A Taliban commander comments on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's threat to attack the Taliban leadership in Pakistan and tells Syed Saleem Shahzad of plans to assassinate both US President George W Bush and Karzai
#1
PAYVAND NEWS > IS A NEW CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION EFFECTIVELY DECLARING WAR ON WAR? HR362 ostensibly an ACT OF WAR vv seeming authoritative allowance for A US-LED AIR-NAVAL ECON BLOCKADE OF IRAN???
#2
FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > ISRAEL GATHERING CONSENSUS FOR IRAN MILITARY STRIKE.
Also FYI, GUAM PDN OP-ED > PLAN NOW FOR NORTH KOREA COLLAPSE [Food/Agriculture]. Perts - complete collapse possible in 2009. USA-SOKOR should plan to invade to secure NOKOR NUCFACS/NUCSTAS, CHINA to secure YALU DMZ REGIONS to prevent MASSIVE NOKOR REFUGEE EMIGRATION INTO CHINA???
And there's [future?]ISLAMIST CENTRAL ASIA = ISLAMIST ASIA? > there will be AS YET UNDETERMINABLE OUTFLOWS = LOCAL-REGIONAL DIASPORAS for those unwilling to accept Islamic or Islamist rule or culture, or conversion to same???
Rebels in Chad say they are taking more towns in the east of the country, while the government is accusing Sudan's army of attacking a border town.
Rebels said they seized the town of Am Zoer recently, while capturing the chief of the town garrison and taking a small cannon. Am Zoer is on the road to the main eastern city of Abeche. Rebels say they are marching to the capital N'Djamena.
But unlike earlier this year, when they almost toppled President Idriss Deby, security analyst Paul-Simon Handy does not believe the threat from this new offensive is as grave. 'We should not overestimate these new seizures of provincial towns in eastern Chad,' he said. 'It is more to my point of view a publicity success, than real military success.'
Handy, from the South African-based Institute for Security Studies, says divisions within the rebel movements make it unlikely the rebels will again reach the doorstep of the presidential palace. 'I think the biggest difference is that today the rebels seem less united than they were in February because the new rebel groups, there are new groups emerging, even though it is the same actors,' he said. 'There are new movements that have been emerging and that are not united. They are extremely divided so that is the first difference. And the French intelligence is giving support to the Chadian army. I think this time the rebels cannot make it to N'Djamena. They will certainly be stopped by airstrikes of the Chadian army.'
Chad's government has accused Sudan of attacking the border town of Ade with ground troops and helicopter fire. A statement said its reaction will be on the level of, what it called, the impudence of the Sudanese regime. Sudan has denied backing the Chadian rebels or attacking Chadian territory.
Chad's army is accused for its part in helping and getting help from rebels active in Sudan's Darfur conflict. Repeated mediation attempts between the two governments and different rebel groups have failed.
The latest surge of violence is taking place as European peacekeepers are deployed on the Chadian side of the border to protect hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people. Chad's president has accused the peacekeepers of allowing rebels to steal gas, food and vehicles from aid workers in the area. The peacekeepers have said there were no civilian casualties in the recent fighting. They say they are a neutral peacekeeping force.
France, the former colonial power, has soldiers in the European peacekeeping force and on a permanent military base in N'Djamena, as part of post-colonial military agreements. They have been accused by Chadian rebels of keeping Mr. Deby in power. Rebels say they want to get rid of the long-standing president to organize free and fair elections in the newly oil-rich state.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
Saudi Arabia is expecting the worst from the al- Qaeda terror network because the group is changing its style and techniques but the kingdom is uncovering more details about its sources of funding, the Saudi Minister of Interior said in remarks published Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia's war on terrorism is going ahead steadily but not without difficulty, which is caused by the fact that al-Qaeda is changing its techniques, Prince Nayyif bin Abdel-Aziz told the pan- Arab daily Alsahrq al-Awsat. This is why the Saudi security bodies are expecting the worst from al-Qaeda, the minister added.
'Investigation into sources that may be funding the network in the kingdom is making progress. But the information we have gathered has to be completed,' the minister said. Some people belonging to al-Qaeda may be in Iran,' the minister said. But he ruled out the presence of Saudi detainees in Iran.
#4
No doubt money is coming from some members of the House of Saud and the Wahabbi community. But it'll be routed through so many cut-outs it's going to be difficult to trace.
#5
WAFF.com > STRATEGYPAGE > THE WAR IS SHIFTING TO AFGHANISTAN. Al Qaeda allegedly setting up new bases in Paki for "A LAST STAND" - the sectarian violence in Iraq is also devol into an IRAQ-SPECIFIC INTERNAL SUNNI versus SHIA "WAR OF EXTERMINATION", e.g. predomin Sunni, US-trained Iraqi ArDiv successfully effec combatting Mahdi Army Shia Militias.
#6
'Investigation into sources that may be funding the network in the kingdom is making progress. But the information we have gathered has to be completed,' the minister said.
This sounds like a crock of cowpucky. It is difficult to image the Saudi intelligence network doesn't keep a tight lid on things in the kingdom. Hmmmn, is money for AQ being funneled through Iran?
Yemen has expelled 16,000 suspected members of the al-Qaeda network since 2005 as part of its efforts to fight terrorism, Yemeni vice president Abdu-Rabu Mansour Hadi said on Sunday.
In comments carried on the defence ministry's website, Hadi said the expelled suspects 'belonged to various nationalities and many of them were those known as the Arab Afghans.' Arab Afghans are Muslim Jihadi veterans from various Arab countries who had fought against the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Yemen received thousands of those militants after the war ended in 1989.
Hadi said the suspected militants were sent back to their home countries between 2005 and 2008. He did not name any of the countries.
We could guess ...
After the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, Yemen allied itself with the United States in the 'war on terrorism' and cracked down on armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda. Security forces have also rounded up hundreds of Arab Afghans and foreign students at unregistered religious schools across the Arabian Peninsula country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen
#1
A breakdown of where they were from would interesting. I guess Saudi is at the top of the list.
Hazel Blears PC was ... stolen. With data she wasn't authorized to have on that less-controlled machine. Ms. Blears is the minister for Communities in Brown's cabinet.
#3
A stolen computer is different than documents left on a train on two different days that end up in two different media outlets rather than being returned to authorities.
At least to my mind it is different. Now if we saw a THIRD set of documents "left on a train" that turn up at a media outlet, then I would say we have something.
Italian police arrested 28 Sri Lankan Tamils on Wednesday on charges of aiding and abetting the outlawed Tamil Tigers group fighting a separatist insurgency against the government in Colombo. Some 200 police were involved in the operation which saw raids across the country from Naples in the south to Bologna in the north, and also on the island of Sicily, an official with the police counter-terrorism cell told AFP. The 28 people arrested were suspected of membership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and of providing funding for the group, the official said.
