Now is the time to get in there and foster dissention.
And if they do split, I recommend each group gets exactly half of each terrorist. Left/right, top/bottom doesn't matter as long as it's fair.
Good idea Let them be divided at the neck, with half the heads going to one group, and half to the other. That way the intelligence and executional abilities of the two groups would be equal.
#1
PREDICTION: Within one year the southern grouping will be hailed by the intelligentsia as a 'moderate' element with whom the West can 'do business with.'
#2
See also RUSSIA TODAY > MOST WANTED TERRORIST [Chechen/Chechnyan Militant Leader UMAROV] LOSES CONTROL OVER HIS MILITANTS. Chechen Militants split up from other [Chechen?]Militant Groups oper in SOuthern Russia.
[GRAIN OF SALT here].
8 ION HAARETZ > NUMBER OF IRANIAN DRUG SMUGGLERS CAUGHT IN MALAYSIA [138 Persons in tote, of which majority are "drug mules", rest are Syndicate; All could legally be beheaded iff found guily of drug smuggling under Malaysian law].
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > [Eric Margolis] MISSION CREEP IN AFPAK | MISSION CREEP IN AFPAK - WHAT CAN CHINA DO FOR ITS ALLY?
PAK's "ROCK-VS-HARD-PLACE" HOLE vee US, Anti-US-Western Local Islam getting bigger + wider as US deemed likely to make stronger anti-Militant demands vee Islamabad Govt., seek expansion of US MilPol role in PAK = AFPAK Region come 2012 US POTUS, Congresscritter Elections???
[Al Arabiya] The world community faces an uphill battle to help prevent Yemen from becoming a failed state like Somalia
Indeed.
Remember, Yemen is what Somalia aspires to be ...
and from allowing al-Qaeda to threaten major oil shipping lanes, U.S. experts said.
Highlighting the global stakes this week were attacks on both British and French targets in Yemen and a visit to Sanaa by William Burns, the undersecretary for political affairs and number three U.S. diplomat.
The world has taken an even keener interest in Yemen since a botched bid on Christmas Day to blow up a U.S. airliner over Detroit by a Nigerian passenger allegedly trained by the Yemeni-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
"The world cannot afford Yemen becoming a failed state a la Somalia," said Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution analyst who has advised the B.O. regime on Yemen and other counter-terrorism issues.
"One failed state on the Gulf of Aden is bad enough," Riedel told AFP.
"Two failed states on the Gulf of Aden with al-Qaeda operating in both of them would be a very dangerous situation since the Gulf of Aden is where the world's energy resources sail through every day," he said.
Drill here, and part of that problem goes away...
Al-Qaeda-inspired Shabab gunnies control most of Somalia and have been closing in on the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government's Mogadishu quarters.
In Yemen, AQAP "has a robust and resilient capability," Riedel said.
Not only has it staged dozens of attacks in Yemen this year -- mainly on security forces but also on foreigners -- its senior leadership has also withstood Yemeni search-and-destroy missions, Riedel told AFP.
Though its capacity to launch attacks abroad remains unclear, he said, charismatic Yemeni-American holy man Anwar al-Awlaki appears to be a major threat because of his ability to recruit Americans for jihad.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Being from Arizona, I welcome the company. However, we don't need your Qat, the Mexicans supply our supplementary needs. Mebbe Tombstone and whatever the hell your capital is could become sister cities - arms and ammo are equally popular in both locales...
#2
DAILY TIMES.PK > AL QAEDA IS ONLY ONE OF YEMEN'S MYRIAD WOES [Protractively poor economy controlled by corrupt "Rentier-Elite" small group of Families whom as a class have no qualms waging various bloody internicine wars by Proxy agz one another].
IOW, "ROMEO-N-JULIET" > ALMOST-A-CAPULET versus ALMOST-A-MONTAGUE versus OTHER, NOT DUELING + WARRING ON THE STREETS WID DAGGERS + SWORDS, ETC. "ON SIGHT" ON THE HISTORY CHANNEL.
1) South Central: former Italian colony controlled by Al Shabaab except for Mogadishu port and about 2 city blocks which are held by AU troops. That is the sum total of the power of the Transitional Federal Government which receives all the UN aid.
2) Somaliland. Former British colony. Functional. young idealistic aid workers from the US and other western countries still go there to set up projects. Occasionally suffers bomb blasts from South Central who don't want it to secede. It wants to be a separate country - and who can blame them.
3) Puntland: on the Horn of Africa, northeast. This is where the pirates hide on the coast. Governed by Dr Farole who is actually trying to do some good. His yearly budget was $15 million in 2009. Try running a legal system, police force, army with that.
He's doing his best. Piracy would disappear if the UN funded him instead of the TFG. They don't as they don't want Somalia to split.
Al Shabaab have consolidated power in South Central Somalia and are moving north on Puntland.
This is BAD
Once they have Puntland, they can control both sides of the gulf of aden and pinch off the supply line of oil to Europe.
Islamic extremism is running rampant through Yemen and neighbouring Saudi Arabia. So the GOA is totally screwed once Shabaab move north.
I have been saying this on Rantburg a lot this year, I hope somebody is listening
The next people to "fly planes into buildings" ie: conduct the next major attacks, are most likely to be Somalis.
They have a huge diaspora to hide among and the Islamists have no trouble spreading their propaganda through the Shabaab in South Central.
Cleaning up the piracy issue in the GOA is as simple as funding Dr Farole.
