[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Kenyan troops were on Sunday preparing for their long-awaited onslaught on the key town of Afmadow in Somalia after rains subsided in the southern part of the war-torn country.
The mud has delayed Kenyan soldiers' armoured cars, called motorised infantry in the military, as well as other vehicles bringing supplies.
Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader... , the Somali terrorist group the military is hunting, is reported to have massed troops around the town, meaning that the impending assault will probably turn out to be the decisive battle of the campaign.
Critical launch-pad
The military sees Afmadow as a critical launch-pad for an attack on Kismayu, the headquarters of Al-Shabaab and allied terrorist elements, such as the remnants of Al-Qaeda.
As battle loomed, Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali flew to Nairobi for talks with government officials over the security operation against Al-Shabaab.
Military front man Major Emmanuel Chirchir said it was a matter of time before Kenyan troops engaged Al-Shabaab in the much-awaited battle to capture Afmadow.
"The day has been calm for our troops in Somalia after two days of heavy rains. One of our commanders is prepared to move the troops forward in the battle for Afmadow," he said.
He added: "We have captured the town of Busar on the north and Burgavo on the south and we anticipate further success in the near future."
Maj Chirchir said logistics are being moved forward in all directions in readiness to flush Al-Shabaab out of Afmadow.
Taste action
The Kenya Navy is also likely to taste action this week. The naval force has largely been missing in action for the two-weeks of the incursion.
The Kenyan troops on the southern part of Somalia are mainly at Beles Qooqaani from where they would advance towards Afmadow.
On the other hand, Al-Shabaab has been reportedly busy massing hard boyz around the town and mainly in Woravole area to block the entry of Kenyan troops.
Reports from the town indicate that hundreds of residents are still fleeing to avoid being trapped in the fighting between the Kenyan troops and the beturbanned goon group.
Afmadow, located in the heart of Juba region, fell in the hands of Al-Shabaab in November 2009 after another beturbanned goon group, Hizbul-Islam, abandoned the area.
The town is Al-Shabaab's second economic stronghold after Kismayu.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... military jets are reported to have bombed Jilib Town, 380 kilometres south of Mogadishu. Heavy casualties resulted from the bombing, according to area residents.
No group has grabbed credit and the casualty reports could not be verified.
At the same time, Kenyan security agencies have stepped up surveillance along the borders to curb an approximate 200 youth who joined Al-Shabaab from sneaking back into the country.
Military and police sources said top on the most wanted list of Kenyans on Al-Shabaab's payroll is a middle-aged man who is among the most influential Al-Shabaab figures in southern Somalia.
The suspect, identified as Kahale Famau, has been fighting alongside the terror group.
A senior intelligence officer with the Kenya Anti-Terrorism Police Unit described Famau as a highly trained beturbanned goon and respected figure within Al-Shabaab, who is specifically mandated to handle several issues regarding Kenya, including recruitment of youth.
The criminal mastermind
"He is the criminal mastermind of the menace of Kenyan youths being enlisted in the group mainly those from Coast region. He works closely with a radical Mombasa-based holy man," said the official on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The man from Kiunga border took over the mantle of dealing with Kenyan issues from Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was bumped offed early this year in Mogadishu, according to security sources.
Kenyan security agencies are also watching for Issa Osman Issa, believed to be an Al-Shabaab recruiter and military strategist who trained in Afghanistan and fought in Pakistain among other countries.
Although the nationality of Issa is not clear to both Kenyan and foreign intelligence agencies, he is reported to have played a crucial role in the attacks on Paradise Hotel in Kikambala in 2002 and the failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to down an Israeli airliner at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has been on a collision course with the Kenyan authorities after President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed disowned an earlier agreement and opposed the deployment of Kenyan troops.
Accompanying PM Abdiweli for the talks are ministers for Defence, Commerce, Interior Affairs and other officials.
"We are going to have talks on the security of Somalia and Kenya," Mr Ali told the Nation at Mogadishu's Aden Abdulle International Airport.
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10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Kenya's naval forces are likely to be in action this week, as the next phase of the military operation targeting the Al-ShabaabIslamic fascistiin Somalia gets under way.
The Navy has largely been missing in action for the two-weeks of the incursion as the Army and Air force pounded Al-Shabaab strongholds.
They have since taken control of areas deemed strategic in the quest to capture Kismayu -- the main Al-Shabaab base.
Military sources in Kiunga and Lamu said the anticipated attack on Kismayu, a sea port and an Al-Shabaab bastion will definitely involve the Navy.
A senior officer at Department of Defence also said the Navy has been keeping vigil on the seas as part of the strategy within the 'Operation Linda Nchi'.
"Our ships are at their bases near the operation zone and are ready for deployment whenever they are needed," the senior officer told the Nation in an interview.
