Nearly 60 suspected Taliban arrested in Pakistan and handed to Afghanistan were actually ordinary citizens and they have been released, a governor said Friday. However most of a second group of 33 men extradited to Afghanistan Thursday did appear to have links with the Taliban militia that is fighting the government, Kandahar provincial governor Asadullah Khalid said. "We interrogated them after they were handed over to us last week," Khalid said. "Not even a single one of them is Taliban," he told a news conference. The men were just ordinary refugees living in Quetta, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Not a one said he was Taliban. Let 'em all go.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2006 14:38 Comments ||
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I think we called this one. John's been all over it...
Afghan officials on Friday dismissed "diversionary" Pakistani claims that an Al Qaeda kingpin linked to an alleged plot to blow up airliners is based in eastern Afghanistan. Pakistani security officials said on Friday that Islamabad had informed US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan that the unidentified Al Qaeda member was based in Kunar. But a senior adviser in the Afghan Foreign Ministry accused Pakistan of trying to shift the blame and said Afghanistan was no longer a haven for Al Qaeda. "As we've said in the past, we believe that information coming from the Pakistani intelligence services is diversionary," adviser Daud Muradiaan said. "We in Afghanistan believe that Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for Al Qaeda."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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OTTAWAIn a significant move, Canadian and NATO officials in southern Afghanistan are involved in sensitive negotiations with Taliban fighters after discreet backroom signals from insurgents that they might be willing to lay down arms. The overture for potential peace came when a faction of Taliban insurgents in Panjwai region southwest of Kandahar signalled it wanted to talk to NATO's International Security Assistance Force or the United Nations about disarming. "They didn't want to have a dialogue on disarming or stopping fighting with the Afghan government directly," one source told the Toronto Star.
Some of the Talibunnies finally figuring out that traipsing around the countryside, AK in hand, isn't as glamorous as it looked on the recruiting poster in Peshawar?
For now, though, Afghan authorities are leading the sensitive talks, with NATO and Canadian officials keeping a close eye on the progress. "We have a detailed understanding of how these negotiations are proceeding and would provide support wherever the Afghan government asked," said one military official familiar with the process.
Publicly, though, allied forces are taking a back seat, anxious not to undermine an already shaky Afghan authority.
Shaky authority? Karzai and the government seem pretty settled to me.
Signalling just how discreet the talks are, NATO has denied having direct contact with the Taliban. "ISAF has not been directly approached by any faction of the Taliban," said Canadian Forces Maj. Scott Lundy, a NATO spokesman, by phone from Kandahar yesterday. "We welcome any group that is willing to set down its weapons and begin a dialogue using any number of existing avenues through the Afghan government."
Allied troops have had some success convincing individual Taliban fighters to give up their weapons. Canadians scored a victory in June when Mullah Ibrahim, from a district west of Kandahar, repented for his time as a Taliban leader.
But what makes this latest case different is that a group of insurgents has come forward.
"How big they are, that's anyone's guess," one official said.
In the tangled world of Afghan diplomacy, officials were cautioning against hope of a quick resolution. "Nothing is done in a really direct manner. It's protracted," said one official.
Slowing the pace even further is the real risk of reprisal served up by hardliners against the splinter Taliban group for making an offer of reconciliation. A U.S. expert cautioned talks aren't likely bring long-term improvement to Afghanistan's perilous security situation. "What would matter if this became a cascading effort, if you had larger numbers of Taliban that decided to jump ship," said Seth Jones, a political scientist with Rand Corp., a Washington-based think-tank, who's researched the insurgency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Silly NATOs, you don't negotiate with talibunnies, you kill them.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/19/2006 0:32 Comments ||
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This kind of makes sense. The war against the Taliban has racked up some serious enemy body counts (relative to their small numbers), and is closing on 5 years. Desultory guerrilla wars like the kind fought in Latin American countries can last a long, long time. Intense counter-insurgency campaigns of the kind mounted by Western countries can inflict insurmountable casualties on the enemy. (Just look at the US campaign against Filipino insurgents and the British campaign against ethnic Chinese communists in Malaya). When the French withdrew from Vietnam, the Viet Minh were almost annihilated despite having won at Dien Bien Phu. When the US withdrew from South Vietnam, the Vietcong were wiped out, and North Vietnam's military was shredded. But most guerrilla armies don't last as long as the Vietnamese Communists. Since the US military commitment to Afghanistan is more or less unlimited, thanks to 9/11, I suspect the Taliban will either surrender or be exterminated in no more than a decade.
(SomaliNet) The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has widely condemned on Friday a statement by the Kenyan government towards deploying African peacekeeping troops in Somalia within few weeks or months as inconvenience plan to undermine the new born peace and stability in the war torn country. I assume that Kenyan government were in neutral position in the Somalia affairs but it has clearly showed that it joined the list of the anti Islam nations in the world, Sheikh Aweys, told local Somalia radio Shabelle referring to the yesterdays meeting in Nairobi by the IGAD military experts on planning possible peace keeping forces in Somalia.
Kenyan government has clearly showed that it joined the list of the anti-Islam nations in the world...
He blamed the Kenyan government of conducting plans to disturb the peace in Somalia. Kenya has moved with this step after its deputy foreign minister visiting in Mogadishu saw that peace and stability resumed normally following 16 years of civil crisis, he said.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir, a key founder of Islamic Courts, said they would not accept any deployment of foreign troops in Somalia. Asked what the Islamic Courts to do if the deployment mission starts, Sheikh Aweys said they would launch preventive steps against any outside troops. We repeat again that we are absolutely against foreign deployment, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Egypt's top Islamic leader said that the Danish editor who first published the contentious Prophet Muhammad cartoons should be jailed and his newspaper banned, according to an interview published Friday. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheik of Al-Azhar, one of the most powerful Islamic institutions in the Sunni Muslim world, said that Muslims still haven't forgotten the cartoons, which triggered a global firestorm earlier this year, Danish daily Berlingske Tidende reported.
the editor to prison for a number of years. And in addition to ban the paper from publication for some years.
