Yemen has formed a new committee made up of prominant political and social figures to help end an on-off insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, state media reported on Thursday.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh set up the committee to work with a team of Qatari mediators to enact a Doha-brokered peace deal agreed upon last June, a weekly newspaper published by the Yemeni defence ministry reported. The deal between the rebels and the Sanaa government has not been implemented and sporadic fighting has since resumed in Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world.
The 13-member committee includes Ali Nasser Qarisha, who was a representative for the rebels at talks with the Yemeni government in Doha on February 1 where both sides agreed to revive the peace process.
Zaidi rebels have been locked in intermittent fighting with government forces in the north of Arabian Peninsula state since 2004. Their aim is to restore the Zaidi imamate, which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup. They reject the current regime as illegitimate, although Saleh is himself a Zaidi. An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the northwest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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The Prime Minister rapidly distanced himself from Dr Williams's view. Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes.
"The Prime Minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values." Interesting, coupled with the pending extradition of Abu Hamza, aka Hook-hand.
Dr Rowan Williams and the Ledership of the Anglican Church of Mother England Are All Part Of The Huge Pus Filled Fag Loving Carbuncle at the TOP, It has infected all the top Leadership and mid-level Bishops. [with some exceptions of course]
It Sorely Requires a Deep Lancing and Super Root Out to Remove all that Infected Queer OOZE, A Magnum ZIT De-CAP IOW, [I speaky metaphorically of course] AND A Complete Hose-Down with Industrial Anti-Bacterial and Anti-Virus Soap!
/ok a little understated >:)
#5
Why hasn't Williams been removed? He's been an embarrassment from the day of installation. He's committed acts which would have gotten him executed in any other age, and strikes me as an apostate from any reasonable interpretation of Anglo-Catholicism.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/08/2008 7:53 Comments ||
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#6
Because if Williams is removed from his phoney baloney job, can the rest of the rent seekers be far behind?
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2008 8:00 Comments ||
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#7
Dr. Williams takes liberal "tolerance" guilt to a natural conclusion.
#11
What's needed is a real live prophet doing an Anaias and Sapphira number on his ass. Made everyone in the first century Jerusalem Church sit up, pay attention, and fly straight.
#14
at Instapundit there are links to various sources saying this tool is being repudiated by an outraged community/polity, and the governing church council is asking him to resign...
if so, awesome display that maybe the dhimmi evolution has stopping point...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2008 19:00 Comments ||
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#15
IOn, WAFF thread > DO WE TURN TO AMERICA OR EUROPE? Author - BRITAIN cannot have TWO BEST FRIENDS, i.e. an alleged INCREASINGLY ISOLATIONIST AMERICA versus INTEGRATIVE EU = EUROPE. May tear NATO apart.
Britain's government announced Thursday that it has denied a visa to hardline Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, saying it will not tolerate visitors who seek to justify terrorism.
The Muslim Council of Britain criticized the decision, saying al-Qaradawi is a widely respected scholar throughout the Muslim world.
The Home Office issued a brief statement confirming it had denied al-Qaradawi a visa and saying: "The UK will not tolerate the presence of those who seek to justify any acts of terrorist violence or express views that could foster inter-community violence."
It declined to say when the decision was reached or why al-Qaradawi had sought to enter Britain. The Egyptian-born preacher was reportedly seeking to come to the UK for medical treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Britain agreed on Thursday to extradite the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges linked to the setting up of an al Qaeda camp.
The Home Office (interior ministry) ratified a court ruling of November 15, 2007, when a judge said there was nothing to prevent the Egyptian-born Hamza, 49, being sent to the United States to face justice. "This was a decision taken in the interests of justice," a Home Office spokesman said.
Hamza has 14 days to appeal to the High Court. Hamza, who applauded the attacks on New York and Washington of September 11, 2001, also faces charges of involvement in plotting the seizure of 16 Western hostages in Yemen in 1998.
Four of the hostages, three Britons and an Australian, were killed when Yemeni troops stormed the militants' hide-out.
The U.S. indictment accuses Hamza -- who wears a hook in place of a missing hand -- of attempting to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, from 1999 to early 2000, and also providing support to al Qaeda and the Taliban. He is wanted on a total of 11 charges in the United States and could be face up to 100 years behind bars if convicted. In Britain, he is serving a seven-year jail term for inciting his followers to murder non-believers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamza -- who wears a hook in place of a missing hand
Four out of five urologists suggest that most men with such abnormalities may experience some discomfort when urinating.
A debate about the integration of immigrants continued raging in Spain on Friday after the conservative opposition pledged to toughen integration requirements if it wins the March 9 elections. The main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) was planning to ban the use of the Islamic headscarf at most schools, according to the daily El Mundo, whose views are often close to the PP. The party would also oblige Muslim girls to attend gymnastics classes, Muslim women to allow male doctors to examine them and to take off their headscarves for identification photographs, the daily said.