He cannot be named as he is not authorised to discuss the operation in the media.
On Wednesday, Kenyan troops and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government forces captured Burgabo, a town that served as an Al-Shabaab training centre and a frontier base for the bad turbans.
The source said the Kenyan and TFG troops can take the mainland route from Kudai, Instanbul, Fuma and Mchoni from where they can approach Kismayu.
The second route would largely consist of a sea-borne attack involving the Navy as it entails manoeuvring around the dozens of islands in the area and crossing several channels.
Separately, two Al-Shabaab jacket wallahs at the weekend attacked a base for the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in which three Ugandan soldiers were killed.
The bad turban group, however, claimed that over 80 Amisom soldiers were killed in the Mogadishu attack.
Lt-Gen Katumba Wamala, the Uganda People's Defence Forces commander in charge of Lands Forces, confirmed the Saturday suicide kaboom on AU troops, but said only three soldiers died and two seriously injured.
Military Spokesman Felix Kulayigye corroborated Lt-Gen Katumba's version of the story, saying three soldiers died and an equal number injured, two seriously.
The bad turban gang claimed in a press statement that "the Mujahideen stormed an Amisom compound, killing 80 Ugandan soldiers."
"Those injured have been flown for treatment to Nairobi Hospital," Col Kulayigye said. "An investigation is being carried out to establish how this attack happened."
Mr Wafula Wamunyinyi, the deputy head of Amisom while condemning the attack, placed the corpse count at four.
"They were killed in a suicide attack by Somalia snuffies dressed in TFG uniforms," he said.
He added: "They approached the front line and then went kaboom! their bombs. Four of the Amisom soldiers was struck down in his prime and seven were maimed."
Executed by terrorists
The AU in a press statement said the midday attack was executed by terrorists, including two suicide bombers disguised as Somali Army troops, who attempted to recapture an area near German Steel Factory, which they lost two months ago.
Amisom troops repulsed the bad turbans, the AU said.
The Amisom spokesperson, Lt-Col Paddy Ankunda, who is on the ground in Mogadishu in a telephone interview declined to quote the number of soldiers lost in the weekend battle.
"We sustained some casualties but I do not have the figures yet," he said.
Uganda has over 6,000 soldiers in the African peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
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10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Suha Arafat, widow of late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, is wanted by officials in Tunisia for alleged corruption, AFP reported on Monday. Alleged?
Tunisian Justice Ministry front man Kadhem Zine al Abidine told the French news agency that a warrant was issued for the 48-year-old Arafat, who was a citizen of Tunisia, until her citizenship was stripped in 2007.
The allegations go back to a 2006 business deal, when Suha Arafat had a fallout with former first lady of Tunisia over the establishment of an international school in Tunis, AFP quoted Tunisian newspapers as saying.
In 2007, Suha was declared persona non grata in Tunisia and had her citizenship revoked, reportedly by presidential decree. Suha was reported to be living in Malta, at least several months a year, where she owns a home. Where does she keep the Krugerrands?
Since the ouster of former Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, a number of former regime officials have been charged with corruption.
Suha was raised as a Catholic in Ramallah and Nablus and studied at the Sorbonne in Gay Paree.
Suha met Yasser Arafat when she was on assignment in Jordan for a French newspaper. She was immediately appointed as a public relations adviser to the PLO and later as an economic consultant to her husband. The two married secretly in 1990 at Arafat's house in Tunisia and kept the wedding secret for 15 months.
She drew sharp criticism from many Paleostinians when she tried to prevent senior PA officials, including PA Chairman the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , from visiting her husband while he was being treated in a military hospital in Gay Paree.
They'll now take a decade to evaluate the 'substantial evidence', and another decade to have Carla del Ponte to prosecute him. That gets him to about age 55, which is a lot older than he'll get if he stays in Libya.
BEIJING: The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Sunday he has substantial evidence that Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi, son of Libyas toppled leader, was involved in organizing attacks on civilians and hiring mercenaries.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo also said he met Seif Al-Islam several years ago, and Seif Al-Islam had backed the ICCs efforts to arrest Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir over alleged genocide and other crimes in Darfur.
Of course he did. That was different. Duck-man was playing games.
We have a witness who explained how Seif was involved with the planning of the attacks against civilians, including in particular the hiring of core mercenaries from different countries and the transport of them, and also the financial aspects he was covering, Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in Beijing, where he was attending an academic conference.
Moreno-Ocampo then clarified that he meant he had multiple witnesses, and not just one. So we have substantial evidence to prove the case, but of course Seif is still (presumed) innocent, and (will) have to go to court and the judge will decide, he said.
In about twenty years. Perhaps the Slobodan Milosevic presidential suite is available there at the hotel prison at The Hague...
Moreno-Ocampo said he was planning to fly to New York to brief the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday about the courts work in Libya.
