[Pak Daily Times] Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... on genocide charges, said on Saturday he has offered to help Libya integrate its dozens of militias into the country's armed forces.
"We have an experience in integrating rebels in a national army," said Bashir, whose visit to Libya drew criticism from human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... groups. "We have offered to help our brothers in Libya in building a national army that includes the components of the Libyan revolution. Our experts are available and our officers are available," he said. Bashir also said he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libya's southern borders during the war that ended Muammar Qadaffy's ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... rule but that his offer was declined.
Libya's new rulers are struggling to include thousands of former rebels who helped oust Qadaffy in a military and police force or in civilian jobs. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, warned this week that Libya risks sliding into civil war unless it cracks down on rival militias which filled the vacuum left by Qadaffy's downfall.
The militias are vying with each other for influence, and believe that to ensure they receive their due share of political power they need to keep an armed presence in the capital. Abdul Jalil, who visited Khartoum in November, has said Sudanese weapons and ammunition helped Libya's former rebels oust Muammar Qadaffy last year and take control of the North African country. Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Qadaffy's rule because of his support for rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.
Bashir said that the ousting of Qadaffy was "the best piece of news in Sudan's modern history." "We came here to thank the Libyan people for the gift they offered to the Sudanese people by removing Qadaffy," he said. Bashir's visit was criticised by rights groups. "Welcoming Bashir raises questions about the NTC's stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law," Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , said in a statement.
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01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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BENGHAZI, Libya - Sudans President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Sunday he was working with Libyan leaders to secure the border between the two countries and prevent the smuggling of weapons to rebel groups in Sudan.
Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on genocide charges, arrived in Libya on Saturday. Asked on Sunday if he was worried he might be arrested and handed over to the ICC, he answered: By God, No.
Not in Libya, I am ready to move around Libya without security guards.
During the visit, Bashir has stressed the need to protect Libyas southern borders, which he said former dictator Muammar Gaddafi used to smuggle weapons to rebels in Sudan.
We dont want borders for exchanging weapons, rebels and mercenaries, Bashir told a gathering of Sudanese nationals and Libyan officials in the eastern city of Benghazi.
He said Sudan supported diplomatic efforts between Libyas ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) and the North African countrys neighbours, including Chad, Niger and Mali, to secure borders.
We want to support these contacts so we can turn Libyas borders with the rest of regions states into a venue for trade and the movement of citizens, he said.
NTC Vice Chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga confirmed the government was holding discussions on the issue with Sudan and other nations.
We are working hard on protecting our borders with our neighbours, he said.
Relations between Khartoum and Tripoli were strained during Gaddafis rule because of the dictators support for rebels in Sudans western Darfur region and in South Sudan, which gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal.
Bashir said Sam-7 anti-aircraft missiles had been smuggled to the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement during Libyas nine-month civil war. He said the missiles posed no danger as they had been stored without proper maintenance.
Bashir said on Saturday he had offered the new Libyan government help from Sudanese troops in protecting Libyas southern borders during the war that ousted Gaddafi, but that his offer had been declined.
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01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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Israel is expected on Tuesday to name a non-resident ambassador to South Sudan.
The appointment of an envoy to the world's newest state will come at a meeting of the Foreign Ministry's appointments committee that meets regularly to deal with new diplomatic assignments. not a Duke nor Earl, nor yet a Viscount
#1
Mods - cleanup on Aisle Everything, please. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/09/2012 21:47 Comments ||
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#2
just like herpes, we have another flareup of our syphilitic Saudi inc@st-ridden trash. Trying to make up for their inadequacies (but you did catch the Saoodi reference) by trolling for Papa's approval and perhaps staying off their belly on the family bed tonight
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2012 22:16 Comments ||
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Families of Arab prisoners detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay since it opened 10 years ago are despairing of seeing them again soon despite U.S. pledges to shut the facility.
Fawzi al-Odah and Fayez al-Kandari, the only two Kuwaitis still at the center, "may spend the rest of their lives in prison without trial," said Odah's father, Khaled, who heads a committee of families of detainees. As opposed to the families of their victims, who most surely never received any kind of trial, either.
"Our life has changed for the worse since 10 years ago. I am suffering having to endure missing my son and at the same time trying to alleviate the sufferings of the rest of my family," Odah told AFP.
The duo are among detainees who did not receive approval for transfer from the U.S. detention center that was built as part of Washington's "war on terror" because they are considered too dangerous to be released, Odah said. I'm surprised Obrother didn't see fit to send them to the Carribean.
Ten Kuwaiti detainees have been released and sent back home and all of them got married and have children and are now leading normal lives, Odah said.
Except for one, Mohammed al-Ajmi, who is officially listed as missing while U.S. and Iraqi authorities say he carried out a suicide attack in northern Iraq a few years ago. Well, parts of him are missing, anyway.
And the rest have become part of the landscape...
