JUBA, Sudan (AP) - Southern Sudan's former rebels on Thursday suspended participation in the central government, accusing it of failing to abide by a peace deal in a dispute that threatens a rare success in the troubled nation. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement said it was withdrawing its 18 Cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister and the vice president, and three advisers.
U.S. officials and other international observers have warned that a 2005 peace agreement between Sudan's north and south was in danger of unraveling, threatening a new civil war that could also dash hopes for ending a separate conflict in western Darfur.
Pagan Amum, the party secretary-general, said the decision was not intended to renew conflict but to push for better implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. ``We are working to avoid a return to war,'' he told The Associated Press. ``We want to make sure the CPA is implemented rather than dishonored.''
The People's Liberation Movement accuses the Khartoum government of multiple breaches of the peace deal, including not sharing oil wealth, failing to pull troops out of the south, and remilitarizing contested border zones where the main oil reserves are located.
Surprise, surprise, surprise ....
The 2005 agreement temporarily ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners. The war, Africa's bloodiest conflict, left some 2 million people dead in fighting, related disease or famine.
Amum urged the U.N. Security Council to meet to examine the peace deal's problems. ``These aren't delays, these are flagrant violations,'' he said.
There was no comment from the government in Khartoum, which seemed to have been caught by surprise by the decision. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq refused to comment on the southerners' decision except to say that the ministry's two deputies would take charge. Both are northern Arabs and members of the ruling National Congress Party.
The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of the southerners' decision to pull out from the government and said it continued to support the unity of Sudan. Andrew Natsios, the White House's special envoy to Sudan, said during a visit to Sudan last week that he was ``deeply concerned with the health'' of the 2005 agreement and warned, ``the risk of a clash is high.''
The Khartoum government led by President Omar al-Bashir has rejected a border drawn by an international commission, and both sides have reportedly massed fighters along the contested region.
Khartoum's hard-line Arab elite has ``its own power system,'' Amum said. Without the balance of the former southern rebels, ``They will go back to their old ways, which is the way of dictatorship,'' he said.
Here's a situation wherein one of the two major parties is no real prize, but the other is a flat-out disaster for us. We should very quietly help the southerners as they manuever to form an independent government. Intel, small quantities of arms, training, etc.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen
#1
Despite differences of age and background, the 23 men who were being held in the cell were linked together through shared experiences.
Brilliant, just effing brilliant. Concentrate all of these trained operatives in one holding area so that they can pool their resources and skills. Does anybody still believe that MME (Muslim Middle East) countries are really serious about fighting terrorism? The only time I see any significant action is when government authorities are put at risk.
Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Raymi (b. 1977): Al-Raymi is from Sanaa, and was also known by the kunya Abu Hurayrah al-San'ani. His younger brother, Faris, who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, was killed in mysterious circumstances in Sanaa in June 2007 after leaving his house in the company of Zakariya al-Yafa'i, another escapee. Another brother, Ali, is listed as being in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay.
Terrorism, fun for the whole family!
Following his escape, he turned himself back in to Yemeni authorities as part of a security arrangement, which allowed him to remain under loose house arrest in exchange for his not taking part in any illegal activities.
What is this, some sort of demented "don't ask - don't tell" plan?
In Yemen, this process is usually sealed by a security guarantee, which often involves both the money and reputation of the mediator.
Oh yeah, that's totally reassuring!
During the trial, Basurah admitted that one of the military uniforms seized by security forces was his, but that he had bought it in order to impersonate Saddam Hussein in a student play.
But wait, there's more!
Later during the trial, Basurah claimed he had been duped by al-Jaylani, and that the leader had exploited his feelings and absconded with his money
"No post card, no phone call, nothing! I feel so ... used."
Four hours later, Faris' father, Nasir, received a call from a surgical team at the German hospital in Sanaa saying they had removed seven bullets from Faris' head, chest and hands.
#3
The criticisms are all directed at "militant Islam". In characterizing the attacks as against "Islamists", is the London press now conceding that there is no difference between the two? That's great! What took them so long?
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
U.S. officials upset with the nuclear talks with North Korea last week said that chief envoy Christopher Hill continues to make concessions to the North Koreans without any firm commitment from Pyongyang to reveal its nuclear programs. Our State Department hard at work at undermining any strength we have by giving away the farm for promises from pathological liars.
At issue is the continuing refusal by Pyongyang to explain and give up its covert uranium enrichment program, which triggered the crisis in 2003. North Korea at first admitted to having a uranium nuclear arms program but since then has consistently denied it. Lucy pulled the football again, Charlie Brown. You never learn.
Hill told reporters last week that getting to the bottom of the uranium program was still an objective of the United States. But his comments emphasized “dismantling” the known plutonium arms program and appeared to play down prospects that North Korea would admit, again, to the uranium program. The Norks got their $25 million in nefarious money back on some promises to a sucker.
“What we hope to have … by the end of the year is the disablement of the graphite moderator, that is the plutonium production; a full declaration, including a full declaration of the weapons-grade plutonium that has already been produced — this is important because we need to know what they have out there somewhere; and then we would have a complete resolution of the uranium enrichment issue,” Hill said. That is your hope, but you have no leverage now.
“Now, as in all negotiations, to get something you have to give something, and what we're giving is further progress on our bilateral relationship," he said. We given lots and have received nothing---nothing for it. Once--shame on you. Twice---shame on me.
Hill said he has agreed to work “very closely with them to get them off the terrorism list” — something that likely will be opposed by Japan’s government until North Korea fully resolves the issue of abducted Japanese from the 1970s. Hill is a chump. They are on the list because they aid and abet terrorists. They need to stay on the list.
Asked about the uranium program, Hill indicated that the main priority is to dismantle the known plutonium program, and “if it turns out they have a uranium enrichment facility, that would have to be disabled.”
“I think there could well be other facilities, but that will be determined as we move forward through the declaration process,” he said.
His statement revealed that North Korean officials continued to deny having a uranium program in the latest round of talks, which ended recently in Beijing.
The final statement included a requirement that North Korea clarify its uranium program. But Hill said that does not mean North Korea admitted to having the program. “But it is an acknowledgement that they have to resolve it,” he said. I read that last paragraph three times. It is just diplo-bulls*it. I cannot stand it any more. And may I assume that Condi is calling the shots on this mad hatter's tea party of Hill's?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/12/2007 15:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
The thing that really bothers me about this whole Nork/US negotiations is that it is being played out in the Clinton White House style but Bush is in the White House.
And thanks to the Mod who put the Charlie Brown/Lucy football cartoon in the article. It is sooooo....... appropriate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/12/2007 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Same State Dept tools - I'd thought Christopher Hill had his head on straight...perhaps it's a "contact buzz" from his peers? I wonder if it's as dire as noted. Hill had been acknowledging the complications of negotiating with proven liars, I'd assumed enough safeguards against NK waffling were built-in....we'll see, I guess.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2007 19:02 Comments ||
Top||
#7
North Korea wil only disable, not destroy its alleged nuc reactors for now, and won't disclose specifically how many nuclear devices it actually has - SSSSSSSHHHHHHH, iff any???
