French magistrates investigating an attack in Pakistan blamed on Islamist militants that killed 11 French nationals in 2002 are looking into allegations it was linked to corrupt deals, lawyers for the victims' families said.
A coach carrying French naval engineers and technicians was bombed as it left a hotel in Karachi in May 2002. The attack killed 14 people in total.
Pakistani authorities at first blamed Islamist militants and two men were sentenced to death for taking part in the attacks, but their convictions were overturned on appeal in 2003.
French investigating magistrates Marc Trevidic and Yves Jannier informed the families of the victims on Thursday that they no longer believed the scenario of an Islamist attack was credible, lawyers for the families told reporters.
The lawyers said Trevidic and Jannier had told them they were looking into allegations that the attack was a retaliation against France from unnamed Pakistani officials over bribes linked to a defence contract that were promised but never paid.
"The investigating magistrates told us that they believed this scenario was extremely credible," lawyer Olivier Morice told reporters.
The French government declined to comment. Trevidic and Jannier cannot speak publicly about their investigation because the rules of their position forbid it.
The investigating magistrates obtained a top secret internal memo in October 2008 from a state-owned military shipbuilder which contains the allegations, Morice said.
The memo, copies of which were shown on French media on Friday, says French and Pakistani officials connived to take bribes as part of the sale of French Agosta submarines to Pakistan in the mid-1990s.
According to the memo, some of the kickbacks that were paid to French officials ended up in the electoral campaign funds of then Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, a rival of Jacques Chirac ahead of the 1995 presidential election, a judicial source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Asked about the allegation by French state television, Balladur said: "As far as I am aware, everything was completely above board. I have nothing more to say. If anyone has any proof, let them speak up."
The secret memo says France stopped paying the bribes after the 1995 election, won by Chirac, and that Pakistani officials kept asking for them for several years.
The allegation is that they eventually lost patience and organised in retaliation the attack on the bus full of French engineers, who were working on the Agosta submarine project.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009
16:52 ||
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#1
Of course it was corrupt! Phrench supplier and mohammedean buyer means 100% bribery.
But, that has nothing to do with why Islamofascists attacked the "Crusader" Phrench.
The mothers and children of Narmak the lower-middle class district where Ahmadinejad famously has his residence have so far been spared violence, but theyve also not seen the victory celebrations that pro-Ahmadinejad newspapers and state broadcasters have claimed are taking place.
The Hosseinis, like many in their area, voted for Ahmadinejad after days of discussing their thoughts about the country and the candidates. They belong neither to the segment of the presidents voting bloc that was instructed to cast their votes for him, nor the underclass portion of the populace overjoyed by the presidents coarsest displays of populism.
However many ballots were coerced or falsified, there are a significant number of Iranians who cast their ballots for Ahmadinejad voluntarily and with a clear conscience. And they are now beginning to question their own judgment.
"Dont cause a scene," the bearded man in plain clothes firmly told the rest of the passengers in a subway car late on Monday evening.
Those within earshot, including your correspondent, knew he was an intelligence officer and that he was discouraging us all from mentioning the murders at Azadi Square that had just happened. We were very quick to comply, everyone directing their eyes to a corner, or the floor or a wall. Ever more Iranians are responding to their own government in a mood of fear and exhaustion.
But, one young man on the subway decided neither to cower, nor obey. You were there, he said gravely, looking at the intelligence officer. You were there; I saw you.
The officer stared back. We all have our opinions.
The young man boldly replied: It is a fact. You were there. I saw you.
It is clear that the young man had seen more than he wanted to. His were the eyes of someone who has lost a friend, a comrade: His pain gave him the strength to utter words that the entire country would probably share, a claim to self-respect that Iranians would like to make a steadfast reality. In the streets of Tehran, there is a desire to name simple facts and to call them such: facts like election ballots, facts like gun shots fired at innocent bystanders. The demonstrators are bound together by their desire for truth.
Your correspondent, too, wanted to say what he had just seen: A young man staggering in the darkness several blocks away from Freedom Square, his eyes wide, as though he'd seen a ghost. He raised his two bloody hands before me as testimony. Ten people, he intoned. They killed 10 people.
Iranian society has increasingly found a common enemy in the form of the Basij, the paramilitary group indiscriminate in the punishment it's meted out since the election, whether by baton, or as of Monday, by gun. The conflict between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi supporters is less grave than the one between the demonstrators and their torturers. When Mousavi demonstrators now enter someones car or building in order to escape a baton, no one asks how the other voted.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/19/2009
16:42 ||
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#1
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC WILL THAILAND BECOME ANOTHER IRAN?
MUMBAI: A Russian military cargo aircraft AN-24 on Friday night intruded into Indian airspace from Pakistan and landed at the international airport out.
As the plane entered into Indian airspace without the right code, it was escorted to Mumbai airport by Indian Air Force planes, a spokesman of Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesman said here.
The MIAL spokesman said the plane with Russian markings came from Pakistani airspace and was escorted over the Mumbai airport by IAF planes.
The cargo aircraft landed at the airport at around 2240 hours after being allowed by the Air Traffic Control.
Security forces have surrounded the aircraft.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009
16:33 ||
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#1
Some poor pilot's in a shitload of trouble.
Inspect the plane (maybe fix the nav Gyro) and send it on it's way.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/19/2009 19:28
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#2
AN-24's are banned from landing in many countries due to their very poor safety record. Had one topple in at Balad when I was over there. Fifty some Turk TCN's wiped out.
CBS isn't commenting on reports that veteran newsman Walter Cronkite is gravely ill.
The 92-year-old former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites.
#4
While I liked him on the news, the more I hear about Crankcase 'Bending the truth', the less I like him now.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/19/2009 19:32
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#5
"If we've lost Cronkite, then we've lost the war a lefty-spinning Piece of Excrement masquerading as an unbiased 'journalist'"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 20:00
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#6
As a kid, I used to watch CBS for the Gemini and Apollo space launches, and Cronkite was for me the official voice of manned spaceflight. I prefer to remember that Cronkite and not the raving moonbat he became in his declining years.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 21:14
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#7
I grew up with Walter Cronkite same as you Mike. Used to respect him as the 'offical news'.
Only later did I realize how he and his buddies bent the truth to match their narrative.
If it weren't for Walter (and Jane Fonda), North Vietnam would have sought peace soon after the Tet offensive - when they were soundly defeated. However Walt went on and on about how it was a terrible defeat for the americans on national TV which the North Vietmanese command watched in amazement- and Hanoi Jane was right there encouring them to continue. As a result the Vietnam war lasted years longer then it might have. Even the N. Vietnam general (Gaip?) stated such in his book.
The House overwhelmingly approved a resolution Friday in support of Iranian dissidents as that country's top cleric warned protesters to end demonstrations.
The resolution was approved in a 405-1 vote, with two members voting present. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was the only lawmaker opposed to the resolution. Proving that Ron Paul is a worthless sonofabitch.
Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and David Loebsack (D-Iowa) voted present. Proving that Ellison is no true friend to his fellow Moslems who are being roughed up by the mad mullahs' goon squads. I don't know what Crapsack Loebsack's excuse is.
Note: even the likes of Murtha and Pelosi and Hoyer voted in favor of this. It may not be a sincere vote of support, but if they don't really mean it they're at least smart enough to realize how politically stupid it would look right at this moment to be seen as failing to support the oppressed people of Iran against their tyrants.
Of course, not everyone has a clue:
In Washington, the debate has centered on whether President Obama should be more forceful in criticizing Iranian authorities, and in showing support for the demonstrators. The issue has put Obama in a tough spot, with conservatives (moderates, liberals, and decent people in general)
blasting him for not showing more support for demonstrators, and his new Facebook friend Ahmadnejad Iran criticizing the U.S. and Obama for meddling in its affairs. "Let's see: do I side with the oppressed people of Iran, or their oppressors? Such a hard call! Nothing I learned at Harvard or Columbia prepared me for such a difficult moral dilemma. Alas! my first-class temprament has forsaken me! Oh, what to do? What to do? . . ."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009
15:36 ||
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#1
This voting present is bull! At least the loon Ron Paul has the stones to stand up and be counted. We did not vote our reps into a country club, we vote for them to represent us, to be counted. We should eliminate the voting "present" crap!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/19/2009 16:06
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#2
Seeing the nearly unanamious support for this statement from the House, The One will nod his head and say "That's just what I said last week". I wish he would prove me wrong, but with his ego, he can't help but take credit for someone else's initiative - if it's popular enough.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 16:23
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#3
definition of "Realism"
the process of turning rubes into neocons
#5
For the first time ever, I have something to thank Rep. Tammy Baldwin for.
I have also written my senators, asking whether the senate is also considering such a resolution, and asking whether they'd ask Mr. Obama to take a stronger stand. I'll get boilerplate back from Kohl; but with Feingold, you never know. Usually he sends boilerplate, but sometimes he sends useful information.
#7
at AOSHQ - the mere mention of the POS WHO SHOULD NOT BE NAMED drew Paulbots in like flies to shit. Why not get the Jim Jones Koolaid out and satisfy these masochistic idiot's needs quickly and relieve us all of their crap
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 21:02
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#8
Loebsack is my representative, unfortunately.
He doesn't always vote present. He was very very happy to vote for TARP, the stupid enforced volunteer bill that passed awhile back, and many other pieces of pork.
If they would have porked this one up, I'm sure he would have voted for it. Pathetic weasel.
#9
Got motivated enough to look up Loebsack's webpage, and sent him a missive. (He only accepts them from his constituents, how nice.)
Here's what I wrote him:
Dear Representative Loebsack,
I am extremely disgusted that you could only bring yourself to vote "present" on the resolution supporting Iranian dissidents.
I know that it probably wouldn't have helped them. That's not the point.
The point is, there are people who are literally dying to have their votes count....and instead of standing with them, as 405 of your colleagues did, you took the coward's way out by voting "present".
Your vote has put me in the strange position of actually respecting Ron Paul more than you. I don't like the way he voted, but at least he had the moxie to stand on his convictions.
Edmund Burke once said "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."
I do believe that you are a good man, but you truly did nothing with your vote when it counted.
#1
Japanese? or North Korean, branching out into counterfeit bearer bonds as opposed to currency - they have the expertise in funny money engraving and the lack of knowledge that might lead them to date the bonds with an impossible year.
#2
This is the best example yet of MSM reporting hearsay as news. It's become so common that neither editors nor readers demand verification from these fiction writer reporters. Remember that black guy who make up stories for the NYT? He went for several years before his bosses caught on.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 16:03
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It must be admitted that the NYT reporter was a gifted writer and storyteller, Richard. One hopes he subsequently found a lucrative career as a novelist.
France's ability to reconcile secularism with religious diversity came under fresh scrutiny today after the government said it would not rule out banning Muslim women from wearing the full Islamic veil.
Five years after a law was passed forbidding children from wearing the headscarf or any other "conspicuous" religious symbol in schools, the government indicated it was prepared to wade into another thorny row over the state's right to tell individuals what not to wear.
Speaking after a group of MPs requested an inquiry into the "degrading" use of the burka and niqab, government spokesman Luc Chatel said it was important to establish to what extent women's rights were being compromised by the garments.
"If it were determined that wearing the burka is a submissive act, and that it is contrary to republican principles, naturally parliament would have to drawn the necessary conclusions," he said. When asked whether that could mean bringing in legislation to ensure an outright ban, Chatel answered: "Why not?"
Although there are no official figures, several thousand women are believed to wear the full veil in France, and their appearance has long caused consternation among the upholders of the country's staunchly secular values. Last year a Moroccan woman was refused French citizenship after social services found she wore a burka and was living "in total submission" to her husband.
The Communist MP who led the call this week for an inquiry, André Gerin, denounced the garments as walking prisons. In his request, backed by 57 other MPs, mostly from Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, he said: "The sight of these imprisoned women is already intolerable to us when they come from Iran, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia It is totally unacceptable on French soil."
For a ban to be implemented, an investigation would first have to be opened and its results studied for any sign of incompatibility between secular values and the use of the full veil. President Sarkozy, who recently defended France's division between the state and religion during a press conference with Barack Obama, is understood to be in favour of the issue being explored.
Sarkozy's leftwing urban policies secretary, herself a Muslim and former president of a women's rights group, today gave her support to "a total ban" on the burka. "I am for the banning of this coffin which kills basic freedoms," Fadela Amara told Le Parisien newspaper. "This debate has to clear the way to a law which protects women."
This point of view, however, is not shared by everyone. Muslim leaders have urged politicians not to create more tension between communities.
"To raise the subject like this, via a parliamentary committee, is a way of stigmatising Islam and the Muslims of France," said Mohammed Moussaouni, head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith. He said the full veil remained a marginal choice for most Muslim women, and such a provocative move threatened to alienate those more moderate in their practices.