U.S. authorities initially promised Kuwait to release Odah and Kandari, aged 34 and 35 respectively, but they later retracted their pledge despite Kuwait agreeing to conditions that Odah's father described as tough. Like to tattoo a big "T" on their forehead and chop off their right hand and the opposing foot?
The two were arrested in northern Pakistan in late 2001 by tribesmen who sold them to the Pakistani army who in turn handed them over to the United States, he said.
Both of them were on charity missions and were never involved in any act of fighting, he insisted. Arms for the poor?
In total, 171 men remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They come from 20 countries, but around half of them are from Yemen.
Some 89 inmates have already received the green light for transfer, which theoretically means that they are free. Most are Yemenis, but U.S. President Barack Obama imposed in January 2010 a moratorium on the release of Yemenis.
"There remain 90 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo," said Ahmed Armane, who takes care of the detainees file at the Yemeni human rights organization Hood.
"We plan to organize this year a series of demonstrations demanding their release, especially after the U.S. justice decided to release them, while they remain behind bars for reasons that we do not know," he said.
In total, 66 Yemenis were released from Guantanamo and have been repatriated to Yemen where many of them rejoined the ranks of al-Qaeda. Of course, the two in question will be an exception to the rule.
As for Saudi inmates, only 10 remain in custody out of 130 who passed through the detention center, according to Kateh al-Shemmari, a lawyer for the families of Saudi detainees.
"We demand either a fair civil trial, or their repatriation to Saudi Arabia," he said,
Why would Saudi Arabia want Kuwaiti terrorists, when they have plenty of their own?
adding that the families "have no clue about the US criteria for the release of the detainees." Neither did Obean at first. Apparently he learned something between when he got elected and January, 2010.
"I think that the delay in the release of the last detainees is linked to the fact that some released prisoners rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen," where the jihadist network has regrouped taking advantage of the weakness of the central authority.
Some of five Saudi ex-inmates who followed a rehabilitation program set by Riyadh for returnees have rejoined Islamist militants, a Saudi interior ministry official said in 2010. Pervs, terrorists, whatever. Rehabilitation is a pipe dream for most. Unless you chop off their right hand and the opposing foot, which will usually slow them down to the point that they aren't so much of a problem.
The Saudi rehabilitation program is run by clerics and aims at preventing ex-inmates from been drawn back into Islamist militant groups that they weren't part of before. I vote that they be rehabilitated by the USMC.
#1
Let's see, Daddy, named Kaled, sent his boys out the front door with machine guns to kill and the boys are now at Gitmo. Does daddy see a connection? Maybe the boys have given up their rights to see an open front door.
#2
There needs to be a reassessment of under what circumstances US forces should capture such people, if they are of no important intelligence value. If they have little or no value, a bullet is one heck of a lot cheaper.
#7
Pakistan,Saudi and Yemen have had most detainees.Look at their education system.
Posted by: Albert B. Hayes1066 ||
01/09/2012 14:57 Comments ||
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#8
We could. But the challenge in dealing with terror groups is to counter them without losing our humanity and freedoms in the process.
Yeah. You want to keep them from claiming their 72 virgins for as long as possible. That's a form of torture, you know, which is even better than killing them. They might even begin to wonder if there really are any virgins. Sweet.
#9
Whining and victimhood are parts of the terrorist playbook. Our humanity and due process are seen as weaknesses to be exploited and used against us in the cause.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2012 19:37 Comments ||
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SANAA, Yemen - Yemens Cabinet has approved a law granting President Ali Abdullah Saleh and anyone who has worked under him immunity from prosecution for any alleged crimes committed during his 33-year rule. The law, approved by the government on Sunday, stipulates that the decision to grant Saleh and his security forces immunity is legally binding in Yemen, and cannot be reversed or altered.
Perhaps the new leaders are thinking of the day they might need immunity...
The law was passed despite nationwide protests demanding the longtime leader be put on trial for the killing of hundreds of people during the countrys 11-month popular uprising.
A Gulf-brokered agreement Saleh signed in November grants him and his aides immunity in exchange for him handing over powers to his deputy, Yemens parliament must still approve the law.
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01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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A terrorist jailed for a plot to decapitate a British soldier is being investigated over a prison slashing. Al-Qaeda fanatic Parviz Khan was moved to a segregation wing after a fellow prisoner's neck and face were cut. The attack left the victim bleeding heavily and requiring treatment at an outside hospital. What weapon was used in the attack is unclear.
Anyone check Khan's shaving kit?
If he's devout, he doesn't need one except to remove body hair ahead of a suicide attack.
Like I was saying...
Khan, 41 has denied the slashing, which was recorded by CCTV cameras at top-security Long Lartin Prison. The father of four was jailed for life in 2008 over a conspiracy to kidnap a British Muslim soldier and behead him "like a pig". The aim was to deter others from joining the military.
Since being moved within Long Lartin he has been complaining about his conditions, describing his cell as "a cold, heating-less coffin".
