The controversial governor of Kandahar was on his way out until a political gaffe by Canada's foreign affairs minister hindered those plans, an Afghan politician says.
Yeah, really. It's all Bernier's fault. Otherwise that guy woulda walked the plank or something by now.
Afghan parliamentarian Khalid Pashtun said Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's comments left the Afghan president with no choice but to leave Gov. Asadullah Khalid in his post.
Last week Bernier publicly said Afghan President Hamid Karzai should remove Khalid from office based on allegations of corruption. Khalid was among Afghan officials alleged to have participated in torture of detainees. Khalid has denied the reports.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Bernier later clarified his comments, saying Canada isn't calling for any changes to the Afghan government.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The Liberals have called for Bernier's head dismissal, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he has no plans to remove his minister.
Pashtun says Bernier's call left Karzai with no choice but to leave Khalid in the posting or appear as if he's following Canada's bidding.
'Cuz the Great White North spends so much time ruthlessly imposing its hegemony on the itty bitty teeny tiny mostly warmer nations of the world. Yes! They writhe under the cruel Canucklian hobnailed snowshoe! Think of the shame the proud Pashtuns feel when any random pickup team of infidel Canucks, to include girls in mukluks, wipes the ice with the Kandahar Maple Leafs in the dead of the Brutal Afghan Winter...
Bernier made the comments during a visit to Kandahar, where Canada has roughly 2,500 soldiers serving as part of the NATO-led mission.
Comments a 'misunderstanding'
Khalid, who toured a Canadian-funded facility in Kandahar City Tuesday with International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda, called Bernier's comments a misunderstanding. "This issue is solved already it was a misunderstanding," said Khalid. "For me, the relations between the Afghans and Canadians [are] more important than small issues."
Oda said Bernier's comments had no negative impact on her meetings with Afghan officials. "Not at all, and again, it was a matter of them continually saying how much they appreciate Canada's work here and how they want to increase the partnership," said Oda. "They are delighted with the way Canada works with the government and we've had very good discussions."
This article starring:
Asadullah Khalid
Khalid Pashtun
Maxime Bernier
Stephen Harper
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
As it is said: Mess not with the girls in mukluks, lest ye be mucked. ;-)
#2
I think it would be a GREAT idea to teach the Afghanis to play hockey. It would give them a chance to express their aggressiveness without blowing up schools and shooting people. Lord knows hockey is a bloody sport! I know mo-ham-head didn't play hockey, but that's only because Canada wasn't invented yet.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2008 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
How about teaching them Rugby? I had a friend into Rugby, seems to me like a great way to get Mugged by your friends.
He was always recovering from sprains, split lips and the like.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
Security forces in Somalia's northern state of Puntland stormed a hijacked ship Tuesday, safely releasing hostages and arresting the seven pirates on board, the region's security minister said. Abdullahi Said Samatar, the security minister in Puntland, told reporters at the port of Bossaso, the region's commercial hub, that 100 soldiers and several armored boats took part in the rescue effort. He stated that of the seven captured pirates, three were wounded during a brief skirmish with Puntland security forces.
"Mahmoud! Wound him!"
"Yes, effendi! [KERBANG!]"
Mr. Samatar declined to mention any details of casualties on the Puntland government side, but port sources confidentially informed Garowe Online that two soldiers were wounded during the operation.
Yesterday, the pirates hijacked the al Khaleej, registered in the United Arab Emirates but rented by Somali businessmen. According to the Puntland security minister, the pirates had "crossed the line" when they hijacked the ship near the vital port of Bossaso. The captured pirates were transported out of Bossaso port and are being held under heavy guard at a discreet location, informed sources said.
Mr. Samatar told journalists that the government of Puntland will charge the captured pirates in court, where they will face the death penalty. No criminal convicted of piracy has ever been executed by the Puntland government to date.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
That would cut down on the pirate recividism rate...
#5
Hang him sitting in a wheelchair,
(mental image of "Blazing Saddles", the guy being hanged along with his horse.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 14:30 Comments ||
Top||
#6
OK, Puntland ( i would move if i lived someplace that sounded like that), you got the easy part done (the talking part) i dare ya to finish the job.
#7
Obviously this country doesn't have the resources to be able to afford all the chest beating, hair pulling, and soul-searching required to do something like this in Western society.
Somalia's internal affairs and foreign affairs ministers have issued contradicting statements regarding the brutal massacre of 11 people at a Mogadishu mosque over the weekend.
Interior Minister Muse Nur Amin told reporters on Tuesday that insurgents first attacked Ethiopian and Somali troops to trigger the weekend's deadly violence, which killed upwards of 80 people according to a local human rights organization. "I personally do not believe that someone praying at a mosque was pulled out and killed, but I want to make clear that the [Transitional] Federal Government is investigating," the Interior Minister said in Mogadishu. He categorically dismissed the idea that, upon investigation, only the Federal Government and its Ethiopian military allies will take blame for the massacre at al Hidaya Mosque, in northern Mogadishu.
