Ahmad bin Abdullah al-Shayie, a 21-year-old Saudi, nearly blew himself up in Baghdad a year ago, when he drove an oil tanker laden with explosives into a city neighbourhood. He survived, having been ejected out of the vehicle by the force of the blast.
Arrested by Iraqi police, he was handed over to the Saudi government. This week, the young militant's story appeared in newspaper interviews and on television in Riyadh as part of a government campaign to dissuade other young men from joining the Iraqi insurgency. Mr Shayie claimed he had been hired only as a driver and had no idea he would be used as a suicide bomber. He advised Saudi youth against following his example.
Publicised confessions of detained militants are common in Saudi Arabia, though they are received with scepticism by the public. ButMr Shayie's appearance reflects the concern of the authorities over the participation of local militants in the Iraq conflict.
As Saudi security forces battle militants at home and seek to undermine the religious support they have enjoyed, they dread the prospect that some radical youth could return from Iraq with even deadlier skills. "It's embarrassing when Saudis are found in Iraq and they could come back evenmore dangerous and better trained," says Abdelaziz al-Qassim, a political analyst.
By US commanders' own admission, foreign fighters make up no more than 10 per cent of the Iraqi insurgency but the attacks they are involved in tend to be the most bloody and most spectacular. The number of Saudi militants in Iraq is difficult to determine. Some studies have suggested that as many as 60 per cent of foreign fighters in Iraq are Saudi and local analysts say that in the most conservative parts of the kingdom it is now common for families to have one member fighting against US troops in Iraq.
Saudi intelligence, however, believes that the percentage is far lower and that only 350 Saudis, or about 12 per cent of their estimate of the foreign contingent - are thought to have entered Iraq, 53 of whom are dead.
The figures are cited by a recent report by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which also says that 85 per cent of the Saudis who entered Iraq were not on any government watch list.
They appeared to be motivated by anger at the US invasion and to have been encouraged by the calls of local radical clerics. More recently, however, some Saudi militants have left the kingdom to escape the domestic security crackdown. Western diplomats and analysts in Riyadh say recruiting for Iraq appears to be easier than for cells waging attacks within Saudi Arabia. Saudi radicals have long been divided over whether attacks on government symbols are justified, but all agree that waging a jihad, or holy war, against the US is sanctioned.
Last year, a group of prominent clerics opposed to violence in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that was interpreted as a blessing for joining the Iraqi insurgency.
Though they may not form the largest part of the foreign contingent in Iraq, Saudis are an attractivetarget for recruiters: according to the CSIS report,Saudis entering Iraq often bring along personal funds ranging between $10,000and $15,000.
Arab militants' role in the insurgency is causing alarm across the Arab world and bringing back memories of the "Arab Afghans". In the 1980s, thousands of Arabs were sent by their own governments to join the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The effort, funded by the US, backfired in the next decade because the core of al-Qaeda emerged from this pool of hardened fighters.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:32 ||
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In an appeal on the occasion of the National Day on Sept. 23, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday urged suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the Kingdom to surrender and return to the right path. âThis cherished national occasion offers an opportunity for those affiliated to the deviant group to review their stand and surrender to security authorities,â he said while presiding over the Council of Ministers meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.
Speaking about the National Day, he commended King Abdul Aziz for unifying the Kingdom and laying the foundation for modern Saudi Arabia. âEver since its establishment, the Kingdom has followed Islam as a faith, law and a way of life. We will continue to follow its teachings in our domestic as well as external affairs,â he said and pledged more efforts to promote the Kingdomâs development and the welfare of its citizens. King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia would go ahead with its development process with the support and hard work of its able citizens. He reaffirmed the Kingdomâs balanced foreign policy and its non-interference in other countriesâ internal affairs.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Yemeni Parliament yesterday calling on MPs to ratify a draft law banning the carrying of firearms in cities. The demonstrators, mostly rights activists, held placards denouncing the practice of carrying firearms in main city streets across Yemen. The legislation was approved by the Cabinet four years ago and has yet to be ratified by the Parliament controlled mainly by MPs of tribal backgrounds. Yemeni authorities are striving to disarm the 20 million population that hold nine million firearms according to estimates.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabiaâs King Abdullah urged Al Qaeda militants on Monday to surrender to police, but it was unclear if he was offering an amnesty to terrorists wanted for a 2-year nationwide bombing campaign.
Abdullahâs comments were made to mark Saudi Arabiaâs 75th anniversary on Friday and followed a month-long amnesty for militants made in June 2004 by his predecessor, the late King Fahd.
âFor this dear national occasion, the opportunity will be renewed for those affiliated to the âdeviant groupâ to review themselves and quickly take the initiative to hand themselves in to police and return to the right path,â the state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted Abdullah as telling cabinet ministers during a weekly meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:16 ||
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An English court has withdrawn a warrant for the arrest of a retired Israeli general on allegations of war crimes against Palestinians but it could still be reissued, a lawyer said. Doron Almog, who formerly commanded Israeli troops in Gaza, avoided arrest on the warrant by returning to Israel without leaving the plane that landed in London on September 11. "The police have returned the warrant to the court unexecuted," said Kate Maynard, a member of the legal team representing Palestinians whose houses were demolished by Israeli troops and whose relatives were killed in a bombing raid. "And the court has withdrawn the warrant, given that Almog is no longer in the jurisdiction," she said. "However, the fact that the warrant has been withdrawn does not mean that it cannot be reissued."
The arrest warrant prompted Israel's Justice Ministry to set aside about $1 million for legal aid to army officers who could face war crimes charges in European courts. In addition to the special legal budget, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni established a team to study European laws that allow countries to charge people with war crimes even if they were not committed against their nationals, said Shai Ben-Maor, Livni's adviser.
I think Israel should create a law that allows them to charge people and the descendants of peple who created and ran former colonial empires in Africa. Test case: any Belgian who had an ancestor working in the Congo.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Indictments and requests for extradition for the bombing of Dresden coming in .....
#2
I think Y'all miss the point, "Withdrawing" a warrant means nothing, the Israelis should issue their own "Warrant" against the judge that allowed this crap warrant in the first place
The charge should read "Interfering in the Internal Affairs of a Sovereign Nation" and execute it in Britain by "Kidnapping" the judge back to Israel.
That should put a stop to this nonsense permanently.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2005 12:10 Comments ||
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#3
Too little, too late.
Now we know the British courts can never be trusted again. Period.
Congratulations, judge. Very impressive.
Just not in the way you think....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2005 16:15 Comments ||
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Nicaragua's left-wing opposition party has announced an agreement to buy Venezuelan oil at preferential rates. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega said councils governed by the party would be able to buy oil at a 40% discount.
Just one leftist helping another
The rise of global oil prices has caused an energy crisis in Nicaragua which has led to power rationing.
But the government, which did not take part in the deal, is questioning the Sandinistas' access to the proper infrastructure to carry it out.
I can hear the reply now; "If we were only returned to power, we'd be able to give the people cheap oil"
Nicaragua's main energy supplier, Fenosa, began rationing power for up to eight hours a day earlier in September. Fenosa said it was left with no choice after the Supreme Court barred it from raising tariffs to keep up with the price of fuel used to generate electricity in Nicaragua.
President Enrique Bolanos - who is locked in a power struggle with the Sandinistas - said on Monday that he would ask congress to approve rate increases. He also wants congress to allow him to hand over $30m to private energy firms. Under the deal announced by Mr Ortega, a Venezuelan-controlled company will be created in partnership with the municipalities. The company will transport, store and deliver fuel. More than half of Nicaragua's councils are run by Sandinistas and could benefit from the cheaper oil.
Venezuela's Ambassador Miguel Gomez said he hoped similar schemes could be extended to other Central American countries.
"All you have to do is kiss Hugo's ring"
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 08:30 ||
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#1
Nothing wrong with stretching Chavez's resources. Client states are expensive and they they're only as good as the next check.
#2
Couldn't agree less. Chavez isn't looking for client states. He is trying to fulfill Simon Bolivar's dream of a South/Central American superstate. He has said this publically and often. Working with the Sandinistas is just one more step in that direction. Chavez is a very dangerous man. Sooner or later the kid gloves are going to come off and he will simply invade Equador or Columbia. When that happens what we Americans do, or what we fail to do, will have profound consequences for the future.
Do you see President Hillary sending troops to free the Ecuadorans? I sure as hell donât. Neither does Chavez. Look for him to offer the Democrats a sweet (and public) oil deal in the 2008 elections. It is likely (though by no means certain) that they will so far out of power by then that will do nearly anything to get back in. Remember, in the 21st Century access to power production is political power. Chavez has that in spades. He will use it and, from what I have seen so far, he will use it well.
#3
The guy from Guam wants to remind Mr. Chavez and Mr. Chavez's daughter that he along with others of Mr. Reagan's boyz made bloody mincemeat out of Ortega's Sandinista and allied units, and could've done the same to Ortega, etal. himself iff so ordered. THREATEN THE SPAM AND THE HORMEL CORPORATION AND YOU'RE BOTH HISTORY - OH, YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IT, BUT DON'T-T-T DO-O-O-O-O IT!
North Korea said Tuesday it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first provides a Shetland pony an atomic energy reactor, casting doubt on its commitment to a breakthrough agreement reached at international arms talks.
There was plenty of doubt even before this demand.
The North insisted during arms talks that began last week in Beijing that it be given a light-water reactor, a type less easily diverted for weapons use, in exchange for abandoning nuclear weapons. The agreement reached at the talks' end Monday â the first since the negotiations began in August 2003 â says the six countries in the negotiations will discuss the reactor issue "at an appropriate time." Both the United States and Japan, members of the six-nation disarmament talks, rejected the North's latest demand. "This is not the agreement that they signed and we'll give them some time to reflect," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"Hokay. We thought about it. Give us our pony!"
But the North's statement Tuesday indicated it was again raising the reactor demand as a prerequisite for disarming. "We will return to the NPT and sign the safeguards agreement with the IAEA and comply with it immediately upon the U.S. provision of LWRs, a basis of confidence-building to us," the North's Foreign Ministry said in the statement, carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "The U.S. should not even dream of the issue of (North Korea's) dismantlement of its nuclear deterrent before providing LWRs," the North said.
"Don't bother with even building that barn door. We wanna ride our pony NOW!!!!"
#1
Read, the USA has to go on pretending that NK has no nukes, and pretend that China doesn't controll 'em as it does other vital imports to NK from across the border, besides of course PC ping-ponging with IRAN ags America. In a way, China is as much responsible as the NKCP for NK's famines and econ struggles.
#2
I knew that any agreement with the Norks was DOA. Anyone hear Ted Turners' comments about his visit to Nork? He saw a paradise where workers commute by foot and bicycle. He also mentioned that they "looked thin." Ted has not only drunk the Socialists Kool Aid he is brewing his own now.
#3
Why would we "negotiate" on this subject when North Korea has already demonstrated a complete lack of fidelity to the 1994 agreement? North Korea needs to either verifiably comply first on any new deal or have us promote nukes for Japan and Taiwan. That will get China's attention.
#4
I'm all for giving Japan nukes and providing anti-missile (both regular and ballistic) tech to Tiawan. That would make China jump up and down like an organ grider's monkey.
Since the murder of the Islam critical Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, and the violent attack on a lecturer at the Danish Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Danish artists are fearful of criticising Islam.
Author, KÃ¥re Bluitgen, is due to publish a book on the profit Mohammed in two weeks time, but so far no one has agreed to illustrated the work through fear of reprisals from Islamic extremists.
According to the author, three artists have turned down an offer to illustrate the book based on their fear of being attacked if they do so.