An engineer is on trial in Germany for allegedly attempting to help Libya develop a nuclear bomb. But the network the man was allegedly part of was under surveillance by intelligence agencies, with the CIA getting involved early on. The Swiss government has even gone so far as to eliminate evidence by secretly shredding thousands of documents.
#1
"Shred 30,000 documents ...decision was made to preserve World Peace, not because they had anything to hide" > methinks JOE PATERNO, PENN STATE, and ANNA NICHOLE SMITH, ETAL. MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT.
ANNA LONGINOVA of the KGB-FSB, and KAREN VERONA of the US Army > TWO D **** GOOD REASONS IN MY BOOK.
TEHRAN - The Iranian army's deputy commander called on France on Tuesday to hand over former president Abolhassan Bani Sadr, accusing him of ordering deadly attacks against Iranian civilians from his Paris exile.
"France must hand Bani Sadr over to Iran," Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said in a speech marking the anniversary of the former president's 1981 overthrow. "There are numerous documents proving that Bani Sadr has planned and ordered acts of terror in cooperation with the hypocrites that have led to the deaths of Iranian civilians," he added, referring to the People's Mujahadeen rebels.
"If the French government wants to make good on its claim to defend democracy and fight against terrorists, then it should hand these elements over to us," the Mehr news agency quoted the general as saying.
That's a big 'non' as long as Sarkozy is in charge ...
Bani Sadr was elected president in January 1980 hot on the heels of the previous year's Islamic revolution but was ousted by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in June 1981. He then briefly made common cause against the regime with the People's Mujahedeen, before the armed rebels took Iraq's side in its deadly eight-year war with Iran.
Maryam Rajavi, one of the most prominent leaders of the rebels' political arm, the National Council of the Iranian Resistance, is also based in France.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
She rolled her eyes. She stuck her tongue out at the prosecutor. It was decidedly not the usual courtroom demeanor. Then again, it was not the usual federal case.
Nor did it did stop the woman, a former journalist and Congressional aide, from trying to persuade a judge that she was mentally competent and prepared to stand trial on charges that she worked with the Iraqi intelligence services before the United States invasion.
The woman, Susan P. Lindauer, was taken into custody in March 2004 and charged with acting as an unregistered agent of Saddam Husseins government under an indictment in Manhattan. She was accused of meeting repeatedly with Iraqi intelligence officers starting in 1999, including once at the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, where prosecutors say she received $5,000 from Iraqi agents.
U.S. military Special Operations commandos will be conducting airborne counter-terrorism training from early afternoon until 11 p.m. through Friday night.
Tuesday, two Blackhawk and two Little Bird helicopters were training at the old Children's Hospital in Denver, circling the building before landing on the roof and parking lot, then taking off again.
Two Denver firetrucks and two Denver police cars were also on hand on Downing Street near the hospital.
"It's a great opportunity to learn how a premier organization functions in this event," said Sonny Jackson, spokesman for Denver police. "The officers are soaking up the information like sponges."
Couple of comments follow that are posted to the comments section of the online article - these peopela re seriously mentally ill. Or liberal (same thing)
AngelontheSidelines writes:
This is done to make citizens accustomed to military hardware, and martial law easier to accept. Don't accept it, Posse Commititus puts citizen protection under police authority. Blending police and military is what tin pot dictators do to control their population.
schutz323 writes:
This is just great...we now accept the military in our cities...the more we accept this the easier it will be for our government to imprison anyone it deems a "terrorist." We need to fight back NOW
The_Punnisher writes:
FOUR DEAD IN OHIO....says it all
And of course the sneering ultraliberal projecting his problems
bandelier writes:
Nothing but a sheepish show of GW Bush "BOO" power. Remember, kiddies - Colorado is now in play in November. So the McStain department of justice has to wave their collective juevos over the voters to make 'em think twice before voting for someone who might not support the killing machine. Snore. Take your tiny-peckers elsewhere, nazi stains. You BORE me with your little boy games.
And the Ron Paul tinhatters make an appearance too:
mannaman writes:
We are prepping you for MARTIAL LAW. What are you doing reading anyways, you should be watching the sports games like all the other mindless sheeple who have given up their liberty and freedom for a FALSE Security and who revel in being lied to. Franklin said that YOU deserve neither. So go and vote, doesnt matter to us in the CFR and bildaberg group who OWN both political parties!
Yep, we got it all here in Colorado.
Link goes to Slideshow - note slide 3 with the arrogant idiot Democrat Denverite. This Link goes to the article from which I picked the comments.
#1
Of course its not all loonies here in Colorado:
Some people were thrilled to see choppers in action...
Becky Alfrey watched in amazement as the whirlybirds whizzed by her 13th-floor flat, "darting in between the buildings downtown."
"I waved at one of the copters and someone waved back!" she said, adding that the tethered, camouflaged commandos "were literally hanging half out of the helicopter."
#2
Also a lot of the idiots are completely unaware that the 3/19 Special Forces is a Colorado National Guard unit. And that many of Denver metro area police department SWAT Teams have officers who are in the Colorado Guard in that SF unit. There is decent helicopter lift capability as well as SOCOM qualified pilots in the Guard at Buckley AFB, in addition to F-16's, just outside Denver (at Buckley AFB).
I live near Buckley, so I get the privilege of seeing and hearing the F-16's doing their job. And the occasional F-15, C-17, C-5, and Canadian and Marine/Navy F/A-18s transiting, that use Buckley as a stop off top off point.
They keep a low profile, which is why most of the Boulder hippies and Denver dumbasses don't realize they are there.
#3
That would be soooo cool. All we get here are helicopters and airplanes flying so high we can just hear them. I imagine they fly out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base up in Dayton... or the Blue Ash airport. ;-)
#5
There is nothing like the sound of a J-52-408 at high power at twilight; the sound of freedom echoing off the tranquil Puget Sound waters as another day of freedom comes to an end.
As so elquently stated by another airplanemaniac: "The smell of burnt JP makes me horny."
#10
ION RIAN > US PLANS [Euro Missle Shield-GMD/TMD] TO NEUTRALIZE RUSSIA's MISSLES 2012 -2015. Analyst IVASHOV - US desires to emplace BMD in UKRAINE + GEORGIA after these success join NATO. Argues that RUSSIA IS "WASTING TIME",+ SHOULD WARN THAT IN ANY US-RUSS MIL CONFRONTATION, ANY AND ALL NATIONS THAT SUPPOR US MISSLE SHIELD PLANS RISK THEIR NATIONS + INFRASTRUCTURE BEING TARGETED AND DESTROYED BY RUSSIAN NUCLEAR STRIKES.
