Always a pleasure to support those doing the real work, my dear. :-)
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2009 1:46 Comments ||
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#2
Ever since Gulf War I, it has been a mystery to me why some other country hasn't started mass producing A-10 knockoffs. Its General Electric TF34 engine is not restricted technology, in fact there is even a civilian version of it.
With the current technology level of most of the world, the A-10 would be perfect, if the enemy fighter aircraft could be taken care of. It is too low for effective SAM attack, and is superb for CAS in the offense or defense.
And with its amazing system redundancies, and huge engines, the dang thing has managed to land with not just its tail blown off, but even most of a wing.
[Dawn] Highly placed Interior Ministry sources told DawnNews that action has been taken by Islamabad following a statement by the Afghan Interior Minister that the Afghan President did not admit that there existed militant training camps in Afghanistan.
The source said lists of suspected camps have been prepared and would be handed over to Kabul within twenty four hours.
The lists also contain information about Indian involvement in such activities on Afghan soil against Pakistan.
Talking to DawnNews, Interior Minister Rehman Malik strongly refuted the statement of his Afghan counter-part. Rehman Malik said that during his meeting with Hamid Karzai two weeks ago, he did discuss terrorist camps, and the Afghan President assured him that action would be taken.
Pakistan has prapared lists of terrorist training camp being operated from Afghan soil for carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me get this straight - terrorists are being trained OUTSIDE Pakistan and sent INTO Pakistan?
Isn't that like sending coal to Newcastle?
Posted by: john frum ||
08/04/2009 7:38 Comments ||
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#2
In other cultures they send their kids to finishing school ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 7:49 Comments ||
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#3
Not necessarily. Pak always points the finger at the "foreign hand" behind its troubles. In this case it's the the Baloch militants who occasionally bump some Frontier Corps guys off or cut the Sui gas line. These are, naturally, supposed to be organized, financed and trained by the Heathen Hindoo, using camps -- similar to the ones that don't exist on Pakistain -- in Afghanistan.
You have to keep up with your Pak mythology or you'll end up believing some of the things they say. Once you start that it's all downhill. In a couple weeks you're believing eight impossible things before breakfast and shopping for a turban.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 9:17 Comments ||
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#4
Does this mean that there are going to be a bunch of training camps that better pay the protection fee to the ISI or they'll get fingered?
[Quqnoos] Another Afghan presidential hopeful, Abdul Majid Samim, withdrew from the August race, vowing support for incumbent Karzai
In a news conference on Monday, Samim announced his removal and declared to back president Karzai's re-election bid in the polls.
A spokesman for the Afghan incumbent campaign office welcomed the decision of Samim -- the third Afghan candidate who have stepped down of the race in Karzai's favor.
Smoke-filled back room maneuvers instead of bluntly murdering the competition? We can be proud of our man in Kabul.
Two weeks earlier, former presidential candidates Sayed Hashimi and Baz Mohammad Kofi withdrew from their candidacy and preferred President Karzai to lead Afghanistan for another five-year term.
Most of the candidates are lacking enough financial resources to open a window for a victory through heavy campaigning in the crowded Afghan race, therefore prefer making coalition, experts say.
Earlier, another candidate, Nasrullah Baryalai stepped down in favor of hopeful Abdullah Abdullah, a key challenger of the Afghan incumbent in the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Lemme know when Iran Press TV picks it up.
Various Arab websites are reporting on the sudden firing of senior Qatari military officials after they staged a failed coup attempt. According to the report on the liberal Saudi website Alssiyasi, Qatar's chief of staff Hamad bin Ali Al-Attiya might also have been involved in the coup attempt.
The Jordanian online daily Al-Haqiqa Al-Douliya noted that following the coup attempt, the Qatari Emir is considering reducing the powers of senior regime officials, including of the prime minister and foreign minister Hamad bin Jasem Aal Thani.
After the Qatari chief of staff's visit to Iran early last month, the Elaph website reported on disagreement among top Qatari officials on foreign policy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
We can laugh but there's a serious issue: Iran has been claiming the dependencies on the western edge of the Persian Gulf for quite a while. Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait are all supposedly provinces of the Greater Persian State.
So the chief of staff visited Iran last month? Wonder what he was promised?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 7:51 Comments ||
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#3
They attempted a coup, failed, and were fired?
What happened to jailed and/or executed? When did Qatar go all touchy-feely?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/04/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has found its three former officials involved in misdirecting the probe into August 21 grenade attack case to save the actual offenders, CID sources said.
