Kirkuk, lighting the extraterrestrial panorama like several pregnant dawns. But most of the poor Sunni Arab villages along the 100 kilometres of underground pipelines running southwest to the Baiji oil refinery are shrouded in pre-industrial darkness.
At the time, Egypt opposed such a project. But the Foreign Ministry has renewed discussions with the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Britain resumed direct financial support to the Palestinian Authority to help pay debts and free up funds for salaries in the territories, officials said Tuesday, urging other donors to follow suit. The move came after US President George W Bush called for a conference to revive Middle East peace talks and announced a direct US contribution of 80 million dollars to help president Mahmud Abbas reform his security services.
UNITED NATIONS (KUNA) -- Syria on Tuesday strongly rejected UN accusations, based on Israeli intelligence sources, that it is smuggling weapons through its border into Lebanon.
Iranian Defense Minister Mohammed Mustafa Najjar rejected recent threats directed towards his country by Israel, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency. 
Hezbollah denied that representatives to the Saint-Cloud Lebanon dialogue had revealed information about the fate of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, the daily As Safir said Monday. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Sunday said he had raised the fate of the two Israeli soldiers -- Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006 -- with Hezbollah and that he was told they were still alive. "I received the assurance that the negotiations (for their release) are continuing, that they are on the right track, in particular with the United Nations," Kouchner said. 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered on Monday to facilitate any future peace talks between Israel and Syria, which the United States has shunned. Ban, was responding to comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week that he was "ready for direct talks" with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the occupied Golan Heights.