*IMO, also a SUBTLE WARNING that Russ should strike at CONUS-NORAM targets.
I never know how to categorize The Belmont Club - News, Blog, or Opinion - but whichever, this is an interesting piece. (EFL)
AoS note: Belmont Club pieces should be filed in the appropriate category, not necessarily Opinion. We like 'em, we read 'em. If they're long just give us a taste and the link, because we'll go there and read.
The Monzer's Ball Meets the Transporter
Victor Bout was a notorious Russian arms dealer, doing business all over the world, who was arrested in a DEA sting operation in Thailand, where he remains. The Americans want him tried in New York. The Russians don't. The agency says he came to Thailand to negotiate the sale of Igla surface-to-air missiles to two undercover agents posing as officers from FARC.
As Bout was fuming in his Thai cell, another distinguished figure from the shadow world was disembarking in New York city in the custody of -- the DEA. His name is Monzer al-Kassar, and he had recently come off a flight from Europe.
The Jerusalem Post writes that Monzer al-Kassar was the man who supplied weapons to terrorists and criminals the world over:
Kassar has in fact played a key role in some of the worst atrocities committed against Israeli and Jewish civilians, and his links to one Arab regime in particular - that of his native country, Syria - deserve special scrutiny at a moment when Jerusalem is just about to begin potentially historic negotiations with its government.
Earlier this year, he was arrested by Spanish authorities after allegedly offering to sell weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Agency posing as representatives of Colombia's FARC guerrilla group. On Friday he was extradited from Madrid to New York City, where he is scheduled to face trial on charges that also include conspiracy and money-laundering.
But the gathering of these two shadowy figures in New York City raises some interesting lines of speculation. Among the questions which immediately come to mind are: why Bout and Monzer, guilty of a string of crimes as long as your arm, happened to go down in connection with a MANPAD missile sale involving Columbia's FARC? Is there a connection between Monzer's sudden loss of official protection and the mooted peace deal between Israel and Syria? Is the DEA handling this affair because other agencies might have a conflict of interest in any trial involving Bout and Monzer? What political candidate(s) may be embarassed by revelations about FARC and connections to Lebanon or Syria?
Here's my guess. The US wants both Monzer and Bout down for offenses not limited to the FARC manpad missile sale. But making the FARC missile sale the actual offense of record means that the discovery will go to places nobody minds visiting, except certain politicians who are now frantically checking so see whether they are in any shape, way or form connected with FARC, Syria and Lebanon.
A Bout and Monzer trial would tar a whole lot of people on both sides of the aisle. By all accounts these guys did all the jobs civilization didn't want to hear about. They know where all the bodies are buried. That was why they stayed out of the stir for so long. But now something has happened to make the Bush administration go after both of them.
#2
"Is the DEA handling this affair because other agencies might have a conflict of interest in any trial involving Bout and Monzer?"
Bout still has a reputation to uphold. Dropping dime on someone like Hugo the Toad will make closing the deal with the next Tin-Horn a lot more difficult. Viktor may be, at present, in the Jug but his fleet still flys.
#3
Victor Bout has been dispensing Russian arms for years. No doubt of his worth. Let's compromise with Putie. Send someone over, walk in with a silencer. Put it right between his eyes and turn out the lights.
#4
Guys like these always think they are going to get off the hook until the trap door actually drops out from under them. If they started squealing, I'd be surprised.
Obviously the Russians, FARC, Tamil Tigers,Chavez, and who knows who else are involved in some very nasty business together that they are desperate to keep quiet. The last thing Russia needs right now is to be implicated in providing support to a terror group through official or semi-official channels. Look for Bout to have a sudden heart attack.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2008 12:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Based on everything I know, Comrade Bout will likely be the starting first baseman on the Supermax softball team. The Russkies in Bangkok are making a major play to have him released and no doubt money has changed hands to have few doors left unlocked. The Thais know what side their bread is buttered on and it comes down to who they want to piss off - the US or Russia ?Extraditon hearings are ongoing and we should know something by late July.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
06/18/2008 17:48 Comments ||
Top||
U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO -- Omar Khadr appears for the first time Thursday before a military judge whose reputation for working quickly through trial preliminaries has earned him the nickname "rocket-docket."
As the prosecution presses for an early trial date, army Col. Patrick Parrish is expected to process a virtual conveyor belt of defence motions more rapidly than his predecessor, who refused to be rushed. Mr. Khadr's defence team does not want to go to trial, arguing the proceedings before the United States war crimes commissions at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, are unfair.
But Mr. Parrish, who has been on the job for a little more than two weeks, has already shown his determination to press on. On the weekend, he rejected a request from Mr. Khadr's defence lawyers to postpone Thursday's hearing to give them more time to assess the implications of last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on detainee rights.
Against that backdrop, navy Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, Mr. Khadr's military-appointed defence lawyer, will use Thursday's hearing to argue that the entire case against the Toronto-born accused terrorist should be thrown out on grounds U.S. authorities have never told him of his rights.
Thank you USSC: we may be releasing killers because we didn't read them their 'rights' on the battlefield.
Mr. Kuebler also wants Mr. Parrish to order the release of numerous records he believes will help him show Mr. Khadr's interrogators essentially shaped the statements he's made since U.S. forces seized him following a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan.
Key among them are the service records of a Sgt. Joshua Claus, who was Mr. Khadr's chief interrogator in the three months he was held in Afghanistan's Bagram detention facility, and who was later court-martialed for his role in the death of another detainee there. Mr. Claus, who has since said he treated Mr. Khadr well, wrote in a recent e-mail under a return address marked "hellspawn" that he would not voluntarily speak with the defence.
Mr. Kuebler suspects it was "standard operating procedure" for interrogators to impose punishments every time a detainee gave answers that deviated from a version of events they had been given, or that they thought were otherwise untrue.
In M. Khadr's case, the authorities' dominant scenario suggested Mr. Khadr had been the only al-Qaeda suspect still alive in the 2002 firefight when someone tossed a hand grenade that fatally wounded a U.S. serviceman. Mr. Kuebler says Mr. Khadr, in those early months, gave a statement that not only reflected that, but also said he'd tossed the grenade after eyeing the serviceman treat another U.S. soldier for battlefield wounds.
But as time went on, his statements changed to reflect a new scenario that emerged after the authorities realized Mr. Khadr's gunshot injuries showed he'd been shot in the back, and shrapnel injuries to his eyes showed it was unlikely he could see anything. "So, we know Omar was giving false statements," Mr. Kuebler said in an interview.
In any eventual trial, defence strategy will be to discredit all of Mr. Khadr's detention statements, which Mr. Kuebler believes are the backbone of the prosecution's evidence against him.
This is why we can't settle these issues in court.