The CID is likely to submit within 10 days the charge sheet in the case filed against the three, who were investigation officers (IOs) of the August 21 incident.
The sources however mentioned that yesterday's court order for further probe into the grenade attack case created confusion among investigators of the probe misdirecting case against the former IOs.
Contacted last night, Rownakul Huq Chowdhury, CID assistant superintendent of police (ASP) and IO of the case against three former IOs, said, "My investigation is almost complete, and I was preparing to submit the charge sheet within 10 days. But the court order (yesterday) has confused me."
He went on, "I shall now seek the public prosecutor's opinion regarding the investigation I conducted for the last four months."
Replying to a question, the ASP said he recorded the statements of all the three accused former IOs and 12 witnesses.
He however declined to say if they found anybody else involved in misdirecting the probe into grenade attack case.
ASP of CID Fazlul Kabir, the latest IO of the August 21 incident, filed the case against the three -- Ruhul Amin, special superintendent (SS) of police, and ASPs Abdur Rashid and Munshi Atiqur Rahman, who were IOs during the BNP-led four-party alliance rule.
Asked about yesterday's court order, Fazlul Kabir said, "I heard the court order through the media. But until I get a copy of the order officially, I shall not say anything in this regard."
Meanwhile, the three the then IOs had reportedly forced three alleged suspects in the grenade attack case to make confessional statements before a magistrate.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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The Unification Ministry on Monday said it has decided to provide about W3.5 billion to civic groups dedicated to giving humanitarian aid to North Korea from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (US$1=W1,223). The decision means South Korea will resume official government aid to the North, which has been suspended since the North's nuclear test on May 25.
In a session of a council promoting inter-Korean exchange, the government decided to provide W3.573 billion to 10 civic groups for their aid projects in the North.
A ministry official said, "The government chiefly selected projects that are aimed at helping disadvantaged groups (in North Korea) based on how much they can contribute to the people's livelihood, how urgent they are, and how effective they can be."
The projects aim to promote the welfare of the disabled and children, help tuberculosis hospitals, and give nutritious meals to children.
The reality is that the aid will go to the army and political elites ...
A government official expressed hope that the decision "will be helpful to realizing an early return of the 800 Yeonan," a South Korean fishing boat seized by North Korea on July 30. North Korea only said the crew were "under investigation" when it mentioned the boat during an exchange of communications between inter-Korean maritime authorities on Monday.
Sounds like they're being ransomed, huh ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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North Korea has press-ganged people into a "150-day struggle" of farm or factory work since April to produce results for leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Jong-un, but the project has backfired and brought North Korea's fragile economy to the brink of collapse, experts said Monday.
The mythical man-hour makes even less sense in Nork-land ...
The official Rodong Sinmun daily wrote that on the occasion of the struggle's 100th day on July 29, "phenomenal events are occurring and miraculous results are being produced to signify the building of a powerful nation" across North Korea. But the actual conditions of the 150-day struggle are reportedly quite the reverse.
A North Korea expert in China said that day police guards round up anyone the moment they see them on streets and send them to the countryside, "but there they loaf about or lie on the bare ground."
Prob'ly because they haven't the strength for heavy farm labour. Long term semi-starvation will have that impact.
Plus, it's not like city-folk automatically know what to do on a farm.
Since the early 2000s, North Korea has effectively turned into a barter society where people can survive if they have anything to peddle or till a vegetable garden on their own. The forced collective farm or factory work is spreading a sense of crisis among North Koreans that they could starve to death.
Kim Jong-il waged a "70-day struggle" after he was chosen as the heir apparent in 1974. In 1980 when he became the official successor, he supervised a "100-day struggle." Then, too, the North claimed the economy was making a leap forward. But Prof. Cho Young-ki of Korea University said, "This paved the way for the North Korean economy to collapse completely by distorting the distribution of resources."
There are fears that the effects of the current 150-day struggle will be more disastrous than in the 1970s and 80s. Since 1990, when the Soviet communism collapsed, North Korea has relied more on the nascent market and South Korean aid and trade with China than on the planned economy, but now South Korea has suspended aid, and China has been wary of the North since its second nuclear test.
Trade volume between the North and China between January and May this year stood at US$833.3 million, down 5.7 percent on-year. "If the North attacks the market with a retrogressive 150-day struggle, the North Korean economy will plunge into a deeper abyss," said Prof. Nam Joo-hong of Kyonggi University.
Besides, international economic sanctions enforced after the nuclear test are tightening.