The ICC said on Saturday that Seif Al-Islam was in contact via intermediaries about possibly surrendering, but it also had information that mercenaries were trying to take him to a friendly African nation where he could evade arrest.
The court has warned Seif Al-Islam, 39, apparently anxious to avoid capture by Libyan interim government forces in whose hands his father Muammar Qaddafi was killed last week, that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his Sahara desert hideout for a safe haven.
Intercept? With whose airplanes?
We received through an informal intermediary some questions from Seif apparently about the legal system what happens to him if he appears before the judges, can he be sent to Libya, what happens if hes convicted, what happens if hes acquitted, said Moreno-Ocampo.
We are not in any negotiations with Seif, he said. Its up to Seif Qaddafi to decide if he is surrendering himself, staying in hiding, or trying to escape to another country.
The court will not force Seif Al-Islam to return to Libya provided another country is willing to receive him after he is either cleared of any charges or serves his sentence, said Moreno-Ocampo.
He also recalled that he had met Seif Al-Islam a couple of years ago, and he had seemed supportive of the courts work, including its efforts to arrest and try Bashir for his alleged role in atrocities in Sudans divided Darfur region.
Before a popular uprising imperiled his fathers grip on Libya, Seif Al-Islam had cast himself as an enlightened supporter of reform at home and across the Arab world.
I met Seif once in Berlin in a gala dinner for justice and he mentioned to me that he would support my efforts to do justice in Darfur, and in fact a couple of times he made public statements proposing to arrest President Bashir, and he was calling me to inform me that he did it, said Moreno-Ocampo.
The prosecutor said that Seif Al-Islams apparent metamorphosis did not shock him.
Nothing surprises me, he said. After all these years, nothing surprises me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Yup, we Invented found it yesterday.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/31/2011 11:18 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] The military prosecutor's office on Sunday remanded in jug a blogger accused of inciting violence during an October 9 demonstration by Coptic Christians in Egypt's capital, a rights group said.
Alaa Abdul Fattah was remanded in jug for 15 days, Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He also stands accused of vandalism during the demonstration which degenerated into festivities with security forces in which 25 people were killed, most of them Copts protesting over the burning of a church in southern Egypt.
Eid said the young man was remanded in jug after having refused to undergo questioning by the military prosecution on the grounds that the military itself was implicated in the case.
"There's a campaign to go after activists," charged Eid, who said that a second activist, Bahaa Taher, underwent questioning by the prosecution after Abdul Fattah's case.
Coptic witnesses said they were fired upon by soldiers during a protest march and that several people were killed when armored vehicles ran over and crushed them.
The army denies charges of having used excessive force and says three of its soldiers were rubbed out, but it has also been criticized for putting civilians on trial in military courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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blogger accused of inciting violence during an October 9 demonstration by Coptic Christians in Egypt's capital
Alaa was called in for investigation last week in light of the Maspiro events in Cairo, where 27 people died and many more were injured after the army cracked down on a Christian-majority demonstration. Alaa was very active in the aftermath of these tragic events, and spent two days at the morgue alongside other activists in solidarity with the victims families, while trying to convince them to agree to autopsies and trying to make sure the reports of the autopsies are correctly documented. Alaa wrote a very moving piece of that experience in Al Shorouk newspaper (a translation of which can be found here) in which he repeatedly reminded everyone that solidarity is the way out of any problems in Egypt.
Alaa was in San Francisco when he was called to the investigation last week. His father, veteran human rights lawyer Ahmed Seif El Islam Abdel Fattah, appeared in court and asked for the case to be postponed. Alaa came back to Cairo on Saturday afternoon and appeared in court on Sunday morning. The military prosecutor has filed five charges against him including demonstrating, inciting to demonstrate, assaulting military personnel, destroying public property, and stealing military weapons. Alaa, whose sister Mona Seif (@monasosh) is one of the founders of the No to Military Trials for Civilians group, insisted to be interrogated before a civic judge, especially in light of the fact that the army is facing law suits accusing it as a defendant in the same case, which constitutes a clear conflict of interest. He was detained as a result pending further military investigation.
--- Shocking video of Egyptian armored-vehicle "mowing down" Christian civilians
#3
Notice how the MSM of any country almost never gives the name of the blog in a blogger story -- professional discourtesy, I guess. (He's on Wikipedia, of course.)
Saadi Gaddafi was smuggled into Niger by a team of ex-special forces soldiers from around the world, according to a former Australian soldier who claims to be the personal bodyguard of the son of the former Libyan dictator.
Gary Peters, who is Australian but lives in Ontario, Canada, said his team of New Zealand, Australian, Russian and Iraqi ex-special forces soldiers escorted Saadi to Niger after his flight from Tripoli as it fell to rebel forces in August.