The Pentagon abruptly announced on May 29 that Mr. Parrish would replace army Col. Peter Brownback as judge in the Khadr case.
While last week's Supreme Court ruling applies most directly to detainees held without charge, Mr. Kuebler said aspects could still apply to Khadr, who faces five war crimes charges that include murder. "In theory, we could go to the federal court to say that the military commissions have no jurisdiction over Omar Khadr," he said.
Mr. Khadr, now 21, faces up to life imprisonment if convicted.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Most egregiously, Khadr wasn't told the mandatory "Freeze sucka!" before soldiers shot him.
Swat-based Taliban have suspended contact with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government to protest against the slow progress on a peace agreement they inked less than a month ago, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Daily Times by telephone that some elements were interfering in the peace process, as a result of which Taliban had decided to temporarily freeze contact with the provincial government.
Contact with the NWFP government has been suspended for a period of one week to see if the government takes steps to accelerate the progress on issues discussed in the May 21 peace agreement, said the spokesman for rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah. He said the provincial government had already been told about the decision.
Delay in release: The spokesman said a delay in the release of Taliban prisoners had forced the decision. Under the agreement, the prisoners should have been freed 15 days after the deal, said Khan. Eighteen Taliban prisoners were set free by the government following the peace deal while another 55 are still in prison. NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain has however said they were not told about any such decision.
Hussain told Daily Times that there had been no severing of contact, though admitted that the Taliban had complained of the slow progress.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
never would have seen that coming ... no sir...
both groups are so honorable.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistan Taliban Movement, has called Afghan President Hamid Karzai's statement about sending troops to fight militants in Pakistan's tribal areas "sick" and the "creation of a baffled mind," and has vowed to resist US-led NATO forces with renewed vigor both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference, Karzai on Sunday threatened to send Afghan troops across the border to fight militants in Pakistan, adding, "[they] come and kill Afghanis and kill coalition troops; it precisely gives us the right to do the same."
Talking to The Media Line via phone from an undisclosed location, Moulvi Omar, spokesman for the TTP, rejected Karzai's statement outright, and said "Karzai is 'sick' and utterly frustrated at Taliban successes in Afghanistan. Taliban has won victory in its resistance against NATO forces, and Karzai's government is confronted with a humiliating defeat."
Karzai, at his press conference, specifically naming Baitullah Mehsud, supreme commander of the TTP, based in South Waziristan Agency, Pakistan, said: "Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house."
When asked about Karzai's threat against Mehsud, Moulvi Omar responded that Baitullah was not only the name of an individual but an organization with thousands of supporters.
"He is the leader of our movement and the supreme commander. Let alone hitting him, we will teach a lesson to those who even dare to come close to him with bad intentions," he warned.
Recently, both NATO officials and the Afghanistan government have repeatedly expressed their concern over Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan tribal areas and increasing attacks on allied forces.
However, Pakistan has denied providing safe havens to the Taliban in the Pakistan tribal areas and said that Pakistan itself has been a victim of Taliban insurgency.
In response to a query about Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan, the Taliban spokesman said, it [the Taliban] considered the United States an occupying force in Afghanistan and would never feel reluctant to provide assistance to Taliban groups in Afghanistan, if there were need of any such support.
"Taliban in Afghanistan is resisting US-led forces very well. It has given a very tough time to the occupying forces and as per our religious belief, we will support our brothers [the Taliban] if the need arises," he said.
Omar maintained that on many occasions US forces had violated Pakistan's borders and killed people inside the tribal areas.
"We are free and committed to the protection of our borders. We are not the slaves of the United States and President Hamid Karzai. We reserve the right to avenge the killing of our people by US forces; we will fight back," he said.
Political observers in Pakistan believe that Karzai's statement will poison the relationship between the two countries, which are the most important allies in the U.S. war on terror.
Imtiaz Ali, Washington Post correspondent in Peshawar, said that Karzai's statement will place pressure on the Pakistani government to take military action against Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's tribal areas instead of signing peace agreements with them.
"For the first time Pakistan responded very strongly to last week's U.S. air attack on the Pakistan Mohmand Agency and it shows the difference in approach between Pakistan and Afghanistan in curbing terrorism. Karzai's statement adds a new angle to this and may further complicate the situation in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the future," he added.
Talking to journalists last month in South Waziristan Agency, TTP chief Mehsud also said that the Taliban would continue its jihad against U.S. forces inside Afghanistan.
The TTP is an umbrella organization of Pakistan Taliban groups under Mehsud's leadership.
Pakistan's newly elected government has negotiated a number of peace agreements with Taliban groups in FATA and the Swat valley of North West Pakistan, which are viewed with suspicion by NATO, Afghanistan and the United States. However, Pakistan insists it is talking only to those who are ready to lay down their arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Usually when they attack with zeal we get news of their deaths by the dozens. Or hundreds.
Baghdad, Jun 18, (VOI) - A journalist organization on Tuesday said a number of journalists working for local and Arab TV channels were beaten and insulted while covering an event in Baghdad.
About 15 journalists and TV cameramen were beaten and insulted by an army forces stationing at al-Karkh hospital, western Baghdad, said a Journalistic Freedom Observatory (JFO) statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The announcement noted the journalist were accompanying the chief of Baghdad provincial council Mueen al-Kadhimi while he was visiting the hospital to see the people injured in al-Hurriya car bombing.
A row took place between the bodyguards of Baghdad provincial council chief and the hospital's protection army forces, followed by the army forces' rough treatment of the journalists, JFO statement cited Ali Rasheed, cameramen for al-Furat channel, as saying.
Rasheed added one of the soldiers tried to grab my camera pretending I was filming the row, then, one of the soldiers hit me, forcing me to kneel and causing my camera to fall along with being insulted.
The military force did not provide reasons or motivations for detaining the journalists inside the hospital, the JFO quoted Hussam al-Hajj, a reporter for al-Hurra TV channel.
Al-Hajj added reporters and corespondents from al-Hurra, al-Furat, al-Iraqiya, and al-Salam channels ran away en mass from the hospital.
The JFO called for an end to blatant violations of journalistic freedom and the ongoing aggression infringing journalists in the country.
The organization called on security officials and the commander of Baghdad security plan to cease all aggressions and to abide by Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikis instructions emphasizing the punitive measures against whoever was proved to have infringed on journalists' rights.
JFO is a Baghdad-based NGO advocating Journalists rights. It works in cooperation with the global Journalists Without Borders organization.
#2
A row took place between the bodyguards of Baghdad provincial council chief and the hospital's protection army forces, followed by the army forces' rough treatment of the journalists,
This looks like a mis-translation: The hospital guards are not Army, but MOI.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/18/2008 18:28 Comments ||
Top||
(VOI) The Iraqi government on Tuesday decided to prohibit dealing with the Iranian Mojahedine Khlaq Organization (MKO). The decree encompasses any organization, party, institution, and individual, Iraqis or foreigners, inside Iraq, and that anyone who violates this decree will be charged according to the terror law.