The headscarf would be prohibited at schools unless specially authorized by them, a case which would be put in practice in Spain's north African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla, which have large Muslim populations.
PP leader Mariano Rajoy earlier said his party would make immigrants seeking to renew their residence permits sign "contracts" in which they agreed to respect Spanish laws and customs, to learn Spanish and to pay taxes, among other duties. The idea was inspired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who introduced a similar measure while he was interior minister.
The PP's plans received strong criticism from the governing Socialists, the far left, regionalist parties and immigrants' associations.
An agreement to respect laws was superfluous and it was difficult to define which Spanish customs were to be respected, according to legal experts interviewed by the daily El Pais. The customs could at least not include bullfighting and football, some commentators quipped.
PP representative Miguel Arias Canete added fuel to the flames by describing immigrants as a "low-quality" work force which mainly contributed to the service sector. Immigrant waiters did not match the Spanish ones of old, Arias Canete said, also describing Ecuadorian immigrant women as making use of hospital emergency services to have mammograms which would have cost them much more in their home country.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday apologized to immigrant women for the comment, describing the PP's views as "discriminatory, stale" and unconstitutional.
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/08/2008 07:01 ||
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#1
The left wing is the enemy in the West who will pander/give in to the Islamic fascist/terrorist eg.Labour in UK Dems in USA etc.
Posted by: Paul ||
02/08/2008 9:11 Comments ||
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#2
That there is a debate, and that it is raging, is a big step for Spain. Fortunately, we only need wait a month to find out how far the Spaniards have moved since their last election, when they chose the Socialists to respond to Al Qaeda's train bombings.
#3
It appears the problem in Spain is that their MSM is even more reactionary Marxist/Socialist in response to the generations of life under Franco. Ignoring of course, that unlike their political brethren in the Marxist school of ideology that has trashed every nation its controlled, Franco left the country far better off than when he took over. For the left, it's about feelings, not facts.
#4
The left calls these actions racist. Usually the main beneficiaries of head scarf bans and the like are Muslim women living in terror of their families. The state - in Turkey, for example - is the only guarantor of women's liberties.
In Canada, meanwhile, if you strange your teenage daughter the Toronto Star will defend you.
#5
In Spain there a gazillion of rabid antifranquists who seem to believe that Franco was worse than Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot combined. A common point is that their antifranquism was born on november 21st, 1975 (Franco died on november 20).
#8
Well, remember you drove them out the first time for a reason, damnit. That reason is still as valid today as it was then. They want to conquer you and force you to live as they do.
The Spaniards use to name their cities with the likes of "Matamoros" ('Moor-slayer' or 'Death to the Moors!').
They apparently have forgotten their earlier occupation by muzzies and how it actually affected the population (not as how it's portrayed now in the 'new history).
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/08/2008 14:20 Comments ||
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"Beautiful, bright and brazen, famous for her radical criticism of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 38, is back in Europe. This Dutch woman of Somali origins is currently living in the United States where she hopes to resolve the problem of her protection. ... Up until September 2007, the Dutch State continued to ensure her safety, but only wants to continue to do so if she returns to national territory", explains Sabine Cessou, as European members of parliament, French intellectuals, the daily newspaper 'Liberation' and the weekly 'Charlie Hebdo' are organising a gathering to support her this February 10th in Paris. "It is [French philosopher] Bernard Henri-Levy who had the idea of a meeting ... . The next step will be taken in the European Parliament on February 14th. Several European deputies ... are going to propose that Brussels pay for the protection of this free-thinker."
Posted by: ryuge ||
02/08/2008 05:48 ||
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#1
And the bureucrats in Washington will offer no comment or assistance. They never miss an opportunity, to miss an opportunity. By the way, Bernard Henri-Levy is a Jewish born Algerian and the author of the book, "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?. Hat tip to Levy and his courage.
#4
Ontario is not the whole Canada. It's a moonbat province. A Greater Area Berzerkley of Canada.
Good that Ali is bragging about it. Once it will become more widely known, people may more than object to pay for this shit. They already shot down the notion of sharia based courts.
Several months ago there were articles about reports of the Army requesting the return of signing bonuses of soldiers wounded during combat and similar examples of bureaucratic atrocity. I wrote my Congressman and Senators and asked that they investigate, and correct the situation if needed.
Today I received the third and final reply. All were similar. At this point it appears the political system is for once working. Excerpts from the letter follow:
"...in the fall of 2007 it was reported in a few media outlets that injured soldiers were being asked to return portions of their signing bonuses. The Army has stated that this was an error in pay processing and the situation was promptly rectified. It has been the policy of the Department of Defense that bonuses already paid should not be recouped if injury or illness of the service member was not the result of the service members misconduct. To date, there have only been handful of these mistakes reported to the Department of Defense.