But Somalia's foreign affairs minister, Mr. Ali "Jangeli" Ahmed, completely denied reports of the mosque massacre, arguing that "no religious men were killed."
"The troops have the right to arrest a criminal who runs into a mosque," said Foreign Minister Jangeli, who is currently in Washington, D.C., as part of President Abdullahi Yusuf's delegation.
Somalia's armed opposition groups have condemned the al Hidaya Mosque killings, where a well-known Imam [prayer leader] was shot to death by soldiers in front of witnesses. Mohamud Ibrahim Suley, spokesman for the Islamic Courts movement, said the al Hidaya Mosque killings have placed the ongoing reconciliation process "in the dark."
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), reportedly left Djibouti and returned to his exile home in Asmara, Eritrea, following the weekend violence in Mogadishu. Djibouti is the location where Somali government officials and ARS opposition figures planned to convene on May 10 to begin peace talks.
Local sources said more than 40 Islamic students were arrested by the Ethiopian soldiers who stormed the mosque and are blamed for the brutal slaying of 11 people inside, including Sheikh Said Yahya, the Imam of al Hidaya Mosque. As of Tuesday afternoon, most of the students have not been released.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
#1
Don't they have youtube there? Or maybe they don't have cell phones.
The conflict in Darfur is getting worse, with the death toll rising to 300,000, the United Nations said Tuesday. The death toll in the five-year conflict in the Sudanese region had originally been pegged at 200,000.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and Rodolphe Adada, the joint representative for the UN and African Union in Darfur, gave the grim report to the UN Security Council in New York City on Tuesday. They said thousands of additional people have been uprooted from their homes, upping earlier estimates of 2.5 million displaced people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
Hundreds of thousands (that's what they say) dead in Iraq because the US invaded; hundreds of thousands dead in Darfur because the US didn't invade.
#4
300,000 out of a 2.5 million population isn't genocide, it's mass murder, in this case to effect exactly the population movement that's taken place.
#6
No,No,No, BChoinski
you miss the whole purpose of the UN, it's to whine, be a nuisance, and do nothing, of any consequence.(no possible way to hold them responsible that way.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 14:45 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Forgot,
"And steal as much money as possible."
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
#8
See also REDDIT > GUARDIAN.uk - THE US ROLE IN HAITI FOOD RIOTS.
#9
tu nails it. We must hold a conference to decide that though, so I hear that hawaii is nice this time of year, eh?
Note that it's labelled a "conflict" and a "displacement." Don't call it by what it really is (a genocide)
Posted by: BA ||
04/23/2008 22:09 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Y'all may be cynical, but I am confident that as long as the shrimp cocktails hold out, the UN will be conferencing its collective ass off about this problem.
(KUNA) -- India Tuesday asserted that Bangladesh houses at least 117 camps of the insurgent groups from the country's Northeast. "During the Director General (DG)-level meeting of border guards of India and Bangladesh at Delhi, earlier this month, New Delhi handed over to Dhaka a list of 117 insurgent camps," Indian Minister of State for Home Radhika V Selvi told Parliament in a written reply today. "However, information about the specific action taken by the Bangladesh authorities is not available," Selvi added.
Last year, the Indian government had handed over a list of 141 camps of insurgent groups on Bangladesh territory during the DG-level meeting of border guards in Dhaka. India shares a 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh. Several insurgent groups from India's Northeast operate from Bangladesh. New Delhi has sought deportation of top leaders of these groups. New Delhi had also stated that Bangladeshi territory is being used by the insurgents of Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami. The group is responsible for several terror attacks across India over the past few years. (
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
WASHINGTON - A drop in U.S. troop levels in Iraq is "inevitable over time" but U.S. forces face many more years of combat against "violent jihadist networks" around the world, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday. Gates also said a war with Iran would be 'disastrous on a number of levels' but Washington must not exclude the possibility of military action against Tehran.
The Pentagon chief made the remarks in a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, according to a text released by the Pentagon ahead of the evening event.
While stressing the United States must remain engaged in Iraq 'to avoid an even uglier fight or even greater danger to our country in the future,' Gates said troop levels would decline further. 'A drawdown of U.S. force levels in Iraq is inevitable over time -- the debate you hear in Washington is largely about pacing,' Gates said. 'But the kind of enemy we face today -- violent jihadist networks -- will not allow us to remain at peace,' he said.
'What has been called the 'Long War' is likely to be many years of persistent, engaged combat all around the world in differing degrees of size and intensity,' Gates said. 'This generational challenge cannot be wished away or put on a timetable. There are no exit strategies.'
In the wide-ranging speech, Gates also discussed Iran. He said Tehran supports terrorism, 'is a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.'
'Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need and, in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels,' Gates said, according to the prepared text of his speech released by the Pentagon. 'But the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian threat -- either directly or through proliferation.'
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
'Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need and, in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels,' Gates said
How so, "disastrous"?
'This generational challenge cannot be wished away or put on a timetable. There are no exit strategies.'