"This was a really big crime," Tantawi was quoted as saying. "So the punishment should be to sentence the editor to prison for a number of years. And in addition to ban the paper from publication for some years. You can use your freedom of the press to attack people like me or presidents or royals. We can defend ourselves. But Jesus and Muhammad cannot, and anyone who attacks them must be punished for what he has done."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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I love it when the Holy Objects of Inflammation run low and the Imams of the Profit must recycle.
Posted by: john ||
08/19/2006 12:57 Comments ||
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"But Jesus and Muhammad cannot, and anyone who attacks them must be punished for what he has done."
He just insulted Jesus by libel. Jesus taught turning the other cheek and did not need narcissistic and aggressive action from his supporters. Muzzies never cease to see the world invertedly through their own perverted worldview.
#4
Btw... The muslim Jesus is NOT the christian Jesus! Religious savvy peopel here will tell it much better than me.
He's NOT the son of god, he submits to islam-the-original-religion-of-all-mankind, instead of being crucifixed he was replaced by a non-descript stunt double, and went on pilgrimage to mecca)... all of which by itself makes the tenets of islam a direct refutation of christianity... and when the End of Times will come, he will return *with a sword*, to "kill all the pigs", and "break all the crosses" (IE destroy christanity, jyzia will be abolished since there won't be any infidels/dhimmis left), and will *serve* the mahdi, thus nicely filling in the role of the christian false prophet along the antichrist...
(Kyodo) _ North Korea has opened accounts at 23 banks in 10 countries since the United States imposed financial sanctions on two banks in Macao last year, the Sankei Shimbun reported on its website Saturday.
The 10 countries include Vietnam, Mongolia and Russia, the newspaper said, quoting sources familiar with North Korean affairs. Washington has begun to urge those countries to freeze North Korean bank accounts in a bid to shut down the transfer of funds, the report said.
Washington designated Banco Delta Asia SARL last year as a bank allegedly counterfeiting U.S. dollars and laundering money for North Korea, barring U.S. financial institutions from dealing with it and leading the Macao government to freeze related bank accounts last fall. The United States confirmed last month that a major Chinese bank, the Bank of China, has frozen accounts related to North Korea.
Since they value their relationship with American banks much more than they value Kimmie's counterfeit bills.
These U.S. law enforcement measures dealt a severer-than-expected blow to North Korea and apparently prompted it to open accounts in some of the countries with which it has diplomatic ties, centering on those in Southeast Asia, the report said.
The sources were quoted as saying senior U.S. Treasury officials visited Vietnam soon after the unanimous passage of a resolution condemning North Korea's launches of ballistic missiles by the U.N. Security Council last month. The U.S. officials reportedly pointed out there are some 10 North Korean accounts in Vietnamese banks and urged Vietnam to take stern measures. Vietnam responded positively to the U.S. request, the report said.
Since the Vietnamese also value burgeoning trade and banking relationships with us.
The United States is likely to make similar requests to Thailand and Mongolia as well, according to the report.
In order to fend off such a crackdown, North Korea for its part has begun to open its bank accounts in the name of individuals rather than business corporations that are subject to strict surveillance, the report said.
I foresee all sorts of intersting counter-espionage operations ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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A little reciprocal mindfuckery seems in order:
Notify these "banks" that should they freeze the Norkie accounts, they can keep the cash, LOL. A one-time offer. Should they ever do "business" with Kimmie again, they will suffer a banking system Death Penalty - which we can certainly arrange.
A Muslim leader who threatened the Danish prime minister and called for the killing of Jews was sentenced to jail. Fadi Abdullatif, spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir, was sentenced to three months in prison by a Copenhagen court for distributing fliers in 2004 that threatened Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and other Western leaders who he claimed wanted to prevent Muslims from fighting for the liberation of Iraq, Reuters reported. He also was found guilty of breaking the law by calling for the killing of Jews on Hizb ut-Tahrirs Web site
#3
Would that be the same Hizb ut-Tahrir whose members Al-Grauniad hires as journalists?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/19/2006 8:26 Comments ||
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A Muslim leader who threatened the Danish prime minister and called for the killing of Jews was sentenced to jail. Fadi Abdullatif, spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir, was sentenced to three months in prison
I wonder how much a Danish pastor who'd call for expulsion of all Muslims from the country would get?
The Marine officer who commanded the battalion involved in the Haditha killings last November did not consider the deaths of 24 Iraqis, many of them women and children, unusual and did not initiate an inquiry, according to a sworn statement he gave to military investigators in March.
"I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines," Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines, said in the statement. "I did not have any reason to believe that this was anything other than combat action," he added.
Chessani's statement, provided to The Washington Post by a person sympathetic to the enlisted Marines involved in the case, helps explain why there was no investigation of the incident at the time, despite the large number of civilian deaths, and why it took several months for the U.S. military chain of command to react to the event. Sounds fair Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2006 09:40 ||
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I served with Chessani. He is a fine officer and I think the Marines involved did their job in accordance with the ROE. Until the Marines are convicted by a jury of their PEERS, I won't believe otherwise.
#2
Their best defense is "fog of battle", that demands strong forensic evidence of wrongdoing for a conviction. In this case, evidence presented after the fact with clear intention to incriminate makes it inadmissable--it is tainted.
This means that NCIS forensic materials are the only substantative evidence. Given the haste of the engagement, as one of a series of engagements, along with no on scene military condemnation, there is nothing to justify any further investigation.