Make a bulwark against the Shabaab otherwise we will be paying in blood and treasure.
the reason the international community doesn't do this is it is too busy having a good old colonial era Great Power jostle in the Gulf of Aden with the navies of the world having the time of their lives playing kiss chasey with 14-year-old starving Somali pirates in fishing skiffs.
Google Translate
Two writers for the Juarez, Chihuahua daily El Diario de Juarez have been awarded the El Mundo Journalism Award for their work in reporting on ongoing violence in Juarez.
Luz del Carmen Sosa Carrizosa and Sandra Rodriguez Nieto were awarded El Mundo's World Reporter's Award for their work in "documenting... ...the cycle of violence that lives in Juarez."
Sosa, 40, submitted material about murders in the Villas de Salvarcar district in Juarez, the security crisis in the Valle de Juarez district, the lynching in Ascension last month, and the murder of Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, an employee of El Diario de Juarez.
Rodriguez, 35, submitted stories about the lack of charges in more than 800 murders and a story about security operations in Juarez.
"Sandra Rodriguez and Luz Sosa have demonstrated extraordinary courage in every sense. They sign their reviews in the knowledge that it risk their lives," said Peter J. Ramirez, director de El Mundo the jury that selected them.
True or not, it's the attitude we need if we're going to get government away from the idea that "although all terrorists are muslim, muslims are not terrorists."
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/08/2010 5:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't know much about the domestic US situation in relation to sharia.
But I do know one thing that is spot on:
Only US laws should be enforced on US soil. NO SHARIA LAW. You can NOT have 2 competing legal systems.
In Australia it is a nightmare of 'multiculturalism' where tribal Aboriginal law is allowed alongside other laws.
Now Muslims want to use that as an excuse for them to have Sharia law. No. We should have one set of laws for all, and all are equal before the law.
We will have separation of religion and state, and have NO legally enforceable precepts from holy men.
With the Aborigines it is more complex. We came and imposed ourselves on them, so there is some fairness for them to argue for tribal law. But everyone else: no.
#4
@ #3 ... not exactly so.
Teh Jews have religious laws that work in accordance with US law and their 'laws' and practices do not supersede it.
It is also practiced voluntarily.
Big differences.
#5
Just last month pastor Terry Jones became a scandalous figure because he threatened to exercise his 1st Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and free speech in a manner that would have violated Sharia law.
Government, both local and federal, pressured him to waive his rights until he relented.
#8
Friction between Muslims and Christian evangelists at an Arab festival in Dearborn is hardly evidence of sharia taking over.
I wish she'd shut up about religion entirely until after the election. It's too easy to turn her off-the-cuff comments against her, and they did a good job of doing that,
National Security Adviser James L. Jones will resign his post and be replaced by his deputy, Thomas E. Donilon, effective immediately, senior administration officials said Friday. What brought this on? Are those bus-tire tracks on Gen. Jones' back?
Although Jones's departure has been expected, it comes at a delicate time for President Obama as he prepares for an important review of his Afghanistan strategy in December. Obama is scheduled to announce the decision at 1 p.m. EDT in the White House Rose Garden.
A retired Marine general, Jones brought decades of national security experience to the post and military credibility to an administration whose senior civilian members had never served in uniform. He expanded the National Security Council to include agencies responsible for American energy, economic and environmental policy, believing that those issues would play a far larger role in shaping U.S. defense and diplomatic strategy in the decades to come. Knucklehead. National Security is a hard enough job w/o adding a bunch of other things.
But Jones, a towering if aloof figure, often had trouble fitting into a National Security Council culture dominated by several hard-charging veterans of Obama's campaign who have known the president for years. His condition for initially taking the job - that he would be the last one to see Obama on the most pressing national security issues of the day - was often unmet. No surprise there, and it betrays him as a political light-weight. RTWT for early commentary on his replacement, Mr. Donilon.
#4
Gates and Mullen are also leaving soon; looks like the top military geniuses surrounding Obumble will resemble bobble heads, each competing to bobble faster.
will this nonsense ever end?
The former Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, refused to participate in a psychiatric evaluation of himself on Thursday, his lawyer told CNN.
Three military psychiatrists on Thursday showed up at the Texas jail where Maj. Nidal Hasan is incarcerated to conduct a sanity review, but his layer, John Galligan, told CNN that he filled out a form saying he and his client would not cooperate.
The psychiatrists left without conducting the review, said Galligan, who objects to the timing of the review and to the composition of the military's "sanity board."
A Fort Hood spokesman, Tyler Broadway, said that the psychiatric evaluation is ongoing, despite Thursday's developments.
The officer overseeing the criminal case against Hasan is asking for a sanity review for the defendant "without further delay," according to a memo obtained by CNN on Tuesday.
The request came a week before Hasan's Article 32 hearing next Tuesday, a key pre-trial procedure in which the first public testimony is given in the case. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of murder in connection with the November 5 shooting at the Army's largest base, located in central Texas between Dallas and San Antonio.
Galligan, a civilian attorney, has told CNN that he has instructed his client not to talk to anyone connected with the sanity review, and called the sudden push for the examination part of an Army attempt to "distract" him as he prepares for the upcoming hearing.
Col. Morgan Lamb, the officer overseeing the case, had indicated in January that the military would not "meet with, test or examine" Hasan until after the Article 32 hearing.
But in the memo obtained by CNN, Lamb said he reversed his decision after the defense said in court last month that it may introduce that the mental capacity evidence for consideration in the case -- after previously saying it would not raise the issue of mental capacity or competency.
So in other words, despite the bleating of the defense, it's the defense that may make an issue of Hasan's mental status. That means the prosecutor wants to assess said mental status, which they have a legal right (and obligation) to do. That's SOP and that's why they sent the examiners. The defense lawyer is trying to have it both ways.