Get used to it, the afterlife is going to be the same for you...
In a letter published online by a group which raises money for Muslim prisoners, he griped about having to "kick up a fuss" to get shoes and claimed his meals had been cut because he was giving staff trouble.
#4
"Long Lartin Prison is a maximum security prison for sentenced Category A adult males (though the prison does hold some sentenced Category B inmates), with all inmates serving a minimum sentence of four years. In addition the prison holds Category A remand prisoners awaiting trial.
"A supermax segregation unit called Perrie Wing was opened at Long Lartin in June 1999, designed to hold the most violent and dangerous types of offenders. The new wing substantially increased the capacity of Long Lartin Prison."
The United States has ordered a Venezuelan diplomat based in Miami to leave the country, accusing her of discussing possible cyber-attacks on American soil.
According to The BBC, Venezuela's consul general, Livia Acosta Noguera, allegedly discussed cyber-attacks on the US while based at the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico in 2008.
Four US members of Congress had written to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December raising concerns about the diplomat.
The letter said that according to a documentary broadcast on the Spanish-language network Univision last month, Acosta Noguera had discussed attacking the US government's computer systems by diplomats from the Iranian and Cuban embassies and students posing as extremists, while she was vice secretary at Caracas's embassy in Mexico.
It sounds like a singularly muddled plan. Why would students pose as extremists while diplomats hack the system? Surely that's a misuse of the talents of all parties involved, including the PNG-ed lady playing at party planner.
The congressmen asked the State Department to investigate the claims, and if it found them to be true, "declare her a persona non grata and require her immediate departure from the United States".
Meanwhile, the State Department did not comment on the reason for the expulsion. Didn't want to tip off the Obamanure administration?
#1
Why would students pose as extremists while diplomats hack the system?
Translating the usual AyPee first-to-press hack job (and there won't a follow-up), likely it meant the students/extremists would perform the technical work, while the diplomats provided guidance.
Citing audio and video obtained by the students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Univision said Acosta was seeking information about the servers of nuclear power plants in the U.S.
After the documentary aired, the State Department said the allegations were 'very disturbing' and officials said the FBI had opened an investigation into the matter.
One group of Venezuelans in Miami told CNN on Sunday that they supported the U.S. government's move.
'The consul of Venezuela in Miami had not only conspired with Iranian officials to attack the security of the United States, but also had converted the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami into a spy centre to monitor the activities of Venezuelan activists especially in South Florida, with the intention of neutralizing us,' said a statement from the group, which included several organisations of Venezuelan exiles.
The doomsday scenario of Soviet nukes falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorists has, as far as is known, remained fiction, thanks to a massive U.S.-Russian effort to lock the weaponry up safely after the Soviet Union fell apart.
The vast nuclear arsenal, scattered among several newly independent nations, was secured because Russian military officers acted with professionalism and honesty, Moscow and Washington shared clear priorities, and the U.S. taxpayer coughed up billions of dollars, former top officials who dealt with the Soviet nuclear legacy say.
Even so, as the world marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet demise at the end of 1991, occasional doubts surface about whether the system was airtight. There's the Russian scientist who perhaps went to work for Iran's nuclear program, an old claim that portable nuclear devices went astray, the seizures of smuggled fissile material in the 1990s. That's just the intro. Rest at link for evaluation.
#2
Pifer said that some Ukrainian officials longed to keep them, but around 1992 concluded their country had neither the money nor the expertise to remain a nuclear power.
Right, that's for rich countries, like Pakistan. And North Korea, of course.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/09/2012 12:56 Comments ||
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#3
Unfortunately, not unlike GWCC = MMAGW, the international/universal Govts, Perts consensus on alleged missing Cold-War Soviet nukes [Nukes-WMDS] is that there is no consensus.
As things stand in January 2012, we are not going to know until a Nuke-WMDS = CBRNE "Mushroon Cloud(s)" goes off in one or more major cities.
The Norks have always threatened war. Nothing new about this. Like father, like son...
SEOUL: North Korea's new leader vowed in 2009 to wage war if the country's enemies shot down its long-range rocket, footage aired on state television showed Sunday in the first official word of his role in military operations before his father's death.
Compare and contrast to the BBC report of this documentary, which doesn't mention the threat of war. It's sad to think that the Arab News is more reliable than the BBC.
The documentary is the second in a week seeking to highlight Suet Face Kim Jong Un's experience in leading North Korea's 1.2 million-strong military and was aimed at showing that he was in charge of the armed forces long before his father, former leader Kim Jong Il, died of a heart attack last month.
The son, who is in his late 20s, has moved swiftly into the role of "supreme leader" of the people, the ruling Workers' Party and the military despite questions abroad about how easily he could assume power with only a few years of grooming behind him. Where a North Korea under Fat Boy Kim Jong Un is headed is deemed crucial because the country is locked in a long-running standoff over its nuclear ambitions and is grappling with chronic food shortages. North Korea has tested two atomic devices and is believed to be working toward mounting a bomb on a missile capable of reaching the US.