"Although the Department of Defense and the Army have both made assurances that these problems concerning signing bonuses have been resolved, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have drafted legislation to clarify the law. Senate Bill 2400 and House of Representatives Bill 3793 both seek to make certain that service members medically retired or separated from active duty receive the entirety of their bonuses and are not required to return any portion of them. I am pleased to report that S.2400 passed the Senate by unanimous consent and will be certain to keep your comments in mind should H.R.3793 be brought up in the Senate.
"When a man or women puts on a military uniform and defends our country, this nation makes a sacred promise to care for them both during the battle and long after it is over. I will support any measure that will positively affect our current, retired, and future military personnel.
Mods: there is no source link because I am the source. I thought this item 'fit' the purpose of Rantburg and hope I have not violated the rules too badly.
Pakistan will host a SAARC meeting to discuss the impact of militarisation on environment.
Looks like they really want the Indians off the Siachen Glacier
The meeting, to be held in Islamabad in a couple of months, assumes importance in the backdrop of melting of glaciers at Siachen consequent to heavy troop deployment in the region.
But, but... Al Gore said it was Global Warming
Pakistan Minister for Environment, Local Government and Rural Development Syed Wajid Hussain Bukhari told reporters on Wednesday that representatives from all nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation would be invited. Climate change is a serious issue and hitting us fast. The meeting would investigate the causes and discuss ways to deal with the situation.
Let me guess.. for the good of the Environment, Indian troops should leave Kashmir
Mr. Bukhari, who arrived here to participate in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, said environment was an issue which concerned all developing countries that were suffering because of the industrialised nations.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2008 15:16 ||
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#1
The underneath (base) of the glacier would be a great spot for the Indians to test a next gen nuke device. The melting would make a lot of minerals accessible and just maybe flood a certain river.
The Tanzeem-e-Asatiza Pakistan (Pakistan Teachers Organization) has said that it will not accept the inclusion of achievements and contributions of non-Muslims in the syllabi for schools and colleges. The right-leaning Urdu language newspaper Jasarat quoted Tanzeem-e-Asatizas President (Sindhi Province) Professor Muhammad Ishaq as saying that textbooks are meant for educational and thought leadership of students, and therefore the syllabi should be re-modelled as per Islamic norms to bring out the Islamic ideological persona.
This is why the Nobel Laureate (Physics) Abdus Salam is not mentioned in Pakistani textbooks and why "history" starts when Mohammed Bin Qassim invaded the Indian subcontinent
According to the report, Professor Ishaq said that international imperialism has begun taking the world of Islam as hostage, and in Pakistan at its behest the syllabi are being distorted in the name of progressive thought.
Source: Jasarat, Pakistan, February 6, 2008
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2008 15:04 ||
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#1
The Tanzeem-e-Asatiza Pakistan (Pakistan Teachers Organization) has said that it will not accept the inclusion of achievements and contributions of non-Muslims in the syllabi for schools and colleges.
Looks like it's gonna be a short, quick semester...
#2
Nah.. there are an ending supply of Muslim heroes who periodically invaded and looted India... there is an entire mountain range in Afghanistan (the Hindu Kush or "Killer of the Hindus" named after the hundreds of thousands who died in the mountains on their way to the Muslim slave markets...
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2008 15:26 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has accused India of adopting delaying tactics with regard to the gas pipeline project involving the two countries and Iran.
"India was playing tactics with Pakistan to delay the signing of a gas sale-purchase agreement" between Islamabad and Tehran, government sources were quoted as saying by Daily Times on Friday.
The sources said Pakistan had been "inviting India to hold the talks for settling the issue of transit fee for gas transportation but the latter has never responded". They further claimed that Pakistan had offered to hold talks on the transit fee in Islamabad on February 7, but India neither declined its offer nor officially confirmed the arrival of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora till February 6 to the concerned Pakistani authorities.
The sources said the gas purchase agreement was ready to be signed by Pakistan and Iran as the Pakistani Law Ministry had already vetted the draft of the pact. Pakistan and Iran may sign the agreement in Tehran in the last week of February, they said.
The sources said Iran had proposed February 24 as the date for signing of the agreement after the general election in Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan had proposed the signing of the pact in Abu Dhabi on January 25 but Tehran turned down this suggestion. Iran told Pakistan that it wanted to sign the agreement in Tehran after a new elected government was installed in Islamabad.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/08/2008 14:59 ||
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#1
ION, IRNA > PAKISTAN REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM.
The Kohsar police on Thursday registered a first information report (FIR) against Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmad and other local leaders for violating law and order on Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5.
I don't even know why they bother. Nothing ever comes of these arrests. Jesse Jackson gets harsher treatement.