His plea for the motion to be left alone was echoed by the immigration minister, Eric Besson, who said that, since 2004, France had "managed to strike a balance, and it would be dangerous to call that into question
Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's so worried that information from next year's national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.
In an interview Wednesday morning with The Washington Times "America's Morning News," Mrs. Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said the questions have become "very intricate, very personal" and she also fears ACORN, the community organizing group that came under fire for its voter registration efforts last year, will be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts.
"I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home," she said. "We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."
Shelly Lowe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Census Bureau, and swarmy bureaucrat,
said Mrs. Bachmann is "misreading" the law.
She sent a portion of the U.S. legal code that says anyone over 18 years of age who refuses to answer "any of the questions" on the census can be fined up to $5,000. Being a certified bureaucrat, she feels Obama has her back, and she can threaten citizens with impunity.
The Constitution requires a census be taken every 10 years. Questions range from number of persons in the household and racial information to employment status and whether anyone receives social services such as food stamps.
Mrs. Bachmann said she's worried about the involvement of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, in next year's census.*
"They will be in charge of going door to door and collecting data from the American public," she said. "This is very concerning."
ACORN has applied to help recruit workers to help conduct the census. Republican lawmakers and some public interest groups have expressed concern over their involvement. ACORN staffers have ben indicted in several states on charges of voter registration fraud stemming from the organization's efforts to register voters last year.
Mrs. Bachmann, who is in her second term in the House, has become a lightning rod for criticism from Democrats and liberal talk show hosts for her unapologetic conservative views. She said she considers that "a badge of honor."
"It's clear when a person speaks out against those policies they become a target, and that should be concerning to everyone," she said. * BINGO! Congresswoman Bachman hit the nail on the head. ACORN may try to register anything that moves or not move. How many pet rocks has ACORN registered? I wouldn't be surprised to find my dog, Emma DeBergerac, on the rolls. She has been registered with AKC, so ACORN can take her off that list.
"I VOTE : SWEDISH PIRATE PARTY, cause Reed, and Pelosi are too ugly, and Obama picked a Portugese Water Dog over a Standard Poodle...Since, everyone else in my house are Republicans, so someone has to be different"
AoS note: please observe formatting rules in your posts. Your comments are in yellow, and no links to outside pics, especially big ones.
#1
She sent a portion of the U.S. legal code that says anyone over 18 years of age who refuses to answer "any of the questions" on the census can be fined up to $5,000.
That bureaucrat is wrong or lying. Here is the law and the fine is only $100:
-CITE-
13 USC Sec. 221 01/08/2008
-EXPCITE-
TITLE 13 - CENSUS
CHAPTER 7 - OFFENSES AND PENALTIES
SUBCHAPTER II - OTHER PERSONS
-HEAD-
Sec. 221. Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers
-STATUTE-
(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or
willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any
other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce
or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the
Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his
knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in
connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I,
II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to
the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or
farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not
more than $100.
(b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a)
of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances
described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is
false, shall be fined not more than $500.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no person
shall be compelled to disclose information relative to his
religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.
-SOURCE-
(Aug. 31, 1954, ch. 1158, 68 Stat. 1023; Pub. L. 85-207, Sec. 15,
Aug. 28, 1957, 71 Stat. 484; Pub. L. 94-521, Sec. 13, Oct. 17,
1976, 90 Stat. 2465.)
-MISC1-
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
Based on title 13, U.S.C., 1952 ed., Secs. 122, 209, and section
1442 of title 42, U.S.C., 1952 ed., The Public Health and Welfare
(June 18, 1929, ch. 28, Sec. 9, 46 Stat. 23; June 19, 1948, ch.
502, Sec. 2, 62 Stat. 479; July 15, 1949, ch. 338, title VI, Sec.
607, 63 Stat. 441).
Section consolidates the first paragraph of section 209 of title
13, U.S.C., 1952 ed., which section related to the decennial
censuses of population, agriculture, etc. (see subchapter II of
chapter 5 of this revised title), with that part of section 122 of
such title which made such section 209 applicable to the
quinquennial censuses of manufactures, the mineral industries, and
other businesses (see subchapter I of chapter 5 of this revised
title) and applicable to the surveys provided for by section 121(b)
of such title (see subchapter IV of chapter 5 of this revised
title), and that part of subsection (b) of section 1442 of title
42, U.S.C., 1952 ed., which made such section 209 applicable to the
decennial censuses of housing (see subchapter II of chapter 5 of
this revised title). For remainder of sections 122 and 209 of title
13, U.S.C., 1952 ed., and of section 1442 of title 42, U.S.C., 1952
ed. (which section has been transferred in its entirety to this
revised title), see Distribution Table.
The language of section 209 of title 13, U.S.C., 1952 ed.,
providing that it should "be the duty" of all persons over eighteen
years of age, to answer correctly, to the best of their knowledge,
when requested, etc., was omitted as unnecessary and redundant. The
provisions, as herein revised, define offenses and prescribe
penalties for committing them, and are deemed sufficient for the
purpose of enforcement. However, some of the language used in the
omitted provisions was necessarily included in the description of
the offense.
The designation of the first offense, herein described, as a
"misdemeanor", was omitted as covered by section 1 of title 18,
U.S.C., 1952 ed., Crimes and Criminal Procedure, classifying
crimes; and words "upon conviction thereof" were omitted as
surplusage.
References to the Secretary (of Commerce) and to any "authorized
officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or
agency thereof", etc., were substituted for references to the
Director of the Census and to any "supervisor, enumerator, or
special agent, or other employee of the Census Office", to conform
with 1950 Reorganization Plan No. 5, Secs. 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950,
15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263. See revision note to section 4 of this
title.
Changes were made in phraseology.
AMENDMENTS
1976 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94-521, Sec. 13(1), struck out
provision authorizing imprisonment for not more than sixty days for
refusing or willfully neglecting to answer questions under this
section.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 94-521, Sec. 13(2), struck out provision
authorizing imprisonment for not more than one year for willfully
giving a false answer to a question under this section.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 94-521, Sec. 13(3), added subsec. (c).
1957 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 85-207 substituted "I, II, IV, and V"
for "I, II, and IV".
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1976 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 94-521 effective Oct. 17, 1976, see section
17 of Pub. L. 94-521, set out as a note under section 1 of this
title.
#2
when requested by the Secretary, or by any
other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce
or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the
Secretary or authorized officer,
The census is not being carried out by the Commerce Department (Or the Secty of Comm) this time but by the party hacks at the white house. So I don't think even this fine would apply.
Investigators on Friday told a Delhi court that Mohammad Omar Madni, a suspected militant, has disclosed links between Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba and Maoists in Jharkhand. "He (Madni) revealed that LeT was acting in coordination with CPI (Maoists) in Jharkhand. He has acted as conduit for LeT and provided training to recruits in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and sent them to India to carry out terror strikes," the public prosecutor told the court which extended the police remand of Madni for seven days.
Delhi Police, which is interrogating Madni, contended that his custodial quizzing was necessary to ascertain his emails details and bank account which revealed transactions to the tune of Rs 25 lakh. Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi allowed the plea of the police, which has arrested the militant under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
50-year-old Madni, a resident of Bihar who acquired Nepalese citizenship, was arrested on June 4 from near Qutub Minar area in South Delhi and produced before the court after the completion of 14 days police custody. The investigating agency sought police remand of Madni under the recent amendments of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which empowers them to interrogate an accused in custody for 30 days.
Bakshish Singh, who was appointed amicus curiae, opposed the plea of the police, saying they had already been provided with enough time to interrogate the accused.
Mohd Omar Madni, a suspected operative of Lashkar-e-Taiba told the court that he repented his "acts" and wanted to spend his life behind bars. "I have committed some mistakes and I want to remain in jail," Madni told the court in Hindi with folded hands.
His remarks came after Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi asked him whether he wanted to say something on the plea of investigators seeking extension of his custodial interrogation. His police custody was extended by the court for more seven days.
This article starring:
MOHAMAD OMAR MADNI
Lashker-e-Taiba
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009
13:36 ||
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The U.S. military is planning to intercept a flagged North Korean ship suspected of proliferating weapons material in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last Friday, FOX News has learned.
The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official. The order to inderdict has not been given yet, but the ship is getting into position.
The ship left a port in North Korea Wednesday and appears to be heading toward Singapore, according to a senior U.S. military source. The vessel, which the military has been tracking since its departure, could be carrying weaponry, missile parts or nuclear materials, a violation of U.N. Resolution 1874, which put sanctions in place against Pyongyang.
The USS McCain was involved in an incident with a Chinese sub last Friday - near Subic Bay off the Philippines. The Chinese sub was shadowing the destroyer when it hit the underwater sonar array that the USS McCain was towing behind it. That same navy destroyer that was being shadowed by the Chinese is now positioning itself for a possible interdiction of the North Korean vessel.
This is the first suspected "proliferator" that the U.S. and its allies have tracked from North Korea since the United Nations authorized the world's navies to enforce compliance with a variety of U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test.
The ship is currently along the coast of China and being monitored around-the-clock by air.
The apparent violation raises the question of how the United States and its allies will respond, particularly since the U.N. resolution does not have a lot of teeth to it. The resolution would not allow the United States to board the ship forcibly. Rather, U.S. military would have to request permission to board -- a request North Korea is unlikely to grant.
Do we need permission to attach a mine to the hull?
North Korea has said that any attempt to board its ships would be viewed as an act of war and promised "100- or 1,000-fold" retaliation if provoked.
No 'sea of fire'? I'm disappointed ...
The U.S. military may also request that the host country not provide fuel to the ship when it enters its port.
The Kang Nam is known to be a ship that has been involved in proliferation activities in the past -- it is "a repeat offender," according to one military source. The ship was detained in October 2006 by authorities in Hong Kong after the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device and the U.N. imposed a subsequent round of sanctions.
The latest tension follows a Japanese news report that North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the military is "watching" that situation "very closely," and would have "some concerns" if North Korea launched a missile in the direction of Hawaii. But he expressed confidence in U.S. ability to handle such a launch.
Gates said he's directed the deployment of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense, a mobile missile defense system used for knocking down long- and medium-range missiles. "The ground-based interceptors are clearly in a position to take action. So, without telegraphing what we will do, I would just say ... I think we are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect the American territory."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
12:52 ||
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#1
"100- or 1,000-fold" retaliation
But if the ship is not carrying any contraband, then what's the big deal?
#5
They realize they can't get a missile to work so they sail the bomb to Hawaii in a rusty bucket instead.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/19/2009 15:30
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#6
You notice that they sent the guided missile destroyer USS John McCain--not the guided marshmallow frigate USS Barack Hussein Obama or the unguided marshmallow frigate USS Joe Biden.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 15:35
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#8
But will the Norks give us permission to intercept, board, or fire a potato gun across their bow? The US govt might as well tell us, as we know everything else about the proposed meeting jawbone session interception.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Thorne Bay, AK ||
06/19/2009 16:23
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#9
Mike, gotta say good stuff.
They should keep on the lookout for a semi-mersable fiberglass deally headed for someplace like Hokadate, IMHO. Intercept sure, but beware the feint.
#10
Aah, I miss the heady days of pre-emptive strike policies and 1% solutions...Instead we have endless apologies for being Americans and for trying to extract information out of terrorist killers who hate Americans. Now we send them to Bermuda to lounge on the beach and go into the restaurant business.
India on Friday successfully launched a ballistic missile in the second such trial of the nuclear-capable weapon in a month, the defense ministry said.
The Agni-II missile blasted off from a testing site in eastern India and " achieved all its flight parameters without hitch," a senior ministry official told AFP.
"It was a user trial conducted by the army and defense scientists," he said of the rocket, which the military says is capable of hitting targets deep inside adjoining China.
The test was the second since May 19 when a similar 2,500-kilometer (1,560- mile) range Agni-II was fired from the same site, hitting a pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal.
The Indian-developed 20-meter-long missile weighs 16 tons and is capable of carrying one ton of conventional or nuclear warheads.
Friday's trial, part of the nation's efforts to build a credible minimum nuclear deterrent, paves the way for the missile's mass production and eventual induction by the Indian army, the official said.
India already has the 3,000-kilometer range Agni-III missile - the longest in the Agni series - which can also carry conventional or nuclear payloads.
Unconfirmed reports suggest India is also building an Agni variant with a range of 5,000 kilometers.
The Agni (Fire) is one of a series being developed by India's Defense Research Development Organization as part of the country's deterrent strategy against China and neighboring Pakistan, which also have nuclear weapons.
Agni-I, first tested in 1993, has a strike range of 1,500 kilometers.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009
12:31 ||
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This will be where the mask comes off and Iran ceases to appear a "republic," Islamic or otherwise. Real republics don't have Fearless Leaders and they don't have Basij and they don't have Guardian Councils. They don't have to import Arab thugs to beat up on their people. With the masks off, Iran's the usual kind of tiresome dictatorship, which is why Hugo Chavez likes them so much.
