[Arab News] Iraq's armed forces chief of staff under Saddam Hussein at the time of the 2003 invasion has died of cancer in a Storied Baghdad hospital after seven years behind bars, the Justice Ministry said on Friday.
Gen. Ibrahim Ahmed Abdul Sattar "died early Thursday at Al-Karkh Hospital where he was ill with cancer," Justice Ministry front man Busho Ibrahim said.
US troops jugged Abdul Sattar on May 15, 2003, a month after the fall of Baghdad in the US-led invasion. The general was jugged at the US military's Camp Cropper detention facility but transferred to an Iraqi-run prison in Baghdad last July.
Abdul Sattar, 54, was from Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, sharing tribal roots with Saddam.
He was chief of staff from 1999 up until the invasion and was the "Jack of Spades" in the set of playing cards devised by the US military to help troops identify the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.
In August 2007, Abdul Sattar was put on trial for the violent repression of a Shiite uprising in 1991 after Iraq's ouster from Kuwait by a US-led multinational coalition.
Abdul Sattar was the second senior ex-Saddam official to die in prison. Former Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza Al-Zubaidi died at a US military hospital on Dec. 2, 2005 but the cause was not announced.
This article starring:
Ibrahim Ahmed Abdul Sattar
Mohammed Hamza Al-Zubaidi
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Another one bites the dust,
Another one bites the dust,
And another one's Gone,
Another one gone,
Another one bites the dust,
Oh Gonna get you too,
Another one bites the dust,
(Oh yeah)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/30/2010 17:41 Comments ||
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#2
"died of cancer"
Hope it was painful.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/30/2010 17:51 Comments ||
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AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai demanded an explanation from NATO's command in Afghanistan for a drugs raid carried out by the United States and Russia without his Government's permission.
"No organisation or institution has the right to carry out such military operations inside the territory of our country without permission and agreement from the Islamic Government of Afghanistan," a statement from his office said.
"Afghanistan condemns this act by NATO and announces that such unilateral operations are a clear violation of Afghan sovereignty as well as international law, and any repetition will be met by the required reaction from our side."
The statement said Mr Karzai had ordered an investigation by the ministries of defence and interior, to report back to him.
Moscow's senior drugs control official said on Friday that Russia and the United States had destroyed four drug laboratories in their first joint anti-drug operation in Afghanistan. The raid netted more than a tonne of heroin and morphine worth $US250 million ($256.1 million), as well as equipment, Viktor Ivanov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
The report said Afghan interior ministry officials had been involved in the operation.
Russia frequently criticises what it describes as the inadequate anti-drug policies of United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, leading to an increased flow of drugs into Russia through Central Asia.
Ivanov travelled to Washington last week to discuss co-operation in fighting drug trafficking and accused the United States of failing to destroy heroin laboratories and crack down on poppy-growing landowners.
Russian drug control authorities have estimated that 30,000 Russians died in 2009 from using Afghan heroin, and that a million have died in the past decade.
Afghanistan produces and supplies most of the world's opium in an industry estimated to be worth almost $US3 billion a year, which helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency.
#1
He stopped just short of saying the US and Russia need to make all the baddies, including himself, in this raid whole...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/30/2010 9:12 Comments ||
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#2
Time to go. Past time to go in fact. We are supporting a criminal enterprise, one based on creating addicts for its products. And at least a portion of the sales of the addicting drugs funds our enemies.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/30/2010 9:38 Comments ||
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#3
Hey, give me a heads up if you are going to do anything that might cut into my boodle.
#4
So, Hamid, talk to your buddies in Tehran and tell them to up your cut to make up for the shortfall.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/30/2010 14:19 Comments ||
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#5
"No organisation or institution has the right to carry out such military operations inside the territory of our country without permission and agreement from the Islamic Government of Afghanistan,"
When the national police (interior ministry) is complicit in the drugs operation, notification of the government would be counter-productive. It would be logical to assume that thee individuals would gain advance knowledge of the operation potentially diminishing its effectiveness.
Surely the government of Afghanistan understands that as to believe otherwise would be to cast the government as naive.
(KUNA) -- The U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke on Friday assured the U.S. will not repeat the same mistakes of abandoning Afghanistan or open-ended troop deployment as transition process nears. We've got an entire new set of mistakes to make.
Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistain, said he was "quite comfortable with pressing for full implementation of the transitional process, in an orderly way."
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai will announce the start of the transitional process on November 15th. The upcoming announcement will come less than a week before Karzais scheduled trip to Lisbon for the summit for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member-states aimed at kick starting the process of returning control of Afghanistan to local security forces from 2011. U.
S. President Barack B.O. Obama and leaders from the NATO and all the countries within the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) will be in attendance.
"It's an orderly transition over a number of years for the Afghans, and it will happen in all fields. We are never repeating the mistake of 1989 and abandoning Afghanistan; nor are we going to have an open-ended troop commitment, because no war can go on indefinitely, and Afghanistan cannot bear the pain and costs of a continued war indefinitely," Holbrooke asserted.