The only other factor would be the death, immediately beforehand of a member of their unit. But while this may go to motive, by itself it means little without objective corroboration.
#3
Yeah, but all the WaPo readers understand that, right Moose? And the Lawyer who asked, "Did it occur to you that you needed to do an investigation simply so you could go to the locals and say, 'This was righteous'? . . . And be confident that you were speaking with certainty?" -- Obviously he knows that, but it doesn't sound good to the WaPo guy. I suppose he has three tours of combat duty - like Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men".
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/19/2006 14:23 Comments ||
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Evidence presented after the fact with intent to incriminate doesn't make that evidence "tainted" or "inadmissable." Anyone who has ever tried a case knows that all the prosecution's evidence is presented after the fact. It is all presented with the intent to incriminate. That is what the prosecution does. The term "tainted" deals with the "fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine" on Fourth Amendment issues.
#5
WaPO repeats Murtha's lie: It became more controversial in May when Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), who had been briefed by top Marine officers, said at a news conference that what happened in Haditha was "much worse than reported in Time magazine" and that Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
Murtha HAD NOT been briefed when he made those accusations.
HREF='http://patterico.com/2006/08/17/5015/hagees-office-responds/'>Patterico investigated and found: ...Hagee first briefed Murtha on Haditha on May 24 a solid week after May 17, when Murtha first accused Marines of killing civilians in cold blood.
No mention by WAPO that Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich is suing Jack Murtha for defamation.
#6
Agree, Bama Marine, agreed. The MSM is trying to fit the real story to its presupposed narrative again. So much for the presumption of innocence, justice, and an actual verdict.
This may be the most sleazy aspect of the MSM, condemning those who protect them and their freedom to print rights.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/19/2006 18:48 Comments ||
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Here's the link to Patterico's Pontifacations that I screwed up in post #5
Former British ambassador Craig Murray has called the alleged plot to bomb American transatlantic flights as "rubbish" that the media has bought, wholesale.
...none of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb or bought a plane ticket and many of them did not even have passports...
Murray writes in the online publication Counterpunch that none of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb or bought a plane ticket and many of them did not even have passports, which, given the "efficiency" of the British Passport Agency, would mean they could not have become plane bombers for "quite some time". Murray notes that many of those arrested had been under surveillance and finds it "extraordinary" that the plot had not turned up in a year of surveillance. "Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries," he writes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Gee... I wonder how the brilliant Mr Murray will explain the Jihadi Swan Song Videos discovered yesterday... Just for laughs, were they?
#8
C'mon, he's a career ambassador who was removed from his post with cause. He's a 'tard who has no more information than the demented Andrew Sullivan.
It is amazing how long the list of this war's Lord Haw Haws and Tokyo Roses is gonna be, though.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2006 16:00 Comments ||
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Back during WWII there were those that believed the Germans were only protecting the jews by putting them in camps. After the war ended these folks were labeled as fools and forgotten. Mr. Craig Murray is about to join the ranks of the forgotten fools. Have a nice quiet life, moonbat.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/19/2006 19:52 Comments ||
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Discipline charges
In July 2003, some of his embassy staff were sacked while he was away on holiday. They were reinstated after he expressed his outrage to his bosses in the FCO. Later during his holiday, he was recalled to London for disciplinary reasons. On 21 August 2003, he was confronted with 18 charges including "hiring dolly birds (pretty young women) for above the usual rate" for the visa department (though he claims that it had an all-male staff) and granting UK visas in exchange for sex. He was told that discussing the charges would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act punishable by imprisonment. He claims that he was encouraged to resign.
He collapsed during a medical check in Tashkent on 2 September 2003 and was flown to St Thomas' Hospital. After an investigation by Tony Crombie, Head of the FCO's Overseas Territories Department, all but two of the charges (being drunk at work and misusing the embassy's Range Rover) were dropped. The charges were leaked to the press in October 2003. [2] When he returned to work in November 2003, he suffered a near fatal pulmonary embolism. In January 2004, the Foreign Office exonerated him of the 18 charges, but reprimanded him for speaking about the charges.
[edit]
Removal from post
Murray was removed from his post in October 2004, shortly after a leaked report in the Financial Times [3] quoted him as claiming that MI6 used intelligence gained by the Uzbek authorities by torture. The Foreign Office denied there was any direct connection and stated that Murray had been removed for "operational" reasons. It claimed that he had lost the confidence of senior officials and colleagues. The following day, in an interview on the Today programme, the BBC's flagship political radio show, Murray countered that he was a "victim of conscience", and in this and other interviews criticised the Foreign Office.[4] A few days later he was charged with "gross misconduct" by the Foreign Office for criticising it in public.[5] Murray resigned from the Foreign Office in February 2005.
WASHINGTON Boeing wants to guard the nation's borders for a couple of billion dollars. Boeing's St. Louis-based defense division has developed a plan combining radar and laser technology, sensors and cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, other surveillance equipment and rapid communications tools to keep illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, potential terrorists and gun runners from entering the United States.
It's done so at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security, which, seeking better ways to protect U.S. borders, a few months ago asked corporations with expertise in systems integration to supply ideas and technological know-how.
So it's a virtual, not physical, fence that they want to build.
That started a process that has received scant public attention partly because federal officials have been tight-lipped about it despite the intense public debate over immigration and the role of border security in the war on terror.
The competition for the contract ends next month, when federal officials will choose Boeing or one of four rivals: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Ericsson of Sweden. The firms have devised a variety of ways to combine technology existing or to be developed with the government's border patrol and infrastructure.
