First the medical center at this sprawling joint military base was alleged to have turned away National Guard soldiers seeking help for war wounds on the grounds that they were merely weekend warriors who were feigning injuries.
Then a dozen soldiers based here were accused of involvement in one of the worst war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
And then three soldiers associated with the base suffered dangerous public mental breakdowns after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to confrontations with police and the deaths of two of them.
Now multiple criminal and military investigations are under way into the conduct of Lewis-McChord troops and the adequacy of the medical and mental health care they are receiving when they come home from war. Erich Maria Remarque, who wrote All Quiet On The Western Front, wrote a sequel called The Road Back, about the life of the German veterans in post WWI Germany. It is heartfelt and deep, and I would recommend it to anyone who has served in the military.
#2
get it cleared up, dammit. #1 son, back this week from Iraq, is stationed there for his last year of enlistment. Just visited him this week, and he seems fine, just happy to be back, and REALLY appreciated a steak dinner. I passed on the well wishes from the 'Burgers, thank you
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/18/2010 10:50 Comments ||
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#3
Is this only going on at Ft. Lewis? (I refuse to use the new age moniker.) Are there really no comparable incidents at Bragg, Hood, Riley, Drum, Schofield, etc?
Hundreds of angry Afghanis tried to break into a NATO base in Afghanistan on Thursday after the Taliban allegedly spread rumours that the troops were going to burn the Koran. Rocks were thrown at the Australian troops and one man was shot and injured.
"The protest turned violent when they began throwing rocks at coalition forces and one of the locals aimed an AK-47 at an ISAF soldier," a spokesman said.
It is not known what triggered this incident, but Australia's ABC reported that soldiers were burning rubbish at the base. Ahah. Just an honest mistake. The soldiers were burning rubbish so the locals thought for sure it must be a Koran.
There is suspicion that the Taliban were behind the rumor in order to disrupt Saturday's Afghan election. No! Reeeeeeally?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/18/2010 13:23 Comments ||
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#2
Where are the microwave guns!
Posted by: Shomotch Scourge of the Algonquins2445 ||
09/18/2010 20:12 Comments ||
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#3
No kidding Shomotch. If they could deploy that system they could avoid things like this. Near as I know those that were used as test subjects haven't experienced any side effects.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was due to hold talks Friday in Uganda, the main contributor of troops to the African Union force that has kept his embattled administration alive in Mogadishu.
Sharif was due to meet Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni amid intense wrangling at the top of Somalia's transitional federal government and a bitter dispute pitting him against his prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke.
"This is a routine meeting to evaluate the security situation in Somalia," Museveni's press secretary Tamale Mirundi told AFP, without elaborating.
UN mini-summit. "Maybe he is coming here to caucus with the president because there is a UN mini-summit on Somalia in New York next Thursday which our president will be attending," said Henry Okello-Oryem, state minister for foreign affairs.
Uganda was the first country to contribute troops to the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and has remained the backbone of the force, the last barrier preventing Al Qaeda-inspired hard boyz from seizing full power.
Uganda has recently taken an aggressive stance and said it could send thousands more troops to boost the force and flush out the Shebab hard boyz who grabbed credit for deadly July suicide kabooms in Kampala.
Somali officials have said that Museveni was keen to see Sharif and get assurances on the make-up of the hapless Somali government.
A long-standing rivalry between Sharif and Sharmarke blew up in the open in recent days, with the two principals disagreeing notably over a draft constitution due to replace the country's interim charter within months.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > AL-SHABAAB + HIZBUL-ISLAM VOW MORE ATTACKS [SHOCKER = agz AU + AMISOM, NOT agz each other].
LONDON - Suspected al Qaeda plots targeting Britain originate increasingly in Somalia and Yemen, partly as a result of counter-terrorism pressure on the groups leaders in Pakistan, the head of the MI5 security service said.
No kidding. Any chance these suspects will unseat the 'Asian' suspects for first place amongst suspects?
Somalia resembled 1990s Afghanistan as a seedbed for terrorism, and militants there may one day inspire like-minded individuals to carry out attacks in Britain, Director-General Jonathan Evans added in a speech on Thursday evening.
I am concerned that it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside al Shabaab, he said, referring to an al Qaeda-aligned militant group in Somalia. Counter-terrorist capabilities have improved in recent years but there remains a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place. I see no reason to believe that the position will significantly improve in the immediate future.