Galligan denied the defense had made such a statement. He said he also objects to the military mental health professionals who make up the "sanity board" and would be charged with evaluating Hasan. The attorney said the current members of the board may not be objective, noting that one was on the faculty of the medical school while Hasan was a student.
The military psychiatry community is likely a small community, and it's no surprise that one or more of them would know Hasan. The issue is, can they be objective? Given that psychiatrists are given special training to uncover their own bias and to keep them at arms' length when examining a patient, I think the answer is 'yes'. But if there's a question, bring in three civilian psychiatrists under contract.
A representative for Lamb at Fort Hood said the matter is up to the colonel, and the defense had no say in the decision to have the board examine Hasan. Broadway, the Fort Hood spokesman, said Thursday that Lamb had ordered the evaluation to proceed without delay but "there was never any requirement" that the psychiatric evaluation be completed by Tuesday in Lamb's order.
The Article 32 hearing is named after the section of military law that mandates it. It's similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding, but is open to the public and both the defense and prosecution can present witnesses and evidence.
#3
Remember that this is a military court martial, not some civilian court where lawyer razzle dazzle prevails. Lawyers that try that before a military court get their tail feathers burned.
A court martial is the *last* place I would want to get tried if guilty, and the *first* place I would want to get tried if innocent. When you cut out much of the bulldada, the law actually works.
#5
Hassan is not insane. It should be noted that a military psychological evaluation is very lengthy, but typically asks very straightforward questions like what is your name, what is today's date, what was elementary school like, do you remember your second grade teachers name, etc? These types of analyses are ones Hassan would pass with flying colors. It is just a case where he may be Muslim but conversely still lucid enough to know what his premeditated murders were.
#7
The Rules for Court Martial state that lack of mental responsibility is an affirmative defense when the accused was *unable* to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts. So burden of proof is on the defense.
The accused is presumed to be mentally responsible unless and until the defense can show otherwise by clear and convincing evidence. That is a higher standard (~75%) than preponderance of the evidence (~51%+) applied in civil trials, but lower than beyond a reasonable doubt (~98%) applied in criminal trials.
The inquiry must address the following:
(A) At the time of the alleged criminal conduct, did the accused have a severe mental disease or defect? (The term severe mental disease or defect does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, or minor disorders such as nonpsychotic behavior disorders and personality defects.)
(B) What is the clinical psychiatric diagnosis?
(C) Was the accused, at the time of the alleged criminal conduct and as a result of such severe mental disease or defect, unable to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his or her conduct?
(D) Is the accused presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering the accused unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against the accused or to conduct or cooperate intelligently in the defense?
So, it comes down whether being an armed Islamofascist is a mental disease or defect. If yes, the guy walks. If no, then what the hell is? This could be a deeply existential question, if it wasn't the Chewbacca defense.
Nah, that would require us to question the timing of the president, and no one would ever do that ...
A US terror alert issued this week about al-Qaida plots to attack targets in western Europe was politically motivated and not based on credible new information, senior Pakistani diplomats and European intelligence officials have told the Guardian.
The non-specific US warning, which despite its vagueness led Britain, France and other countries to raise their overseas terror alert levels, was an attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have "set the country on fire", said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain.
If we wanted to set your country on fire, pal ...
Hasan, a veteran diplomat who is close to Pakistan's president, suggested the Obama administration was playing politics with the terror threat before next month's mid-term congressional elections, in which the Republicans are expected to make big gains.
That wouldn't do any good since the mid-terms aren't being driven by foreign policy or terrorism. In fact this is the first national election we've had since 2001 in which terrorism hasn't been discussed.
He also claimed President Obama was reacting to pressure to demonstrate that his Afghan war strategy and this year's troop surge, which are unpopular with the American public, were necessary.
"I will not deny the fact that there may be internal political dynamics, including the forthcoming mid-term American elections. If the Americans have definite information about terrorists and al-Qaida people, we should be provided [with] that and we could go after them ourselves," Hasan said.
Except that they have, and you haven't.
And we're not inclined to do so in the future, since not only does the ISI not 'go after' the thugs, they protect them and put them up at the Peshawar Hilton. It's easier to launch a drone zap ...
"Such reports are a mixture of frustrations, ineptitude and lack of appreciation of ground realities. Any attempt to infringe the sovereignty of Pakistan would not bring about stability in Afghanistan, which is presumably the primary objective of the American and Nato forces."
Clearly the Paks understand us as well as we understand them ...
Dismissing claims of a developed, co-ordinated plot aimed at Britain, France and Germany, European intelligence officials also pointed the finger at the US, and specifically at the White House. "To stitch together [the terror plot claims] in a seamless narrative is nonsensical," said one well-placed official.
While Abdul Jabbar, a Briton,
British, is he? I would never have guessed. Thought for a moment that his name was really 'Nigel' ...
and others killed by an American drone strike on 8 September in North Waziristan, in Pakistan's tribal areas, were heard discussing co-ordinated plots, including possible "commando-style" attacks on prominent buildings and tourist sites in European capitals, security and intelligence officials said the plots were nowhere near fruition.
The officials did not deny the men, and other foreign-born jihadi recruits who travel to the tribal areas for indoctrination and training, represented a potentially serious threat. "You have discussions about all sorts of things -- that does not necessarily mean there is anything concrete. It is not easy to set up groups," said one counter-terrorism official.
It's not impossibly hard, either. I recall a group of young men in Hamburg in 2001 ...
Pooh. They recruit them at the madrassahs, like college football players.