Agreed. Many of our offspring here at Rantburg understand this, too. May the Almighty watch over those who fight for freedom, until this war is won.
Oil disruption when the global economy is iffy, comes to mind. So do our troops who've had 4 & 5 rotations and who will need to be in Iraq longer/in more numbers for the short run.
Others might differ re: those as potential negatives but I'm hearing a lot of those concerns among people I talk with.
OSAMA + ISLAMISTS DESIRE RUSSIA-CHINA TO BE OUT OF THE RUNNING FROM OWG-NWO, OR IN ALTERN RENDERED "IMPOTENT/WEAK" VV US-WEST VERSUS IRAN-RADICAL ISLAMISM. Osama > SAVING JIHAD > PRO-ISLAMIST/JIHAD "BIPOLAR" better than PUTIN's "MULTIPOLAR"???
Always bear in mind, WOT > WAR FOR PRO-US = ANTI-US OWG-NWO; whilst OSAMA > WOT = WAR FOR TOTAL ABSOLUTE ISLAMIC/ISLAMIST VICTORY, OR TOTAL ABSOLUTE ISLAMIC/ISLAMIST DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION, including MUTUAL= WORLD DESTRUCTION.
No US-led WAR AGZ IRAN OR "REGIME CHANGE" > OSAMA +ISLAMISTS WILL USE THE INTERIM TO REBUILD, PREP, AND EMPOWER FOR NEW JIHAD EFFORTS.
AFter 2010 or 2012/13 > the US-West, etc. will NOT be able to take mil action agz IRAN = ISLAMISM UNLESS ARE WILLING TO FIGHT A NUCLEAR WAR = NUCLEAR TERRORISM, AND EXCLUSIVE OF CONTIN GLOBAL JIHAD.
#4
The GOOD NEWS is that iff various SPACE EVENTS-PHENOMS don't kill us, RUSSIA-CHINA will circa Year 2018 vv ANTI-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED".
Capital Development Authority (CDA) has sent a summary to the government, seeking reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa that was demolished during Lal Masjid operation by law enforcement agencies in July last year, sources said. They said the CDA had allocated Rs 12.018 million for PC-I of the project. They also said construction work on the project would be started following the approval of funds by the government. It has been decided to reconstruct Jamia Hafsa at its original place, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Takfir wal-Hijra
The kidnappings of key government and international organisatons officials by militant outfits is a more lethal weapon than suicide bombing, military and security officials said on Tuesday.
They said that, The militants seem to have worked out a new strategy and that is to kidnap high profile people. In doing so, they exert great pressure on the government to force acceptance of their demands, while still portraying a soft image of themselves.
Khyber Agency: The militants seem to have chosen the Khyber Agency for most of the kidnappings, most likely due to its strategic road link with Afghanistan. A major supply route of the United States and NATO forces also passes through the agency.
Recently, Pakistan Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin was kidnapped from Khyber Agency on February 11. On Monday, paramilitary forces foiled an attempt to kidnap two World Food Programme (WFP) officials.
According to the security officials, With kidnapping, pressure builds on the government to accept most demands, as public pressure increases and the issue becomes a humanitarian concern. Warning the government to take a more serious view of the situation in the Tribal Areas, the officials said that Azizuddins kidnapping was targeted. They also said that Mondays attempted kidnapping was designed to put pressure on the government to accept certain spurious demands. The militants do this while showing a political face pledging to work for peace in public to retain the peoples sympathies, they added.
The officials warned that if the Khyber Agency followed in the footsteps of Waziristan or Bajaur, Peshawars fall might not be far behind. They said that the militants ambush of paramilitary forces in Landi Kotal on Monday was a reminder of skills foreign militants display when their colleagues come under threat. When the paramilitary soldiers were returning from foiling the abduction of WFP officials, they were ambushed by around 50 elements. This ambush could only be carried by a bunch of people who are highly trained, the officials said.
According to the officials, the Landi Kotal tehsil of the Khyber Agency is becoming a red hot area for militants, because of the regions strategic proximity to the Tirah Valley, which offers an ideal haven for militants.
Separately, tribal sources told Daily Times that foreign militants were infiltrating the Khyber tribal region. They said the local Taliban were not acting against the government.
The Taliban have also denied their involvement in Azizuddins kidnapping, but senior government officials are accusing Waziristan, where they claim the envoy is currently being held.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
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European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday he backed the new Pakistani government's moves to hold talks with Taliban militants, but ruled out any negotiations with Al-Qaeda.
For all the good that Solana's support does ...
Solana arrived in Pakistan late Monday for talks on boosting cooperation between the EU and Pakistan, which is emerging from eight years of military rule but still facing the threat of Islamist violence.
He supported the recent moves by Pakistan to open dialogue with Taliban militants in a bid to restore peace and order in Pakistan and its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. "It is up to the country to give benefit to those who want to contribute to the well-being of the country by participating in a dialogue which is under the umbrella of the constitution of the country," Solana told reporters.
