More info on yesterday family boom. Looks like sonny got Paki religion followed by a temper tantrum. Excerpt:
The Taliban are faced with the same dilemma as al Qaeda in Iraq. Unable to stand up to foreign, or even Afghan, troops, more effort is put into suicide bombings. There were only 17 of these in 2005, but that rose to 123 last year. For the first eight months of 2007, there were 103 suicide bombings, which killed over 200. The major Taliban problem is that 80 percent of the victims are civilians. That increases general dislike of al Qaeda and the Taliban. But these two organizations don't care, because they goal is to establish (or re-establish) a religious dictatorship. Afghan's don't want that either. But mainly they don't want the suicide bombings.
A recent example saw a bomber detonate his vest in his home, killing his mother and several siblings. The bomber had just returned from Pakistan, where time in a religious school had convinced him that suicide bombing (and a payoff to his family) was the way to go. His mother and siblings disagreed, an argument ensued and, for reasons unclear (the neighbors could hear but not see the argument), the bomb went off.
In a separate incident, another bomber had second thoughts, and approached police to surrender. But his vest went off was he tried to take it off.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 06:30 ||
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#1
his vest went off was he tried to take it off.
Do the bomb builders install 'chicken switches' in their bombs? Once you put it on, it is armed and will go off if you try to take it off?
#2
In Iraq we have seen controllers with remote control detonators in case the patsy changes his mind.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 7:14 Comments ||
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#3
His mother and siblings disagreed, an argument ensued and, for reasons unclear (the neighbors could hear but not see the argument), the bomb went off.
Now I feel sympathy for the family.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 10:17 Comments ||
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#4
Ditto.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2007 11:09 Comments ||
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#5
OK...sympathy meter is registering something. The mother might have actually been a hero of sorts by preventing junior from carrying out his intended mission. But the moral of the story is DO NOT let your son attend school in Pakistan. I still think she should have known but in case she didn't this story needs to be made known throughout Afghanistan so the mistake will be repeated less often. Afghans need to understand that Pakistan is their enemy.
A high level Egyptian delegation will go to Sudan to try to resolve escalating tensions between former southern Sudan rebels and the national government, Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday.
Gheit said the influential head of the Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, would join him in the delegation due to head Wednesday for Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and Juba - the capital of autonomous southern Sudan. The announcement came as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed to meet Tuesday in Khartoum with a southern delegation headed by Riek Mashar, the deputy leader of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
operations+ (AP) - TOKYO, Oct. 17 (Kyodo)The Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed a contentious bill that would allow Japan to continue providing refueling support for U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan.
Passing the bill represents the first major challenge for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in parliament, where the opposition camp is staunchly against the mission.
The proposed legislation limits the scope of Japan's activities only to supplying fuel and water to forces from the United States and other countries engaged in operations to clamp down on ships allegedly linked to terrorism in the Indian Ocean. The bill limits the period of the proposed law to one year, renewable for another year.
A small taste. The part I heard was great fun, and the president said all sorts of interesting things.
With all these pressing responsibilities, one thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire. The resolution on the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915 is counterproductive. Both Republicans and Democrats, including every living former Secretary of State, have spoken out against this resolution. Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic ally in the Muslim world, especially one that is providing vital support for our military every day.
It's little time left in the year, and Congress has little to show for all the time that has gone by. Now is the time for them to act. And I look forward to working with members of both parties on important goals that I've outlined this morning.
And I now I look forward to taking some of your questions -- believe it or not. (Laughter.)
#4
FREEREPUBLIC/WND > BUSH WARNS OF WW3 IF IRAN GETS NUKES.
OTOH, WAFF.com > THE "GREAT GAME" ENTERS THE MEDITERRANEAN: GAS, OIL, WAR AND GEOPOLITICS. Contains several sub-articles - claims RUSSIA, IRAN + CASPIAN SEA SUMMIT MAY DECIDE COURSE OF EURASIA + WORLD FOR REST OF 21st CENTURY.
Q But you definitively believe Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon?
THE PRESIDENT: I think so long -- until they suspend and/or make it clear that they -- that their statements aren't real, yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon. And I know it's in the world's interest to prevent them from doing so. I believe that the Iranian -- if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace.
But this -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously. And we'll continue to work with all nations about the seriousness of this threat. Plus we'll continue working the financial measures that we're in the process of doing. In other words, I think -- the whole strategy is, is that at some point in time, leaders or responsible folks inside of Iran may get tired of isolation and say, this isn't worth it. And to me, it's worth the effort to keep the pressure on this government.
And secondly, it's important for the Iranian people to know we harbor no resentment to them. We're disappointed in the Iranian government's actions, as should they be. Inflation is way too high; isolation is causing economic pain. This is a country that has got a much better future, people have got a much better -- should have better hope inside Iran than this current government is providing them.
So it's -- look, it's a complex issue, no question about it. But my intent is to continue to rally the world to send a focused signal to the Iranian government that we will continue to work to isolate you, in the hopes that at some point in time, somebody else shows up and says it's not worth the isolation.
#1
we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.
#2
When a president of the United States tells foreign leaders that they'd better sign on to a serious Iranian sanctions regime or find themselves (and their countries) in the middle of World War III, yes, that's overt.
#5
Yep. The Iranians have said many times they want to destroy both Israel and America. It is beyond my comprehension why the Bush administration does not publicize fact far and wide. While Bush may have no hostility to Iranians, I do. The sooner Iran is destroyed and occupied by America and the survivors scattered to the winds, the sooner my family can sleep without the threat of vaporization. Death to Iran.
"With the help of the Almighty, we shall soon experience a world without America and Zionism, notwithstanding those who doubt. To those who doubt, to those who ask is it possible, or those who do not believe, I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible.
-- Ahmadinejad
"I say let this land (Iran) burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world."
-- Khomeini
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 18:33 Comments ||
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#7
Iran = North Korea > key watchword is DISABLEMENT, NOT DESTRUCTION, OF LOCAL REACTORS/NUCPROGS. Iran has made it clear it will NOT give up or modify the goals-agenda of it Revolution, ditto NK and Communism. CHINA > HAS JUST REDEDICATED ITSELF TO COMMUNISM.
Rudolph W. Giuliani said this morning Democrats are drawing moral equivalency between U.S. allies such as Israel and enemy countries and terrorists and that they failed to learn the lesson of peace through strength that President Reagan showed.
In a major foreign policy speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, Mr. Giuliani, the Republican leading the national race for his party's presidential nomination, said the next president must openly threaten war in order to make war less likely. "You have to stand up to dictators, to tyrants, to terrorists. Weakness invites attack. Strength keeps you safe," he said.
"You cannot negotiate with someone who is threatening to destroy you and your family. This is the great fallacy in this now very strong Democratic desire to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate and negotiate," he said. "You've got to know with whom to negotiate and with whom you should not negotiate."
Can we put Rudy's foreign policy stance together with Fred's down home appeal on domestic issues?
In a barbed speech, Mr. Giuliani told Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, who justified his pledge to negotiate with enemy leaders by pointing to Mr. Reagan's negotiations with Soviet leaders, that he got his history wrong.
"I say this most respectfully you're not Ronald Reagan," he said. "Here's what Ronald Reagan did before he negotiated with the communists. First, he called them the 'Evil Empire.' Then he took missiles he put them in European cities, and he pointed the missiles at Russian cities with names on them. And then he said, in his very nice way, 'Let's negotiate,' ..." Mr. Giuliani said, drawing waves of laughter and applause.