I feel for the people of Iran. They're going to get slammed with the same kind of brown-shirted repression we saw over and over again in the 20th century, indeed from the time of Robespierre. But my feeling for the people of Iran is tempered by the knowledge that this is the system they brought upon themselves, culminating in the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. They turned out in the same kind of numbers, demanding to be ruled by their ayatollahs, who had all the answers. Now they're turning out and demanding to be ruled by... whatever Mousavi represents.
Someday perhaps they'll turn out in their numbers demanding their own individual liberty, demanding to be left alone to make their own decisions, to live their lives free from enforced religion, from enforced ideology. Maybe they'll demand a modicum of honesty from their politicians and a bit of discretion from their oligarchs.
Until then, they'll continue being repressed, beaten and exploited. Eventually they'll throw out their repressors, to replace them with new faces and the old slogans. I have no idea how many times that wheel will turn. I hope it's not many. I suspect it will be.
TEHRAN -- In his first public response to days of mass protests, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sternly warned opposition supporters on Friday to stay off the streets and raised the prospect of violence if the defiant, vast demonstrations continued. Not a fan of real community organizers, is he?
He spoke somberly for more than an hour and a half at Friday Prayer to tens of thousands of people at Tehran University, with Mr. Ahmadinejad in attendance. His sermon was broadcast over loudspeakers to throngs in the adjoining streets, and the crowds erupted repeatedly in roars of support. Opposition supporters had spread the word among themselves not to attend.
"Street challenge is not acceptable," Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a rendering by the BBC. "This questions the principles of election and democracy."Opposition leaders, he said, will be "responsible for bloodshed and chaos" if they do not stop further rallies. The IRGC doesn't kill people, opposition leaders kill people- not exactly a catchy slogan.
Ayatollah Khamenei blamed "media belonging to Zionists, evil media" Two days ago he blamed the Brits, then the US, now Zionists, next up Martians? He must be on Twitter intercepting their secret Zionist messages.
for seeking to show divisions between those who supported the Iranian state and those who did not, while, in fact, the election had shown Iranians to be united in their commitment to the Islamic revolutionary state.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/19/2009
11:50 ||
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"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."
-- Major General Gordon Granger, "General Order No. 3" published June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, thereby setting free the last slaves in the United States
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009
11:43 ||
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#1
Boy, that was a pretty big interference by government in Big Business, and by a Republican, yet!
The southern farmers must not of had a good lobby yet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/19/2009 18:23
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#2
How about a Julyteenth or Augusteenth for when the rest of us get emancipated and free. Or Mayteenth to commemorate when we get free from taxes?
#3
that was a pretty big interference by government in Big Business It was more of a dispute between one large chunk of the populace and another large chunk that the government couldn't settle by traditional means.
#4
However you think of it, it's still a landmark day in the history of human freedom.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 21:18
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#5
thank God that now we have elected a black President, we are free of racism accusations and claims of reparations and mediocre "La Raza" judges nominated to the Supreme Court based on boxes checked and...
oh, nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 21:22
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#6
that bit of snark aside - Slavery was an abomination, here or, more currently, in the ME. Thank God (and the noble sacrifice of a lotta lives) we have eliminated it here. Where oh where are the critics of the Arab states that seem to be front and center in modern-day slavery among our race-baiting hucksters? Jesse? Al? bought and paid for?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 21:25
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#7
Not certain which is the more evil. Slavery or the slaying of the unborn. Societal outcomes are probably much the same. Wat jy saai sai jy maai. (You shall reap what you sow).
#8
I'd say they are equally evil. Abortion (yeah, I'm a Catholic) kills unborn innocents. Slavery (eventually) kills for financial gain. Both slayers are evil in my calculus. I know that's hard to square, but I'm not out killing abortion doctors...tell me about allowing Arab slavery to continue without universal outrage and we'll talk hypocrisy on all sides
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 22:27
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One summer afternoon, two Japanese men in their 50s on a slow train from Italy to Switzerland said they had nothing to declare at the frontier point of Chiasso. But in a false bottom of one of their suitcases, Italian customs officers and ministry of finance police discovered a staggering $134bn in US Treasury bills.
Whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declare, is unclear but Italian and US secret services working together soon concluded that the bills and accompanying bank documents were most probably counterfeit, the latest handiwork of the Italian Mafia.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing the seizure of 249 US Treasury bills, each of $500m, and 10 Kennedy bonds, used as intergovernment payments, of $1bn each. The men were apparently tailed by the Italian authorities.
The mystery deepened on Thursday as an Italian blog quoted Colonel Rodolfo Mecarelli of the Como provincial finance police as saying the two men had been released. The colonel and police headquarters in Rome both declined to respond to questions from the Financial Times. Probably too busy shopping for new chateaus...
They are all fraudulent, its obvious. We dont even have paper securities outstanding for that value, said Mckayla Braden, senior adviser for public affairs at the Bureau of Public Debt at the US Treasury department. This type of scam has been going on for years. Move it along. Nuthin to see here...
The Treasury has not issued physical Treasury bonds since the 1980s they are handled electronically though they still issue savings bonds in paper format.
In Washington a US Secret Service official said the agency, which is working with the Italian authorities, believed the bonds were fake.
Officials in Tokyo were nonplussed. Takeshi Akamatsu, a Japanese foreign ministry press secretary, said Italian authorities had confirmed that two men carrying Japanese passports had been questioned in the bond case but Tokyo had not been informed of their names or whereabouts. We dont know where they are now, Mr Akamatsu said.
Italian officials, while pointing out that hauls of counterfeit money and Treasury bills were not unusual, were stunned by the amount involved. Investigators are looking into the origin and destination of the fakes.
Italian prosecutors revealed last month that they had cracked a $1bn bond scam run by the Sicilian Mafia, with the alleged aid of corrupt officials in Venezuelas central bank. Twenty people were arrested in four countries. Hmmmmm...interesting.
The fake bonds were to have been used as collateral to open credit lines with banks, Reuters news agency reported. The Venezuelan central bank denied the accusations. No habla...
Geez, Barry, even the Times is starting to notice fer crissakes...
WASHINGTON -- When President Obama arrived at the Mandarin Oriental hotel for a fund-raising reception on Thursday night, the new White House rules of political purity were in order: no lobbyists allowed.
But at the same downtown hotel on Friday morning, registered lobbyists have not only been invited to attend an issues conference with Democratic leaders, but they have also been asked to come with a $5,000 check in hand if they want to stay in good favor with the party's House and Senate re-election committees.
Jesse Walker, Reason Online
...We've heard a lot of warnings about extremist paranoia in the months since Barack Obama became president. We've heard much less about the paranoia of the centrists; indeed, the very idea that the sober center could be paranoid sounds bizarre. But when mainstream columnists treat a small group of unconnected crimes as a "pattern" of "rising right-wing violence," their thesis bears more than a little resemblance to the conspiracy theories of the fringe figures they oppose. In both cases, the stories being told reflect the anxieties of the people discerning the patterns much more than any order actually emerging in the outside world.
This isn't the first time the establishment has been overrun with paranoia about the paranoiacs.... What follows is a very good round-up of the history of paranoia among the left-liberal elite. Go read it.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009
10:37 ||
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#1
The question isn't "are you paranoid?", the question is "are you paranoid ENOUGH?"
My own analysis is that there will be an increasing incidence of violence against the left-media culture, beginning some time this year as the economy really starts over the cliff.
The lefty response, a hysterical call for banning "hate speech" (as THEY define it), will only make matters exponentially worse, turning a few embers into a raging prairie fire.
#3
As it stands now, there is no real threat; the media-left is merely using these incidents to tar the opposition.
The violent elements of the so-called right wing are either Nazis (in Jew-hating solidarity with the left) or they are so far lost in the ufo/black helicopter world they wouldn't know a real lefty if one came to their house to take census information jumped out and bit them on the arse.
#4
Some people walk outside and know what the weather will be. Some people know when the storm hits. And some people will golf in the lightning because the weatherman said it would be a clear and sunny day.
Only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis consider the views of American President Barack Obama's administration pro-Israel, according to a new Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll. That number is a really low. Marine Boot Camp DIs used to say there are always 10% that don't get the f...ing word.
The poll, which has a margin of error of 4.5%, was conducted among a representative sample of 500 Israeli Jewish adults this week, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech in which he expressed his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state.
Another 50% of those sampled consider the policies of Obama's administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, and 36% said the policies were neutral. The remaining 8% did not express an opinion.
The numbers were a stark contrast to the last poll published May 17, on the eve of the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama at the White House. In that poll, 31% labeled the Obama administration pro-Israel, 14% considered it pro-Palestinian and 40% said it was neutral. The other 15% declined to give an opinion.
#1
This is an astoundeingly low number, since it is a truism among pollsters that 6-10% of any sample will support or believe practically anything. It is within the noise level of people who give crazy answers on purpose, are too drunk to understand the question, or who are just plain stupid.
#3
Joe the Plumber would have paid penalties and fees for filing late. Especially if the IRS had to be the one to call and say, "hey dummy, where are your tax returns for two years?"
One set of rules for the elite, and another set for the rest of us.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009 12:09
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One would think that with the slew of tax problems, now outside the realm of random chance, someone would check with the IRS beforehand. Incompetence or...? Then again with a tax cheat in charge of the IRS....
I like taxes. Fair taxes. They pay for roads, police, military, court system, etc. To not pay your fair share of taxes is to cheat your neighbors. Now, for our kids to pay out their diapers for a car they can't even drive for 16 years after birth, well...
#5
I'm almost too shocked for words. I am beyond flabbercastration! These dems who didn't pay taxes during the GWBush administration didn't because they didn't want to support his administration? Or his policies? The new standard is you don't have to pay taxes for anything you don't agree with or believe in? But I thought it was the patriotic thing to do. That's what Biden told us. Confusion says he who has the gold and power makes the rules?
#6
Paying taxes is patriotic!
Nurse! Where's my tapioca!
Posted by: Joe Biden, Vice President Guy ||
06/19/2009 14:37
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When it comes to taxes I'm with Adam Smith
"Both ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Though a part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the expenses of the state, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them."
Law-enforcement officials are working to quash a proposal that would allow gun owners in Arizona to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
The proposal, which is scheduled to be heard today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sparked a debate over what restrictions should be placed on gun owners who wish to carry weapons in public buildings, schools and other places.
Opponents said the bill would endanger law-enforcement officers and the public by eliminating permits and the training courses now required to obtain them.
"This bill would make a radical and very dangerous change to state law," Attorney General Terry Goddard said at a Thursday news conference. "The current law in Arizona is not broken. It has worked exceptionally well."
To receive a concealed-carry permit today, gun owners have to take an eight-hour course on gun laws and safety and pass a shooting test. The course costs about $100. About 125,000 Arizonans have obtained the $60 permit since the concealed-carry law was established in 1994.
Senate Bill 1270, sponsored by Sen. Sylvia Allen, would make the safety course optional. It also would allow people to carry guns into public buildings and onto school campuses if they were picking up their children or responding to an emergency.
Supporters of the bill say existing concealed-carry laws are confusing and can lead to unfair prosecution. A woman could be arrested for a concealed-carry violation if she was driving in her car and inadvertently placed a newspaper on top of a gun in the passenger's seat, they say.
Gun owners who want to untuck their shirts to conceal a weapon when they walk into a store shouldn't have to take a training course, said John Wentling, vice president of the Arizona Citizens Defense League.
"Do you need a permit to untuck your shirt? Do you need training to untuck your shirt?" Wentling said. "It's just too subjective."
Police chiefs around the state have objected to the proposal, saying it would heighten tensions between officers and the community. By increasing the number of gun owners who have not received safety training, it could increase the potential for tragic accidents, they said.
"It's going to put officers on edge," said Mike Frazier, police chief of El Mirage. "Who's armed? Who's not? Who's the victim? Who's the subject? There are a lot of issues involved there."
But Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he would support the bill, saying carriers of concealed weapons should not face permit requirements when people who carry their weapons openly do not.
"A gun is a gun, whether it's concealed or not," Arpaio said.
If passed, Arizona would become the third state to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit, after Alaska and Vermont. Of states that allow concealed weapons, 39 require a permit or training, according to the Attorney General's Office.
Allen, the bill's sponsor, said critics of the bill have overreacted. Violent crime will decrease if the bill passes, she said.
"Law enforcement is never in support of citizens protecting themselves," said Allen, R-Snowflake. "Why do we have to pass a law that says, 'This is the only way you're going to protect yourself'? . . . It's a God-given, constitutional right that you have."
#1
You know that if the chiefs, judges, and lawyers got their act together and delivered real justice, most citizens wouldn't even both about carrying any means of self defense. Consider it a reflection on the quality of your performance dudes.
#3
seems to me the only difference in concealed vs open carry is that you're much less likely to be impolite to someone if you knoew he's carrying. I can see why some cops would be worried.