But he told a joint press conference with Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that peace talks with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network were out of the question. "The answer is no," he said when asked whether he would accept negotiations with Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda formed a nexus with so-called Pakistani Taliban in the region, but Pakistan has said it will negotiate with homegrown militants, many of whom it believes are motivated by political and economic concerns as much as Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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Thousands of supporters on Tuesday offered a rousing welcome to freed chief of the banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Sufi Muhammad, upon his arrival in the Sakhakot area of the Malakand division and the Maidan area of Dir district.
The supporters, wearing black turbans, a hallmark of the TNSM, organised a rally consisting of around 100 vehicles and accompanied Sufi Muhammad to his native town of Maidan, after his brief speech at the Bilal Mosque in the Aman Darra area of Sakhakot.
"Mah fellow Pashtuns..."
Brothers: Police, army and other law-enforcing personnel are our brothers and Islam even forbids the murdering of non-Muslims, Sufi told his supporters.
"But go ahead and do it anyway!"
He said the TNSMs struggle for the implementation of Shariah law was peaceful and it did not support violent means. He vowed that his peaceful struggle for the implementation of the Shariah law in Malakand would continue.
Eyewitnesses said senior citizens dominated the welcome party arranged by the TNSM for its leader, who was freed under a peace deal with the provincial government in return for peace in the region. The supporters were chanting slogans in favour of Shariah law. However, they stopped short of criticising the government or any political party. Upon arrival in his native village, Sufi visited the houses of those who accompanied him to Afghanistan and were killed in fighting with US-led coalition.
Which was lots of them.
Sufi Muhammad was arrested in 2001 while attempting to return from Afghanistan, where he led thousands of Muslim volunteers in the Talibans fight against the US-backed war on terror. People fired shots in the air to express their jubilation. Sufi Muhammad announced that a meeting of the TNSMs council of elders would be held at the organisations central office in Amandara in the next four or five days. Many people were killed in fighting with security forces following a TNSM-led uprising in Malakand division in 1994.
Hey, he's a holy man, not a general.
The NWFP government released Sufi Muhammad on Monday under a peace deal to restore normalcy to Swat and its adjoining areas, following an assurance from Sufi Muhammad that he and his companions would remain peaceful. Sufi Muhammads son-in-law Mullah Fazlullah is on the run in Swat, where he was leading an insurgency for the enforcement of Shariah. He also established an illegal radio station over which he aired his fiery speeches.
This article starring:
Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi
Mullah Fazlullah
TNSM
Sufi Muhammad
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: TNSM
Salih al-Igaili, a lawmaker from the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, denied on Tuesday that former Premier Iyad Allawi is mediating to put an end to U.S. military operations in Sadr city, and to resolve this city's crisis, asserting that the Sadr movement considers negotiations with the Americans as a red line.
"I totally deny this news," al-Igaili told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The Sadr movement never negotiates with the U.S. forces" he continued.
"But please don't let them kill me!"
In a press conference that was held on Monday at the headquarters of the Iraqi National Slate (Secular parliamentary bloc headed by Allawi), and attended by Fatah al-Sheikh former Sadrist legislator, and a representative of al-Fadila Islamic party, Allawi said that two days ago, Sadrist lawmakers contacted him to mediate with the U.S. forces to end the military operations and the concrete blockade on Sadr city that began roughly one month ago.
Allawi added that negotiations are underway with the U.S. forces to solve this problem, between those forces and the Sadr movement, but he did not mention any further details.
Al-Igaili commented, "If he really wants to solve the crisis, Dr. Allawi was expected to submit a peace initiative that satisfies the disputing sides, rather than using the media to make false statements."
"The Sadr movement believes that the purpose of reporting this news is an attempt to learn Sadr movement's position regarding the folder of negotiations with the Americans," he explained
"We say that the movement totally rejects any negotiations with the Americans, and we consider this a red line that should not be crossed," al-Igaili asserted.
"We did not contact anyone, and we did not ask anyone to mediate with the Americans or the government," he added.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
04/23/2008 02:57 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
funny because redlining in America is when banks and investment companies "red-line" bad neighborhoods on a map and don't allow loans or investment in those areas.
There is some sort of irony in Sadr using the phrase "redline" but I'm too tired to see it.
If it peels like a tater and it fries like a tater, it's a tater.
Multinational Forces Iraq has dramatically changed its messaging concerning the Mahdi Army and attacks in Baghdad. While MNF-I continues to refer to the Shia militias as criminals or Special Groups in their press releases, there are no longer any calls for the Mahdi Army to obey Muqtada al Sadrs cease-fire order.This is occurring as the Iraqi government and MNF-I are pressing the fight against the Mahdi Army in Baghdad, Basra, and elsewhere in the South.
In the past, MNF-I press releases would refer to Sadr with the honorific al-Sayyid and appeal to the Mahdi Army to adhere to the ceasefire. Here is an example of a typical press release from late December 2007, which leaves an opening for Sadr and his Mahdi Army to end the violence:
"We commend all those who honor al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadrs ceasefire pledge Significant progress has been made in the fight for a secure and stable Iraq, but dangerous criminal elements still exist."