By making it clear that the US drone strikes were pre-emptive, and were not in any way combating an imminent threat, European officials raised fresh questions -- this time directly involving a British national -- about the legality of the attacks, which could be viewed as assassinations.
Yep, sure could be. We don't have a problem with that, even though the invertebrate Euros do. This just sounds like the bleating the Euros have to do to maintain their 'distance' from the US ...
They said Washington was the "driver" behind claims about a series of "commando-style" plots and that the CIA -- perhaps because it was worried about provoking unwelcome attention to its drone strikes -- was also extremely annoyed by the publicity given to them.
The plot claims, which western intelligence agencies were aware of for months, were leaked last week to the American media. They were followed by a spate of what security and intelligence officials said were exaggerated claims in the British media, a US state department warning to American citizens to be vigilant when visiting Britain, France, and Germany, a "tit for tat" warning by France to its citizens visiting the UK, and alerts issued by the Swedish and Japanese governments.
Thomas de Maizière, Germany's interior minister, publicly expressed his scepticism about the US terror warning, saying he saw no sign of an imminent attack on Germany. He described the danger to Germany as "hypothetical".
"Tut-tut. And tut!"
The sharp rise in US unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, coupled with several cross-border raids by American helicopter gunships that culminated in the killing of two Frontier Corps soldiers last week, was destabilising Pakistan, Hasan said.
How could anyone tell that Pakistain was unstable?
"Why are they putting so much pressure on us? It is a threat to the democratic system ... But people in Pakistan feel Washington does not care." American actions were "obviously" linked to Obama's decision to set a timetable for leaving Afghanistan. The US leader had "jumped the gun" and now "the Americans are in a hurry".
He said fears were growing in Pakistan that the US was planning a bombing campaign using fixed-wing aircraft as well as drones in North Waziristan.
Fixed-wing, as in B52s? Someone at the Burg may finally get his wish ...
Hasan said Washington politicians failed to understand how much the US needed Pakistan in the "war on terror".
Indeed. Were it not for Pakistan, there would be no war on terror, remembering f'r instance that it was the Taliban, trained pets of Pakistan's ISI, that sheltered Al Qaeda before and after 9/11. Without Pakistan, how much longer would it have been until it was incontrovertibly brought to our attention that we were actually at war?
Nor did they realise that public anger over repeated US infringements of Pakistani sovereignty could boil over into attacks on American personnel and interests that the government might not be able to control.
"The government does not want to go down this road," he said. "But people feel abused. If they [the Americans] kill someone again, they will react. There is a figure that there are 3,000 American personnel in Pakistan. They would be very easy targets."
Ooooh, that sounds like a threat. We Americans really like being threatened. Ask us ...
Hasan said American personnel stationed at the Pakistani air force base at Jacobabad, on the border between Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, could be vulnerable if the situation deteriorated further. The US requested the use of Jacobabad, and other bases at Dalbandin and Pasni, after the 9/11 attacks, and has maintained a military presence there ever since.
The vaunted army of Pakistan, buttoned up in its cantonments, is incapable of standing off what would literally be an untrained mob? And he admits it?? How utterly mortifying for the troops and their officers.
Another Pakistani diplomat said Jacobabad was the main centre of operations for CIA and US army drones, which are ultimately controlled from America. "They have hangars there. That's where they fly from and that's where they return."
Time for us to get some carrier-based drones ...
The drone operations began in June 2004 with the tacit, reluctant agreement and involvement of the Pakistani authorities but were now in effect running beyond Pakistan's control, the diplomat suggested. "We have always denied it in the past. But everybody knows this is happening. We need to wake up," the official said.
A US official said: "Our allies have been briefed on the nature of the threat and the intelligence that led to the travel alert and everyone understands this cannot be taken lightly. To try to ascribe any political motivation is misguided and irresponsible."
Not that it stopped the liberal progressives a few years ago from saying exactly that ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Name one thing Obama has done that isn't for political gain.
#4
American actions were "obviously" linked to Obama's decision to set a timetable for leaving Afghanistan. The US leader had "jumped the gun" and now "the Americans are in a hurry.
President Obamas policy to set an arbitrary withdrawal date from Afghanistan is the biggest blunder of his presidency thus far. (And Boy Howdy has he had some bigguns.) Going forward, friends and enemies alike, have reflexively viewed every decision and action through the spectrum of his domestic politics. He could both mitigate the foreign policy damage and save face with the electorate by a making a full-throated reversal that is conditions based. But for a man that views his country primarily as a historic oppressor and only belatedly as a liberator he is oddly comfortable with defeat on both fronts.
A third military figure, a retired Pakistan Army Major was also named as a suspect along with an al-Qaeda-linked commander and a leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), which carried out the Mumbai attacks in which 166 were killed.
By asking Interpol to issue warrants against two apparently senior Pakistan Army officers, India has intensified its campaign against Islamabad and strengthened its claim that some elements within Pakistans security forces supported the Mumbai attacks.
The development follows an admission by the former military ruler General Musharraf earlier this week that Pakistan had raised terrorist groups to attack India because of its refusal to negotiate over the dispute on the future of Kashmir.
Those named in the warrants include Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, a militant commander believed to be close to al Qaeda, Sajid Majid, a senior LeT figure also known as Sajid Mir, Major Syed Abdur Rehman, a retired Pakistan Army officer, and two serving officers named as Major Sameer Ali and Major Iqbal.
The officers are alleged to serve in Pakistans ISI intelligence agency and were named by the LeT operative David Headley, who was arrested in Chicago last year as he was about to travel to Pakistan.