A senior South Korean government official said, "In a sense, one of the reasons why North Korea has recently wanted to engage in dialogue with the U.S. is that the North Korean consumer economy is collapsing."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"150-day struggle", huh? How about "Great Leap Backward"?
#4
I think what fools western pundits is that North Korea doesn't actually *have* an economy, in any western sense of the word.
Instead, is has more what a criminal mafia has, an endless pursuit of money by whatever means, solely for the use of "the big boss". Its subjects are nothing more than expendable slaves.
#7
Instead, is has more what a criminal mafia has, an endless pursuit of money by whatever means, solely for the use of "the big boss". Its subjects are nothing more than expendable slaves.
OK. So that differs from us how?
Posted by: Matt ||
08/04/2009 13:01 Comments ||
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#8
That's kinda the point of economic sanctions, isn't it?
#10
Again, WMF [+ other] > Reports of INTENSIFYING/ESCALATING GUNFIRE ALONG THE CHINA-NK BORDERS, allegedly by NOKOR BORDER GUARDS shooting desperate NOKOR Civilians [read, STARVING] trying to cross into CHINA. DITTO for civie attempts to cross into SOKOR save widout the shooting???
[Kyodo: Korea] A Chinese Communist Party delegation and a separate mission by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The Communist Party delegation is led by Luo Shugang, a deputy head of the Central Committee"s Publicity Department, while Tao Jian, a vice president, represents the institutes" mission, KCNA said in a dispatch from Pyongyang.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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R 032022Z AUG 09
UNCLASSIFIED//
MARADMIN 0458/09
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC C4//
SUBJ/IMMEDIATE BAN OF INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (SNS) ON MARINE CORPS ENTERPRISE NETWORK (MCEN) NIPRNET//...THESE INTERNET SITES IN GENERAL ARE A PROVEN HAVEN FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS AND CONTENT AND ARE PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK DUE TO INFORMATION EXPOSURE, USER GENERATED CONTENT AND TARGETING BY ADVERSARIES. THE VERY NATURE OF SNS CREATES A LARGER ATTACK AND EXPLOITATION WINDOW, EXPOSES UNNECESSARY INFORMATION TO ADVERSARIES AND PROVIDES AN EASY CONDUIT FOR INFORMATION LEAKAGE THAT PUTS OPSEC, COMSEC, PERSONNEL AND THE MCEN AT AN ELEVATED RISK OF COMPROMISE.
#1
A good idea, if true. Plain text email should be sufficient for communication with friends and family. All that facebook crap is just looking for trouble.
#2
Probably not a bad idea, especially around the Talibs, who seem to have the ISI's data division at their disposal.
Must be mostly due the 'rear echelon' guys. Our Sargent didn't have time for such stuff in the 'forward' areas.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/04/2009 16:46 Comments ||
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#3
Boy, these kids today have it easy. Back when I was on active duty, when we were at sea, we were lucky to get mail every couple of days - and that was only if we were operating with a carrier.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/04/2009 18:16 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds like MARCENTCOM, etc. doesn't want to take any chances, as the 2009-2012 POTUS Period is likely the most decisive time of the GWOT, for both the US-Allies as well as the MilTerrs, espec wid IRAN nuclearizing + other proliferations.
The boys shuffle into the room in a remote army base high in the mountains of Pakistan's Swat Valley. They are disheveled, disoriented. These boys say they were kidnapped by the Taliban and trained to be suicide bombers. There are no smiles, their eyes stare at the floor. These are the lost souls of Pakistan's battle with the Taliban. Each has a story of terror to tell, but the trauma runs so deep they can't even begin to properly find the words to describe what they have been through.
That task is best left to the psychiatrist who, with her team, was brought in to try to pick through the pieces of this nightmare; to make sense of the brutality here and try to put broken lives back together. Dr. Fareeha Peracha describes these boys variously as "psychotic," "depressed," and in some cases, "psychopathic." "They have been brainwashed. Brainwashed against people like you and me," she said.
CNN was given limited access to about a dozen boys. They had all been kidnapped by the Taliban and taken to camps where they would be trained to kill; trained to be suicide bombers. CNN cannot reveal the boys' names; they have handkerchiefs tied across their faces to conceal their identities. The army fears they could face retribution should they be returned to their homes and families.
The boys sit in a circle as I try to get them to open up about their ordeal. What happened? Were they brutalized? What did the Taliban ask them to do? So many questions. They answer hesitatingly, their voices barely a whisper. "The first day they beat us and then made us exercise," one boy said. "They made us run and told us you will wage jihad."