#8
The cookie pushers must win promotions based on getting agreements signed, sort of like the military does when one wins an action. Perhaps these guys are just trying to get an agreement, any agreement, to get their ticket punched for the next level, the State Peace College?
#10
And if you think I was snarky before wait till this gem gets posted tomorrow. I'm so po'ed I don't know if I'll get to sleep with out first inducing alcohol poisoning.
#12
I'm just so po'ed on so many levels, but I thought Rummy had ferreted most of them out, at least those who would be in positions of real responsibility. I fear for the Republic when people like this are so prevalent in the leadership of all institutions of the country, but especially the military, who sacrifice their whole lives for the country. I really spend a lot of time wondering if there is some limit to how long a republic can last.
CANTERBURY, N.H. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton called Barack Obama naive when he said he'd meet with the leaders of Iran without precondition. Now she says she'd do the same thing, too.
Flip.
During a Democratic presidential debate in July, Obama said he would be willing to meet without precondition in the first year of his presidency with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.
Flop.
Standing with him on stage, Clinton said she would first send envoys to test the waters and called Obama's position irresponsible and naive.
But asked about it Thursday by a voter, the New York senator said twice that she, too, would negotiate with Iran ``with no conditions.'' ``I would engage in negotiations with Iran, with no conditions, because we don't really understand how Iran works. We think we do, from the outside, but I think that is misleading,'' she said at an apple orchard.
We understand the basics. Iran is a thugocracry with religious thugs in charge. They're stealing pretty much everything that isn't nailed down. They're running the economy for their own benefit. They're putting their trusted lackeys, friends and children in charge of everything. They're keeping their people in line with brutal repression and increasingly hysterical threats of outsiders coming to invade their country. Did I miss anything important?
She characterized her recent vote to label Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization as a way to gain leverage for those negotiations.
Obama and other rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination have been criticizing Clinton's vote late last month in favor of the resolution, comparing it to her 2002 vote authorizing the war in Iraq. They have suggested that the Iran vote was the first step toward a military invasion there.
Not necessarily an invasion, but they finally got one right: it is indeed a step on the road to the use of force. And getting near time to do it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What is it going to take for these fìckwits to understand that there is no negotiating with Muslims? One merely need examine the history of all Palestinian negotiations with Israel and the Quartet to understand this. To even think it is possible goes so far beyond naive as to be dangerous. In some respects this is yet one more byproduct of Bush's tragic failure to adequately use propaganda. By now, the general American public should be so aware of taqiyya and kitman that even hinting at negotiations with Iran would evoke nothing but scorn and derision. Had this vital groundwork already been laid, there would also be a far more developed comprehension of why military conflict with Iran is a foregone conclusion.
#2
we don't really understand how Iran works. We think we do, from the outside, but I think that is misleading
do you really think the Smartest Woman In The World™ meant "we" in any part of that sentence? "You lesser dipshits" must not have polled well, but that's what she meant
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2007 6:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I bitterly hate to agree with this wench, but she's dead right about Obama being "naive and stupid." She just conveniently left off the "stupid." As far as die Hildebeast "negociating" or making a deal with Iran, well, quite honestly, deal making and compromise are a way of life with the Clintons, a survival method, a raison d'être. The phrase "we don't really know how Iran works" conveys her own shallow understanding of the threat. Who is "we".... foreign policy advisor Sandy Berger and die Hildebest? Wahhahhaha.
#4
Steve, "They're stealing pretty much everything that isn't nailed down. They're running the economy for their own benefit. They're putting their trusted lackeys, friends and children in charge of everything."
Up to this point they sound a lot like our own government, don't they?
#5
Bill Clinton won two Presidential elections by running in the in the center of the USA's political spectrum. Within the Democratic Party, he is far into its right wing. He supported the death penalty, welfare reform, a balanced budget and many other positions that put him at odds with the Democratic Party's left wing.
Hillary Clinton is similar, and that is why she has a strong potential to win the Presidential elections in 2008 and 2012.
On the issue of Iraq in particular and national security in general, Hillary Clinton is most definitely in the Party's right wing. That puts her in the middle of the USA's political spectrum.
She has flip-flopped on Iraq, but so has a large portion of the public. Many people supported our invasion initially and then turned against it and now are granting it a favorable reconsideration. Therefore many voters in the decisive middle of the electorate will identify with her easily.
With regard to our policy toward Iran, much of the public is alarmed by talk and indications that the USA might bomb or even invade that country too. Compared to that possiblity, Hillary's talk about negotiating without preconditions will seem relatively harmless to many voters, especially to those who are wobbly on our invasion of Iraq.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/12/2007 7:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
GOD they are all idiots. and i don't give a shit what anyone thinks about this comment if this nation is stupid enopugh too elect a muslim i'm moving
#7
He supported the death penalty, welfare reform, a balanced budget and many other positions that put him at odds with the Democratic Party's left wing.
Caution, revisionist history 101 at work.
Clinton objected to welfare reform till the Trunks got power in Congress and the polls demonstrated that the general public favored reform . He then switched his tune and coopted the movement. The initiative was the Trunks not Willy‘s.
With the Trunks in their initial years in Congress holding to the old standard of controlled spending, the President had no alternative other than to cut back spending requests. Both parties did so at the cost to military readiness as they both drew down the active Army from 750,000 to just under 500,000. It’s something in the wake of the whining and bitching about ‘not enough soldiers’, I wouldn’t want to bring up if I were them.
He did join the Trunks in pushing NAFTA, against the wishes of his general party membership, which at the time we didn’t understand meant the importation of several million helots laborers. Then, again, the Donks traditionally are fond of plantations, real or virtual, so it wasn’t really that hard of a fit. It has since exposed many of the Trunks as betrayers of the founding principles of their party.
What the record shows is that Clinton understands how to obtain and retain power. It show no values much beyond that because the record is rife with inconsistency and political tap dancing [no Craig reference intended]. Sell your bridge elsewhere.
Hillary's a centrist like I (@ 5' 9" and 200-too-damn-much) take my bike for a little jaunt up the Alpe d' Huez every morning before breakfast. Make no mistake - she's a Chomskyite radical leftist who thinks Amerikkka is steeped in evil and must be removed from the world stage. If she gets elected, look for her to be Stalin at home and Neville Chamberlain overseas.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/12/2007 9:47 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Nice summary, Ricky. That's a keeper!
Posted by: BA ||
10/12/2007 13:05 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Make no mistake - she's a Chomskyite radical leftist who thinks Amerikkka is steeped in evil and must be removed from the world stage. If she gets elected, look for her to be Stalin at home and Neville Chamberlain overseas.
"But, Ricky, I wanna be on the show!"