'The cabinet in its regular session on Tuesday debated the MKO's presence on Iraqi land, its intervention in the local issues, its provocative participation against the Iraqi elected government and institutions, and encouraging terror against the Iraqi people,' Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh, the cabinet's official spokesperson, said in a release received by Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI). 'The cabinet decided to emphasize the decisions made previously that consider the MKO as a terrorist organization that should depart Iraq,' al-Dabbagh added.
The cabinet also decided, according to the release, to 'put the MKO, present on the Iraqi lands, under the Iraqi government's full control, until their deportation, and to deal with the MKO according to the Iraqi laws.' The cabinet called on 'Multi National Forces to remove involvement with this organization, and that checkpoints and all other related issues should be handed over to the Iraqi authorities,' according to the statement. 'The cabinet will activate judiciary petitions against MKO's personnel who committed crimes against Iraqis,' it added. 'The cabinet will also coordinate with the Red Cross to find subtle solutions for the problem of MKO's presence on the Iraqi lands, and fulfilling the decisions of deporting it from Iraq,' it said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashahadani decided to summon Jawad al-Bolani minister of interior, minister of human rights, and Diala province governor, during a session that embraced a severe discussion between lawmakers regarding the issue of the Iranian MKO. Some legislatures demanded that lawmaker Saleh al-Motlak be arrested for visiting the MKO's compound. 'I would be honored if I would be detained, because I stood with the oppressed,' al-Motlak responded. 'In each visit I made, I found this organization totally disarmed, and working day and night to live,' he said. 'Relations with the MKO is against the Iranian intervention in Iraq, and is much less dangerous than the relations with Iran,' he added. Al-Motlak stressed that he would stop his relation with the MKO, 'if it harms the interest of one Iraqi, but with proof.'
'This is a visit to thousands of Iraqis, and a meeting with thousands of Iraqis that have no safer place to meet,' he said. 'Talking about the MKO's relations with al-Qaeda Organization is unfair,' he added. 'The MKO is surrounded by U.S. protection, and it is unbelievable that the U.S. would cooperate with al-Qaeda in that compound,' he explained. 'There is a message from the Iraqi Foreign Minister saying that we had no damages from the MKO, and that this organization's presence is for Iraq's interests.' The Arab bloc for national dialogue, headed by al-Motlak, holds 28 out of 275 parliamentary seats.
From his side, lawmaker Hassan al-Sineed of the Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC Shiite parliamentary bloc) called on examining the legal bases of MKO's presence in Iraq. 'We should examine the MKO's presence; is it legal or not, and which official side allowed it to remain in Iraq, and occupy important locations and camps,' al-Sineed said.
He accused the MKO of holding various conferences, and issuing a number of releases. 'In the latest release, the MKO accused the Iraqi institutions, authority, and parliament of being a follower of the Iranian side, and that the institutions are submissive to the Iranian regime,' he added. 'MKO's history with our people is unhealthy and unhelpful, and there are many documents that prove this,' he noted. 'There is no international cover to protect an organization that has targets, military and security conflicts with the state that it belongs to,' he explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas/Gaza) - June 15, 2008 - 00:03:24
:
Hamas Minister of Culture 'Atallah Abu Al-Subh: Condoleezza Rice Is a Black Scorpion with A Cobra's Head Who Has the Blood of Palestinian Children between Her Lips and on Her Fangs :
[..]
Rest assured that we will foil the Zionist-American enterprise, which is represented and implemented by the neocons, led by little Bush and the scorpion-cobra, Condoleezza Rice. May Allah curse her and her visit. She is not welcome. video at link
#6
The Arab word for slave and black African are the same exact word. Remember your history, Arabs are the ones that introduced the West into the African slave trade and have continued it to today.
#7
One of the reasons I was so hoping that for the last year of this administration, Dick Cheney could have stepped down "for health reasons", so that Condi Rice could be made VP.
I would have enjoyed immensely seeing Arab high muck-a-mucks having to bow and scrape to someone whose kind of person they incredibly despise. In this case, a black woman, who they think is the lowest of the low.
#10
"They hate the Chinese as much as they hate Blacks" > Interesting, espec since OSAMA BIN ALDEN was filmed proclaiming AL QAEDA's = RADICAL ISLAM's RESPECT AND SUPPOR FOR ASIANS AND AFRICANS, espec vv the US-West.
An exchange of prisoners with Hezbollah is expected to take place in the near future, possibly even by late next week, Israeli security sources confirmed on Monday. Lebanese media referred to a number of possible dates for an exchange Monday, with Friday June 20 as the earliest, and Wednesday June 25 being the latest.
A senior political source told Haaretz on Monday that Israel is still waiting for a final response from Hezbollah and 'nothing is final yet.'
Zvi Regev, father of reservist Eldad Regev, abducted by Hezbollah on July 12, 2006 along with Ehud Goldwasser, said Monday the family had recently been briefed about an exchange deal that was described as in advanced stages. In an interview to Israel Radio, Regev said Ofer Dekel, who has been charged by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with managing the deal over the prisoners, 'told us in general terms there will be a deal. That there is a deal, that's it.'
Regev argued he does not know what the medical condition of the two reservists is. 'No one actually knows ... we are aware what the worst case scenario can be, but we are still hopeful for good news,' he added.
Miki Goldwasser, mother of Ehud, told Haaretz Monday the family has no official information about the deal or about when it might take place. 'We met Ofer Dekel a week ago and he said there is dialogue but he did not tell us that the deal is done,' she said.
In spite of reports the two soldiers are dead, Miki Goldwasser said 'we assume the boys were taken while still alive.'
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Palestinian and Egyptian officials say Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas have reached a cease-fire agreement that will go into effect in Gaza on Thursday. Israel would not confirm the deal, but said a negotiator was rushing to Cairo to finalize details. Robert Berger at the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.
Under the emerging, Egyptian-mediated truce Palestinians would halt rocket and mortar attacks and Israel would gradually lift its crippling blockade on Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.
But shortly before the deal was announced in Cairo, Israel carried out several air strikes on Gaza. In the deadliest attack, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car, killing five gunmen from the Islamic Jihad group.
Israel frequently launches air and ground incursions in Gaza in response to daily Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, a member of the more moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank, urged Israel not to spoil the truce. "The continuation of the policy of incursions and the killing fields is really undermining every effort to deliver peace," he said.