The president of the Danish Writers Union, Frants Iver Gundelach, said that it is a gross attack on freedom of speech, and the issue will be taken up at the next union meeting.
#1
These are probably the same sort of people who would have no qualms about dipping a crucifix in urine.
I wonder if it's occurred to the "brave dissidents" in the art world that other people offended by their works may start to exercise the "Muslim option", now that they've seen how effective it is?
#2
Author, KÃ¥re Bluitgen, is due to publish a book on the profit Mohammed in two weeks time...
Freudian slip or English as a Second Language?
but so far no one has agreed to illustrated the work through fear of reprisals from Islamic extremists.
Can Salman Rushdie draw? He might as well take the gig since they are already out to get him.
Lithuania's constitutional court has ruled on Monday that authorities are not in violation of the country's constitution after they shut down a pro-Chechen independence Web site last year.
The court ruled that the State Security Department acted lawfully when it ordered the pro-Chechen independence Web site Kavkaz-Center shut down last year after its operator posted a message purportedly from Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev claiming responsibility for the three-day siege of a Russian school in Beslan. More than 330 people died in the school seizure, most of them children.
It was impossible to confirm whether the letter on the Web site was genuine, but Basayev's previous claims of responsibility have appeared there.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:48 ||
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#1
They posted alot more than a single letter from Ol nasty Pegleg the child murderer over the years.
Hat tip to LGF. Cindy loses her charm for everyone but the Loony Left in 5...4...3...
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, last night brought her campaign to end the war to New York, where she accused Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of not doing enough to challenge the Bush administration's Iraq policies.
Speaking in front of more than 500 supporters in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Ms. Sheehan, speaking of Senator Clinton, said, "She knows that the war is a lie but she is waiting for the right time to say it." 500 people out of a city of millions? She's losing her touch.
Then, as the crowd cheered, she issued a challenge to Senator Clinton, saying, "You say it or you are losing your job." 500 attendees....maybe half are registered voters....nope, don't see ol' Hill shaking in her boots.
The main focus of Ms. Sheehan's anger, however, continued to be the Bush administration. She camped outside President Bush's vacation home in Crawford, Tex., for many days last month, a move that earned her widespread attention. To which she soon became addicted....sad, really sad.
Since leaving Texas, Ms. Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., has been traveling around the country, rallying people against the war. Her entourage includes other people who can't find gainful employment parents who lost their children in the war, families of soldiers overseas, and veterans who have returned from Iraq. The tour culminates with what organizers hope will be a huge protest in Washington Sept. 24 to 26. There might be about 300 turning out! Wow!
Many in the crowd at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church last night were eager to get a peek at the woman whom they had seen on television. When they finally arrived, Ms. Sheehan, whose son Casey, 24, was killed last year, was treated like a rock star, as children and adults crowded around her, clamoring to shake her hand or get an autograph.
Gary Qualls, an Army veteran whose son also died in Iraq, spoke in Bryant Park in Manhattan as part of a gathering sponsored by Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, which supports the Bush administration's goals. Elsewhere, the Times Square Choir gathered for a special service called "Salute to the Troops" on the deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid, which is permanently docked on the Hudson River.
Ms. Sheehan has more events scheduled in the city, including a news conference with the Rev. Al Sharpton and other New York leaders this morning and a rally later in Union Square. She is to end her trip to New York with another speech at Riverside Church.
She also faulted the media for not scrutinizing the White House. "It is not patriotism when you say, 'My country right or wrong,'" she said. "Because our country is very wrong now." Nah, honey, just you.
#2
Hey, he has a job. Its like those mafia Dons, who sit around the cafe everyday. While it doesn't look like he's doing anything, the shake downs and extortions flow in. At least the Rev. Sharpton gets face time with the talking heads of bubblehead television.
#3
so now what, is she going to camp outside Clinton's house? This woman needs some serious help.
I love our freedom of speech, just drives me nuts though when our MSM give her way more coverage than people care to hear.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/20/2005 9:16 Comments ||
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#4
We're watching the war for the soul of the left. Hillary may not be seen as centrist to the rest of us, but to the Sheehan crowd she is and they want the party pulled to further towards the left.
I'd prefer them to be ideologically happy and unelectable. Go Cindy, go.
#5
Granted, I'm repeating / paraphrasing what Rush said yesterday but it's true. You cross Hillary Clinton and she's gonna slit your throat and hang you with your own tongue. Sheehan will be in a world of hurt any day now.
Rush mentioned Ft. Marcy Park in passing, but didn't come back to it.
How problematic would it be for a Presidential campaign should a vocal critic be 'found' in Ft. Marcy Park? Pretty damned problematic. He couldn't possibly have been serious. I'm guessing that's why El-Rushbo didn't pursue that thread beyond the first mention.
I will, thank you! Hillary is very liberal to my way of thinking about government. However, she is one of the most centerests of all the high profile Dems, which is a reflection of the sad, sad state of the democratic party today. When the dems start adopting more libertarian ideals, I might consider voting for them again.
#11
If you judge Hillary by her Health Care package she's on the nanny-state socialist left. If you judge her by her words and votes as a Senator she is in the center.
Split the difference and I think my comment is fair.
I recommend reading "The Truth About Hillary -- What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President" by News York Times bestselling author, Edward Klein --if you'd like to know become educated about the real Hillary.
#14
"When the dems start adopting more libertarian ideals"
You mean when hell freezes over. Oh, don't get me wrong: the same goes for my own party. But at least some Republicans pretend to have libertarian sympathies. As a guy who has lived in San Francisco I can tell you for a fact that the Democrats are authoritarians in a biggest way. I have seen the face of modern Stalinist evil and it is the California Democratic Party.
I predict this headline from the SF Chronicle: âLiberator of South America Chavez Offers State Free Oilâ
There's a war going on in the U.S. Department of Defense, between the Information Warriors, and the OPSEC (Operational Security) traditionalists. It goes like this. Many American military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan are being kept secret because of traditional attitudes towards OPSEC (keeping the enemy from knowing what you are up to). But troops on the spot, especially the Special Forces, realize that the rules of OPSEC have changed in the age of cell phones and the Internet. You snatch an al Qaeda big shot in Iraq, and his buddies are going to know about it real quick. The OPSEC advocates (generally senior intel officers in the Pentagon, and the intel "establishment") will respond that it is still important to keep the bad guys in the dark about how their boy was taken down. That's because whatever tricks were used to pull that off, could be used again. But not so if the terrorists know details, and have time to come up with countermeasures. The Information Warriors, who want more of these successes publicized, point out that you don't have to describe every detail of these operations. All you have to do is release information that the terrorists are going to get anyway, and usually before the American public. Indeed, most Americans have little idea just how successful their troops have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, for all their operations are distorted by reporters who only want to do stories about failures or missed opportunities.
The Information Warriors also point out that misleading details, of how U.S. troops pulled some operations off, could be released, in order to confuse the enemy. This suggestion gets Pentagon lawyers and political advisors a tad hysterical. We can't have the Pentagon feeding the enemy deceptive information via the mass media. This, despite the fact that the enemy does it all the time, and that the practice has been in use for thousands of years. It works. The downside exists in some mythical world that no one has ever lived in. But the political problems are real, so you have to deal with it and step very carefully when it comes to military deceptions involving the mass media. .
The result of all this is something of a stalemate. The troops have tried to fight back via their blogs, but there the Pentagon OPSEC traditionalists have come out on top as well. Troops with blogs have been ordered to be careful, or else. The Information Warriors are trying to convince the senior brass, but this is a slow and time consuming process. Meanwhile, many victories go unreported, making the enemy look more formidable than they actually are.
Posted by: ed ||
09/20/2005 07:27 ||
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#1
Doesn't much matter - the MSM wouldn't report success in the GWOT anyway.
#3
We can't have the Pentagon feeding the enemy deceptive information via the mass media.
Why not? The MSM lie to us every day.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/20/2005 8:03 Comments ||
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#4
Oh, yeah, good policy. Keep everyone in the dark. Pardon me, do you notice that since the MSM refuses to report on successes in the war, that leaves only your own people to do it. Since you've now come down on policy to prohibit that, now the news of our success is buried. So the general public buys the lies of MSM. You lose the war, just like Vietnam, because you lose the homefront. The God Damn intel people are as much a threat as any enemy. In the down-sizing of the Army in the post Gulf War I period, a conference of general officers was held at Fort Leavenworth. One very serious consideration was to end MI as a branch and restructure the skills as additional specialities, because during the war the intel people could not and in some cases would not support the tactical commander. One commander was livid because his '2' would not release intel to him during the operation because he didn't have the 'clearance'. The intel people will over classify, will withhold, will choke the information flow. Great the enemy won't know, but neither will we.
#5
I sincerely hope the General "Busted" his #2 back to Leutenant for "Withholding" the intel.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2005 12:21 Comments ||
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#6
I have to take the side of the OPSEC people on this one. Let me start out with a simple axiom to show how there are times when "no news is good news."
* The US military has concluded that there is NO circumstance in which pictures of dead bodies is of any benefit to the war effort. It doesn't matter whose bodies are shown.
To follow this up. The military operates on a scale of successes and failures. Neither of these are ever perfect, and are subject to change. A success can easily be squandered, and failure after failure can be utterly negated, or even turned into success by careful planning.
"The enemy already knows that information" is a fatally flawed argument, and for several reasons.
First of all, you *don't know* what the enemy knows.
Second, you don't know what *an* enemy knows. Just because one of them knows it, it doesn't mean that the others do. Our dissemination of information is often far superior to our enemies'.
Third, even if your *current* enemy knows it, that does not mean that your *next* enemy knows it. I doubt this will be the last war we fight.
Fourth, by giving away what *you* think is unimportant information, the enemy might be able to piece together important information.
Fifth, unimportant information might impeach bad information the enemy has been led to believe.
Sixth, what you think you know may be enemy disinformation.
Seventh, you may even defeat your own purpose, because no matter how erudite you are, or how telling your photographs, no one but those who are there will ever really know the context.
Eighth, even if you are as clear as a bell, what you write and photograph may be manipulated, spun, distored, corrupted, photoshopped and used for all sorts of nefarious purposes.
Now, whether or not you agree with all of the above, it should cast doubt on the morale value to the folks back home, compared to the tactical and strategic value to the folks at the front.
#7
Clearly, better heads need to do basic knowledge management here.
Emergent differs non-emergent intelligence must be identified, classified and handled accordingly. There is a finite self-life on emergent intelligence, losing its value very quickly. The value of non-emergent intelligence doesn't dissipate quickly and, in many cases, increases in value when collected and combined with other non-emergent intelligence (i.e., Able Danger).
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/20/2005 18:49 Comments ||
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#8
The danger here is that the "good guys" end up being so politicized and perverted they become a mirror image, alter-ego, or proxy of the very enemies or "bad guys" they're suppos to be protecting Govt, America, and the Masses from. Its like the FBI allowing its Narcs or Informants to go on committing crimes because they need the intel on other bad guys, yet they claim the FBI is NOT responsible for any harm done to any innocents but the FBI still has de facto "control" over its field operatives and agents. To CYA its ass, the FBI has to either claim its has to be sued before it can change anything, which is contrary to the CFR, the Agency's CHarter, and Federal Caselaws; or else get its corrupt Narcs or Informants to hire the Mafia to get rid of the victims, andor "blacklist" the innocent so as no one would believe him or her due to lack of "credentials", or other insidious method or methods. OVER TIME, THE "CRITICAL MASS" BECOMES SO LARGE THAT FORMERLY LEGIT LAW ENFORCEMENT, JUDICIARY, AND POLS, ETC. ARE NOW CONTRIBUTING TO WHAT HAS BECOME A CRIMINAL OR MAFIA STATE WHERE "CRIMINAL" = "CAPITALIST" = "GOD" = "GOVT." = "GOOD GUYS". 9-11 has occurred and America's NPE by the Clintons are now protecting and promoting its own Destroyers, where Clintonism > Mainstream America is by definition ANTI-AMERICAN AND PRO-SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST, because "Fascism = Communism" and Socialism = Capitalism" and America = Russia-China" and "Patriot = Traitor/Criminal", etc. super-PC Clintonisms. THE POLS ARE NOW "ORDERING" THE SHEEPLE, NOT INFORMING OR RESPECTING THE PEOPLE.
* JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBURG, when German Judge Burt Lancaster laments on how could Hitler and Nazi-ism came upon the German people, to which old America friend SPENCER TRACY remarks, "IT HAPPENED THE FIRST TIME YOU [WILFULLY]SENT AN INNOCENT MAN TO JAIL[or DEATH]"!? CLINTONS > AMERICA IS A COMMUNIST NATION IN EVERYTHING EXCEPT NAME OR PUBLIC DESCRIPTION, ONLY THE SHEEPLE WON'T KNOW OR WON'T CARE TO KNOW, AND THE LEFTIES T'AINT GONNA TELL YOU UNTIL SUCH TIME AMERICA WON'T BE ABLE TO CHANGE ANYTHING EXCEPT VIA BLOODY CIVIL WAR AND WORLD WAR.
... There are three stations within the Yuma sector â Yuma, Wellton and Blythe [California]. Since the Wellton and Blythe stations are in relatively remote locations, it is the Yuma station that is "hands down" the No. 1 busiest station in the country... the Yuma station has made more than 119,000 apprehensions since the beginning of this fiscal year last October.
The Yuma station has been labeled a focus station by Border Patrol headquarters... which means over the last year, it has received assets in the form of manpower, infrastructure and new technology...from every new class of 50 agents graduating every two weeks from the Border Patrol Academy, 12 are being sent to the Yuma sector. That means...that about 50 of the 550 agents at the Yuma sector are fresh out of the academy and still in their six-week training period, during which they learn the ropes by patrolling with a senior officer.
Another 50 agents assigned to the sector are senior officers specially detailed here, which means they are experienced but unfamiliar with the area... Next year, the sector is tentatively scheduled to receive another 250 agents... a lot of the "senior agents" have only been around for three years. After Sept. 11, 2001, many senior Border Patrol agents from the Yuma station left to become air marshals...
"We used to make about 60 to 80 apprehensions a day at the Yuma station; now it's like 300 to 500. So these agents have to learn quick," [Public Information Officer for the patrol's Yuma sector, Michael] Gramley says.
On the border itself, just west of the U.S. Port of Entry in San Luis, Ariz., is where agent Jeremy Campbell wields his "war wagon." New stadium lights installed at the border illuminate what is a normal Border Patrol truck with windows covered with a metal chain-link guard. The guard keeps the windows from being shattered by rocks hurled at the vehicle when it passes along the fence line.
Campbell is one of the senior agents detailed to help at the Yuma station. He says that despite all the new trainees and agents on detail duty, he would like to see more manpower.
"They have distraction tactics, where they'll send out a group of two or three to distract us so they can send a larger group behind our backs... Physically, we just need more men"...
The 100 yards or so between the fence and the houses on the Arizona side is a high-traffic area, Gramley said, where organized smugglers are constantly trying new ways to get groups of immigrants into the United States...
"If all of our agents pulled off of the line here, I would give it five minutes before people started flooding through" Gramley says.
#1
Chain link guard to prevent windows from being shattered by rocks? WTF? How about mounting machine guns on top of those crates and sending some hot lead back in response? If wading ankle-deep in Mex blood is what it takes to seal that border and teach those scumbags to respect American law, so be it. Hell, let's start with bombing Mexico City.
Posted by: mac ||
09/20/2005 5:57 Comments ||
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#2
Mac, we sort of did that to the suburbs in 1847. They've still not gotten over it. Heh.
A Falls Church man charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to kill President Bush told Saudi interrogators that he dreamed up the plot on his own but that it never got past the "idea stage," prosecutors say in court documents unsealed yesterday.
"I wanted to be the brain, the planner" of the assassination, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is quoted as saying. He likened himself to Mohamed Atta, who led the terror cell that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to the court papers, which quote from an FBI report detailing Abu Ali's interrogation by Saudi security officials while he was detained in the kingdom in June 2003.
"My idea was . . . I would walk on the street as the President walked by, and I would get close enough to shoot him, or I would use a car bomb," Abu Ali is quoted as saying.
Abu Ali, 24, also said during the same interrogation that he "wanted to be in al Qaeda so bad that I decided to go to Afghanistan for jihad." He said he was unable to get a visa to travel there but did join an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia.
The court filings were unsealed the same day as a federal judge in the District dismissed a civil lawsuit that Abu Ali's parents filed against the U.S. government last year. The lawsuit was part of a highly public campaign by Abu Ali's family to win his release from Saudi custody. It asked the court to order that Abu Ali be returned to the United States and alleged that U.S. authorities were involved in his imprisonment there and expected he would be tortured.
But U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said the issues raised by the lawsuit were moot because Abu Ali is back in the United States and in custody on the criminal charges. Bates said his ruling does not prevent the family from filing another civil suit over Abu Ali's treatment.
Morton Sklar, an attorney for Abu Ali's parents, said the civil lawsuit is not moot. "The issues of Ahmed's unlawful detention in Saudi Arabia for 20 months and his torture in Saudi Arabia are highly relevant to his criminal case," said Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, which filed the lawsuit. He would not say whether the ruling will be appealed.
Abu Ali is charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria with conspiracy to kill Bush and other terrorism counts. Prosecutors say he has admitted to plotting with al Qaeda to conduct a Sept. 11-style terrorist attack in the United States.
Defense attorneys are also pursuing the torture allegation in the criminal case, arguing that any statements Abu Ali made while in Saudi custody were obtained through torture. Two doctors who examined Abu Ali found evidence that he was tortured in Saudi Arabia, including scars on his back consistent with having been whipped, defense attorneys have said in court papers.
Abu Ali was arrested by Saudi security officials in June 2003 while he was studying at a university in the country. He was held until he was charged in the United States in February. Prosecutors have denied that Abu Ali was tortured. The issue is critical to the case, because if a federal judge concludes that Abu Ali was tortured, much of the evidence against him could be thrown out.
In their response to Abu Ali's motion to throw out his confession and other evidence, prosecutors wrote that several Saudi security officials have already testified that Abu Ali was "treated in a respectful and humane manner while in Saudi custody." That same filing contained the additional details of Abu Ali's interrogations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:52 ||
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#1
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [not to be confused w/ 1,000,000,000 other Abu Ali Asshats]
"I wanted to be the brain, the planner"
"My idea was . . . I would walk on the street as the President walked by, and I would get close enough to shoot him, or I would use a car bomb," Abu Ali is quoted as saying.
0 brains = 0 waste
kill him.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 1:09 Comments ||
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#2
Morton Sklar, an attorney for Abu Ali's parents, said the civil lawsuit is not moot. "The issues of Ahmed's unlawful detention in Saudi Arabia for 20 months and his torture in Saudi Arabia are highly relevant to his criminal case," said Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, which filed the lawsuit. He would not say whether the ruling will be appealed.
I would bet money that Morton Sklar is Jewish and, as such, would probably not even be allowed to set foot in Saudi Arabia. This @ssclown Ahmed's parents would probably spit on Sklar if they got the chance. Nevertheless, Sklar thinks it's a good idea to defend an al Qaeda wannabee who wanted to off the sitting President of the United States. Makes a lot of sense.
Posted by: Tibor ||
09/20/2005 2:11 Comments ||
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#3
EVIDENTLY NEVER HEARD OF THE SECRET SERVICE HAS HE
ALERT: Somalia â East and NE coast. Twenty incidents have been reported since 3/05/05. Heavily armed pirates are now attacking ships further away from the coast. The most recent incident took place 120 nm off the eastern coast. Ships are advised to keep as far away as possible from the Somali coast.
Recently Reported Incidents
[September 12 2005] at 0330 LT in position 03:17s - 116:23e, Pulau Laut anchorage, Indonesia. Four robbers boarded a bulk carrier. They broke open bosun store and stole ship's stores and escaped.
[September 11 2005] at 0415 LT at Tg. Mangkok, Sebuku Island, Indonesia. Robbers armed with long knives boarded a bulk carrier at anchor. They held duty A/B and stole ship's stores.
[September 08 2005] at 2235 UTC in position 17:52.8N - 077:06.2W, Port Old Harbour, Jamaica. Four robbers armed with knives and hooks boarded a tanker moored to buoy. Alert crew raised alarm and robbers escaped empty handed in an unlit speedboat. Harbour authorities informed.
[September 06 2005] at 2050 LT at Cochin, India. Several robbers boarded a container ship at berth. They stole ship's stores and escaped. Local authorities informed.
And the "Better Late Than Never" award for reporting goes once again to Vietnam:
[August 19 2005] at 2000 LT at Ho Chi Minh City port, Vietnam. Two robbers armed with knives and sword boarded a bulk carrier moored to buoy. One robber tried to attack duty A/B who ran away and raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers jumped overboard and escaped with shipâs stores. Police came for investigation next morning.
[August 04 2005] at Buoy no. FC-02, Ho Chi Minh City port, Vietnam. Robbers boarded a bulk carrier moored to buoy. They broke store locks and stole shipâs stores.
[July 31 2005] at 1900 LT at Buoy no. 39, Ho Chi Minh City port, Vietnam. Four robbers armed with long knives boarded a bulk carrier moored to buoy. Duty officer and crew gave chase. Robbers escaped with shipâs stores in a small boat. Port control informed.
[July 30 2005] at Xingang Port, China. Robbers boarded a bulk carrier during cargo operations and stole shipâs equipment.
[July 29 2005] at Jakarta anchorage, Indonesia. Four robbers boarded a bulk carrier. Alert crew raised alarm and robbers escaped empty handed.
[July 10 2005] at 0200 LT at Ho Chi Minh City port, Vietnam. Two robbers boarded a bulk carrier moored to buoy during cargo operations with barges alongside. They broke open forepeak store and stole shipâs stores. Duty officer raised alarm and robbers escaped.
The al Qaeda terror network has capitalized on the insurgency in Iraq by creating a new training ground to replace the bases it lost in Afghanistan in 2001, a U.N. expert panel said on Monday. The chaos in Iraq will thereby likely increase the danger of future terrorist attacks considerably, the panel said in its latest status report to the U.N. Security Council on al Qaeda and Afghanistan's former Taliban leaders. "Recruits travel there from many parts of the world and acquire skills in urban warfare, bomb-making, assassination and suicide attacks," the panel said.
See Iraq, and die..
"When these fighters return to their countries of origin or residence and join those at home who are well integrated locally, the combination is likely to increase the threat of successful terrorist attacks considerably," the experts said.
U.S. President George W. Bush has repeatedly declared Iraq to be the front line in the U.S. war on terror, using that as a justification for the presence of U.S.-led forces along with the desire to establish a secure democracy there. But he says the U.S. military is fighting there to prevent the terrorists from reaching U.S. shores. "I would rather defeat them there than face them in our own country," Bush told ITV British television in June.
The expert panel said al Qaeda's most notable success, next to surviving, has been the agreement it forged with Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, now the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Sigh, were do they find these guys?
That alliance has benefited both sides, enabling al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to claim involvement in an issue at the focus of world attention and enabling Zarqawi to attract new recruits, it said. Bin Laden "knows that he needs this new breed of hardened fighters in order to demonstrate that al Qaeda still has the power to mount major attacks outside areas of conflict," it said. Zarqawi's insurgency has enabled al Qaeda "to an extent ... to recover from the loss of Afghanistan as a training base for terrorism," the report said.