He said he himself was injured as he tried to cross the border back to Libya, but was able to make it back to Canada even though he was bleeding.
Saadi, who is facing demands for his extradition from Niger, was hoping to move to Canada or Mexico where he had investments, Mr Peters said.
"He loves Canada, that's why he keeps coming back here, every year," Mr Peters said of Saadi in an interview with the country's National Post newspaper.
"He's got investments here, he's got property here. He wants to [move to Canada], but I was warned by RCMP (the police) that if he comes here they'll arrest him straight away."
[An Nahar] Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani proposed on Sunday that Saudi and Iranian officials should meet over the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington, state media said.
Pistols at twenty paces or Turkish coffee and tea cakes?
"I think that the best and easiest way to solve this issue is for the two sides to meet," Sheikh Hamad, who also holds the foreign affairs portfolio, said after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, QNA state news agency said. ... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe? "The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran and Soddy Arabia are two big nations and should have good relations," he said, adding that he hoped that U.S. allegations against Iran would be proven false.
"We are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and we have an interest in the security and stability of Soddy Arabia. We hope that it is false," he said.
"We still wait for evidence," he said.
The United States claims that the Quds Force of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards plotted to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington by hiring assassins from a Mexican narco mob for $1.5 million.
An Iranian-American accused of involvement in the plot pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." in a New York court last week.
Iran has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! any involvement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Break out the throwing shoes. The really stiff ones.
After posting violent warning messages online, protesters forced their way into a north London mosque where an MP was meeting constituents.
Tory MP Mike Freer was forced to leave the meeting after being targeted by the Muslims Against Crusades who had posted messages referring to the Stephen Timms stabbing online. Today he urged Home Secretary Theresa May to take action against the group after the attack at his North Finchley constituency meeting.
In a shocking message before the incident on the group's website, they referred to Labour MP Stephen Timms -who was stabbed while holding a meeting in east London last year -warning the attack on him should serve as a "piercing reminder" to politicians that "their presence is no longer welcome in any Muslim area."
The trouble at North Finchley Mosque on Friday afternoon began after internet messages posted on Facebook and the Muslims Against Crusades website urged supporters to target the MP, who had played a role in the campaign against Palestinian activist Sheikh Raed Salah's visit to Britain earlier this year.
Freer said there was a vocal demonstration outside the mosque as he began the meeting, but then a second group of people showed up and forced their way inside. He said, "One of them sat at a table where I was dealing with a constituent and was abusive."
Freer, a member of Conservative Friends of Israel, said he was called a "Jewish homosexual pig." He was escorted by staff at the mosque to a locked part of the building until help arrived and described the incident as "uncomfortable." But when he was made aware of the website's reference to the stabbing that he realised the potential danger.
The message also said that "as a member of the Conservative Party", Freer "has the blood of thousands of Muslims on his hands."
As well as the campaign against Mr Salah, Freer also spoke out against a proposed trip to the UK by US pastor Terry Jones, and stressed he will "continue to condemn all forms of religious intolerance."
Mr Freer said he wanted the Home Secretary to closely monitor the actions of Muslims Against Crusades and subject them to the "full force of the law."
He said, "The difficulty is with this group is it's the third incarnation of other groups. Every time it gets banned, it just renames. What I'm saying is the Home Office needs to be continuing to monitor this group and as soon as they overstep the mark then the full force of the law should come down on them."
A police spokesman said, "Officers attended North Finchley Mosque at 4:10 p.m. on Friday after a disturbance by protesters inside the building. There were no arrests."
The FBI is testing the remains of a suicide bomber in Somalia to try to determine whether he was one of at least 21 young Somali-American men believed to have left Minneapolis in recent years to join the terrorist group al-Shabab.
If the remains are confirmed to belong to Abdisalan Hussein Ali, it will mark the third time someone from Minnesota has been involved in a suicide attack in Somalia.
"I don't understand," said Nimco Ahmed, a Somali community leader in Minnesota, home to the nation's largest Somali population. "It's really really painful to actually see one of the kids who has a bright future ahead of them do this. ... It's a loss for our whole society."
Al-Shabab said over the weekend that Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah, whom they identified as a Somali-American, carried out the suicide attack Saturday against an African Union base in Mogadishu. The attack killed 10 people, including the two suicide bombers, a Mogadishu-based security official said.
The militia group posted online a recording purported to be Taqabalahullaah, calling on others to carry out a jihad. Omar Jamal, first secretary of the Somali mission to the United Nations, said friends of Abdisalan Hussein Ali listened to the recording and identified the voice as Ali's.
But other friends told Minnesota Public Radio News the voice is not Ali's, saying his English doesn't match the man's on the recording.
Kyle Loven, an FBI spokesman in Minneapolis, said the bureau is doing a DNA analysis at its lab in Quantico, Va.
