A US-backed forum aimed at promoting democracy in the Middle East held its fifth edition in Abu Dhabi on Sunday amid doubts among Arabs about the usefulness of the four-year-old initiative. Some delegates said reform must come from within the region and they warned against yielding to outside pressure.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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The High Court again denied bail to wanted Jamaat secretary general and ex-Minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed in Barapukuria coalmine corruption case yesterday and ordered him to surrender to the trial court within two weeks.
However, the HC asked the police "not to arrest or harass" him within this intervening period.
Did they say 'pretty please'?
The court orders came as Mujaheed, carrying warrant of arrest over his head for the last 13 days surrendered to the HC bench of Justice M Anwarul Haque and Justice Farah Mahbub. Earlier on June 3, another High Court bench denied him bail. Mujaheed then moved to the Supreme Court for redress, but the chamber judge dismissed his bail prayer on October 8 as being "not pressed" by his lawyer.
Barrister Abdur Razzaq who moved the bail petition said the principal accused in the case, ex-PM Khaleda Zia, and some of her former cabinet colleagues who are co-accused are enlarged on bail.
Besides, he submitted, the case proceedings have been stayed by the High Court following a quashment petition filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. Interrupting Razzaq, the court asked him whether his client is "fugitive." In response the lawyer said, "he has already surrendered before the court."
Opposing the bail, Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan argued that an accused remaining fugitive "defying lower-court order" cannot be freed on bail. "The accused must surrender to the trial court to seek bail as the warrant of arrest is still in place. So, there is no scope for granting him bail," he said.
During the hearing, the minister of the past coalition government, who stood in the courtroom with his head bowed down, was allowed to sit in the bench on his lawyer's submission.
Police took up position in the front of the central jamaat office and at the residence of Mujaheed to arrest him. The detective branch of police kept watch over the Maghbazar and Malibagh areas. But the Jamaat leader arrived in the court compound by a black jeep with tainted glass at about 3:00pm amidst tight police security. Two cars were seen escorting Mujaheed's jeep in a bid to evade the press. They said a good number of Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders and workers were present at the court compound.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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The main Web sites that normally carry messages from the al-Qaida terror group remain inoperable more than a month after they went down just ahead of the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Only a site called Hesbah and a new one named Faloja now function intermittently, more than a month later, and carry messages from Al-Qaida and its allies in Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories about recent operations. Halliburton is toying with them.
Al-Fajr Media Center, the extremist group's communications wing, issued a terse statement on Sept. 29 blaming the problems on "technical reasons" and denying the sites had come under a cyber attack as has been widely speculated in the media. No, no! Cerainly not!
"We deny reports published by the media of the tyrants regarding the fall of some of the headquarters of these networks into the hands of the enemy," the statement said, according to the U.S-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist sites. Contributors to the forums also have worried publicly that some kind of Western cyber attack targeted the sites.
One prominent jihadi poster, quoted by SITE, suggested extremists should strike back by infiltrating other, more-moderate Islamic discussion forums and flood them with extremist rhetoric to turn them into al-Qaida discussion groups.
Terror analysts have long seen al-Qaida's media arm as a powerful tool for rallying the network's followers and sympathizers, churning out videos and audiotapes even though the top leadership is mostly out of touch, hiding in the mountainous border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The videos have grown in technical sophistication, featuring computer animations and clips from international television media. I wonder if they could do reconstructions of bin Laden speeches...
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has issued three audiotapes himself this year, the most recent in May.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/20/2008 06:07 ||
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#1
Allah does not seem willing to fix this problem quickly. Does this mean that AQ is a little out of favor with Allah and He is showing his displeasure?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/20/2008 7:45 Comments ||
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#2
not only the Chinese can do cyber atacks. Remeber we have the guy who invented the internet on our side (most of the time ) al gore
Posted by: chris ||
10/20/2008 8:06 Comments ||
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#3
Usually this is the work of independents, as most of the professional agencies would rather observe and troll. On the other hand, agency mentality too often allows activity to continue beyond that useful purpose and ignores the need to act.
#7
Of course, none of the guys at Fort Meade had anything to do with the servers going down, no, no, no...