"I had decided to wage a real war if the enemies shot down" the rocket, Pudgy Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying. A voice-over described Kim Jong Il as saying his son was in charge of the military's anti-rocket interception operations at the time.
North Korea has said it successfully sent a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful bid to develop its space program. US and South Korean officials, however, said no satellite or other object reached orbit, and accused the North of using the launch to test its long-range missile technology. At the time, Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went awry. US lawmakers also urged their military to shoot the rocket down.
The video also showed Pugsley Kim Jong Un navigating a tank,
The Nork answer to Michael Dukakis?
observing fighter jets and firing exercises, and posing for photographs with soldiers. He is shown seated in the tank's cockpit and speaking to officers with the hatch cover open. He later drove it on a snow-covered road as his father watched from a reviewing stand.
For two years, North Koreans were told that Kim Jong Un, who graduated from Kim Il Sung Military University, was a military genius, Pyongyang residents have told The Associated Press. Sunday's documentary said Kim Jong Un had intensified military training, and showed fighter jets tearing through the skies, and soldiers jumping out of planes with parachutes and firing multiple-rocket launchers.
It cited Kim Jong Il as saying, "Our general resembles me. ... I sometimes admire his strong belief, resolve and gut."
Kim is also quoted as saying his son has "outstanding (military) strategies and is well-versed in military tactics. ... He is a man of many abilities and the genius among the geniuses."
Another documentary aired a week ago showed Kim Jong Un visiting a premier tank division with strong historical and family ties in the first solo inspection trip made after his father's death.
Since Kim Jong Il's death on Dec. 17, the process to install his son as leader has been quick, with top military and party officials wasting no time in pledging their loyalty to the third Kim to lead the nation of 24 million since it was founded in 1948. Kim Jong Un, who was recently named supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, has pledged to uphold Kim Jong Il's "military first" policy.
He is believed to have turned 28 or 29 on Sunday, though his exact birth date has not been confirmed by the government. The birthdays of his father and grandfather are considered the nation's most important holidays, but Kim Jong Un's birthday has not been declared a national holiday.
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01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"a national holiday" also know as "Hide the Desert Tray Day"
Posted by: Steven ||
01/09/2012 15:36 Comments ||
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A documentary praising the military expertise of North Korea's new leader's Suet Face Kim Jong-un has aired on what is believed to be his birthday.
The film shows Pugsley Kim Jong-un in his new role as supreme military commander, inspecting troops, saluting and sitting in a tank. It also confirms that he was being groomed for the role from 2009, showing footage of him from that time watching a rocket launch with his father.
Video at the link.
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Al Qaeda continues to spread its message through an Urdu monthly magazine. Its 200-page magazine, Hiteen, is delivered by through the mail.
That's not a magazine, it's a full-blown book.
Hiteen, named after the battlefield where Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi defeated the Crusaders, began in June 2011, a month after Bin Laden's death. The magazine is being sent to not only the Deobandis but also to Ahle Hadith and Barelvis to convert them to Al Qaeda's point of view.
The seventh issue which was sent out last month, opens with an essay, Matyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden and the International Jihad Movement. The magazine contains the sayings of Mullah Omar and some Al Qaeda leaders. There is also an interview with Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Rehman Al Husnain. Husnain, once part of Kuwait's Ministry of Islamic Affairs, is now with Al Qaeda. There is a fatwa by Muhammad Waliullah Hussain of the Jamiatul Uloomul Islami, which declares that there is no ban on Muslims looting goods from NATO containers.
Hiteen does not carry the name of the editor, and the only way to send feedback is through two email addresses.
An editorial says that it is not true that the mission of the mujahideen has been damaged with Bin Laden's death. It advises readers not to ignore the 'false reports about mujahidden from the hyprocitical media' and to continue the struggle. It says the fight will continue till the US is removed from Muslim countries and an Islamic Caliphate is established.
An anonymous essay speaks of the need for a new Bin Laden who would fight infidels and defend Muslims. The magazine thanks the many branches of Al Qaeda around the world.
An officer of the Counter Terrorism Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they knew about the magazine and that copies of it were in their files. He said that they would soon discover who was responsible for publishing and circulating Hiteen.
[Pak Daily Times] American intelligence agency CIA has failed to eliminate more than four Al Qaeda leaders in its highly costly and controversial 'liquidation by drones' campaign inside Pakistain during 2011, revealed an annual report complied by Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) on drone attacks.
CMC, an independent research centre, which regularly monitors drone attacks in Pakistain, has prepared an annual report (2011) on drone attacks inside Pak territory.