"An armed society is a polite society."
___R.A. Heinlein
Posted by: Gleamp Protector of the Faith5580 ||
06/19/2009 12:27
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From reading the above the only cops that need to worry, are the assho;es hiding behind a badge.
(And yes, they're out there, such as constables, and other cop wannabes we had a constable so bad they abolished the position to get rid of him.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/19/2009 14:01
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#5
So, how's this working out in Alaska and Vermont? Probably about the same as before the law change. People make guns dangerous not the other way around.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 15:00
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#6
I love Arizona! Sheriff Joe supports the bill! The issue is really that open carry does not require a permit and concealed does. The laws are confusing as to where you can carry open and when you have to conceal it. This is a great debate on too many rules. Hope they clean it up soon. I would not be against having everyone take the course to carry at all. The course is a good one and deals with the legal end of using a weapon in America. Worth going to.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/19/2009 15:43
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#7
Seems pretty obvious Cops are afraid of armed citizens, WHY.
Unless the cops are thugs, why worry?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/19/2009 19:24
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49 Pan: I would describe what is needed as voluntary "gun culture" classes for the public. While such classes already exist, often they are prohibitively expensive.
Starting after WWII, there were a number of efforts to educate the public about things like hygiene and sanitation, with the idea of creating a "disease prevention culture", that today is common knowledge. Self-sustaining knowledge that people teach each other.
However, just the opposite has happened with guns, for a multitude of reasons. That is, much of our gun culture has faded away, leaving the majority of people ignorant of an equally complex subject.
Classes in gun culture can go far afield into gun etiquette and courtesy, laws, psychology, maintenance, practice, first aid, finding the gun that is just right for an individual, accessories, gun use in different situations, etc.
The idea is that this would become family knowledge, and be passed around by people as common sense.
The granddaughter of Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara is the face of a new PETA campaign touting "the vegetarian revolution."
Twenty-four-year-old Lydia Guevara is seminude in the campaign, wearing only camouflage pants, a red beret, and bandoliers of baby carrots.
That's ART, that is. You can tell because of the artistically draped vegetation.
PETA spokesman Michael McGraw says the campaign will debut in Argentina in October and will be seen internationally. It's PETA's first vegetarianism campaign in South America.
#1
This is exquisite, a perfect storm of media culture idiocy: stylized nudity, 60s radical chic, and brain-dead eco-wackery rolled into a single mediocre photo.
#3
This debuts in Argentina, known among other things for the world's highest per capita beef consumption and for its large incidence of disappeared pinkos.
I'm sure all those gauchos and slaughterhouse workers will be persuaded to abandon their anti-cow habits and take up carrot farming.
#5
Now, c'mon, think about this a minute, boys. Would you rather have her (a) running about South America shooting people and blowing stuff up, or (b) running about South America seminude?
I vote "(b)" especially if she's got the shape for it.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 11:12
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Atomic Conspiracy: Let me add that the Argentinians produce some of the finest beef this side of Kobe. It is blocked out of the US unless heavily processed, like canned corned beef, because their typical beef is as good as our finest Angus.
And while you're at it, Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world, and its quality is skyrocketing. They brought some vines over from France that produce superb grapes, but do not thrive in Europe, and they love the Argentine climate.
Their best wines are still hard to get in America, because the entire lot are bought up by wine lovers before they can get on the shelves.
It did not come with the promise of 72 virgins, but newly released Guantanamo Bay detainees managed to make it to paradise after all. What the fawning media neglected to mention was that these supposedly friendly lads all trained at an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist camp in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Not that youll hear any such inconvenient facts from the mainstream media, of course. Reporting the actual consequences of releasing terror suspects doesnt help Obamas goalshared by most in the mainstream mediaof closing Guantanamo Bay.
The absence of critical coverage might help explain why Team Obama is proudly still planning to reward even more Gitmo detainees soon with new digs in paradisealmost all of whom possess terror training on their résumés. Nor will the press spend much time explaining that taxpayers could be footing a bill of over $1 billion for the new Terrorists in Paradise Program (TM). Serving as a painful reminder to Americans about the degradation of journalism, the mainstream media reported on the exploits of hardened Islamic extremistsas they went swimming, fishing, and frolicking. Aside from FOX News, not one mainstream media outlet turned a critical eye to the former terrorism suspects flying to Bermuda on a private jet accompanied by President Obamas lawyer, White House Counsel Greg Craig.
One aspect of the story did generate actual reportagebut only on one side of the Atlantic. U.K. news outlets reported that the British government was, ahem, pissed. Because of U.K. journalists, we know that the State Department ignored basic protocols by keeping in the dark Americas steadfast friend, which as Bermudas colonial master is responsible for its foreign policy. U.S. media outlets, in sadly typical fashion, largely glossed over the kerfuffle. Just for sheer news value, wouldnt it make sense to cover the man-bites-dog story of how the president who was supposed to usher in an era of good diplomatic feelings had managed to piss off one of Americas closest allies?
Many fascinating angles abound, yet the media only regurgitated what it was spoon-fed by the White House. The most obvious question to explore: Why, if these Uighurs (as the Chinese Muslims are known) are actually the sweet souls suggested in countless stories over the weekend, did no other country want them? And why did the U.S. have to resort to knee-capping (or worse) one of its oldestand most importantfriends? News accounts have suggested that they are harmless chaps who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps. But the wrong place was very wrong: Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and most of them trained an al Qaeda-linked training camp in Tora Bora. And the wrong time was equally troubling: shortly after 9/11. The very same U.S. government now tripping over itself to declare as genuinely benign the Uighurs also believes that the Tora Bora camp at which most of them trained was sponsored by Al Qaeda. (To the casual reader, Tora Bora sounds familiar because it is the place where U.S. forces barely missed a fleeing Usama bin Laden in late 2001.)
Officially, the Uighurs are not a threat to the United States because the sole focus of their rage is China. Then why, a reasonable observer might ask, does the U.S. government deem the Uighur organization with which most of the Gitmo detainees were affiliated, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Specially Designated Global Terrorist? Despite this weekends news accounts conveniently describing the Uighurs as simply unlucky tourists, evidence suggests otherwise. The ETIM-run Tora Bora camp wasnt exactly a vacation resort, as the vast majority of the Gitmo-detained Uighurs admitted receiving weapons training, according to U.S. government documents that have been made public. As the blog The Long War Journal observed, ETIM is dedicated to international jihad and shares a similar ideology with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. ETIM and al Qaeda share more than common goals and beliefs. Leaders of the ETIM belonged to the inner circle around bin Laden, including Hasan Mahsum (a.k.a. Abu Muhammad al-Turkistani, who was killed by Pakistani security forces in 2003), so its dubious that these guys are truly freedom fighters, notes David Draper of the NEFA Foundation. Its even more unlikely that these guys are telling the truth when they say theyd never heard of al Qaeda. Contrast known facts to the fuzzy feature stories about the Uighurs in paradise. Typical is this pleasant description from the Associated Press: The four men in short-sleeve shirts looked like ordinary tourists, enjoying a Sunday lunch and butter pecan ice cream afterward as they observed the sparkling waters surrounding this Atlantic resort island.
And theres more news coming up for the mainstream media to ignore. Thirteen additional Uighurs are scheduled to be released soon from Gitmo, bound for the picturesque Pacific island of Palau, best known for hosting one season of the CBS reality show, Survivor. This relocation will cost the taxpayers a mint, too. Palau is reportedly receiving $200 million in development assistance, which works out to roughly $15 million per former terrorism suspect. All parties involved deny any sort of quid pro quo, which would mean the timing was pure serendipity. Again, perhaps. Assuming that the facts are actually as they appear, though, paying countries to take terrorists could result in quite a tab. If Obama wants to release an additional 70 Gitmo detainees, a fairly conservative estimate in order to minimize the number of suspects held after the bases scheduled shuttering early next year, the total cost would be over $1 billion in taxpayer moneyassuming no inflation.
While many in the mainstream media are not-so-privately cheering Obamas planned closure of Guantanamo Bay, does their fervor excuse them from meeting even minimal journalistic standards? Heres the key question: Would they maintain their superficial coverage if the Gitmo detainees were going to move into their neighborhoods?
#1
Why, if these Uighurs are actually the sweet souls suggested in countless stories over the weekend, did no other country want them?
The MSMs narrative always begins with the fact that US laws prohibit extradition of prisoners to countries suspected of torture. (For some unexplained reason the Saudis get a pass on that one.) Followed by their unambiguous explanation that the Administration couldnt find any country willing to risk straining relations with Beijing. (Some of which wont even transfer prisoners to the US without precondition of any death penalty.) Thus the O-Team had to find countries with no extradition treaties with the Chicoms. (And, of course, they had to be willing to take a bribe.) But remember, as even the slobbering media outlets will qualify
These are the easy ones.
Recently we were able to see in a painfully visible way the impact of today's climate in Washington on the ability of the nation's intelligence services to defend us. Rather than go through what promised to be a painful and distracting public confirmation process, Phil Mudd withdrew his name from consideration to be the undersecretary of homeland security for intelligence and analysis. If he had been confirmed, Phil would have followed the iconic figure of Charlie Allen, another CIA veteran, in a post charged with some of the most important work in the American intelligence community -- being a key interface between national capabilities and the needs of our state and local defenders and first responders.
Phil Mudd is a thoroughgoing intelligence professional, a career CIA analyst with superb credentials and extensive experience in the counterterrorism mission. As deputy director of national intelligence in 2005, I thought so highly of Phil that I personally pressured him to leave the CIA and his comfort zone there to take on a challenging new task as deputy head of the FBI's fledgling National Security Branch. Phil's task there was to dramatically expand the office and move the FBI's forensics-based and law enforcement-focused analysis toward a true intelligence function -- predictive, disruptive and working the "spaces between cases." This was no mean task in an organization whose dominant culture was law enforcement, whose historical legacy was catching criminals and whose core professionals wore badges and carried guns.
But Phil thrived. He earned the respect of the broader FBI and tirelessly moved his workforce toward the mainstream of the intelligence community. Along the way he also became knowledgeable of and accepted by American law enforcement officers at all levels of government -- attributes that Charlie Allen did not have when he moved to the Department of Homeland Security and attributes that would have enabled Phil to tighten the linkage between local needs and national capacities. A national intelligence professional with credentials among federal and local law enforcement officers, Phil was made for the DHS job.
It will not be. Rather than go through the gantlet that we call the confirmation process, Phil decided to skip what he feared would be a "circus." The blogosphere had already begun to light up with commentary about his unsuitability for the post. His sin? Phil had been the deputy director of CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center and its chief analyst at the height of the agency's counterattack against al-Qaeda -- those first years after Sept. 11, 2001, when the agency felt it had to use all the tools at its disposal to learn more about and eventually disrupt follow-on al-Qaeda attacks. Phil's personal involvement in the most controversial tactics was no more than "modest engagement," but he was conscientiously tasking all possible sources of information and faithfully connecting the dots as everyone expected him to do.
As he made the rounds of Hill staffers and was told that this aspect of his past, rather than his credentials for the proposed post, would probably become the focus of his hearings, he calmly (and wisely) said no. He would not become the "meat in the sandwich," being badgered to answer what was his definition of torture, or whether he agreed with President Obama's description that this had been a dark period in our history, or with the former vice president's assertion that hundreds of lives had been saved, or with the speaker of the House's judgment that they "mislead us all the time" or with my public statements that the CIA interrogation program produced valuable intelligence. Beyond what personal psychic costs such an inquiry would impose, Phil would simply not feed the partisan beast and create yet more distractions for the community he loved and served. And so the republic will do without the officer clearly most qualified to fill the head intelligence position at DHS.
Phil's fate is symptomatic of a larger and even more troubling reality. A whole swath of intelligence professionals -- the best we had, the ones we threw at the al-Qaeda challenge when the nation was in extremis -- are suffering for their sacrifice, being held up to recrimination for many decisions that were never wholly theirs and about which there was little protest when we all believed we were in danger.
During our Civil War, in the fog of battle, the best officers would lead their men to the "sound of the guns." It was a simple way to deduce where you were needed most. People like Phil Mudd went dutifully to the "sound of the guns" after Sept. 11, and elements of the republic they selflessly served are now prepared to punish them for it. And it seems that few are willing to defend them. The White House issued a short, pro forma statement of regret at Phil's decision, and the Director of National Intelligence, the nation's senior intelligence officer, offered no public comment. Phil's veteran colleagues in the counterterrorism fight are now drawing their own conclusions about their work and their futures. Even more important, those officers coming after Phil and his generation, the products of that massive post-Sept. 11 hiring surge, are surely looking hard and taking notes.
Phil was a visible casualty of today's atmosphere. There are other losses less visible. Pray that the safety of the republic is ultimately not among them.
The writer was director of the CIA from 2006 until February.