"We now are going to work out the details, between now and November 15th, for an orderly transition," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
New, audacious, and far more expensive mistakes than have ever before been carried out.
(KUNA) -- The United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society High Commissioner for Refugees was alarmed on Friday by a fast deteriorating humanitarian situation at the northern part of the Kenya-Somali border. "This week had seen hundreds of Somalis continuing to flee festivities between Al-Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa, a militia group allied to the transitional Somali Government, in the Somali border town of Beled Hawo," said the spokeman of The UNHCR Adrian Edwards in a press briefeing in Geneva.
As of yesterday, more than 7,100 refugees were squatting at Border Point One, some 500 meters from the Kenya Somali border. These were mostly women, children and the elderly. Their security and health conditions were deteriorating by the hour. Some had been camping out in the open at Border Point One since 17 October when the fighting broke out, he explained.
Thanks to the Islamic Relief Worldwide, a UNHCR partner agency, one of the trucks had been shot at while delivering supplies to refugees at Border Point One, resulting in humanitarian activities having to be suspended. On Friday the UNHCR resumed distribution of relief supplies after the Kenyan authorities had provided security at the site. UNHCR was also carrying out rapid health screening so that the sick could get some immediate treatment. Shelter remained a big concern as it had been raining for days in the region. The UNHCR deployed more staff to Mandera. Should festivities resume in Beled Hawo, UNHCR's concern was that many lives would be at risk with so many refugees in such proximity of fighting. UNHCR urged the Kenyan authorities to allow relocation of these people as soon as possible.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Morocco has suspended Al Jizz's operations in the country by withdrawing the press accreditations of the network's staff based there.
It's not nice to snicker, however justified it may seem. Keep reminding yourself of this as you read the article.
The Moroccan communications ministry said in a statement on Friday that the sanctions followed "numerous failures in following the rules of serious and responsible journalism".
Really. It isn't nice.
A government official who declined to be named said the authorities took exception "to the way Al Jizz handles the issues of Islamists and Western Sahara".
The Moroccan statement, which was reported by the official MAP news agency, said Al Jizz's broadcasts had "seriously distorted Morocco's image and manifestly damaged its interests, most notably its territorial integrity".
Whew! That's a big result for a little bit of journalizing
.Al Jizz had showed a "determination to only broadcast from our country negative facts and phenomena in a deliberate effort to minimise Morocco's efforts in all aspects of development and to knowing belittle its achievements and progress on democracy", the statement said.
Consequences, they a bitch.
Separatist movement
A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975. The move was violently opposed by separatist Polisario fighters until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
Polisario wants a UN-organised referendum that would give the Sahrawi people three choices: attachment to Morocco, independence or autonomy under Moroccan illusory sovereignty.
Morocco backs the option of broad autonomy for the territory, but rejects any notion of independence for Western Sahara.
"It's a very surprising decision from the government, especially because there was no legal background. It's just a very administrative and political decision," Vincent Brossel of Reporters without Borders told Al Jizz from Gay Paree.
He said that RSF "suspect that this decision is linked to the way your channel has been covering different issues, especially the Western Sahara, and I think it's mainly because you open your microphone to all sides, and not only the government's side".
"I think it's mainly because you are doing your job, which is quite unfair."
The government recently prevented a Spanish journalist from travelling to the Western Sahara, Brossel noted.
"It's unfortunately a sort of new trend in Morocco. When foreign media is doing its job, you can be in trouble".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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AyPee, so a summary: Iran tried to get arms to Gaza via trucking from Nigeria. 13 Shipping containers carrying arms, rockets, etc., shipped from Bandar Abbas, and marked "packages of glass wool and pallets of stone"
Israeli pilots destroyed another Iranian arms convoy headed through the African desert not so long ago, as I recall...
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2010 08:34 ||
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#1
Israeli pilots destroyed another Iranian arms convoy headed through the African desert not so long ago, as I recall...
#4
It might also have been meant for some other groups than Hamas or Hezbollah; for instance, some group in the Niger Delta region. Although they're nominally Christian in affiliation, I could imagine some non-Christian groups with an interest in higher oil prices funneling arms there in order to make trouble for Nigerian oil production and therefore raising the price of oil.
#5
But that's just a wild-ass guess; I suspect at least some of the groups there would have problems accepting arms from that source, for other reasons and for fear that it would be some sort of setup.
It's a long long haul from Nigeria to Egypt, and it passes through all sorts of disputed territories along the way, with all sorts of interesting people.
[Yemen Post] The Separatist Movement, Al-Harak, in the south intends to escalate its struggle to prevent Yemen from holding the 20th Gulf Cup in Aden and Abyan Provinces later this year, a movement leader said on Thursday.
I thought holding the World Cup in South Africa was risky enough ...
We will use all forms of peaceful struggle to thwart the football championship and Aden will be unsafe for it, Shalal Ali Shaye'a said, few days after the authorities said the investigations of the criminal mastermind of the deadly attacks on the Al-Wahda Sports Club early this month had revealed he had sponsored and been involved in the attacks.