He repeatedly attacked the foreign policy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, saying she "hesitates" too much to be an effective president.
He also blasted fellow Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who last week said he would consult with lawyers to decide if as president he could attack a nuclear-capable Iran without congressional approval. The audience clearly belonged to Mr. Giuliani, who won strong applause when he retold the story of having tossed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat out of a United Nations concert in New York. He then turned to attack Mrs. Clinton and her husband, who as president criticized Mr. Giuliani's actions. "Holding [Arafat] on a morally equivalent plane to like the prime minister of Israel, like these two people were equal, was a terrible, terrible mistake," he said, adding he thinks that approach set Middle East peace back at least a decade.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Can we put Rudy's foreign policy stance together with Fred's down home appeal on domestic issues?
That'd sure be nice. Hillary might still be evil and ugly enough to convince me to vote for Rudy but I'm having a very hard time with it. I'm tempted to just stay home and let Hillary have it just to teach guys like Giuliani a lesson. My hope would be that after four years of Hillary we would get a real conservative in 2012. It'd be kinda like 1976 when conservatives stayed home and let Carter have it. That was a disaster but at least we eventually got Reagan.
#2
"You've got to know with whom to negotiate and with whom you should not negotiate."
When I saw this line, all that the soundtrack in my head heard was Kenny Rogers: " You've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them...." dammit.
#3
like 1976 when conservatives stayed home and let Carter have it. That was a disaster but at least we eventually got Reagan.
We also got the fall of the Shah, the embassy ransacked, the rise of the Mullahs in Teheran, and lots lots more. Including the attack on our embassy in Lebanon and Reagan's withdrawl of our troops there.
#5
Democrats are drawing moral equivalency between U.S. allies such as Israel and enemy countries and terrorists
Short of Fred Thompson, I don't know where else I've seen this sort of bluntly spoken language. This is not just refreshing, it is invigorating and should be energizing national political debate.
I'm tempted to just stay home and let Hillary have it just to teach guys like Giuliani a lesson.
Ebbang Uluque, everywhere else you come across as a reasonably sane person. Puhleeeze, don't even consider this sort of madness. lotp and Excalibur both nail it, we DO NOT have four years to squander upon rubbing the nose of America's democratic party in its own dung. Time is of the essence in making the MME (Muslim Middle East) see the light of fusion reason.
"Holding [Arafat] on a morally equivalent plane to like the prime minister of Israel, like these two people were equal, was a terrible, terrible mistake," he said, adding he thinks that approach set Middle East peace back at least a decade.
The man gets it. Even treating with a terrorist taqiyya spewing thug like Arafat gave him legitimacy and credibility that both emboldened Muslim terrorists in general and eroded all chance of bringing what few moderates there might have beenif any even or ever existed at allto the forefront of mediation.
#6
We also got the fall of the Shah, the embassy ransacked, the rise of the Mullahs in Teheran, and lots lots more.
That's why I said it was a disaster. But what if Ford had won and Reagan never ran again? (Don't get me wrong here. I liked Ford. I voted for him. But then, he was no Giuliani.)
My fear is that Hillary will continue to flip-flop, waver and equivocate her way to the center or even to the right on issues like Iraq and Iran. At that point voters may not see much difference between her and Giuliani especially with Giuliani's liberal tendencies on issues like abortion, immigration and gun control. The election then becomes a beauty contest between Rudy and the Hildebeast. If Rudy wins, illegal immigration will continue unabated and tax-payer funded abortion on demand will be the law of the land forever. I have a problem with that. No Republican from that time forward will dare to challenge it. But if Hillary wins we might get a candidate in 2012 who sees the advantage to using these issues to differentiate himself from the incumbent. Voters will then be sick of Hillary the same way they were sick of Carter and we might have a chance to get back on track providing, of course, that Hillary has gotten us all killed.
Hey, don't blame me. I live in California and all of California's electoral votes will go to Hillary no matter what I do. I'm just saying that might not be the case if a Republican candidate took a strong position against illegal immigration. New Yorkers may not care but that is a big, big issue here. That was one of the reasons why Arnold beat the crap out of his crooked little predecessor Gray Davis who, as you may recall, wanted to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Arnold promised to put the kibosh on that one and he kept his promise. Republicans can win in California but they have to be the right Republican.
#8
In a major foreign policy speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington
Interestingly, an article by Jennifer Rubin, who was there, notes, Five of the Republican presidential contenders made appearances yesterday at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC). Republicans hoping to win in 2008 would certainly like to improve their support among Jewish voters who traditionally have favored Democrats by large margins.
The writer continues with some interesting history: Matthew Brooks, Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told me he thinks Republicans have an opportunity in 2008 to increase their support among Jewish voters. Although Democratic Presidential candidates have won the large majority of Jewish voters, Brooks sees a pattern of improvement over the last four elections from George HW Bushs 11% share of the Jewish vote to the last election in which George Bush by some tallies got the support of a quarter of the Jewish voters.
Ms. Rubin goes on to detail the highlights of each of the five candidates' talks. I found it interesting to see what they thought Jewish Republicans would want to hear.
The Bush administration wants to bring about a regime change in seven Middle Eastern countries, according to General Weasley Wesley Clarks new book. According to Clark, this is part of a Defence Department strategy. He recalls that on his first visit to the Pentagon, less than two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, a senior general told him, that the US was going to attack Iraq. The decision has basically been made, Clark quoted him as saying.
Six weeks later, when Clark returned to Washington and asked the same general if the invasion of Iraq was still on, the officer said, Oh, its worse than that!
Excellent! I can think of several regimes that should go down ...
Clark said the general then showed him a memo, apparently a paper from the office of the Secretary of Defence outlining the strategy. Were going to take out seven countries in five years, and he named them, starting with Iraq and Syria and ending with Iran.
"We're making a list .. checking it twice .. ..."
Targetted nations: Later, Clark said in a TV interview that the hit-list included Lebanon, Libya, Somalia and Sudan as well as Iraq, Iran and Syria. During a CNN interview, Clark shifted ground slightly by saying that the memo wasnt a plan. Maybe it was a think piece. Maybe it was a sort of notional concept, but what it was, was the kind of indication of dialogue around this town in official circles ... that has poisoned the atmosphere and made it very difficult for this administration to achieve any success in the region.
"Coulda been anything, maybe something I doodled around with myself after a drinking binge ..."
Clark also remembers a May 1991 conversation with Paul Wolfowitz, the erstwhile third-ranking civilian in the Pentagon, to congratulate him on the success of the first Gulf War.
We screwed up and left Saddam Hussein in power. The president believes hell be overthrown by his own people, but I rather doubt it. But we did learn one thing thats very important. With the end of the Cold War, we can now use our military with impunity. The Soviets wont come in to block us, and weve got five, maybe 10 years to clean up these old Soviet surrogate regimes like Iraq and Syria before the next superpower emerges to challenge us ... We could have a little more time, but no one really knows, he said.
Wolfowitz, what a smart guy, no longer the progressives did everything they could to dig him out of the World Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Lebanon, Libya, Somalia and Sudan as well as Iraq, Iran and Syria.
One down, six to go. Sadly, not on Bush's remaining watch and not likely at all under any democrat administration. I'd love to see Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on that list but stripping away their satellite proxies would still represent huge progress.