Israel was reluctant to accept the truce, fearing Hamas will use it to regroup and rearm for the next round of violence. But Israeli analyst Chuck Freilich says that for now, a cease-fire is preferable to an Israeli invasion of Gaza. "I don't think it'll last very long term," he noted. "It still looks like sooner or later we will have to go into Gaza in a big way, but it would be nice to try all possibilities that might allow us to avert that."
In the second phase of the truce, Israel hopes to win the release of a captive soldier, held for two years by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
My dog Doofus here thinks this is about the dumbest idea he has ever heard of.
Calm is okay, of course. In general the IDF has only launched ops in response to Pal ops, so mutual restraint would only be an extension of that. Opening Rafah means reducing/eliminating the economic pressure on Hamas. But the question is, what was that buying? Was Fatah retaking the strip from hamas? Was hamas so weakened that Fatah could (would) go further in peace talks with israel? Israel was taking international PR hits from the siege, as well as continued attacks on Sderot. If this makes Hamas POLITICALLY stronger, tahts a big loss for Abbas, and the strategy of building up Abbas, but if Abbas wasnt delivering, how big a loss is that?
Of course Israel gets Shalit back, which is useful in countering the "hamas won" meme, though they have to give some Pal prisoners up.
Egypt is supposed to clamp down on arms smuggling to Gaza. Yeah, I know. With limited PA and Israeli control over Rafah, it all depends on egypt now. The Shin Bet is supposed to confirm that the Egyptians are doing their job.
Now the big controversy seems to be the q if this extends to the West Bank. That would make Hamas look like a WB player. Israel denies it, egypt says it will be extended to the WB after 6 months.
JERUSALEM - Palestinian militants launched at least 50 rockets and mortars from Gaza and Israel responded with airstrikes on Wednesday, just a day before a truce was set to take effect, illustrating how fragile the arrangement between Israel and Hamas would be.
After months of violence, the leaders of both sides expressed hope that truce would succeed but made clear they have little faith in their adversaries' commitment to the deal.
But on Wednesday, the truce still seemed remote. the military said at least 40 rockets and 10 mortar shells exploded in Israel by nightfall, an especially high one-day total. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for much of the rocket fire, saying it was avenging Israeli airstrikes that killed 10 militants in the previous two days.
Dis one's fa you, Mumtaz!
Israel hit back with two more airstrikes, wounding two Palestinians, according to Hamas security officials.
Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip will back an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel set to take effect on Thursday morning, a Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud al-Zahar, said on Tuesday.
Zahar said the truce would come into effect on Thursday morning at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) and the agreement would result in Israel easing a blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory in exchange for militants halting cross-border rocket attacks into Israel.
'We as Palestinian people, as Palestinian factions agreed upon a bilateral, immediate ceasefire between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side,' Zahar told reporters in Gaza City.
He said the ceasefire agreement was for a six-month period.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said earlier that under any truce accord, the blockade Israel imposed on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized the territory a year ago from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction would be eased gradually and partially.
Israel has allowed in humanitarian aid but has cut back on the supply of non-essential goods, such as construction materials, as well as fuel, saying Gazans could not expect to lead normal lives while Israelis were under rocket attack.
Israel's Defence Ministry said one of its senior officials, Amos Gilad, would fly to Cairo later on Tuesday to be updated on the progress of the truce negotiations.
Zahar confirmed at the news conference that Egypt would invite envoys of Hamas, Fatah and the European Union to discuss arrangements for reopening the Rafah border crossing two weeks after the truce goes into effect.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. The Air Force plans to double patrols by armed drones in Iraq and Afghanistan because the unmanned planes can make the difference between U.S. troops "living or dying," the nation's top military officer said Tuesday. Gates had to kick the Air Farce in the ass to get this done.
Demand for reconnaissance patrols and attacks from drones is insatiable, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told airmen during a meeting here. There are more than 27 combat air patrols that provide 24-hour coverage, he said, and the military will need 50 patrols.
Mullen's words follow comments from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the drive to increase drone flights is comparable to Gates' decision to rush Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to Iraq to protect troops from improvised explosive devices.
U.S. forces in both wars have increased their reliance on drones.
In Iraq, Predator drones have aided Iraqi and U.S. troops fighting Shiite militias in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. In Afghanistan, where the Taliban has launched attacks in the past week, U.S. forces use Predators and the larger, newer Reapers to watch and attack Taliban fighters.
Mullen toured Creech Air Force Base, where the pilots for the remotely controlled aircraft work. Creech is about 50 miles from Nellis.
Demand for real-time video from drones of insurgent activity has been growing at 300% per year, according to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon, Mullen said, has not moved quickly enough to provide what the military refers to as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. Finding and killing insurgents in urban areas without hurting innocent civilians often requires sophisticated drones.
The urgency "comes from years of not coming to grips with the whole issue of" aerial surveillance, Mullen said. "We can't afford that now because people's lives are on the line."
The military will have to ensure that future Air Force pilots who choose careers as drone operators will get promoted, Mullen said.
In an interview with USA TODAY last month, Gates said getting more drones in the air required him to step in, as he did with the armored MRAPs last year.
"The model in some respects that I used with MRAPs is what I have applied to the ISR problem," Gates said. "I just found that the only way to get a lot of these things that are high priority that we need into theater now is for me to take ownership of the problem and galvanize the department."
Gates set up a task force to knock down barriers to getting more drones to the fights. Among the needs: Computer bandwidth, trained crews and linguists to pore over intercepted communication between insurgents.
The payoff can be huge, Gates said. Unmanned aircraft are indispensable in finding insurgents who plant IEDs, the main killer of U.S. troops, Gates said.
#1
"Gates set up a task force to knock down barriers to getting more drones to the fights."
Not listed in the story is the firing of two of the biggest barriers.
#2
Amen to that : taking out 2 of the top-ranking Fighter Mafia's biggest supporters will have a MAJOR impact on Air Force thinking. Unless of course Obama gets elected and puts his supporters in - seems he has friends in the FM in his campaign.
#3
Wire services are reporting the GAO supported Boeing's Tanker Protest. Back in the USAF court to determine what's next. The GAO took the AF to the mat, so they did. ( the AP reported it and i didn't want to get arrested by the royalty pooleece so you will have to find it yourself.)
#4
NOT unlike the US NAVY, the USAF is also becoming worried about its future role as a Service under OWG-NWO in relation to NASA and espec the US ARMY.
Last Updated: May 26. 2008 11:54PM UAE / May 26. 2008 7:54PM GMT
During the first few years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ties were sometimes snipped off in the streets by zealous Revolutionary Guards. With the necktie making a bold and colourful comeback in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a senior official is calling for a ban on importing the gentlemans accessory, which conservatives still regard as a symbol of western decadence. It was once famously compared to a donkeys tail.
