Faryab province in northwestern Afghanistan has become increasingly restless in recent years. Taliban strength has been growing and there has been fighting in Meymaneh both last fall and in May this year.
Both the military and political heads of the armed forces accept that the base needs strengthening. When the Norwegian force was asked what it needed to defend itself, it asked for 120 troops and long-range weapons. A mobile reaction force was also ordered, so that the allied garrisons in the area could assist each other if any of them came under heavy attack.
Initially they were offered 100 men and long-range weapons. This was pared down to what was termed an absolute minimum of 76, still including mortars.
The most recent tally has fallen to 46 soldiers, with no long-range arms. These will instead be put into storage in Mazar-e-Sharif. This is the sequence of events which has caused tempers to fray.
The base at Meymaneh is a so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team base that provides security and helps with reconstruction in their local area. There are 30 such bases in Afghanistan. The United States alone has 12.
According to defense chief Sverre Diesen and army chief Robert Mood, Meymaneh will in fact be strengthened by the arrival of the arrival of more than 40 troops. The base will house a total of 200 Norwegians, of which 60 are deployed with the helicopter ambulance team currently stationed there. A few Latvian soldiers are also on the base.
"The Swedes, Germans and everyone else have robust rapid response forces. Mortars and armoured assault vehicles are almost always included," says Col. Ivar Halset, who takes over as commander in Meymaneh in July.
"If we come under the sort of attack we experienced in May, we would no longer have weapons superiority over the Taliban," adds Halset.
"The nearest reinforcements are an eight hour drive from Meymaneh and a further four to five hours from the areas where trouble is most likely occur," he concludes.
The mountains of northern Algeria have long sheltered outlaws, but it's not just rugged terrain that draws al Qaeda to ravines and forests.
The local Berber people's alienation from the Arab-dominated government of the OPEC member makes the steep slopes of Kabylie a congenial base for the toughest rebel force in north Africa.
That reality means blind eyes are sometimes turned to the guerrilla outsiders' presence by a population that shares little of their religious fundamentalist ideology.
Diplomats say the resulting denial of intelligence to the state poses a transnational security threat that extends from Kabylie, just 90 minutes' drive east from Algiers, across the Maghreb and north to Europe's Mediterranean shores.
With soaring oil prices sparking protests in Europe and worsening a U.S. credit crunch, stability in Algeria has become more important for a Western world thirsty for oil and gas.
European Union anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said al Qaeda's Maghreb wing has already spread in north Africa.
Normally peaceful Morocco and Mauritania have seen an increase in Islamist guerrilla activity and "this could eventually lead to links with logistical networks in the EU, even to operations," he said.
Attacks in Algeria last year included al Qaeda suicide bombings in the capital that killed dozens, destroyed U.N. offices and shattered government, judicial and police offices.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
A Muslim convert has appeared in court accused of building a home-made nail bomb and trying to blow himself up in a family restaurant in Exeter, Devon.
Nicky Reilly, 22, from Plymouth appeared with cuts to his face and with his hands and arms heavily bandaged after the bomb went off by accident in a cubicle at the Giraffe restaurant in the Princesshay shopping centre. Dressed in a black t-shirt, he spoke only to give his name as Mohamed Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed-Alim, a name which he adopted a year ago following his conversion five years ago. Tall, with spiky hair and clean shaven, Mr Reilly's eyes darted around the courtroom at Westminster Magistrates Court in London as the charges against him were read out.
Mr Reilly, was arrested while in hospital, and police found a typed note at the flat he shares with his mother in King Street, Plymouth.
The court heard Mr Reilly had "engaged in research on making an improvised explosive device, acquired components for making an improvised explosive device" and made more than one device using sodium hydroxide in the form of caustic soda, paraffin and aluminium foil, along with nails, which he had put in glass soft drink bottles. The court was told he "took the assembled explosive devices to the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter, Devon, and set about detonating one or more of the devices intending to cause an explosion in the public dining area of the restaurant with the intention of causing your violent death with others."
Mr Reilly, who has Asperger's Syndrome, faces charges relating to the attack two weeks ago that he engaged in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts under the Terrorism Act 2006, made an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or injure property under the Explosive Substances Act 1883 and possessed a controlled explosive with intent to endanger life or injure property under the same act. Mr Reilly, was arrested while in hospital, and police found a typed note at the flat he shares with his mother in King Street, Plymouth.
His solicitor did not appeal for bail and he was remanded in custody until a hearing at the Old Bailey later this month. Two other men arrested in Plymouth remain in custody as the investigation into the attack continues.
This article starring:
Asperger's Syndrome
MOHAMED ABDULAZIZ RASHID SAID ALIM
al-Qaeda in Britain
NICKY REILLY
al-Qaeda in Britain
Posted by: ryuge ||
06/05/2008 07:06 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain
#1
Guilty. Very guilty. Check operation of the drop trap and get a new, stiff rope ready, pulllease.
#3
Nicky Reilly, 22, from Plymouth appeared with cuts to his face and with his hands and arms heavily bandaged ... he spoke only to give his name as Mohamed Abdulaziz Rashid Saeed-Alim
Amazing how we are supposed to respect the *rsehole culture of these cultists right up to the point when they are standing trial. Then they magically turn back into lil' Nicky.