#1
Republicans, along with a few Democrats, have been concerned about the White House's methods in removing Walpin. The law requires the president to give Congress 30 days' notice, plus the cause for the firing of an inspector general. In Walpin's case, the White House called Walpin out of the blue, gave him one hour either to resign or be fired, and only later notified Congress, and then without giving any cause for its action. Only later, after a lone Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill, said the White House "failed to follow the proper procedure" and requested a written explanation for the firing, did the White House respond.
Maybe they...forgot?
And I'll bet you just made it onto some kinda list, Claire. And not a good one.
By Soudeh in Tehran One of several first-hand accounts published in the Wall Street Journal
I have never seen such a huge number of diverse people protesting in Iran. People are really angry and refuse to be patient. Ahmadinejad's government challenged our honor. How can we trust anything when the government perpetrates such a big lie?
They don't have pity on anyone. Some of the police cannot speak Farsi. I saw one of them beating a man as he cursed in Arabic. People say they are from Hezbollah.
These men barge into homes and threaten people by calling their families. And they are savage against peaceful demonstrators.
Hospitals are full of people injured by the Military Guard, yet the Supreme Leader of Iran called us seditious. We just want the right to a real vote.
This is the first time an American president did not interfere with Iran's situation -- and it's a good thing. In the past, U.S. support for the protestors led the Iranian government to punish the people more, accusing them of being spies for or taking money from the U.S.
But I think Obama must hear the message of the protests: Ahmadinejad's government is a lie. Now click through and read the rest of it.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009
06:54 ||
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#2
This situation illustrates the importance of our Second Amendment. If the Iranian people had been armed, this would have been sorted out days ago.Our old CIA would have responded to this need.
#3
They don't have pity on anyone. Some of the police cannot speak Farsi. I saw one of them beating a man as he cursed in Arabic. People say they are from Hezbollah.
Or they could be...these guys.
Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of," the young man went on, "is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots." Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.
On Monday, he said, "my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people's money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too."
It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad "tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel." His hope, he added, was that Israel would "come to its senses" and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.
When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi'ites, sent by Hizbullah, he rejected the idea. "Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country."
Spreading sweetness and light wherever they roma...
#5
Iran has adopted Hamas and Hizbullah as the leading proxies of the Teheran regime. The opposition sources said Hamas agents, recruited in the Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon, were used to attack Iranian dissidents and student protesters since 2001.
About 5,000 Hizbullah and Hamas fighters have been deployed to quell the anti-government protests, the sources said. They said Hizbullah and Hamas operatives, waving truncheons, were heard shouting in Arabic as they rushed groups of demonstrators.
Both Hamas and Hizbullah were said to have a permanent presence in Iran. The sources said IRGC has been training more than 500 Hamas and Hizbullah operatives a year and often pulled them out of courses to help in internal security.
IRGC was also said to have used Hizbullah tactics against the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in 2008. At the time, Hizbullah employed groups of armed fighters in motorcycles to overrun political parties aligned with the pro-Western coalition of Siniora.
"It [Iran] must adopt the Hizbullah method of organizing large public demonstrations to confront the supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi," Lebanese analyst Anis Nakash, a supporter of the Teheran regime, said.
The sources said the use of motorcycles by Hizbullah, said to have been developed in 2006, was seen in IRGC and Basij operations against pro-Moussavi demonstrators in Teheran and other cities. They said motorcycles enabled anti-riot squads to move quickly from one area to another through the crowded alleys of Iranian cities while reducing their vulnerability to attack.
Hizbullah has also taught anti-riot tactics to the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. The sources said Basij officers with Palestinian accents were seen shooting toward protesters. Other suspected Palestinians were said to have been ordered to beat demonstrators on university campuses.
"They [Hamas agents] are given jobs that Iranians won't do because they are either too ashamed to do this or scared they will be identified," another opposition source said.
...An essential part of the ACLU's complaint is that poorly managed terrorism watchlists make it easier for the government to abuse or destroy innocent Muslim-American charities. It's worth noting these specific criticisms, because a few years ago the ACLU agreed voluntarily to screen its own employees using the federal terrorism watchlists. According to Wendy Kaminer, a former ACLU board member, the organization has for years been giving what amounts to a paid endorsement of terrorism watchlists....
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Desperate for money and wooed by a man offering cash and favors, the men accused of trying to blow up two temples and other terrorist activities had little choice but to go along with the plot, the family of three of the four men said last night at a forum sponsored by supporters. "They got themselves into something they didn't know how to get out of," said Alicia McWilliams of the Bronx, the aunt of David Williams, one of the four accused in the temple bombing plot dubbed the Newburgh Four.
Williams, 28; James Cromitie, 44; Onta Williams, 32; and Laguerre Payen, 27, have pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment accusing them of plotting to blow up two Bronx synagogues and shoot down military aircraft at the Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor.
Last night, David Williams' mother and aunt, Cromitie's fiancee and Onta Williams' girlfriend appeared at the headquarters of WESPAC Foundation, a social justice organization, to talk about how their lives have been affected. Family members and friends of the accused men have labeled the case entrapment in the wake of their arrests on May 20 in the Bronx by FBI agents and New York City police. The four were described as reluctant participants in the plot who had no interest in bombing temples or harming people but because they were desperate for money went along with a man who was relentless in his recruitment of them, family members said. The man had been coming to the Newburgh mosque - where two of the accused occasionally attended Friday prayers - offering $25,000 to worshippers to join in some undertaking and talking about jihad, Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad, head imam at the mosque has said. The man turned out to to have been an FBI informant.
McWilliams, who was the only family member willing to be quoted by name at the forum, said she believes her nephew wouldn't have gone through with the plot and "probably thought they were going to get one on" the informant. "We are not like that," McWilliams said. "We're not raised that way." McWilliams and other family members said what the men were accused of trying to do was wrong, but that they would not have gotten involved had they not been desperate for money and had the FBI and informant not pursued them. "Money is at the root of all evil," McWilliams said. Herbert Hadad, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined yesterday to comment.
During a June 5 hearing in U.S. District Court, David Williams III, the father of accused plotter David Williams, said the FBI and the informant had lured his son into the plot with the promise of money. A family friend, Essence Ross, said after an earlier court hearing that the FBI's informant promised Williams $25,000 to pay for his brother's liver transplant.
The four men were arrested after they planted what they thought were C-4-based explosives outside the synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx on the night of May 20, federal authorities said. Their plan was to drive back to Orange County and shoot down the planes with a Stinger shoulder-held missile system, authorities said. The FBI had supplied the explosives and rocket launcher to an informant to give to the men. The devices were duds, federal authorities said.
WESPAC, which had members sit in support of the men at their June 5 hearing, sought donations last night for the men's family members. Nada Khader, the group's director, pledged to rally support for the men, accusing the FBI of targeting the men. "This is what makes this most vile - they are targeting the most vulnerable," she said. "They're going after people who are victims of capitalism, victims of white supremacy."
#2
Well, they are victims of the notion that adopting a muzz identity can mitigate society's response to their thug tendancies...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/19/2009 10:10
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#3
"This is what makes this most vile - they are targeting the most vulnerable," she said. "They're going after people who are victims of capitalism, victims of white supremacy."
Ahhhh...if the victim card don't work, let's toss in a race card to back it up.
Terrorists Separatist militants shot and killed three Muslim men in Thailand's south as violence intensified in the troubled region, police said on Friday. An unknown number of terrorists militants shot dead a 29-year-old man on Thursday night as he returned home from evening prayers at a mosque in Yala province, before dumping his body on a village road, they said. In the same province, terrorists separatists shot two Muslim males while they ate dinner - a 21-year-old who died at the scene and a 16-year-old who died later at a local hospital.
Thai security forces late on Thursday sealed off a village in Yala and shot dead four terrorists separatist militants.
Terrorists Insurgents in the Muslim-majority region have targeted both security forces and civilians - Buddhist and Muslim alike. Thailand's government is struggling to curb the recent surge in violence, which included a bloody attack on a mosque in which gunmen shot dead 11 people during evening prayers last week. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday raised the possibility of making the south a special administrative zone as a political solution to the unrest but he ruled out granting any form of autonomy.
Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were within the law, declaring the private sector -- not government -- will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care.
"I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in," the former president said to applause from members of a local business group. "You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money."
Repeatedly in his hourlong speech and question-and-answer session, Mr. Bush said he would not directly criticize the new president, who has moved to take over financial institutions and several large corporations. Several times, however, he took direct aim at Obama policies as he defended his own during eight years in office.
"Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States," he said to huge cheers. Whaddaya mean? Nobama seems to be pulling money right out of thin air!
Mr. Bush weighed in on some of the most pressing issues of the day: the election in Iran, the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, and his administration's interrogation policies of terrorists held there and elsewhere. The former president has not commented on Mr. Obama's decision to ban "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding, which the current president has called "off course" and "based on fear." Kinda weak coming from a guy who's too afraid to comment meaningfully on what's going on in Iran. I wonder what your reaction will be when the Norks fire off their first ICBM towards Hawaii.
"The way I decided to address the problem was twofold: One, use every technique and tool within the law to bring terrorists to justice before they strike again," he said, adding that the country needs to stay on offense, not defense. On Guantanamo, which while in office Mr. Bush said he wanted to close, the former president was diplomatic.
"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," he said. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that -- persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind." What if they promise on a stack of Holy Crayons?
The Obama administration has started to clear out some of the more than 200 detainees at the facility. And Britain is so happy about it, too.
Repeating a mantra from his presidency, he called the current war against terrorism an "ideological conflict," asserting that in the long term, the United States needs to press freedom and democracy in corners across the world.
Mr. Bush did not directly address Mr. Obama's response to the election in Iran, which some critics have called tepid, but he did make clear that the outcome is very much in dispute. For a fifth straight day, as the Obama administration walks a tightrope by issuing little criticism, protesters gathered in Tehran to demand a new election.
"Clearly, there's a level of frustration on the Iranian streets," Mr. Bush said. "It looks like it's not a very fair election."
Mr. Bush returned again and again to the economy, and sought to defend his own actions after the financial meltdown in the waning days of his second term -- Mr. Obama repeatedly has said he inherited that mess.
"I am told, 'If you do not move strongly, Mr. President, you will be a president overseeing a depression that will ultimately be greater than the Great Depression,'" Mr. Bush said. "I firmly believe it was necessary to put money in our banks to make sure our financial system did not collapse. ... I did not want there to be bread lines, to be a great depression."
He said his administration sought to address the "housing bubble" before the system broke down. "We tried to reform" mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "but couldn't get it through the vested interests on Capitol Hill." Next time use the Bully Pulpit.
Still, Mr. Bush was optimistic, pressing, as he did as president, free trade, open markets and the free enterprise system. "We'll come out of this better than before," he said to more applause.
But he was less than convinced about Mr. Obama's move to overhaul the health care system.
"There are a lot of ways to remedy the situation without nationalizing health care," Mr. Bush said. "I worry about encouraging the government to replace the private sector when it comes to providing insurance for health care." OK, do it in parallel and snap the private sector back into line. AFAIAC, private healthcare as personally experienced in the ER is below socialized standards. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think a ten minute CT scan is worth $1700. Sorta makes me wish I could follow the money.
Asked by the evening emcee at the 104th annual Manufacturer and Business Association meeting if he finds the new president's policies "socialist," Mr. Bush started -- then stopped.
"I hear a lot of those words, but it depends on --" he said, breaking off. He later offered a more diplomatic assessment: "We'll see."
Wednesday's speech to hundreds of high-paying association members -- "premium" tables at the city's convention center went for $1,500 -- was just the second post-presidency speech by Mr. Bush on U.S. soil (his two major speeches were both in Canada).
He was loose and relaxed, his nose a bright red from nearly a week in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he joined his family in celebration of his father's 85th birthday. Mr. Bush told some of his new set stories: How just a month after leaving office he was picking up his dog Barney's poop off a manicured lawn in his Dallas neighborhood; how he's experienced his first red light in 14 years (he served six years as Texas governor before being elected president).
His Secret Service detail, however, was not relaxed: This was the first event in which audience members did not have to pass through metal detectors. Outside, a tiny group of protesters and supporters -- about 10 people on each side -- faced off on opposite curbs. One man held a sign that said, "President Bush, thank you for saving all the babies." On the other side: "Arrest Bush." Those with a message vs. those without.
But the former president got a big cheer when he walked out on stage -- even bigger than Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State coach who was also on hand for the event. The former president noted that America has a funny political system: "You're it, then you're not it -- instantly."
He lamented the politics of personal destruction that he said is rampant in Washington, noting, though, that it has always been thus. Recalling how a treasury secretary and a vice president once fought a duel, he joked: "At least when my vice president shot somebody, it was an accident." Personal destruction? I wish it was just personal. Politicians under the spell of special interest groups have assured that destruction has spilled over into almost every household in America. Thanks, A-holes. We little people can't say how much we appreciate it.