What the Yemeni government says over the situation in the south is untrue and the government can't make the event a success, he said.
After the attacks on the club, which killed four and injured at least 17 others, some suspects were jugged including the criminal mastermind who confessed to planning and carrying out the attacks.
The criminal mastermind also said a prominent politician, who was later identified by the government as Harak leader Shaye'a, had been involved in the twin blasts, which took place at a time when Yemen is saying it is ready and prepared every thing for hosting the championship during November 22 to December 5.
As the trial of the suspects started, the prosecution said they had confessed to the involvement of Shaye'a in planning and coordinating the attacks.
But Shaye'a declined to comment on the confessions, saying the trial was a scenario by the government, which usually fabricates stories and accusations.
The suspects are innocent and the case was clearly fabricated, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
MOre proof once again that many ISLAMISTS + MILTERRS HATE SOCCER [ + by hopefully by extension what RAP = NOT-1960's-BUG-MUSIC, ETAL. DID TO MTV].
They want the NFL, NBA, + Baseball, etc. although I'm not sure how they'll get dem Goat, Camel Babes to serve as FEMME PROFESSIONAL CHEERLEADERS???
#3
Most times I can't figure out what Joe is saying.
Then there are times when I can, and it worries me ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/30/2010 10:56 Comments ||
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#4
Most times I can't figure out what Joe is saying.
Not so hard, common lisp.
Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where ||
10/30/2010 14:31 Comments ||
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#5
I read Joe's postings as a collected whole and catch the "Flavor" so to speak.
It's easier if yousimply emember that English is NOT his language and he's trying to communicate(However poorly) so I give him a LOT of leeway.
He's trying.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/30/2010 17:13 Comments ||
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#6
Joe does just fine, perhaps a reference to the recent world basketball cheerleaders.
Perhaps the muslims hate soccer because this is the only cup a muslim country can win, and muslims are trying to get it cancelled.
#7
According to the CIA Factbook, the languages spoken on Guam break down as follows:
English 38.3%, Chamorro 22.2%, Philippine languages 22.2%, other Pacific island languages 6.8%, Asian languages 7%, other languages 3.5% (2000 census)
Given his familiarity with American popular culture -- considerably more than mine, but clearly he grew up with a television and I did not -- I suspect that English is at least one of JosephM's native tongues, Redneck Jim. He's just awfully fond of abbreviations.
#8
Also, I don't think he proofreads his literary essais (I think that's how the French is spelt -- feel free to correct me, it's not one of my native or non-native tongues).
[Bangla Daily Star] Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four party governing coalition.... yesterday announced a fresh programme for four days across the country, demanding unconditional release of the party leaders and workers nabbed from Mirpur on Thursday.
Starting from today, the programme will continue until November 3 with one day's break tomorrow. As part of the programme, Jamaat leaders and muscle will organise rallies in divisional cities, district and upazila headquarters and unions across the country.
Acting Secretary General of the party ATM Azharul Islam announced the programme at a presser at the party's central office in the city.
At the conference, he said police jugged 20 "innocent" members of Jamaat and its student body Islami Chhatra Shibir from the party's Mirpur office when they were attending a doa mahfil.
About the seizure of Jihadi books, Azharul said, "Which are the Jihadi books.... It [the government] is identifying Islamic books as Jihadi books. Has the government banned any Jihadi or Islamic book?"
The Jamaat leader said that in the name of recovering bombs from Jamaat men, the government is trying to hide the wrongdoings of pro-government people.
Azharul, however, ignored journalists while he was being asked repeatedly for his comment on Islami Chhatra Shibir president's remark about trying the prime minister and the home minister in a special tribunal.
Earlier on Thursday, Shibir president Rezaul Karim at a discussion said, "Listen, prime minister and home minister, you people would be tried upon formation of a special tribunal."
This article starring:
Azharul Islam
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Rezaul Karim
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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A Mesa aviation executive has been indicted on charges of illegally exporting engines and aircraft parts to Venezuela.
The two-count indictment alleges that Floyd Stilwell, Marsh Aviation Co. and others violated the Arms Export Control Act and engaged in a conspiracy in the export of T-76 engines designed for the OV-10 Bronco, a light armed reconnaissance aircraft suited for counterinsurgency missions.
Marsh Aviation reconditions aging airplane engines and converted World War II aircraft into firefighting air tankers for the government.
The engines that were reportedly sold are listed on the United States Munitions List, and their export is illegal without a license or written authorization from the State Department, according to the indictment, which was announced this week by federal prosecutors.
According to the in- dictment, Stilwell received $1.8 million in the deal.
The indictment also accuses Stilwell and Marsh Aviation of furnishing assistance to members of the Venezuelan air force in the assembly, testing, repair, maintenance, modification, operation and use of the T-76 military aircraft engine, without the required license or written authorization from the State Department.