They said the Taliban especially poisoned their minds against the Pakistan army. "They just told us that they (army) are against Islam, are against the Quran. They said wage jihad against them; we are waging jihad for the Quran," said another boy.
They all say they were kidnapped by the Taliban, some snatched from fields and others from the towns they lived in. "I was coming from the shop to my house, I had some stuff with me. They said, 'put your stuff in the car.' I helped them put stuff in the car. They asked if they should drop me in my village, but when we reached the village they blindfolded me and put a hand over my mouth," one boy said.
The Taliban's tactics seem to have worked. I ask one boy, would he kill for God? He replied: "Yes." I asked the psychiatrist, Dr. Fareeha, if she believes the boys are capable of killing. "Oh yes," she said. "Two of them would not even give it a thought."
The army freed the boys during fierce fighting with the Taliban. Now they are hoping to rehabilitate the boys and one day return them home. But Fareeha thinks that is a long way off -- if ever. She told army chiefs the boys are unpredictable. One boy, she said, told her if he had a suicide bomber's jacket he would use it, that if he had a Kalashnikov, he would shoot.
Of course, it is impossible to verify all of the accounts of the boys, but the doctors have no doubt about their trauma. Fareeha told Army chiefs that these boys were just a tip of the iceberg. After talking to the boys, she believes there are possibly hundreds of others just like them.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] With sections of the foreign media reporting that the government was again holding peace talks with Baitullah Mehsud, a high-ranking military official refuted the reports by categorically stating that the time to seek a truce with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) head was past.
Reports have recently appeared in the British and US media about renewed contacts between the government emissaries and Baitullah. The reports claimed that Baitullah had agreed to halt suicide bombings in return for a government promise not to launch a big military operation against him in his native South Waziristan. It was suggested in these reports that Afghan Taliban were mediating between him and the government.
The Army officer, who wished not be named, told The News such reports were being spread by pro-militant sources to create confusion in the country and abroad. He felt Baitullah and his supporters might be wishing that the government and the military approach him again for peace talks.
"This cannot happen now. Both the civil and military authorities have concluded that Baitullah is an enemy of Pakistan and must be dealt with accordingly," he stressed. He argued the armed forces had disrupted the militants' network run by Baitullah and his allied groups by arresting key figures, seizing weapons and taking control of some of their training centres and safe houses. He said the terrorists' ability to carry out suicide bombings in urban areas had diminished. He thought Baitullah and his commanders did not have an endless supply of suicide bombers. "Besides trying to bottle up Baitullah's men and area in South Waziristan from three sides to prevent his supplies, the Army also carried out action against his allied groups in different places, including Shah Hasankhel village, in Lakki Marwat district. Better security in cities and on roads had also affected the mobility of Baitullah's men," the military official said.
He pointed out people like Baitullah wanted to control the territory and enhance their power. He said it was futile to talk to someone whose demands keep growing and who is irreconcilable. "Let me assure you that there have been no talks recently with Baitullah. It is now out of question," he maintained. He added the Army would carry out a major offensive against Baitullah at the time of its choice.
A senior bureaucrat looking after Fata also said no peace talks were taking place with Baitullah. He said he checked with the military authorities after hearing reports that the two sides could be holding talks again. "But I was assured that it was a closed chapter as there was no need for holding peace talks with Baitullah," he added.
Maulana Saleh Shah, a senator from South Waziristan belonging to Maulana Fazlur Rehman's JUI-F, said he was unaware of any peace talks with Baitullah. "Every day 20 to 25 people, mostly tribesmen from South Waziristan, ask me if these reports were true. Our people have left their homes fearing fighting in the area and they are keen to find out if peace talks with Baitullah were taking place," he told The News. Senator Saleh Shah has been part of a tribal Jirga in the past that mediated between the government and Baitullah.
However, another Maulana from South Waziristan said on condition of anonymity that he was aware that contact was made with Baitullah by certain mediators but no peace deal could be struck.
The fact that a number of displaced Mehsud tribal families had recently gone back to their villages in South Waziristan also contributed to speculations that the expected ground offensive by the military in the Baitullah-controlled areas had been put off due to peace talks between the two sides. But Mehsud tribal elders argued that those families decided to return to South Waziristan after facing harassment at the hands of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.