At the same time, the several thousand fighters believed to have trained in Afghanistan before the Taliban's defeat in late 2001 have by now spread around the world, "actively providing expertise and leadership to local cells," the panel said.
The ones who haven't had their DNA spread around various battlefields
As a result, despite concerted international action including many successes, "the threat from al Qaeda remains as pernicious and widespread as at any time since the attacks of 11 September 2001," it said. While the old-line al Qaeda organization led by bin Laden has survived, "its ranks are thinning and in time most of its key leaders will be caught or killed," it said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:15 ||
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A US antiterrorist agency has tagged the Philippines as the Southeast Asian nation with the most number of terrorist groups in operation, ANC reported.
The abs-cbn.com said the report cited information provided by the US National CounterÂterrorism Center (www.tkb.org) that listed 10 terror groups operating in the Philippines. The agency said terrorist-related attacks against the government and Philippine citizens numbered at least 25 for the first five months of the year.
Among the groups on the NCTC list are Abdurajak Janjalani Brigade, Abu Sayyaf Group, Alex Boncayao Brigade, Free Vietnam Revolutionary Group, Indigenous Peopleâs Federal Army, Jemaah Islamiah, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, New Peopleâs Army and al-Qaeda.
The NCTC has a total of 786 groups in its database. Of these groups, 36 operate in Southeast Asia and the Oceania region.
Of the groups tagged in the Philippines, the most prominent organizations are the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiah, NPA and al-Qaeda.
The Abu Sayyaf gained notoriety for its kidnap-for-ransom and terrorist-related activities in Mindanao. The Jemaah Islamiah has been tagged by the government for bomb attacks that killed dozens of people in urban center in Mindanao and even in Metro Manila.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines and has been waging insurgency from the countryside for the past three decades.
Al-Qaeda, reports said, is funneling funds to train terror cells in the Philippines.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/20/2005 00:50 ||
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#1
US sez Mindanao's a terror hub
It was a terror hub when the Spanish claimed the damn place. A Muslim hotbed of piracy and slaving. It was a terror hub when Pershing was there. So what's new? The Musilims are still there. Oh, they just switched from making money by slaving to kidnapping. Big deal.
#2
...I'm thinking that the Russians thought they had a gentleman's arrangement with the Iranians and have now discovered that the Iranians play their own game. Worse still, when The Day comes, the Russians will be revealed to have been neck deep in the borscht. Watch for them to be even more protective of Iran than they were of Iraq.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/20/2005 7:10 Comments ||
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The end of the EU foot-stomping era appears in sight. Certainly al-Baradei will continue to request Iranian transparency. But without concensus of the IAEA board its just another strongly worded memo. And, of course, Tehran will again reject his assertions anyway. This leaves the US with very few options. If the end game here is a resolution from the Security Council the west may have to make some uncomfortable concessions. Perhaps it's time for Condee to quit dancing with the Russians and put on her sensible shoes.
The U.S. and France increased Syria's isolation as it demanded that it stop all meddling in Lebanon and Iraq and fully cooperate with the UN investigation team into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. At a conference held at the initiative of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during which the world's major players gathered to provide Lebanon with economic and political backing, Rice and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanded that Syria stop interfering in Lebanon, cooperate with the UN probe team and prevent insurgents from entering Iraq.
Rice and Annan were accompanied by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abdel-Gheith, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who all gave their support after Siniora presented his government's reform plan. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana also took part.
Rice also reiterated the U.S.'s position on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the disarmament of Hizbullah, saying: "No democracy can exist when a certain group, especially in the government, which persists in maintaining the option of violence." She added: "There is one authority and one security force that reports to that authority." She also said Damascus must remain "true to the letter and the spirit of Resolution 1559."
Rice said participants in the meeting, held on the sidelines of the UN's 60th General Assembly, wanted "full [Syrian] cooperation with the Mehlis [UN] investigation and that the truth be found whatever that truth is." Rice further demanded that Syria withdraw all remaining intelligence personnel from Lebanon "because Lebanon has to be free of foreign interference and Syria must respect the national sovereignty of Lebanon." Rice said: "It is clear that Syria needs to get on the right side of the events that are going on in the Middle East that means to cut off the routes that insurgents are using to use Syrian territory to penetrate into Iraq." Rice added: "This gathering I think, sends a powerful sign to the world, that the international community is devoted and committed to a peaceful prosperous, democratic and sovereign Lebanon."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya said the Palestinian refugees' right of return is "sacred" and described remarks being made by international parties about projects for their resettlement as "mere fantasy." The assertion was made by a party official in South Lebanon during a meeting organized by the group in Sidon, attended by various Palestinian factions and forces including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. During the meeting, officials discussed several key issues affecting the Palestinian community in Lebanon and reiterated their commitment to achieving the best possible relations with the Lebanese.
The party member of the Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya rejected the close relations between MPs Bahia Hariri, the Future Movement and MP Osama Saad and the Popular Nasserite Organization, insisting this new alliance has been "at the expense of the Jamaa." The Islamic group expressed resentment at its political ally MP Bahia Hariri, saying it feels its position as the third force in Sidon has been sidelined and their role in the Palsstinian issue and ongoing preparations to hold a national Lebanese-Palestinian meeting is being neglected. Moreover, the group expressed dissatisfaction at not being invited to attend a meeting of Sidon MPs and active political factions at the Hariri residence at a time it considers itself to be more concerned than others. According to sources, MP Hariri telephoned members of the leadership of the Islamic group and set a date for the meeting to express her position and explain her political coalition. But following recent death threats made against her and subsequent security warnings, the meeting was canceled and rescheduled for Sunday.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya member Bassam Hammoud said the idea of the national Lebanese-Palestinian meeting was initiated by the Lebanese-Palestinian Follow-Up Committee that was formed during a period of unrest in the camps in July of this year and which played an active role in restoring calm to Mieh Mieh and Ain al-Hilweh camps.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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The executive assistant to Hizbullah's Secretary General, Hussein Moussawi, said yesterday Hizbullah is ready to cooperate with all Lebanese people except those who collaborate with Israel. Moussawi said: "Hizbullah will work day and night to cooperate and integrate with all Lebanese people except those who have relations with Israel, such as the Cedar Guards who are in fact Israel's Guard." Moussawi criticized the United States and the United Nations, saying that the U.S. desire to uncover the truth behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri is not out of love and concern for Lebanon or for the assassinated prime minister. According to Moussawi, the U.S. has strategic goals in Lebanon and wants Syria to be "an obedient regime."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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The lawyers of three leading members of the Cedar Guards denied yesterday that their clients had urged Lebanese to kill Palestinians and called on the public not to believe "misleading media reports." The lawyers of Naji Audi, journalist Habib Younis and Joseph Khoury Tawq, who were arrested for "issuing a statement that incites internal sedition," said their clients and the party's leadership denied that their statement included such slogans, and said they did not know who had distributed the CD containing this statement at the end of a conference they held.
Media reports said the three men issued a statement during a news conference saying that "every Lebanese should kill a Palestinian." The group has long called for the expulsion of Palestinian refugees and their descendants from Lebanon. They were arrested the following day. According to the lawyers, their clients did not know anything about the CD, which turned out to contain a history of the party and mentioned some old slogans that the party no longer adopts. The lawyers said their clients were keen on civil peace and the rights of all people, including the Palestinians, for whom they wish a safe return to their homeland.
Beirut Chief Investigating Magistrate Abdel-Rahim Hammoud questioned the three men and issued warrants for their arrest warrants on charges of inciting the killing of Palestinians, forming a group for the purpose of committing crimes against people and property, undermining the state's authority and stirring sectarian strife. Hammoud summoned four witnesses for a session on Thursday. After the session, he will decide whether to take other witness statements or seal his investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, knock yourself out. Have a ball. Have some more tasty luncheons. Do the diplomatic heavy lifting. In the meantime, wacha gonna do about Iranian nukes?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/20/2005 0:55 Comments ||
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IKEA could do a better job than the IAEA -- their Chief probably isn't a Muslim or a bureaucrat.
#3
In the mid-90's the CFO of IKEA was a brilliant and charming young Dane who lived across the street from me in a nice suburb of Brussels. Non-religious, certainly, and definitely not Muslim. (Yes, y'all would love his wife.) I don't imagine things have changed much.
Amid the raging controversy on the just-released Mitrokhin Archive II; The KGB and the World authored by Soviet defector Vasili Mitrokhin, serving and retired officials of intelligence agencies alternated between amusement and denials.
While none of them disagreed that there was always some amount of "activity" on the lines of what Mitrokhin suggested, most feel that the names that have emerged so far could not have been involved.
Retired joint director of the Intelligence Bureau, M.K. Dhar, who has authored exposes of the intelligence community's activities, says "accusing Promode Dasgupta of being on the IB's payroll amounts to blasphemy".
Dhar, who knew the former secretary of the Bengal Communist Party in his personal capacity, said " Promode Dasgupta was a man who had no home, no family. He lived in Alimuddin Street in the most austere manner. There was no sign of affluence about him. He could not have been on the payroll of any intelligence organization. Dasgupta was a real revolutionary. Anyone who casts doubt on him must produce proof as I can state from person knowledge that he was a very honest person".
Dhar similarly rubbishes allegations that the CIA funded former PM Indira Gandhi, "It is a matter of record that Mrs G did use the communists to stabilise her government and negotiate with Moscow, but for anyone to say that she directly received material benefit from any quarter is ridiculous," he told HT.
Former Intelligence Bureau director, V.G. Vaidya, now in Pune, was unwilling to comment on the allegations since he had not read the book. He, however, said, "Anyone can write anything. It does not mean that the world has to accept it as Gospel truth. One must remember that American author Seymour Hersh had written that Morarji Desai was on the CIA payroll when he (Desai) was Indira Gandhi's deputy. But then Morarji Desai sued him," Vaidya recalled.
Serving intelligence officials are, similarly, dismissive about the Mitrokhin book. A few admitted that they wanted to read the book "out of curiosity" but maintained that the allegations publicised so far appeared to lack credibility.
"These things do take place. Agencies routinely pay people who can access information in a foreign country. But to suggest that Mrs Gandhi was taking money is downright stupidity," said one official.
Another official was more forthright. "If a serving Prime Minister needs money, there is no dearth of means to get it. Why would any PM, let alone a dynamic person like Mrs Gandhi, run the risk of taking money from a foreign power?"
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 19:31 ||
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Former president and prime minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir Sardar Mohammad Abdul Qayyum Khan has ruled out the possibility of Jammu and Kashmir becoming an independent state.
According to him this was neither feasible nor desirable.
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 18:23 ||
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is having trouble imposing order in Gaza, and he is cut off from his people by a wall of bodyguards. His government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament, and his main rival, Hamas, is parading its private army in the streets. in short, things are as good as they're gonna get
A week after Israel left Gaza, Abbas appears weak and isolated, drawing criticism from politicians from his own party, from Israel and from ordinary Palestinians. proves that they NEED Israel. To hate. Hate is the only thing that keeps these people together. Homeland my ass. His defenders say he faces an impossible task and needs more time, if it's impossible, what will more time provide??? and point out the Palestinians now have a moderate, sober-minded leader after decades of erratic rule by Yasser Arafat. was that a criticism of arafat?!?!?!?! that noble, visionary statesman!?!!
However, parliamentary elections are only four months away, Hamas is breathing down his neck and concrete achievements seem distant. not completely. they've managed to acquire a significant cache of weapons. It will take months before Abbas can deliver on promises of housing and jobs. oh, that. yeah. I forgot.