If there had been a plan in place to do something drastic on the 7th anniversary of 9/11, and smashing the servers used by AlQaida would either delay or abort the attack, then it's a GOOD thing they crashed. And yes, Haliburton Server Solutions Division MAY have had a hand in it, if that's the "solution" agreed upon.
Off-topic, a friend of mine was recruited by ITT a couple of years ago to conduct cyber-attacks against a wide variety of different types of servers, in a laboratory environment. The idea was to discover how servers were vulnerable, and to take corrective action to end or reduce the vulnerability. He's still working for them, so he must be doing something that works.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/20/2008 15:13 Comments ||
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#8
Maybe they're using a different communications medium now, like phlogiston.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/20/2008 15:31 Comments ||
Top||
#9
We've got the server rooms; they've got the mud huts.
#10
33yo twins, from their Mom's basement, with a blade salvaged from a Wachovia dumpster, trying to be patriotic under the slacker radar. "Shit, piss, motherfucker! It worked brother! Pass me that last slice."
ISLAMABAD - Top civil and military leaders decided in a meeting presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari to continue fighting Al Qaeda and the Taleban militants and to hold dialogue only with those ready to lay down arms. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani, Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik and senior defence and interior officials attended the meeting at the Presidentss House.
Official sources said that President Asif Zardari was briefed on the Talebans recent truce offers and the proceedings of the ongoing in-camera parliamentary session on National Security. The participants agreed on making suggestions by parliamentarians part of the anti-terrorism policy, but the president said the government would not tolerate attacks on security forces and challenges to its writ in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Zardari stressed the need for launching development projects in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraq has secured the right to prosecute American soldiers and civilians for crimes committed outside their bases and when off duty, in the latest draft of a security pact that will set the terms of their deployment beyond this year.
The draft stipulates that the United States will have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over its soldiers and civilians if they commit a crime inside their facilities or when on missions, according to a copy obtained by AFP. But the arrangement gives Iraqi courts the right to prosecute U.S. soldiers and civilians if they commit "grave and premeditated felonies outside their facilities and when not on missions."
The decision is seen as a hard-won concession for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who has taken a tough stand on protecting his country's sovereignty in the pact.
If the agreement is signed by the two sides and approved by the Iraqi parliament, it would become effective from January 1 and last for three years, during which a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces is outlined. U.S. combat forces will withdraw from Iraqi towns and villages by June 2009 and pull out from Iraq completely by December 2011, the document says.
Meanwhile, al-Maliki said Sunday that Baghdad and London would begin negotiating a security deal to decide the future of British forces in the country beyond 2008. "Iraq will appoint a negotiating team to discuss the future of British forces in Iraq," Maliki said in a statement issued by his office after he met visiting British Defence Secretary John Hutton.
The statement said Maliki stressed the importance of reaching a deal between Baghdad and London before the end of this year, when the UN mandate that provides a legal framework for foreign troops in Iraq will expire.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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The Head of Iran's Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, says the Iraqi people are seeking the right to determine their own fate.
He says the words but he means something different ...
In a Sunday meeting with Iraq's former prime minister Ebrahim Jafari, Ayatollah Rafsanjani urged Iraq's political and religious figures to safeguard the country's independence and security. "There is no doubt that Washington's claims of 'war on terror' and 'democracy in Iraq' were threadbare excuses to invade the country. Such claims are proven to be all but lies and fallacy," said Rafsanjani.
Jafari, for his part, asserted that the Iraqi people are fully capable of deciding the future of their country and stressed that a US-proposed security fact, namely Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), would be detrimental to the Iraqi nation.
Washington has pushed hard for an Iraq-US security pact, which would provide it with a legal basis for the presence of US troops in Iraq after their mandate under the United Nations expires later this year. The deal has faced severe criticism from prominent Iraqi political and religious figures, who say it would undermine the country's national sovereignty.
Nearly a million Iraqis staged massive rallies in Baghdad on Saturday to protest the controversial deal.
The latest draft of a security deal currently under negotiation between the US and Baghdad still envisages immunity from legal prosecution for US nationals inside Iraq.