A senior police official said Kohsar Police Station had registered an FIR number 52 against Qazi, former member of the National Assembly, Mian Aslam, Kashif and around 500 JI workers for damaging police vehicles and disturbing the law and order situation. However, none of the accused has so far been arrested, he added.
The coppers are waiting for their kid gloves to come back from the cleaners.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, leading a JI rally in connection with Kashmir Day, marched towards the residence of sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The protesters pelted stones at the police, who fired tear gas shells to disperse them.
This article starring:
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
MIAN ASLAM
Jamaat-e-Islami
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday condemned any dialogue between the government and Taliban militants, whom officials themselves blame for the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The government is holding talks with the man blamed by it for the killing of Benazir Bhutto. We condemn it, PPP spokeswoman Sherry Rehman said. The government accuses Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud of plotting Benazirs murder, who was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack in Rawalpindi. The Al Qaeda-linked commander in South Waziristan denies his involvement in the killing of the PPP chairwoman.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
We condemn it.
Does this mean theres gonna be a job posting for another #3 on the Taliban version of Monster.com in the near future?
Government officials held secret talks with militants and tribal elders as part of a dialogue that produced a ceasefire announced by Taliban militants who have been fighting Pakistani forces near the Afghan border, AP quoted two unnamed officials as saying on Thursday.
Few details have emerged about terms of the ceasefire, announced on Wednesday by a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, after weeks of heavy fighting.
The government did not confirm a truce, but Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said the national leadership was ready for a dialogue with the Taliban. There is no announced ceasefire, there is a de facto ceasefire between militants and government troops. Both sides are currently holding the fire, Nawaz told AFP. He said a tribal council, or jirga comprising representatives of the government and tribal elders will be formed to negotiate peace but I cannot give you any timeframe in this regard.
Talks between tribal elders and militants had been in progress for the past several days, a government official in the region told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Militant spokesman Maulvi Mohammed Umar told AP that the truce would include the tribal belt along the Afghan border and the restive Swat region to the east where the army has also battled pro-Taliban fighters.
The two officials AP talked with were familiar with the talks. They said the talks took place at an undisclosed location in South Waziristan. But they would not say who represented the government side.
Haqqani: Militant representatives included Siraj Haqqani, one official said. A ceasefire in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed in July, was widely seen as a setback in the war against terror because it gave the Taliban and Al Qaeda a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and extend their control of areas within Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture. The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.
"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."
Her fear is justified. Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, is a stronghold of conservative Shia groups. As many as 133 women were killed in Basra last year -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for so-called honor killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
One glance through the police file is enough to understand the consequences. Basra's police chief, Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, flips through the file, pointing to one unsolved case after another. "I think so far, we have been unable to tackle this problem properly," he says. "There are many motives for these crimes and parties involved in killing women, by strangling, beheading, chopping off their hands, legs, heads."
"When I came to Basra a year ago," he says, "two women were killed in front of their kids. Their blood was flowing in front of their kids, they were crying. Another woman was killed in front of her 6-year-old son, another in front of her 11-year-old child, and yet another who was pregnant."
The killers enforcing their own version of Islamic justice are rarely caught, while women live in fear. Boldly splattered in red paint just outside the main downtown market, a chilling sign reads: "We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you."
The attacks on the women of Basra have intensified since British forces withdrew to their base at the airport back in September, police say. Iraqi security forces took over after British troops pulled back, but are heavily infiltrated by militias.
And tracking the perpetrators of these crimes is nearly impossible, Khalaf says, adding that he doesn't have control of the thousands of policemen and officers. "We're trying to trace crimes carried out by an anonymous enemy," he says.
Amnesty International has raised concern about the increasing violence toward women in Iraq, saying abductions, rapes and "honor killings" are on the rise. "Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists," Amnesty said in a 2007 report.
Sometimes, it's just the color of a woman's headscarf that can draw unwanted attention. "One time, one of my female colleagues commented on the color of my headscarf," Safana says. "She said it would draw attention ... [and I should] avoid it and stick to colors like gray, brown and black."
This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.
Sawsan, another woman who works at a university, says the message from the radicals to women is simple: "They seem to be sending us a message to stay at home and keep your mouth shut."
After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Sawsan says, the situation was "the best." But now, she says, it's "the worst." "We thought there would be freedom and democracy and women would have their rights. But all the things we were promised have not come true. There is only fear and horror."
#1
This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.
I have to disagree. There were scarce times when Islam was somewhat liberalized (despite of it, not because of it), but it always reverted to its 7th century ideological paradigm.
The problem Is Islam. The problem was always Islam.