"Some of them said they were willing to die in bombing by fighters in South Waziristan than getting kidnapped and harassed in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan," a Mehsud elder recalled. Though the Army hasn't launched a ground offensive in South Waziristan yet, bombing by air force jets and shelling by artillery guns against Baitullah's hideouts is continuing. Reports from the area said jets again carried out bombing of some places in the Mehsud tribal territory in South Waziristan on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Meanwhile, the ban on rickshaw riding was lifted on Sunday in Mingora city. Talking to The News, DPO Sajid Khan Mohmand said that 15 three-wheelers were given stickers after registration to ply on the city roads. He said the registration of more auto rickshaws was going on to facilitate the local dwellers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] Pakistani Christians closed their schools and colleges across the country for three days from Monday to protest against the killings of eight Christians burnt to death at the weekend.
Hundreds of Muslims, apparently spurred by a banned militant group, stormed a Christian neighbourhood in the eastern city of Gojra on Saturday, burning dozens of houses after reports surfaced that some Christians had desecrated a Koran. Six Christians died in flames, while two were killed by gunshots. Christian leaders and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said an initial probe had debunked the Koran defilement rumour.
"We are closing the schools to show our anger and concern," Bishop Sadiq Daniel told the media. "We want the government to bring all perpetrators of the crime to justice."
Paramilitary troops and other security forces were patrolling the city Monday and an official inquiry will be held into the incident.
Christians and Muslims usually live together peacefully in Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim. However, Christians and other minority religious groups are vulnerable to discriminatory laws, including an edict against blasphemy that carries death penalty for derogatory remarks or any other action against Islam, the Koran or the Prophet Mohammed. So actually they get along as long as the Christians keep their heads down and their mouths shut.
Hundreds of Muslim protesters set fire to several Christians' houses in the first two days, but the violence reached its peak Saturday. Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said the attackers belonged to a banned Sunni Muslim extremist group, Sipah-i-Sahaba. Officials have tried to calm the situation.
"This is not the work of Muslims. A group of extremists have exploited the situation," Sanaullah told a group of Christians after the funeral prayers for the deceased late Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I take it neither side has guns.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/04/2009 12:39 Comments ||
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#2
They get along as long as the non-muslims are good little Dhimmi...
[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday condemned the Gojra incident in which innocent members of minority community lost their lives. "Federal government and the political parties condemn the Gojra incident," the Prime Minister said in the National Assembly after a joint resolution was adopted against the heinous act. Condemn and be damned. The fact is, Pakistain is an Islamic country and feels no obligation to protect its üntercitenry. They're not members of the Master Religion, so they're there to be exploited and murdered for fun.
The Russians showed the usefulness of allowing the peasants to go a-pogramming at regular intervals. And the Russians and Pakistanis have a history that goes back to the Great Game days.
He said he has talked to the Punjab chief minister who has said that a judicial commission has been formed whose report will be shared with the house. That'd be the Punjab chief minister whose cops couldn''t be bothered to nip the murderous rampage in the bud, before it got out of hand.
He expressed his sorrow over the loss of innocent lives in the incident and said he has asked the minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti to do the damage assessment. The affectees, he added, will be compensated according to the report to be filed by the minister. You can't compensate the dead.
Sure they will. Like India passed on the compensation to the Bhopal victims. Which is to say the government will keep the money. What do the poor need with more money? It just spoils them, everyone knows that.
Earlier, the house adopted a unanimous resolution read out by Shahbaz Bhatti. PML (Q)'s Faisal Saleh Hayat also read out a separate resolution and the two were clubbed together by the deputy speaker. The resolution expressed grief and sorrow over the killings and urged the relevant authorities to take meaningful action against the culprits. I'll bet "meaningful" doesn't involve hunting down and killing all the members and associates of Sipah-e-Sahaba, does it? It'd be pretty meaningful to level Jhang and sow the place it stood with salt, but that won't happen. Instead, some of the bastards will be arrested, many of them years from now, and they'll be let off for lack of evidence by the Lahore High Court.
It urged the government to ensure protection of the minorities in accordance with the sayings of the Quaid-e-Azam and 1973 constitution. It's been sixty years, and they haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Sixty years from now they'll be killing the last half dozen non-Muslims in Pakistain because some holy man thought they mighta maybe ripped a page out of a Koran.
No, because the holy man thought he'd get to bed one of the beautiful madrassah boys with faces like pearls if the lad got to run amok a bit first.
The resolution said that the incident is one of the blackest spots in the human rights history of Pakistan and a violation of Quaid-e-Azam's philosophy. The incident's just another page in the chronicles of Islam. Nothing will be done and it'll be quickly forgotten.