In an exclusive interview with Press TV in October, Iraqi lawmaker Mohammed Kamid al-Humedawi said the United States is using the country's debts as leverage to force Baghdad into signing the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). "Baghdad is under pressure by Washington to accept the security deal in exchange for clearing all of Iraq's debts," said al-Humedawi.
This is while the Iraqi web site al-Morsad reported on Oct. 10 that US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had threatened to oust the Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki unless he signed the controversial deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki said Sunday that Baghdad and London would begin negotiating a security deal to decide the future of British forces in the country beyond 2008. "Iraq will appoint a negotiating team to discuss the future of British forces in Iraq," the premier said in a statement issued by his office after he met visiting British Defense Secretary John Hutton.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Human Right Ministry on Sunday said the exodus of Displaced Christian families from Mosul has been stopped since Wednesday after Iraqi security forces took control over the volatile city. "Displaced Christian families currently live either with other families or in Churches, as they refused to reside in camps that were established to receive them," Ghanem al-Ghanem from the Human Righs Ministry told Aswat al-Iraq.
The exodus of close to half of Mosul's Christians shows the fragility of security gains, especially in areas where cultures, religions and ethnicities collide. It also raises the specter of violence ahead of provincial elections that could alter the power balance in strategic cities like Mosul.
So far, no one has taken responsibility for the deaths of about 12 Christians this month, which were followed by death threats and property attacks that prompted thousands to flee. "The number of displaced Christian families registered by the ministry has reached about 2270," he said. "The Ministry will not allow those families to return to Mosul city (405 km north of Baghdad) unless being sure of providing security to them," he pledged.
It isn't the first time that members of Iraq's Christian community, who number in the hundreds of thousands, have fallen prey to the bloodshed that has convulsed Iraq since 2003. Earlier this year, Mosul's aging Chaldean Archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped. His body was found two weeks later despite pleas from Iraqi religious figures and Pope Benedict for his release.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The same way PA ended the exodus of Displaced Christian families from Beit Lehem?
Aswat al-Iraq: The U.S army on Sunday held a conference for tribes in Wassit to garner support for the transfer of authorities to Iraqi forces by the end of October 2008. Speaking at the conference U.S. commander Richard France called for all figures and dignitaries "to support Iraqi forces to stabilize security in Wassit".
"The security improvement achieved was a result of hard work exerted by Iraqi forces to impose security that must be boosted by tribes," the U.S. commander noted.
Earlier, Iraqi military forces held a conference for tribes in Wassit to support transferring security.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak said Sunday that Israeli leaders have been discussing pursuing a comprehensive Saudi peace plan, an initiative touted by the moderate Arab elements across the Middle East.
Barak told Army Radio on Sunday that with individual negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians making little headway, it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region. "There is room in the Israeli coalition for the Saudi initiative," he said. "We have a mutual interest with moderate Arab elements on the issues of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas."
The defense minister President Shimon Peres is in agreement with such consideration and he has spoken about the matter with Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni about the matter as well.
While outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has welcomed the Saudi plan, he and other leaders want to keep small parts of the territories captured in the 1967 Six Day War. Israel also objects to language in the Saudi plan that appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians would destroy the country's Jewish character.
Peres proposed merging Israel's various peace talks into one track last month at the United Nations. In a speech to the General Assembly, he called on Saudi King Abdullah to further his initiative. He has since been pushing the idea in meeting with Israeli, Arab and Western officials, his office said.
In Sunday's interview, Barak said he was in full agreement with Peres, and had discussed the peace plan with Livni as well. "I had the impression that there is indeed an openness to explore any path, including this one," he said of his talks with Livni.
Barak said Israel had to tread lightly, though, so as not to appear to be coming from a position of patronage to the entire Arab world. "We are one of the players and it is proper that we introduce an initiative," he said. Livni's office refused to comment on her talks with Barak.
The Saudi peace initiative was first proposed in 2002. It offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmmm...most undeclared wars have started with at least one of the parties "studying a peace plan" (or offering one - ref: 12-07-41).
First dark of the moon after the election is on our Thanksgiving weekend. I suggest that at a minimum, everyone fill their gas tanks before then and keep them full....