#2
As usual, there are a number of good, decent people who just want to live and let live, and there are a few assholes determined not to let anyone live.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/31/2011 20:40 Comments ||
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Just a month after accusing Pakistans spy agency of secretly supporting the Haqqani terrorist network, which has mounted attacks on Americans, the Obama administration is now relying on the same intelligence service to help organize and kick-start reconciliation talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan.
The revamped approach, which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Fight, Talk, Build during a high-level United States delegations visit to Kabul and Islamabad this month, combines continued American air and ground strikes against the Haqqani network and the Taliban with an insistence that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence agency get them to the negotiating table.
But some elements of the ISI see little advantage in forcing those negotiations, because they see the insurgents as perhaps their best bet for maintaining influence in Afghanistan as the United States reduces its presence there.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > POSTER OPIN THREAD = [Should] PAKISTAN LEAVE THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH?
| PAKISTAN MAKES ONLY A TOKEN PRESENCE AT COMMONWEALTH BUSINESS FORUM, despite being the latter's second largest Member-State.
[Dawn] PakistainTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... addressed a gathering of thousands of PTI fans at the Miner-e-Pakistain on Sunday, DawnNews reported.
Mr Khan said that today's rally is a sign of revolution in Pakistain and the rulers cannot stop this revolution.
He said that the biggest problem facing Pakistain is corruption which the PTI will strive to eradicate and install honest officers in key positions.
He further said that his party will resolve the issues of Pakistain including the electricity crisis and make it mandatory for politicians to declare their assets.
Khan also said that Pakistain is a rich country full of minerals but the corruption and bad governance turned it into a beggar state. He said that the rulers have sold their nation for dollars.
Criticizing the government Khan said that there is no comparison between Zufiqar Ali Bhutto and Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... "PTI will not allow the military to attack its people, PTI believes in talks with the tribals," said Imran Khan.
Thousands of young attendants in the rally roared as Imran Khan made his statements.
The rally in the Pak city of Lahore was called by Imran Khan to press President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... to step down.
Dancing to a drumbeat and waving the party's red and green flags, supporters of Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf filled the sprawling Minar-e-Pakistain ground which was ringed with tight security.
"Who will save Pakistain? Imran Khan, Imran Khan," the crowd chanted.
More than 20,000 people had gathered as the meeting began at 4pm (1100 GMT) with more on the way, according to witnesses, as the crowd waited for a scheduled appearance by their hero.
Khan's party slogan is "throw this government out and save the country," in a campaign aimed at the ruling coalition led by Zardari and the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... The rally, seen as a show of strength, comes two days after Sharif's brother Shahbaz, attracted some 30,000 people at an anti-Zardari protest also in the key political battleground of Lahore.
Sharif's Pakistain Moslem League-N (PML-N) held on Friday to demand early elections in its political heartland -- it controls the Punjab provincial government despite being in opposition at national level.
The venue for Khan's public meeting was bedecked with banners and hoardings showing portraits of the former cricketer and the founder of the nation Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was due to apeak later.
Tehreek-e-Insaf Secretary General Arif Ali had said Khan "will make important announcements regarding the country's politics and future course of action."
"The wind of change of has started in the country and anyone coming in its way would be eliminated," Alvi said and added "Tehreek-e-Insaf wants the rule of people constitution and law in the country."
"It is going to be historic. We have our supporters and voters coming from Lahore and its suburban areas and the expected gathering would be over 100,000 people," Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, a member of the party's organising committee said.
The party had expressed some concerns about inadequate security arrangements and blocking of the convoys coming from other cities.
"We have been reassured by the provincial police chief about the security of the gathering and smooth flow of traffic for our convoys," Khokhar told AFP.
Senior police official Ghulam Mahmood Dogar told news hounds that all steps had been taken to provide "fool-proof" security at the public meeting.
Around 2,000 Paks led by Khan demonstrated in Islamabad on Friday to demand an end to US drone strikes in the tribal areas, claiming they kill more innocent civilians than Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has cleared more than 900 families from Khyber Agency for shelter at Jalozai camp, Nowshera after finding them genuinely displaced from the restive area owing to the ongoing military crackdown on bad boys.
Officials at the camp say arrangements are being made to take in the cleared families besides providing them with food, foreseeing arrival of thousands of more people from Khyber agency, including women and kiddies, who had to flee their houses for life.
"Some 300 families have already been issued tents, while more are being pitched to accommodate more than 600 more families, who have been formally declared displaced after verification of particulars," Faiz Muhammad, chief coordinator (IDPs), PDMA told Dawn on Saturday.
PDMA has been busy with the IDPs` verification exercise since the last week after more than 3,500 families from Khyber agency formally sought the status of being displaced. The subsequent heavy workload forced the authority into stopping registration of more families for Jalozai camp on last Tuesday to focus on verification of the particulars of those whose data was collected. The move distressed families desperately awaiting entry to the camp for shelter and food.