Stilwell and Marsh Aviation were ordered to appear in federal court at an unspecified date.
As part of the alleged scheme, Stilwell changed the contract to reflect that the engines were the civilian versions of the T-76 and caused "materially false, misleading and incomplete information" to be placed on shipping documents, according to the indictment.
A conviction for a violation of the Arms Export Control Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, a $250,000 fine, or both.
A conviction for conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years, a $250,000 fine, or both. An investigation that preceded the indictment was conducted by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Service.
Marsh Aviation, which is based at Falcon Field Airport in northeast Mesa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 to protect it from creditors as it seeks to reorganize.
#1
Arms control export violations like this sound drastic but the reality is that the laws are so complicated most small businesses that do any business outside the US operates in violation of the law. Most businesses just don't realize how they are breaking the laws. For example, your WWII airplane breaks down at the Paris air show. You need a new prop. You get the local FBO to help you remove it. You wife sends you the new one while your removing the bad one. You box it up and send it home for repair. Your good to go before the show is over.
OK, first I hope you got State Dept approval,ITAR, for exporting a weapons system, to include all the radios and dynamic components, ie the airplane is concidered a weapons system. Allowing the French to help you work on it is a crime, allowing the French to make the box is a crime-not kidding, shipping the new prop before the old one reached the US is a crime, and flying or shipping the aircraft back into the US is another crime if you did not get an export license. Oh and the list of crimes the wife committed emailing the maintenance procedures can actually be the biggest crime. All with a ten year senence.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/30/2010 11:41 Comments ||
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#2
The International Traffic in Arms Regulation is pretty easy to understand if you have been in the business any length of time. The part that is easiest to understand is the "Country Policies and Embargoes" section. It is a fundamental part of the law. Usually when people try to get around the law, they are selling to China or North Korea, but Venezuela is also on the embargoed list and has been for the last four years. (http://pmddtc.state.gov/embargoed_countries/index.html) There is no legal way to sell anything that is on the munitions list to Venezuela. OV-10 engines are obviously on the munitions list. This guy is either a crook or too stupid to be in the business. I suspect that he thought he was being very clever and was being paid a premium price for circumventing US law.
#3
I guess in my 27 years of experience I am still too stupid to understand the rules. The only thing I know for sure, small business or not, ya gotta hire export compliance attorneys. Found out yesterday that my emailing instructions to a US crew chief to fix our US aircraft (track and balance procedures) is a violation. For a civil aircraft/ cat dual use.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/30/2010 19:08 Comments ||
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#4
49 Pan, didn't mean to imply that the rules can't be a pain, only that selling hardware on the munitions list to Chavez's Venezuela is a pretty clear-cut violation. I have worked foreign military sales since 1975 and they tend to be pretty clear cut. The direct commercial sales world is a lot murkier. Some of it is controlled by the State Department and some by the Department of Commerce. The dual-use stuff is tricky. I am surprised that sending tech data to your own guys for your own use is a violation.
#5
Unbelievable and messy. I have seen it before with the FBO/service centers. They don't enter in the FMS arena and then a deal pops up and they have no idea they are in violation or even where to look. I know this guy and the report is not entirely true. The OV 10 overhauls he does were all for the US fire dept and as an ag sprayer in the US. So even though it was an OV 10 it was domestic. Most of these little guys have no idea.
I have, unfortunately, suffered the trade compliance world way too much. From FMS/FMF to commercial aircraft sales and support to operational 135 carriers in odd locations. The point of the tech manual was a real issue. If you have an ITAR controlled aircraft and you fly it to UAE and need to work on it, the technical manual is ITAR and needs the license. It is just crazy.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/30/2010 23:26 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Talks to arrange a high-level meeting between the American-led United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Command (UNC) and North Korea on the sinking of a South Korean warship have broken down from the North's refusal, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency reported Friday, citing a UNC official.
Colonel-level officers from the two sides had met earlier this week for the seventh time since mid-July to set up a general-grade officers' meeting to discuss the March sinking of the Cheonan but failed to make any progress. "Colonel-level talks with North Korea eventually broke down as the North's side refused to hold the general-level talks at the seventh round of meetings on Wednesday," Yonhap quoted the UNC official as saying. "No other meetings have been scheduled," he added.
The UNC, which supervises an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, confirmed that the North's military "declined to hold General Officer Talks and continued to refuse to accept the procedure laid out in the Armistice Agreement for conducting a joint investigation." A South Korea-led multinational investigation team concluded in May that the Cheonan corvette was torpedoed by a North Korean submarine, killing 46 sailors. The North denies any involvement and insists Seoul allow Pyongyang's investigators to come and verify the results of the probe. South Korea has rejected the North's demand, saying the sinking should be handled under the framework of the armistice. The UNC is led by the top US commander in the South. The US has some 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Besides the DMZ land skirmish this AM, DAILY MAIL.UK is also repor a NAVAL SKIRMISH between the DPRK's + ROK's, the first in seven years.
NEXT UP - DPRK-VS-ROK FLYBOYS???