Because the government wants to benefit from the firms' high-tech experience and capability to innovate, it's given them a lot of leeway, noted Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank on defense and homeland security issues. "This is a form of creeping privatization or at least of outsourcing," Thompson said. "With the traditional approaches of border patrols clearly not up to the challenge of securing the borders, the government seems more inclined to assign key responsibilities to industry. It is going outside of its traditional offices to pursue high-tech, imaginative alternatives."
Fred, there has just got to be something in this for WoT-focused weblogs.
Geography is a challenge, says Robert Villanueva, Boeing's spokesman for the project.
No, really?
"There's desert on the south and mountains on the north along with sections of the Great Lakes," he said. "There are different types of terrain that are not just not routinely monitored, where the technology will come in handy, so we can see what's going on 24/7 and notify the officers that there's a border penetration they need to get to.
"Without building a hard fence, we're going to make the border a virtual system," he said. "We'll be able to detect who's crossing the border why and when and at what point, and hopefully identify whether they're terrorists or drug smugglers, weapons smugglers or people hoping to join the work force."
The government is saying little, other than that it will award the winner-take-all contract by the end of the current fiscal year Sept. 30.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Put up two parallel fences. Decorate with LOTS of warning signs in english, spanish, and pictures. Put land mines in between the parallel fences. End of problem.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/19/2006 0:34 Comments ||
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Any proposal that does not include the physical barrier is asinine. It would take shitloads more Border Agents and a coupla thousand of Joe's Tent Cities, every year... then what? Huh? C'mon you brilliant Homeland Security Wizards, then what? Ad infinitum?
HS is dumb as dirt if they accept any bid which does not build effective physical barriers.
#5
Even if you detect them, who is gonna chase them down. It would be much cheaper for the Pres to make a nice little speech announcing that effective immediately anyone crossing into US territory is subject to being shot on sight by any citizen.
#6
MAPSANDS system architecture was designed to secure areas from less than one mile to several hundred continuous miles through the integration of a series of sensors and transducers that collect and share data, analyze it and deliver a programmed response based on predetermined rules of engagement.
MAPSANDS relies on directional non-lethal high frequency focused acoustical transducer arrays to project verbal warnings and aversive warning tones to intruders. These devices are designed to be effective at ranges in excess of 1000 meters and support determining an approaching individual(s) intent. Additionally an advanced programmable airburst munitions delivery system, from Vision Technologies System (VTS) has also been integrated into MAPSANDS and is capable of accurately targeting and dispersing other non-lethal deterrents, such as tear gas, malodorants or pepper spray at ranges in excess of 1500 meters.
MAPSANDS uses a network of real time position sensors to provide detection, tracking and targeting coordinates. These coordinates are continuously feed to the transducer arrays and the airburst munitions system in order to insure accurate targeting once the system has been engaged by an aggressor(s).
#9
Precisely KBK. Why authorize a one-time fee $300m for a fence and some guard towers using existing recources when you can establish a 12-29 year program costing a gazillion dollars, administered by a swarm of DoD or Homeland Security feather merchants.
#10
Fence barriers are low tech and can be easily overcome (or tunnedled under). Skidmark, the Mapsands system is real...good find. You work for one of the vendors?
But all of these proposed systems need real teeth, more even than the acoustic dissuaders on the Mapsands system. It is the lethal component that will be the real element that says Don't Go There.
The answer is remote weapon systems, something that has already been incorporated into Mapsands by my company. Very effective stuff. They can be integrated into the other systems as well.
Once you've established intent with less lethal barriers then it is time to get serious.
#11
Fences are appropriate in urban and travelled areas, like here in San Diego, where it's worked well. Out in cactusland and mountain terrain, it's not as appropriate, and the virtual fence is.
From one who says build it. Now.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2006 13:09 Comments ||
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Remoteman, where do you work that requires a remote weapon system?
Posted by: Scott R ||
08/19/2006 14:11 Comments ||
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remoteman is right, IMO, both about the approach and about what can be done here and now with current technologies and things in development.
my own opinion, FWIW (and that may or may not be much LOL) is that a virtual fence is better because once in place it can deal with the problem both of detection and of deterrence, provided we are willing in fact to stop illegal entry. Note that the MApsand system does allow some degree of immediate determination as to whether people crossing are drug mules, your basic unarmed, want-a-job type or your MS13 thugs with night vision goggles, body armor and an attitude to kill US cops and border patrol (which they have done and have tried).
Over time, it's in our interests for Mexico to become prosperous and stable ... at that point, the virtual fence doesn't get in the way of peaceful commerce which benefits us both.
#14
"It would be much cheaper for the Pres to make a nice little speech announcing that effective immediately anyone crossing into US territory is subject to being shot on sight by any citizen."
In Arizona and in Texas, this is already the case, at least if the land they cross into is privately owned, like a ranch. Ranchers have the right in both states to shoot trespasssers on sight-- a nice holdover from the cattle-rustling land-war days. (I'm not sure about New Mexico though.) Most ranchers who have the legal right to shoot refrain from doing so, unless the illegals attempt to stay on their land and commit burglary, vandalism or some other crime.
#15
ScootR, I work for a manufacturer of remote weapon systems. Smaller size stuff that mounts 7.62mm M-240 machine guns. Works on vehicles or you can pop it off and put it on a tripod. We also have units specifically designed for fixed asset security. They only open up when, uhm, needed.
PESHAWAR: All seven foreign Al Qaeda suspects, who were released from a Peshawar prison on Thursday and given into the "safe custody" of a charity, went to join their families instead of staying with their guarantor.