Posted by: Hillary Clinton ||
10/12/2007 13:33 Comments ||
Top||
#16
it's obviously photoshopped. Hildabeast would NEVER be the submissive
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2007 19:17 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Lest we fergit, and whether for or againt him as a US voter or citizen, BILL CLINTON himself disavows any responsibility for the US economy of the 1990's + admits to being POTUS by elex fraud. "Tis why the Dems could NOT claim any credit for Amer's prosperity during the Clinton 90's.
Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, claims he converted from Islam to Christianity, Scott Pelley reports in a story that brings viewers inside the secretive Supermax prison where he is being held.
Pelley also reports that some 900 forced feedings were performed on other al Qaeda terrorists who went on repeated hunger strikes to protest conditions at the Colorado top-security federal prison.
Pelley's report will be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT.
The prison in Florence, Colo., which the government calls ADX-Florence for Administrative Maximum, houses the nation's toughest and most infamous criminals, such as Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph, would-be 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols and shoe bomber Richard Reid. 60 Minutes obtained exclusive footage of prisoners inside the facility, where special-case prisoners are allowed only a phone call a month, spend 23 hours a day in their 12-by-7 cells and can get mail only from people approved by the prison.
Robert Hood, its warden from 2002 to 2005, says Yousef was a special case. He never left his cell because he did not want to face the indignity of a strip search required for recreation. "He has that Charlie Manson look," Hood says of Yousef. "He has some charisma about him. He's in [prison] uniform, but you know that there's a powerful person you're looking at," Hood says. Told that Yousef has begun leaving his cell and now claims to be a Christian, Hood tells Pelley, "He's playing a game with someone. If he's doing that, he's doing it for the reaction ... He is the real deal." As a Muslim, Yousef prayed almost every hour, Hood says.
Other al Qaeda terrorists protested the special conditions with hunger strikes that Hood had to end with force feedings. "I probably .. authorized, conducted 350, maybe 400 involuntary feedings," Hood says. "You could have one person, three meals a day for ... two months."
Pelley also speaks with a corrections officer inside ADX-Florence, who tells him what she heard on 9/11 after terrorist prisoners saw the destruction on their televisions. "We had a lot of them jump up and down ... scream and yell and clap and they were very excited," says Barbara Batulis, who heads the prison's staff union. She also characterizes the Muslim extremists as needy. "They want more than what they have coming," she says. "They want extra toilet paper ... writing paper ... extra envelopes and if you can't give them, they want to see a supervisor right then and there."
Batulis would rather work among the other prisoners because she is female. "It's very obvious, [Muslim extremists] just look at you with sheer disdain." Hate can turn into threats. "A terrorist inmate threatened to kill my family, because I was doing my job," Batulis tells Pelley.
Batulis says the prison needs more officers. "... We are very short staffed. I firmly believe that staff lives are at stake," she says.
#1
"He has that Charlie Manson look," Hood says of Yousef. "He has some charisma about him. He's in [prison] uniform, but you know that there's a powerful person you're looking at,"
Knowing that taqiyya and kitman exist, exactly how much less credibility should this be given as compared to the usual jailhouse conversion?
Hood says. Told that Yousef has begun leaving his cell and now claims to be a Christian, Hood tells Pelley, "He's playing a game with someone. If he's doing that, he's doing it for the reaction ... He is the real deal." As a Muslim, Yousef prayed almost every hour, Hood says.
Praying every hour certainly would mask the need to pray five times a day.
Pelley also speaks with a corrections officer inside ADX-Florence, who tells him what she heard on 9/11 after terrorist prisoners saw the destruction on their televisions. "We had a lot of them jump up and down ... scream and yell and clap and they were very excited,"
Isn't there some sort of specially prescribed #8 truncheon beatdown that can be dispensed for such conduct?
She also characterizes the Muslim extremists as needy. "They want more than what they have coming," she says. "They want extra toilet paper ... writing paper ... extra envelopes and if you can't give them, they want to see a supervisor right then and there."
Muslim Entitlement™. Is there nothing more endearing than the Master Race™ doing what they do best?
#4
Pelley has been a Donk and barely-hidden anti-American tool for years.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2007 6:06 Comments ||
Top||
#5
He may well be playing a game--but we can play too. The psyops department (we have one,don't we?) can start spreading stories about Yousef's conversion experience, quote him talking about the joy of personally knowing his Lord and Savior and denouncing the Koran as idolatry. (The quotes could even be authentic, depending on what he says.) Double bonus points for a video recording that can be uploaded to a jihadi website. "Sheik Ramzi Yousef has turned his back on Islam!"
Posted by: Mike ||
10/12/2007 6:43 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I love the way you think, Mike.
I'm experienced in evaluating jailhouse conversions, but Zenster's point is pertinent: a conversion depends not only on the person, but on the cultural background that leads up to it. Intense honesty and a persistent search for the truth are essential keys in a true conversion, and taqiyya and kitman WILL play a part.
Personally, I am skeptical, since experience shows that fanatical Muslims tend to be come fanatical Christians, but the manifestations are different: No long hours of studying the bible? No removal of the Koran from the cell? Christians can pray 5 times a day too, when they get up, when they eat, and when they go to bed: the praying every hour is over-the-top showboating. There should be a manifest deference for authority: Batulis should be seeing a difference in Yousef, and the article doesn't mention it.
Always trust the gut instinct of the cell-floor pounding guard, especially one who has had a religious upbringing, even if he or she doesn't follow it.
The article is short on essential details, of course, but they're clueless when it comes to real spirituality, so that's not surprising: they wouldn't know what was important and what was for show.
It's also 60 Minutes: if it was a REAL conversion, it would be a feather in the cap of Christianity, and they won't have THAT.
#7
well i think his fellow muslims won't like him too much anymore. since once you convert away from islam you can't convert back so i guess that makes him an infidel now. maybe he will get shanked
#8
. Robert Hood, its warden from 2002 to 2005, says Yousef was a special case. He never left his cell because he did not want to face the indignity of a strip search required for recreation.
I understand this to mean that Yousef has refused to leave his little cell for recreation to the present day. The only thing that happened in 2005 is that Hood ceased being the warden.
Yousef must be extremely ashamed of his naked body. I assume he is tiny down there. It is a good thing he will die of natural causes in a prison hospital bed, because if he had died a martyr, then he would have had to endure the disappointment, dissatisfaction ridicule of 72 virgins for eternity.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/12/2007 7:45 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I thought Florence was like this side of a mushroom farm. Why are they allowing CBS in there?
Especially this asshole.
I don't care if Yousef's supposedly a Christian or that they're force feeding them. I just wanna know when they're dead.
#11
If a Muslim terrorist converts to Christianity, that would merely make him a Christian terrorist.
Weepy redemption stories don't move me one bit. Ones that are dependent on the religious bias of the listeners even less so. This reminds me of when a small group of Satanist rapists/murderers here in Greece all claimed to "have turned to God" in their prisons. Even if those conversions had been sincere, that would make them simply Christian rapists/murderers in my eyes.
#12
.
A person who has repented his sins is better than a person who has not done so. It's an improvement to be welcomed, not disdained.