Headley, the son of an American mother and a Pakistani diplomat, was raised in Pakistan and educated at a military school. During interrogation he revealed he had carried out reconnaissance missions for the Mumbai terrorist attack and claimed that the two officers were his handlers.
Headley said both men spoke English, Hindi and Urdu, and alleged that Major Iqbal gave him $25,000 in cash in 2006 to visit India. Indias Ministry of External Affairs and its Ministry for Home Affairs, which is responsible for counter-terrorism, declined to comment on the Interpol notices yesterday.
But B. Raman, a retired senior Indian intelligence officer, said it was unlikely the warrant would have been issued without corroboration for Headleys claims.
Indian investigators are alleged to have found evidence in an investigation into a man suspected of being an ISI agent in Uttar Pradesh.
Waqas Ahmad, who was arrested near Kanpur last year, was suspected of reporting back to the same telephone number in Pakistan that Headley said he had used to speak to his alleged handlers three serving Pakistan officers. B Raman however said it was highly unlikely the officers would ever be identified or arrested.
No one knows if these are their real names, its on the basis of what Headley said, he said.
[Dawn] The United States Thursday admitted the situation in Pak tribal areas was "difficult and complex" as tensions with Islamabad escalated over US dronezaps on forces of Evil and a border row.
Earlier, Pakistain's foreign ministry said there was "no justification" for escalated US dronezaps on its soil believed to be targeting beturbanned goons blamed for plotting mass casualty attacks in Europe.
"We believe that (the attacks) are counter-productive and also a violation of our illusory sovereignty," Pak foreign ministry front man Abdul Basit told news hounds, calling on the United States to "revisit its policy."
White House front manMinister of Information Robert Washington Bob Gibbs habitually declines to comment on the strikes by unmanned drone aircraft armed with missiles, believed to be carried out by the CIA, and did not immediately respond directly to Basit's remarks.
But despite current elevated tensions, as the Afghan war moves into its 10th year, he praised Pakistain's role in the US anti-terror campaign.
"We understand the situation is difficult and complex. We are heartened by the activities that the government of Pakistain has undertaken to put Al-Qaeda under the type of pressure in the tribal areas that it has never faced before."
However, The infamous However... in a leaked report to Congress this week, the administration warned that Pak forces were avoiding "direct conflict" with the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the lawless northwest tribal zone.
And it said the Pak military had continued operations against cut-throats in South Wazoo, but added that soldiers stayed close to roads and that operations were progressing "slowly."
The United States has launched 27 dronezaps in a new wave since September 3, while more than 1,100 people have died in 143 strikes since the campaign began in August 2008.
Washington and Islamabad are also at odds over the killing of two Pak soldiers on Pak soil after they were mistaken for beturbanned goons by a US helicopter crew.
The incident prompted Pakistain to close the main Nato supply route into Afghanistan. The crossing remains shut, despite apologies from US ambassador to Islamabad Anne Patterson and Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
About 6,500 oil tankers and supply vehicles have been stranded in Pakistain for more than a week, waiting for the route to reopen to supplies heading for the 152,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan.
As the tankers have backed up, they have become vulnerable: about 120 Nato vehicles have been destroyed in gun and arson attacks over the past week as the Taliban beturbanned goons step up efforts to disrupt the supply route.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#3
No formal timeline given yet, but ISLAMABAD = PAKISTAN is repor mulling REOPENING its closed boders once again to US-NATO Supply Trucks.
* NEWS KERALA > [Rogue]PAK ISI ELEMENTS STILL HELPING TALIBAN: US; + [TTP] TALIBAN IS MOST POPULAR POLITICAL PARTY IN PAKISTAN RURAL AREAS.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > WSJ: PAKISTAN SPY AGENCY URGING TALIBAN TO FIGHT US [ISI Officers threatening to arrest any Taliban whom do not obey ISI orders].
Not good news at all for Islamabad's relations wid Washington DC.
-------------
* ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > KASHMIR DID NOT [histor legally] MERGE WID INDIA:ABDULLAH [J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah].
ARTIC > ABDULLAH = "ACCESSION" TO INDIA BY COMMON AGREEMENT IS NOT FORMAL MERGER OR NATIONAL INCORPORATION INTO INDJUH, NOR WAS EVAR!INTENDED TO BE; KASHMIR-INDIA AGREEMENT has been misunderstood or misinterpreted by many on all sides.
[Dawn] The Afghan and US governments have recently made contact with Islamic exemplar group the Haqqani network, one of the most feared foes of Nato forces in Afghanistan, a British paper reported Thursday.
The government of Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai took part in direct talks with senior members of the Haqqani group over the summer, said the Guardian daily, citing Pak and Arab sources.
The United States, through a Western intermediary, has made indirect contacts over the past year, said the paper.
Talks between the Haqqanis and both countries were extremely tentative, it added.
The Haqqani network's leadership is based in North Wazoo, in Pakistain's tribal northwest, an area which has been targeted by a wave of US dronezaps in recent weeks.
The group is loyal to the Taliban and has been blamed for some of the most deadly strikes in Afghanistan. It has close ties with foreign thug groups including Al-Qaeda.
Asked whether talks involving Haqqani, Karzai and the US were taking place, a senior Pak official cited in the paper said "you wouldn't be wrong" but refused to comment further.
Western, Arab and Pak official sources cited in the paper said the Haqqanis believe a negotiated settlement is the most likely outcome of the Afghan conflict and do not want to be left out of any deal.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has taken over military leadership of the Haqqani group from his father Jalaluddin, "realises he could be a nobody if he doesn't enter the process," said a diplomat involved in the discussions.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Dawn] Pak security officials Thursday rejected a report claiming that a British-origin Pak snuffy tasked with attacks in Europe died in a US dronezap last month.