#4
The fact that this Brit has Asbergers' fits with other cases where the Islamof%$!@@s have levered people with mental illnesses into playing suicide bomber.
The Colombian daily El Tiempo reports that Mono Jojoy, the top FARC military commander has a severe form of diabetes. Head of the Eastern Bloc Mono Jojoy is generally believed to be the organizations top military leader. With 4000 fighters the Eastern Bloc is one of the stronger FARC Blocs. It borders Venezuela and is heavily engaged in the drug trade. Mono Jojoy represents the military wing, as opposed to the new chief Alfonso Cano who represents the political wing.
Still reeling from a suicide attack on their embassy in Pakistan this week, Danes were questioning on Wednesday whether their government's foreign policy was at fault for being too aggressive.
"It always carries a cost to be active in the world's hot-spots," said Tony Brems Knudsen, an assistant professor of international politics at the University of Aarhus in western Denmark. "And when you choose to be at the forefront of the war on terror, you expose yourself greater risks," he told AFP.
Denmark, which saw its embassy in Islamabad struck by a suicide bomber on Monday, has since 2001 pursued what many experts and critics describe as an aggressive foreign policy.
The centre-right coalition government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that came to power that year has been one of Washington's most loyal allies in the "war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has been an outspoken defender of "Western values".
Most notably, the government has refused to apologise for the publication of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PTUI Peace Be Upon Him), which since 2006 have sparked violent protests worldwide and are believed to have provoked Monday's deadly attack.
"Pursuing such an active policy carries a high price," Islamic expert Joergen Baek Simonsen told AFP, insisting there was little the government could do in the short term to dampen the animosity many Muslims feel towards Denmark.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Try reassessing your immigration policy and enacting an emigration policy.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Something is hideously wrong when terrorism can work so well. If a government is changing its foreign policy as a result of terrorist attacks, then you can hardly fault the terrorists, eh?
#4
From the excerpt the Danish government isn't doing the re-assessment. Just the same class of "intellectuals" and "experts" as we have here in the USA.
Posted by: Grenter Protector of the Geats4975 ||
06/05/2008 8:03 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Someone needs to remind the Danes about danegeld. Their foreign policy - weak-ass as it is - has nothing to do with it.
Terrorism experts and Pakistan's ambassador in Denmark are linking Monday's terror bombing to the Mohammed cartoons
Danes need look no further than their own newspapers to find the reason for the car bombing that severely damaged their embassy in Pakistan on Monday, according to Rohan Gunaranta, an international terrorism expert from Pakistan. 'There is still a lot of dissatisfaction here about the cartoons, as well as the fact that the Danish government still has not condemned them or the people that were responsible for them. As long as that hasn't happened, Denmark will be under the constant threat of militant muslims,' Gunaranta said. "Free speech go to hell!" blah blah blah jizyah, dar-el harb, dhimmis, etc., etc.
Fauzia Mufti Abbas, Pakistan's ambassador to Denmark, agreed that the Mohammed cartoons, first published in Jyllands-Posten newspaper in October 2005, had incited Muslim anger and were possibly the motivation for the attack, which killed eight and wounded as many as 30. 'It isn't just the people of Pakistan that feel they have been harassed by what your newspaper has begun,' she said. 'I'd like to know if your newspaper is satisfied with what it has done and what it has unleashed?' Y'know, one way of looking at it is that the J-P has more "reach" in Pakistan than the London Times and the NY Slimes put together.
Oh, and remember Daniel Pearl. Has Pakistan ever apologized for his murder?
Abbas said, however, that it would be necessary to await the outcome of the enquiry before drawing any conclusions about who was responsible or their motives.
The matter of the cartoons, she said, was something Danes needed to reflect on. 'Danes know that they have insulted people around the world by printing and reprinting the Mohammed cartoons, which were done in poor taste.' One gets the impression that the Pakistanis are losing it - and don't care.
Jørn Mikkelsen, Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, defended his newspaper's decision to print the cartoons. 'The decision to do so was in full accordance with Danish law, Danish press ethics and Danish press traditions. That the facts have been twisted in the rest of the world and misused for purposes that are no concern of Jyllands-Posten is something we can and will not take responsibility for.'
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama provoked a flurry of reaction Wednesday by touting Jerusalem as the 'undivided' capital of Israel, going further than the current administration of President George W Bush who was holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the White House.
Obama, speaking before an Israeli lobby group in Washington, said any future Palestinian state must be 'contiguous and cohesive' but rejected East Jerusalem as the capital of that state.
'Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,' Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one day after clinching the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the remarks later Wednesday. He said there would be no peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict without a resolution of the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fund raising.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Must be desperate for $$$ to offend his core constituency this way.
#5
A lot of Israelis would love to get rid of a substantial section of E Jerusalem because
- gets some welfare recipients off the roles
- if they lose citizenship they can't get into Israel and steal stuff or hurt people
- the prospect of living in a Arab ruled paradise may frighten them into telling the truth about what they really prefer in the way of govt.
#9
I heard hussien on IBA today, and to me, he sounded like an idiot, Last I heard Tel Aviv was the capital of Israel.