Imports of some apparel are not banned but serious action should be taken to stop the import of ties, which contradict the nature of Iranian culture, Asghar Hamidi, Irans deputy customs chief, said on Thursday while breathing heavily. We need to change the countrys import regulations to this end.
Mr Hamidis views on the dress code are not taken lightly: he doubles as the head of a state plan for the development of culture, chastity and the veil.
Until a few years ago, ties in Iran were sold only under the counter and mostly tended to grace private dinner parties. Public appearances were rare. But after nearly three decades in the cold, the irrepressible necktie has come out of the Iranian closet. It has been spotted with increasing frequency in the upmarket restaurants and plush hotel lobbies of north Tehran. Ties are popular mostly with lawyers, doctors, businessmen and those who want to be different, but not outrageously so.
Clearly, this was a sartorial challenge that Iranian hardliners emboldened by the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could and would not ignore.
But how tightly any ban could be enforced is open to question. There is already a thriving black market in such taboo goods as DVDs and alcohol. It is also entirely acceptable for foreigners in Iran to sport ties, which could easily be turned into gifts for Iranian friends.
Ties are not the only items stirring the ire of Iranian conservatives who are concerned by the spread of what is regarded as an American-spawned global monoculture, often described as Westoxification. Irans senior prosecutor last month called for restricting the import of western toys.
Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi, Irans prosecutor general, singled out such toys as Barbie, Batman, Spider-Man and Harry Potter as offending items that were destructive culturally and a social danger. A real "Gang of Four". Frankly the sidekicks are more threatening, Ken, Robin, Black Cat, and Ron Weasley. Weasley, perhaps the most dangerous as he is an expert at Chess, which is frowned upon by Islamic Radicals.
Iranian shopkeepers said there was no written law against ties, but it was made clear they were taboo under Irans strict Islamic dress code. Sported by the unpopular Shah and his ministers, the tie was derided as a donkeys tail by Abolhassan Bani Sadr, the Islamic Republics first president. Lemme look in my pocket Quaran, Ties are banned in here somewhere.
During the first few years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ties were sometimes snipped off in the streets by zealous Revolutionary Guards Breathing heavily and soiling thier britches . It did not matter that the tie was invented in Eastern Europe and so was not specifically a western fashion.Croatians are Christian Infidels, so the ban stands, don't you see?
Observance of the dress code for men and women relaxed during the eight years that Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president, was in power. Many women, especially in the more prosperous and westernised suburbs of north Tehran, pushed the dress code to the limit by sporting figure-hugging jackets, jeans, open-toed sandals and bright make-up, while their headscarves crept back to expose locks of highlighted hair. But the tie marked a fashion red line for any government official who valued his job.
Many young Iranians were pleasantly surprised when Mr Ahmadinejad came to power three years ago and failed to make the dress code a priority. Previously, as mayor of Tehran, he had made headlines at home and abroad for banning posters of the English football player David Beckham as he advertised engine oil. Bechkam and Motor Oil? In a country with a huge oil reserve. Makes sense to me. But in his early days as president, Mr Ahmadinejad appeared keen not to lose popularity by enforcing the dress code. He had also pushed for women to be allowed to attend football matches, but was overruled by ayatollahs.
That all changed last year when Iran launched its toughest action against immodest dress since the first years of the revolution. The height of a womans hemline or how much hair she allows to peep out from her mandatory headscarf is often viewed as a barometer of the regimes ability or willingness to control Iranian society.
Women took the brunt of the backlash. But hardliners finally embraced sexual equality by cracking down on men as well. Hundreds of men have been sent to guidance classes on how to behave in society. Among other things, this means not sporting elaborate western-style haircuts, using hair gel, plucking ones eyebrows Men plucking eyebrows? They do have a problem. or wearing sleeveless shirts.
Pool and snooker halls are also feeling the pinch from the Basij, a volunteer militia that helps enforce public morality and is determined to stop youths taking their cue from the West. These table sports were outlawed after the Islamic Revolution because of their association with gambling. But thousands of pool halls opened after the ban was lifted under Mr Khatami. Now, along with cafes, they have been identified as dens that breed social and ethical crimes. 8-ball in the corner pocket gets you 40 whip lashes in the central square, by a Mulla who is drooling like a dog in heat
The scale of the sweep against sartorial immodesty has worried some senior regime officials. They are concerned it could provoke a backlash at a time when Iran is under external pressure over its nuclear programme and Mr Ahmadinejad faces domestic discontent over spiralling food and housing costs. Some parliamentary deputies have demanded to know why the police should spend time arresting young people for dressing immodestly instead of devoting themselves to fighting drug addiction and serious crime.Just like here. speeding tickets are easy revenue for a city. Chasing a burgular is actually hard work.
#1
It's a small length of fabric with some lining material. It's not a major feat of tailoring skill to make one, so banning importation won't significantly affect the trade.
The current high price of oil is artificial and the market is well supplied with crude, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, pinning the blame on the sliding dollar.
'The rise in consumption is lower than the rise in production,' Ahmadinejad told a meeting in the city of Isfahan of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC's) fund for international development.
'The market is well supplied but prices are rising and this situation is artificial and imposed' by world powers.
Ahmadinejad, who is president of OPEC's number two producer, has repeatedly said that the current high price of oil is not based on fundamentals and driven largely by the weakness of the dollar. 'Certain hands, for political and economic ends, are controlling the price in an artificial manner,' he said.
Ahmadinejad also said 'certain powers' were keeping an artificial oil price to 'fund the costs of their wars and occupations and to justify investments to exploit new sources of energy at the bottom of the oceans, at the poles and elsewhere.'
Ahmadinejad's comments came a week ahead of a meeting orgainsed by OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to bring together major oil producers, including those outside OPEC, and consumers to discuss oil prices. Ahmadinejad reiterated that the fall in the dollar was a prime cause of the world's economic problems, saying it had affected 'the world economy and in particular the economy of world energy exporters.'
Again showing his disdain for the greenback, Ahmadinejad reaffirmed his proposal to create a completely new currency which OPEC countries could use in oil transactions. 'The hard currency reserves of OPEC countries have been heavily affected' by the fall in the dollar, he said. 'I repeat my suggestion made six months ago at the OPEC summit in Riyadh to create a basket of credible currencies which would be the basis for oil transactions,' said Ahmadinejad. 'Or alternatively, that OPEC countries create a new currency for their transactions.'
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
So I guess it's OK to pay in artificial dollars? My Spiderman Monopoly set should get me a few fill-ups!
DUBAI (Reuters) - There is no evidence Syria has the skilled personnel or the fuel to operate a large-scale nuclear facility, the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog said in remarks aired on Tuesday. 'We have no evidence that Syria has the human resources that would allow it to carry out a large nuclear program. We do not see Syria having nuclear fuel,' International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamad ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil. About muslim nuclear programs, anyway.