Aris, your own sins right here at Rantburg are forgiven. Go forth, and sin no more!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
10/12/2007 8:50 Comments ||
Top||
#13
In one sense Aris, you are of course correct. If a man commits murder at a young age, and never commits it again, and lives to be 90, then even at 90, it's technically correct to call him a "murderer". He has still committed the act.
Bit in another sense, I can only look at this (if it's true) as a positive. That's because terrorism's core motivation is the evil in a man's heart. That's the source of all human atrocity. Once a man's motives change, his actions change.
Does that mean we as a society mitigate the punishment for such a one? Absolutely not. God is in the sin forgiving business. Governments and penal systems are not in the forgiveness business, but in the enforcement and punishment business.
One of my favorite proverbs describes the roles perfectly:
"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." --Proverbs 25:2
Actually converting back to Islam (from Christianity subsequent to being Moslem) would probably not be harem in most sharia courts.
Ramzi could credibly claim that he had done the conversion to Christianity as an act of deceit in the overall jihad against the infidel.
He could also claim that because, according to Sharia, infants are born moslem and some are led astray to other religions but are welcomed back to Islam, he should be as well since confinement in an infidel jail is similar to the 'being led astray' after being born a moslem. This might also be credible to most sharia courts.
#15
Well now, I am TRULY thankful to for the serendipitous ethical and moral ignorance of Aris: while going over the, oh, 12 different arguments that I could deploy to refute him, I realized that Jesus Christ, while on the Cross, extended forgiveness to the repentant thief, but NOT to the unrepentant one. I shall have to mull it over in light of the cheap salvation/forgiveness bulloffal being spread abroad by those currying favor and good reports from the unreprentant, the powerful, the connected, the insiders, of whom Jimmy Carter is chief.
In the meantime, note that one of the non-negotiables of Christianity is holding out the possiblity of true repentance, while simultaneously asserting the extreme difficulty of doing so without divine intervention, thus the general skepticism that pervades even my post, and which Aris obviously can't see.
True repentance implies an invasion of the material by the spiritual, which the secular materialist finds offensive and threatening. Even the existance of the ability of people to change doubtless upsets the socialists/communists/tyrannists as well, since they NEED stasis in order to maximize control.
Pity the poor little mind who needs his enemy to just "stay where you are, so I can hit you!"
Christianity's history is full of criminals, repenant and unrepentant. Emphasis is placed on the wide-ranging consequences of the unrepentant criminals, to distract attention to the great accomplishments and blessings attained by the repentant ones, starting with the Apostle Paul. Exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from a religion with inherent, and real, power.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/12/2007 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#17
"while on the Cross, extended forgiveness to the repentant thief, but NOT to the unrepentant one."
Certainly the first, but the second is an assumption on your part.
Interested in opening a theological debate?
I always considered that his "Forgive them FatherÂ… For they know not what they do." seems to indicate that repentance isn't always required for forgiveness -- ignorance is also deemed mitigating circumstances, and certainly the Lord's Prayer requires that human beings atleast (though perhaps not God) forgive *all* those who have sinned against them.
#18
I agree, ptah, but to a non-Christian, the concept of God's forgiveness through the substitutionary sacrife of Christ can be a difficult concept to grasp. Try doing it a bit more gently.
#21
have a theological debate on your own site, your own dime, thread-jacker.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/12/2007 9:30 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Frank, three years ago I had made some theological comments on my "site" after seeing "The Passion", perhaps you'll find those threads convenient -
http://katsaris.livejournal.com/10817.html
http://katsaris.livejournal.com/12005.html
#23
While I agree that Aris can sometimes take a thread off track, through deliberate provocation or by some other means, I don't think he has done so in this case.
#27
#12: "Aris, your own sins right here at Rantburg are forgiven. Go forth, and sin no more!"
Or at least just go forth.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/12/2007 10:51 Comments ||
Top||
#28
Sure, mcsegeek, but my post wasnt entirely redundant. The implication (ellipsis...) was that this was a departure from his previous creed.
Something which I am sure that you are no doubt aware of, but also something that dialectical materialism obfuscates somewhat. Aris is a 'lumper', rather than a 'splitter' (like the majority of 'burghers). He thinks it's all the same & we say it's different.
Problem with arguing with 'lumpers' is that on a superficial level, things often do look the same. Even at a deeper level, parallels exist, scriptures can be twisted to fit preconceived notions. Arguing difference is difficult at the best of times, but more so in this Kali Yuga of moral equivalence.
#29
Unfortunately, we're up against the same argument most homosexuals use about the Church - that their "sins" are forgiven, so they can do what they wish. True redemtion is described best by the words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene - "neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Redemtion is forgiveness, but it also requires the redeemed to "sin no more". You cannot keep doing sinful acts and be "redeemed" - you're just pretending. The only way to truly see if Yousef has really changed is to watch his behavior. No change, no redemtion, no turning away from sin. Right now, his actions are more those of a pretender. Let him continue to rot in prison.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/12/2007 14:20 Comments ||
Top||
#30
Well said, Old Patriot. Repentence means to change one's mind, to turn around and go the other direction. Whether that's happened here or not remains to be seen.
#31
No long hours of studying the bible? No removal of the Koran from the cell? Christians can pray 5 times a day too, when they get up, when they eat, and when they go to bed: the praying every hour is over-the-top showboating. There should be a manifest deference for authority: Batulis should be seeing a difference in Yousef, and the article doesn't mention it.
An excellent summary of why I remain skeptical. I might relent slightly if Yousef memorized the entire Bible. One would think that a marked change in demeanor should accompany this "conversion". Any lingering traces of the usual Master Race™ behavior and I wouldn't bet a plug nickel on the sincerity of his putative "conversion". The real test will be if he submits to strip searches in his zeal for a chance of witnessing to his once co-religionist inmates. Any conversations would have to be closely monitored for further conspiracy but at the very least it might get him shanked. That may sound cold but this maggot set the template for the 9-11 atrocity and I have ZERO sympathy for him.
It's also 60 Minutes: if it was a REAL conversion, it would be a feather in the cap of Christianity, and they won't have THAT.
Kapow!
Is it just me or does Florence Supermax come across like the Roach Motel™ of Federal penitentiaries? They check in ...
#32
Certainly the first, but the second is an assumption on your part.
That's an argument from silence, Aris, in which you are trying to extract a positive fact from a void. I am concluding that the void exists because nothing was actually said.
Is it just me or does Florence Supermax come across like the Roach Motel™ of Federal penitentiaries? They check in ...
That's not a bug, zenster, but a design feature.
Old Patriot has the correct short-version of the answer. Protestants and Catholics differ on the details, but both agree that a changed lifestyle is evidence of true conversion. Sometimes, like Chuck Colson, it can be as simple as saying "Yeah, I'll plead guilty." Nothing like that coming from Yousef.