Unless the muz perversion of history holds it as its captal.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Almost seven years after terrorists hijacked airliners and used them as missiles to kill 2,973 people, five men who allegedly plotted the attacks face a military tribunal Thursday. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, will be arraigned simultaneously with four other detainees inside a high-security courthouse at the remote U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Mohammed boasted of numerous attacks and plots against the United States in a closed military hearing last year, and the al-Qaida kingpin and his confederates will be given the chance to speak out again in their war crimes trial, according to a top tribunal official, Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Hartmann. "In the course of trial they'll have opportunity to present their case, any way they want to present it subject to rules and procedures," Hartmann told The Associated Press. "That's a great freedom and a great protection we are providing to them. We think ... it is the American way."
The arraignment will launch the highest-profile test yet of a tribunal system that faces an uncertain future. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down an earlier system as unconstitutional in 2006, and is to rule this month on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners, potentially delaying or halting the proceedings.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Should be like the Witch Trials of pre 18th Century UK .
Dunk them in shark infested waters .. You know the rest .
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Wednesday lashed out at the critics of peace deals the provincial government had reached with militant groups in Swat.
Someone had to make a start and we did it, Hussain said at the end of a three-day training workshop for TV journalists at Peshawar Press Club. The workshop was jointly organised by the Canadian High Commission, Islamabad, and the press club. Acting Canadian High Commissioner Nicholas Coghlan was also present. Hussain said the release of Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi leader Sufi Muhammad on April 21 and the signing of a peace deal with militant cleric Maulana Fazlullah on May 9 would pay dividends to bring about peace in the region.
The minister criticised the previous government for not releasing Sufi Muhammad earlier. He said the Frontier province had become a battleground and the innocent Pashtuns were being killed. We cannot allow the bloodbath of our people. We have to bring peace to our areas, Hussain added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Wednesday, endorsed a fatwa against terrorism decreed by Darul Uloom Deoband, a 150-year-old madrassa in neighbouring India. We fully support the anti-terrorism fatwa issued by the madrassa. They declared the edict according to the existing circumstances, said JUI-F NWFP President Senator Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan when Daily Times sought his comments on Wednesday.
The Deoband madrassa issued the fatwa in a meeting in New Delhi on May 31, attended by thousands of clerics and students who vowed to root out terrorism from the society.
One religious leader said Islam does not allow terrorism in any form. Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace, he said.
Senator Naseeb said Deoband was an educational, religious and spiritual institution for them (JUI-F) and as such we endorse its anti-terrorism fatwa.
Senator: However, Maulana Gul Naseeb said the JUI-F had issued an anti-terrorism fatwa long before the Deoband madrassa. He said the JUI-F had convened an ulema convention on April 17, 2007 in the city which issued a fatwa declaring suicide bombing and all kinds of terrorism were haraam in Islam and against the law of the land.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
A religious organisation has asked the central government to flush out foreigners from the countrys Tribal Areas. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, the head of the Tanzeemul Mashaikh Ahle Sunnah Pir Shamsul Amin of Manki Sharif said foreigners were using the FATA to conspire against Islam. He alleged that the countrys intelligence agencies were involved in disturbing the security situation in FATA and demanded the government arrest those involved in the killing of the relatives of MNA Pir Noorul Haq Qadri. Four of Qadris close relatives were gunned down when their car was ambushed near the Takhta Baig check post in the Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency last month. Amin warned the media that situation could take a bloody turn if the government failed to stop the massacre of innocent people and religious scholars in the Tribal Areas. He said some elements were out to target prominent religious scholars through a well-planned strategy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Denmarks intelligence services have sent three experts to Islamabad as part of their investigation into Mondays suicide attack on the Danish embassy, as Pakistani police held four suspects in Jhang on Wednesday.
A 10-strong crisis management team had arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday. Danish intelligence officials said the attack had been meticulously planned for a long time.
Preliminary information gleaned from the car used in this suicide attack, which was equipped with fake Danish diplomatic licence plates, seems to indicate that it had been planned for a long time with precision, the PET intelligence service said in a statement. The embassys video surveillance showed a car with a man at the wheel arriving at high speed, passing in front of the embassys entrance before the explosion several seconds later, PET added.
Footage handed over: The footage has been handed over to the Pakistani authorities as part of their criminal inquiry. The Danish Foreign minister said there was growing evidence that Al Qaeda was behind that attack. Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said: It seems that it was Al Qaeda. The pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. Neither Moeller nor the intelligence service elaborated.
Meanwhile, police raided a house in Satellite Town in Jhang, and arrested Abdul Rehman, his son Zafar Iqbal and two businessmen whose identity had not yet been ascertained, sources told Daily Times. The men owned the car used in the attack, they said, and had filed a complaint in Jhangs Mochiwala police station on February 15 that their car had been stolen. Sources in the Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest, but said the ministry had no information so far on who was behind the attack. They said the authorities were not ruling out foreign involvement. They said the ministry had asked the authorities concerned on Monday to compile data of all the vehicles stolen or car-jacked from Rawalpindi and Islamabad in the past and their owners, and had asked the Crime Investigation Agency, the anti-car theft cell and the Police Department to provide information necessary in this regard.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
If it was Canada they would have already arrested the cartoonist.