Reiterating statements by other officials that a major security operation would be provided for the 2012 Olympics, he said Britain should not underestimate the challenge of mounting the Games securely in an environment with a high terrorist threat, which would be the first time this had been attempted.
Evans said the proportion of suspected plots against Britain originating in northwest Pakistan had dropped to about 50 percent from 75 percent two or three years ago, showing a diversification, not a reduction, of the threat.
The reduction in cases linked to the tribal areas of Pakistan is partly attributable to the pressure exerted on the al Qaeda leadership there. But the reduction is also partly a result of increased activity elsewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Friday it had prepared for a pre-emptive attack, the official news agency KCNA reported.
According to the report, a committee spokesman said South Korea had recently changed its military policy towards the DPRK from "defensive strategy" to preparation for a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK if it thought the north was about to launch missiles, nuclear weapons or war.
The official said South Korea's stance was a serious provocation to and an extremely dangerous war action against the DPRK.
He said the South Korean authorities had continued its confrontation policy by staging a string of military exercises despite domestic and foreign public opinion in favor of dialogue and detente.
This showed South Korea "is none other than warmongers focused on nothing but confrontation and war," he said.
"When looking back on history, aggressors launched wars through surprise attacks but they couldn't escape failing and a miserable end," he said, stressing that if South Korea dared to threaten a preemptive attack, "it will get nothing but miserable self-destruction."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Friday it had prepared for a pre-emptive attack, the official news agency KCNA reported.
What, handing out signs that ask if the GI's have chocolate?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
09/18/2010 11:38 Comments ||
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#1
I have serious reservations whether this friendship can last (SARC) since the muslims are trying to kill the friendship. It may be that I'm just thin-skinned and my sensitivities too frail.
[Dawn] A trespassing by 14 anti-war activists on an airbase in Nevada is likely to lead to a judicial review of US dronezaps in Pakistain and Afghanistan as a judge agreed on Wednesday not to treat their act as a simple misdemeanour.
The 14 were jugged in 2009 at Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas while protesting the use of drones in the Pak-Afghan region that are controlled from the base. They pleaded not guilty.
One of the defendants, Kathy Kelly, argued in a Las Vegas court on Wednesday that they were trespassing out of necessity and assembling peacefully. Some of the anti-war activists succeeded in convincing the judge to hold a full hearing on the use of drones rather than treating it as a simple trespassing case. The judge said he would take three to four months to study the issues and testimonies involved before making a decision.
The use of drone-zaps is one of the things Obama's team likes in the current war. Not a chance that they'll let this tool be taken from them.
This article starring:
Kathy Kelly
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Since when does your criminal trespassing allow a Judge to make a review of our Nation's Defense Policy actions? Judicial overreach writ large. Impeach the bastard
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/18/2010 14:01 Comments ||
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#2
So the clueless found a clueless judege that thinks his jurisdiction is now international? Is he going to hold warcrimes against next?
A former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist and his wife were indicted Friday on charges of providing classified nuclear weapons information to a Venezuelan government official.
The pair, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, a U.S. citizen was also charged with conspiring to participate in the development of an atomic weapon for Venezuela.
The 22-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the District of New Mexico.
After being arrested, the couple made their initial court appearance in an Albuquerque Federal courtroom. Conviction on all the charges would involve a potential sentence of life in prison. This was apparently an FBI sting operation. Venezuela? That makes it WoT-related.
[Dawn] President Asif Ali (Ten Percent) Zardari was heading an emergency meeting of federal ministers of the Pakistain People's Party (PPP) and other top party leaders at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Friday.
The meeting had been called amid rumors of regime change and martial law.
During the meeting, Zardari said the government will complete its five year term and all conspiracies against the government will be made unsuccessful.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was also attending the meeting.
According to government sources, the issue of relief and rehabilitation in the wake of the floods was also being discussed in the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain on Friday accused India of "brutality" and condemned its deadly crackdown on protesters clamouring for an end to Indian rule in Kashmir.
"Pakistain strongly condemns the brutality and the blatant use of force by Indian security forces," said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood (Wormtongue) Qureshi.
"Gross and systematic abuse of human rights and Indian repression in Kashmir must end. Pakistain calls upon the government of India to exercise restraint," he said, describing killings, arrests and detentions as "unacceptable".
Meanwhile hundreds of people - including muscle of the charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is on a UN terror blacklist and is officially banned in Pakistain - held a demonstration in the eastern city of Lahore against "Indian atrocities".