The chief military spokesman has reacted angrily to a BBC report in which three army officers held hostage by the Taliban in South Waziristan were interviewed. “This is an attempt to carry out propaganda,” Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times on Thursday after militants led by Baitullah Mehsud allowed the BBC access to the three officers for the first time since they and some 250 other soldiers were abducted on August 30. BBC reporter Haroon Rashid wrote that the officers “did not want to talk but were pressurised by the Taliban to do so”. Gen Arshad warned Pakistani journalists against “becoming spokesmen of militants”. He said the Taliban wanted to use the interview as a propaganda tool to press the government to meet the militants’ demands for the soldiers’ release. Commanding officer Lt-Col Zafar, Major Ateeq Azam and Lieutenant Farakh Mansoor were the three officers the BBC interviewed. Maj Ateeq said he hoped the military command would do something for their release. Col Zafar said he was leading a convoy taking rations to soldiers in Ladah from Shakai when tribesmen stopped the convoy. “We were not going for a military operation,” he added. A spokesman for Baitullah said the government is showing little urgency in securing the release of the captured soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Rather than fume, the Pakistani Army would do well to get its soldiers back.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, is responsible for creating differences among the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) component parties as he delayed the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly, said Qazi Hussain Ahmad, MMA president and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief, on Thursday. He said the JI had opposed Maulana Fazlur RehmanÂ’s decision of dissolving the provincial assembly on October 2 in the MMA Supreme Council meeting, while insisting on the dissolution of the assembly by September 29. He said Fazl had asked the JI leadership to remain neutral in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) meetings. He said it was his responsibility to convince the leaders of APDMÂ’s component parties on October 2 on the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly. He said the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had agreed on October 2 as the date for dissolving the assembly. He said he was unaware of the benefits Fazl wanted by delaying the dissolution. He said the MMA would demonstrate a better strategy to tackle issues after the presidential election. Politics of resignations has failed: Maulana Fazlur Rehman said in an interview on Geo News that the politics of resignations had failed as the move had proved fruitless. He said he was against resigning from the present assemblies but he had to go with the unanimous decision taken by the APDM. He said the APDM supported Justice (r) Wajeehuddin but on the contrary it resigned from the assemblies, which was totally confusing.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Prime Minister (PM) Shaukat Aziz said here on Thursday that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan would not be handed over to anyone and foreign forces would not be allowed to conduct any operation inside Pakistan.
The prime minister was speaking at an Iftar dinner hosted by Pakistan Muslim League (PML) leader and former president Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari.
The PM said the PML and its allied parties would participate in the next general elections together and it would not form any electoral alliance with any other party.
He said the nation has all the capabilities to progress, including skill, education and diligence. Pakistan has the potential to become a great nation and a fortress of the whole Islamic world, he observed. He said Gen Pervez Musharraf has secured 57 percent of the votes in the presidential election, which proves his popularity and ensures continuity of his pragmatic policies that have paid good dividends.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
What have they got to hide?????
Posted by: Paul ||
10/12/2007 7:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What have they got to hide?????
A few crappy low-yield nukes, Osama bin Laden plus their complicity in nuclear proliferation and a huge portion of global terrorism.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP chapter on Thursday accused NATO commanders and US advisers of supporting the war in the North Waziristan Agency and asked the government to end military operations in the area.
“Military operations must be immediately stopped in North Waziristan, as such operations are very dangerous for Pakistan and the entire region,” former NWFP senior minister and JI NWFP Amir Sirajul Haq told a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club.
To a question, the JI Amir said Pakistani people would fight NATO forces if they tried to enter FATA and also demanded the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan. Criticising President General Pervez Musharraf, Sirajul Haq said war in the tribal belt would not end till he was ousted from power.
US wants Iraq-like situation: He said innocent Muslims were being killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. “America wants to create an Iraq-like situation in Pakistan and wants to disintegrate it. In Waziristan, innocent tribesmen are being killed through a planned agenda,” he said, adding that the military operation had turned into a fierce war.
Siraj said the JI Bannu chapter had set up relief camps for all those people who had migrated from the North Waziristan Agency to Bannu and other adjacent areas.
Former health minister Inaytullah Khan, former MNA Shabbir Ahmad Khan, JI provincial deputy sectary general Mushtaq Ahmad and provincial information secretary Mohammad Iqbal were also present on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
The controversial V-22 Osprey has arrived in a combat zone for the first time. It was an epic trip for the innovative $20 billion tilt-rotor plane, which took more than 25 years to develop, a process that included several fatal crashes. Even the last short hop -- from an amphibious assault ship into Iraq -- went awry, U.S. military officials said Monday.
A malfunction forced one of the 10 Ospreys deployed to Iraq to land in Jordan on Thursday. The Marines flew parts to it from Iraq and repaired it. After it took off again Saturday, the problem recurred, and it had to turn back and land in Jordan again, said Maj. Jeff Pool, a U.S. military spokesman in western Iraq. It finally arrived at al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq late Sunday afternoon.
Maj. Eric Dent, an Osprey spokesman at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, declined to identify the problem.
#8
One of the worrying aspects of the Osprey is that it leaks (and burns) oil. Apparently that is a feature, not a defect (a side effect of having the tilt rotors). I can't help but wonder what effect that has on reliability and safety under fire.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/12/2007 17:03 Comments ||
Top||
#9
3.5 times the price of the CH-47 plus $20 billion in R&D. What's not to like if you are Bell and Boeing or a congressman bringing home the bacon? $20B will buy near 700 CH-47F at $30M a piece.
Posted by: ed ||
10/12/2007 17:20 Comments ||
Top||
#10
WAFF.com/DEFENSE ENWS > US Army-DOD has reportedly narrowed the number of advanced [future]tilt-rotor transport designs from five to three. As said or inferred before, the primary utility of the OSPREY is to gener serve as a real-time testbed and learning curve for more capable follow-on designs.
#11
Iff the US Navy goes thru and successfully devs its SEA BASING/MOB ofshore floating base concepts, which appears highly likely, THE ARMY-MARINES + US AIR ASSETS > will ostensibly need/use some variant of VTOL tech. MOB > AIR > for a practical puirposes, can be ascribed as a FIXED/STATIC CARRIER FLIGHT DECK, wid = widout catapult launch and deck recovery systems e.g. STOBAR??? YTOL. etal. = COST ECONOMIES.
Gaza – Ma'an – A tunnel collapsed in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, injuring a number of people. Awwwww...
The casualties are believed to have suffocated in the incident, according to Mu'awiya Hassanain, the director of emergency and ambulance department in the Palestinian ministry of health. Awwwww...
Tunnels on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt are frequently used for smuggling goods, particularly weapons into Gaza from Egypt. But I'll bet this one would've been used to bring in stuffed animals for all the kids for Eid. Probably why they were rushing it...
#3
Knowing a little about mining explosives, it should be possible to create explosive rods, that when inserted into the ground in a particular pattern, to a certain depth, and fired, would have a strong possibility of collapsing a tunnel beneath them even at a significant depth.