The desecration to the Koran will be remembered, though it never happened.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They should talk to the Japanese - they know how to handle Gojira.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Israel has permitted scores of Fatah operatives who participated in armed attacks against Israeli civilians to enter the West Bank to attend the faction's sixth general assembly, which is expected to convene in Bethlehem on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hatem Abdel Kader, a top Fatah official, called on Sunday for a "strategic alliance" between his faction and Iran. He said the upcoming conference should revise Fatah's relations with the Arab and Islamic countries in light of the latest developments in the region. He added that Iran was a regional power that had enough resources to support Fatah and the Palestinians.
Hundreds of Fatah delegates arrived in Bethlehem over the past few days from various Arab countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.
The delegates were allowed into the West Bank following a request by the Fatah leadership in Ramallah.
Many of the Fatah members who are already in Bethlehem became famous thanks to their involvement in armed attacks against Israel.
One of them is Khaled Abu Usba, member of the Fatah cell that infiltrated into Israel in 1978 and hijacked a bus outside Tel Aviv. Thirty-six passengers were killed in the attack, one of the worst in Israel's history.
The cell was headed by a young Palestinian woman named Dalal al-Mughbrabi, who was killed when IDF soldiers stormed the bus to release the hostages.
Abu Usba was one of two cell members who were caught alive. The remaining 11 Fatah gunmen were killed during the IDF raid.
He was sentenced to 12 life terms, but was released seven years later in a prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian group Popular Front-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril.
Abu Usba, who visited the offices of the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency, said he was surprised that Israel had permitted him to enter the West Bank.
"I've waited for 30 years to return to Palestine," he said. "And now that I'm here I have no intention to leave. I will wait until I obtain residency here and until my wife and children join me."
Another top Fatah operative who arrived from Lebanon is Sultan Abu Ainain, who is often described as the de facto leader of the Palestinians in that country. He too expressed joy and surprise over Israel's decision to allow him into the West Bank despite his past as a "military commander." Abu Ainain said he and many of his colleagues supported the option of armed resistance against Israel as a way of achieving the Palestinians' national rights.
"Do we want Fatah to be a liberation movement?" he asked rhetorically. "If so, then we must translate this into actions on the ground."
The senior Fatah operative expressed "shock" over the settlements and the security fence surrounding Bethlehem. He said the settlements and fence strengthened his conviction that negotiations alone would not restore the Palestinians' rights.
More than 2,000 delegates have been invited to attend the Fatah conference, the first in two decades. The conference is being held under unprecedented security measures.
Some of the delegates who came from Arab countries said they would demand that Fatah leaders be held accountable for the faction's defeat to Hamas in the January 2006 parliamentary election and its surrender to the Islamic movement a year later in the Gaza Strip.
The delegates are expected to vote for new members of Fatah's two major bodies, the Central Committee [21 seats] and the Revolutionary Council [120 seats]. They will also discuss Fatah's future political and security strategy, as well as the status of peace talks with Israel.
Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official from Ramallah, said that delegates from 70 countries were also scheduled to attend the conference as observers. He expressed regret over Hamas's decision to ban Fatah members in the Gaza Strip from traveling to the West Bank to attend the conference unless the Palestinian Authority released Hamas supporters held in its jails.
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said Sunday during a meeting of Likud ministers that Fatah's draft "political plan," leaked to several Arab newspapers over the weekend, "is a declaration of war on the state of Israel."
"The refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, the demand for a withdrawal to the 1967 lines and for the full right of return for Palestinian refugees - this means wiping Israel out of existence," he said.
The document reportedly also reiterates Fatah's commitment to the "armed struggle" against Israel as one of the methods of achieving an independent Palestinian state. It calls for Palestinians to unilaterally declare such a state if peace talks fail.
"We must adopt a clear stance in the face of these positions," Katz said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Say hello to Hitler and Arafat, Mr. Gosheh. Do enjoy the intestine roasting, Satan has laid on the special applewood coals just for your welcome.
Samir Ghosheh, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee, died of cancer in Amman on Monday. He was 69.
Ghosheh, a Palestinian politician from Jerusalem, was also the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front since 1974. In 1989, Ghosheh was elected a member of the PLO Executive Committee. He supported the Oslo agreement, which caused the PSF to splinter, with dissident faction moving to Syria. In 2002, he resigned from his position as the head of Jerusalem file in the PLO. In 2007, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attempted to reappoint him, but Ghosheh refused to take office.