Carrying flags and placards under the banner of "Freedom struggle for Jammu and Kashmir", bearded men shouted "We will continue jihad (holy war) till Kashmir's freedom."
"It is tragic that our government and political parties are silent over killings in Kashmir. They should tell India that if it does not stop the killings, Pakistain will attack," Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Amir Hamza said, addressing the muscle.
Security forces have imposed a curfew on all major towns and troublespots in Indian-administered Kashmir for six days, in a bid to control protests that have escalated into arson and mob violence.
More than 90 people have been rubbed out by security forces in anti-India demonstrations that began in June, with 17 killed on Monday in the worst violence for years in the disputed Mohammedan-majority region.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A leading member of al-Iraqiya said on Friday that her bloc has reached an initial agreement with the Iraqi National Alliance and the Kurdistan Alliance to have Adel Abdulmahdi as prime minister and Iyad Allawi as president while the Kurds will get the parliament chairmanship.
The agreement came as natural reaction for attempts to marginalize al-Iraqiya, the INA and the Kurdistan Alliance under the government of Nouri al-Maliki, Aliya Nusseif told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
She noted that al-Iraqiya does not have ambitions for power but rather for having political reforms and changes that would bring the political process back on its democratic track.
Differences among political blocs reached their zenith between the main two blocs, al-Iraqiya and the State of Law, with the first obtaining 91 out of the new parliaments 325 seats while the second obtained 89.
The State of Law formed a coalition with the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) to garner the largest number of seats in the new parliament. This claim was rejected by al-Iraqiya bloc, which argued that it had been the winner of the largest number of seats in the parliament and that it has the right to form the new government.
Iraqs March 7 nationwide elections had ended with the success of four main Iraqi political blocs, with Allawis Iraqiya winning 91 seats, followed by Malikis State of Law with 89 seats, Ammar Al-Hakims INA with 70 seats and the Kurdistan Alliance of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barazani and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as well as a number of Kurdish Islamic parties with 57 seats.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Israel reiterated on Friday its refusal to extend curbs on settlement building that expire this month, despite US pressure and Paleostinian threats to walk out of peace talks.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... US envoy George Mitchell met Lebanese President Michel Sleiman as part of Washington's target of forging a comprehensive Middle East peace.
"The prime minister has not changed his position on this issue, there is no question of extending the moratorium," a senior Israeli government official told AFP, asking not to be named.
The 10-month measure to curb construction of settler homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank concludes at the end of this month.
The decision not to renew the moratorium, which does not cover annexed east Jerusalem, was taken this week by the Forum of Seven top cabinet ministers, according to the daily Israel Hayom, which is close to the government.
That decision was communicated to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in the Middle East this week in a bid to push the peace processor forward, the newspaper said.
The issue of settlements is among the thorniest in Middle East peace negotiations, with Israel and the Paleostinians resuming direct talks this month after a 20-month hiatus.
The two sides remain deeply divided over the renewal of settlement construction, a senior Paleostinian official said after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Paleostinian president Mahmud Abbas and Clinton met for two days of trilateral talks this week.
The official said the negotiations, held in Egypt and Jerusalem, had failed to resolve the row which threatens to derail the peace processor.
Abbas told Netanyahu during the talks that he would walk out of the negotiations if Israel does not renew the moratorium, according to an aide.
In an effort to resolve the row, the Americans have suggested a three-month extension in which the two sides could agree on borders, which could bring a "final halt to settlement on the lands of the future Paleostinian state," a Paleostinian official said.
The official added that US negotiators wanted a complete halt to settlements while Israel was insisting on continuing to build in major settlement blocs it hopes to keep in any final peace accord.
Friday's killing of a local commander of the Ezzedine al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in the West Bank, highlighted the continuing tension in the region despite the renewed push for peace.
Israeli soldiers rubbed out Iyad Shilbaya, 38, during a raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
"The assassination is a dangerous escalation that further weakens the credibility of an already shaky political process," Paleostinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said in a statement.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gazoo Strip and is committed to the destruction of Israel, called Shilbaya "a martyr.""The murder was the fruit of the negotiations," Hamas front man Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... US envoy Mitchell met the Lebanese president to brief him and other officials on the talks and also met UN peacekeepers stationed on the Israeli border.
Leb and neighbouring Syria are still technically at war with Israel, and Washington is hoping to convince both states to enter into negotiations with the Jewish state and to support the Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks.