That being said, if such a system of rods could be created that could quickly be inserted in the ground with a boot, and fired, it could make the life of Paleo sandhogs that much harder.
Arab sources said Thursday that Hamas terrorists have succeeded in bringing 70 million dollars into Gaza despite Israeli efforts to stop the flow of cash to the terrorist group. The cash was brought into Gaza via Egypt. According to the London-based Al-Hayyat, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has discussed the issue with senior Egyptian officials. Abbas and the PA are interested in drying up HamasÂ’s funding, the paper said.
According to Al-Hayyat, 35 million dollars were brought into Gaza in a suitcase that was passed through an opening in the security wall between the Sinai Peninsula and southern Gaza. An additional 33 million was smuggled in using the elaborate system of tunnels on GazaÂ’s southern border.
Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction ruled out talks with Hamas on Thursday, while Israel said any such dialogue with the Islamists could "torpedo" a peace deal.
Palestinian sources familiar with the matter said members of Hamas and Fatah had discussed holding peace talks, but Fatah leaders said they had not backed any meeting and rejected dialogue with Hamas unless it cedes control of the Gaza Strip, which it seized in fighting with Abbas's forces in June. "What happened in Gaza was a military coup against legitimacy and against democracy," Abdallah Franji, who is close to Abbas and a member of Fatah's central committee, told Reuters. "If they retreat then we can talk. Now we cannot."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I sense the time is right for...
the Three State Solution!
(is that a ™ moment? Hard to know when it's a ™ moment or just another hundredth-monkey thing :)
The European Union would support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas if he reconciled with Hamas, according to Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana.
"Thanks fer yer support."
Speaking to visiting Israeli reporters in Brussels on Thursday, she said the EU, nonetheless, still held firm to its policy not to recognize Hamas until it recognizes Israel. Gallach said it was up to Abbas to find a way to handle Hamas. "What we tell him [Abbas] is that he is the one we recognize, the one we support," she said. "We work very well with him and [PA] Prime Minister Salaam Fayad."
In the past, Gallach said, the EU found a way to move forward with Fatah when it sat in a government with Hamas, dealing solely with Abbas and some of his Fatah ministers.
Her statements came in response to media reports of possible talks between Hamas and Fatah just one month before the US-sponsored Middle East meeting expected to be held in Annapolis on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "We tell [Abbas] he has to do what he thinks is right," Gallach said. "On this issue, we will not take the lead." Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday night that Hamas would be willing to hold talks with Fatah and hinted it would consider ceding control of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
"What we tell him [Abbas] is that he is the one we recognize, the one we support," she said. "We work very well with him and [PA] Prime Minister Salaam Fayad."
I'm sure that their common bond of anti-Semitism is a big help.
The European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution Thursday expressing deep concern about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and its possible grave consequences.
The House calls on Israel to fulfill its international obligations under the Geneva Conventions to guarantee the flow of humanitarian aid, humanitarian assistance and essential services, such as electricity and fuel, to the Gaza Strip. The resolution calls for the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip and urges Israel to ensure the movement of people and goods at Rafah, in compliance with the Agreement on Movement and Access and the EU Border Assistance Mission, as well as the movement of goods at Karni.
The EP calls on the EU Council, the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the European Commission to face up to their full responsibility on the implementation of this Agreement.
It calls on Israel to guarantee the flow of financial assets to the Gaza Strip, which has been suspended since 25 September 2007, and considers that the lack of access to any financial assets has a serious impact on the economic, social and daily life of the Palestinian people.
And it calls on the Palestinian people and their leaders to: ________________
The Crescent-Moon Sighting Committee on Thursday announced Friday as the first day of Eid el-Fitr. The announcement came after a meeting of the committee, which convened Thursday evening for the sake of ensuring the crescent-moon was officially sighted. As the crescent was duly sighted, therefore the first day of the Eid el-Fitr was set as Friday, a statement by the committee said. Prior to the Kuwaiti announcement, a similar sighting was declared officially in Saudi Arabia, the largest GCC state.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A Lebanese man on trial for a failed train bombing in Germany last year testified Thursday that he and another suspect planted crude bombs to protest cartoons that ridiculed Islam's prophet Muhammad, but he denied any links to al-Qaida. Reports of the trial, carried by the state-run National News Agency, said Jihad Hamad told the court he and fellow suspect Youssef el-Hajdib, who is under arrest in Germany, bought gas canisters, fitted them with detonators, tested them and planted them on the trains.
In a civilized country that would be enough to have him jugged for decades. Even in Y'urp he'd get his full ten years. We'll see what happens in Lebanon, but I'm not optimistic.
He also said he was not a militant Muslim and had no links to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror organization.
"No, no, certainly not!"
In addition to Hamad, three other suspects are standing trial in Beirut. Germany wants the men extradited, but there is no extradition treaty between the nations. Lebanon has decided to try the suspects and defer consideration of extradition.
Lebanese authorities had arrested the suspects on charges of allegedly planting crude bombs on two trains at the Cologne station on July 31, 2006. The bombs, found later in the day on trains at the Koblenz and Dortmund stations, failed to explode because of faulty detonators. German surveillance cameras are said to have filmed the suspects as they wheeled suitcases into the station.
The other three on trial in Beirut - Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib, Ayman Hawa and Khalil al-Boubou, all are Lebanese - denied involvement in the failed attack. El-Hajdib and Hawa said they knew Hamad from university. They both denied to the court any links to Al-Qaida or bin Laden or that they were militants, according to the agency.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[14 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Aren't the German suspects trying to say that their bombs weren't meant to be functional? It sounds like this scumbag's testimony contradicts that ruse. German prosecutors had better be ordering transcripts of the Lebanese trial.
#2
They both denied to the court any links to Al-Qaida or bin Laden or that they were militants, according to the agency.
Of course not, they are emisaries for Hezbollah, ushering the Golden Age of the Mahdi.
I've lost as much confidence in Rice as anybody, so it's good to see her doing something worthwhile.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday accused Iran of "lying" about the aim of its nuclear program, saying there's no doubt Tehran wants the capability to produce nuclear weapons and has deceived the U.N.'s atomic watchdog about its intentions. "There is an Iranian history of obfuscation and, indeed, lying to the IAEA," she said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"There is a history of Iran not answering important questions about what is going on and there is Iran pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to nuclear weapons-grade material," Rice told reporters aboard her plane as she headed to Moscow. Rice's strong words, including the blunt reference to Iranian "lying," come at a critical time in dealing with the matter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week there is no proof Tehran is trying to build the bomb. Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are scheduled to see him in Moscow on Friday. Interesting to see if he changes his tune. Perhaps he'll see some fresh new evidence from the 'hood, perhaps Syria.
Israel on Thursday denied a report that claimed it believes Israel Defense Forces soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were killed during their abduction by Hezbollah last year. Jerusalem said there was no change in its assumption that the two soldiers whose kidnapping by the Lebanese Islamic group sparked the Second Lebanon War were still alive.