Now, MNF-I is explicitly stating the goal is to capture or kill these criminals while dropping any pretenses about the neutrality of the Mahdi Army. Here is an example from a press release today:
Iranian-backed Special Groups and other criminal elements who refuse to honor the rule of law are directly responsible for the current violence in Baghdad, as well as the deaths of countless innocent civilians, said Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a spokesman for MND-B. We will continue to work with Iraqi civilians and Iraqi Security Forces to identify, capture or kill these criminals who are terrorizing the people of Baghdad.
A press release from April 20 actually noted that criminal fighters retreated to building that contained the local Sadr Trend office after a clash with Iraqi soldiers and special police. In the past, MNF-I would not directly link the criminals and Special Groups to Sadrs political movement.
The change is significant. Just a few weeks ago, General David Petraeus was giving Sadr an out by saying he had a place in Iraqs political process. Last week, Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sadr could either participate in the political process or not, the choice is his. This weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice openly insulted Sadr by calling him a coward for hiding in Iran while he instructed the Mahdi Army to fight U.S. and Iraqi forces. "I know he's sitting in Iran," Rice said. "I guess its all-out war for anybody but him. I guess that's the message; his followers can go to their deaths and he's in Iran." Now MNF-I drops its friendly titles for Sadr and references to the cease-fire, while killing or capturing Mahdi Army fighters on a daily basis. MNF-I is withdrawing the carrot and applying the stick.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
04/23/2008 02:42 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
MNF-I is withdrawing the carrot and applying the stick.
Carrots are all the bigger stick they're going to need to tan Sadr's hide if things keep going the way they are.
#3
Tater---yer too late. No carrots forrr yuuuuuu!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/23/2008 11:42 Comments ||
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#4
I think that all that is left of the Mahdis are the hard corps criminals, and those that are on the outs with the Badr group and Sciri, who know their destiny is to be dead in a ditch somewhere.
Saddam Hussein's cousin, whose execution has been delayed for months in a complex legal and political battle, was returned to a US detention facility on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, US officials said.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for the strikes he ordered against Kurds in the 1980s, was admitted to a US medical facility on Sunday. His lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, said al-Majid had suffered a heart attack after going on a hunger strike with other defendants. A US military official familiar with the medical records confirmed that al-Majid had suffered a heart attack but said he was in stable condition and had been returned to a US detention facility.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Baath Party
#1
They'd better get moving on executing him or he'll die of natural causes first.
#2
#1: They'd better get moving on executing him or he'll die of natural causes first.
Maybe that's what they're hoping, MS6713.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2008 13:25 Comments ||
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#3
No, Old Patriot, you let him die of natural causes and Justice is NOT served that way, look for "The US is powerless" riots if that happens and he's NOT executed.
Hang him on his deathbed if necessary, but DO NOT let him die Unexecuted.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 14:52 Comments ||
Top||
#4
ima start thawing the chocolates from cold storage in anticipation of the Grim Reaper's bedside visit to Mr. Ali...
Last week's meeting between former US president Jimmy Carter and the exiled leader of Hamas militants did not produce any results, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said here Wednesday. Surprise, surprise, surprise!
"President Carter came to the region thinking he could achieve something. Unfortunately president Carter left without anything concrete," he told a conference in the Spanish capital. Proving once again how witless and irrelevant he is.
"The only thing he achieved was permission on the part of Khaled Meshaal of Hamas to deliver a letter from a detained Israeli soldier to his family. Nothing else," he said. I hadn't heard that."
Hamas offered nothing to president Carter. They reiterated the same positions. There was no change on the part of Hamas," Malki added. Maybe that's because Hamas has nothing to offer but pain, suffering, and death.
Carter's meetings with top Hamas leader Meshaal and his deputy in Syria angered Israel and the United States, which consider the movement a terror group despite its victory in 2006 elections.
He was unable to secure a ceasefire or a prisoner exchange for an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militants in 2006, but on Monday Carter said Hamas told him it would recognise Israel's right to exist if such a deal was approved by a Palestinian vote.
Just hours later Meshaal told a press conference in Damascus that Hamas would not recognise the Jewish state and would insist on the right of return for 4.5 million Palestinian refugees.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/23/2008 09:10 ||
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#1
The next time I wanna to hear about Jimmy Carter is when and where he's gonna be buried. So I can...ummmmmmmmm..."visit".
#5
The only thing he achieved was permission on the part of Khaled Meshaal of Hamas to deliver a letter from a detained Israeli soldier to his family. Nothing else," he said.
Carter thought this would be his big chance to show how he could negotiate a hostage release and he failed.... again. No one respects weakness in a leader.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/23/2008 16:04 Comments ||
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#14
Whoever (I think it was Einstein?) said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result," must have been talking about Carter.