Abbas faces several immediate dilemmas. is there an understatement of the year award?
He is under growing pressure to open the Gaza-Egypt border and secure freedom of movement for Gazans. But that could jeopardize future peace talks and Gaza's economic future if it is done without the consent of Israel, which could retaliate by clamping down at other border crossings.
The international community wants Abbas to move against militants, um, who? besides the US and the UK, who? but that would interfere with his plan to bring Hamas â the largest Islamic militant group â into the fold and thus defuse its threat to his political survival. Israel has complicated matters by threatening to impede the parliamentary election if Hamas participates. mebbe cuz Israel won't deal with terrorists? ring a bell?
Abbas' most obvious problem is his isolation from his people. cuz lots of 'em wanna kill him.
Since the last Israeli soldier drove out of the Gaza Strip on Sept. 12, Abbas has shied away from public celebrations, including one last week on the ruins of the largest Jewish settlement. He sent an aide while Hamas dispatched its top leader, Mahmoud Zahar.
Abbas travels through Gaza in a speeding 20-car convoy surrounded by dozens of guards. and not because Israelis want to kill him, either. Since Israeli troops withdrew, he has addressed his nation only once â and that was via television.
At one point last week, as thousands were clambering into Egypt and militants were brandishing weapons throughout Gaza, Abbas stunned his countrymen by saying Gaza was under "complete control." it all depends on your definition of "control."
"I know that we have a president just from the news, but in our life we feel nothing about him," said Gaza City resident Salem Iskik. "He is living in an isolated island in Gaza, with no way to see him or talk to him and when he talks to us he uses the TV screens like he is addressing foreigners." he is.
In a stormy session of parliament Monday, lawmakers had harsh words for the Palestinian leader and his Cabinet. Much of the tough talk came from members of Abbas' ruling Fatah party.
"There is no real presence of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza," said Fatah lawmaker Nabil Amr, an Abbas ally. Another Fatah lawmaker, Ghassan Shakaa, said: "The security situation is in a very bad state. Our national project is in danger." it's been in danger. Ever since you lost Israel to blame for things going wrong.
Palestinian officials say the criticism of Abbas is unfair. They note he has outlined a detailed plan to control Gaza and has begun incorporating Fatah gunmen into the security services. They also argue Israel moved up its withdrawal date without warning, weakening the government and spurring chaos. ah, yes. there's the blame. I was getting nostalgic for a sec.
On the morning Israel left, thousands of Palestinians overwhelmed Palestinian and Egyptian security forces and crossed into Egypt. Guns and drugs made it over as well â into Gaza.
It took several days before Abbas' security forces could bring the border under control.
Abbas' defenders say it is unrealistic to expect the Palestinian Authority to end Gaza's chaos overnight.
"This place is full of weapons, full of militias, factions, armed groups, everyone now wants a share of the cake ... and this is something that takes time. This is not something that can be solved quickly," said Palestinian planning minister Ghassan Khatib. "or at all."
Security is the most important item on Abbas' agenda because without it, detailed arrangements with Israel to allow goods and people to move freely in and out of Gaza â the lifeline of the territory's economy â will be endangered, and that in turn will jeopardize Abbas' rule.
And if Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, fails to restrain militants and end the chaos, there will likely be little pressure on Israel for further withdrawals in the West Bank â with Israeli hard-liners pointing to Gaza as justification to avoid future concessions. who in their right mind, hardliner or not, would continue to make concessions?!
Many Palestinians contend Israeli policies have weakened Abbas, including the reluctance to allow free movement for the Palestinians. yes. if only they could move freely, they would become civilized. magically.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel hopes "Abu Mazen will succeed in creating good government in Gaza, a situation with the rule of law, not ... the rule of armed groups." and Israel will be disappointed once again
"Our assessment is that the jury is still out," Regev said. heh
In Gaza today, gunmen kidnap foreigners to blackmail the government and gangs rule the streets. With weak, ill-equipped, badly trained and often competing security forces, Abbas says he wants to persuade the militants to put down their weapons and join the political process. So far, they have thumbed their noses at him. the "Jimmy Carter" school of government
In January, Hamas will participate in parliamentary elections for the first time, and the group is expected to make a strong showing. It has held several parades in Gaza in the past week, attracting tens of thousands of supporters.
Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi said time is running out for Abbas.
"It's time for intervention," she said. "It's time for the political leadership to assert itself. Otherwise the armed groups will fill the vacuum. will?
With jobs like that, who needs a working government? Everybody can get a job with the PA! You could be a "Food Vendor Inspector", or maybe even become a"Toilet Brush Holder"! The possibilities are endless!
Posted by: Charles ||
09/20/2005 17:10 Comments ||
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It seems to me that the ubiquitous Hanan Ashrawi has been described as a "Palestinian lawmaker" for a very long time, and yet the Palestinians have no discernible laws to speak of. If I called myself a shoemaker but for years failed to produce even a single usable piece of footwear, people might wonder whether I was properly employing the term.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
09/20/2005 18:28 Comments ||
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Ok. I'm waiting for the international outrage over pregnant women who can't get to the hospital in time and people who can't get to their jobs to earn a paltry living and families who are separated by the checkpoint.
Any time now.
Ok. you can commence with the seething.
Hello?
Egyptian police stopped Palestinians from returning to Gaza on Tuesday, causing a crowd of more than 1,000 people to gather near the crossing here, as officials from the two sides met to discuss the border situation.
"Since yesterday evening, they have been preventing us from going back," said Akram al-Masry, a Palestinian from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
In the past few days, border officials have been allowing Palestinians and Egyptians to return to their territories, but not to visit each other's land. Thousands of Palestinians and Egyptians surged across the border illegally last week in the relaxed conditions that followed Israel's withdrawal from the Strip on Sept. 12.
However, Palestinians said the border officials sealed the Rafah crossing late Monday, leaving many Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side.
"We were forced to spend the night on the streets," complained Osama Abu Hamed, a Palestinian who wanted to return to Gaza on Monday evening. And one thing paleos do well is complain
A Palestinian liaison official in this Egyptian town, Hani Jubor, said security officials from the two sides were meeting at Rafah crossing Tuesday afternoon to determine the fate of Egyptians and Palestinians stuck on opposite sides of the border.
As the crowd waiting to cross grew bigger Tuesday, Egyptian police officers linked arms and formed a human chain to stop about 1,000 Palestinians getting to the crossing's gate. Other security forces were deployed in the town, closing off some roads.
In Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian National Security Adviser Jibril Rajoub said the Rafah crossing would be opened Friday and Saturday to allow Palestinian students, medical patients, weapons smugglers and others with special needs to cross.
Since Sunday, when Egypt finished its deployment of 750 border guards and reimposed control on the frontier, Egyptian police have been rounding up Gazans in Rafah and the nearby town of el-Arish and taking them to the border. Rounding up Gazans. I like the sound of that
The Palestinians have been pushing for an agreement with Israel and Egypt to re-open Rafah, which Israel closed days before its withdrawal.
Israel has said Rafah should remain closed for at least six months. It apparently wants to see whether the Palestinian Authority can maintain order in the Strip. hint: they can't
Israel said earlier this month it would open an alternative crossing for people at Kerem Shalom, at the confluence of the borders of Gaza, Israel and Egypt, but this has not happened.
September 20, 2005: There are some valid comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. The most important one is the difficulty training the local armed forces. South Vietnam was a nation split by religious, ethnic, tribal, class and political differences. Same thing in Iraq. It took about ten years, but when American troops left in the early 1970s, the South Vietnamese army was a pretty effective force. It defeated an invasion from the north in 1972, defeated the local communist guerillas, but finally fell to a second North Vietnamese invasion in 1975.
The North Vietnamese were much like the former Baath Party rule in Iraq. Both were police states that preached nationalism, and obeying orders without question (or else). This enabled Saddam Hussein to form a small army (the Republican Guard) that was loyal to him, and diligent in their training and carrying out their duties. The rest of the armed forces were typical of most Arab nations. They were poorly led, ill-trained, and suffered from corrupt and indifferent leadership. Corruption in government has been a problem in the region for thousands of years, and the military were was corrupt as the tax officials or anyone else on the government payroll. This is the cultural mindset American trainers have to deal with when they try to turn Iraqis into competent soldiers.
Actually, the major problem is the officers and NCOs. Battalions led by dedicated, competent and honest officers perform very well. When those qualities are lacking in the officers, the performance of the troops drops accordingly. This sort of thing was often seen during two centuries of European colonization. When local troops were organized in battalions with European officers, the troops performed close to the levels of European troops. After the colonial period ended in the mid-20th century, those areas where the locals adopted the attitudes of European officers, were able to create armed forces that performed in the same league as the Europeans. But that often did not happen, which is why many former colonies are stuck with corrupt, ineffective armed forces.
Many of the American trainers in Iraq are aware of all this, as are some of the Iraqis. But it's not easy overcoming local customs. Corruption is the biggest problem. Most Iraqis are under tremendous, and very personal, pressure to "do the right thing" for their extended family (and tribe), and, if need be, screw everyone else. There are very practical reasons for this. With no tradition of honest and effective government in the region, your lifeline is your extended family and tribe. It has been this way for thousands of years, and it works.
But many Iraqis realize that this ancient type of organization is far less effective than more modern ones, as exemplified by the wealthy industrialized nations. Most of these nations had to overcome a long history of tribalism and corruption to get where they are today, and if Iraq does not make the move, or make some serious progress in that direction, the bad old days of tyrants and internal strife will surely return.
This is the war you hear little about, the battle between "traditional Iraq" and "modern Iraq." Coalition trainers are trying to find enough "modern Iraq" officers to run the armed forces, and they are having a rough time of it. When a new battalion goes into action the first few times, it succeeds because of good officers. Failure is almost always the result of poor leadership.
While good officers are important, you also have to worry about local cops who won't, because of potential trouble with family and tribal leaders, enforce many laws. In effect, tribal law supercedes national law. For this reason, the effective army and police battalions operating against unruly Sunni Arab areas are mostly Kurds and Shia Arab. The only exceptions are Sunni Arab battalions from tribes that have agreed to enforce the national law. Actually, this represents an ancient custom, of never stationing troops, or even police, where they come from. Even the Soviet Union followed this policy.
It's often pointed out, quite accurately, that Iraq is an artificial nation, put together by the British in the 1920s, by joining together three quite different provinces of the recently deceased Ottoman Turk empire. While most Iraqis, when polled, say that they feel they are Iraqi, many of those in the police and army will have to step forward and prove it, before Iraq happens.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 09:08 ||
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While good officers are important, you also have to worry about local cops who won't, because of potential trouble with family and tribal leaders, enforce many laws.
Not to be confused with police corruption, as say, in a modern first world city like New Orleans.
#2
Again it should be pointed out that ARVN held out against the North for THREE YEARS after the US left, against a numerically superior enemy with unlimited resupply from the Soviet Union.
(This is to point out something the radical left tries very had to conceal--trying to create the illusion that as soon as the US left, Vietnam collapsed followed by the famous scene at the US embassy.)
The Iraqi army, on the other hand, is a voluntary army, not conscription. It is not fighting a huge, conventional army. Its junior officer and NCO corps are showing impressive adaptability to modern, western military organization. It is also being trained in obviously far better tactics than anyone but Israel in the region.
It is also being ordered at higher brigade and divisional level, making it far more effective as a whole. Also undergoing continual and strict quality control to eliminate the undesireables from the ranks.
Its senior officer corps is patchy and prone to the old ways, but given the intensive training and evaluation environment, they will soon have very young and strong replacements.