Earlier Thursday, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat quoted a French diplomatic source as saying Israel believes Goldwasser and Regev had died from wounds incurred in the cross-border attack. Israel believes Hezbollah's refusal to allow visits to the soldiers were a "maneuver" to hide their fate, al-Hayat's sources said. According to an IDF report published in December, tests carried out at the site of the cross-border attack show the two soldiers were hurt at the time of their kidnapping -one seriously and the other critically. Army officials refused to identify which of the two they believe was more badly wounded.
The French source also touched upon Israel's strike in Syria and said that Western military intelligence sources have confirmed its target was a North Korean nuclear instillation. British army radars located in Cyprus picked up the signatures of the Israeli aircraft en route to their targets, the source said. Israel has remained silent on the strike in order not to destabilize the Syrian government, he added.
This article starring:
Ehud Goldwasser
Eldad Regev
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Two weeks ago the Lebanese Army Directorate presented a CD to the Lebanese government displaying a member of Al-Qaeda threatening Prime Minister Fouad Siniora with execution, As-Safir newspaper reported on Thursday. "The CD also includes important details about the relationship between Fatah al-Islam and Al-Qaeda," the report said. According to As-Safir, the army obtained the CD from a hard disk which was confiscated from the Fatah al-Islam group during an escape attempt into the Mediterranean.
As-Safir also reported that an international party, probably the United States, is expected to issue a draft statement or resolution in light of a Lebanese memorandum, issued by Prime Minister Siniora's office, sent earlier this week by Siniora to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
In his memorandum, the prime minister outlined the latest updates on Fatah al-Islam's alleged links with Syria as well as the status of Hizbullah's armaments, An-Nahar daily said on Wednesday. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said at the end of a Cabinet session on Tuesday evening that the memorandums contained "information obtained by Lebanese Army intelligence services and the intelligence unit of the Internal Security Forces about armaments in the country and the situation at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said that Lebanon will never see stability as long as its government defies Syrian hegemony, and choses to seek independence from corrupt regimes. Assad accused Lebanon's March 14 majority of choosing to "side with Israel" instead of taking the "Arab path", and that of resistance.
In an interview published on Thursday, Assad said of the neighboring nation where it was powerbroker for nearly three decades: "It is impossible to build a relationship with some parties who in Lebanon ... are close to Israel, submit themselves to foreign countries and do not believe in Lebanon." He told the Tunisian daily al-Shuruk in an interview: "Most of the forces who hold power in Lebanon have adopted this position which rebounds on Syrian-Lebanese relations."
Lebanon has been in crisis for months since pro-Syrian ministers pulled out of the government of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, creating political paralysis. Assad said "there have always been in Lebanon forces attached to the Arab (identity). But there are also forces which, since Lebanon's creation and even before, have tied their fate to the West, thus putting (their country) in danger. These forces link Lebanon's fate to that of regional conflicts, which signifies that Lebanon will not know stability in the near future."
Referring to the agreement which ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, the Syrian leader said: "Lebanon knew stability after the Taef accord when it chose the Arab path and resistance against Israel. The day it went back on this choice it again experienced instability."
Under the Taif agreement, all factions disarmed their militias with the exception of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah which fought last year's war with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Assad said that Lebanon will never see stability as long as its government defies Syrian hegemony, and choses to seek independence from corrupt regimes.
I have to give it to him - he is at least speaking the truth. The first part, though, is wishful thinking.
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has survived an internal attempt to remove him from the helm of his organization, a Kuwaiti newspaper claimed on Tuesday.
The Al-Seyassah daily newspaper cited "informed political sources" as saying that Nasrallah outmaneuvered rival senior Hizbullah members who plotted to remove him from his position of secretary -general , and allocate him instead the symbolic position of supreme leader.
Two factions exist within Hizbullah today; one which advocates a close relationship with Syria, without negatively affecting the organization's relationship with Iran, while a second faction wants to give exclusive priority and political subordination to Iran's Supreme Leader Imam Ali Khamenei, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the report said. Hassan Nasrallah subscribes to the former approach, it added.
According to the report, the plot against Nasrallah was motivated by frustrations within the pro-Iranian faction in Hizbullah, due to Nasrallah's decision to adopt Syria's wish to remove the pro-western Lebanese government from power, through a series of mass demonstrations and threats of violence. So far, these attempts have all failed at toppling the Fouad Siniora administration. "Nasrallah's plan reflected the Syrian wish of toppling the Lebanese government, and this is not Iran's plan. Differences exploded within Hizbullah, and a leadership conference was held in an inner southern suburb of Beirut. What took place during the conference remains untold," the report said.
Iran too had expressed mounting dissatisfaction with Nasrallah for acting solely in Syria's interests in Lebanon, the report claimed. "Nasrallah had anticipated the conference (to try and remove him) and visited Iran secretly to clarify his position, especially after the outpouring of Iranian discontent over Nasrallah's bias towards the Syrian line," the report claimed. "Information sources add that Nasrallah faced opposition from some offices in the party leadership, and some suggested he be given the status of emeritus supreme leader of the party and give up the post of secretary - general. All of these attempts failed and Nasrallah managed to thwart them. He earned Iranian support in his recent visit to Tehran, and he earned the support of large groups of the middle and lower-ranking party leaders, in addition to enjoying support among the masses of the party and the Shiites in general," Al-Seyassah quoted sources as saying.
Nasrallah also used a speech last week to send a message to those within Hizbullah who had attempted to dislodge him, the report added. In his speech Nasrallah attacked the Arab countries , defended Iran's role in the region and Syria's role in the assassinations of the Lebanese leaders . His defense of both countries ( Syria and Iran) prompted MP Walid Jumblatt a prominent anti-Syrian leader in Lebanon to accuse Nasrallah of turning into a "spokesman for Syria and Iran."
"Nasrallah says, 'if you want an international probe expect more assassinations.' He also said 'if you want freedom, sovereignty and independence, we won't stand for it and we will impose a consensus candidate' by which he means a head of state who rejects all international resolutions," Jumblatt said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#4
The article doesn't say so but I'm pretty sure that Iran is ticked at Nasr Allah for his demands for cash. This is based on the slow rate of reconstruction of the His b Allah neighborhood and administrative HQ and the continuing cash needed to support the Hisb protests.
A few days after an Israeli reporter entered Syria using a foreign passport and published pictures of himself outside what he said was the site attacked by the IAF in a September 6 air strike, Syrian officials told foreign journalists on Monday that reports of the raid were spurious. New York Times reporter Hugh Naylor was one of a group shepherded around the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands in Deir ez Zor, a Beduin village in eastern Syria.
Center director Ahmed Mehdi denied not only that the facility was involved in any nuclear weapons program, but also that any IAF raid had ever occurred. "The allegations are completely groundless, and I don't really understand where all this [WMD] talk came from," Mehdi said. "There was no raid here - we heard nothing," he added. "You see - around us are farmers, corn, produce, nothing else," Mehdi told the visitors.