ISLAMABAD - US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen held counter-terrorism talks with Pakistani army top brass Wednesday, two days after a suicide bomb killed six people in the capital, officials said. Mullen met Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani for a second time following his arrival Tuesday on a two-day visit, his third trip to nuclear-armed Pakistan since February.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, threatened by possible impeachment, is reconciled to stepping down before he is hounded out of office, according to a senior adviser to the new government.
US ally Musharraf, who came to power as a general after a coup in 1999, has probably got a matter of weeks, at most a few months, before the curtain falls, political insiders say.
So long, Perv, and thanks for the fish ...
He is prepared to go and go with dignity, said the source close to the leadership of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which heads the 2-month-old coalition government. We will try to make it very dignified, the PPP source said, adding it was politically difficult to be seen helping the disliked president as such a stance risked losing popular support.
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of the late Benazir Bhutto, has proposed a constitutional package that would strip Musharraf of power, but possibly afford him legal protection from foes who want to see him humiliated.
The PPP hopes to buy time to settle terms for the president's departure and steal the thunder from coalition partner Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew. Sharif wants his usurper impeached or tried for treason. Officials say Musharraf wants indemnity for his actions on Nov. 3, when he suspended the constitution and imposed emergency rule to purge the judiciary before it could rule illegal his re-election the previous month while still army chief.
Independent analyst Nasim Zehra saw few options left for Musharraf. I think he has no cards left, she said. General Musharraf may be compelled to think of resigning sooner rather than later.
A general election on Feb. 18 swept away Musharraf's parliamentary support and resulted in an uneasy alliance between Zardari and Sharif. To add to Musharraf's sense of isolation, retired generals, including some who served under him, have publicly criticised him and called for him to go.
After all, Perv, you don't actually run the army any more ...
Under Kayani the army has adopted a more constitutional role, though it won't want its former chief humiliated.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has asked Sharif to let Musharraf leave peacefully without pressing too hard for him to be put on trial, according to Pakistani officials. Last November, the Saudi monarch pressured Musharraf into letting Sharif return from exile in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
Before leaving for London on Tuesday, Sharif again called for Musharraf to be put on trial for treason or impeached.
So Sharif won't extend the favor that was extended to him ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Who was pushing for elections in Pakistan?
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Get yourself a nice flat in London, Perv. Hey, I have an idea! How about bringing those nukes?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/05/2008 12:12 Comments ||
Top||
Baghdad, Jun 4, (VOI) A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq on Wednesday said that a further withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq is on the cards, reiterating his country's assertions that negotiations with Iraq on the long-term security agreement are moving forward.
"Four of the five brigades, which were added to the Multi-National Force (MNF) in Iraq in June 2007, have pulled out. In July 2008, the remaining brigade, along with two Marine battalions, will follow suit," General Kevin Bergner said during a Baghdad-based press conference today. Bergner said that a further troop withdrawal will be possible after commanders submit their reports about the progress of the security situation to the top commander.
In early April 2008, U.S. President approved a recommendation made by Top U.S. Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus for the withdrawal of U.S. forces after July 2008. According to the recommendation, a total of 140,000 U.S. servicemen will remain in the country until the end of 2008.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
TEHRANTIMES > USAF CDR: NATO NEEDS 400,000 TROOPS TP PACIFY AFGHANISTAN; + IRNA > AHMADINEJAD: IRAN, JAPAN NEED TO GET PREPARED FOR A WORLD WITHOUT THE USA.
#2
Making Iraq safe [er] for the HIDDEN IMAM-MAHDI to make His Appearance???
* ISRAEL being increasingly isolated/contained.
* Iran, ME Muslim Nations, and even Radical Islamist Jihad-Terror going full monty Nuclear, or desiring to do so.
* Dubya-USA is now perceived as "lame duck".
* Islamist Militias still inside Iraq - ASIA being slowly but surely destabilized.
* POTUS OBAMA???
* RUSSIAN BLACK SEA FLEET to be rebased in SYRIA or other Regional locale vv USA-NATO???
AGAIN, SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG IN RADICAL ISLAM'S LEADERSHIP IFF THEY STILL CAN'T WIN IN ME VV THE ABOVE, OR NEED "DIVINE" HELP TO DO SO.
WAFF.com Thread > INDEPENDENT.uk - BUSH WANTS FIFTY BASES, CONTROL OF IRAQI AIRSPACE, AND LEGAL IMMUNITY FOR ALL US SOLDIERS AND CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ.
OTOH, FREEREPUBLIC > US IS NOT SEEKING PERMANENT BASES IN IRAQ.
GENEVA - A United Nations investigator called on Wednesday for the creation of a special inquiry into the 2003 killing in Baghdad of 22 U.N. staff, including then High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello. Leandro Despouy, specialist sleuth for the U.N. Human Rights Council on the independence of judges, said the failure by Iraq or United States occupation forces to establish the truth about the bloodshed undermined the credibility of the world body.
Specialist sleuth? How in the world do you get that job? Wonder what the promotions prospects are. Senior specialist sleuth? Specialist sleuth II? Assistant deputy under-specialist sleuth?
"I propose the establishment of a commission of inquiry composed of eminent experts to finally bring to the light of day exactly what happened and who was responsible," Despouy, an Argentine lawyer, told a news conference.