British media reports identifying the snuffy as Abdul Jabbar said he was being groomed to head a new al Qaeda splinter group in Britain that planned to launch terror attacks on Europe.
"I have no knowledge of any such snuffy. No one with this name existed and I will say no one of British origin died in recent dronezap," a security bigshot at Islamabad told AFP.
Intelligence officials in Miramshah also dismissed the report as baseless.
"This report is just speculation," one intelligence official told AFP.
Another intelligence official clarified that an Egyptian national, Abdul Latif, was reportedly killed in a dronezap last month but said no one of British origin was killed.
"We have no report of anyone with the name of Abdul Jabber," he said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.
The United States has massively ramped up its drone campaign in Pakistain's lawless northwest tribal region on the Afghan border, amid intelligence claims of a Mumbai-style terror plot to launch commando attacks on European cities.
The plot was reportedly caught in its early planning stages, according to media reports.
According to Pak officials the US has launched a record 26 dronezaps since September 3 that have killed nearly 150 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
"We have no report of anyone with the name of Abdul Jabber,"
Now there's a beautiful bit of British dry humor.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/08/2010 5:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I stopped reading soon when I got to ..... "Pak security officials reported."
[Dawn] Pakistain said Thursday there was "no justification nor understanding" for US dronezaps on its soil that have ramped up to record levels in the past month.
"We believe that they are counter-productive and also a violation of our illusory sovereignty," foreign ministry front man Abdul Basit told news hounds, adding:
"We hope that the US will revisit its policy."
Basit said that the drone war was "not serving the larger strategic interests, especially in the context of our efforts to win hearts and minds, which is part and parcel of our strategy against gunnies and terrorists".
Eight people were killed Wednesday in the latest attacks by the pilotless planes against gunnies in North Wazoo tribal district, security officials said.
The US has launched a record number of strikes since September 3 -- a total of 26 dronezaps that have killed 149 people, according to officials.
Since August 2008, 142 strikes have been launched, killing more than 1,100 people.
Officials in Washington say in the past drone strikes have killed a number of high-value targets including former Pak Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and it has branded the remote border region the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.
However, The infamous However... the attacks fuel anti-American sentiment in the country.
Is there anything that doesn't fuel anti-American sentiment in that country?
Pakistain's ambassador in Washington, Hussein Haqqani, told the BBC that the increase in strikes in North Wazoo came after intelligence agencies uncovered the plot to "attack multiple targets in Europe".
He also said that a drone strike on Monday in the district which killed eight thugs, including five Germans, was linked to the plot.
The United States does not as a rule confirm dronezaps, but its military and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the pilotless aircraft in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
The Hague Convention of 1907 "a neutral country has the obligation not to allow its territory to be used by a belligerent. If the neutral country is unwilling or unable to prevent this, the other belligerent has the right to take appropriate counteraction."
I'd say real international law does provide justification.
The Corrie family is demanding a symbolic $1 in punitive damages from the state for wrongful killing and negligence.
Ms. Corrie, along with other agitators from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was trying to block two army bulldozers from demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah when she was skwooshed on March 16, 2003. The commander of the two-man bulldozer team denied seeing Corrie, but ISM agitators said in affidavits that the bulldozer driver could see her while pushing dirt on her body.
On Thursday it was the turn of Shalom Michaeli, who headed the military police investigation into Corrie's death, to testify in Haifa District Court. During most of his testimony, Mr. Michaeli was cool and self-confident. But on several occasions his voice rose and he told Corrie family attorney Hussein Abu Hussein to "stop putting words in my mouth."
He said that an army manual specifying that the D-9 bulldozer should not be operated near people was not relevant in a situation of war. "There was war going on between the Israel Defense Forces and all the people in that area," said Michaeli.
Corrie's long-time lefty parents have paid about $50,000 for translation alone since the case started early this year, doing their part for "the cause", by suing Israel, the United States, Caterpillar Corporation, and a bunch of others no doubt.
(KUNA) -- Israel stepped up military air action against Paleostinian targets on Thursday, carrying out at least four strikes, latest of which was against a civilian car south of Gazoo city.
An Israeli missile-equipped drone struck a Golf car passing on Al-Meghrafah bridge south of the city, firing a single rocket in the direction of the vehicle. The missile crashed close to the car wounding its four passengers, medical and security sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Near Beit Hanoun passageway, Israeli troops opened fire at a group of Paleostinian workers who were collecting stones, wounding one. The worker, suffering from medium cuts, was transported to Martyr Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Earlier today, Israeli warplanes carried two raids targeting a training camp for Izz-Eddine Al-Qassam, the military arm of the Islamic Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement in Gazoo city. Five Paleostinians were maimed and massive damage was inflicted in these attacks.
The Israeli Army said the air strikes were in retaliation for firing two missiles, on Wednesday, in the direction of an Israeli town located close to the Gazoo Strip.
The Israeli warplanes also raided an empty farmland east of Zeitoun village, east of Gazoo city. An air-to-surface missile caused a deep crater in a cultivated field in the region.
The new attacks coincided with intensive Israeli overflights over Gazoo.
Israeli military said the raids early today were executed after Hamas fired missiles towards the Western Negev area in Israel.
On Wednesday, the Israeli Army said two Paleostinian rockets fell on Ashkol town, east of Khan Younis in the south of Gazoo Strip.