Although numerous Land-Sea borderincidnets had occurred throughout the Cold War, NORTH KOREA back then was NOT in the EXISTENTIAL NATIONAL DANGERS IT IS POST-9-11 + AFPAK.
(KUNA) - -Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said that his country has requested the extradition from Venezuela of a suspected activist of the snuffy Basque separatist group ETA.
Rubalcaba Said on a Press conference here today, that Spanish judge Eloy Velasco wants to question Cubillas, whom he suspects of promoting cooperation between ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Venezuela.
The government decided to file the request despite Caracas' refusal so far to hand over Arturo Cubillas, an official at the Venezuelan Agriculture Ministry.
The Spanish National Court said earlier that two ETA suspects who were nabbed in Spain recently claimed to have received weapons training overseen by Cubillas in Venezuela.
The case has created tension between Madrid and Venezuela, who denies protecting ETA. Caracas has promised to investigate the allegations against Cubillas.
ETA has killed some 850 people since 1968 in its fight for Basque independence in northern Spain and southern France.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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Turkey's government has been told that its relationship with the West could be damaged if it rejects Nato's request to house part of a £165m (190m) ballistic-missile defence shield designed to protect Europe from nuclear attack.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and defence secretary Robert Gates held out the warning in talks with Turkish officials ahead of the Nato summit on November 19, where a final decision will be made on the missile defence plan.
"Essentially, we've told Turkey that missile defence is an acid test of its commitment to the security arrangements it has with its Western allies," a senior US official said.
Nato's missile-defence programme is designed to protect Europe from nuclear-armed missiles that the West fears Iran may acquire in coming years.
The plan involves radar stations that can detect ballistic missile launches and advanced interceptor missiles that can shoot them down.
Turkey is critical of the project. The November 19 deadline has left Recep Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, torn between his Islamist supporters and his country's Western allies
[Al Jazeera] A Canadian-born detainee on trial at the US military prison at Guatanamo Bay has apologised to the widow of a US soldier he killed in Afghanistan.
"I'm really sorry for the pain I caused to your family. I wish I could do something to take that pain away," Omar Baby Face Khadr said on Thursday in his first remarks to the military tribunal.
Tabitha Speer had earlier spoken at the trial about her husband, a special forces medic who was mortally maimed by a grenade that Khadr admits throwing during a four-hour battle.
"My husband was a good man," she said. "You will forever be a murderer in my eyes."
Speer said that Khadr, who was aged 15 at the time of his capture, must be held responsible for his actions despite his youth as he had chosen to remain at the compound when US forces had allowed women and kiddies to leave.
"You had your choice and you stayed," she said during an hour of testimony.
"Everyone wants to say he's the child, he's the victim," Speer said. "I don't see that. My children are the victims."
She also read from letters written by daughter Taryn, 11, and eight-year-old son Tanner. Taryn, addressing her words directly to Khadr, wrote how she was mad "at you for what you did to my family. Because of you, my dad never got to see me play soccer... you make me really sad".
Khadr bowed his head as Speer spoke and did not look up as she directly addressed him.
Khadr admitted to the killing of Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer as part of a plea deal that was announced to the court on Monday. He also admitted placing 10 roadside kabooms in Afghanistan and spying on US convoys to assess the best ways to attack them.
The exact terms of the plea deal were not immediately disclosed, but Khadr is due to be sentenced by a military jury in the coming days. The sentence they impose is bound by the plea deal.
Khadr would be allowed to trasfer back to his native Canada after serving a year of his sentence as part of the deal, the military judge in charge of the case said.
The seven-member military jury is hearing testimony to recommend a sentence against Khadr which will only have force if it is less severe than under the plea deal terms.
The UN representative for children and armed conflict has urged the military tribunal to release Khadr and send him to a rehabilitation programme in Canada, comparing him to other youths who have been recruited to fight by unscrupulous adults.
"In every sense Omar represents the classic child soldier narrative," Radhika Coomaraswamy, a UN undersecretary-general, wrote in a letter.
Also on Thursday, a US Navy captain who worked at Guantanamo told the hearing that Khadr showed strong potential for turning his life around and that he had not seemed radicalised like other detainees.
"I believe that his age, his lack of experience, the fact that his father took him to Afghanistan leads me to believe he has rehabilitative potential," Captain Patrick McCarthy, a witness for the defence, said.
He said other detainees were "fanatical" but Khadr was different. "He was always very respectful," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer was unavailable to accept his apology
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2010 7:48 Comments ||
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#2
"I'm really sorry for the pain I caused to your family. I wish I could do something to take that pain away,"
A firing squad would ease the anguish greatly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/30/2010 10:10 Comments ||
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#3
...but Khadr was different. "He was always very respectful...
And a neighbor said He was a quiet young man that mostly kept to himself.
AMMAN Ailing former Iraqi deputy premier Tareq Aziz, sentenced to death for murder and crimes against humanity, has gone on hunger strike, his son said on Friday.