It was a bomb delivered by al-Qaeda. I can sleuth too.
Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian widely tipped as a future U.N. secretary-general, died with his colleagues when suicide bombers exploded a truck outside the U.N. compound in the Iraqi capital on Aug. 19, 2003, five months after the U.S.-led invasion. A long-time U.N. official, Vieira de Mello had been seconded from Geneva by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the world body's chief representative supervising relief operations and maintaining links with the occupation authorities.
But mystery still shrouds the event, which led the United Nations to run away pull all staffers out of Iraq. Several efforts to pin down how the bombing happened and who organised it have failed to come up with any fully credible explanation, said Despouy. This had left the impression that such crimes against the United Nations could be committed with impunity.
They pretty much can, can't they? If only you'd allowed American soldiers to provide security.
The investigator, who also set out his views in a report to the 47-member Council, said he remained mystified over why the Iraqi government had not halted the execution last July of a man who may have had information on the attack. He said he had made several pleas to Iraqi leaders and to senior U.S. and British officials for a suspension of the sentence -- for another crime -- on the man, who had confessed to having taken part in preparing the bombing. "He was the last survivor of the people presumed to be behind the attack," declared Despouy, "and perhaps could have given invaluable testimony."
He also deserved the noose ...
The appeals had been addressed earlier in 2007 to leaders of Western governments who had voiced admiration for Vieira de Mello, including the then British prime minister Tony Blair. He did not know if they had taken any action. "The gravity of this event, and the huge importance it has both for the families of the victims who want to know how their loved-ones died and for the credibility of the United Nations, should not be ignored," he told the news briefing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Blame de Mello who refused US military protection or suggestions to harden the compound against attack.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Crimes against the UN are committed with impunity because crimes BY the UN are committed with impunity.
#3
"The gravity of this event, and the huge importance it has ... for the credibility of the United Nations, should not be ignored," he told the news briefing.
Did this guy a a drummer doing rim shots at the presser?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called for the first time for renewed dialogue with Hamas without demanding the militant Islamic group first relinquish control of Gaza.
Hamas overran Gaza a year ago and expelled forces loyal to Abbas. Referring to the latest attempt to bridge the rift, he called for "national dialogue to implement the Yemeni initiative in all its elements, to end the internal division that harms our people, (our] cause," Abbas made the comments in a broadcast speech to his people on Wednesday evening.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu welcomed the call for talks. "We welcome this call by the President Abbas to launch a national dialogue, and we consider it a positive step," he said.
Abbas said if the talks succeed, I will call for new legislative and presidential elections. Abbas won an election to succeed Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, but Hamas swept his Fatah Part out of power in a 2006 election.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
United States Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on Wednesday declared that as president his goal would be to eliminate the threat to Israel from Iran, speaking in an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
"I'll do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything," Obama told the pro-Israel lobby at a conference in Washington, only hours after securing his party's nomination.
Later in the speech, which was frequently punctuated by the crowd's rapturous applause, he said:
"I will always leave the threat of military action on the table to defend our security, and that of our ally Israel."
"I will always leave the threat of military action on the table to defend our security, and that of our ally Israel."
The Illinois senator also vowed he would never compromise on Israel's security, especially "not while there are still groups who deny the holocaust, not when there are terrorist groups that are committed to Israel's destruction... Not while there are rockets raining down on Sderot."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Why, he might even do what Jimmy did during the hostage crisis and turn off the lights on the Christmas tree in the White House. That worked a treat, eh Jimmy!
#2
TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > CONDI RICE WAS RIGHT: A NEW MIDDLE EAST IS BEING MADE. Just NOT the one, nor democratic one, envisioned by America and Dubya, + NUCLEAR JIHAD AND 2012: THE WORSE IS YET TO COME.
All together now - OOOOOOPPPPPSIES, AMERICA's BAD!
#5
In a sense this is the foreign policy equivalent to resigning from Trinity Church, that it, Obama is resigning from the cultural-left cornerstone that military force can never be used and should never be threatened.
German neo-Nazis: We're pro-Israel, condemn anti-Semitism
Nazis against anti-Semitism? As bizarre as that sounds, a group of Germans which calls itself "National Socialists For Israel" launched its Web site in support of Israel.
"Stop the hatred of the Jewish people," the Web site reads. "The Jews are a healthy, strong nation." Basically, they admire their ability to persevere against great odds for milleniums.
The organization - whose members have yet to reveal themselves to the public - claims that Israel's right to exist is anchored in the principles of social Darwinism, the same principles which the Nazis adopted prior to the Second World War. "Israel earned the right to live among the nations [after emerging] from unending wars," the group writes on the site. "Israel also has a right to exist. This nation also has culture... The nation of Israel is appreciated... It is our duty, as neo-Nazis, to defend this supreme success. Not just for the German people and the European cultural sphere, but also, especially, for Israel."
As such, "Nazis for Israel" also leveled criticism at their colleagues in the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), calling them "politicos, cowards, and reactionaries."
"Show us proof of a Jewish plot to dominate the world," they wrote in a rare manifesto which was posted on their Web site.
These unusual statements on the internet compliment the group's other public campaigns, including the dissemination of bumper stickers. One of the stickers features a picture of Reinhard Heydrich, the senior Nazi official who chaired the Wansee Conference where the Final Solution was hatched. Underneath the photo reads: "As a Nazi, I'm a Zionist."