Saddest of all is that there isn't a more credible source airing this information. This is the sort of destabilizing propaganda that's needed to put these terrorist pest holes on notice. America needs to read these rogue regimes the riot act. Ever since we rocketed Kadafi's camp and offed some of his family, he's been writing us love letters. We need to makes similar demonstrations of our displeasure throughout the region.
#2
To be honest, I AM sick of hearing from the perfumed prince. This is one man who deserves nothing but a nobel peace prize for his inaction in Ruwanda.
#3
Iff I remember correctly, this news came out ala PRE-OPER IRAQI FREEDOM. As said or inferred bcak then, 9-11/WOT agz America > Amer accepts subornment to anti-US OWG-SWO/CWO, including as under Radical Islam's GLOBAL ISLAMIST/JIHADIST STATE, etal., or it will be destroyed, which Dubya correctly interpreted as "America either rules the World + future OWG, or America will be destroyed, ergo America chooses/decided to rule the World-OWG".
#4
WINDSOF CHANGE > PATRIOTISM REARS ITS UGLY HEAD YET AGAIN. via THE ATLANTIC - THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN IDEA. Can America = Amerika survive [wid Bill Murray = new Army, ala STRIPES?]???
#5
3 down: Lebanon, Somalia and Iraq.
Add #8 Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 6:29 Comments ||
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#6
I would list Saudi,Iran,Pakistan and Syria in that order!!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
10/17/2007 7:52 Comments ||
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#7
Okay, Wes, let me ask you something. Wolfowitz told you this in 1991 and then your best bud Bubba got elected in 1992. So, what happened in those 8 years of inaction, burgeoning Islamic terrorism and safety for those 7 states (well 8 with the Soddys) sponsoring it? Nada. Thats what. In fact, you and Bubba went the other way - you declared war on Serbia who was trying to eradicate their "Islamic" problem (not that I am agreeing with Serbia). Maybe, we need to read some of your memos on that. What ya say?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/17/2007 9:07 Comments ||
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#8
Meanwhile, the American CIA is hard at work focused upon regime change in the Beltway.
#11
The Bush administration wants to bring about a regime change in seven Middle Eastern countries, according to General Wesley Clarks new book.
Yo, weasel--that's not a bug, it's a feature!
Posted by: Mike ||
10/17/2007 10:16 Comments ||
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#12
Lebanon, Libya, Somalia and Sudan as well as Iraq, Iran and Syria.
One down, six to go.
The Syrians were thrown out of Lebanon, and little attempts at re-enty like that which came out of the Palestinian camps have been a failure; only Hizb'allah remains, and they are busily building a Maginot Line of mines and tunnels throughout their territory facing Israel, rendering it ultimately uninhabitable. The mighty Aethiops drove the Islamists out of power in Somalia, and are keeping them out, even at the cost of total chaos. Libya sent us many of their nasty little toys, including the Chinese paperwork. The regime in Sudan is busy, but not terribly effective. Iraq is ours, and getting more so by the day, and Iran and Syria are paying very, very close attention.
General Clark doesn't seem to have forgiven President Bush for remaining in the White House instead of retreating as he ought to have done in the face of such magnificence.
#14
Clark is nothing more than a paper officer that should disappear quietly before his "peers" out him for his complete incompetence during his duty and tours. Especially in Bosnia.
#15
I'm sure glad this guys wasn't around 2 weeks after Dec 7, 1941. He would have soiled himself. The real men of the Greatest Generation would have given him a sharp kick in the arss.
After Iran and Syria, Woodrow Flique2473. But it will have to be the next president. The current president's father would never forgive him for being mean to George H. W.'s bosom friends.
Local Taliban and jihadis have started collecting donations in the form of money, food and other basic necessities from various parts of the NWFP for the almost 50,000 North Waziristan tribesmen who moved to the provinces southern districts following several days of violence in the agency. Donations are being collected for North Waziristan residents who were forced to leave their homes and properties after violence between Pakistani security forces and militants in Mir Ali and its adjacent localities resulted in around 250 deaths. Following Eidul Fitr prayers at a local mosque, Mohammad Zubair, a Talib from Mardan district, asked for donations by saying, Thousands of your brothers, sisters, mothers and children are awaiting your assistance as they are suffering cold winter nights without food and shelter. They are looking towards you. Following the speech, people donated cash and clothing to local Taliban for the affected. Zubair told Daily Times that the local Taliban had started collecting donations from people in all 24 districts of the NWFP. Hikmatullah, a jihadi from Mardan, said, They [the jihadis and pro-Taliban] are passing through critical times as they are confronted by their own army and Pakistanis are being killed on both sides of the conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Libya, once a pariah of the West, took a giant stride back to global respectability when it was elected along with four other countries on Tuesday to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council.
The United States, which had used its influence to foil previous Libyan attempts in 1995 and 2000 to win a coveted seat on the powerful council, took no similar action this year, diplomats from other countries said. Libya, Vietnam and the West African state of Burkina Faso easily obtained a two-thirds majority after being endorsed by regional groupings to stand unopposed for the three nonpermanent seats available for African and Asian nations.
Also elected for terms starting on January 1 were Croatia, which defeated the Czech Republic in a contested race for an East European seat, and Costa Rica, which beat off a challenge from the Dominican Republic for a Latin American place.
At stake, like every year, were five of the 10 nonpermanent seats on the 15-nation council, the powerhouse of the United Nations with the ability to send peacekeeping troops around the world and impose sanctions on specific countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I ponder what "global respectability" means anymore.
A defiant Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said yesterday he will not allow Iraqi authorities to arrest his contractors and try them in Iraq's faulty justice system. "We will not let our people be taken by the Iraqis," Mr. Prince told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. At least 17 of 20 Blackwater guards being investigated for their roles in a Sept. 16 shooting incident are still in a secure compound in Baghdad's Green Zone and carrying out limited duties. Two or three others have been allowed by the State Department to leave the country as part of their scheduled rotation out of Iraq and are expected to return.
"In an ideal sense, if there was wrongdoing, there could be a trial brought in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply that there is a valid Iraqi court system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case right now," said Mr. Prince.
Mr. Prince also expressed his disappointment that the State Department has not come to the company's defense, even though it has never lost a State Department client in years of protecting them. "For the last week and a half, we have heard nothing from the State Department," said Mr. Prince. "From their senior levels, their PR folks, we've heard nothing radio silence.
"It is disappointing for us. We have performed to the line, letter and verse of their 1,000-page contract," he said. "Our guys take significant risk for them. They've taken a pounding these last three years." A number of Blackwater contractors, most of whom come from military and law-enforcement backgrounds, have been killed in action or grievously wounded in Iraq while running more than 16,500 security missions in the past three years.
The State Department has since ordered that cameras be placed in Blackwater security vehicles and that Diplomatic Security agents accompany Blackwater staff on missions. Mr. Prince said his company had recommended both those steps in 2005 and that the proposals were "buried" by the department.
Mr. Prince, a 38-year-old former Navy SEAL, said if there was any evidence of wrongdoing, his employees could be tried in the United States by a jury of their peers under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
He said the hostility toward Blackwater was partly driven by partisan politics from the Democrat-led Congress and the news media. "The far left was unsuccessful in attacking [Army Gen. David H.] Petraeus and defunding the war, forcing a pullback of the U.S. troops," he said. "I think part of the strategy might be to undermine some other part of the support infrastructure, and that would be contractors that are an important part of the supporting package there in Iraq."