#2
we need to train and arm the womyns - they need self-protection against the Islamic male (seething, insecure (for good reason), humiliated, and tiny-penised)
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2008 20:43 Comments ||
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#3
Does it strike anyone else that these fundamentalist Islamic anti-women behaviors are possibly the result of some sort of repressed homosexual psychoses? Sort of like Jeffrey Dahmer, Muslim style?
#4
I think it tells more to the (rightly so) diminished self-esteem of the Islamic male - based on their cultural, technological, and economical (without oil) achievements, and teh open opportunity that the Koran gives to take it out on someone else. They are allowed to lord it over the wymyns, who they rightly fear of cheating/leaving them for someone better (who wouldn't?) , as well as elevate their self -esteem by unconscionable means. Who in western society would be thought less manly and more psycho-loser than a man who throws acid in a woman's face? The entire Islamic society is sick to its core
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2008 22:24 Comments ||
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Not quite time to pull out the stabilitymeter, but ...
Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has sharply reduced his workload in recent months, raising new questions about the health of the aged leader and the prospect of a dangerous power vacuum without a clear and dominant successor. Any change in al-Sistani's role or reach could have far-reaching consequences for both Iraq and the United States, which consider the Iranian-born cleric as perhaps the most powerful figure in Iraq and a vital stabilizing force in the oil-rich Shiite heartlands of southern Iraq.
The most worrisome scenario is that as al-Sistani's vast clout possibly wanes the majority Shiites could further splinter into factions that could rattle Iraq's Shiite-led government and boost militias openly hostile to Washington.
Such an upheaval also would strike a direct blow to U.S. goals in the coming year: shoring up the government and its security forces while trying to consolidate military gains against Sunni insurgents led by al-Qaida in Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/08/2008 00:59 ||
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In response to an IDF operation on Thursday morning which killed at least five Hamas operatives and one Islamic Jihad gunman, Hamas accused Israel of perpetrating a massacre. "Every day Israel perpetrates massacres as a result of its political crises and internal security," Hamas spokesman Fauzi Brahum said. "Israel conducts assassinations because it wants to cover up its many different failures, especially those connected to the Winograd report and the release of the kidnapped soldiers." Brahum went on to accuse the US government of cooperating with the "crimes of Israel."
"The Americans participate with the Israeli occupier to carry out plans to destroy and to kill the Palestinian people," the Hamas spokesman said. However, in light of recent IDF activity in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has strengthened its resolve to continue on the path of military resistance, Brahum said.
This article starring:
FAUZI BRAHUM
Hamas
Islamic Jihad
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If only...
sigh
Back to dreaming the gaza strip will be scoured to bedrock and end this fucking nightmare.
If the Kassam rocket fire on the western Negev continues unabated, the government will have to decide whether to further ratchet up its reactions by targeting top Hamas political leaders, government officials told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
According to the officials, Israel has in recent weeks gradually stepped up its response to the Kassams, first targeting only those involved in firing rockets, then targeting well-known terrorist commanders and officials, and then going after symbols of Hamas power in Gaza, such as the strike on a Hamas police installation in Khan Yunis on Thursday that killed seven people.
The next logical step, according to the officials, will have to be a decision whether to target the top political leadership, as Ariel Sharon did in March 2004 when, within the span of a month, Israel killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and top leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
The official's comments came after IDF troops uncovered underground Kassam launch silos inside the Gaza Strip during an early-morning foray there on Thursday - underground silos similar to those from which Hizbullah fired rockets at Israel during the Second Lebanon War.
During Thursday's operation, the troops killed seven Palestinian gunmen affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Pictures released by the IDF Spokesman's Office showed two underground Kassam rocket silos, a meter in diameter and two meters deep. The launchers, the IDF said, were big enough to hold a Kassam or Grad-model Katyusha rocket that could be launched by remote control.
The IDF estimates there are additional underground rocket silos throughout the Gaza Strip. Defense officials said the silos, discovered by the Golani Brigade's elite Egoz Unit, proved the need for continued ground operations inside the Gaza Strip.
Despite the escalation, senior government sources said that for the time being Israel's policies will be similar to what has been seen in recent days: a combination of military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the Hamas regime.
The sources said that at the top level of government there is an understanding that "there is no magic fix," and that any "quick fixes" could play into Hamas's hands.
The officials said while the army has drawn up numerous contingency plans, including plans to take over the Philadelphi Corridor, these currently fall within the realm of military plans, not government policy. "We have to have patience and be sensible," one government source said. "That doesn't mean there can't be innovations in our strategy, but there are no magic fixes."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said following an exercise at the Ze'elim Training Base in the south on Thursday that "if the Kassam rocket fire from Gaza continues, then we will escalate our operations. The IDF operations will bring results. This will not end today, and not tomorrow, but the continued military action on the one hand, with the sanctions on the Gaza Strip on the other, as well as the protective measures being taken in some of the [Gaza belt] communities, will in the end bring a stop to the Kassam rocket fire."