During a question-and-answer session, Mr. Bush recounted tough decisions he made in office. Still steely, the former president said he left Washington with the same moral resolve. "When I look in the mirror, I say, 'He did not sell his soul for short-term politics.'"
Asked about the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he first learned of the terrorist attacks while in a classroom full of children in Florida, Mr. Bush said he simply found an inner resolve.
"I realized that we were in crisis, and the first thing I do in any crisis ... is calm. If you're president, and all of a sudden the whole world is watching you, and you get up and do something precipitously, frighten children, storm out, that kind of movement will cascade through a society," he said. You'll have to use smaller words to explain that to the Donks, I'm afraid. They criticized your lack of instant precipitous reaction.
In answer to a question about what he learned as president, Mr. Bush smiled broadly. "There's so much stuff coming at you," he said to laughter. But turning serious, he said, perhaps to his successor: "You don't know what's going to come when you're president. You just have to be ready for it." Hear that, Noob?
The inability and/or willingness of W and his father to make use of the bully pulpit has twice handed the country over to jackals.
I sometimes wonder if, despite his understanding of the need for boots on the ground in the ME and the existential threat of Islam, under it all, W had a touch of the loyalty to transnationalism that the inherited wealthy seems to possess (generally speaking) these days.
The next Republican President is going to have to be someone who can communicate better than either of these men ever did, and not be afraid to take names and to exact retribution on the left for their behavior right now.
It won't be someone from the Bush clan.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/19/2009 5:49
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#3
I really think this is tame and purposely so. He did not "slam" Obama but merely pointed out there are other different opinions. This is a far cry of the action by Dimmy and Bubba during Bushes term in office.
#4
"When I look in the mirror, I say, 'He did not sell his soul for short-term politics.
For the most part he can say that with a clear conscience. W is a Country Clubican or as he would say a Compassionate Conservative. However, one has to wonder if he laments his decisions (or lack there of) regarding the Iraq war in the months leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections.
#5
I'll be happy when the Bush's, Kennedys, Clintons, Kerry's, Gore's and McCain's all leave politics. W got iraq right but was too much of a rino for my liking. I still believe he did what he thought was right. Same w/McCain, I just can't stomach the country club elite repubs anymore. They're basically blue dog dems that know how the economy is supposed to work.
#6
He said his administration sought to address the "housing bubble" before the system broke down. "We tried to reform" mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "but couldn't get it through the vested interests on Capitol Hill."
He should have been screaming bloody murder. He should have been twisting arms. You can say he was preoccupied with the war or whatever. But if the money's all gone how are we gonna pay for the frickin' war? This and amnesty were his biggest mistakes, IMHO.
CALIFORNIA State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has tried to encourage lawmakers to pass a tough budget by sending them a sculpture of bull's testicles.
Califonia is facing a $US24.3 billion ($30 billion) shortfall this year.
Senate President Darrell Steinberg wasn't amused, sending Schwarzenegger a note in return lecturing him on not taking proceedings seriously.
The steel, football-sized testicles came back, too.
Perhap Mr Steinberg was miffed that the Governator's attempt at humour was better than his own attempt to raise a laugh by sending Arnie a bag of mushrooms.
Schwarzenegger had claimed the Democrats' budget proposals to deal with the shortfall were hallucinatory.
Mushrooms? Geddit?
Schwarzenegger and the Democrats have had a somewhat uneasy relationship after he famously termed them "girlie men".
Mr Steinberg's spokeswoman, Alicia Trost, said the relationship between the Governor and the Senate was "good".
"We've got more important things on our plate right now than to waste any more time on such trivial matters," she told The Associated Press.
#2
Hey Arnie, good try. You know, I know and most of California knows the Democrats are uniqueeunuchs. Suggest you resend the "sculpture" next door to Nevada. Harry has been missing his for years.
#9
Arnie's gift was pefectly appropriate, but I'd suggest he could use them for himself, since he has been totally been beaten into submission by the state's democrats and unions. Or maybe he could just go back on steroids.
#11
The facts being this year the Democrats have painted themselves in a corner. They and they alone have spent the state broke. Right now the leaders are looking (without success) for someway to place the blame on Arnold or the GOP. Once a day one of them gives a press conference and breathlessly says they are going to have to cut services and then runs back into their hole to watch for reactions. So far everyone is cool with the cut in the bloated services and more importantly WHO is getting services. I would propose that before anyone gets welfare, food stamps, disability check, gets a free lunch, or attends public school they need to prove they are here legally. The legislature says that illegals only account for $6 BILLLION in services, so can be sure the figure is much higher.
On the street reporting, including one soldier who won't fire on his people.
Reporting from Tehran -- Neither side can drown out the other. Both so far are exercising a measure of restraint. But as authorities try to rein in Iran's most serious unrest since the Islamic Revolution, they face a diverse opposition united in its rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his policies.
After days of ignoring or dismissing the criticism, authorities appear to have recognized that they're unable to use their hold over electronic communications networks and state-controlled broadcasting to quell the protests over Friday's election. They have started implementing a softer approach in public. But they may not understand the depth of the problem they face.
"We had one vote and we gave it to Mousavi," said one placard at Wednesday's rally. "We have one life and we'll give it up for freedom."
The result Wednesday was the third mass protest rally in as many days, which witnesses said drew tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, onto the streets of Tehran.
And new protests are planned for today. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who lost to Ahmadinejad in an election his green-clad supporters regard as fraudulent, has asked backers to go to local mosques to pay tribute to those killed in the protests. Within a culture steeped in the Shiite Muslim mystique of martyrdom, each death may motivate rather than discourage activists.
In a culture that reveres martyrdom, it isn't wise to create more martyrs ...
Whether or not Ahmadinejad won a majority of votes in the election, a large segment of the population rejects his vision and leadership. Critics complain that he is popular among only a limited swath of Iranians of a certain religious and social background, the pious lower-middle class who continue to treasure their rural roots.
His modest lifestyle appeals to many who are fed up with official corruption, and he has used the country's oil wealth to finance payments to the poor. But Iran is also suffering from high unemployment and inflation, and the president's opponents fear his foreign policy will lead to isolation from, if not open conflict with, the West.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Geo News] The security forces continued the search operation in Darra Adamkhel areas of Bostikhel and Sheraki, Geo News reported Thursday. According to sources, the forces arrested at least 90 suspected people during the search operation. The security sources said the forces pounded on two hideouts of militants in Bostikhel and Toor Chhapra.
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Thirty-four more Taliban were killed and five soldiers injured in crossfire during search operations in Malakand during the past 24 hours, security forces said on Thursday. A statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations said Kabal had been cleared of the Taliban, adding that seven Taliban had been captured. It said security forces had also established a new camp for internally displaced persons in Jalozai.
[ADN Kronos] The International Committee of the Red Cross reiterated on Thursday its demand that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit be allowed regular contact with his family.
Since Shalit's capture in June 2006, the ICRC has repeatedly asked the Gaza-ruling Hamas movement to allow the exchange of Red Cross messages between Shalit and his family. The most recent requests were made at the highest level, but these and all others have been refused. On Wednesday, former US president Jimmy Carter was in Gaza and reportedly delivered a letter to Hamas officials written by Shalit's parents to be given to the kidnapped soldier.
"We welcome the fact that yesterday former US president Jimmy Carter handed Hamas a letter from Gilad Shalit's family to him," said Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle East and North Africa. "However, this cannot replace the regular and unconditional contacts with his family that Gilad Shalit is entitled to under international humanitarian law."
The ICRC said it "regrets that political considerations are judged more important than the simple humanitarian gesture of allowing a captive to be in touch with his family after three years of separation."
However, deposed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said on Thursday that Shalit's release depends on Israel's will.
"We are keen to end this case on a humanitarian and political basis, but everything is subject to the position of the other side (Israel)," Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader and former Palestinian prime minister, told reporters. "If true intentions are available, there will be a solution very soon."
Repeated requests by the ICRC to visit Gilad Shalit to ascertain his conditions of detention and treatment have also been refused, says the organisation.
Shalit has been held captive by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip for almost three years. He was seized by militants in a cross-border raid on 25 June 2006.
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#1
requested a seance, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 14:51
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#2
Wow, principled action from the ICRC. This almost calls for a flying pig graphic.
[Quqnoos] Coalition forces Thursday said they recently arrested a Taliban commander, Mullah Shah Mohammad in Farah province
The Afghan forces and their coalition counterparts were conducting a clearing operation in a remote village to disrupt militant activity, a US statement noted. The Taliban commander was arrested in Dizak village of Farah province. In the operation, Mullah Shah Mohammad who is termed a known Taliban leader by the US forces was arrested. A cache containing multiple weapons, homemade explosives and opium was removed from Mohammed's compound during the sweep of the area, the statement added.
Taliban militants have not yet made any comments on the claim. The offensive forces faced Taliban confrontation during a continued search of the area, according to US forces, several Taliban fighters were gunned down.
This article starring:
Mullah Shah Mohammad
Taliban
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A suicide car bomber killed Somalia's security minister in his hotel in the central town of Baladwayne on Thursday, Al Arabiya TV reported.
The pan-Arab news channel reported that Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was killed but Reuters news agency quoted a ministry official in Baladwayne as saying Aden had survived the strike.
Mohamed Abdi, a shopkeeper near the hotel, said smoke was rising from the building, government forces started shooting after the blast and body parts were scattered in the street.
Aden moved to Baladwayne at the start of June with heavily-armed troops in a bid to recapture more territory from hardline Islamist insurgents outside Mogadishu.
Islamist group al-Shabaab, which Washington says has links to al-Qaeda and has hundreds of foreign fighters in its ranks, has been spearheading attacks on government forces.
A senior al-Shabaab official said after a deadly suicide car bomb attack on a police headquarters in the capital on May 25 that there would be more suicide strikes in the coming days.
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Michigan's unemployment rate jumped to 14.1 percent in May, its highest mark in nearly 26 years, according to a state report released Wednesday. The monthly seasonally adjusted rate is the highest recorded in the state since reaching 14.2 percent in July 1983. The rate is up from 12.9 percent in April and 8.2 percent a year ago.
The state's job situation likely will get worse as state economists predict Michigan's unemployment rate could average 14 percent this year and more than 15 percent in 2010. The struggles of the domestic auto industry including bankruptcies of Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. have hit Michigan particularly hard.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm had warned the latest jobless report would be ugly prior to its release. "It's not good, and it's not unanticipated given what's happening in the automotive sector," Granholm told reporters Wednesday. "As we've said all along, in this summer, things are going to get worse before they get better, and today's unemployment number is a reflection of that."
Several states have not yet reported their May unemployment rates. But Michigan likely will remain the state with the nation's highest jobless percentage.
#2
The taxpayer is going to end uo infesting billions into Detroit to try to save it instead of letting economics dictate. And we're going to wait as long as possible so as to make that effort more expensive and less effective.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/19/2009 0:43
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#3
infesting billions into Detroit
Prolly a typo, but much funnier and closer to the truth this way.
#5
The 65 Million that voted for DemObamarats last November made an Infestment in Washington. Wait until next April 15, after you pay your taxes; because of this infestment, you will want "change", after all thats all you will have left in your pocket.
#6
Ok Rantburgers, take a look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unemployment and Consumer Price Index (CPI) projections at the link and tell me this is going to get better anytime soon.
#7
When FDR Barry begins issuing Gas Ration Stamps or vouchers to "the selective needy" to pay for $9.00 per gallon gasoline, a light may come on. No guarantees however.
#8
The Detroitification of America has begun. Watching California and Detriot are examples of the Government impact on quality of life. Instead of fixing the problems they allow the cancer to grow to healthier areas.
#9
Oregon is just behind Michigan. I'm not worrird, though, the rest of the nation will catch up with us by next summer.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 9:30
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#10
Next year's April 15th is going to be a happy day for me, personally, Shusotch. The government's promised to mug an array of more-productive members of society for the sake of my new split-level condo & its cherry new mortgage.
Of course, April 2011's going to be a day of mourning and penury for yours truly, but them's the breaks.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/19/2009 9:46
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#11
More like locusts, or measured looting.
Mitch, havn't ya heard that tax free day is being extended into August and gonna have taxes due on April 1st?
/sarc, I think
#12
Gov. Jennifer Granholm had warned the latest jobless report would be ugly prior to its release. "It's not good, and it's not unanticipated given what's happening in the automotive sector," Granholm told reporters Wednesday. "As we've said all along, in this summer, things are going to get worse before they get better, and today's unemployment number is a reflection of that."
So don't worry about it folks. We knew it was comin, so it's not a big deal. Okay?
Of course, I can say that because I have a job.
#13
And the proposed OWG-NWO GREAT LAKES - and NORTHEAST FREE TRADE ZONES, as per the alleged NORTH AMER HIGHWAY, RUSSIA CONNECTING TO ALASKA = ALCAN, ARCTIC, + OBAMA'S PROPOSED NORTH ATLANTIC LINK TO EUROPE???