He said the scrutiny by Congress, which Democrats say is aimed at better oversight, may have backfired. "What has happened in the last six to nine months is we've seen the U.S. government, [Department of Defense] in particular, awarding a lot more work to non-U.S. companies ... because it is harder to drag those guys before Congress," Mr. Prince said. "And there is less oversight, there is less accountability, there is less visibility into those operations."
Mr. Prince has been caught in a partisan crossfire since shortly after last year's election, when a trial lawyer targeting Blackwater lobbied then-House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, for hearings on the "extremely Republican" company.
#1
Mr. Prince also expressed his disappointment that the State Department has not come to the company's defense, even though it has never lost a State Department client in years of protecting them.
Traitors by their very nature tend to be ungrateful.
#2
All the more reason for Blackwater to move offshore.
At this point, it is almost inevitable that they are going to be persecuted as a company by the Democrats. They will start with congressional dog and pony shows, then they will get prosecutors to file criminal, and criminals to file civil charges against them.
Unless they move their headquarters out of the US now, they will be shut down, and possibly outlawed.
#3
This and the Armenian vote are signs that the Dems believe the "war is over and won". When it was "lost" and "tough" and "dangerous", when they would have to travel there and be put in jeopardy, their only recourse was to be protected by the Blackwaters of the world. But its safer now, better security, the surge is working, etc. The Dems can NOW afford to take shots at Blackwater [they aren't as important as they used to be to the Dems security]. The same with the Armenian vote. How can they tip the apple cart - vote for Iraqi Federalism [which in the USA they would reject with howls and pumping fists] and agitate the Turks. All of this tells me that its basically over and we have won - there and here
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/17/2007 16:12 Comments ||
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#4
The Armenian vote isn't going to happen. NPR interviewed a Congressman from Georgia who had been for it, but is now against, and he explained that he changed his mind when he realized that the threatened Turkish response would put our troops at risk. Not acceptable, the honourable gentleman explained, for something that happened ninety years ago.
Separately, look who's representing the Iraqis suing Blackwater here in the U.S.:link HERE'S a new twist in the Blackwater story: A legal group with a four-decade record of aiding and abetting terrorists, spies and cop-killers is suing the company. Joining it is an Egyptian attorney who has been representing what the U.S. Treasury Department calls a fund-raising operation for al Qaeda.
The Sept. 16 incident in Baghdad's Nisoor Square resulted in at least 17 deaths. Three families of the Iraqi victims, plus one injured survivor, are suing the "contract-security" firm. But their choice of attorneys is remarkable.
The legal team includes attorneys from the Philadelphia firm of Burke O'Neil LLC - plus the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as CCR's president, Michael Ratner - plus Shereef Hadi Akeel of Akeel & Valentine PC.
Lots more at the link, for those who are interested.
#10
Fairly unsurprising, and utterly disgusting, performance by State on this one. Though I am a bit surprised that Diplomatic Security, which oversees Blackwater and the other PSD contractors, hasn't insisted on saying something. Could be that they feel it really is best to hold fire until our formal investigation is completed.
As I've said from the beginning, while of course possible, it's never been very plausible that a team would just open up on people for no reason, as alleged. And the NYT story with Kurdish witnesses saying so doesn't impress me.
The press has been obsessed with their incorrect or grossly unfair memes WRT Blackwater and other security contractors for years. I used to field the calls for this at the embassy. The underlying idea - unspoken and usually not even recognized by the reporters, very few of whom would ever be confused with smart, worldly people - is that alone of all the actors in Iraq, which is a battlefield populated by barbarians who are definitionally war criminals ("insurgents," AQI), Iraqi security forces of varying professionalism, and Coalition soldiers and security contractors (all highly trained and professional), the security contractors must be held to a perfection standard.
#11
just another front in the Donk/Lefty war against the war in Iraq. Verlaine, have you been following the protests against the propoposed BW facility in Potrero?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2007 20:06 Comments ||
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#12
"In an ideal sense, if there was wrongdoing, there could be a trial brought in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply that there is a valid Iraqi court system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case right now," said Mr. Prince.
Congratulations, Mr. Prince. You seem to understand how any judicial system that incorporates shari'a law is hopelessly compromised and utterly incapable of dispensing true justice of any sort. Not even to Muslims, let alone foreign military contractors. Iraq can go piss up a rope.
Turkey's parliament approved by a large majority on Wednesday a government request to allow troops to cross into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels based there, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has played down expectations of an imminent offensive, but the parliamentary approval provides the legal basis for NATO's second biggest army to cross the mountainous border as and when it sees fit, the report said.
Turkey has been building up pressure against the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, since June, but the parliamentary approval enables it to carry out major operations for one-year period.
The United States and the European Union have both asked Turkey to exercise self-restraint.
At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. President George W. Bush said it was not in Turkey's interest to send troops into Iraq.
"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq," Bush said.
"Actually, they have troops already stationed in Iraq. And they've had troops stationed there for quite a while. We don't think it's in their interests to send more troops in," he added.
Northern Iraq, which is predominantly Kurdish, has been a haven of peace compared to the rest of Iraq, which has been ravaged by four years of war.
CNN said Iraqi officials have denied that the PKK was using Iraqi territory to stage attacks against Turkey and warned that as many as 30,000 people could be forced to leave villages near the frontier.
In the past, Turkey has sent troops to northern Iraq for a number of occasions to fight Turkish Kurds seeking safe haven there.
#2
link HUNDREDS of Turkish soldiers are already based in northern Iraq at four camps that have been there for a decade, Iraqi Kurdish officials said overnight as Ankara mulled a possible military incursion. The camps were set up east of the border town of Zakho, about 30km inside Iraq, as part of an agreement between the Turks and the party of Kurdish regional president Massoud Barzani.
"There have been four bases in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1997," an official from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish government said on condition of anonymity.
At the time, Turkish troops had lent their support to Mr Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party which was fighting the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talabani. Mr Barzani is now president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, while Mr Talabani is president of Iraq.
According to the Kurdish Regional Government, at least 600 Turkish soldiers are stationed in Iraqi Kurdistan, supported by 150 armoured vehicles including tanks. In addition to Bamerni, the three other camps are based at Amerli, Kanimesi and Chiladeza.
Local inhabitants, however, estimate that as many as 1500 Turkish soldiers could be in the region, north-east of the Iraqi Kurd town of Dohuk.
#3
My assessment, for wat it's worth.... maybe some rockets or arty fired, possibly some small raids, nothing more. Winter is coming and they have learned well the Russian lesson in Afghanistan.
#5
TOPIX > Turkish forces are authorized to conduct cross-border strikes/operations agz Kurds for up to one year. * TOWNHALL > WHY DOES A CLOSE ALLY OF THE US DENY ITS OWN GENOCIDE [slaughter of up to 1.5Milyuhn Armenian Xtians].
MPs in Turkey are debating a motion authorising cross-border military operations into northern Iraq to target Kurdish rebel bases there. Parliament in Ankara is expected to approve the motion by a large majority amid widespread public support for military action against the PKK.
Turkey is responding to recent attacks it blames on the rebels. But Iraqi leaders and the US have urged Turkey to show restraint, fearing any action could destabilise northern Iraq.
The autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq warned Turkish MPs that any intervention would be "illegal". It has denied helping the PKK. The rebels themselves said they would meet force with force.
The parliamentary motion says that Turkey has warned Iraq repeatedly to clamp down on the PKK, to no avail.
However, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday, saying he was "absolutely determined" to remove the PKK from Iraq and pleading for more time, according to the Anatolia news agency.
Iraqi Vice-President Tareq Hashemi has also been visiting Ankara. "The Iraqi government should be given a chance to prevent the cross-border terrorist activities," Turkish media quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer entered the debate by telephoning Turkish President Abdullah Gul to urge restraint. "He expressed his view that all parties should exercise the greatest possible restraint, particularly in this time of great tension," a Nato spokesman told a regular news briefing on Wednesday.
The recent death of 13 Turkish soldiers in an ambush blamed on the PKK has put the government under renewed pressure to respond with force.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent. But he also warned that Turkey would act decisively in its fight against terrorism.
The chief of the rebels' executive council, Murat Karayilan, told the Kurdish Hawlati newspaper: "Thousands of PKK guerrillas are on standby to fight Turkish army forces."
Meanwhile Syrian President Bashar Assad, visiting Turkey, said he supported the country's right to take the action "against terrorism and terrorist activities".
BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the stakes for any Turkish military action on Iraqi soil are potentially very high. An incursion posing a threat to the oilfields around Kirkuk could provoke a major crisis, which might suck in Iraqi forces, the Americans and maybe even the Iranians, he says.
Iraq and America are concerned military action will bring chaos to the only relatively calm region of Iraq, he adds.
The head of the UN refugee agency has said he is deeply concerned Turkish action could lead to big displacements of people.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
from the BBC:
Turkey's parliament has given permission for the government to launch military operations into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels.
The vote was taken in defiance of pressure from the US and Iraq, which have called on Turkey for restraint.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the motion does not mean a military operation is imminent.
But he said Turkey needed to be able to respond to a recent rise in bomb attacks blamed on PKK rebels from Iraq.
Turkish MPs backed him overwhelmingly, by 507 votes to 19.
As the vote was being counted, President George W Bush strongly urged America's Turkish ally not to carry out the threatened action.
He said Washington was "making it clear to Turkey it is not in their interest to send more troops in... there is a better way to deal with the issue".
Click to view a detailed map of the border region
Enlarge Image
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had earlier phoned the Turkish prime minister, saying he was "absolutely determined" to remove the PKK from Iraq and pleading for more time, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, urged Turkey not to make an incursion, but also called on the PKK "to end the so-called military activity".
The autonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq warned Turkish MPs that any intervention would be "illegal". It has denied providing the PKK with any help.
The rebels themselves said they would meet force with force.
The chief of the PKK's executive council, Murat Karayilan, told the Kurdish Hawlati newspaper: "Thousands of PKK guerrillas are on standby to fight Turkish army forces."
#4
There are some Kurdish groups in northern Iraq who are conducting activities which easily meet our definition of (Islamic) terrorism against Turkey - and Iran. We would really rather they did not do so against Turkey. But we don't have the political or physical resources to act against those Kurds. My guess is both we and the Iraqi government have quietly decided to let Turkey move against some of the Kurdish terrorists, as long as they are 'in pursuit' and keep the intrusion both brief and accurate. Then we'll make lots of loud, offended talk and do nothing.
At the same time, we may well have some CIA or SpecOps guys working among those Kurdish 'terrorists', but without much ability to force specific activities. Perhaps a couple of Turkish 'shows of force' against their groups will help our operators to nudge them toward moves against Iran instead of Turkey. Then if IRAN decides to invade Iraq to counterattack them we might use that as a degree of justification to whack a nuke plant or two.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 07:01 ||
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#1
You can have democracy, freedom and peace with corruption. Just look at France and Germany. If you want specifics you need to find a friend at NSA who has access to Echelon transcripts. For example, how do you think they caught Siemens bribing everyone from Holland to Saudi Arabia? And what about the Oil for Food program and Monsieur Chirac?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/17/2007 9:11 Comments ||
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#2
Article > "Then you still have to do something about the corruption", AKA ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY adage.
Women and children hit hardest. I can't wait till we read the bleeding heart stories about the arms resellers who can nolonger finance their inventory.
Better not beat swords into plowshares anytime soon ...
At what's believed to be the world's largest cemetery, where Shiite Muslims aspire to be buried and millions already have been, business isn't good. A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds. The tragedy of peace brings sorrow to many hearts.
Few people have a better sense of the death rate in Iraq. "I always think of the increasing and decreasing of the dead," said Sameer Shaaban, 23, one of more than 100 workers who specialize in ceremonially washing the corpses. "People want more and more money, and I am one of them, but most of the workers in this field don't talk frankly, because they wish for more coffins, to earn more and more." Things were much better under Saddam. We wish to return to the good old days.
Dhurgham Majed al Malik, 48, whose family has arranged burial services for generations, said that this spring, private cars and taxis with caskets lashed to their roofs arrived at a rate of 6,500 a month. Now it's 4,000 or less, he said.
The Wadi al Salam cemetery its name translates as "Valley of Peace" dates to the 7th century. Its mud-brown jumble of crypts and rectangular and domed brick and marble tombs stretches to the horizon. It's six miles long, two miles wide and grows by acres every day. Imam Ali himself is said to have pronounced it the entrance to paradise. And so the Shiites come with their dead.
The burials aren't expensive, usually $200 or less, but many people draw their income from them.
The sights and smells of working with the bodies, particularly those torn by war, are hardly pleasant, but it becomes a mundane job like any other, said Jawad Abuseba, 40. His family has dug graves for more than 300 years, he said. His hands are thick with calluses after 22 years of digging with a shovel, basket and pickaxe. With their nails torn and their skin gray, his hands look as though they're dead, too. "There is nothing beautiful in this career, but I cannot do any another job," Abuseba said.
Buy this man a backhoe ...
For the laborers in the Valley of Peace, it was just another workday, one they faced with a matter-of-fact attitude unnerving to those who deal with death less frequently. "Certainly, when the number of dead increases I feel happy, like all workers in the graveyard," said Basim Hameed , 30, a body washer. "This happiness comes from the increase in the amount of money we have." Baath party member?
#1
Welcome to the New Media, where every silver lining has its cloud.
In other news, the President spent 20 minutes today playing the the Presidential dog. However, animal experts worry the Presidential cat may not be receiving enough attention.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Tuesday he was dispatching a "high-level" political and security team to Turkey to try to defuse tensions on the Iraqi-Turkish border. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, meanwhile, said authorities intend to expel guerrillas of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party from Iraqi territory, but that their numbers and their whereabouts were not known to the government. He did not elaborate.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
LUCIANNE/TOPIX NEWS > KURDS claim that Turkish troops have been [illegally???] based in four bases/camps in northern Iraq for nearly 10 years.
Hamas would not object to beginning negotiations with Israel, spokesman Ghazi Hamad said Tuesday. The Palestinian Ramatan news agency quoted Hamad as saying that Hamas didn't object to negotiations in principle, and that "[Hamas] has made it clear that [negotiations] are in the political interest of the Palestinians."