Mr Faiz said particulars of 2,253 families belonging to Malik Din Khel and Sipah tribes would be subjected to particular verification, leaving the remaining applicants unattended since they belonged to other tribes of the agency.
He said there was no change in the Khyber agency administration`s policy of not granting the IDP status to rustics belonging to Sturikhel, Shaluber, Qamberkhel and Aka Khel tribes for being unaffected by the ongoing military operation against bad boys.The PDMA official said the administration of Jalozai camp assisted by the UN humanitarian assistance agencies was making arrangements to allot tents and issue food handouts to all newly-registered displaced families from Khyber agency. He said all 900 new displaced families could not be provided with tents at once because the camp administration was still busy pitching new tents for them.
"The camp administration is not short of tents or food supplies. People need to understand that it takes time to arrange shelter and food for thousands of new IDPs," Mr Faiz said, adding that the authority couldn`t plan its activities well as `everything (military operation) happened quite suddenly.`
According to him, the number of Khyber agency rustics declared IDPs comes to around 6,000 as a tribal family normally has five to seven members. The PDMA official said UNHCR had deputed four teams to the camp for setting up the tents, adding that it took around an hour to pitch a tent.
"The pitching of tents for newcomers is likely to take time before their allotment," he said when asked about slow pace of issuance of shelter to new IDPs.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Saturday delayed the indictment of seven accused in the Benazir Bhutto liquidation case for the fourth time since September.
Special Judge ATC-I Shahid Rafique deferred the indictment of Aitzaz Sherazi, Sher Zaman, Rasheed Ahmed, Hasnain Gul and Rafaqat Hussain, former City Police Officer Saud Aziz and Superintendent Police Khurram Shahzad till November, because the SP and his counsel Malik Rafique could not appear before the court.
Special Public Prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali argued that the accused was deliberately using delaying tactics to prolong the trial.
He said four years had already lapsed since the liquidation of the former prime minister. "Ms Bhutto was twice elected prime minister of the country and was also heading a major political party. Due to the delaying tactics, her liquidation case still remains undecided," he added.
Mr Ali told Dawn that he had filed a petition for conducting the trial on a daily basis some three months back; adding under sub-section 7 of Section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, the court was bound to hear the case on a daily basis. He said if the accused were innocent, why they were afraid of facing the trial.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... the same court accepted the bail plea of three accused in the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... containers attack case.
The court directed the accused, Ali Imran, Shujaur Rehman and Mohammad Azaz, to deposit bail bonds of Rs100, 000 each.
The NATO trucks were attacked in June 2010 in the jurisdiction of the Tarnol police.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Unesco, The United Nations' cultural agency, has decided to give the Palestinians full membership of the body, in a vote that will boost their bid for recognition as a state at the UN. Of course they did. Birds of a feather and all that.
Unesco is the first UN agency the Palestinians have sought to join as a full member since President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on Sept. 23.
The United States, Canada and Germany voted against Palestinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and France voted in favour. Britain abstained. Thanks Dave.
Huge cheers went up in Unesco after delegates voted to approve the membership Monday. One shouted "Long Live Palestine!" in French.
Israel said that the vote will harm prospects for the resumption of Middle East peace talks.
"This is a unilateral Palestinian manoeuver which will bring no change on the ground but further removes the possibility for a peace agreement," Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This decision will not turn the Palestinian Authority into an actual state yet places unnecessary burdens on the route to renewing negotiations."
Officials in Washington are required by law to cut their funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation if a Palestinian Liberation Organisation is approved membership to any United Nations group.
Huge cheers went up in UNESCO after delegates voted to approve the membership request during the groups 36th General Conference in Paris today.
Some of the results of our efforts in Iraq.
As the last remaining U.S. troops leave Iraq, oil production from the war-torn but oil rich nation is finally starting to ramp up.
Oil production in Iraq hovered around 2 million barrels a day for much of the post-U.S. invasion period.
But over the last year production jumped 13%, going from 2.3 to 2.6 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Much of that increase has come in the last few months alone, and it's part of the reason why many analyst expect Saudi Arabia to soon cut oil output.
In fact, some analysts say that over the next few years Iraqi oil production could really balloon. The Iraqi's may eventually produce as much oil as the Saudis.
But an increase in Iraqi oil production raises several issues, including what impact it may have on world oil prices and how all that oil money will get divided up. Rest at link.
This should shift gobs of money away from other countries (like SA, Venezuela, Iran) and to Iraq, which seems like a much better situation to me.
The United States is planning to bolster its military presence in the Gulf after it pulls out its remaining troops from Iraq, the New York Times reported in its online edition on Sunday.