#2
ION ISRAEL > TOPIX > WARNING: MONKS THREATEN DESTRUCTION OF CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE [ Jerusalem pan-Xtian war/Jihad over serious Church Roof Repairs], + ISRAEL'S SALE OF WEAPONS TO AZERBAIJAN FUELS POSSIBLE NEW WAR?
A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that demonstrations would not help free Gilad Shalit, as thousands of Israelis rallied near Gaza to protest the kidnapped soldier's ongoing captivity.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
A real Israeli Government representing the interest of the Jews would help.
The bunch of corrupts bureaucrats that are called government today, is only encourage more destruction.
Posted by: lena ||
10/20/2008 12:16 Comments ||
Top||
I'd hit this with the 'Master of the Obvious' pic, but any time the AP actually focuses on the problem and doesn't blame America or the West it's a time to to celebrate. And hope the reporter doesn't get fired. Or worse.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The Muslim call to prayer fills the halls of a Cairo computer shopping center, followed immediately by the click of locking doors as the young, bearded tech salesmen close shop and line up in rows to pray. Business grinding to a halt for daily prayers is not unusual in conservative Saudi Arabia, but until recently it was rare in the Egyptian capital, especially in affluent commercial districts like Mohandiseen, where the mall is located.
But nearly the entire three-story mall is made up of computer stores run by Salafis, an ultraconservative Islamic movement that has grown dramatically across the Middle East in recent years.
"We all pray together," said Yasser Mandi, a salesman at the Nour el-Hoda computer store. "When we know someone who is good and prays, we invite them to open a shop here in this mall." Even the name of Mandi's store is religious, meaning "Light of Guidance."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#11
at least they didn't find the "spy lice" with the microactivated nits. Only our Mossad friends carry them, so I hope they don't search everyone and execute the Joooo spies
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/20/2008 18:57 Comments ||
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#12
Pigeons come home to roost! With the intel! HA! Stewpit, insane motherfuckers. Too much Sun, not enough water.
On anuther note, WORLD MILITARY FORUM > RUSSIA TO GIVE IRAN 1000 TONNES OF NUCLEAR FUEL [Immediate Delivery - BUSHESHR NucFac] TO STOP US ATTACK ON IRAN.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned the West Sunday not to push for talks with the Taliban, which had stormy relations with Tehran when it ruled Afghanistan up to 2001. "Today, the whole world knows about the strategic failure of foreign forces in Afghanistan and we advise them not to try a new failure," Mottaki said.
"We advise them to think about the consequences of the talks [with the Taliban] which are taking place in the region and in Europe and avoid being bitten in the same spot twice," he added, citing a Persian proverb.
Last month, Afghan government representatives met Taliban leaders in the Saudi holy city of Mecca for talks on ending the insurgency that has plagued Afghanistan since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, the Saudi-owned daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reported.
The Afghan government denied the report but President Hamid Karzai has long called for talks with the Taliban on condition that they accept his government's Constitution and are not involved with Al-Qaeda. Several Western countries have expressed support for negotiations with the insurgents.
"The West should not think they can confine extremism to Afghanistan, Pakistan and central Asia," Mottaki said, warning that militancy would one day also reach Europe and the West.
The hard-line Sunni Taliban had hostile relations with Shiite Iran, which was a major backer of the Afghan opposition to the Taliban government's rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I suppose the usual threat of "dire consequences" applies to this "warning"...
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.
ISLAMABAD - Top civil and military leaders decided in a meeting presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari to continue fighting Al Qaeda and the Taleban militants and to hold dialogue only with those ready to lay down arms. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani, Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik and senior defence and interior officials attended the meeting at the Presidentss House.
Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki said Sunday that Baghdad and London would begin negotiating a security deal to decide the future of British forces in the country beyond 2008. "Iraq will appoint a negotiating team to discuss the future of British forces in Iraq," the premier said in a statement issued by his office after he met visiting British Defense Secretary John Hutton.
Aswat al-Iraq: The U.S army on Sunday held a conference for tribes in Wassit to garner support for the transfer of authorities to Iraqi forces by the end of October 2008. Speaking at the conference U.S. commander Richard France called for all figures and dignitaries "to support Iraqi forces to stabilize security in Wassit". 