The Palestinian envoy to Jordan, Ata Khairy, said Ghosheh would be transferred to the West Bank on Monday to be buried there. He said if the Israelis approve it, he will be buried in his home town of Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Very few people in the West know what is going on inside the Muslim world and what it portends for them. The fact is that through the dominant media, such as CNN, Americans are subjected to much of the same misinformation with regard to Islam that I grew up with inside the Muslim world. The result is that Americans are in the dark attempting to formulate their strategy of how to defend themselves against the threat of terror, domestic jihad and Sharia. While Americans get ridiculed for being Islamophobes, the Muslim world itself is undergoing a huge and painful awakening.
For instance, a prominent Egyptian lawyer and womens rights activist, Nagla Al Imam, recently announced her conversion to Christianity in Cairo, Egypt. The announcement brought shock waves in and beyond Egypt. This is perhaps the first case ever of its kind, where a Muslim woman, who is also a Sharia expert, has openly challenged Islamic apostasy laws from within the Muslim world.
"I could be slain; any citizen is allowed to kill me and be awarded by God in Paradise."
Posted by: ed ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Remember this. As the void of religion spreads, and the Godless void becomes greater, I assure you something else will take it's place. That will be Islam and their false prophet and godless governance.
#7
Ha, sorry I ripped that off from somewhere else. I think the original quote was: "Buying your wife a gun is like wanting to commit suicide, but wanting it to be a surprise."
Two prominent Iranian detainees, Mohammad-Ali Abtahi and Mohammad Atrianfar have dismissed claims that their confessions have been extracted under pressure.
Abtahi, a close aide to former president Mohammad Khatami, and Atrianfar -- a senior advisor to former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- told Iranian television on Sunday that allegations that drugs had induced their confessions are an insult to the intelligence of Iranians.
The two reformist figures pointed out that they were treated humanely while in detention.
Meanwhile, the two detainees once again rejected claims that the presidential election was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Abtahi also said that it's impossible to plagiarize eleven million votes -- the margin with which incumbent President Ahmadinejad was re-elected.
They further admitted that the post-election unrest was aimed at staging a velvet revolution in the Islamic Republic.
According to the country's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, "medieval torture" was used to force confessions in the Revolution Court.
The former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami also rejected the trial as a "show," saying the confessions are invalid and un-constitutional.
"What they called a trial... was against the constitution, regular laws and rights of the citizens," Khatami said.
The second hearing of the trial is scheduled for Thursday, one day after President Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in for his second term before Parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] With only days left until the inauguration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Germany says Chancellor Angela Merkel will not send a customary congratulatory letter to the Iranian official.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday, Merkel's spokesman Klaus Vater said "in view of his controversial re-election, the chancellor won't be congratulating" the Iranian president.
After the presidential poll in June, Iran announced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the official victor having won almost two-thirds of the votes.
The opposition, however, maintains that the election was "fraudulent" and calls for the annulment of the vote.
Ever since the official announcement of the poll result, Iran has witnessed widespread protests as supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi take to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad's re-election.
At least 30 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the course of the protests.
Iranian authorities also announced that about 3,000 protestors were arrested most of whom have been released.
Commenting on the issue of prisoners, the German spokesman called on the Iranian government to release all the prisoners held since the start of the political turmoil over the contested result of the election in Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's Assembly of Expert member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami has criticized the opposition for adopting a religious tone.
His remarks came after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, formally endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term.
In his speech during the approval ceremony on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei drew a parallel between those who wish to undermine Iran's ruling system in the guise of Islam and a group of 'hypocrites' who at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) built a mosque to oppose the Islam prophet.
The 'hypocrites' went on to build a mosque that was criticized in the Holy Quran as the 'Mosque of Mischief,' and which was eventually destroyed on the orders of the Prophet (PBUH).
On the issue, Ayatollah Khatami, a Principlist supporter who has harshly criticized those who continue to challenge the outcome of the June 12 election, termed the opposition tactics used to continue the protests as "hypocrisy."
"Some people, with their conspiracies in the recent election, have recreated the circumstances of the 'Mosque of Mischief,' which is exemplified by their crying of 'God is Great' from their rooftops," said the cleric.
"God revealed a verse [from the Holy Quran] which said that this mosque has been built with the intention of harming Muslims and creating divisions and advocating infidelity... For this reason, the Prophet (PBUH) sent a group to destroy that mosque," he told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), in a reference to Chapter 9, verses 107-110 of the Holy Quran.
"The Mosque of Mischief is an example for using religion as an instrument."
In Iran's disputed presidential election, all three opposition candidates had impeccable religious and revolutionary credentials, with Mehdi Karroubi being a senior cleric, Mohsen Rezaei the war-time commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Mir-Hossein Mousavi being prime minister for 8 years during the war.