Another sticker shows a photo of Israel Defense Forces soldiers during the Second Lebanon War under the heading: "2,000 years of struggling to survive - respect to those worthy of it."
In terms of the group's attitude towards the Holocaust, the organization says: "We must view what is referred to as 'the Holocaust' within the context of acts of self-defense undertaken by nations under threat." It added, however, "that there is no justification for it." Instead, the Nazis ought to have supported the Zionist cause, the group states.
The group claims it held its first meeting of activists in Berlin last month. It said the meeting touched on issues ranging from "solidarity with Israel, anti-Semitism, capitalism, and Islam." Bingo!
#1
Read between the lines. Solidarity with Israel means all the JOOOOs should move there, leaving all of Europe "pure". Islam will take care of their own Arab lands, leaving, too.
#2
Agreed, Thealing Borgia6122. Hitler's original plan had been to drive the Jews out of German lands to pollute the other countries. Sending them all to Palestine to cause problems for the British Empire would have made him very happy. It was only because the rest of the world didn't want more Jews either, that the extermination policy was established.
WASHINGTON: Early last year, the U.S. Air Force was able to keep no more than 11 of the remotely piloted, armed Predator surveillance aircraft flying over Iraq and Afghanistan at any one time.
By last Sunday, that number had more than doubled, to 25, and air force officials now say they can guarantee at least that many of the hunter-killer aircraft will be aloft around the clock, a new element of the buildup in U.S. forces for the two wars.
The push to increase missions by the Predator, and its larger and more deadly variant, the Reaper, has been an issue of serious contention between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the armed services, in particular the air force.
Gates has complained that it has been "like pulling teeth" to get more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance vehicles into the war zones. He sensed a lack of support for this new generation of unmanned - and therefore unglamorous - aircraft.
But as U.S. commanders look to draw down forces in Iraq, the larger numbers of these aircraft, which can circle for hours over targets, promise to decrease the risk to ground troops while increasing the prospects of successfully tracking terrorist and insurgent leaders.
Evan as the troop buildup in Iraq ends in July, the demand for greater hours of surveillance coverage will continue to grow.
"The real challenge the air force faces within the Pentagon in providing reconnaissance is that there is a revolution of rising expectations," said Loren Thompson, a military affairs specialist with the Lexington Institute, a policy research organization. "It keeps adding new reconnaissance systems, but expectations for performance are rising much faster than the number of systems."
Senior members of a task force created by Gates to accelerate the deployment of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance vehicles to the war zones were meeting this week to discuss fresh proposals.
Quick fixes under consideration include outfitting small civilian airplanes with sensor packages. Another proposal would delay by several months the opening of a second school for Predator operators so the trainers and aircraft involved could instead be committed to combat.
A call has gone out to the private sector to expand production of the entire arsenal of remotely piloted vehicles, even as the air force plans to end purchases of Predators and instead devote its resources to the Reaper, which flies higher and faster and carries advanced sensors and more bombs. Reapers, already flying in Afghanistan, are expected to be introduced to Iraq by fall.
In an effort to provide detailed surveillance images to troops in contact with adversaries, more than 3,500 hand-held devices, called Rovers, have been distributed to ground combat units, allow the units to view high-quality images from the surveillance vehicles. Previously the images were available only at headquarters.
But even with these indications of progress, a number of significant hurdles remain to expanding surveillance in the war zones - and each problem illustrates the continuing clash of cultures across the military and within the Pentagon.
Air force officials say their branch of the armed forces should be made the sole authority to manage acquisition of the largest and most deadly class of remotely piloted surveillance and attack aircraft to reduce duplication and produce savings in operations and maintenance.
But the U.S. Navy, in particular, counters that it has unique requirements for operating remotely piloted aircraft on the high seas and along coastlines. Thus far, senior Pentagon civilians have not approved the air force proposal. And the services continue to argue over who should fly these missions.
The army and Marine Corps argue that their young, video-savvy enlisted personnel are wholly capable of working the joysticks of these remote-control missions, and the services are rushing to field a number of smaller surveillance craft operated directly by combat units.
But the air force has pressed to allow only rated pilots to operate larger vehicles that can travel across a theater of combat, arguing that even though Predator pilots sit in the safety of control booths back in the United States, the task of maneuvering bomb-laden aircraft through complex airspace requires the seasoned judgment of trained aviators.
The air force's advanced, piloted fighters and bombers carry sophisticated sensors, and could join the surveillance mix.
But troops in combat do not always grasp the variety of aircraft that can bring them information. Air force planners say video and other surveillance can be delivered efficiently from many types of aircraft, not just the popular Predator.
"Everybody wants full-motion video because of what I call the 'persistent stare,' that allows everyone to analyze, to determine positive identification or points of origin, and be able to track," said Lieutenant General Gary North, commander of U.S. and coalition air forces across the Middle East. Those capabilities, he said, mean that the United States and its allies could undertake more precise attacks, with fewer unintended casualties, against targets who might not even know a Predator is overhead.
North said that in recent months, the Predator had been used with great success in military operations in Iraq, from Basra to Sadr City to Mosul. Air force officials said that in both war zones between March 1 and June 2 of this year, the Predators launched 64 strikes and the Reapers 32.