Its greatest weakness is its lack of significant air forces. But that too is being designed from the ground up. Emphasis has been placed on the development of logistical support aircraft, along with light reconnaisance border patrol. Neither of these have much understanding or emphasis in the region, and by teaching the lesson of their extraordinary value first, will help them in the long run.
A great emphasis is on sustainability, so that what has been created will be re-created, and quality gained is maintained--again, a major problem in the region. Training academies are already fully functional for future officers and NCOs. Concepts like nepotism, bribery, and corruption are becoming institutionally discouraged. Training and maintenance are considered to be the norm, not just done as an afterthought if at all.
With oil money amounting to billions of dollars pouring into the country each month, and an optimized economy thanks to J. Paul Bremer, the Iraqi military will easily outclass the Iranian army. As before, they will evolve into a mechanized force, but at a level of efficiency and competency a hundred times greater than Saddam's pre-Iraq/Iran war mechanized forces.
#3
1) I love the judo on Vietnam comparisons by equating the North Vietnamese communists and the baath party. Those wiley leftist will be speechless (well, for at least 20 seconds). Also love Anonymoose's thoughts on conventional military development. As an old SF type, I always thought the insurgency would ultimately be fought and won after dark in bloody paramilitary possibly sectarian operations hopefully integrated and controlled as one component of the spectrum of political military operations
Posted by: Dave Katz ||
09/20/2005 14:27 Comments ||
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#4
Dave: I've long been trying to follow the adventures of SOCOM in the invisible war behind the war, and hold strong positive opinions as to the effectiveness of counter-insurgency ops.
Among the special children I have known I am pleased to remember not one but two who were Phoenix Program, that much misunderstood but highly effective group of heroes of yore.
Ironically, one of the two was "staff", not an operative, but high enough to have fascinating tales of how it was done behind the scenes.
I can but wonder in awe what it is like today, at 10 times its Vietnam-era size.
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - Four months after she tried without success to plead guilty, Army Pfc. Lynndie England plans to fight charges she played a key role in abusing detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, her lawyer said. The 22-year-old reservist, who appeared in several graphic photos taken inside Abu Ghraib in 2003, goes on trial here this week on two counts of conspiracy, four counts of mistreating prisoners and one count of committing an indecent act. She will be the last of a group of junior enlisted soldiers charged with abuses at the notorious prison to have their cases resolved. Two have been convicted at trial, while six others made plea deals and received prison sentences of up to eight years. Most were members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company.
A final hearing is scheduled Tuesday to resolve any last-minute motions, with jury selection and opening statements to follow on Wednesday. The trial is expected to conclude by the end of September.
In May, England entered into a plea agreement that eventually fell apart, but this time around "there's not going to be a deal," said Capt. Jonathan Crisp, her lead defense lawyer. Crisp said he plans to base much of his defense on England's history of mental health problems that date back to her early childhood.
He said he also will focus on the influence exerted over England by Pvt. Charles Graner, the reputed abuse ringleader. Graner, who England has said fathered her young son while they were deployed, is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted at trial in January. "I wouldn't say it's 'Blame Graner,'" Crisp said of his trial strategy, which includes calling Graner as a witness. "But certainly Graner is involved as far as what was going on."
In her attempted plea deal, England pleaded guilty to all of the same counts she faces this week in exchange for an undisclosed sentencing cap. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 11 years. But judge Col. James Pohl abruptly threw out the deal and declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase when testimony by Graner contradicted England's guilty plea. Prosecutors, who declined to talk about the trial, are expected to rely on the photos that have made England the scandal's most recognizable figure. In one photo, she is seen holding a prisoner on a leash.
A ruling by Pohl in July, however, tossed out a key piece of the prosecution's case - statements to Army investigators in which England implicated herself in the abuse. The judge said that he believed England did not fully understand the consequences when she waived her rights against self-incrimination before speaking to the investigators in January 2004.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/20/2005 08:57 ||
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Didn't fully understand the consequences of waiving her right against self-incrimination? Uh, it's of course possible (anything is) but sure as hell not likely. She hoped to come clean, spread the blame and dodge catching hell by talking about it to authorities after being caught. Alot of folks think it's like when they were little kids - authorities will simply forget about it and leave them be with a little tonguelashing. Doesn't work that way though despite the unreasonable expectations and foolish hopes.
#2
Remember not to compare this too closely to a civilian trial. The purpose of the military justice system is primarily to "maintain good order and discipline in the military".
This means the entire system is weighted less towards what you would expect in a civilian court, and more to what a typical soldier expects and demands from military discipline. Homicide is not the worst offense, often getting less punishment than desertion at times, and sometimes garnering less prison time than something like forced homosexual sodomy.
Morality and timing are far more important--offenses are very situational.
Were I her defense attorney, my arguments would be threefold. First that there had been "a breakdown in her NCO chain of command", a strongly mitigating circumstance to any enlisted personnel on her jury.
Second, that she had no training in how to deal with prisoners of war, and that "non-military personnel" were directing and interfering with enlisted people in the prison. This would appeal to officers in a way similar to the NCOs.
Third would be a purely emotional pitch based on the fact that she is a new single mother, tied in with her no longer being of any value or detriment to the military, not impacting in any way on the morale of our forces, or even that of our allies or enemies. Her exoneration and dismissal will simply return her from whence she came, instead of incurring additional expense to the military in a waste of food and a wool blanket.
#3
Only a true whacko would try to fight charges when they have sufficient evidence on film. Unless they draft the entire ACLU/DNC.MoveOn staff I canât think of a military jury that will see her side of the story and exonerate her. But hey she might be able to squirt some tears and get some sympathy from a military court.
#4
As I recall, England didn't report directly to Graner, and England's immediate superior officer(s) had directly ordered her to stay away from him. But she snuck out at night to play anyway. I don't see what kind of defence she can work up to make that information go away, regardless who led the games.
"We have never taken this operation seriously enough," says a retired senior military official with experience in Iraq. "We have never provided enough troops. We have never provided enough equipment, or the right kind of equipment. We have never worked the intelligence part of the war in a serious, sustained fashion. We have failed the Iraqi people, and we have failed our troops."
I think it's possible that Colin Powell, Wesley Clark or Eric Shinseki is the "retired senior military official" with "experience in Iraq." I think that the tip-off that it is not a retired senior military official who actually served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom is the "experience in Iraq."
#2
Give that man the "McClellan" Award for critical analysis of the war. Proves that even though one can be a general doesn't mean one can not also be a fool.
Economy of Force
Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts.
4-42. Economy of force is the reciprocal of mass. It requires accepting prudent risk in selected areas to achieve superiorityâoverwhelming effectsâin the decisive operation. Economy of force involves the discriminating employment and distribution of forces. Commanders never leave any element without a purpose. When the time comes to execute, all elements should have tasks to perform. FM-3
OK, General gives us specifics on how you would have otherwise employed additional troops. No generalities, very specific allocations of force. Seems the Commander CENTCOM has never said that any troop request has been refused. So you know more than the theater operational commander, just tell us specifics. We're waiting.
#3
Why anyone with a brian would take Times, Newsweak, or any other MSM publication seriously is beyond belief.
This piece is more of the same: identifying another disgruntled, weakling to make a statement that supports the publication's effort to undermine the mission.
Who really gives a shit who the person is? This person is NOT a leader and in fact is a piss ant.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/20/2005 18:59 Comments ||
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IRAQ'S former defence minister is expected to be arrested in the coming days in connection with the disappearance of more than $1 billion from the country's defence budget, a senior corruption investigator said yesterday. Hazim Shaalan, who served in interim prime minister Iyad Allawi's government, ran a ministry which worked with intermediaries, rather than foreign companies or governments, for the supply of defence equipment including helicopters, armoured vehicles, bullets and weapons. Not only were contracts with intermediaries forbidden at the time, but the prices paid for the equipment were vastly inflated and the contracts often not fulfilled.
On one occasion, it is alleged more than $230 million had been spent on a collection of 28-year-old, second-hand Polish helicopters whose design life was just 25 years. Radhi al-Radhi, the head of Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, said he handed a file of evidence against Shaalan to Iraq's central criminal court two months ago and expected a warrant for his arrest to be issued within ten days. "What Shaalan and his ministry were responsible for is possibly the second largest robbery in the world after the Oil-for-Food scandal," Mr Radhi said. "Our estimates begin at $1.3 billion and go up to $2.3 billion."
Shaalan, who lives in Jordan and also spends time in London, has denied any wrongdoing and has said that whatever he did was ultimately approved of by US authorities. Amer Hantouli, an aide, said: "These are politically motivated charges by his enemies. They are trying to distract the public from their glaring failure to improve security in Iraq. It's quite a low tactic. Defence ministry committees oversaw all deals and followed procedure."
"Lies! All lies!"
The current defence minister, Saadoun Dulaimi, said that when he took over in April there was next to nothing left of the $1 billion budget for procurement.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
09/20/2005 2:40 Comments ||
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Lies, all lies. I'm still working with the daughter of the former Interior Minister of Nigeria in tripling the investment of our monies. I have the emails to prove it!
#5
Here's an old snippet from al-jizz on
January 23, 2005, looks like he was trying to cover something up while in office with Allwai.
The denial of a warrant came after Defence Minister Hazim al-Shaalan said the Baghdad government would shortly arrest one-time Pentagon favourite Chalabi for staining his ministry's reputation.
"We will arrest him and hand him to Interpol. He sought to tarnish (the image) of the defence ministry and the reputation of the defence minister," Shaalan told Aljazeera late on Friday.
Defamation claims
Shaalan did not say how Chalabi had tried to defame him, but a spokesman for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress (INC) said the outburst dealt with allegations Chalabi made about the secret transfer of millions of dollars out of the country.
Shaalan's comments put an unwanted spotlight on the financial dealings of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's government, raising questions about its conduct.
Adding fuel to the fire, The New York Times reported that Allawi, Shaalan and a small circle of council members sent $300 million to a bank in Lebanon last week.
Iraqi officials told the newspaper the money had been sent out to buy tanks and other weapons from arms dealers for the Iraqi army, but the covert nature of the deal had raised eyebrows.
Ironically, Chalabi, a candidate for prime minister in the next government, has long been dogged by allegations of corruption and was convicted by a Jordanian court for embezzling funds from the collapsed Petra bank.
ANERA, the Washington-based American Near East Refugee Aid organization, held its annual banquet here over the weekend, pledging to raise more money than ever to bankroll its projects that help Palestinians. The group has been helping Palestinian children dream for a better life since it was founded in 1967. Anera (www.anera.org) has worked with 3.2 million Palestinians under occupation, 60 percent of whom live below the poverty line on less than $2 dollars a day. Last year alone, Anera distributed over $13 million in medical and relief supplies, including daily nutritional snacks to preschoolers. âAnera is one of the few organizations consistently trying to do positive things on the ground in the Palestinian areas. Other organizations come and go, but theyâve been at this since the â60s, as a force for positive stability,â said a former World Bank official at Aneraâs annual banquet on Friday.
âAnera works to create stability and jobs,â said Aneraâs president, Peter Gubser. âWe believe Palestinians deserve a good life just like any other human being on the face of the earth, and Anera funds projects in Gaza and elsewhere to make it happen,â said Gubser. One of Aneraâs many successful projects is the distribution of fortified milk and biscuits to malnourished children in the occupied territories. âSeveral years ago, we noticed malnutrition and a lack of essential nutrients among Palestinian youth was a real problem. Anera designed a program two years ago to give fortified milk and fortified biscuits to 15,000 preschool children throughout Gaza â from Rafaa in the south to Bait Lahia in the north.â Gubser said the reason for the malnutrition is due to the lack of employment by income earners in Palestinian families due to the âIsraeli response to the intifada, which caused tremendously high unemployment during the last three years.â
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Damn, left my checkbook in the other purse. But I'll get right back to you for those fortified biscuits.