The report notes 43 percent decline in drone attacks during 2011 than 2010. CIA had conducted 132 drone attacks in 2010. The number of fatalities in drone attacks has also dropped by 35 percent. Mounting protest and public backlash against drone attacks as well as tensions between US and Pakistain during the year led to the decline in drone attacks. US has suspended drone attacks after an attack by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... helicopters on a Pak military check-post on November 26, 2011.
US had carried out 75 drone attacks inside Pakistain during the year 2011 killing 609 people. Among them only three were Arab commanders of Al Qaeda; one was UK's most wanted and just four were senior commanders of different factions of Pak myrmidons, the report said, adding that the rest were innocents.
American drones fired 242 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles during the year and destroyed 38 houses, 37 vehicles, one camp and a seminary. One such missile costs for $68000 which means the CIA spent $16.456 million or Rs 1.5 billion to kill 609 people. In average, ammunition cost of every single casualty was $27000 or Rs 2.4 million. If other expenses are included the overall cost of killing one suspected myrmidon will further rise. It may become point of concern for American taxpayer that such a huge amount of money was spent just to eliminate four Al Qaeda leaders and four Taliban capos. The report said drone strikes also strained US-Pak relations.
During 2011 collaboration and cooperation between CIA and ISI turned into confrontation. After arrest of CIA agent Raymond Davis and Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... Operation, ISI busted many modules of local and international CIA agents active in the country. As a result American agency was deprived of human intelligence in many areas of North and South Wazoo. This led to ineffectiveness of the drone attacks against myrmidon leadership, the report said.
CMC's tally of the drone attacks shows that overall number of drone attacks since 2004 has crossed the figure of 300 and So far 2661 people have been killed in 303 drone attacks. An unprecedented increase in drone Attacks in South Waziristan was observed during the year. In the past, drone attacks in South Waziristan were rare in numbers as 90 percent of the attacks in 2010 occurred in North Waziristan. During the year 2011, South Waziristan was targeted more frequently. Drone attacks in South Waziristan were increased by 60 percent. During 2010 which was deadliest year of the history of drone attacks in Pakistain with highest ever number of drone attacks and subsequent deaths, only 9 out of 132 strikes were carried out in South Waziristan. However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... in 2011 the number of attacks increased to 23. In North Waziristan, the CIA carried out 50 strikes while two strikes were carried out in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... Contrary to American claims of only 50 civilian deaths during past eight years, a UK based media organization, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism confirmed that a minimum of 391 and a maximum of 780 innocent civilians including 175 children have so far been killed in drone attacks.
The report said that although Pak government has publicly opposed drone attacks but its 'anonymous' security officials kept playing dubious role while releasing false details of drone Attacks. The government also failed to devise any plan to record casualties of civilians and snuffies by drone attacks. No comprehensive compensation policy for civilian victims of these attacks is in place however the government has announced Rs 300,000 for each of the victims of infamous March 17 attack on a peace jirga in North Waziristan which killed 40 rustics. Drone attacks have emerged as a cause of the problem rather than a solution. During the year many public demonstrations were held against drone attacks in different parts of Pakistain while National Assembly, Senate, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... assemblies passed resolutions to condemn drone attacks. Besides public protests, there are at least three court cases pending against drone attacks in three different courts of Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Could trained up Afghans if Pashtun take out militant leaders in North or South Waziristan?
Posted by: Paul ||
01/09/2012 12:27 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Former Pak President Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... plans to travel to Soddy Arabia soon to gather support for his political comeback, Saudi and Pak sources told Rooters on Sunday.
Musharraf, who has been living abroad since he resigned in 2008, has said he plans to return to Pakistain this month, despite possible arrest, in order to participate in a parliamentary election due by 2013.
"Musharraf will be travelling to Saudi soon in order to get support before he goes back to Pakistain," said a Gulf-based Saudi source familiar with the matter. A Pak source confirmed that Musharraf, who is in Dubai, was to travel to Soddy Arabia soon.
The source declined to say what form of support the former president is seeking. But some reports have said that Musharraf, who faces possible arrest on charges that he had failed to provide adequate security to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... before her liquidation in 2007, will seek Saudi guarantees that he would not be jugged.
Soddy Arabia, which has considerable influence in Pakistain because of its economic support, has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... over the friction between the army and the government in recent months.
"The stability of Pakistain is very important to the region and has to be maintained," said a second source familiar with the matter.
On Sunday, Musharraf is scheduled to address a rally via video in Pakistain's biggest city and commercial hub, Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , sources in his recently formed All Pakistain Moslem League said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
This has coup written all over it. But it could be either self delusion or well planned. Time will tell.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's president said he has no intention of stepping down in the face of allegations his government sought US help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military. Asif Ali Zardari, speaking in an interview aired Saturday night on Pakistan's Geo News TV, was responding to a question about whether army leaders might seek his resignation.
"No one has asked me yet," Zardari said. "I don't think there is such an innocent in Pakistan who will demand my resignation."
But there are a lot of guilty ones who might, and they might not just 'ask'...