Meanwhile on Thursday, some 20 Kassam rockets pounded the western Negev. One rocket struck a direct hit on a garage adjacent to a home in Sderot, setting it ablaze and sending three people into shock. Two Kassams landed near a college in the Eshkol region. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. The other rockets all hit open areas. Terrorists also fired some 10 mortar shells from the Strip. No one was wounded and no damages were reported.
The IDF operation in Gaza, aimed against Kassam launch squads, started late Wednesday night when troops from Egoz, accompanied by tanks, armored bulldozers and IAF helicopters penetrated three kilometers deep into Gaza near the Jabalya refugee camp in the north.
Palestinian sources claimed that the IDF killed a teacher during the operations. Hamas security forces said that the teacher died and two other staffers were hurt when an Israeli missile struck an agricultural school in Beit Hanun. The group released no further details and school officials weren't immediately available for comment. However, the IDF said that it had fired in the area at a group of rocket launchers. "We definitely did not fire at a school," the army said, adding that it was looking into the report.
Also on Thursday, the Defense Ministry instructed the Israel Electric Company to begin reducing the flow of electricity in one of the power lines to the Gaza Strip by 5 percent during the evening, Army Radio reported. The initial power cut, part of the government's punitive measures against Hamas, was expected to be followed by further 5 percent reductions in two additional lines in the next two weeks. Gaza generates about a quarter of its own electricity at a plant run on fuel imported from Israel. The rest comes from over 10 electricity lines running directly from Israel and one from Egypt.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said the move was another step in the process to decrease Gaza's dependency on Israel. "We alerted Hamas and Egypt of the current step through diplomatic channels. They received very clear notification. "Israel's topmost interest is to stop its connection to the Strip. We won't supply electricity to Kassam production facilities. Eventually they need to start taking care of themselves - and they will take care of themselves."
The power cutback was made possible last week, when the High Court of Justice turned down appeals by several human rights groups against the planned sanctions.
The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday condemned the cuts in Israel's power supply to Gaza as collective punishment of the civilian population and a violation of the laws of war. "Israel views restricting fuel and electricity to Gaza as a way to pressure Palestinian armed groups to stop their rocket and suicide attacks," said Joe Stork, Middle East director of HRW. "But the cuts are seriously affecting civilians who have nothing to do with these armed groups and that violates a fundamental principle of the laws of war." HRW added that indiscriminate Palestinian rocket and suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians constituted war crimes, but Israel's attempts to suppress those attacks must not also violate international humanitarian law.
This article starring:
ABDEL AZIZ RANTISI
Hamas
Ehud Barak
Human Rights Watch
Joe Stork
Matan Vilnai
SHEIKH AHMED YASIN
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
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#5
Big mistake. Pulling out last time was an even bigger mistake. They need to crush Gaza like an overripe grape, spit out the "seeds" ("paleostinians), and annex the land. Give Abbas 90 days to reach a LASTING peace agreement, or do the same thing there. Hamass has proven it cannot be trusted to keep an agreement, and that their hatred of Israel is on the level of a rabid dog that DESERVES to be put down. A man kills his own rabid dog. Israel needs to stomp Hamass into the dust of Gaza, then plow it under to raise pigweed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2008 15:01 Comments ||
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Egyptian authorities are investigating claims that many Gazans bought land in Sinai in the past few weeks. Leaders of several Beduin tribes living in Sinai have sent a message to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in which they strongly denied that their families sold land to Palestinians who poured into Egypt after the border was breached on January 23. Egyptian law prohibits foreigners from purchasing land in Sinai.
The investigation comes amid growing tension between Egypt and Hamas over the tearing down of the security fence along the border with the Gaza Strip. Sources close to Hamas said Egyptian authorities have decided to suspend contacts with the Hamas leadership in protest of the breaching of the border. The sources told The Jerusalem Post that Cairo had also declared Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal persona non grata. In addition, several Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip have been told they would not be allowed to enter Egypt. They include Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siam.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit issued a strong warning to Hamas on Thursday. "Anyone who violates Egypt's borders will get his legs broken," Aboul Gheit was quoted as saying. He added that Egypt only allowed the Palestinians to cross the border after Hamas blew up the wall because of the humanitarian crisis resulting from Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
He blamed Israel for the hardship that Gaza was experiencing, and for "responding to the Palestinian missiles with collective punishment." Aboul Gheit also criticized Hamas for firing rockets at Israel, accusing the movement of "laughable caricature" resulting in self-inflicted wounds. "After Hamas's takeover of Gaza, it has decided to clash with Israel, though this clash seems to be a laughable caricature, because clashing with an opponent in battle is supposed to mean damaging them," Aboul Gheit said. "You do not go into battle just to damage yourself." He said Hamas's rockets either fell in Gaza and wounded Palestinians or gave the Israelis a pretext to attack them.