#15
elto: Carter believes his own press reports--thinks he was the one responsible for the breakthrough in the Camp David accords. And if his magic touch worked once, why isn't it working again? Must be the Israelis' fault... Hamas is poor, so obviously they must be the righteous ones.
Liberation theology isn't just found at Trinity
Posted by: James ||
04/23/2008 20:48 Comments ||
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#16
damn .... "____", you were soooo promising (sorry I missed whatever garbage you were trying to post :-(
now we'll never know. Oh well
next?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/23/2008 21:40 Comments ||
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#17
Does that mean that "___" is a Paleo, since the Israelis finally gave them fuel to run their only power station? And, to think, the very first site he graced us at was here at the 'burg!
*snicker*
Posted by: BA ||
04/23/2008 22:15 Comments ||
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A threatened shutdown of the Gaza Strip's only power plant was averted Wednesday after Israel agreed to pump about 260,000 gallons of diesel fuel to the territory, enough to run the plant for at least three days. The Israeli military said early Wednesday that the fuel shipment had already begun.
Kaanan Obeid, a Gaza energy official, had warned that the plant was in danger of shutting down Wednesday if fuel was not delivered. The plant supplies a third of the territory's electricity and Israel's electricity utility supplies most of the rest.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/23/2008 11:44 Comments ||
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#7
Enough oil for one day fueled the miracle of Hanukkah back in the Second Century, BC, but three days' worth isn't going to get the Gaza Strip very far. Where does the West Bank get their oil from? Also Israel, or have they diversified their sources?
#8
I'm sure a walking artillery barrage would do wonders for Gaza's infrastructure, especially if such targets as their ONLY power plant was taken out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2008 13:27 Comments ||
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#10
Idiots, supplying your enemy is the height of stupidity, I'd cut them off completely until I got a very nicely worded apology, and cash payment in advance, then hold the oil until ALL the rockets ceased, a month without any rockets will do it.
Plus the oil will only be sent in small shipments only enough for immediate use so they cannot store any, and the first rocket means one month without power (Oil)
The Israeli's are simply NOT SERIOUS about ending attacks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/23/2008 15:04 Comments ||
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#11
Someday people will figure out that the way to fight this is to let the host population suffer until they go after the bad guys themselves. Give them guns if need be. When the bad guys' heads show up on a stick on the walls of the city, the problem is solved.
The exiled leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas offered Israel a 10-year truce on Monday if it withdraws from lands it seized in the 1967 Mideast war as proof of recognition of a Palestinian state on those lands.
Khaled Mashaal said Hamas will accept the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, a departure from the group's customary claim to all of Israel, Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank for Palestinians.
Mashaal's comments appear to be the group's strongest indication of potential acceptance of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and came hours after former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said the group is prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace."
"We accept a state on the June 4 line with Jerusalem as capital, real sovereignty and full right of return for refugees, but without recognizing Israel," Mashaal told reporters in the Syrian capital of Damascus, in reference to the June 4, 1967, line that has been cited in previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
But Mashaal said Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel, would never outright formally recognize the Jewish state.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, held controversial talks last week with Mashaal and other Hamas officials in Syria, despite the disapproval of the Israeli and U.S. governments, which consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
In a speech in Jerusalem Monday, Carter said Hamas won't undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. In such a scenario, he said, Hamas would not oppose a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
"There's no doubt that both the Arab world and Hamas will accept Israel's right to exist in peace within 1967 borders," Carter said.
Mashaal also said Hamas would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions," in an apparent reference to the referendum plan.
Meanwhile on Monday, another Hamas spokesman, Abu Jandal, told a Hamas-linked newspaper that the militant group would carry out harsher attacks on Israel-Gaza crossings, saying last week's assaults that killed three Israeli soldiers were just "practice," according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
2018 > just in time for RUSSIA'S ANTI-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED" WAR, or in the altern the SPACE ROCK RUSS PERTS ALSO SAID COULD HIT EARTH.
HAMAS won't have to recognize Israel - OOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPSIES.
#2
It's Hudna time!!!
Basically, they're saying : "agree to our demands, and we'll wait 10 years before trying to destroy you again, hoping that in the meantime our population will have swelled through our insane birthrates and that we'll have endoctrined and armed our Youths to the hilt... also, we hope that our cause will have by then advanced on other fronts, the USA being in retreat, Europe being islamized, islam's worldview and demands dominant in international bodies, and radical leaders having won power in many if not all islamic countries. Time is on, our side; then, we'll destroy you."
Up until now it's not been an offence in Indonesia to belong to the organisation behind the Bali bombings. Indeed there was even talk about whether Jemaah Islamiyah actually existed and so how could it be possibly banned or anyone be charged with being a member of it. Now a court in Jakarta has declared Jemaah Islamiyah to be a "forbidden corporation" as it sentenced two senior JI leaders each to 15 years jail.
Analysts believe the decision could open the door to more prosecutions. From Jakarta, Indonesia Correspondent Geoff Thompson reports.