The Ma'an news agency reported that Hamad said he didn't oppose negotiations with Israel - on the condition that Israel declares it's willing to end the "occupation" and recognizes the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Hamad denied that there was any connection between his statements Tuesday and a planned US-sponsored peace parley scheduled to take place in Annapolis, Maryland. According to Ma'an, Hamad refused to discuss the nature of any talks Hamas might be willing to conduct with Israel, and did not say whether they would focus on a final status agreement or on easing the Palestinians' living conditions. However, he did stress that at the moment, his organization and Israel were not holding any negotiations whatsoever. "Hamas hasn't hinted about or received any hint from Israel of possible negotiations," Hamad said.
Also Tuesday, in what was a first Palestinian response to the swap carried out with Hizbullah on the northern border Monday, a Hamas spokesman said that a deal involving captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit would be "more complex and embarrassing to Israel" than the deal with the Lebanese, Israel Radio reported . The spokesman, Abu Obeida, also told the Palestinian Ramatan news agency that Shalit's kidnappers would not relinquish their claims.
This article starring:
Abu Obeida
Hamas
Ghazi Hamad
Hamas
Gilad Shalit
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"We don't obeject to negotiations as long as you agree to everything we want as a precondition. And a pony"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2007 9:56 Comments ||
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#2
Nah.
Why don't you think about it a little more while you're starving...
Of course not. "Negotiations" buys time to raise further funds, buy more munitions, make more plots to kill, etc. "Negotiations" also buys favorable press from the 5th column actively undermining Western Civilization. We will rue the day we didn't actively confront the cancerous ideology that is Islam.
Although the scope of surveillance conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act remains shrouded in secrecy, newly disclosed documents show the costs one company charges the government to eavesdrop on customers.
Comcast, which is among the nation's largest telecommunication companies, charges $1,000 to install a FISA wiretap and $750 for each additional month authorities want to keep an eye on suspects, according to the company's Handbook for Law Enforcement. Secrecy News obtained the document and published it Monday... Hope they get unlimited text messaging for the entire family with that plan.
A Syrian official has now admitted that the Israeli operation on September 6 destroyed a nuclear facility. A Syrian representative said Tuesday at the United Nations that reports that the target was a nuclear device were accurate. Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad had previously claimed that Israel attacked an abandoned army base or an agricultural facility.
During a meeting of the UN Disarmament Commission, the Syrian representative acknowledged that the target had been the nuclear facility. Israeli Foreign Ministry officials were also attending. He accused Israel of aggression for targeting the facility.
In Israel, details of the strike, beyond the fact that an operation took place on September 6 in Syria, are still under gag order. Local media continue to skirt the order by leaking information to foreign papers and then citing their reports. Some analysts have said the reason for the continued silence of the Israeli government on the September 6 attack is to avoid humiliating Assad and leading to a possible military escalation.
Dr. Elon Liel, a former Director General of the Foreign Ministry, has gone one step further in his hope for a conciliatory approach to Israels northern neighbor, sending a letter to Education Minister Yuli Tamir asking her to prevent high school students from participating in the In the Footsteps of the Warriors tours in the Golan Heights. Liel said he feared the tours would strengthen the students connection to the Golan. He called the tours a provocation, saying Israel would discourage Syria from negotiating an Israeli retreat from the Golan.
Brigadier-General Avigdor Kahalani, who participated in the liberation of the Golan and the creation of the In the Footsteps of the Warriors tours, rejected Liels demand as nothing more than a leftist initiative. The tours are important to the students morale and strengthen their sense of identification with IDF soldiers who fought in previous wars, he said. A bus full of students is not a provocation.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
10/17/2007 08:50 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
A nuclear device or a nuclear facility?
Big difference there, methinks.
#3
It was a nuc - it was a grain silo, yeah THAT'S THE TICKET...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/17/2007 13:21 Comments ||
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#4
My bet is it was a small research-type reactor maybe a neutron source reactor but not fueled or even fuel on site. Remote sensing would pick up any radiation left over. Just enough for the Nork's to earn a little beer money for Kimmie. And for the Syrians to up the ante in any discussions with the Israelis. But Arabs can't keep secrets and the word got out to Mossad and then it went boom.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/17/2007 16:19 Comments ||
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#5
... rejected Liels demand as nothing more than a leftist initiative.
The General just nailed one of Israel's biggest problems - leftist initiatives.
#6
Some analysts have said the reason for the continued silence of the Israeli government on the September 6 attack is to avoid humiliating Assad and leading to a possible military escalation.
No, sir! We would not like to humiliate Assad. After all, he is the key to successful negotiations and a lasting peace with Israel. Perish the thought. [shudders]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2007 18:11 Comments ||
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By ALLAN ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Ghost Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unspecified proposal about Iran's nuclear program at a private meeting with the country's supreme leader during a brief trip to Tehran, Iran's state news agency said Wednesday.
Russian officials could not immediately be reached to verify the report and the Iranian news agency provided no details on what Putin had proposed. Well, that pretty much clears everything up!
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all government matters, said Iran will give Putin's proposal serious thought before giving a response, the news agency said.
"We will ponder your words and proposal," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.
Officials close to hard-liners within Iran's ruling Islamic establishment said they believed the proposal by Putin was a type of "timeout" on U.N. sanctions against Iran, if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
"The main reason for Putin's visit to Iran was to convey this message personally to the ultimate power in Iran," one official said.
Khamenei told Putin that Iran is serious about continuing uranium enrichment in turn but wants to avoid adventurism and cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the news agency said.
The five permanent U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany, have been working together to try to find a way to get Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. The U.S. and some allies allege that the program is cover for a weapons program. Iran says it is intended purely for peaceful energy production.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
10/17/2007 07:38 ||
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#1
"We will ponder your words and proposal," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying
then he turned to an aide and whispered "WTF?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2007 10:10 Comments ||
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#2
Russian proposal - "Your aquisition of nukes will give us plausible deniability while we arm other terrorist states. When the US nukes you, we'll stand by and watch..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/17/2007 13:24 Comments ||
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#3
By stating that Caspian nations, i.e. IRAN, have unrestricted natural rights to domestic nuclear energy [under guise of NPT], Putin = Russia has basically given Iran the green light to dev nucmats in indigens quantities suffic for weapons and of course local energy. PERHAPS RUSSIA = CHINA IN THAT ITS OKAY WID THEM FOR IRAN [NORTH KOREA] TO DEV VERY LOW-YIELD, "NICHE", MICRO/NANO-NUKE DEVICES IDEAL FOR TERROR, as some Netters have alleged???
* NEW REPUBLIC MAGAZINE > OSAMA's BOOK CLUB article [Michael Scheur] - author claims that OSAMA = RADICAL ISLAMISM attacks the USA-West, espec the USA, for WHAT IT DOES vv heavy influencing, etc. as per ME-World Muslim States and [traditional/historical values?]Muslim Society-Culture, NOT FOR WHAT THE US OR USA-WEST BELIEVE IN NOR FOR BEING PREDOMIN JUDAEO-XTIAN??? OTOH, GLOBAL ANALYSIS/WORLDPOLITICAL FORUM Posters > WORLD ISLAM IS TORN BTWN ISLAMIC = ISLAMIST ANTIQUITY, + NEED FOR MODERNITY AND SELF-RELEVANCY, espec vv Jews + USA-West. NUKE WEAPONS = GLOBAL ISLAMIC NUKE THREAT is seen as symbolic of NEW MUSLIM PRIDE-POWER??? * IOW, Radical Islam = Islamist Terror wanna kill the US-West in the name of pride and modernness, NOT BECUZ THEY MEAN IT???