The debate over how to expand battlefield surveillance prompts air force officials to defend the service against assertions that it is letting its historic romance with white-scarf pilots detract from the defense secretary's priority of increasing surveillance over the battlefield.
Combined forces of more than 600 security forces Thursday swooped on some 60 targets in five districts in this southernmost province [Narathiwat]. At least nine people were detained from the massive mopup operation, sweeping through highly contested areas where clashes between security forces and terrorists insurgents take place almost on a daily basis. Two of the arrested were suspects with arrest warrants. Three were taken for possessing marijuana, three for further questioning and one held under the controversial martial law.
Government forces launched similar offensive in June last year, simultaneously locking down various pockets. Several hundreds suspected of having tendency to join the jihad insurgency were detained and sent to "job training" programmes in army camps in the upper south. Detainees and officials said the label was a cover for an indoctrination process aimed at heightening a sense of nationalism for the Malay Muslims. The Thai court intervened and ordered the army to release the detained on the ground that these individuals could not be forced to take part in the job training scheme.
Amidst reports that President George W. Bush is considering taking military action against Iran, the US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell paid a rare visit to Israel Tuesday for talks with heads of the Israeli intelligence community.
McConnell was scheduled to meet with head of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
McConnell's office published the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report late last year, which claimed that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 even though it had renewed its enrichment of uranium in 2005
Theres lots of action going in Iraq against special groups. Its possible that theres enough documentation that they feel they can, and must, go after Rev Guards units supporting the special group - not necessarily an attack on the nuclear program.
Israel would still need to know, as Iran would likely take retaliatory action against them.
US Defense Department officials in late 2001 and 2002 concealed from the CIA and other intelligence agencies potentially useful information gleaned from Iranian agents, said a Senate report released Thursday. Maybe they've reasons to think CIA is, shudder, untrustworthy?
#1
If CIA had already rejected the source as "untrustworthy", what would be the point in sharing the information? DIA might have been interested because sometimes in a rumor or even fantasy, there is some kernel of truth around which the rest of the information is arrayed.
Also, if CIA had already known of the source and rejected it, might the failure in sharing have gone initially in the OTHER direction? It is possible that CIA had heard the information already, rejected it, and failed to share it with DoD who went and got the information themselves.
Articles like this are generally crap but like everything else, there is generally a truth in there someplace. I would find it believable that DoD talked to the Iranian. The rest of the article is probably goop.
#5
Then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith sent two Pentagon employees to the Rome meetings with Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian dissident already dismissed by the CIA as untrustworthy....., and several Iranians who were former and current members of the security service. It also involved an unspecified foreign government's intelligence service.
Ghorbanifar used one of those meetings to press for regime change in Iran, and outlined a plan for it on a napkin, according to the report, saying it would cost about $5 million to start.
And the COS and COM in Rome knew nothing of any of these meets or their content...? I call total BULLSHI**! The term "untrustworthy" as applied to an intelligence source, should not be interpreted as not important or not sensitive. "The term "untrustworthy" or unreliable CAN be used to also keep the flies away.
Following are excerpts from a public address by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which aired on the Iranian News Channel IRINN TV on June 2, 2008.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "Our beloved Imam [Khomeini], you commanded that the arrogant [powers] of the world must be destroyed. You commanded that the global rule of hegemony must be removed. I'd like to say that thanks to your illuminating presence, thanks to your guidance, thanks to your ardent and divine words, thanks to the continuance of your illuminating rule, and thanks to the steadfastness of the Iranian people, today, the cruel and arrogant [powers] have reached a total dead end, and thanks to God, the countdown for the decline of America's demonic power has begun."
[...]
Crowd: "Death to America [eight times]."
[...]
Ahmadinejad: "The Zionist regime has lost its raison d'être. Today, the Palestinians identify with your name [Khomeini], Nice bit of wishful thinking here; as JFM remarked, how many "khomeini" or "teheran" streets in gazaland? Do the paleos feel oecumenical regarding shiites? Or are they just cynical arabs who take the cash and the support?
your memory, and in your path. They are walking in your illuminated path, and the Zionist regime has reached a total dead end. Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off the face of the world."
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
06/05/2008 07:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
The thought crosses my mind as to whether McCain will be to Bush, what Truman was to Roosevelt.
Roosevelt did a lot of things, but Truman is remembered for just two.
#10
If we give one of these dildoheads a smack in the chops, the rest of them may settle down.
Reagan proved the validity of that theorum a couple of decades ago in Libya. And that string of minor incidents in the late 80s was proved far more recently to have had very long-lasting effect.
#14
Again, despite the seeming new troubles in the ME, i.e. ISRAEL vs. HIZB-HAMAS [Syria-Iran-PA], and AFRICA, IMO Radical Islam's true focii is agz RUSSIA-CHINA, CENTRAL ASIA, + PERIPHERALS, espec as per the DEV = ACQUISITION OF STRATEGIC WEAPS CAPABILITIES 2008-2012 AMAP ASAP.