#2
...the lack of employment by income earners in Palestinian families due to the âIsraeli response to the intifada, which caused tremendously high unemployment during the last three years.â
Cause, meet Effect.
Maybe if ANERA hired investigators to find Arafat's bank accounts...
The latest round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels from the Darfur region ran into trouble yesterday when insurgents accused a state-backed militia of breaching a cease-fire and killing 30 people. African Union cease-fire monitors said they had launched an investigation into the alleged raid, but had so far found no evidence to support the insurgentsâ claim.
âAs is the case with every other round of talks, the government of Sudan is violating the cease-fire agreement,â said Abdulrahman Musa, head of the Sudanese Liberation Movement and Sudanese Liberation Army delegation to an African Union peace conference in Abuja. Speaking on the sidelines of a preliminary seminar on power sharing, Musa told reporters that his group and a second rebel force, the Justice and Equality Movement, had lodged a complaint with AU cease-fire monitors and conference mediators. The representative of the AU commission monitoring the Darfur cease-fire, Babagana Kingibe, told reporters that the allegation was being investigated. âWeâve asked our troops to verify,â he said. âThey have made a preliminary survey and so far they have not found any evidence of any attack. We have asked the SLA to give us the coordinates of the position where this attack is supposed to have taken place. They are going to provide us the coordinates and we shall send a team to investigate whether such an attack indeed took place or not.â
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel and India have become closer in recent years, with Israel selling weaponry to India, and Pakistan would like to have similar relations to negate India's advantage.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/20/2005 1:38 Comments ||
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And the inevitable Israeli refusal to sell the most advanced stuff to Pakistan will enrage them. They have a sense of entitlement and the anti-semetic tendencies will rise to the brim.
They want what India wants - the Phalcon AWACs and the Arrow ABM.
While India has advanced solid rocket tech, Pakistan does not and the advanced fast burn boosters used in the Arrow will not be allowed to go to Pakistan (and thence to their patron China and ally North Korea).
The Phalcon system will probably also be denied (for the same reasons. Pakistan arab allies in the OIC would be quite eager to get their hands on the technology.
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 17:54 Comments ||
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#4
Egypt got ~US $2billion/year for making peace with Israel -- perhaps Musharef is angling for some of that just for talking with Israel?
#5
TW: Egypt got ~US $2billion/year for making peace with Israel -- perhaps Musharef is angling for some of that just for talking with Israel?
That was a package deal, where Egypt and Israel both got on the dole. Egypt has also fought three wars with Israel. Hard for Pakistan to do that, since it doesn't share a border with Israel.
Pakistan doesn't need to establish a relationship with Israel to get better weapons from Uncle Sam. All it has to do is crack down on the Taliban supporters within its borders and deliver bin Laden's head on a pike. Oh - and they need to stop handing over our stuff to the Chinese.
#6
Won't that actually cut off the gravy train for good?
A Pak newspaper recently published part of an ISI report. It quite openly admitted that demonstrations by islamists are encouraged because it gave the impression that Pakistan is a hotbed of radicalism and only the boot of the army keeps the radicals in check.
It is an old strategy. The very first Pak PM Liqiat Ali Khan used it. Today, sixty year later, Musharraf uses it.
"Apres Moi Le Deluge"
This guarantees a supply of US aid (primailry military since that is what Pak wants).
A crack down and handover of Osama removes the little leverage that Pak has.
Posted by: john ||
09/20/2005 20:35 Comments ||
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Israel has agreed in principle to an EU role in policing Gaza's volatile crossing with Egypt, Israeli officials said, while President Mahmoud Abbas insisted that it will take an international agreement to reopen the Rafah border. Securing the border took on more urgency when controls collapsed after Israel's pullout last week after 38 years of occupation. Tens of thousands of Palestinians swarmed into Egypt - most to visit relatives or shop, but some to smuggle arms.
Speaking in Gaza, Abbas said: "The (border) terminal will be open when there is an international agreement. We want to do the right job at the right time because we want to act as a state, as a responsible authority." Abbas added: "Therefore, we are following up on the subject seriously with our brothers in Egypt. Until we reach agreement, we should be patient." Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have been pressing Israel to agree to third-party monitoring of border traffic as a way of re-opening the crossing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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"We want to do the right job at the right time because we want to act as a state, as a responsible authority."
That's nice Abbas. Have you asked your so-called people what they want? Because it looks like killing Jews is the #1 priority for your people, not building a nation. Unarmed blue helmets from Luxemborg aren't going to help much.
Oddly enough, I too have mixed feelings about Jordanian political reform. Maybe they should poll me too.
A nationwide public opinion poll to measure the Jordanian public's views on political reform and democratic transformation issues shows the population almost evenly split on the direction of change in the country, with citizens most concerned about unemployment, cost of living and corruption. The poll by the independent Jordan Center for Social Research, headed by the respected sociologist Dr. Moussa Shteiwi, showed that slightly less than half of Jordanians (48 percent) think that things in Jordan are going in the right direction, while 44 percent think that things are going in the wrong direction.
The most important problems facing Jordan today, according to the respondents, are the rising cost of living (38 percent) and unemployment (27 percent). The most important political problem is corruption 26 percent). In terms of voters' political preferences, the results showed that 37 percent would vote for candidates from the Islamic tendency while 27 percent would vote for candidates from the Jordanian nationalist tendency. A majority (60 percent) would maintain the current "one-person, one-vote" parliamentary election law while only 17 percent would like it to be changed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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Islamabad has made a formal proposal to Kabul to fence the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Foreign Office said on Monday. "They are yet to respond," Foreign Office spokesman Naeem Khan told a weekly briefing. He said details about the length and cost of the fence had yet to be worked out, but added that fencing the entire 2,400-kilometre border was not feasible. "The priority would be to fence those areas from where cross-border activity could take place."
Busy with the elections, I'd guess. I'd jump on it PDQ if I was them...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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The cheapest and best alternative would be to lay concertina wire to the depth of about 20 rolls, stacked. That would be damned impassable. Efforts to crawl under it would be hilarious.
Following a meeting with Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz-ul-Haq on Monday, Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deenia (ITMD) - the alliance of five wifaqs supervising thousands of seminaries all over the country - agreed to talk to President Pervez Musharraf on issues of registration of religious seminaries, expulsion of foreign students, production of accounts and details of students and teaching staff soon after his return from the US. âSince the government has accepted our demands regarding registration of religious seminaries under Societies Act 1860, granting the status of education boards to all Wifaq-ul-Madaris and acceptance of academic certificates and degrees of these wifaqs, we have accepted the governmentâs offer of a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf after his return from US,â Qari Hanif Jhulandari told newsmen on Monday.
Jalandhari said he had asked the religious affairs minister to organise a formal talk with Musharraf to resolve differences and reservations. âNo religious institution is involved in any subversive or terrorist activity or sectarian violence, and we are not playing in the hands of MMA (Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal),â said Jhulandari. âHowever, consultations with the leader of opposition (Maulana Fazlur Rehman) are necessary before taking any step.â He said some people were trying to create conflict between the government and religious forces, but they had foiled their conspiracy.
âIt is a major breakthrough,â Ejaz-ul-Haq said of the successful negotiations with Wifaq-ul-Madaris. âThe registration of religious seminaries is mandatory and we will not let politicians jeopardise the career of 1.5 million students for their political ends.â He said Wifaq-ul-Madaris Arabia (Deobandi) had agreed to follow the governmentâs programme, while the ITMD had already agreed to register. âI appealed to them to help the government get through the process amicably,â he said. The issue of seminaries, he said, had a humanitarian aspect as well, as around 1.5 million orphans and poor students were living there as interns. He said almost all organisations running religious schools in the country, including the Wifaq-ul-Madaris, had agreed to cooperate with the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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The Punjab Assembly (PA) opposition on Monday walked out from the House to protest the speaker not allowing them to discuss the Pakistan Muslim League's alleged pre-poll rigging. Opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan, on a point of order, told the speaker that the government was harassing opposition candidates. He said that it was forcing the candidates not to participate in the third phase of local elections and alleged that PML-backed candidates were using state machinery. The Punjab Law minister did not reply to the opposition member's allegations.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Monday said it was injecting an additional 60 million euro (73 million dollars) into the Palestinian economy. âWe are taking very practical action to regenerate Gaza and help prepare the Palestinians for statehood,â the European Unionâs external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
With a healthy contribution to Abbas' pension fund n the Caymens.
The EU aid package includes a 40 million euro facility to help restore essential services such as water, transport and energy and a further 12 million euro for the vigorish governmental institution building.
An additional 8 million euro will go towards promoting health and education facilities, with a particular focus on East Jerusalem.
Which doesn't belong to the Paleos. 8 million Euros is about $10 million -- that doesn't build a decent street corner strip mall in the U.S., so I don't see what it's going to do in Paleo-land.
The Commission said it was also ready to help implement a six-point revival plan for the Palestinian territories drawn up by James Wolfensohn, the international envoy for Gaza.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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WTF how wonderful to regenerate Gaza. Prepare for statehood? I can see this money going to the wrong cause very quickly here. I think this is the cart before the horse.
These folks are building up quite the arsenal of weapons and terrorists here.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/20/2005 9:26 Comments ||
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The old fashioned way of just 'killing' them seemed to work well ...
NEW DELHI - India plans to tackle rising Maoist violence through better police coordination and reducing poverty in affected areas, federal home minister Shivraj Patil said on Monday.
The policy was drawn up on Monday during a meeting of chief ministers and other top officials of Indian states affected by Maoist violence. It follows a recent spike in guerrilla attacks in eastern and southern India that left dozens of people dead. The meeting also comes after Maoist groups in India said this month they would link up with their counterparts in troubled Nepal -- where rebels are trying to overthrow the monarchy.
âWe will act to see the menace is eliminated,â Patil told reporters after chairing the meeting.
He said New Delhi would combine force with a soft approach. âWe (also) want to bring about development to do away with injustice and provide employment,â he said.
Patil also said the federal government would help states affected by Maoist violence set up joint task forces to coordinate anti-guerrilla operations across state boundaries. âThe intelligence-sharing machinery should (also) be strengthened and intelligence should be exchanged between states,â he said, adding the federal government would strengthen state police forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/20/2005 00:00 ||
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The state machinery in the Maoist afflicted areas is almost non-existent, and that includes effective security forces. Unlike in Kashmir, where the Army, Special Forces, Federal and local Police and other military organisations are present - the Maoist areas are mostly policed by poorly paid police officers with guns dating back to the British Raj.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/20/2005 1:24 Comments ||
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#2
the Maoist areas are mostly policed by poorly paid police officers with guns dating back to the British Raj.
The cops need a weapons upgrade, sound like a great biz oportunity for Bangladesh. <)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/20/2005 1:49 Comments ||
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#3
The Maoists, Commies, and Islamists Terrorists will succeed only in those areas where local leaders and Government have utterly refused or failed to give the people hope, where the poor are so used to poverty and neglect they can't imagine anything better than to take by force what they need to survive. OTH, the Crimicrats-Mafiacrats will cya and exploit/abuse the situation by disguising themselves amongst everyone and anyone and behind every issue. India's probs are complemented by China's desires to dominate the region.
Police commandos burst into an all-girls madrassa here in what was meant to be a dramatic example of Pakistan's commitment to cracking down on Islamic extremism and religious schools that promote it. But the July 19 raid turned into a debacle.