In their message, the Beduin leaders said they opposed selling their land to Palestinians or to any other "foreigners." Mubarak dispatched the governor of northern Sinai, Ahmed Abdel Hamid, to warn the Beduin in Sinai against selling land to Palestinians. Palestinian sources claimed earlier that dozens of families from the Gaza Strip who crossed into Sinai have purchased thousands of dunams of land from Beduin tribes there. "The Egyptian fear that Palestinian families are planning to settle in Sinai," the sources added.
The semi-official Al-Ahram newspaper in Cairo reported on Thursday that Egyptian security forces have rounded up some 650 Palestinians who were staying in el-Arish. It said the Egyptians were planning to deport them to the Gaza Strip in the coming days. According to the report, Egyptian authorities have also seized 22 vehicles with Palestinian registration plates.
Hamas officials, meanwhile, confirmed that many Arab men had visited the Gaza Strip to volunteer to fight against Israel. But the officials said that most of the men were asked to leave because Hamas already had enough volunteers. Defense officials said there were indications that large numbers of foreigners had entered the Gaza Strip following the collapse of the border wall between Gaza and Egypt. The officials said that while there was information backing up the Hamas claims, the defense establishment had yet to notice signs of the formation of a new terrorist group made up of the foreigners.
The entry of the foreigners into Gaza was not surprising, the officials said, adding that Muslim extremists have previously infiltrated other countries, such as Iraq, to participate in attacks. Coalition forces have claimed for years that Syria was turning a blind eye to thousands of foreign terrorists who used its border to infiltrate Iraq and participate in the fight against US troops.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has also warned of a dramatic increase in the number of anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft shoulder-to-air missiles and sophisticated long-range rockets that were smuggled into Gaza during the 12 days that the border with Egypt was open.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Simple. Anull all transactions! All was with counterfeit money.
#2
TOPIX/WND > SYRIA IN FURIOUS FRENZY/PACE TO PURCHASE RUSSIAN NISSLES/ARMS. IRAN allegedly set up a line of credit for SYRIA vv RUSSIA, in order to arm SYRIA???
#3
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit issued a strong warning to Hamas on Thursday. "Anyone who violates Egypt's borders will get his legs broken,"
Appears the good Minister does not recognize the Form 1-123, 0-1 Nominations, ie, Aliens of extraordinary ability or achievements in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics
#4
Interesting those poor starving Paleos have enough dosh to buy land, explosives, weapons, furniture and every not nailed down. And not even one "thank you infidel" for the gullible westerners.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2008 7:04 Comments ||
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#5
Another way of looking at this is the typical Arab paranoia about furriners coming in and buying land to move next door. It's just turned against Palis looking to get out of the Gazan hellhole instead of Jews this time.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/08/2008 7:46 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"The Egyptian fear that Palestinian families are planning to settle in Sinai."
Hey Ahmed...it's their "Right" to return...bayybee!
We love Mindanao! US troops out now! Chanting these phrases, militant groups under the US Troops Out Now coalition vowed to expose the evils of the upcoming joint RP-US military exercises dubbed Balikatan in the Lanao provinces set to start Feb. 18. They have lined up almost daily activities here and in the neighboring cities of Marawi and Cagayan de Oro. They urged the Philippine government to stop the Balikatan exercises and to boot out United States military forces in the country.
Bayan Muna national executive vice president Joel Virador, in a press conference at the Elena Tower Inn here this morning, urged for the repeal of treaties and agreements that allow the US militarys presence in Philippine soil, among them the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
We have long desired for self-determination, national sovereignty, and lasting peace. We hereby declare our unequivocal opposition to the ongoing US military expedition in Mindanao, he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Seafarious ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
#1
What's the real story here oh antique harley owner...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2008 6:45 Comments ||
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#4
Nothing to see. Just another commie front group allying with islamists. Only question is who will be quicker in plunging the knife in the other's back.
Posted by: ed ||
02/08/2008 6:50 Comments ||
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#5
Yup. Just another case of simple, if well-placarded, villagers.
#6
War in Mindano has been going on for over a century. I still wonder if the Filipinos would be better off cutting the island lose as too savage or if they could deal with the guilt that would follow intentional genocide. The third way is to accept another hundred years of insurrection and conflict and that just doesn't seem like a solid plan.
Irans ex-president Mohammad Khatami labelled the mass disqualification of reformist candidates for parliamentary elections as a catastrophe which threatens the Islamic revolution, the press reported on Thursday.
The disqualification by the executive committees is a catastrophe, he said in comments first reported by the ISNA news agency late Wednesday. Executive committees working under the interior ministry last month disqualified over 2,000 mainly reformist candidates who were judged unsuitable to stand in the March 14 vote. Reformist officials have said the disqualifications have wrecked their chances of challenging the current conservative dominance of parliament.