The scandal centers on a memo sent in May to US Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. It asked for his help in stopping a supposed army coup after the American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The unilateral US raid angered and embarrassed Pakistan.
News of the memo first surfaced in October when Mansoor Ijaz, a US businessman of Pakistani origin, wrote a column in the Financial Times claiming Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, crafted the memo and asked him to send it. Ijaz also claimed the memo had Zardari's support. Both Haqqani and Zardari's government have denied the allegations, but the envoy resigned in the wake of the scandal.
Pakistan's supreme court
Who to a man hate Zardari...
has ordered a judicial investigation into the scandal. The government says that probe is unnecessary because a parliamentary board is already investigating.
The Pakistan Army, which has denied it ever intended to carry out a coup, was outraged by the memo and supports the Supreme Court investigation.
Talk of Zardari's possible resignation took on momentum when he suddenly left Pakistan for a Dubai hospital in early December where he was treated for as yet unspecified reasons. One of his close associates has said he had suffered a "mini-stroke."
Or a mini-wish not to die...
He returned to Pakistan on Dec. 19.
In Saturday's interview, Zardari was asked if leaving again was an option for him, to avoid humiliation or even an arrest by the army. "Why should it be?" he responded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Iraq has formally asked authorities in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region to hand over Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and 12 of his entourage to face charges of running death squads, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.
Iraq's Shia-led government issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni politician in mid-December, shortly after the withdrawal of the last US troops, triggering a political crisis that threatens Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's fragile governing coalition of Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions.
The move against Hashemi and Maliki's request to parliament to remove Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, followed a few days later by a series of bombings in mostly Shia areas of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... that killed at least 72 people, revived fears of sectarian strife in the OPEC oil producer. "We sent an official request a day ago to the Interior Ministry and (security forces) of the Kurdistan region asking them to hand over al-Hashemi with twelve other suspects to judicial authorities in Storied Baghdad," Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister, told Rooters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The democratically-elected Paleostinian Prime Minister and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, second-in-command, Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... says the Paleostinian movement will never abandon its armed resistance against Israel.
Haniyeh made the remarks during an address to a gathering of thousands in the Tunisian capital of Tunis on Sunday.
The prime minister started a two-week-long visit to Moslem countries on December 25 and has so far toured Egypt, Sudan, and Turkey.
He arrived in Tunis on Thursday for a five-day-long visit and is also scheduled to travel to Qatar and Bahrain.
This is Haniyeh's first trip abroad since Hamas took control of the Paleostinian territory of the Gazoo Strip in 2007, having won the democratic parliamentary elections, which had been held a year earlier.
He promised difficult days ahead for Israel, citing Tel Aviv's struggle to cope with the Islamic Awakening -- the wave of popular uprisings in Middle East and North Africa, which broke out in Tunisia in January 2010.
The Paleostinian leader also asserted that Hamas would also continue to defend the Paleostinians' rightful claim to the Tel Aviv-occupied territories, including al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- the promised capital of any future Paleostinian state.
He received standing ovation from the crowd, who waved Paleostinian and Tunisian flags and shouted anti-Israeli slogans.
The speech had been organized by Tunisia's Islamic al-Nahda party, which recently won the country's parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#2
Thus guaranteeing that they will continue to be poor, oppressed and downtrodden ad infinitum (or at least until they become extinct). Oh, except for their leaders who will live safely in the lap of luxury in Tunis, having abandoned Damascus because it's gotten a little too hot for them there lately and because, well, you wouldn't expect them to actually live in Gaza, would you?
JERUSALEM - Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday an increase of nearly $700 million in the defence budget, after saying last year that he would cut military spending to finance social reforms.
There are advantages to having a functional economy...
"We are going to add three million shekels to the defence budget," Netanyahu told a news conference.
Fences are expensive, you know...
Netanyahu had in October supported the recommendations of a report he commissioned, by respected economist Manuel Trajtenberg, which were intended to address rising frustrations about the cost of living and income disparity in the Jewish state that triggered mass protests last year.
One of the Trajtenberg report's proposals was to cut a defence budget that amounts to around $14 billion, of which $3 billion comes in annual US military aid, to finance a series of social initiatives without increasing the deficit.
"I have reflected on this question, but in view of what has happened in the region, I have reached the conclusion that cutting the defence budget would be a mistake, even a big mistake," Netanyahu said.
"Any sensible person can see what is happening around us... All these changes have strategic implications for the national security of the state of Israel, for our ability to face the new challenges and instability," he told a weekly cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office.
The Israeli army "is the shield of the country, which is why we must increase its means," he added.
The prime minister said that in return for the spending increase, the defence ministry would have to respect the principle of transparency, which would allow the government to monitor the management of the budget.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
3,000,000 new Israeli shekels = $781,351 not $700,000,000
#3
Of course Stuxnet is a thing of great beauty. But one of these labs is based in Moscow and the other is owned by a Chinese company so I think this article might be best taken with a healthy dose of salt.