President Barack Obama said on Oct 21 that he had decided to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by the end of the year and the paper said that US military officers and diplomats worried that the withdrawal could bring instability to the region.
It said Washington was negotiating to maintain a combat presence on the ground in Kuwait and was considering deploying more warships in the area.
No one at the Pentagon was immediately available to comment.
The United States also wanted to expand its military ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, it said.
The proposal needed approval by GCC leaders who are due to meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh in December, the paper said.
* TOPIX > [Tehran Times] US BUILDUP NEAR IRAQ LACKS PRUDENCE: IRAN'S FOREIGN MINSTER [Salehi].
Iran is repor proceeding in plans to arm IRGC units wid " ZAFAR" ANTI-NAVAL CRUISE MISSLES, + is demandinga formal apology from the US oer US allegations in the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the US.
versus
* SAME > [Bloomberg] NASR: WHY CONTAIN IRAN WHEN ITS OWN AIMS WILL [may?] DO THAT?
As the US completes its pullout from Iraq + Afghanistan, Iran will no longer have the "Great Satan" to blame as cover for its own hegemonic ambitions ahz regional fellow Muslims, + domestic econ + democratic policy failures???
#2
Interesting. Not Libya, to introduce stabilization for the fledgling democracies and as a gateway to north africa, but Kuwait, to insulate Saudia Arabia from Iraq, Iran, et. al.
BAGHDAD: Iraq's defense chief has said his military will not be fully ready to defend Iraq from external threats until 2020 to 2024, according to a US inspector's report released on Sunday. Lt. Gen. Babakir Zebari has repeatedly warned that Iraq's security forces, rebuilt after the 2003 invasion that ousted strongman Saddam Hussein, would not be ready for years.
But rather than listen to sage advice, US President Barack Obama announced on Oct. 21 that American troops would fully withdraw from Iraq by year-end, as scheduled under a 2008 security pact between the two countries.
Both Iraqi and US military leaders have said the army and police are capable of containing internal threats from Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias that launch scores of attacks monthly, but that they lag in external defense.
"General Zebari suggested that the MOD (Ministry of Defense) will be unable to execute the full spectrum of external-defense missions until sometime between 2020 and 2024, citing ... funding shortfalls as the main reason for the delay," said the report from the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).
Zebari said the air force would not be able to defend Iraqi airspace until 2020 and is not capable of supporting ground combat operations, citing a long-delayed deal to buy F-16 warplanes from the United States, the SIGIR report said.
"An army without an air force is exposed," the report quoted Zebari as saying.
Iraq delayed its purchase of F-16s earlier this year to divert money to social programs.
Two million barrels of oil exported a day at $80 a barrel, and they can't defend themselves? Steven Pressfield's The Profession is looking more likely all the time.
Officials said in late September that Iraq had signed a deal to buy 18 of the combat jets. The first delivery is not expected for several years.
Washington has around 39,000 troops still in Iraq, down from a peak of about 170,000 during the war. Violence has dropped sharply from the sectarian bloodbath of 2006-07 when tens of thousands died.
As it tries to reintegrate itself into the region after years as a pariah, Iraq is warily eying neighbors such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Syria. Iraqi leaders have accused neighbors of meddling, and US military officials say Iran arms Shiite militias in Iraq.
"While we have no enemies, we also have no real friends," the SIGIR report quoted Zebari as saying of the Iraqi government's relations with its neighbors.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Iraq's defense chief has said his military will not be fully ready to defend Iraq from external threats until 2020 to 2024, according to a US inspector's report released on Sunday.
Ummm...which is precisely why Ogabe's pulling the plug on US involvement now. His hard left political base desperately wants another helicopters-on-the-embassy-roof moment, and he just as desperately wants to give it to them. Only reason he didn't do it in January of '09 is that it can't look too obvious that he's pulling a Shoeless Joe and intentionally throwing the war.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/31/2011 1:19 Comments ||
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#2
We could always offer a security guarantee to Iraq until then backed up by our presence in Kuwait.
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/31/2011 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Practically speaking, if you have advanced enough ADA, an air force is less important. And there are so many advanced anti-tank weapons afield that Iranian tanks would be wiped out.
Likewise, Iraqi artillery has probably a whole lot better training and targeting capability. Added up, it is not a complete defensive capability, but if Iran tried it on, it would cost them a fortune.
The Almagor Victims of Terror Association plans to launch an online database of the terrorists with descriptions of their crimes in an effort to prevent future prisoner swaps, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The head of Almagor, Meir Indor, believes by connecting the names of the terrorists to the specific terror attacks they committed, the public will be less likely to support prisoner swaps in the future.
We are taking the law into our own hands so that terror victims can get updates on the terrorists who are responsible for specific attacks, said Indor.