Jeopardises the revolution: To see that the credentials of good, Muslim people being rejected is a problem, lamented Khatami. But a big and more sorrowful problem is the trend (of disqualification) which I believe jeopardizes the revolution, the system and the wellbeing of society, he added. Khatamis comments were his latest outspoken attack on the vetting process, which also destroyed reformist hopes in the last parliamentary election in 2004.
The former president, who was seen as the main inspiration behind the main reformist coalition, has in the last months broken over two years of silence to make bitter attacks on the government and the handling of elections. If the (disqualification) trend becomes permanent, it is very dangerous.
We should, without narrow-mindedness, guard the true values of our revolution, he said in comments at a memorial service for the late reformist politician ex-deputy culture minister Ahmad Borghani. In order to stand, candidates must meet a number of qualifications, one of which is sufficient loyalty to the Islamic revolution and the idea of clerical leadership enshrined by its founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let's solve his problem for him (and for us): let's kill all the Ayatollahs (major nuke on the city of Qom, back-up attacks on anything that even LOOKS like a mosk - wormks for me).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/08/2008 16:10 Comments ||
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The leader of Lebanon's pro-Western majority in parliament said on Thursday the country was in direct confrontation with Syria and Iran, which back the Hezbollah opposition group in its conflict with the Beirut government.
Saad al-Hariri, whose coalition is supported by the United States, said Syria and Iran and "their local tools" were seeking to "impose a terror, security and political siege" on Lebanon. "If our fate is confrontation, then we are for it," he said.
The speech, including rare criticism of Iran, reflected increased tension between the coalition and the opposition, which appeared far from resolving Lebanon's worst political conflict since the 1975-90 civil war. The crisis has deepened divisions between followers of rival sectarian leaders, led to the worst street violence since the civil war, paralyzed government and left Lebanon without a president.
Hariri said Lebanon faced dangers which "put the country in direct, open confrontation with the Syrian-Iranian project" and he called supporters to a rally on Thursday next week to mark the third anniversary of his father's assassination.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
ION, IRANIAN.WS > FRANCE SAYS IRAN ROCKET CANNOT WORK [i.e.NAVIGATE] IN SPACE. Paris claims Iran's recent ballyhooed launch in the name of Iran-specific future space exploration was very likely a DISGUISED/COVERT BALLISTIC MISSLE WEAPONS TEST.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Prime Minister rapidly distanced himself from Dr Williams's view. Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes.
Britain's government announced Thursday that it has denied a visa to hardline Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, saying it will not tolerate visitors who seek to justify terrorism. 
Britain agreed on Thursday to extradite the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges linked to the setting up of an al Qaeda camp.
A debate about the integration of immigrants continued raging in Spain on Friday after the conservative opposition pledged to toughen integration requirements if it wins the March 9 elections. The main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) was planning to ban the use of the Islamic headscarf at most schools, according to the daily El Mundo, whose views are often close to the PP. The party would also oblige Muslim girls to attend gymnastics classes, Muslim women to allow male doctors to examine them and to take off their headscarves for identification photographs, the daily said. 
"Beautiful, bright and brazen, famous for her radical criticism of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 38, is back in Europe. This Dutch woman of Somali origins is currently living in the United States where she hopes to resolve the problem of her protection. ... Up until September 2007, the Dutch State continued to ensure her safety, but only wants to continue to do so if she returns to national territory", explains Sabine Cessou, as European members of parliament, French intellectuals, the daily newspaper 'Liberation' and the weekly 'Charlie Hebdo' are organising a gathering to support her this February 10th in Paris. "It is [French philosopher] Bernard Henri-Levy who had the idea of a meeting ... . The next step will be taken in the European Parliament on February 14th. Several European deputies ... are going to propose that Brussels pay for the protection of this free-thinker."
The Kohsar police on Thursday registered a first information report (FIR) against 
The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture. The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.
Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has sharply reduced his workload in recent months, raising new questions about the health of the aged leader and the prospect of a dangerous power vacuum without a clear and dominant successor. Any change in al-Sistani's role or reach could have far-reaching consequences for both Iraq and the United States, which consider the Iranian-born cleric as perhaps the most powerful figure in Iraq and a vital stabilizing force in the oil-rich Shiite heartlands of southern Iraq.
In response to an IDF operation on Thursday morning which killed at least five Hamas operatives and one 
Egyptian authorities are investigating claims that many Gazans bought land in Sinai in the past few weeks. Leaders of several Beduin tribes living in Sinai have sent a message to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in which they strongly denied that their families sold land to Palestinians who poured into Egypt after the border was breached on January 23. Egyptian law prohibits foreigners from purchasing land in Sinai. 