In an interview with the Dubai-based television station, ElBaradei said the IAEA only had pictures of a site in Syria bombed by Israel last year, which resembled a nuclear facility in North Korea. Arabiya aired only part of the interview.
The IAEA added Syria to its proliferation watch list in April after receiving U.S. intelligence material, including photographs suggesting Damascus had almost finished building a nuclear reactor in secret with North Korean help before Israel destroyed it in an air strike in September. Damascus, a U.S. foe and ally of Iran, denies any covert nuclear activity and says the site Israel bombed was a military facility under construction. It has said it would cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the allegations of nuclear activity.
'Cash, check or direct deposit, Director General?'
'Kruggerrands, of course.'
ElBaradei has said previously that Syria had agreed to a June 22-24 inspection visit to examine the allegations. In the interview, he called on Damascus to cooperate with the IAEA inspectors. Diplomats have said Syria has refused IAEA requests to examine three sites other than the bombed one.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/18/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
I suspect the lack of fuel and skills are due in part to the vaporized research facility and vaporized instrumentation and vaporized scientists therein.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Former detainees from American military jails in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and lingering physical injuries and scars that can be traced to their imprisonment, according to a human rights group.
Ali Shallal al-Qaisi, a former inmate at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and one of those cited in the Physicians for Human Rights report, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his U.S. captors sodomized him and forced him to stay naked for several weeks at a time.
"I had dogs sniffing and barking at me. I had women captors kicking me in the crotch," al-Qaisi said in an interview at his Amman, Jordan office. After spending six months in U.S. custody in Baghdad in 2003 and 2004, al-Qaisi founded a non-profit group in Jordan for fellow victims.
A lawyer for Iraqi detainees, Susan Burke, confirmed that al-Qaisi was cited in the report even though Physicians for Human Rights used pseudonyms for privacy reasons.
The report was obtained by the AP before its official release.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Baghdad | al-Qaeda | Massachusetts | Pentagon | Justice Department | Cuba | Jordan | Guantanamo Bay | Iraq | Abu Ghraib | Senate Armed Services Committee | Cambridge | Amman | Fordham University | Rahman | Susan Burke | Physicians for Human Rights | Yasser
Another former prisoner, identified in the report only as Yasser, said he was subjected to electric shocks three times and sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, the report said. He would not allow a full rectal exam.
Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and has enduring sexual problems related to his humiliation, the report said.
"Some of these men really are, several years later, very severely scarred," said Barry Rosenfeld, a psychology professor at Fordham University who conducted psychological tests on six of the 11 detainees covered by the study from Physicians for Human Rights. "It's a testimony to how bad those conditions were and how personal the abuse was."
All the prisoners were freed without charges, either innocent or not valuable enough to the military to hold.
The report from Physicians for Human Rights an advocacy group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that investigates abuse around the world and advocates for global health and human rights is the most extensive medical study of former detainees published so far to determine whether their stories of abuse at American hands could be corroborated with physical evidence. It followed standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.
Doctors and mental health professionals examined 11 former prisoners in intensive two-day sessions. The group alleges it found evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes, and said some U.S. military health professionals allowed the abuse of detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators which was then exploited.
The report came as the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed documents showing military lawyers warned the Pentagon that some of the methods it used to interrogate and hold detainees after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks violated military, U.S. and international law. Those objections were overruled by the top Pentagon lawyer, who said he was unaware of the criticism.
U.S. President George W. Bush said in 2004, when the prison abuse was revealed, that it was the work of "a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values." Bush and other U.S. officials have consistently denied that the U.S. tortures its detainees.
Seven of the former detainees in the study were held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq between late 2003 and the summer of 2004, a period that coincides with the known abuse of prisoners at the hands of some of their American jailers. Four of the former detainees were held in the detention center at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beginning in 2002 for one to almost five years. All 11 were released without criminal charges. None are identified in the report to respect their privacy.
Those examined alleged that they were tortured or abused, including sexually, and described being shocked with electrodes, beaten, shackled, stripped of their clothes, deprived of food and sleep, and spit and urinated on.
The abuse of some prisoners by their American captors is well documented by the government's own reports. Once-secret documents show that the Pentagon and Justice Department allowed, at least for a time, forced nakedness, isolation, sleep deprivation and humiliation both at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison.
Because the medical examiners did not have access to the 11 patients' medical histories prior to their imprisonment, it was not possible to know whether any of the prisoners' ailments, disabilities and scars pre-dated their confinement. The U.S. military says an al-Qaeda training manual instructs members, if captured, to assert they were tortured during interrogation.
However, doctors and mental health professionals stated they could link the prisoners' claims of abuse while in U.S. detention to injuries documented by X-rays, medical exams and psychological tests.
"The level of the time, thoroughness and rigor of the exams left me personally without question about the credibility of the individuals," said Dr. Allen Keller, one of the doctors who conducted the exams, in an interview with the AP. "The findings on the physical and psychological exams were consistent with what they reported."
All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:
Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
Extreme heat or cold.
Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.
"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said.
Said Rosenfeld: "If anything I think some of these guys really downplayed the severity of the symptoms and the severity of what happened to them, because it's embarrassing. If you are a proud macho man its very hard to admit you've been victimized in that way."
Keller, who directs the Bellevue/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, said the treatment the detainees reported were "eerily familiar" to stories from other torture survivors around the world. He said the sexual humiliation of the prisoners was often the most traumatic experience.
Most former detainees are out of reach of Western doctors because they are either in Iraq or have been returned to their home countries from Guantanamo.
#2
Some of the more severe symptoms: obesity, gout, atherosclerosis, diabetes and an inability to walk past golden arches without stopping and making demands into a clown's face.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2008 17:26 Comments ||
Top||
#3
This was the in-line for morning orwell local news report. They mentioned the "mental instability and psycological trauma was the same as torture techniques used by the north koreans and the north vietnamese. McCain was in the news yesterday as he..." Yup. Just like that.
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.
U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO -- Omar Khadr appears for the first time Thursday before a military judge whose reputation for working quickly through trial preliminaries has earned him the nickname "rocket-docket."
Swat-based Taliban have suspended contact with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government to protest against the slow progress on a peace agreement they inked less than a month ago, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday. 
Baghdad, Jun 18, (VOI) - A journalist organization on Tuesday said a number of journalists working for local and Arab TV channels were beaten and insulted while covering an event in Baghdad.
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. The Air Force plans to double patrols by armed drones in Iraq and Afghanistan because the unmanned planes can make the difference between U.S. troops "living or dying," the nation's top military officer said Tuesday. 
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Former detainees from American military jails in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and lingering physical injuries and scars that can be traced to their imprisonment, according to a human rights group.
Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