The escalated tit-for-tat attacks coincided with a crucial phase of the US-mediated Israeli-Paleostinian peace negotiations, with Washington trying to persuade its regional strategic ally, Israel, to cease settlement activities, as a tactic intended to entice the Paleostinians pursue the peace talks.
Some Paleostinian factions, namely the Islamists, have slammed the talks as a process that would not ultimately end up with attaining the Paleostinians' rights and ending the occupation of the Paleostinian territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN REFUSES TO REOPEN BORDER DESPITE US APOLOGY.
The US + IRAN indir inch closer to mil conflict???
#2
An air-to-surface missile caused a deep crater in a cultivated field
Hmmm. Now what could have been sitting at those geographic coordinates before it was replaced with all that deep emptiness? Inquiring minds want to know.
[Al Arabiya] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas signaled his intention to resign if US peace talks with Israel fail, a front man for the Paleostinian National Council (PNC) said Thursday.
In a PNC meeting early this week, President Abbas said, "I may be sitting on this (presidency) chair only for another week," according to Khalid Mismar.
A senior Paleostinian official said on Thursday he saw no hope of a serious peace processor with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in some of the darkest comments to date on the U.S.-mediated talks.
A senior Paleostinian official said on Thursday he saw no hope of a serious peace processor with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in some of the darkest comments to date on the U.S.-mediated talks.
Yasser Abed Rabbo's remarks signaled deep Paleostinian skepticism about the outlook for the talks, which began on Sept. 2 but have been on hold since an Israeli moratorium on new settlement building in the West Bank expired last week.
The United States wants the talks to continue and has been trying to find a formula to save the negotiations.
"There will be no serious political process while Netanyahu's government pursues settlements," Abed Rabbo told Voice of Paleostine radio.
"I can go further still and say that there will be no serious political process with Netanyahu's government."
Netanyahu, who heads a cabinet dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own Likud, has said he will not extend the freeze which his government had enforced for 10 months.
Abbas and Netanyahu met three times before the end of the moratorium. The Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) said on Saturday talks would not resume until Israel halted settlement building on land where the Paleostinians aim to found a state.
The United States and European Union had called on Israel to extend the settlement freeze. The expiry of the moratorium had been seen as an early obstacle facing U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama's push to end the six-decade-old conflict within a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#3
Abbas has threatened to resign at least a dozen times. Sometimes it has to do with relations with Gaza, sometimes with relations with the PA legislature, sometimes with relations with his own cabinet, sometimes with relations with Israel.
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/08/2010 8:49 Comments ||
Top||
[Iran Press TV] Iran's ambassador to Afghanistan has dismissed claims that 22 tons of explosives seized by the Afghan officials were smuggled from Iran.
Explosives hidden in children's toys. Don't forget that trifling detail.
On Tuesday, some foreign news outlets reported that the Afghan police had seized the explosives in a customs office in the Afghanistan's western province of Nimroz that borders Iran.
"According to the Afghani officials and one of the officials of the Nimroz province, the cargo belonged to an Afghan and had been transited to Afghanistan from China," Fada Hossein Maleki said on Thursday.
Across the bridge from Iran? That seems an odd route.
"The cargo was investigated and it turned out that its contents were fireworks not explosives," Mehr news agency quoted Maleki as saying.
The Iranian envoy dismissed the report as a "sheer lie", adding that the report was possibly a plot to damage Iran's good relations with Afghanistan.
They are? I didn't know that.
The Afghan officials have expressed regret that the cargo had been linked to Iran, Maleki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran refutes Afghan cargo report
Because, as even a terrorist thug government knows, that would be unethical.
They are? I didn't know that.
If the US keeps playing the part of the weak horse, this will turn out to be true.
[An Nahar] Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit denied Cairo was arming Lebanese Sunni groups. He also denied Egypt was training or financing these groups. "This is a lie," Abul Gheit said in a television interview.
"Some people in Leb want to have a single control over the country, and this issue is linked to Iran," he stressed.
"Financing, arming or training of militias is against Egypt's method, because this issue will lead to the destruction of Leb," Abul Gheit thought.
He said Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, agrees on the need to support Leb.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Hizbullah's foreign relations chief Ammar Moussawi criticized on Thursday the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society' direct meddling in the functioning of the Special Tribunal for Leb.
Hizbullah said in a statement after Moussawi's meeting with Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Geir Pedersen that the U.N.'s refusal to grant Major General Jamil Sayyed documents on the international investigation is interference in the STL.
It added that the U.N. has no right to exercise hegemony over the international tribunal or intervene in it.
Furthermore, it noted that this latest development confirms "without a doubt" that the investigation and tribunal are being politicized to serve the interests of major international powers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
The Hazbullies doth protest too much.
The evidence against them is overwhelming and accurate.
They are squirming like a fish on a hook, blaming anyone else but themselves.
The Lebanese people need to stand up once and for all and throw both Hezbollah and Syria out of their otherwise beautiful country.
[An Nahar] The Head of Defense Office of the Special Tribunal for Leb, François Roux, on Thursday announced the appointment and arrival of Alia Aoun as his Deputy.
"Aoun, a Lebanese national, was trained in law at St. Joseph University in Leb. Since completing her training, Aoun practiced law in Paris, France for 15 years. In her law practice, she focuses on the representation of persons before the criminal courts," said a communiqué released by the Defense Office.
Aoun is also founder and president of the Association of Lawyers and Jurists for Leb.
"As an active member of the Bar, Ms. Aoun brings a significant experience to the Defense Office," added the communiqué.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] A delegation from Hizbullah's political bureau on Thursday held talks with Arab Democratic Party leader Ali Eid at his residence in Akkar.