MP Wael Abu Faour accused Hizbullah of seeking to marginalize the role of Lebanon's Christians in the nation's political system by calling for the election of a president through direct popular vote, thus circumventing parliament.
Abu Faour, a prominent member of the March 14 coalition and representative of the Progressive Socialist Party in the legislature, made the remark in an interview with Naharnet at the heavily guarded block of Beirut's seaside Phoenicia Hotel, where majority law makers are bastioned to avoid the ongoing death threat targeting Lebanese politicians opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. "If the presidential election was toppled this time, it would be a major blow to the Christians in the political system," he said. "The referendum, direct election (by the people) and opinion polls proposed by Hizbullah put the Christian role in narrowest frame," Abu Faour stressed.
He ridiculed Nasrallah's opinion poll proposal to elect a new head of state saying "as if we are choosing man of the year a beauty queen or a celebrity. We are electing the president here and the nation has constitutional institutions" that can elect a head of state. "It is the majority's right and duty to safeguard democracy and prevent vacuum in the presidential office," Abu Faour said.
Abu Faour pointed out , "Collision is not our option, we want a democratic constitutional election competition is a political tradition in Lebanon, why don't they want competition in parliament?"
He said Hizbullah leader Sayed Hassan Nasralla has "placed Lebanon in the core in regional divisions and conflicts and changed Lebanon into the boxing sac of a regional conflict."
Nasrallah, according to the PSP representative, "is protecting the Syrian regime by toppling the international tribunal and labeling it an international-Israeli-American tool He also accused Saudi Arabia of heading towards normalization of relations with Israel This places Lebanon on a regional collision course."
Nasrallah's policy turns Lebanon into "an arena for the Syrian and Iranian regimes," Abu Faour charged.
The current debate, he said, is not restricted to choosing a presidential candidate "Hizbullah also wants to gain political concessions related to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701. Such topics have been discussed by Berri and (Saad) Hariri. Most of the discussions focused on 1559 and 1701."
He warned against repeating the Gaza example in Lebanon, in reference to the take over by force of the Hamas militant faction of the sector from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah. "I think someone is considering repeating the Gaza example in Lebanon. The decisive element in repeating this example is Iran's decision. Would Iran support such an example in Lebanon? If Iran felt threatened, it would use all its regional cards, including the Lebanon card."
The young Druze MP who represents the Hasbaya constituency in the nation's unicameral house said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's initiative "reflects a will (to facilitate presidential elections" but lacks capability. He's got the will, but unfortunately he is not capable" of carrying it out.
Berri's Maneuverability "margin was narrowed by Nasrallah's speech. The real decision is in Hizbullah's hands the spinal cord of the so-called March 8 forces is Hizbullah," according to Au Faour. He said Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun "managed recently to assess the dimension of the dilemma in which he placed himself He made a move towards us and we responded cordially, but the effort stumbled, I think due to political considerations related to his relationship with his allies."
Abu Faour rejected charges by Assad and the Hizbullah-led March 8 that the majority was allied with the United States, stressing that "any relation between the government and a foreign power would not be at the expense of Lebanon's Arab belonging."
"It is true that the United States has provided the army with assistance, but other powers have sent missiles to local factions" he said in obvious reference to Iran and Hizbullah.
In answering a question as to whether the nation is heading to civil war, Abu Faour said: "We don't want past nightmares awakened. We wouldn't be dragged into war."
Asked to comment on meetings between Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and Maronite Politicians, he said: "I believe the Patriarch is determined on facilitating presidential elections and he wants Christian MPs to shoulder their responsibilities in this regard."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Two Palestinian children were injured on Tuesday when a grenade they were handling exploded at a school in northern Lebanon where Palestinian refugees are being temporarily housed, police said. "The two children were injured when a grenade with which the girl was playing exploded at the Dar Es-Salam school in Bab al-Tabaneh in Tripoli," a police spokesman said. He said the girl, who a medical source said was aged four, lost one of her fingers and the boy was slightly injured in the foot.
The Dar Es-Salam school, located in a poor area of Tripoli, houses about 100 families from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp which was the scene of 15 weeks of fierce battles in the summer between the army and radical Islamists.
The fighting, which ended September 2 and marked the country's worst internal violence since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, left more than 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers. Rabih Abd Al-Halim, a refugee at the school, told AFP that he was in the same room as the girl and several other people when they heard a blast and saw her collapse screaming in pain. "She was hurt in the hand and one of her fingers was severed," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
She was playing with a grenade and it went off and all that happened was that she lost a finger???? Sounds like only the detonator went off. A dud? Or one that someone thought was disarmed?
Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday to travel to Moscow for talks, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
The invitation followed a meeting between Putin and Ahmadinejad, who is fighting calls from Western powers to stop nuclear work that Washington says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Tehran says its intentions are peaceful. "Ahmadinejad accepted the invitation with gratitude. The parties agreed to clear the dates for the visit through diplomatic channels," Interfax quoted the two leaders as saying in a joint statement.
Putin also agreed to bring Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant into operation on schedule following talks in Tehran. "The Bushehr nuclear power plant will be constructed and brought into operation in line with the agreed upon schedule," the statement said. "The parties... reaffirmed that it will continue to be pursued strictly in line with their commitments under the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
STRATFOR > THE RUSSIA PROBLEM. End of article claims Putin = Russia is more than willing to abandon/sell out Moud + Iran, for a price vv the USA-West, and iff they can look good or PCorrect in doing it.
#2
As if a Sunni bomb wasn''t bad enough, we've got the fanatical shia followers of a 9th century leader, the 12th Imam, trying to get a button for their finger.
#3
Gotta keep the oil and gas prices rising. Americans taking care of our piss poor energy and trade policy will solve 90% of our international problems. Instead of funding our enemies, send them to the poor house.
200 hundred reactors will replace all the coal fired generators in the US. Use the coal to generate 5M+ barrels/day diesel/condensates or better yet build more reactors for hydrogen production and make 12M barrels of fuel from the same coal. 12M barrels/day at $80/barrel is $350 billion/year. One year of imports is enough to pay for 200 reactors with a 60 year useful life.
After 6 years of war without war footing why isn't one new reactor coming on line each and every week? I can only conclude those who lead America, in cooperation with Luddites, want us to suffer and needlessly die so so they can recover a thin sliver of profit or power from the waste of our treasure and resources.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 8:07 Comments ||
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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that progress had been made in negotiations on two Israeli soldiers the Shiite Muslim group captured last year, but did not confirm if they are still alive. "For the first time, I can say that we have advanced positively in the negotiations concerning the two Israeli soldiers and (Lebanese) prisoners," Nasrallah said in a television address.
He was speaking a day after the first prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah in nearly four years. "The doors that had been closed in this case have started to open," he said. "There is hope and optimism, which did not exist before, on moving forward in the negotiations."