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea would attack Japan if another war with the reclusive country erupted as a result of efforts to implement recently strengthened U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang over its second nuclear test, a U.S. scholar said Wednesday. Selig Harrison, Asia Program director at the Washington-based Center for International Policy, who visited North Korea in January, sounded the warning during a House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing on North Korea policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
The Norks have no ability to project power other than a few not-so-reliable missiles. I don't see it happening except maybe as a dying gasp.
#2
The Norks undoubtedly have agents in Japan who could instigate terrorist attacks, probably with the help of Japanese communist sleeper cells. Indeed, they may be able to do this in the US itself.
#3
Think GW1 and Saddam's Scuds launched at Israel -not a military move but a political one. No positive outcome, but what else can the little putz do?
#4
The little putz has missiles, nuclear material, and chemicals, brainwashed agents to use them, and is a member in the Club of Evil, willing to share with any terror group who can pay the price. The US Navy is currently tracking a suspect cargo now, which will be seen as provocation. The WAPO article on insurance fraud exposes how naive many are and why he has been allowed to get so far with his dangerous games. With everyone so slow on the draw, we have no idea what has already been exported or where agents or their proxies are currently located. I'd say the US would be target numero uno, and our allies secondary, which would include Japan.
#5
The so-called peace movement undoubtedly has elaborate contingency plans for mobilizing all its resources on behalf of the North Koreans if war actually breaks out. Nork agents would be foolish to miss this opportunity for recruiting saboteurs and terrorists under media-furnished cover.
The peace hypocrites briefly pursued the idea of sabotage right after 9-11, one group going so far as to announce a plan for its pawns to invade Vandenburg Air Force Base and destroy vital equipment. This was hastily called off after the agitators went public, probably for 2 reasons:
1. The Air Force's threat to shoot saboteurs and trespassers on sight.
2. The lack of any covert support from the foreign beneficiaries, since AQ in the US had other things to worry about just then.
With the current administration in power, the first may not be repeated. As for the second, the Norks' far superior and well-documented capability in international and covert action would undoubtedly come into play.
#6
The little putz has missiles, nuclear material, and chemicals, brainwashed agents to use them, and is a member in the Club of Evil, willing to share with any terror group who can pay the price. The US Navy is currently tracking a suspect cargo now, which will be seen as provocation. The WAPO article on insurance fraud exposes how naive many are and why he has been allowed to get so far with his dangerous games. With everyone so slow on the draw, we have no idea what has already been exported or where agents or their proxies are currently located. I'd say the US would be target numero uno, and our allies secondary, which would include Japan.
[Quqnoos] At least two civilians were killed and another four were injured in a roadside bomb blast in Kandahar on Thursday A construction engineer and a child were killed in the blast that shocked Kandahar city at around 12:00 pm today.
According to provincial officials, the bomb was rigged in a motorbike which was parked close to the provincial police headquarters. The bomb blew up in front of a private firm in the troubled Afghan city. Identities of the wounded four people are yet unknown. No parties, including the Taliban militants have claimed immediate responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Quqnoos] Three Danish soldiers died in the Afghan southern Helmand province after a roadside bomb struck their vehicle Wednesday, military sources said
The incident takes the death toll of the Danish soldiers to 25 since Denmark joined the US-led mission in Afghanistan in 2002.
The vehicle was leading a convoy between two military bases in the southern Afghan province of Helmand -- the stronghold of the Taliban militants -- when the bomb hit the troops.
The soldiers were seriously wounded in the blast and they were flown by a helicopter to a British army hospital where they died.
"Three Danish soldiers have lost their lives as they worked to make the life safer for us all," Denmark's Prime Minister, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, said in a statement.
Denmark, a NATO ally who is going to lead this organization from August on, has around 700 soldiers in Afghanistan and more than 600 of the troops are stationed in Helmand, where fighting with the Taliban has been fiercest.
Wednesday's casualties were the single fatal incident for Danish soldiers in the past six months.
Britain and Denmark and the two close allies operating against insurgency and drug trade in Helmand, the single Afghan province that produces most of the world's narcotics.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Israeli envoy has sparred with head of UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, over what Tel Aviv calls 'bias' over a probe into Syria's atomic program.
Israeli ambassador Israel Michaeli on Thursday made his accusation against ElBaradei at a meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board.
Michaeli called on ElBaradei to stay away from political bias in dealing with Syria's nuclear dossier.
"Israel has responded timely and in good faith to the question addressed to it regarding the possible origin of the uranium particles, traced in the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour," Michaeli said.
"Therefore the repeated calls by the director general on Israel to cooperate with this investigation are redundant."
The head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for his part, described the Israeli envoy's statement as "totally distorted."
"We work here in an organization that is an organization of international law. We apply international law, not selectively, but across the board," ElBaradei said.
"When Israel took it upon itself to destroy a facility, what was claimed to be a nuclear facility, without giving the agency the opportunity to verify that ... this was not only making it almost impossible for us to establish the facts, but it was a clear violation of international law," he stressed.
ElBaradei also referred to Tel Aviv's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and said, "Israel is not even a member of the regime to tell us what tools are available to us. We would appreciate it if you could stop preaching to us how we can do our jobs."
"You cannot sit on the fence, making use of the system, without being accountable," he added.
ElBaradei also snubbed the accusation of bias.
"To say that I am biased, I will not dignify that with a response. I will leave it to the board, who can decide whether we are doing our work with the required impartiality and professionalism," the head of UN nuclear watchdog said.
The IAEA has announced in the past that satellite pictures taken before the Israeli bombardment of the site of the nuclear reactor in Dair Alzour showed premises similar to that of a reactor. This is while Damascus declines to elaborate on the satellite pictures.
The UN nuclear watchdog has long been investigating US intelligence reports suggesting that Damascus had nearly constructed a nuclear reactor through cooperation between Syrian and North Korean nuclear scientists.
Syria says its atomic procurement efforts are of civilian nature and related to water purification, the steel industry and shielding material for radiation therapy centers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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BEIJING: China has expressed "strong dissatisfaction" over the Asian Development Bank's decision to approve a $2.9-billion funding plan for India which includes projects in parts of Arunachal Pradesh still under dispute between the two countries.
The Chinese government said on Thursday the ADB had "tarnished" its name by approving the plan and urged the bank to reconsider its decision.
The ADB's Board of Directors met on Monday to approve India's country strategy for 2009-12, which includes a $60 million flood-management programme in Arunachal Pradesh. China still has claims on parts of the State, and talks to resolve the long-running border dispute between the two countries have made little progress.
The Chinese government accused the bank of playing politics by granting approval for India's projects. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" over the decision.
"The Asian Development Bank, as a regional developmental institution, should not interfere in the political affairs of members," he said. "The bank's move not only seriously tarnishes its own name, but also undermines the interests of its members."
Mr. Qin said the outcome "[did] not change the fact that China and India have huge territorial disputes," and could not change China's "fundamental position on the border issue."
The Chinese government "strongly urged" the ADB to "take effective measures to eliminate the negative impact of this move," he added.
But there is still some uncertainty whether the specific projects in the disputed areas will go ahead. Ann Quon, Principal Director, Department of External Relations, ADB, said in an e-mail message to The Hindu that the ADB's Board of Directors had on Monday only given "broad support for the general development thrust and direction of the Country Strategy" for India. Individual projects and programmes, she said, "would require separate approval by the Board of Directors."
Ms. Quon rejected the Chinese government's suggestion that the ADB had in any way involved itself in the political dispute between the two countries. She said "only economic considerations" were relevant to the bank's decision, in accordance with Article 36 of its charter which prohibits the bank from involving itself in the political affairs of its members.
"The ADB takes no position on territorial disputes between its members," Ms. Quon said.
She said the bank would issue "suitable guidelines for its staff on dealing with proposed activities in disputed areas."
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] Detained former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu revealed significant information regarding February 25-26 BDR mutiny during his third phase one-day remand. "We are verifying the crucial information gleaned from Pintu during interrogation," investigation officer of the mutiny case Senior Assistant Superintendent of CID Abdul Kahar Akand told The Daily Star.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday ordered to send Pintu to custody. Metropolitan Magistrate Mominul Hassan passed the order, as Criminal Investigation Department (CID) did not seek further remand. The court also turned down a bail petition by Pintu's lawyers. Earlier, on June 16, CID sought a one-day fresh remand to glean the names of people who contacted Pintu over cell phone during February 25-26 BDR carnage.
In the remand prayer CID mentioned that it had already identified some people from Pintu's cell phone call list but a few are yet to be identified which required further interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested the Finance Officer (FO) of the British High Commission on charges of human trafficking on Thursday. According to FIA sources, the immigration staff at the Allama Iqbal International Airport arrested Muhammad Usman a few days earlier while he was trying to travel to England on fake visa documents.
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06/19/2009
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[Maghrebia] In the coming weeks, African heads of state are expected to sign an agreement to ban the financing of terrorism, particularly through ransom payments made to terrorist groups holding hostages. This new measure should add to the legal weaponry put in place by the African Union to fight terrorism.
Will this stop the Europeans from ransoming tour groups that went to just the wrong Folklorika performance?
The African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism (CAERT) kicked off a three-day meeting in Algiers on Wednesday (June 17th) to prepare a 2010-2013 action plan, in the presence of the UN anti-terrorism co-ordinator, the European co-ordinator, and Algerian accredited military attachés.
The conference comes in the wake of the slaying of British hostage Edwin Dyer by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an act condemned by both the Maghreb and international communities.
Terrorism is the primary threat to the African continent's security and stability, said CAERT Director Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra, ever since the GSPC allied itself with al-Qaeda and deployed across the Sahel countries.
Then there is drug trafficking, which has transformed the region from a transit area into a consumer market. Other issues include piracy in Somalia, and also in the Gulf of Guinea and the Niger Delta, in addition to recurrent conflicts in Darfur, North Kivu and Somalia. The problems connected with the proliferation of small arms and people trafficking were also raised.
"The continent wants to find an answer to these threats, by setting up an alert system and laying the foundations for peace and security," said Diarra. "The Algiers meeting will be an opportunity to examine... the difficulties they have encountered on the ground, with a view to preparing the 2010-2013 action plan."
Gilles de Kerchove, counter-terrorism co-ordinator with the European Union, reiterated the EU's support for the efforts made by the African Union in the fight against terrorism. He reminded attendees that his organisation has already contributed one million euros to help the CAERT, and will help further once the institution states its precise mission and requirements.
We won't bother to ask how much of that contribution was available for the project after all unofficial retirement accounts were fully funded.
De Kerchove also outlined the European strategy for stamping out terrorism, a legal approach founded on the rule of law and respect for human rights.
He also mentioned the problems of getting the various security services involved in the fight against terrorism to work together.
His counterpart at the United Nations, Mike Smith, said that 24 UN agencies aid in the fight against terrorism, and not only in providing equipment or training police officers. Its first aim is to establish a worldview that defines and delegitimizes terrorism.
How can they do that when the UN delegates cannot agree on an actual definition of the word?
Since terrorism is a cross-border phenomenon, Smith continued, it can best be tackled through international agreements. He said the UN is ready to lend support in the form of technical expertise, and expressed his wish to see relations between his own institution and the CAERT strengthened.
Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, Peace and Security Commissioner for the African Union, recalled how the African heads of state met in Algiers in 1999 to adopt the anti-terrorism convention. He said that a draft bill on preventing terrorist financing will be put before a meeting of member states in a few months' time.
Lamamra said the AU adopted a treaty declaring Africa a nuclear weapon-free zone, to dissuade terrorist groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Similarly, he reminded those present that Africa had signed up to the convention on chemical weapons.
Algerian presidential adviser Rezzag Bara shared some of his country's experiences in fighting terrorism.
"Algeria has built up its own experience and in-depth knowledge of the problem," he said, "[equipping] itself with the political and operational means needed to reduce terrorism's capacity to cause harm."
Despite these efforts, Rezzag said, "terrorism is still able to adapt".
He described the need for a global need for reconciliation, which he called "the political dimension of the fight against terrorism".
"The ideological dimension, represented by indoctrination and the manipulation of religious teaching in order to recruit more terrorists, must be stamped out," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[ADN Kronos] Saudi Arabian police are reported to have arrested 71 foreigners accused of homosexuality in the capital Riyadh. According to a report in the Arab daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, police raided a party in the al-Manar district of the capital and arrested the group.
Several residents are reported to have notified police about people who were doing things that did "not conform" with Islamic sharia law. When police arrived they reportedly found people wearing "indecent" clothes and conducting themselves in an "indecent" manner. Seventy Filipinos and one Yemeni were arrested by police.
A few weeks ago police arrested 55 young men accused of homosexuality at a party at a farm in the Sihat area.