The court order that Daily Times obtained on Friday did not mention that the accused could stay with their families. "Javed Ibrahim Paracha and Hazrat Imam, field officers with the charity - Al-Khidmat Foundation - have given an undertaking to the court that they will keep the accused in their safe custody," Additional Sessions Judge Syed Ahtesham Ali said in his order. Imam said that the men were arrested for suspected links to Al Qaeda, but they were released because of lack of evidence. He said that all of them had married Pakistani women and had gone to live with their families.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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go figure...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2006 9:48 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Jordan has become the first Arab state to send a fully accredited ambassador to Iraq, the government said on Friday. The move was a major display of political support for the U.S.-backed government in the face of insurgent threats to Muslim states not to deepen ties.
Ambassador Ahmed al-Lozi presented his credentials Thursday to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a presidential statement said. Al Lozi traveled to Baghdad with Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Al Bakhit, who arrived Tuesday for a three-day visit. The diplomat presented his credentials in a private ceremony, Talabanis aide, Hiwa Othman, told The Associated Press.
Now let's see the Gulf states do the same.
The United States has long urged Iraqs Arab neighbours to upgrade diplomatic relations to the ambassadorial level, rather than maintain missions headed by lesser-ranking diplomats, as an affirmation of support. But the Arabs had been stalling due to ongoing violence and concern over the Shia-led governments dealings with the Sunni minority, which forms the foundation of the insurgency, and its ties to Shia-dominated Iran.
Egypt agreed last year to sent an ambassador, Ihab Al Sherif, but he was kidnapped in July 2005 and assassinated before presenting his credentials...
Egypt agreed last year to sent an ambassador, Ihab Al Sherif, but he was kidnapped in July 2005 and assassinated before presenting his credentials. Two Algerian diplomats were kidnapped in the same month and killed. In October 2005, two Moroccan Embassy workers were abducted and later killed. Two months later, Sudan closed its embassy in return for the release of six embassy employees who had been kidnapped.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for all the kidnappings and murders, and warned Arab and Muslim countries against establishing relations with Iraqs Shia-dominated government.
In March, however, Arab countries agreed to open diplomatic missions in Iraq after scathing criticism by Iraqs Kurdish foreign minister that they are not doing enough to help the wartorn nation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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JERUSALEM Did Prime Minister Ehud Olmert know a cease-fire would be imposed within two days when, after a month of fighting in Lebanon, he green-lighted a large-scale ground operation last week for which the Israeli Defense Forces allegedly had been petitioning for weeks?
That is the question many military officials are asking. The answer, they say, could determine the future of the Olmert government.
The operation, in which 15 soldiers were killed, was scratched within 48 hours after Olmert accepted a cease-fire. "It's possible Olmert knew a cease-fire was coming. If so, our stepped-up operation that he approved two days earlier was a pointless exercise in which troops were killed. This is a very serious situation," said a senior military official speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
Olmert ordered the massive battle last Thursday reportedly after four weeks of refusing a larger ground offensive to reach Lebanon's Litani River about 18 miles from the Israeli border, encompassing the swath of territory from which Hezbollah fired most of its rockets into northern Israel. Troop advances were halted some 48 hours later in line with a cease-fire proposal accepted by Israel this past Monday.
Israeli military officials tell WorldNetDaily that from the start of the Jewish state's campaign in Lebanon last month, the IDF petitioned for the deployment of up to 40,000 ground troops to advance immediately to the Litani River and from there work their way back to the Israeli border while surrounding and then cleaning out Hezbollah strongholds under heavy aerial cover.
But Olmert at first only approved aerial assaults, they say. Fits with what the Israel insider article posted here said.
After Hezbollah retaliated by firing large numbers of rockets into Israel, the Olmert government approved a smaller ground offensive of up to 8,000 soldiers who, according to military officials, were not directed to advance to the Litani. The IDF was charged with cleaning out Hezbollah's bases within about three miles of the Israeli border.
IDF leaders told WND they suffered in "very specific" ways on the battlefield because of a lack of sufficient ground troops. They cited instances in which they claimed there were not enough soldiers to surround key villages, such as Bint JBail in southern Lebanon, allowing Hezbollah fighters to infiltrate cities after the IDF began combat inside the areas.
After nearly four weeks of fighting, Olmert's cabinet last week approved the larger assault the IDF had petitioned for, authorizing about 40,000 troops to enter Lebanon and advance to the Latani River. The IDF estimated it would need about three days to reach central Lebanon and another four to six weeks to successfully wipe out the Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas leading back to the Israeli border.
But Monday morning three days after the Israeli army was given a green light to advance a cease-fire was imposed and the Jewish state suspended operations.
But everyone knew the cease-fire was coming; in reviewing the Rantburg archives we had the news about the ceasefire being approved by the UNSC, with a planned implementation date, prior to this last op. Didn't the IDF read the newspapers?
Fifteen Israeli troops were killed during the IDF's advance to the Litani. Israel the past two days has withdrawn from about one-third of the territory it captured, including its positions at Litani, transferring the land to the control of the Lebanese army.
"If Olmert did not know a cease-fire was coming, then our reaching the Litani would have been crucial for the continued battle. We needed to clean out those areas to defeat Hezbollah. If he did know, Olmert sent our troops to their deaths for nothing other than to prove we can reach the Litani," the military official said. The official charged that whether the IDF reached the Litani or not, the cease-fire agreement would still call for the Lebanese army and an international force to deploy in the area.
Olmert has not yet responded to the charges, which military officials have been leaking to the media.
Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz this week told the Knesset the decision to expand the ground operation and advance to the Litani River was not made with the knowledge that the fighting would end within 48 hours. "When we began the operation, we did not know we only had 48 hours. We knew a diplomatic process was set to begin, but we didn't know we'd have to stop after 48 hours," Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday.
He noted that when the decision to expand the fighting was made, the U.N. Security Council had not yet approved a resolution on the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Halutz said the operation had been planned for Wednesday, but was delayed by two days due to diplomatic efforts being made.