He added without giving details that the talks between the Shiite militia and the "Zionist enemy" were being handled by an international mediator appointed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the swap and urged both parties to move ahead with the release of the two Israeli soldiers and "to find the necessary solutions for the remaining Lebanese citizens that are still in Israeli detention."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to sign a deal to sell 50 new jet engines to Iran for the Islamic Republics air force during his visit to Tehran, a Russian newspaper said on Tuesday. Russian business daily Kommersant, citing unnamed sources, said an initial $150 million deal for 50 RD-33 turbo-thrust engines for Irans Azarakhsh fighters could be signed while Putin attends a Caspian regional summit in the Iranian capital. The Chernyshev Machine Building Plant in Moscow will provide the engines from its MiG-29 fighter jet production line, Kommersant said. The factory could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Install self destructs in each of these engine....
On command - eat a blade.
#4
Much hilarity will ensue when the Iranians try to shoehorn a 41 inch diamter, 2300 lb engine in the space built for an 18 inch diameter, 400 pound engine.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2007 8:30 Comments ||
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#5
Ed- Much hilarity will ensue when the Iranians try to shoehorn a 41 inch diamter, 2300 lb engine in the space built for an 18 inch diameter, 400 pound engine.
They'll just call it a new aircraft of Iranian design and claim it can shoot down anything on Earth.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/17/2007 10:11 Comments ||
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#6
Didn't the Iranians keep the aircraft flown out of Iraq during the 1991 war? Could these be intended to re-engine some of those aircraft?
#9
Much hilarity will ensue when the Iranians try to shoehorn a 41 inch diamter, 2300 lb engine in the space built for an 18 inch diameter, 400 pound engine.
Or maybe there's a new airframe coming Iran's way, too.
Vladimir Putin, on the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Iran in six decades, issued a veiled warning Tuesday against an attack on Iran and suggested that Moscow and Teheran should have a virtual veto on Western plans for pipelines from the oil and gas-rich Caspian Sea region. The visit beefed up Russian-Iranian efforts to keep out US influence in the area. However, Putin refused to set a date for completing Iran's first nuclear reactor, in a bid to avoid an outright show of support for Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Putin reportedly wants a strong Caspian group of nations, wid each nation having veto powers over any Caspian State-specific pro-Western scheme/venture espec vv gas-oil pipelines; + has proposed that a [sea] link [read-military transit]be built btwn the Black Sea + Caspian Sea.
BUSHESHR NUKE PLANT > D *** NG IT, the only promise(s) Putin ever made and kept was to his mother as a small boy.
*HHHHHHHHMMMMMMMM, okay Madonna, Putin's 2007 comments about promises and his mother sounds familiar -"you [I] got to remember" like PAULA "DELILAH/BATHSHEBA" ABDUL says = sang. Gotta remember a blast(s) from the past, ala 1960's-early 1970's Guam, for the future ergo the present.
U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, submitted a resolution condemning Syria and Iran for their interference in Lebanon's internal affairs. It also condemned the Lebanese allies of Damascus and Tehran for acting against Lebanon's national interests.
The resolution resolves that the House of Representatives "condemns the campaign of murder, terror and intimidation aimed at overthrowing the democratically-elected government of Lebanon and establishing a new Lebanese government subservient to the will and interests of Syria and Iran."
The house also "condemns Syria and Iran for their gross interference in Lebanon's internal political affairs, and particularly, the selection of a new president, and gross violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions protective of Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."
The text also condemned "Lebanese political parties and actors who have allied themselves with Syria and Iran to the detriment of their own country and its national interests."
The measure criticized and condemned "efforts by some Lebanese political figures to obstruct, delay, and impede the legal and established processes of their country for the selection of a new president according to the rule of law."
It affirmed the "continued strong support for Lebanon's democratically-elected government, people and national sovereignty, and its readiness to provide material support."
The resolution called on "all nations to recognize and support Lebanon's sovereignty and independence" and urged the U.S. President to "use all peaceful means at the disposal of the United States to help safeguard Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."
It noted that in 2004, Lebanon's "current president (Emile Lahoud) had his term extra-legally extended through the interference of Syria in Lebanon's internal affairs."
It recalled that ex-Premier Rafik Hariri "the leading opponent of continued Syrian domination of Lebanon and the extra-legal extension of the president's term, was assassinated along with 22 people by a massive car bomb on February 14, 2005."
Ackerman (pictured right) noted that "investigators from the United Nations have suggested that officials of Syria's government, at the highest levels, appear to be culpable for the (Hariri) assassination."
He also said that the majority government of Premier Fouad Saniora "has been under steady attack by domestic and foreign forces that have been engaged in instigating riots and insurrection, suspending the operation of Lebanon's parliament, and perpetrating horrific acts of terror against the Lebanese people."
Ackerman noted that "Syria and Iran are seeking to dominate Lebanon through their campaign of murder and intimidation aimed at the Lebanese parliamentary majority and other anti-Syrian public and political figures."
He said that "Syria and Iran, through their Lebanese proxies, have demanded the selection of another Lebanese president hand-picked by the Government of Syria."
Ackerman concluded that "Syria and Iran, in clear contravention of numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions, notably 1559 (2004), 1655 (2006), 1664 (2006), 1680 (2006), 1701 (2006), and 1757 (2007), have grossly violated Lebanon's sovereignty by continuing to provide arms to illegitimate Lebanese militias, Palestinian terrorist groups and other terrorist organizations; meddling in Lebanon's internal political affairs; and actively supporting efforts to prevent the election of a new president in accordance with Lebanese law."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
RAWSTORY > EX-US ARMY CAPTAINS - US MUST DRAFT OR WITHDRAW. US must suppor its own policies + troops as AMAP, or else get out of Iraq.
#2
Is this all Congress is good for these days? They can't pass a single appropriations bill, but have no problem meddling with their futile, finger-waving resolutions. A pox on the lot of 'em.
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.
A high level Egyptian delegation will go to Sudan to try to resolve escalating tensions between former southern Sudan rebels and the national government, Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday. 
Rudolph W. Giuliani said this morning Democrats are drawing moral equivalency between U.S. allies such as Israel and enemy countries and terrorists and that they failed to learn the lesson of peace through strength that President Reagan showed.
The Bush administration wants to bring about a regime change in seven Middle Eastern countries, according to General 
Libya, once a pariah of the West, took a giant stride back to global respectability when it was elected along with four other countries on Tuesday to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council.
MPs in Turkey are debating a motion authorising cross-border military operations into northern Iraq to target Kurdish rebel bases there. Parliament in Ankara is expected to approve the motion by a large majority amid widespread public support for military action against the PKK. 
Two Palestinian children were injured on Tuesday when a grenade they were handling exploded at a school in northern Lebanon where Palestinian refugees are being temporarily housed, police said. "The two children were injured when a grenade with which the girl was playing exploded at the Dar Es-Salam school in Bab al-Tabaneh in Tripoli," a police spokesman said. He said the girl, who a medical source said was aged four, lost one of her fingers and the boy was slightly injured in the foot.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that progress had been made in negotiations on two Israeli soldiers the Shiite Muslim group captured last year, but did not confirm if they are still alive. "For the first time, I can say that we have advanced positively in the negotiations concerning the two Israeli soldiers and (Lebanese) prisoners," Nasrallah said in a television address.
Vladimir Putin, on the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Iran in six decades, issued a veiled warning Tuesday against an attack on Iran and suggested that Moscow and Teheran should have a virtual veto on Western plans for pipelines from the oil and gas-rich Caspian Sea region. The visit beefed up Russian-Iranian efforts to keep out US influence in the area. However, Putin refused to set a date for completing Iran's first nuclear reactor, in a bid to avoid an outright show of support for Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