The delegation condemned "the recurrent grenade attacks every now and then" in Tripoli's rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabaneh, urging security forces to arrest the perpetrators and publicly reveal their identities.
The Hizbullah delegation called for punishing those behind such attacks "to prevent the recurrence of such acts, because Tripoli's security is vital for Leb's security."
On the other hand, the delegation called for settling the jurisdiction issue in the false witnesses case, noting that the Lebanese judiciary must become in charge of the case "without any delay, so that they (false witnesses) and those behind them get the punishment they deserve."
Eid and Hizbullah's delegation stressed "the need to enhance Lebanese-Syrian relations and complete the implementation of the inked agreements between the two counties."
They agreed on maintaining constant communication "in order to face up to any development."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji on Thursday warned that the military will confront attempts to stir discord.
"There are no negative signs at present of repercussions of regional conflicts on the Lebanese arena," Qahwaji said during a meeting with command chiefs and unit commanders in Yarze.
"The more Leb is immune, the less vulnerable the country is from external repercussions," he added.
He gave instructions regarding the necessary tasks of the units in the next phase -- at the forefront to defend Leb against Israeli threats, combat terrorism and preserve civil peace.
On the internal situation, Qahwaji said that differences between the various Lebanese sides are basically a democratic phenomenon, particularly if it does not harm fundamental national principles.
"But linking this variation with statements on division and strife pose a threat to the country and we will not allow that at all," he warned.
Qahwaji said there is no "fear on the path of security and stability in Leb regardless of how much these developments reach."
"The army will strongly confront any attempts to stir discord or put our own citizens at risk under any circumstances," he warned.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad is planning to throw a rock at Israel during his visit to Leb, the New York Times quoted al-Manar TV, Hezbullies's television station in Leb.
Golly. Will he put one toe over the line, too?
After Ahmadinejad's scheduled meeting with Lebanese officials in Beirut, he plans to tour southern Leb.
Ahmadinejad will take part in various events during his southern Leb visit, and one of the events is the inauguration of a garden where he will perform his symbolic gesture to throw a rock at the direction of Israel.
'Not welcome' group tells Ahmadinejad Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a Sunni Islamist group in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli sent a blunt "not welcome" message to Ahmadinejad on Thursday ahead of his visit to the country.
Several banners and pictures of the Iranian leader, who is due in Leb October 13-14, went up in the mainly Sunni port city expressing discontent at the visit.
"You are not welcome in Leb", read in Arabic one banner hung over a pedestrian bridge in the Abu Samra neighborhood and signed by the Islamic Labour Front-Emergency Committee.
"No to Wilayat al-Faqih" said another banner in a nearby neighborhood, referring to Iran's brand of Islamic rule.
A picture of the hardline leader in another part of the city bore an X over his face and a message that read "Wilayat al-Faqih is not welcome here".
The doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih, as it is called in Iran, grants absolute authority over all matters -- religious, social and political -- to a marja, or senior spiritual leader.
Next week's visit will be Ahmadinejad's first official trip to Leb at the invitation of his counterpart Michel Sleiman.
The visit has sparked controversy, with members of the pro-Western parliamentary majority calling Ahmadinejad's plan to tour the border region with Israel a "provocation" and Washington also expressing concern.
Iran is a key ally of Leb's Shiite Islamic myrmidon group Hezbullies, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Washington.
Iran is an overwhelmingly Shiite Mohammedan country. In multi-confessional Leb, Mohammedans are the majority, with Shiites and Sunnis each accounting for a bit over 30 percent of the four-million population. Around 34 percent are Christians.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
A 'short round' needs to go thru the head of that beady eyed weasel, Ammadinjehead.
If I were Israel, I would have a battalion of sharpshooters near the border that day.
Brownie points for bagging that piece of human feces - Nasrallah too.
Target rich environment.
(Itar-Tass) -- Russia will pay Iran only 166.8 million U.S. dollars as compensation payment over the cancelled contract on the supply of its S-300 air defence missile systems, the director of Russian Technologies State Corporation Sergei Chemezov stated on Thursday.
"We have received an advance payment of 166.8 million U.S. dollars under the contract, and in line with the contract's force majeure provision we shall repay the sum we have received as advance payment," said. "We shall pay this exact sum, not a single cent in excess," he said.
According to Chemezov, the U.N. Security Council resolution, following which the Russian president ordered to ban S-300 supplies to Iran be a decree, falls under the definition of force majeure circumstances. "In this connection we have cancelled the contract and are paying back the advance money we have received," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
the contract's force majeure provision
A Latin phrase meaning "sucks to be you". So how long did the Rooskis sit on the 167 mil? Seems like this deal has been going on and off forever.
#4
ION TOPIX > US WORRIED OVER GROWING TURKEY, CHINA, IRAN NEXUS.
* RUSSIA TODAY > RUSSIA'S NEW NAVAL BASE IN VIETNAM [return to Cam Ranh Bay]. Iff Moscow makes a final political decision, the RussNav may begin refurbishing Can Ranh Bay facils as early as 2013.
Lest we fergit, NET > CHINA'S ANGST OER INDIAN CARRIER PORT LEASE WID VIETNAM, + LATTER'S POTENS GRANTING OF PORT RIGHTS TO EVERYONE EXCEPT CHINA + CPLAN???
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > [PRC Fishing Fleets]CHINESE CIVILIANS STIR DISPUTED WATERS [Econ Proxies of Beijing + CPLAN for Chin's sovereign interests]
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.
Just last month pastor Terry Jones became a scandalous figure because he threatened to exercise his 1st Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and free speech in a manner that would have violated Sharia law.