[Pak Daily Times] Philippine President Benigno Aquino said Sunday that authorities had discovered a plot by a terrorist group to disrupt a huge religious procession in Manila, and warned that members had not been tossed in the clink.
Aquino said police had been tracking the group, which he did not identify, that was allegedly planning to sow terror during the feast of the Black Nazarene on Monday, which annually gathers hundreds of thousands of devotees. He did not elaborate on the nature of the threat, but said "there is a possibility of it" when asked if the plot involved kabooms. "The sad reality of the world today is that hard boyz want to disrupt the ability of the people to live their lives in the way they want to, including the freedom to worship and engage in community activities," Aquino said in a surprise news briefing.
"Your government will do what it has to do to ensure the safety and security of the public." He did not identify the alleged plotters, but said they belonged to a local group whose links to foreign organizations were still being probed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi confirmed on Sunday that relations between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... and the Assad regime have reached a low point over the situation in Syria.
In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, Aridi said: "Contacts between MP Walid Jumblat and the Syrian regime have been cut over the differences on the situation in Syria."
Asked if he had tried to reach Syrian authorities lately, the minister, who is also a PSP official, said: "I haven't tried to contact them and haven't asked for a meeting and in their turn they haven't contacted us."
"A military and security solution in Syria would only lead to more complication," he told the newspaper.
Aridi said the Syrian crisis would not end unless the government adopts a political situation. "The more this solution comes late, the higher the price will be."
Jumblat said on Tuesday that the crisis in Syria "cannot be resolved through security measures, but by introducing a radical change to the ruling regime."
Aridi wondered why Jumblat would be criticized for preaching a political solution while Russia, which is Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... ' top ally, is also advising it to give up the deadly crackdown.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The United States will respond if Iran tries to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... warned Sunday, saying such a move would cross a "red line."
"We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz," Panetta told CBS television. "That's another red line for us and that we will respond to them."
Panetta was seconded by General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Iran has the means to close the waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes.
"But we would take action and reopen the Straits," the general said on the same show, "Face the Nation."
Their comments follow Iranian threats to close the strait if the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... goes through with an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest step to pressure Tehran to give up a nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at gaining atomic weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Leon,
If you let the Prez gut your Defense budget the way he wants, you won't have enough money to buzz the Super Bowl with a Piper Cub.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/09/2012 10:23 Comments ||
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#2
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > IRAN INTENSIFIES EFFORTS TO INFLUENCE POLICY in [post-2014] AFGHANISTAN.
Iran repor begins courting the Taliban.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > HOW PAKISTAN'S UNSTABLE TRIBAL AREAS [FATA, FANA] THREATEN CHINA'S CORE INTERESTS | FATA-BASED MILITANTS [AL-Qaeda + Turkestan Islamic Party/TIP] THREATEN CHINA'S CORE INTERESTS, i.e. national stability + territorial integrity + China's form of Socialist Governance.
ARTIC > CHINESE STATE OFICIAL/COMMENTATOR = iff violent forces = separatist Militants in XINJIANG gain ground, CHINA MAY BE FORCED TO TAKE STRONG MEASURES INCLUD TO INTERVENE MILITARILY IN BOTH AFGHANISTAN + PAKISTAN.
China also demanded to set up PLA-controlled milbases in the tribal araes iff Pakistan can't or won't make serious efforts agz the Hard Boyz, PAKISTAN CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK + HARD PLACE [US-NATO on one, NERVOUS CHINA + PLA on the other].
[Iran Press TV] Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi says the spies recently placed in long-term storage in Iran were plotting to implement US plans during upcoming Iranian parliamentary polls.
Moslehi said on Sunday that the espionage agents were planning to disrupt the elections, using guidelines communicated to them from outside the country and generating disturbance through online social networking websites.
According to the deputy head of Iran's Election Headquarters, Hassan-Ali Nouri, more than 4,500 hopefuls have applied for candidacy in the ninth round of Iran's parliamentary elections, slated to be held on March 2.
Moslehi said the fifth columnists were placed in long-term storage after their activities and liaisons were fully established by Iran's Intelligence Ministry.
The Iranian intelligence minister added that the spies were not part of any major group.
Over the past year, the Islamic Theocratic Republic has apprehended many suspicious individuals, who were later found to have been enlisted by the United States and Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility will go on stream soon, a bigwig was quoted by Iranian media on Sunday as saying, a move likely to increase tension between the Islamic state and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
"The Fordow nuclear enrichment plant will be operational in the near future ... 20 per cent, 3.5 per cent and four per cent enriched uranium can be produced at this site," said the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Fereydoun Abbasi Davani, the Kayhan daily reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Styx.next anyone?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/09/2012 14:38 Comments ||
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#2
See also NEWSMAX > LIGNET: IRAN WILL HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS THIS YEAR [2012].