Go for it Tareq. May you succeed ...
My father and 25 other prisoners have been on a hunger strike since yesterday (Thursday), Ziad Aziz said in the Jordanian capital Amman where he lives. They are protesting because they could not receive the only monthly visit from friends and relatives set for the last Friday of each month, he said.
On Tuesday, Iraqs supreme criminal court found the long-time international face of the Saddam Hussein regime guilty of deliberate murder and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to death.
Ziad Aziz said his father and the other prisoners were still at the site of the court in Baghdads heavily-fortified Green Zone and had not been transferred back to prison where they could have received their monthly visit.
The authorities are using the excuse that the security resources necessary for accompanying their convoy are otherwise occupied because of the death in prison of Ibrahim Abdul Sattar, Saddams former armed forces chief of staff.
My father has not been able to receive a visit from our friends, who were going to take him medicines, magazines and books that we sent him from Amman, the younger Aziz said.
He will now have to wait until the end of November to get his medicine, which is unacceptable.
Aged 74 and in poor health, Aziz has been in prison since surrendering in April 2003, a month after the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
we wish you success. Die, you POS
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2010 0:15 Comments ||
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#2
And may you be joined in your eternal "reward" by all your friends and your father and the goat you rode in on.
Initially they breathed a sigh of relief, but the sensation quickly turned into worries. When last month Israel authorised the introduction of brand new automobiles into the Gaza Strip, people were very happy. But now the Hamas Interior Minister warned that those vehicles could be an updated version of the Trojan Horse. According to unconfirmed news, a bug installed by Israel secret services was found in one of the cars. It was enough for a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry to immediately issue a warning to the military heads of Hamas to not travel in any of the cars that have arrived from Israel. Before the vehicles can be used, the vehicles will have to undergo a thorough inspection by Hamas security experts. Sources in the press added that Israel has allowed for 240 cars per month to enter into the Strip, including various models (but not all-terrain vehicles). For now Hyundais and Volkswagen-Golfs can be seen on the streets of the Gaza Strip. Several residents have already reserved new luxury BMW models. The used car market immediately reacted to these developments and in the last month, prices have abruptly been cut in half
#4
Bullshit, a satelite woll tell all that's needed, bet the Gazooks spread the rumor to make the EEEEVIL JOOOS look bad.
As far as bugs go I'd build one into the car's radio, not removable without trashing the radio.
Or better yet, in the Ignition Computer, no computer No Go.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/30/2010 10:19 Comments ||
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#5
For now Hyundais and Volkswagen-Golfs can be seen on the streets of the Gaza Strip. Several residents have already reserved new luxury BMW models. The used car market immediately reacted to these developments and in the last month, prices have abruptly been cut in half
gosh, unbelievable those concentration camp victims can actually afford new cars.
(KUNA) -- The Paleostinian Presidency lauded a recent decision by Arab ministers of culture to make Jerusalem a permanent capital of Arab culture.
The decision shows how the Arab world appreciates the significance of Jerusalem thanks to its cultural heritage based on multiplicity, noble human values and tolerance between Mohammedans and Christians, the presidency said in a release.
The presidency also highly appreciated Arab support for the Paleostinians during a recent UNESCO meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
LOLZ - and that means squat. That's the price of being LOSERS
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2010 0:16 Comments ||
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BRUSSELS - Iran is ready to hold its first talks with world powers in more than a year about its disputed nuclear program any time after Nov. 10, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Friday.
The meeting with a group of six world powers would be the first in the long-running dispute since October 2009 and also the first since the United Nations, the United States and European Union imposed tougher sanctions on Iran this year.
Western officials say the punitive measures are increasingly damaging the economy of the world No. 5 oil producer and that this may persuade it to agree to curb sensitive atomic activity. Iran has dismissed the impact of sanctions and shown no sign of backing down over a uranium enrichment drive.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Ashton said she had received a letter from Irans chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in which he agreed to meet in a place and on a date convenient to both sides after Nov. 10.
Earlier this month, Ashton invited Jalili to hold three days of talks in Vienna from Nov. 15 to 17.
Dr Jalili ... is agreeable to begin discussions after Nov. 10 and wants to agree the time and place. I think this is a very significant move, she told reporters at an EU summit.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed Irans signal, but said the content of the talks was what mattered. The key thing is that these are talks of substance: this is what all participants will be measured by, he said in Berlin.
Washington said it remained to be seen if Tehran was ready for serious negotiation. We would hope that Iran would come to the table prepared for a meaningful dialogue, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
In Tehran, Irans state Press TV confirmed the letter and referred to previously stated pre-conditions for talks such as clarification on Israels ambiguous nuclear program, Israel is believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.
An EU diplomat said it now looked like the meeting would take place in Geneva rather than Vienna. The aim was for three days of discussions with everything on the table, including broad discussion of Irans nuclear activities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Nuclear Talks.