Saying the "alternative to peace is far worse," Mitchell said that "without Leb there will not be comprehensive peace in this region."Israel fought a devastating war with Leb's Hezbullies in 2006, and has repeatedly accused the Shiite turban group of stockpiling weapons.
Mitchell said he had "assured Lebanese leaders of our full and active support for the complete implementation" of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war and called for a southern Leb free of all weapons except those held by the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
Mitchell travelled to Leb from neighbouring Syria. In Damascus, he said a peace deal meant an "agreement between Israel and the Paleostinians, between Israel and Syria and between Israel and Leb and the full normalisation of relations between Israel and its neighbours."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
What a great strategy the Paleostinians have pursued. When they started, Israel was a ting strip 17 miles across. Look at what they have accomplished through their daring and ingenuity....~
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
09/18/2010 11:20 Comments ||
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#2
Make that "tiny".
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
09/18/2010 11:22 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Velayutham Dayanidhi, a former media spokesman for the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka, has said that the decade-long war between them and the state was a waste of people's lives, a British news channel reported on Thursday.
Speaking with the BBC, Dayanidhi, better known as Daya Master, said he was glad that his country was now at peace. It is the first broadcast interview by any of the former senior Tiger leaders since their movement was defeated on the battlefield in 2009.
Daya Master surrendered to government forces with a colleague in April last year, weeks before the Tamil Tigers were beaten. The two men were released on bail last September, but their whereabouts had been unclear.
The BBC has now spoken to Daya Master by phone in northern Jaffna city, where he works as local head of a private Tamil television channel. Daya Master said he was living peacefully there, as was his wife who was working as a teacher.
"Nobody wants the war. Tamil people also didn't like the war. Their main aim is education," he said.
Asked whether he thought the war was really a waste of money and lives, he said: "Yeah, that's true."
He declined to comment on whether he regretted being part of such a violent organisation, or on the case which is to be heard against him next month. When he was released on bail, the police said there was no evidence to charge him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, but said possible criminal activity was being looked into.
Shortly after his surrender, Daya Master said in a government video interview that the rebels had shot at least 200 civilians as they tried to leave the war zone.
The former media spokesman said that he had no relationship with the Sri Lankan government. He also said he had not met his former senior Tiger colleague, Selvarase Pathmanathan, who was captured in August 2009, but has been working with government officials to engage with visiting members of the Tamil Diaspora.
Thousands of other former rebels remain in detention and hundreds are likely to face charges in court.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah - he's sorry they lost.
And LTTE shooting civilians? I read on BBC that only Sri Lanka troops did that. The Tigers were saints just like Mao and Che Guevara.
[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Friday called on authorities to back down on a request to summon former head of Leb's General Security Department Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed.
State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza on Thursday demanded to summon Sayyed for threatening State security and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
A Hizbullah statement condemned the Lebanese judiciary's "involvement in the political conflict."
Hizbullah attacked the Phalange party without naming it.
"We expected the concerned sides in the Lebanese judiciary to take an initiative to summon those who boast of being Israeli spies and allies," said Hizbullah, in a clear reference to the Phalange Party.
Phalange party official Sami Gemayel had said Kataeb is not ashamed of its history.
"We also expected judicial authorities to request documents and data announced by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed in his (Sunday's) press conference to look for the truth," the statement said.
"But we were surprised by the judiciary's involvement in the political conflict after its decision concerning Sayyed," Hizbullah said.
"We in Hizbullah consider the decision to be a political decision par excellence and a headline of repression and intimidation to any oppressed speaking about the truth at this stage," the statement added.
Hizbullah slammed Mirza's decision as a "political decision par excellence," and warned against "tyranny and intimidation" of those who seek to tell the truth.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi on Friday stressed that "there's no resistance in Leb but the resistance against the Israeli enemy," slamming "the bragging about other resistances that were militias and gangs that practiced sectarian slaying."
Moussawi noted that those behind false witnesses were shocked "when Hizbullah Secretary-General (Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah) spoke of the hypothesis of accusing Israel because their aims are somewhere else."
"The loathsome faces did well when they revealed the faces of their fathers and grandfathers, because faces remain the same even if they are reproduced," Moussawi added.