The database, called Justice for Terror Victims, will collect information that is available to the public, such as arrests and court transcripts, and compile it in a searchable database.
Robert Serry tells Haaretz that in the event that the PA crumbles, Israel should not expect the international community to 'pay the bill'; does not discount possible eruption of violence in West Bank.
Israel must take heed of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' threats to resign and dismantle the PA, a UN official who is close to the PA president told Haaretz, adding that the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians could cause violence to erupt in the West Bank, and the rest of the world will not bail out Israel if that happens.
"The Palestinians feel growing alienation towards the Oslo process," said Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. "I hear many voices in Ramallah that call for the dismantling of the PA and to throw the keys back to Israel."
"I don't want to sound apocalyptic - but if things go wrong don't expect the international community to bail you out," Serry said in an interview with Haaretz on Friday in his office in the UN headquarters in Jerusalem. "We will not pay the bill."
Of the foreign diplomats serving in Israel and the PA, Serry, who is from the Netherlands, is considered one of the closest to Abbas. The Mideast envoy, who also serves as the UN secretary-general's personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, meets with Abbas almost every week, and like other diplomats, Serry has heard from Abbas that he intends to resign within a few months if no progress is made in negotiations.
[Dawn] Egyptian officials say efforts to persuade Paleostinian beturbanned goons in Gazoo to hold their rocket fire on Israel have failed, after a day of deadly, escalated violence.
The officials say they tried to arrange a cease-fire set at 3. a.m. Sunday, but did not win agreement from factions responsible for the rocket attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the mediation efforts.
The Israeli military meanwhile said early Sunday that its aircraft struck six bad turban targets in Gazoo overnight, including three rocket-launching sites.
Nine beturbanned goons and an Israeli civilian were killed on Saturday. Militants from Gazoo's ruling Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement are not believed to have been involved in the attacks, which were claimed by smaller factions.
[Dawn] Arab foreign ministers said Sunday they would look into alternative action if their efforts fail to secure full Paleostinian membership of the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... "We support the Paleostinian demand for full UN membership," they said in a statement after talks in Doha. But the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... agreed to form a "committee of experts to study legal and political alternatives."
Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , who attended Sunday's meeting, officially submitted the request for Paleostinian membership in September, a move which the US has threatened to veto if it comes to a vote in the UN Security Council.
The Council is expected to meet on November 11 to decide on whether to hold a formal vote on the membership application.
The controversy at the United Nations also extends to UNESCO's general assembly, where members are expected to vote on Monday on whether to grant Paleostine full membership status.
The vote in favour of Paleostinian statehood at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation would threaten the organization's millions of dollars in US funding.
The Arab League's statement on Sunday expressed "support for the Paleostinian campaign for full membership in UNESCO."
Though the US has veto power in the Security Council, it cannot veto a decision at UNESCO, where a two-thirds majority of its 193 voting members is sufficient for the Paleostinian membership bid to pass.
The same applies to the UN General Assembly, where Paleostinian officials have said they would take their campaign for statehood if the Security Council bid is vetoed.
Israel rejects the Paleostinian request, arguing a Paleostinian state is achievable only through negotiations.
[An Nahar] Russia has informed Hizbullah that the March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commemoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... should resign from the government and form a new cabinet that remains committed to international resolutions if the Shiite party and its allies rejected to fund the international tribunal, diplomatic sources said.
The sources told An Nahar daily published Sunday that Moscow's stance was announced during a meeting last week between the Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, and a Hizbullah delegation led by MP Mohammed Raad.
The meeting lasted only 40 minutes and not two and a half hours as media reports in Beirut said, the sources stressed.
"The government that includes both Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... should resign, and let a new cabinet that abides by Leb's commitments be formed," they quoted Bogdanov as telling the delegation when it stressed that the Shiite party and the FPM reject the funding of the Special Tribunal for Leb.
The sources also said that Moscow tasked its ambassador in Beirut, Alexander Zasypkin, to inform Lebanese officials that Leb should fulfill its commitments toward the STL that is set to try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins.
Zasypkin is relaying to the officials the warning that the U.N. Security Council which has established the tribunal through a resolution would implement sanctions against Leb if it fails to fund the STL.
The sources stressed that Russia remains committed to its stance that the court should be allowed to carry out its work under the best circumstances and that the criminals in Hariri's case and other liquidations should be punished.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The Islamic world respects strength. They'll pay a little more attention to Russia's guidance than the EU's...
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/31/2011 9:24 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.
l-Shabaab
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Kenya's naval forces are likely to be in action this week, as the next phase of the military operation targeting the A
Suha Arafat, widow of late PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, is wanted by officials in Tunisia for alleged corruption, AFP reported on Monday.
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Saturday delayed the indictment of seven accused in the Benazir Bhutto 
[Dawn] Egyptian officials say efforts to persuade Paleostinian 