First nuke devices, albeit various Perts-Bloggers claim that Iran has many secret weapons includ nukes???
[Dawn] Arab ministers gathered on Sunday to review the record of a widely criticised observer mission to Syria, amid growing calls for the bloc to cede to the United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... the lead role in trying to end nearly 10 months of bloodshed.
The ministerial committee on Syria met in Cairo, where 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... has its headquarters, to be briefed by the head of the mission, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi.
The meeting, chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, will discuss the monitors' first report which will contain "pictures, maps and information of the events witnessed by the monitors on the ground,"League Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Hilli said.
According to an Arab League source, the report says that the monitors were "subjected to harassment by the Syrian government and by the opposition." It also recommends that the mission continue its work and that monitors be equipped with more technological assistance, the source told news hounds.
A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since December 26, trying to assess whether Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent.
Critics say it has been completely outmanoeuvred by the government and has failed to make any progress towards stemming the crackdown. They have called for the mission to pull out.
Dabi, a Sudanese former military intelligence chief who is himself the focus of controversy, said it was too early to judge the mission.
"This is the first time that the vaporous Arab League has carried out such a mission," Dabi told Britannia's Observer newspaper. "But it has only just started, so I have not had enough time to form a view."
The Arab League has admitted to "mistakes" but defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of prisoners and withdrawal of tanks from cities. It said rather than pull out, it planned to send more observers.
"No plan to withdraw the observers is on the agenda of the Arab ministerial committee meeting on Syria," the bloc's deputy secretary general, Adnan Issa, told AFP on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes, a leading hard-line newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.
The operations at the bunker-like facility south of Tehran, reported by the Kayhan daily newspaper, are small in comparison to Iran's main enrichment site. But the centrifuges at the underground labs are considered more efficient and are shielded from aerial surveillance and protected against airstrikes by up to 300 feet (90 meters) of mountain rock.
In an interview broadcast Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Iran is laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building a bomb. Panetta reiterated U.S. concerns about a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran's nuclear facilities, saying the action could trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the region.
I'm hoping this is misdirection by Leon, who is smart enough and skilled enough as a political operator to know what the Iranians are up to.
Panetta's remarks on CBS' "Face the Nation" reflect the Obama administration's long-held delusion view that Iran is not yet committed to building a nuclear arsenal, only to create the industrial and scientific capacity to allow one if its leaders to decide to take that final step.
The Kayhan newspaper, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said Tehran has begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom.
"Kayhan received reports yesterday that show Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility amid heightened foreign enemy threats," the newspaper said in a front-page report. Kayhan's manager is a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all important matters of state.
Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said Saturday that his country will "soon" begin enrichment at Fordo. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two reports.
Iran has a major uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran, where nearly 8,000 centrifuges are operating. Tehran began enrichment at Natanz in 2006.
The U.S. and Israel have said that all options remain open, including military action, should Iran continue with its enrichment program.
The country has been enriching uranium to less than 5 percent for years, but it began to further enrich part of its uranium stockpile to nearly 20 percent as of February 2010, saying it needs the higher grade material to produce fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical radioisotopes for cancer patients. Weapons-grade uranium is usually about 90 percent enriched.
But can be used at lower degrees of enrichment if you're willing to tolerate a smaller, dirtier kaboom.
Iran says the higher enrichment activities -- to nearly 20 percent -- will be carried out at Fordo. These operations are of particular concern to the West because uranium at 20 percent enrichment can be converted much more quickly for use in a nuclear warhead than uranium enriched to only 3.5 percent.
Built next to a military complex, Fordo was long kept secret and was only acknowledged by Iran after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009. The facility is a hardened tunnel and is protected by air defense missile batteries and the Revolutionary Guard. The site is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Qom, the religious nerve center of Iran's ruling system.
"The Fordo facility, like Natanz, has been designed and built underground. The enemy doesn't have the ability to damage it," the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted nuclear chief Abbasi as saying Sunday.
We'll be the judge of that...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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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.
International Criminal Court
Families of Arab prisoners detained without trial at Guantanamo Bay since it opened 10 years ago are despairing of seeing them again soon despite U.S. pledges to shut the facility.
The United States has ordered a Venezuelan diplomat based in Miami to leave the country, accusing her of discussing possible cyber-attacks on American soil.
The doomsday scenario of Soviet nukes falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorists has, as far as is known, remained fiction, thanks to a massive U.S.-Russian effort to lock the weaponry up safely after the Soviet Union fell apart.
A documentary praising the military expertise of North Korea's new leader's 
American intelligence agency CIA has failed to eliminate more than four Al Qaeda leaders in its highly costly and controversial '
Kurram Agency
Pervez 
JERUSALEM - Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday an increase of nearly $700 million in the defence budget, after saying last year that he would cut military spending to finance social reforms.
Walid 
Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi says the spies recently 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes, a leading hard-line newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.