GEOFF THOMPSON: Jemaah Islamiyah's militant head, Abu Dujana is sentenced to 15 years gaol is South Jakarta's district court. Receiving the same sentence, despite prosecutor's demands for life terms and the JI leader who is known as Zarkasih. Both men were arrested last year in raids assisted by the Australian Federal Police.
Both were found guilty of concealing weapons, ammunition and explosives with the intention of carrying out terrorist acts. Abu Dujana was also found guilty of organising funding and aiding and abetting terrorists including Indonesia's most wanted JI fugitive, Nordan Mohammed Top (phoentic).
More unexpected was the court's declaration that through the trials of these two men, JI had been proven to exist, with a structure, funding and board members and was therefore a forbidden corporation. The international crisis group's JI specialist - Sydney Jones.
SYDNEY JONES: This decision comes closer to banning JI as an organisation and closer to declaring it an illegal organisations than anything we've had thus far.
GEOFF THOMPSON: Jemaah Islamiyah has long been prescribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations but Indonesian ministers and even vice-president Jusuf Kalla have said that JI's secretiveness made it impossible to ban.
The University of Indonesia's professor of criminology Adrianus Meliala is one of those lawyers who believes the ruling will not greatly change the already aggressive pursuit of JI members by Indonesia's national police.
ADRIANUS MELIALA: The police is now, you know, following their own, their own mind. There is a first, waiting for the resident, waiting for the political signal before conducting aggressive method against JI as well as its followers.
GEOFF THOMPSON: The recent arrests in Malaysia and deportation to Indonesia of two more senior JI members, Abu Husna and Dr Agus Purwanto, is expected to reveal more about JI's membership.
SYDNEY JONES: If we get more names and information coming out of the arrest that was announced last week, this may make it easier for the police to actually arrest and charge individuals who are also members of the central command.
GEOFF THOMPSON: Analysts say a decision like this back in 2002 or 2003 would have made it easier to prosecute JI's founding leaders like Abu Bakar Bashir.
This article starring:
Abu Dujana
Zarkasih
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri criticised Muslims from his armchair for failing to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere in a new audiotape posted Tuesday on the Internet. I didn't know that caves had internet connections.
Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant also blasted Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas over their reported readiness to consider a peace deal with Israel.
"I call upon the Muslim nation to fear Allah's question (at judgement day) about its failure to support its brothers of the Mujahedeen (holy Warriors), and (urge it) not to withhold men and money, which is the mainstay of a war," he said. I call upon Knothead to witness Allan's judgment being delivered unto his minions even today on the ground in Iraq.
He also used the two-and-a-half hour message to urge Muslims to join militant groups, mainly in Iraq, where he claimed that the insurgency against the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition forces is bearing fruit. If things are going so well, why would you need more martyrs jihadis?
"I urge all Muslims to hurry to the battlefields of Jihad (holy war), especially in Iraq," Zawahiri said in the message, the second in a two-part series to answer about 100 questions put to him via online militant forums.
"The situation in Iraq heralds an imminent victory of Islam and the defeat of the crusaders and those who stand under their flag," he said. We've come up with a clever ploy that makes them use up ammunition at an astonishing rate! We're just sure that they're almost out of bullets as we speak. Come on over and we'll show you how it works. The details of this ingenious method are too sensitive to tell you about over the internet or the enemy would figure it out.
Turning his armchair towards ire on Hamas, he said the Palestinian group's reported willingness to hold a referendum on any peace deal with Israel flew in the face of Sharia, or Islamic, law.
"How can they put a matter that violates Sharia to a referendum?" he added. How about they need room to maneuver so they can continue with their killing at a later date? Please refer to "hudna" in Syria for details. Dumbass.
Former Worst Ever US president Jimmy Carter said on Monday that Hamas told him it would recognise Israel's right to live in peace if a deal is reached and approved by a Palestinian vote. Har har har! You bought that hook, line, and sinker, didn't you? No, don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question. Anyone with eyes can see the bobber hanging out of your a$$. Maybe now you'll just go crawl under a rock and stay there?
Hamas exiled chief Khaled Meshaal later told a press conference in Damascus that Hamas would not recognise the Jewish state and would insist on the right of some 4.5 million Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. I thought it was Palestine. Well, I guess this shows some improvement.
Meshaal ruled out any direct talks with Israel but said Hamas was ready to hold discussions with US officials.
He said Hamas would recognise a peace deal negotiated by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on condition that it was subject to a referendum.
In his message, Zawahiri also called on the various jihadist groups operating in the country to unite behind the "more advanced" Al-Qaeda-backed "Islamic State of Iraq". Wait a minute, are you messing with the terms of the franchise?
In the first part of the message released last Friday, Zawahiri commemorated the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq with a call to Muslims to make Iraq a "fortress of Islam". In fact, anyone who sides with the jihadis should go there. And bring their sons if they are old enough to speak. Dead jihadis stacked like cordwood make great fortresses.