"The ongoing conflict today is between freedom fighters and the preachers of surrender and (peace) negotiations, the battle today is between the neo-May 17 group and those trying to torpedo the new May 17 Accord," Moussawi said, noting that "the problem is not with the Resistance's arms but rather with any arms that confront the Israeli enemy, even if they belonged to the Lebanese army."
Hizbullah's MP concluded by saying: "In 1982, we weren't as strong as today, and despite that we defeated the enemy. We tell those seeking a war on the Resistance through false witnesses and false policies: The Resistance is ready to defeat you at any level."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Well-informed sources in AMAL Movement have noted that commenting on what Hizbullah has declared in its latest statement, in addition to other important issues, would be left for discussion during an urgent meeting for the movement's politburo next Monday.
The sources told the Central News Agency that "not issuing any stance up till now on this topic means that there are many reservations on it, and thus such sudden stances require the convention of the political bureau and the issuance of a comprehensive and general stance by the movement, to prevent the occurrence of any ambiguity regarding these matters."
AMAL sources stressed that "everyone was keen not to reach the thunderous downfall of the truce issue."
"Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri, the Hizbullah sock puppet has these considerations in mind in this regard because it is better to keep bridges extended between the parties and not to reach the dead end or a rhetoric such as the fiery ones voiced lately," the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Mustaqbal bloc MP Ammar Houri described on Friday Hizbullah's latest statement as the worst that it has issued so far, especially since "it threatens the leader of the Sunnis in Leb."
He told Voice of Leb radio that Hizbullah's campaign against the Special Tribunal for Leb falls within a political framework, adding that the tribunal has once again proven its credibility through its high degree of professionalism.
Addressing Hizbullah's defense of former General Security chief Major General Jamil al-Sayyed, the MP said that the party is defending the official against Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
He called on Hizbullah to "reconsider several of its positions because its current actions do not serve any side."
"It seems that whenever we thwart strife, Hizbullah seeks to reignite it," Houri noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah on Friday denied a call for civil disobedience, but said Lebanese should "resist" if government weapons were turned against the rights of the citizens.
He said calls for civil disobedience would be considered a move against government weapons.
Aoun was apparently responding to ministerial sources who told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that the former army general is "in one way or another calling for civil disobedience against the government."
"How will he respond in the event that some (people) asked not to cooperate with the ministries of energy and telecommunications?" one source wondered after Aoun urged citizens not to obey police's Intelligence Bureau.
"Won't this cause the destruction of State institutions?" the source asked.
"This disobedience would be against legitimate weapons which defend the (citizens) rights and help implement the law," he told reporters in Rabiyeh.
"But when these weapons are turned against citizens' rights, we must resist; and this is the duty of citizens and this is what we are calling for," Aoun stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
For a minute I thought this was going on in the U.S. Naw.
[An Nahar] Special Tribunal for Leb Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has reportedly told France's permanent representative to the U.N., Gerard Araud, that he would issue his indictment before the end of 2010 against Hizbullah members.
As Safir daily quoted a French source as saying that Bellemare informed Araud about his decision during a meeting they held last July.
The prosecutor would accuse Hizbullah members of "having a hand in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination," the source said.
The accusation would be based on phone calls made between the killers as evidence. Slain counter-terrorism police officer, Capt. Wissam Eid, was overseeing the investigation into the calls before his assassination two years ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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A top military adviser to Iran's Fearless Leader, the doddering but still vicious Ali Khamenei says US warships in the Persian Gulf waters are within the reach of the country's defense systems.
Speaking at this week's Friday Prayers, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said Iran's 2,000 km long coastal strip along the Persian Gulf allows the country to target any hostile navel activity in the area.
"Every American warship is within the reach of our armed forces' surface-to-sea missiles," Rahim Safavi said, suggesting that the consequences of a strike against Iran would be different from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Sixty-five percent of the world's oil [shipments] passes through the Persian Gulf," he added.
Amid a standoff over Iran's nuclear program, Tehran has repeatedly warned that it will retaliate if Iranian cargo ships come under inspection or its nuclear facilities are attacked.
Iranian officials reject Western accusations that Tehran is pursuing a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear energy.
On June 9, the UN Security Council imposed a US-engineered sanctions resolution targeting Iranian financial and military sectors, with a section subjecting ship departing or en route to Iran open to inspections.
The former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) went on to slam the desecration of the Holy Qur'an on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Well, let's take a look at how things transpired the last time this sort of scenario played out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1lylcpeIXc
I particularly like the "straight to the point" announcement by the Captain of the American warship at 2:12 elapsed time.