Supporters of Mousavi have adopted the color green, as in indicative of the family of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), from whom Mousavi is descended, and his supporters frequently should "Allah-u Akbar" (God is Great) from rooftops at night.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi describes as shocking, a German Foreign Ministry statement calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in Iran.
"[German Foreign Minister Frank Walter] Steinmeier's unusual call for the release of the agents behind the post-election unrest in the country is in stark contrast with all accepted legal standards, being a manifestation of a foreign official's outrageous meddling in the trend of proceedings against criminals in an independent country," Qashqavi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The spokesman dismissed as "baseless" Steinmeier's claims regarding the "lack of a transparent and fair trial" for the post-election detainees in the country.
On Sunday, the German Foreign Minister issued a statement on his website, voicing serious concern about the trial of 100 people charged with fomenting unrest after June presidential elections.
"The Iranian government is called on to release the political prisoners and respect international standards for the protection of the civil and political rights of its citizens to which it has agreed," Steinmeier said in the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] As certain political figures join opposition in rejecting the disputed election results, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution strongly backs the president for a second term, but urges him to heed the views of his "critics."
In a step leading up to his inauguration in Parliament, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Monday threw his weight behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, describing him as "courageous, astute and hardworking."
The Leader added that his endorsement and the people's vote remains in place only until President Ahmadinejad stays "on the right path."
The endorsement decrees are normally read by the previous president -- even for the second term of the new president in office.
However, the ceremony took place in the absent of defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with powerful cleric and official Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and former President Mohammad Khatami.
There were also no representatives present from the family of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The development against a backdrop of political trials comes as Ahmadinejad's much-disputed re-election in June was met with an outpouring of anger demonstrated in mass protests across the country, with demonstrators dubbing the poll as rigged.
At least 30 people were killed and thousands, including prominent Reformists and journalists, were rounded up in the course of the protests staged by supporters of the opposition who dismiss the official election result as "fraudulent" and call for its annulment.
With leading opposition figures Mousavi, Khatami and Karroubi refusing to acknowledge Ahmadinejad's presidency, the incumbent's re-election provoked bickering in the country's political circles.
Among the opposing voices was Hashemi-Rafsanjani who at the Friday prayers at Tehran University on July 17 hit out at the government for its mishandling of the controversy over the election.
Rafsanjani, who heads both the top political arbitration body and the clerical body, suggested that failing to listen to the voice of those who are dissatisfied with the election result had disrupted the national unity and shattered the nation's trust in the establishment.
"Doubt has been created," he said. "There are two currents; one has no doubt and is moving ahead. And the other is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."
On the issue, Ayatollah Khamenei said in the aftermath of the election, "the majority of people and political figures" acted responsibly.
The Leader, however, added that "some elites" had failed to do so in accordance with their responsibilities.
"Those who talk of the nation's distrust do so either out of spite or out of negligence."
Giving his views on the social side-takings which have taken place following the vote, Ayatollah Khamenei broke down the nation into three groups; a large portion who support the president, "the angry, wounded opposition" and "critics who have no enmity with the establishment and the president."
The Leader cautioned President Ahmadinejad that the angry crowd would continue their opposition and challenge his government during his next 4 years in office.
Ayatollah Khamenei, meanwhile, insisted that the views of the critics "should be given much reflection."
The president, who enjoyed windfall oil revenues in his first term, has been severely criticized over mismanaging the economy and stoking inflation.
The Leader also called for full support of those who underwent sufferings in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential election, adding that those who brought about the sufferings should be "identified and taken to task."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
but urges him to heed the views of his "critics."
These people really don't have the slightest clue, do they?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/04/2009 11:51 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The boys shuffle into the room in a remote army base high in the mountains of Pakistan's Swat Valley. They are disheveled, disoriented. These boys say they were kidnapped by the Taliban and trained to be suicide bombers. There are no smiles, their eyes stare at the floor. These are the lost souls of Pakistan's battle with the Taliban. Each has a story of terror to tell, but the trauma runs so deep they can't even begin to properly find the words to describe what they have been through.
[ADN Kronos] Pakistani Christians closed their schools and colleges across the country for three days from Monday to protest against the killings of eight Christians burnt to death at the weekend. 
[Geo News] Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Monday condemned the Gojra incident in which innocent members of minority community lost their lives. "Federal government and the political parties condemn the Gojra incident," the Prime Minister said in the National Assembly after a joint resolution was adopted against the heinous act. 
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] 