Our missile is on the way, have you any last words?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/30/2010 17:29 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Prime Minister Saad Hariri's allies on Friday denounced a call by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to boycott a U.N.-backed tribunal to try ex-PM Rafik Hariri's killers, calling on their government to take a stand.
Nasrallah on Thursday called on the Lebanese -- civilians and officials -- to end cooperation with the international investigation into Hariri's 2005 murder, warning that further collaboration was equivalent to an attack on Hizbullah.
Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, is already in a standoff with Hizbullah over unconfirmed reports that the Tribunal is set to indict members of the Shiite group.
MP Ahmed Fatfat, a member with Hariri's Mustaqbal bloc, said Nasrallah's comments amounted to a call to "revolt against the international community."
"Accepting this request pits the Lebanese government against the international community," Fatfat told the Voice of Leb radio station.
He said Leb will eventually turn into a country that rejects U.N. resolutions if the Government abides by Nasrallah's call.
Fatfat said the Government must "clarify" where it stands regarding Nasrallah's statement and whether it will revoke its policy statement.
The ministerial statement to which Fatfat referred states the Cabinet's respect for and commitment to cooperating with the Special Tribunal for Leb.
Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb.
leader Samir Geagea, a key Hariri ally, called on Hariri and President Michel Suleiman to set up an emergency meeting on the issue.
"This is a threat to the Lebanese government, as the government is the first to cooperate with the investigators through its memorandum of understanding with the Security Council," Geagea told al-Arabiya televisions station.
LF MP Antoine Zahra, also told al-Arabiya that Hizbullah has "turned into a coercive group for Lebanese, warranting a peaceful resistance to defend human rights." ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Friday snapped back at Mustaqbal's media outlets and officials, denying "claims" that Hizbullah security official Wafiq Safa had been informed beforehand about the visit of U.N. investigators to Dahiyeh.
"The Coordination and Liaison Unit in Hizbullah stresses that this claim is a pure lie." Then his lips fell off.
Commenting on a recent phone call between Safa and the head of international investigators, Hizbullah clarified that the U.N. official had expressed his desire for "communication" with the party without raising "any other issue."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The United States on Friday vowed support for the Special Tribunal for Leb, accusing Hizbullah of "intimidation" in urging a boycott.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday warned all Lebanese not to help investigators probing the 2005 killing of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, saying that such cooperation "contributes to the assault on the Resistance." That'd be the Hezbullies, natch...
"Nasrallah's remarks are an indication of how Hizbullah does not have the interest of all the Lebanese people in mind," U.S. State Department front man Philip Crowley told news hounds.
"It has a narrow agenda and we will do everything that we can to help the Lebanese government and Lebanese people resist this obvious intimidation," he said.
Crowley called the Special Tribunal for Leb "vitally important" for the country's future, but rejected accusations that the United States wanted to affect its findings.
"We are committed to support the work of the tribunal and will do everything that we can, not to influence it, just to give it the opportunity to continue its work," Crowley said.
His remarks come a day after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, Susan Rice, accused Hizbullah's main supporters Syria and Iran of fuelling tensions in Leb through illicit arms supplies.
Crowley said the United States was "concerned by the increase of tension" in Leb and accused unnamed other forces of "trying to undermine the Lebanese government and Lebanese illusory sovereignty."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Leb on Friday stressed that the U.N. investigators did not breach "ethical, religious and humanitarian norms" during their recent visit to a gynecology clinic in Beirut Southern Suburbs.
"Statements in relation to the recent attack against staff of the STL alleging that the investigators examined gynecologist's patient records in breach of ethical, religious and humanitarian norms are false," STL Prosecutor Danielle Bellemare's office said in a blurb.
"As the medical doctor interviewed by representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor confirmed in her media interviews, the investigators were not seeking any medical information from her," the OTP went on to say.
"Moreover, she had canceled all her appointments for that morning, so that no women would be inconvenienced by the investigators' visit," the OTP noted.
It stressed that the process leading to the visit was handled professionally and in accordance with legal safeguards.
"The visit had been approved by the Lebanese authorities. The investigators were accompanied by members of the judicial police and the army. The doctor had received approval from the Beirut Order of Physicians to meet with the OTP investigators, and had agreed to the meeting," Bellemare's office clarified.
It noted that "in contrast to the legality and legitimacy of the meeting, STL staff members were assaulted by the attackers and had their STL property stolen."
In a brief televised address on Thursday, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah noted that the U.N.-backed investigation into the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri has reached "a sensitive point, which is related to our honor and dignity, the thing that requires us to have a different stance."
Nasrallah called on "every official and every citizen to boycott the work of U.N. investigators."
"We ask everyone: who among you accepts the idea of someone taking a look at the gynecology files of a mother, a sister or a daughter?" he added.
Quoting legal experts, Nasrallah described the investigators' step as "illegal," adding that it insults "religious and moral values."
Nasrallah's speech came one day after two investigators from the Special Tribunal for Leb were attacked by a group of angry women at a gynecology clinic in a Hizbullah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut.