Caught without their veils, the teenage girls screamed â and then rallied. Grabbing mops, brooms, stones and knives, they drove the commandos out. The retreating police fired back with tear gas. The girls staggered into the street, where the melee continued; 62 students had to be hospitalized after the police beat them with batons.
The target of the raid was extremist mullahs from Islamabad's Red Mosque, which runs the school and is famous for organizing anti--American, pro-Taliban demonstrations. No one was arrested, and police even missed a chance to nab one of the mosque's top clerics: Hours before the raid, Abdul Rashid Ghazi had been in police headquarters for a routine meeting with the commissioner. "They could have arrested me there," Ghazi says.
So goes Pakistan's campaign against homegrown religious extremism: considerable drama, few results. President Pervez Musharraf has taken huge risks â he has survived two assassination attempts â to hunt down al-Qaeda fugitives. He has sent thousands of troops to battle militants along the lawless border with Afghanistan. But his government has been reluctant to go after its former allies: the Taliban in Afghanistan and groups that have fought a proxy war against Indian troops in disputed Kashmir. It also has been slow to crack down on madrassas that teach intolerance and glorify jihad, or holy war.
As a result, Pakistan is still turning out young militants burning to kill and die for their extreme interpretations of Islam.
Pakistani forces also have been unable to find two of the world's most-wanted men â Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar â after four years of searching. The fugitives are believed to be hiding along the Afghan border.
Musharraf's pledge to eradicate extremism is coming under closer scrutiny four years after the U.S. began its military campaign to topple the Taliban. A recent upsurge in Taliban attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border is raising questions about the degree to which the militants are receiving sanctuary, training and supplies inside Pakistan.
There also is concern that the militants might be getting support from rogue elements of Musharraf's own security services.
"It's very obvious (the militants) are interfering in Afghanistan," says Gen. Abdul Manan Farahi, head of counterterrorism at the Afghan Interior Ministry. "They are coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan. They are being trained in Pakistani madrassas."
Pakistani officials reject the criticism. "We should not be accusing each other," says Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States.
Although Pakistan once supported the Taliban, the government insists it has no incentive to do so now. "Pakistan has absolutely nothing to gain from a destabilized Afghanistan," Karamat says.
Pakistan is developing its southern port of Gwadar in anti-cipation of increased trade with Afghanistan and central Asia. "This can happen only when Afghanistan is at peace," says Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's military spokesman.
Pakistan has dispatched more than 80,000 troops to hunt militants along the rugged Afghan border. They've captured 700 al-Qaeda suspects and endured heavy losses: 270 Pakistani troops killed, another 600 wounded, Sultan says.
But Pakistan has been more aggressive rounding up foreign al-Qaeda fighters than militants with origins closer to home. Musharraf "has been making a distinction between al-Qaeda, the Taliban and homegrown Pakistani groups," says Husain Haqqani, a visiting scholar from Pakistan at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Sultan says only 46 Taliban leaders have been arrested. Pakistan's military, which overthrew an elected government in a bloodless 1999 coup that put Musharraf in power, has old ties to the Taliban and to domestic extremist groups.
The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based, non--profit organization that works to prevent conflict, reported that hundreds of militants were detained â but then released. Militant groups re-formed under new names, most madrassas never registered and militant leaders continued to operate openly, the report said.
In the most extreme example noted by the International Crisis Group, the government allowed Sunni extremist Maulana Azam Tariq to run successfully for parliament in 2002 even though he was facing terrorism charges. His political career ended when he was gunned down in October 2003.
In many madrassas, textbooks and teachers promote intolerance against different sects and religions. Even in public schools, textbooks glorify jihad and warn children to be ever vigilant against enemies of the state.
"Intolerance is deeply ingrained in the culture," says Mariam Abou Zahab, a French expert on Pakistan.
Worries about Pakistan's madrassas grew after the July 7 London bombings. At least one of the four suicide bombers had visited a Pakistani madrassa before the attacks; he and two others were Britons of Pakistani ancestry.
In June, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, set off a diplomatic furor when he pointedly said he didn't believe bin Laden or Omar was hiding in Afghanistan.
The implication was clear: The fugitives had instead found sanctuary in Pakistan. Musharraf challenged skeptics to "please come and show us where he is."
"The Pakistan government is playing a double game," says retired U.S. diplomat Dennis Kux, author of The United States and Pakistan 1947-2000: Disenchanted Allies.
"It is a firm ally in the war on terror," he says, "but at the same time wants to preserve its options to use the Taliban."
Musharraf can't risk moving aggressively against homegrown extremists. "He is walking a tightrope," Zahab says. His government has marginalized secular democratic political parties and forged a partnership with a coalition of religious parties.
"Both Musharraf and the Islamic parties have a stake in the continuation of the current policies," says political consultant Hasan Askari Rizvi.
"Even if the Pakistani government wished, it could not fully control the extremists," Kux says. "For too long it coddled them or just looked the other way. Moreover, Musharraf, I assume, fears pro-Islamist elements in the military. Otherwise, he would not back down every time he says he is going to put the lid on madrassas or take other measures that offend the extremists."
The Pakistani public, inflamed by scenes of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, is increasingly hostile to the U.S.-led war on terrorism and Pakistan's official support of it.
Musharraf may be taking an even greater risk by making tentative overtures to Israel, a close U.S. ally shunned in most of the Muslim world. He met briefly with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week at the United Nations.
"We want to try to influence Israel to establish a Palestinian state," the Pakistani president said in an interview published Saturday in the Arabic-language Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. "We won't have a role if we don't deal with them."
"There is an increasing gap between the state and society," says Muhammad Waseem, political analyst at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University. "The state is supporting America. The society is increasingly anti--American. If the government ignores the public sentiment, it can't be legitimate."
After the London bombings, Musharraf repeated the pledges he'd made 3Âœ years earlier. Pakistani police began another roundup of extremist suspects â a campaign that included the ill-fated July 19 assault on the girls school. The government last month passed an ordinance requiring madrassas to register.
Musharraf's critics are waiting to see whether he pushes ahead this time with the registration and regulation of madrassas, something religious groups pledge to resist.
"What one looks for is evidence, not rhetoric," says Samina Ahmed of the International Crisis Group.
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#1
"There also is concern that the militants might be getting support from rogue elements of Musharraf's own security services."
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In an appeal on the occasion of the National Day on Sept. 23, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday urged suspected Al-Qaeda militants in the Kingdom to surrender and return to the right path. âThis cherished national occasion offers an opportunity for those affiliated to the deviant group to review their stand and surrender to security authorities,â he said while presiding over the Council of Ministers meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Yemeni Parliament yesterday calling on MPs to ratify a draft law banning the carrying of firearms in cities. The demonstrators, mostly rights activists, held placards denouncing the practice of carrying firearms in main city streets across Yemen. The legislation was approved by the Cabinet four years ago and has yet to be ratified by the Parliament controlled mainly by MPs of tribal backgrounds. Yemeni authorities are striving to disarm the 20 million population that hold nine million firearms according to estimates.
An English court has withdrawn a warrant for the arrest of a retired Israeli general on allegations of war crimes against Palestinians but it could still be reissued, a lawyer said. Doron Almog, who formerly commanded Israeli troops in Gaza, avoided arrest on the warrant by returning to Israel without leaving the plane that landed in London on September 11. "The police have returned the warrant to the court unexecuted," said Kate Maynard, a member of the legal team representing Palestinians whose houses were demolished by Israeli troops and whose relatives were killed in a bombing raid. "And the court has withdrawn the warrant, given that Almog is no longer in the jurisdiction," she said. "However, the fact that the warrant has been withdrawn does not mean that it cannot be reissued." 
North Korea said Tuesday it would not dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the United States first provides 
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Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya said the Palestinian refugees' right of return is "sacred" and described remarks being made by international parties about projects for their resettlement as "mere fantasy." The assertion was made by a party official in South Lebanon during a meeting organized by the group in Sidon, attended by various Palestinian factions and forces including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. During the meeting, officials discussed several key issues affecting the Palestinian community in Lebanon and reiterated their commitment to achieving the best possible relations with the Lebanese.
The executive assistant to Hizbullah's Secretary General, Hussein Moussawi, said yesterday Hizbullah is ready to cooperate with all Lebanese people except those who collaborate with Israel. Moussawi said: "Hizbullah will work day and night to cooperate and integrate with all Lebanese people except those who have relations with Israel, such as the Cedar Guards who are in fact Israel's Guard." Moussawi criticized the United States and the United Nations, saying that the U.S. desire to uncover the truth behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri is not out of love and concern for Lebanon or for the assassinated prime minister. According to Moussawi, the U.S. has strategic goals in Lebanon and wants Syria to be "an obedient regime."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is having trouble imposing order in Gaza, and he is cut off from his people by a wall of bodyguards. His government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament, and his main rival, Hamas, is parading its private army in the streets.
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - Four months after she tried without success to plead guilty, Army Pfc. Lynndie England plans to fight charges she played a key role in abusing detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, her lawyer said. The 22-year-old reservist, who appeared in several graphic photos taken inside Abu Ghraib in 2003, goes on trial here this week on two counts of conspiracy, four counts of mistreating prisoners and one count of committing an indecent act. She will be the last of a group of junior enlisted soldiers charged with abuses at the notorious prison to have their cases resolved. Two have been convicted at trial, while six others made plea deals and received prison sentences of up to eight years. Most were members of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company. 
IRAQ'S former defence minister is expected to be arrested in the coming days in connection with the disappearance of more than $1 billion from the country's defence budget, a senior corruption investigator said yesterday. 
ANERA, the Washington-based American Near East Refugee Aid organization, held its annual banquet here over the weekend, pledging to raise more money than ever to bankroll its projects that help Palestinians. The group has been helping Palestinian children dream for a better life since it was founded in 1967. Anera (
The latest round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and rebels from the Darfur region ran into trouble yesterday when insurgents accused a state-backed militia of breaching a cease-fire and killing 30 people. African Union cease-fire monitors said they had launched an investigation into the alleged raid, but had so far found no evidence to support the insurgentsâ claim.
Israel has agreed in principle to an EU role in policing Gaza's volatile crossing with Egypt, Israeli officials said, while President Mahmoud Abbas insisted that it will take an international agreement to reopen the Rafah border. Securing the border took on more urgency when controls collapsed after Israel's pullout last week after 38 years of occupation. Tens of thousands of Palestinians swarmed into Egypt - most to visit relatives or shop, but some to smuggle arms. 
Following a meeting with Religious Affairs Minister Ejaz-ul-Haq on Monday, Ittehad Tanzeemat-e-Madaris-e-Deenia (ITMD) - the alliance of five wifaqs supervising thousands of seminaries all over the country - agreed to talk to President Pervez Musharraf on issues of registration of religious seminaries, expulsion of foreign students, production of accounts and details of students and teaching staff soon after his return from the US. âSince the government has accepted our demands regarding registration of religious seminaries under Societies Act 1860, granting the status of education boards to all Wifaq-ul-Madaris and acceptance of academic certificates and degrees of these wifaqs, we have accepted the governmentâs offer of a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf after his return from US,â Qari Hanif Jhulandari told newsmen on Monday.
The Punjab Assembly (PA) opposition on Monday walked out from the House to protest the speaker not allowing them to discuss the Pakistan Muslim League's alleged pre-poll rigging. Opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan, on a point of order, told the speaker that the government was harassing opposition candidates. He said that it was forcing the candidates not to participate in the third phase of local elections and alleged that PML-backed candidates were using state machinery. The Punjab Law minister did not reply to the opposition member's allegations.
BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Monday said it was injecting an additional 60 million euro (73 million dollars) into the Palestinian economy. âWe are taking very practical action to regenerate Gaza and help prepare the Palestinians for statehood,â the European Unionâs external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