Yediot Aharonot reporter Ron Ben-Yishai, whose successful entry into Syria worried Syrian authorities, took pictures of himself in front of the research center's sign, but was denied access to the premises.
Israel has kept the details of the air strike secret, refusing until last week to even confirm that such a mission had been carried out. Reports said that the strike had been executed in tandem with a ground operation by IDF special forces, who reportedly confiscated weapons-related materials shortly before IAF planes attacked.
A recent article in The Washington Post said that the raid came after Israel and the United States shared intelligence about possible nuclear weapons developments in Syria. According to some sources, North Korean weapons experts had been in Syria in the months ahead of the raid. While both Syria and North Korea have denied that they are cooperating on weapons development, representatives of the two nations met recently in North Korea to discuss "strengthening ties."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
So if I understand correctly, Syrian secret military sites aren't safe even from the stray Israeli civilian out for a bit of adventure. Should President Assad be worried?
#4
I also noted that this may be the first time they've (Israel) admitted that ground troops were used, is that true? I've been out of the news loop lately, so I may have missed other stories stating that.
Posted by: BA ||
10/12/2007 12:50 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Fred ||
10/12/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We exposed the upcoming Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week ... for the celebration of racism it is," the students wrote. "[T]he hyperbolic nature of the [poster] was aimed at exposing Islamophobic racism. ... We hope that as a community we can come together to oppose the true racist propaganda that we initially set out to expose."
When is somebody going to pimpslap these stupid turds back into reality? Islam is not a race. Muslims are not a race. The left's fondness for race-baiting needs to be exposed as the misdirection and issue avoidance that it is.
#2
Nah, they can only expell conservatives. Liberalism knows no bounds.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/12/2007 6:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It isn't clear from the article, but it is implied that the posters were made to look as though they were printed by the conservative student group when, in fact, they were created, printed and distributed by the liberal nuts. That is fraud and has nothing to do with free speech or other such nonsense. The idiots should be expelled.
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.
JUBA, Sudan (AP) - Southern Sudan's former rebels on Thursday suspended participation in the central government, accusing it of failing to abide by a peace deal in a dispute that threatens a rare success in the troubled nation. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement said it was withdrawing its 18 Cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister and the vice president, and three advisers.
CANTERBURY, N.H. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton called Barack Obama naive when he said he'd meet with the leaders of Iran without precondition. Now she says she'd do the same thing, too.
The chief military spokesman has reacted angrily to a BBC report in which three army officers held hostage by the Taliban in South Waziristan were interviewed. “This is an attempt to carry out propaganda,” Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times on Thursday after militants led by Baitullah Mehsud allowed the BBC access to the three officers for the first time since they and some 250 other soldiers were abducted on August 30. BBC reporter Haroon Rashid wrote that the officers “did not want to talk but were pressurised by the Taliban to do so”. Gen Arshad warned Pakistani journalists against “becoming spokesmen of militants”. He said the Taliban wanted to use the interview as a propaganda tool to press the government to meet the militants’ demands for the soldiers’ release. Commanding officer Lt-Col Zafar, Major Ateeq Azam and Lieutenant Farakh Mansoor were the three officers the BBC interviewed. Maj Ateeq said he hoped the military command would do something for their release. Col Zafar said he was leading a convoy taking rations to soldiers in Ladah from Shakai when tribesmen stopped the convoy. “We were not going for a military operation,” he added. A spokesman for Baitullah said the government is showing little urgency in securing the release of the captured soldiers.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, is responsible for creating differences among the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) component parties as he delayed the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly, said Qazi Hussain Ahmad, MMA president and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief, on Thursday. He said the JI had opposed Maulana Fazlur RehmanÂ’s decision of dissolving the provincial assembly on October 2 in the MMA Supreme Council meeting, while insisting on the dissolution of the assembly by September 29. He said Fazl had asked the JI leadership to remain neutral in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) meetings. He said it was his responsibility to convince the leaders of APDMÂ’s component parties on October 2 on the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly. He said the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had agreed on October 2 as the date for dissolving the assembly. He said he was unaware of the benefits Fazl wanted by delaying the dissolution. He said the MMA would demonstrate a better strategy to tackle issues after the presidential election. Politics of resignations has failed: Maulana Fazlur Rehman said in an interview on Geo News that the politics of resignations had failed as the move had proved fruitless. He said he was against resigning from the present assemblies but he had to go with the unanimous decision taken by the APDM. He said the APDM supported Justice (r) Wajeehuddin but on the contrary it resigned from the assemblies, which was totally confusing.
Prime Minister (PM) Shaukat Aziz said here on Thursday that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan would not be handed over to anyone and foreign forces would not be allowed to conduct any operation inside Pakistan.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP chapter on Thursday accused NATO commanders and US advisers of supporting the war in the North Waziristan Agency and asked the government to end military operations in the area.
Arab sources said Thursday that Hamas terrorists have succeeded in bringing 70 million dollars into Gaza despite Israeli efforts to stop the flow of cash to the terrorist group. The cash was brought into Gaza via Egypt. According to the London-based Al-Hayyat, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has discussed the issue with senior Egyptian officials. Abbas and the PA are interested in drying up HamasÂ’s funding, the paper said.
The European Union would support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas if he reconciled with Hamas, according to Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana. 
The Crescent-Moon Sighting Committee on Thursday announced Friday as the first day of Eid el-Fitr. The announcement came after a meeting of the committee, which convened Thursday evening for the sake of ensuring the crescent-moon was officially sighted. As the crescent was duly sighted, therefore the first day of the Eid el-Fitr was set as Friday, a statement by the committee said. Prior to the Kuwaiti announcement, a 
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A Lebanese man on trial for a failed train bombing in Germany last year testified Thursday that he and another suspect planted crude bombs to protest cartoons that ridiculed Islam's prophet Muhammad, but he denied any links to al-Qaida. Reports of the trial, carried by the state-run National News Agency, said 
Two weeks ago the Lebanese Army Directorate presented a CD to the Lebanese government displaying a member of Al-Qaeda threatening Prime Minister Fouad Siniora with execution, As-Safir newspaper reported on Thursday. "The CD also includes important details about the relationship between Fatah al-Islam and Al-Qaeda," the report said. According to As-Safir, the army obtained the CD from a hard disk which was confiscated from the Fatah al-Islam group during an escape attempt into the Mediterranean.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said that Lebanon will never see stability as long as its government defies Syrian hegemony, and choses to seek independence from corrupt regimes. Assad accused Lebanon's March 14 majority of choosing to "side with Israel" instead of taking the "Arab path", and that of resistance.
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has survived an internal attempt to remove him from the helm of his organization, a Kuwaiti newspaper claimed on Tuesday.
A few days after an Israeli reporter entered Syria using a foreign passport and published pictures of himself outside what he said was the site attacked by the IAF in a September 6 air strike, Syrian officials told foreign journalists on Monday that reports of the raid were spurious. New York Times reporter Hugh Naylor was one of a group shepherded around the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands in Deir ez Zor, a Beduin village in eastern Syria. 