The investigators had requested information on patients from the clinic's head doctor and were leaving when about 30 women charged at the pair and snatched a briefcase from them.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Leb, on Friday stressed STL's "firm intention not to bow to any act of interference and intimidation in carrying out our mandate in an independent and fair manner."
In separate letters addressed to Premier Saad Hariri and U.N. chief Ban Ki Moon, Cassese conveyed the tribunal's "great concern about the incident which took place in Beirut on 27 October and resulted in the injury of STL staff and the unlawful removal of STL property."
Cassese reassured both Hariri and Ban that "this most regrettable incident will not be allowed to jeopardize the work of the tribunal in discharging its truth-seeking mission for the Lebanese people and the international community."
The president of the STL also underscored "that the tribunal continues to act independently in accordance with its legal framework."
On the other hand, Cassese stated that both he and the tribunal's staff greatly appreciate "the strong commitment of Leb to cooperation with the Special Tribunal and the U.N. Secretary General's calls for all parties to refrain from interfering in the tribunal's work."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION WORLD NEWS > ISLAMIC JIHAD LEADER: ISRAEL MUST BE WIPED OUT FROM EXISTENCE.
(KUNA) -- UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon late Thursday condemned the assault the day before in Beirut on three investigators from the UN-backed Tribunal set up to try suspects in the 2005 liquidation of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others, and called it "unacceptable," his press office said in a statement.
Ban " is deeply concerned by recent statements and events related to the work of the Special Tribunal for Leb (STL). He condemned the incident on Wednesday, 27 October, involving a team of investigators from the Prosecutor's Office. Such acts of interference and intimidation are unacceptable," the statement said. Ban said the Special Tribunal for Leb is an "independent court of law established at the request of the Government of Leb, with a clear mandate from the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Security Council. It is an important tool to uncover the truth and end impunity." He called on all parties to refrain from interfering in its work, which proceeds in accordance with the legal principles and standards applied by all international tribunals, and from prejudging its outcome.
He stressed that it is "imperative that the Special Tribunal carry out its work safely and securely," and commended the Lebanese authorities for their swift action in opening an inquiry into the incident.
The Hague-based Tribunal has also condemned the attack, pledging that it will not deter its investigation.
"Those who carried out this attack must know that violence will not deter the Special Tribunal for Leb, a court of law, from fulfilling its mandate, " the court said in a statement distributed here.
Two investigators from the Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal and their interpreter were attending a pre-arranged meeting at a doctor's office in Beirut as part of the investigation when a large group of people "showed up unexpectedly" and violently attacked the three staff. According to the Office of the Prosecutor, several items belonging to the staff were stolen during the attack. The Lebanese army extracted the three staff members and brought them back safely to the Tribunal's office in Beirut where they were provided with medical attention. The investigation of the murders is being carried out under the guidance of the Tribunal's Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, a Canadian prosecutor. One day after the incident, Hezbullies leader Hasan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese people and officials to boycott the work of the Tribunal and not to cooperate with its investigators.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Unacceptable, huh? So whatcha gonna do about it? Nothing? Thought so.
[Arab News] The United States on Thursday accused the snuffy group Hezbullies and its allies Iran and Syria of attempting to endanger Leb's stability and undermine its independence, and a UN envoy warned that the Mideast is at "an extremely critical juncture." US Ambassador Susan Rice singled out Syria for displaying "flagrant disregard" for Leb's illusory sovereignty and political independence, citing its provision of increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hezbullies and other militias in violation of a UN resolution and issuance of 33 arrest warrants for senior Lebanese officials and foreigners.
"Hezbullies remains the most significant and most heavily armed Lebanese militia," she said. "It could not have done so if not for Syria's aid, and facilitation of Syrian and Iranian arms." The strong US stance on Syria appears to be a shift in strategy. The United States began reaching out to Syria soon after President Barack B.O. Obama took office, to try to lure Damascus away from its alliance with Iran and snuffy groups such as Hezbullies and the Paleostinian Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
The administration has made repeated overtures to Damascus this year, including nominating the first US ambassador to Syria since 2005 and sending top diplomats to meet with President Bashar Assad. But Syria has continued to strengthen ties with outspoken critics of Washington, such as Iran and Venezuela, and the US overtures have not yielded any tangible results yet.
Rice delivered the statement on behalf of the B.O. regime to news hounds outside the UN Security Council, where members were holding a closed-door meeting Thursday on Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon's latest report on Leb.
She said the United States welcomes Ban's report, which stressed the continuing threat to Leb's illusory sovereignty and security posed by Hezbullies and other armed militias.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/30/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Captain obvious strikes again. Now what is Bambi going to do about it?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
10/30/2010 8:48 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Arab News] Iraq's armed forces chief of staff under Saddam Hussein at the time of the 2003 invasion has died of cancer in a 
[Bangla Daily Star] 
AMMAN Ailing former Iraqi deputy premier 
BRUSSELS - Iran is ready to hold its first talks with world powers in more than a year about its disputed nuclear program any time after Nov. 10, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Friday.