And in that time, the cease-fire resolution was signed.
Halutz's comments incensed some military leaders. "He is admitting to our worst fears," said the senior military leader. "That our fighting and lives were subjected to back and forth diplomacy."
Well sure. War is diplomacy by other means, etc. The problem isn't that the operation became subject to diplomatic manuvering, the problem is that the original incursion into Lebanon was poorly thought through. The operation to the Litani isn't one that should have been laid on at the last minute, it's one that should have been done on the first day.
Indeed, military officials told WND on several occasions the past few weeks, while heavy diplomacy looked to be gaining momentum, such as during Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's visits here, that the IDF was asked by the political echelon to halt most operations and troop advances for up to 36 hours while negotiations ran their course. Military leaders charge some troop battalions, instructed to hold positions outside villages but not to advance, became sitting ducks for Hezbollah antitank fire, which killed at least 35 Israeli soldiers. After the diplomacy failed, the military officials say, soldiers were ordered to carry on.
The military officials are demanding the government's management of the war be probed. "We are demanding a national commission of inquiry," a military official said. "And not some hack committee appointed by politicians to whitewash them."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz yesterday announced that he had appointed a committee to examine the events of the war, but his commission was met with harsh criticism by Knesset members, the IDF and Israel's security establishment. Peretz appointed former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak to head the inquiry. Lipkin-Shahak is a senior Peretz adviser and was on the team of external planners during the war. Critics charged Lipkin-Shahak could not lead an unbiased investigation.
Knesset Member and National Union Faction Chairman Uri Ariel told reporters, "Peretz's committee is a failure to claim responsibility and is spitting in the face of the fighters. The public in general, and soldiers who fought in particular, are demanding a real investigation that will include the government and especially the prime minister and the defense minister. The current committee won't do that."
Politicians from all sides of Israel's political spectrum yesterday demanded a national commission of inquiry be appointed. Yossi Beilin, chairman of the leftist Meretz party, said: "No attempt by Peretz to set up an internal committee will be accepted as a replacement for a state committee that will look at diplomatic, military and social aspects of the second Lebanon war."
(Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya, also a senior Hamas leader, on Friday set out a series of conditions which threatened to compromise forming a new national unity government. Haneya gave the threat at the main weekly Muslim prayers in Gaza City on Friday, where he insisted a Hamas member head the government, and the Palestinian cabinet ministers and members of parliament arrested by Israel be released as a prelude to form a coalition government. He also told prayers that neither could any official implicated in corruption take part in any possible national unity coalition alongside his movement.
Haneya insisted a Hamas member head the government, and the Palestinian cabinet ministers and members of parliament arrested by Israel be released as a prelude to form a coalition government.
On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he started consultations with Haneya on forming a new national unity government. Forming a new Palestinian coalition government was essential to overcome a crisis worsened after Israel arrested eight Palestinian ministers and at least 20 lawmakers including Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from the governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the West Bank.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, and Fatah movement would lead the government in coalition government and Hamas also demanded the coalition government to be headed only by a Hamasprime minister, a Palestinian source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed early on Thursday. The source expected that Hamas would get seven ministries in the new government while Fatah would get six. Hamas, which overwhelmingly won the January legislative elections, failed to form a national coalition government and had alone formed a government in late March.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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WId Lebanon on the path to becoming a future Iranian vassal state iff not de facto province, safe to say iff Hamas follows the example Israel will indeed find herself surrounded, an island of Western democracy-modernity in a sea of ME repressive + regressive, angry Camel-kaze radical states = Iranian slave states.
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has put his proposal for an Israeli pullout from parts of the occupied West Bank on hold for now following the war in Lebanon, one of his aides said on Friday.
The aide acknowledged that the prime ministers more pressing priority for now was leading the recovery from economic damage in northern Israel caused by a month of rocket attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. There is no point in trying to pursue the plan at the moment, there are far more urgent matters which must be dealt with following the war in Lebanon, the aide said.
Resurgent violence in Gaza, which Israel evacuated last year, plus the Lebanon war appear to have dampened public enthusiasm for territorial withdrawals...
A report in the Haaretz daily on Friday, citing what it said were private conversations between Olmert and other ministers and party members, quoted the prime minister as saying the issue was no longer at the top of his governments agenda. Resurgent violence in Gaza, which Israel evacuated last year, plus the Lebanon war appear to have dampened public enthusiasm for territorial withdrawals, which Olmert made the centrepiece of his manifesto that won him election in March.
Rightist opponents of the Gaza pullout have warned that another unilateral pullout plan would only embolden Palestinian militants in their fight against Israel. They cite the rocket fire into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon as an example.
As one of many examples. Looks like those of us, including me, who thought this was a good idea were wrong. I admit it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Sri Lanka Friday announced the appointment of a new envoy to replace outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner (ambassador) Bashir Wali Mohmand who narrowly escaped assassination in a bomb attack here.
The foreign ministry said the Sri Lankan government accepted the appointment of retired Air Vice Marshal Shahzad Aslam Chaudhry as Islamabad's new envoy in the island. Mohmand narrowly escaped a Claymore mine attack in Colombo Monday. The attack came a week after he had made a farewell call on President Mahinda Rajapakse after completing his term of duty here. Government spokesman Keheliya said he was targeted because he was arranging a huge arms deal. Sri Lanka turned to Pakistan to buy weapons after India turned down a request recently, official sources said, adding that the shopping list was worth about 150 million dollars.
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08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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JPost - Caught via Captain's QuartersSyria's president sparked a wave of anger after he knocked Mideast leaders as "half men" in a televised speech, underlining the divisions as Arab nations try to form a unified front in the wake of the Lebanon crisis.