#1
I can see no greater indication that al-Qaida is losing than Zawahiri's continuing bombardment of muslims around the world for "failing to support the jihad". What a useless POS.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2008 13:32 Comments ||
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#2
This stuff is just music to my ears.
Despite all the media suffering over the Iraq war creating a whole new army of extremists to attack us, you get the most vocal leader of the movement whining about a lack of manpower.
And yet, the media will find a way to spin this so it looks like we're losing in Iraq and we must pull-out post haste.
According to a U.S expert specialized in security issues, said Governments should proceed by stopping the financial resources the terrorists rely on, through the stepping up of control on the financial operations, at the aim of facing Al Qaeda Branch in North Africa, while increasing control on commercial activities as they represent the main source of the terrorists activities. During a video conference held yesterday by a U.S expert specialized in the criminal law, terrorism finances, and money laundering, at the U.S embassy headquarters in Algiers.
In its intervention the U.S expert said persons or states concerned with the terrorist phenomenon, are wrong when thinking that poverty is the principal cause of terrorism, he justified his idea citing the example of the 19 terrorists perpetuating the 11/9 attacks, the majority of the 19 terrorists were not poor, but they were with a high education level, some of them have studied in the U.S.A, the terrorist chief named Mohamed Atta, was a university student, he said. Osama Bin Laden is a millionaire, while the spiritual leader of terrorists named Said Qutb, has studied in U.S.A, too, these examples illustrate that terrorism is not linked only to poverty, he added.
In this regard, the expert the U.S intelligence services, CIA, relies on its analysis, has called on the North African countries standing up against terrorism by strengthening their capacities to bar the way against the financing resources the terrorist organizations are taking advantage from in North Africa, and worldwide. He indicated that he held a position at the U.S State Department, after the 11/9 attacks, I confirmed that the war waged against the financing resources, is as important as the war targeting the terrorists networks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaeda deputy leader Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Muslims to join the resistance in Iraq in a new audiotape posed on the Internet. "I call on all Muslims to hurry to the battlefields of Jihad, especially in Iraq," Zawahiri said in the message posted on the Internet on Tuesday.
"I call upon the Muslim nation to fear Allah's question (at judgment day) about its failure to support its brothers of the Mujahedeen (Jihad warriors), and (urge it) not to withhold men and money, which is the mainstay of a war," he added. "The situation in Iraq heralds an imminent victory of Islam and the defeat of the crusaders and those who stand under their flag," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Knothead" is good, but still have a warm feeling for Emily's "Screech"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/23/2008 18:39 Comments ||
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Osama bin Ladens chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has warned that Al-Qaeda still has plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq war.
Zawahiris comments, in a lengthy audiotape posted on an Islamist website on Tuesday, could not be immediately confirmed as authentic, but the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader. Asked by one follower if the terror group still had plans to attack Western countries that participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent war, he said: My answer is yes! We think any country that joined an aggression on Muslims must be deterred. On whether women were a part of Al-Qaeda, he answered: No.
This is the second time Zawahiri has answered questions submitted by supporters, critics and journalists. In his first response earlier this month, he rejected criticism of attacks saying the group did not kill innocent persons.
Zawahiri said it was against Islamic law for a Muslim to live permanently in the West as by doing so they would have permanent stay there under the laws of the infidels.
Al-Qaedas media arm, Al-Sahab, announced in December 2007 that Zawahiri would field questions posted on websites.
Queries were submitted until the cut-off date January 16. After the deadline, questions disappeared from the site. According to the questions, self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda supporters appeared to be as much in the dark about the networks operations and intentions as Western analysts and intelligence agencies. The questioners appeared uncertain whether Al-Qaedas central leadership directly controlled the multiple, small militant groups around West Asia, which work in its name, or whether those groups operated on their own.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > PERSEPECTIVE: A DANGEROUS POST-PROLIFERATION AGE.
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 controversial governor of Kandahar was on his way out until a political gaffe by Canada's foreign affairs minister hindered those plans, an Afghan politician says. 
Somalia's internal affairs and foreign affairs ministers have issued contradicting statements regarding the brutal massacre of 11 people at a Mogadishu mosque over the weekend.
The conflict in Darfur is getting worse, with the death toll rising to 300,000, the United Nations said Tuesday. The death toll in the five-year conflict in the Sudanese region had originally been pegged at 200,000. 
WASHINGTON - A drop in U.S. troop levels in Iraq is "inevitable over time" but U.S. forces face many more years of combat against "violent jihadist networks" around the world, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday. Gates also said a war with Iran would be 'disastrous on a number of levels' but Washington must not exclude the possibility of military action against Tehran.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday he backed the new Pakistani government's moves to hold talks with Taliban militants, but ruled out any negotiations with Al-Qaeda.
Salih al-Igaili, a lawmaker from the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, denied on Tuesday that former Premier Iyad Allawi is mediating to put an end to U.S. military operations in Sadr city, and to resolve this city's crisis, asserting that the Sadr movement considers negotiations with the Americans as a red line.