Of course, back then, we had real American President - instead of the laughingstock buffoon who now occupies that position.
#2
This quote comes to mind, "Our gun arrays are now fixed on your ship and will fire the instant you come into range. You will find their power quite impressive... for a few seconds. "
#5
Speaking at this week's Friday Prayers, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said Iran's 2,000 km long coastal strip along the Persian Gulf allows the country to target any hostile navel activity in the area.
Iranian Ambassador to Leb Ghazanfar Roknabadi has submitted a written message from President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad to his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Sleiman.
Speaking at a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on Thursday, Roknabadi expressed outrage at the blasphemous action by a number of gunnies in the US who tore pages of the Holy Qur'an and set them on fire.
He described the sacrilegious move as a "Zionist plot" intended to stoke religious strife. The Iranian envoy also called on Christians and Mohammedans to maintain unity between the two divine religions, IRNA reported.
Sleiman, for his part, said the Lebanese nation took a clear stance when Florida pastor Terry Jones announced plans to burn the Holy Qur'an on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The Lebanese president lauded Tehran's efforts to bring stability and unity inside Leb and underscored the need for more cooperation with Iran on regional and international issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Lebanese Hezbullies MP Hassan Fadlallah said Thursday that the Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) over the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri should be abolished.
Local MTV channel and news site Now Leb quoted Fadlallah as saying during a Parliamentary Finance and Budget Commission meeting that the tribunal should be abolished before the end of September.
"Otherwise the matter will be very dangerous," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... some Lebanese MPs walked out of the commission's evening session when pro-Hezbullies MPs insisted members to vote on a 2010 state budget clause related to STL funding.
MPs close to Hezbullies are seeking a "political compromise over the STL, and March 14 Alliance MPs refuse this and affirm that the STL is unrelated to any political issue," said sources close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
Tensions in Leb are rising as reports said the tribunal would accuse members of Hezbullies.
Rafik Hariri, father of current Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, was killed in a car bomb on Feb. 14, 2005 in downtown Beirut. Syria and Hezbullies were widely accused of the killing, although both of them denied.
Hezbullies chief Hassan Nasrallah in this March admitted that 12 Hezbullies members and people close to the group were summoned by the STL, while he insisted the group would cooperate with the investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said there was no reason for the U.S. and Israel to be concerned about the possible transfer of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles from Syria to Hizbullah.
"We will supply Yakhont to Syria, we will fulfill the contract," Serdyukov was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency in comments to Russian journalists on Friday.
Serdyukov was speaking in Washington during a visit to the Pentagon aimed at expanding military ties as part of the countries' much-vaunted "reset" in relations.
Russia's arms sales and possible nuclear cooperation with Syria is unnerving for the U.S. and Israel, which have expressed fears that the missiles could be transferred to Hizbullah.
Serdyukov described such fears as unjustified.
"The U.S. and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont. But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Russia arming the enemies of the West. The same old story. Everyone would've been better off without the crooks in Kremlin. They're a bigger long-term threat to this world than all the other madmen on this earth combined.
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.
Hundreds of angry Afghanis tried to break into a NATO base in Afghanistan on Thursday after the Taliban allegedly spread rumours that the troops were going to burn the Koran. Rocks were thrown at the Australian troops and one man was shot and injured.
LONDON - Suspected al Qaeda plots targeting Britain originate increasingly in Somalia and Yemen, partly as a result of counter-terrorism pressure on the groups leaders in Pakistan, the head of the MI5 security service said.
(Xinhua) -- The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Friday it had prepared for a pre-emptive attack, the official news agency KCNA reported.
[Dawn] A trespassing by 14 anti-war 
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: A leading member of al-Iraqiya said on Friday that her bloc has reached an initial agreement with the Iraqi National Alliance and the Kurdistan Alliance to have Adel Abdulmahdi as prime minister and Iyad Allawi as president while the Kurds will get the parliament chairmanship.
[Dawn] Israel reiterated on Friday its refusal to extend curbs on settlement building that expire this month, despite US pressure and 
[Pak Daily Times] Velayutham Dayanidhi, a former media spokesman for the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka, has said that the decade-long war between them and the state was a waste of people's lives, a British news channel reported on Thursday. 
[An Nahar] Special Tribunal for 
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said there was no reason for the U.S. and Israel to be concerned about the possible transfer of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles from Syria to Hizbullah.