The bitterness over Bashar Assad's speech last week will likely stir up a gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Sunday. The meeting is supposed to pave the way for a summit of heads of state later in the month that will draw up plans to help rebuild Lebanon - and try to launch a new Arab peace initiative with Israel.
So far governments have not commented on Assad's jibes - instead, the task has been left to newspapers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan - some of which are state-guided - which have been sizzling with personal and direct attacks on Assad the like of which the region has not seen directed against an Arab leader in years.
One paper described the Syrian president as a rose that has failed to bloom. Another berated him for remaining silent throughout Israel's offensive on Lebanon. And a third mocked all his talk about resistance when not a single bullet has been fired from Syria toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Assad had been silent throughout the 34 days of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hizbullah, a Syrian ally. But the day after a cease-fire set in, he gave his speech.
He said the Lebanon war had "unveiled half men" - a reference to the opposition of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan to Hizbullah's abduction of two IDF soldiers that triggered the July 12 fighting.
Assad's undiplomatic rhetoric, unusual for this Arab regime that has long seen itself as the champion of Arab nationalism, suggested he was deepening his move away from the Arab world's heavyweights allied to Washington and closer to Persian Iran.
If so, it could mean greater isolation for Damascus, which has been under intense international pressure since last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria has widely been blamed for the murder, but it has denied any link.
"Syria would've reaped benefits, including an easing of the pressure it's been under, had (Assad's) speech been more moderate," said Jamil Nimri, a prominent Jordanian analyst.
"But the speech has set things back and Syria has lost deep Arab solidarity," he added. "It is now in a worse situation that it was at the start of the war."
Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said Assad's words were a "reproach among brothers ... especially at a time of crisis," according to SANA, the official Syrian news agency.
Bilal said Assad enjoys "friendly and brotherly relations" with Saudi King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian officials have remained largely silent.
"I hope the Syrians will appreciate the advantage of maintaining a unified Arab stand," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud said in one of the few government reactions.
But media in those countries have been fierce in denouncing Assad.
"If you meant Arab leaders when you said half men, then please clarify what makes you different from them," wrote Salwa al-Sharafi in Elaph, a Saudi-owned online publication.
Aziz al-Haj, also writing in Elaph, said "Assad trembles at the thought of merely a bullet being fired from Syria on Israelis" in the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. That front has been quiet for decades.
An editorial in Egypt's El-Akhbar daily titled "Half a decision for half an official" said many were surprised that Assad "remained silent during the war ... and didn't take half a decision to respond to the treacherous Israeli offensive on Lebanon."
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2006 17:31 ||
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should've added: There's more - RTWT
Posted by: Frank G ||
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Another example of that splendid oxymoron: Arab Unity.
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Danny Gillerman, said that it would be "difficult if not inconceivable" to accept nations who do not recognize Israel's right to exist and who have no diplomatic relations with Israel as part of a UN force in southern Lebanon.
We're going to be on Lebanese territory. We're not going to be on Israeli territory...
Gillerman made the statement in an interview with BBC Online, after Malaysia and Indonesia who do not recognize Israel - have both said they were willing to send troops to the region. He said Israel would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries they have friendly relations with. "But to expect countries who don't even recognize Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," Gillerman said.
Malaysia, on its part, dismissed the comments and said Israel's stance will not influence the decision, BBC reported. "We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Need we point out that Leb's the place where the attacks on Israel were mounted?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Stick by your guns, Israel - literally. Adding new enemies to the original set is something only a UN fuckwit could consider reasonable. Give Malloch-Brown and His Boss a public lashing - and laugh at them for their idiocy. Do it very publicly, and do it often.
#4
In a Bizarro World where the UN is actually useful, it would make sense to have the peacekeeping forces come from nations friendly or at least neutral to Israel. In this world, it probably doesn't matter since they are going to get their asses bombed by Israeli counter-strikes as they stand around in their blue helmets while the Hezbies launch the inevitable missiles. If they were not mad at the Jews before, they will be afterwards.
#5
As known to me, the nations are to be comprised of states currently at de facto risk of national destabilization from Commie/Maoist-suppor Radical Islamist-Terror groups, while FOX > FRANCE now only wants to send 200 specialists, NOT 000's or even several 00's.
#7
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Danny Gillerman, said that it would be "difficult if not inconceivable" to accept nations who do not recognize Israel's right to exist and who have no diplomatic relations with Israel as part of a UN force in southern Lebanon.
Aug. 23 Malaysia's Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said Tuesday the burning of Croation Catholic cross recently by two Malaysian U.N. peacekeepers stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina was unintentional. The two U.N. soldiers burned the Catholic cross between July 15 and 20 on a hillside near Bosnian Croat-controlled Kiseljak, about 15 miles (25 km)
northwest of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The incident was made know to U.N. officials in Sarajevo Aug. 12. Najib confirmed the incident took place but said it was an isolated move by the two soldiers who did not have the intent to insult any religion. The two Christian Malaysian soldiers of the Malbatt Command replaced the 3-yard cross Friday on the
hillside near Citonje.
#10
On the other hand, if I were to play devil's advocate, let them do it and expose the peacekeeper's true intentions. Of course, one would have to have high confidence in their ability to monitor happenings on the ground in Lebanon and know when to pull the plug if the unthinkable happened and they were actually aiding Hezb'Allah. :-}
BEIRUT - Hezbollah handed out sums of $12,000 in cash on Friday to families whose homes were destroyed by Israeli air strikes in southern Beirut, drawing praise from the homeless who say the government has long ignored them.
This shows just how much the party cares for the people, said Ayman Jaber after collecting a bundle of dollars wrapped in a tissue from one of several Hezbollah centres overseeing the compensation scheme. People already had faith in Hezbollah, this will strengthen their faith, Jaber said.