VARIOUS NET > ISLAMIST IDEO IS SPREADING IN RUSS + ASIA. MORE IMPORTANTLY FOR RADICAL ISLAMISM,, RUSS MAY BECOME A MUSLIM-MAJORITY NATION 2030-2050 [read - Islamized/Islamist-controlled RUSS MILTECHS-NUKES-WMDS].
MOUD + OSAMA, ETC > IN TIME, THERE MAY ONLY BE ISLAMIST ASIA = EURASIA [Africa?], + NORTH-SOUTH AMERICA - FOR NOW, NUCLEARIZED IRAN + CENTRAL ASIA, etc. WILL DO???
AFTER 2010 or 2012 > US-WESTERN MILPOL PLANNERS WILL HAVE TO CONSIDER AN IRANO-ISLAMIST NUCLEAR RETALIATORY RESPONSE, INCLUDING PROXY NUCLEAR TERROR, TO ANY SCHEMA.
#15
Lest we fergit, Jihadist/Islamist website on MEMRI > reminds that the ANTI-US/NATO NUCLEAR = STRATEGIC-TACNUKE WEAPONS + MILTECHS, etc. OF THE FORMER USSR HAS BEEN READILY AVAILABLE ON THE BLACK MARKETS SINCE THE FALL OF THE USSR [1989,1991].
Syria is continuing to supply the Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization with large amounts of weapons, missiles and rockets even as it conducts indirect negotiations with Israel, defense officials in Jerusalem told Army Radio on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Monday in a series of interviews that resumed peace talks with Israel hinge on the current cabinet remaining in power in Jerusalem.
In interviews he gave to newspaper editors in the United Arab Emirates, Assad said: "The success of the talks depend on the Israeli side and is tied to the Israeli government's ability and how stable it is."
According to one report, Assad said direct talks would begin only next year, though Syria is not opposed in principle. "We explained our vision for peace, and we are waiting for the Israeli response. However, our previous attempt to negotiate with Israel was not encouraging, and what we are doing now is to verify that Israel is ready for peace," he said.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak referred to the indirect talks with Syria while touring the northern border Tuesday. "With the Syrians, feelers are being put out to check whether there is a possibility of opening direct negotiations and discussing in that framework all of the topics about which we will have to make tough decisions and make concessions, but it cuts both ways. These will be tough decisions from Assad's perspective and also ours," Barak said.
Referring to Syria's "intimate" cooperation with Hezbollah, including helping to arm it," Barak said "the supreme responsibility in our view falls on Hezbollah, on the one hand, and Syria and Iran, on the other."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Gee, maybe in the next war the real target should be Damascus, not Bekaa.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Damascus should have been the target years ago when they allowed terrorists to move through their territory with men and supplies to attack our troops. Damascus needs a big wack for a lot of dirty nefarious deeds.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/05/2008 3:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Mushroom farm of Dimona is a great comfort to me.
#4
ION WAFF.com Thread > SYRIA WANTS [peaceful]NUCLEAR ENERGY UNDER ARAB UMBRELLA, in coordination wid other Arab-Muslim nations whom also will go nuclear = dev indigenous nucenergy.
Also from WAFF > RIAN article > DUE TO UKRAINE PRESSURE/CRITICISM, RUSSIA MAY RELOCATE BLACK SEA FLEET [enlarged - to 100 ships] TO SYRIA???
Claudio Franco works as an investigator on behalf of the NEFA Foundation, conducting in-depth research for as much as half the year in the regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan- -where he has been a regular visitor since approximately 1999. Prior to joining the NEFA Foundation in 2006, Ronald Sandee held a variety of positions within the Dutch Ministry of Defense, most recently acting as Senior Analyst in the Counter Terrorism branch of the Dutch Defense Intelligence Service's Counter Intelligence Department.
Al Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for an end to Israel's economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, criticizing Egypt for not opening its border to Palestinians, according to an Internet audio tape posted on Wednesday. "The brother from Gaza is refused entry (by Egypt), while an Israeli tourist is allowed to enter without a visa," said the speaker who sounded like earlier recordings of Zawahri, blasting Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak as a "traitor".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/05/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
I'm sure Mubarak would reconsider if Dr. Evil personally showed up for the open border ribbon cutting ceremony.
Posted by: ed ||
06/05/2008 1:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
blasting Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak as a "traitor"
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.
Terrorism experts and Pakistan's ambassador in Denmark are linking Monday's terror bombing to the Mohammed cartoons 
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Almost seven years after terrorists hijacked airliners and used them as missiles to kill 2,973 people, five men who allegedly plotted the attacks face a military tribunal Thursday. 
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, threatened by possible impeachment, is reconciled to stepping down before he is hounded out of office, according to a senior adviser to the new government.
Baghdad, Jun 4, (VOI) A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq on Wednesday said that a further withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq is on the cards, reiterating his country's assertions that negotiations with Iraq on the long-term security agreement are moving forward.
German neo-Nazis: We're pro-Israel, condemn anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON: Early last year, the U.S. Air Force was able to keep no more than 11 of the remotely piloted, armed Predator surveillance aircraft flying over Iraq and Afghanistan at any one time.
Combined forces of more than 600 security forces Thursday swooped on some 60 targets in five districts in this southernmost province [Narathiwat]. At least nine people were detained from the massive mopup operation, sweeping through highly contested areas where clashes between security forces and 