Are those folks just rubes, or are the Hezbies really smart?
Hezbollah has not said how it is financing the scheme, which appears likely to cost at least $150 million and was launched just days after a U.N. truce ended the 34-day war with Israel...
Hezbollah has pledged to give enough cash to rent and furnish an apartment for a year to the homeless from 15,000 destroyed dwellings. An unfurnished two-bedroom apartment in the southern suburbs can be rented for $300 a month. Hezbollah has not said how it is financing the scheme, which appears likely to cost at least $150 million and was launched just days after a U.N. truce ended the 34-day war with Israel.
A wire-transfer from Teheran, maybe?
Hezbollah is firmly in control of the capitals southern suburbs, policing the streets and deploying men to start cleaning up. In some places, building after building have been reduced to rubble. Posters in the area claim victory for Hezbollah, and some homeless Shias said that was more important to them than the compensation money.
But they still took the money.
Hezbollah asks the homeless to produce property deeds and an identity card to claim the cash. It regularly advertises the procedure on its al-Manar television station, telling people where they should go and offering contact numbers for help. A Hezbollah official at one centre said 120 families had received $12,000 each within the first two hours of the operation on Friday.
Hezbollah rebuilt homes destroyed during a war with Israel in 1996. They rebuilt 5,000 homes. But this is unprecedented, Hezbollah expert Amal Saad Ghorayeb said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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MOTHERLINESS = MAOISM = "We Care" Stalinism-Communism = "Don't Worry, We'll Weep/Cry At Your Funeral When We Kill You/AFter We Shoot You" Gulag-ism. IN MEANTIME, D *** IT, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WARLORD = BANDIT-SLAVER = CRIMICRAT, the RAMPAGING HORDE = RULING COUNCILLORS!?
The United Nations appealed to European countries Friday to contribute troops to an expanded UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to balance the commitments from Muslim countries so that both Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said there was promising news from Italy and Finland.
...the only countries to offer mechanized infantry battalions which will be the front line of the expanded force were three Muslim countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel - Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia - and Nepal, which is predominantly Hindu...
But he stressed that more European nations are needed for the vanguard force of 3,500 troops that the UN wants on the ground by Aug. 27 to help ensure a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah gunmen in south Lebanon.
Italy formally endorsed sending troops to Lebanon but did not commit itself to specific numbers. Finland formally decided to send up to 250 peacekeepers to Lebanon, but said they would not be deployed until November. At a meeting of 49 potential troop contributing nations on Thursday, the only countries to offer mechanized infantry battalions which will be the front line of the expanded force were three Muslim countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel - Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia - and Nepal, which is predominantly Hindu. Malloch Brown stressed that the final decision on the composition of the force will be made by the United Nations, but he said "it's very important that Europe now steps forward."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Bangladesh has a mechanized infantry unit? Who knew?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2006 0:56 Comments ||
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Somehow, unless Israel really is led by a suicidal moron, I think they will be the final arbiters of the composition of the force. I would dearly love for a showdown which proves the point - and Gillerman doing the public humiliation thing of Malloch-Brown and Annon for their arrogant Vulture Elite BS.
#3
The curtain rises on Act IV of the "Lebanon: The Farce".
The scene opens with a striped-pants Mark Malloch Brown pleading to a gaggle of weak-kneed Europeans, while a chorus of Muslim soldiers marches on from stage-left, singing "Hesb'Allah, We Adore You"....
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud announces his country has things under control and there is no need for foreign troops. The Lebanese army (fully funded by the Soodies and Iranistanians) is fully capable of keeping infidels out the peacekeeping task. The Euros are heard cheering in Paris. Secretary Rice slumps at her Steinway.
#10
Europe will send all the logistical, survey, and engineer soldiers. All the countries that don't recognize Israel will send the armed soldiers to "peacekeep".
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Nearly 60 suspected Taliban arrested in Pakistan and handed to Afghanistan were actually ordinary citizens and they have been released, a governor said Friday. However most of a second group of 33 men extradited to Afghanistan Thursday did appear to have links with the Taliban militia that is fighting the government, Kandahar provincial governor Asadullah Khalid said. "We interrogated them after they were handed over to us last week," Khalid said. "Not even a single one of them is Taliban," he told a news conference. The men were just ordinary refugees living in Quetta, he said.
OTTAWAIn a significant move, Canadian and NATO officials in southern Afghanistan are involved in sensitive negotiations with Taliban fighters after discreet backroom signals from insurgents that they might be willing to lay down arms. The overture for potential peace came when a faction of Taliban insurgents in Panjwai region southwest of Kandahar signalled it wanted to talk to NATO's International Security Assistance Force or the United Nations about disarming. "They didn't want to have a dialogue on disarming or stopping fighting with the Afghan government directly," one source told the Toronto Star.
(SomaliNet) The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts 
Egypt's top Islamic leader said that the Danish editor who first published the contentious Prophet Muhammad cartoons should be jailed and his newspaper banned, according to an interview published Friday. 
WASHINGTON Boeing wants to guard the nation's borders for a couple of billion dollars. Boeing's St. Louis-based defense division has developed a plan combining radar and laser technology, sensors and cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, other surveillance equipment and rapid communications tools to keep illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, potential terrorists and gun runners from entering the United States.
(Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister 
Syria's president sparked a wave of anger after he knocked Mideast leaders as "half men" in a televised speech, underlining the divisions as Arab nations try to form a unified front in the wake of the Lebanon crisis. 
The United Nations appealed to European countries Friday to contribute troops to an expanded UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to balance the commitments from Muslim countries so that both Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate. Deputy Secretary-General 