Homosexuality and cross-dressing are widely seen as immoral acts and are treated as serious crimes. While the kingdom has faced criticism from human rights organisations, it insists that it always acts in accordance with Sunni Islamic law.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
While nothing excuses Saudi repressive actions, being gay and moving to work in Saudi Arabia should qualify for a Darwin Award of sorts.
The head of an association of madrassas (seminaries), Mufti Munibur Rehman, has sought government protection after receiving death threats for denouncing the Taliban, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The appeal comes one week after another anti-Taliban cleric and Rehman's friend Dr Sarfraz Naeemi was killed in a suicide attack on his madrassa in Lahore.
"I am a target and have received threats," Rehman, the president of Tanzeemul Madaris Pakistan, said over the telephone from Karachi. He, however, did not provide details of the threats.
Last month, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on clerics across the country to speak with a united voice against terrorists who perverted the teachings of Islam.
"The government's statements that they have provided us with security are lies," Rehman said, who was one of the first clerics to issue a religious verdict against suicide bombings in 2005. "We ourselves don't have the resources to hire private security."
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06/19/2009
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[Kyodo: Korea] The U.S. Navy is monitoring a North Korean ship at sea under new U.N. sanctions that bar Pyongyang from exporting missile and nuclear-related items, Reuters news agency reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials. The vessel, called Kang Nam, is based in North Korea and became ""a subject of interest"" after leaving a North Korean port on Wednesday, the officials were quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
ION WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC US "MARINE CORP TIMES" MEDIA: OVER-RELIANCE ON GPS MAY LEAD TO MANY US SOLDIERS, MARINES TO LOSE TRADITIONAL MAP-READING AND OTHER PHYSICAL LAND NAVIGATION SKILLS.
So-o-o IOW, think the kids' movie "ANTZ"> LEAF FALLS IN FRONT OF LEAD WORKER ANT WHOM SCREAMS "I'M LOST" TO LONG SINGLE-FILE ANT COLUMN BEHIND HIM, and widout realizing he could just walk around the leaf on either side to safely resume the trail???
#2
"The Media" has no idea how Marines are Army troops are trained, otherwise they would understand that the TROOPS aren't "over-dependent" on anything but their weapons. Many Marines are quite capable of inflicting heavy casualties with little more than a K-bar and some heavy cord. Maybe "the media" should go through Paris Island before they're allowed to comment on Marines.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/19/2009 4:07
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#3
If a Nork missile landed in Hanauma Bay Barry would do absolutely nothing. Gibbs would simply say...... "it landed harmlessly in the ocean."
My guess is China has already issued guidance it's to the administration.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/19/2009 12:52
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#5
DRUDGE/TOPIX > VARIOUS > seems the USN = USA is sending the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS JOHN MCCAIN to intercept a NOKOR vessel allegedly carrying nucmats.
Also from TOPIX > SINGAPORE WARNS OF ACTION IFF NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR VESSEL HEADS ITS WAY.
#6
DRUDGE/TOPIX > VARIOUS > seems the USN = USA is sending the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS JOHN MCCAIN to intercept a NOKOR vessel allegedly carrying nucmats.
Also from TOPIX > SINGAPORE WARNS OF ACTION IFF NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR VESSEL HEADS ITS WAY.
Though the White House seems to have been on a recruiting mission to get Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to run for the Senate, asked what President Obama, White House chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett were up to when they met with her Friday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama was not going to endorse anyone. But then again Gibbs also said, "the president's not going to get involved in this race," when it seems he has already, by virtue of the meeting.
A Madigan spokesman told me on Wednesday Madigan flew to Washington alone on a commercial jet Friday to discuss a Senate bid. Madigan and Obama were seatmates when they served together Illinois state senate.
#1
"Madigan and Obama were seatmates" - as in "Hot Seats" (?) or is it the "Big O" and might be challenged on statements he makes supporting her candidacy ? - Ranty minds want to know.
#2
I can just picture daisy fields and seat mates running through them. The sun is shining and all is good. Rahm Emanuel is waiting at the end of the path to take them to happy land. Not. Another Chicago thug making their way to the beltway.
Posted by: Art ||
06/19/2009 10:37
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[Maghrebia] At least 24 Algerian gendarmes are dead following a terrorist ambush Wednesday (June 17th) near Bordj Bou Arreridj (250 km east of Algiers), local and international press reported. According to local security services, two bombs struck a 6-vehicle convoy escorting workers for the East-West highway project around 8 pm near Oued Mehier. None of the civilian road crew workers, mostly Chinese nationals, were killed in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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JENNIFER RUBIN
As was commented upon here at CONTENTIONS, and widely reported and remarked upon elsewhere, the Obama Justice Department took the unusual action last month of dismissing a default judgment against the New Black Panther Party in connection with a case of voter intimidation on Election Day on November 4, 2008. Members of the NBPP were caught on film blocking access to the polls and physically and verbally intimidating voters, even going so far as to wield a nightstick in front of voters and poll watchers. The Justice Department's lawyers gathered evidence, obtained the affidavit of former civil rights advocate Bartle Bull, and filed a complaint. When the defendants did not respond and the court invited the Justice Department to file a default judgment, the case was inexplicably withdrawn.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has now taken up the issue and sent a letter to Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, demanding an explanation. By a vote of 4-0 (with one member abstaining for reasons not yet clear), the Commission members voted to send the letter seeking to get to the bottom of this. After setting out the facts which gave rise to the original Justice Department complaint, the Commissioners explain:
Though it had basically won the case and could have submitted a motion for default judgment against the Party and its members for failing to respond to the Division's complaint, the Division took the unusual move of voluntarily dismissing the charges against all but the defendant who waived [sic] the nightstick. Yet even as to that remaining defendant, the only relief the Division requested was weak - an injunction prohibiting him from displaying the weapon within 100 feet of any polling place in Philadelphia. It has since been revealed that one of the defendants had been carrying credentials as a member of, and poll watcher for, the local Democratic committee.
The Commissioners write that the previously announced efforts by the Justice Department to play an aggressive role in enforcing voting rights "ring hollow if they are not accompanied by swift, decisive action to prosecute obvious violators." The Commissioners ask that the Civil Rights Division advise the Commission of the rationale for dismissing the charges against defendants and of its evidentiary and legal standards for dismissing certain charges in cases of alleged voter intimidation." They further ask for information on "any similar cases in which CRD has dismissed charges against a defendant."
#1
if they were honest the response from DoJ would be,
"We dropped the case because we want to encourage the intimidation of poll watchers. Unless the poll watchers are intimidated we can't maximize the dead vote, the illegal immigrant vote and the felon vote."
Posted by: Lord garth ||
06/19/2009 8:26
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gonna give rise to some unpleasant "blow back" next election
The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last weeks presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji Islamic volunteer militiamen is also expected to be bussed in to support the Supreme Leader.
The demand was made at a meeting this week with representatives of all three candidates who claim that the poll was rigged, and it puts Mr Mousavi on the spot. He has become the figurehead of a popular movement that is mounting huge demonstrations daily against the theft of last Fridays election by President Ahmadinejad, the ayatollahs protégé.
Mr Mousavi, 67, is a creature of the political Establishment a former revolutionary and prime minister who would like to liberalise Iranian politics but has never challenged the system in the way his followers are doing. It was unclear last night what he would do or even whether the protests would die away if he backed down. Yesterday tens of thousands of demonstrators packed into the Imam Khomeini Square in Tehran named after the founder of the Islamic Republic for another massive rally, this one to mourn protesters killed in Mondays clashes with pro-government militias.
Men, women and children from all backgrounds came dressed in black, with green wristbands, the colour of the Mousavi campaign, and staged a two-hour vigil. Some held banners bearing the names or pictures of the dead, and placards proclaiming My martyred brother, we will get back your vote or We have not had people killed to compromise and accept a doctored ballot box.
There was near silence until Mr Mousavi arrived with his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and the throng broke into chants of Mousavi! We support you! With almost ecstatic fervour, the traditional lament for Shia Islams most important martyr, Ya Hussein! was answered by the defeated presidential candidates forenames Mir Hossein!
Mr Mousavi was accompanied by Mehdi Karoubi, another of the defeated candidates. He attempted to speak from the top of a car using a loudhailer, but few could hear him.
As the protesters departed just before dusk they left behind little shrines of black candles placed around photographs of the dead. It encourages us to follow their path, fighting for the vote, one woman said.
It was the sixth day of demonstrations and first to be held in the poorer south-central district, an apparent effort to dispel notions that the protesters are middle-class or pro-Western.
The Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics whom the Supreme Leader has asked to investigate claims of electoral fraud, said it had received 646 complaints of irregularities. It has invited Mr Mousavi and the other two candidates challenging Mr Ahmadinejad Mr Karoubi and Mohsen Rezai to set out their grievances tomorrow and will decide on Sunday whether to order a recount. Nobody believes that it will. The Supreme Leader controls the council and is widely believed to have asked it to investigate as a way to play for time.
Mr Ahmadinejad defended the vote, telling a Cabinet meeting yesterday that the ideals of the Islamic Revolution were the winners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Rat Boy (Ahmadinejad) took off to Russia shortly after the unprecedented public outcry against him and his terrorist thugs for stealing the 'election'.
Since the Kremlin has armed the Iranian dictatorship, supplies the nuclear fuel and nuclear technicians for Iran's offensive nuclear weapons quest, we should not be surprised if Putin informs Rat Boy that in order for him to retain dictatorial power, coupled with the ruling mullahs, he better pick a fight with an outside enemy, as in Israel, in order to attempt to somehow rally the Iranian public behind his dictatorship, instead of the ongoing enormous rejection of his repressive régime -- or -- as in Putin's Russia, continue bumping off the opposition leadership, coupled with Tehran's Islamic thugs committing acts of murder in order to totally terrorize the entire population into submitting. After all, that's how things are done in brutal totalitarian Stalinist & Islamic tyrannies.
Keeping in mind North Korea, another one of Russia's Axis of Evil cohorts, has threaten to fire a nuclear missile at the Hawaiian Islands, maybe even right at Pearl Harbor, indicating the Putin dictatorship is once again using Russia's anti-Western proxies to stir up trouble in various parts of the world, so the Russians can make a military thrust elsewhere, as in a repeat attack against Georgia.
Whatever happens, we can not expect effective counter measures against the anti-American aggressors -- with the likes of Obama Inc in the White House.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/19/2009 4:27
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Good analysis. wish I could say you were wrong on any of your points.....
[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi submitted a petition to the supreme leader to call for an investigation into elections results that the defeated candidates said showed 646 violations that saw incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide.
As Mousavi called for the formation of an unbiased committee whose mission would be to probe violations that took place before and during the election process the Islamic Republic's top legislative body, Guardians Council, agreed to meet election candidates on Saturday to discuss complaints.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state, said he was asking the Guardians Council, a 12-member body made up of jurists and clerics, to examine the complaints of irregularities. But Mousavi's petition set a list of demands that the committee being formed should adhere to and called for non biased members of country's top governing bodies to be part of the committee.
Mousavi also laid out a list of issues he would like investigated including but not limited to the interference of the authorities in the elections, the abuse of power, the number of voters and vote buying.
Meanwhile Iran's Intelligence Ministry said it had uncovered a foreign-linked terrorist plot to plant bombs in mosques and other crowded places in Tehran during the June 12 presidential election. State broadcaster IRIB quoted a ministry statement as saying several terrorist groups had been discovered, adding they were linked to Iran's foreign enemies, including Israel. "Members of one of the uncovered networks were planning to plant bombs on election day at various crowded Tehran spots, including Ershad and Al-Nabi mosques," the statement said, referring to two prominent mosques in the capital. It said this plot was uncovered on election day.
646 violations
Meanwhile a Guardians Council spokesman, Abbasali Khadkhodai, told state television that one candidate had cited 390 violations, a second 160 and the third 96. He did not identify the candidate making each number of violations. The three defeated candidates include Mousavi, reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the conservative former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai. Official results gave Ahmadinejad outright victory in the election without the need for any second round run-off.
Without revealing his identity, Khadkhodai said one of the candidates had cited 390 violations of which 51 cases were of ballot paper shortages or of delays in delivering them to the polling stations.
" We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85 percent of the revolutionary people in the June 12 election, which was a display of the Islamic republic's greatness and dignity throughout the world "
Clerical body says with no mention of protests
Also on Thursday, Iran's top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, hailed the mass turnout in the June 12 presidential election but stayed silent on the disputed results. "We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85 percent of the revolutionary people in the June 12 election, which was a display of the Islamic republic's greatness and dignity throughout the world," it said in a statement read out on state television.
The 86-strong body is headed by influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was the target of mudslinging during the campaign by Ahmadinejad.
The Assembly of Experts blamed the "enemy" for creating "unrest and riots," which have been labeled as the worst show of government disapproval since the 1979 revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Geo News] Political Administration launched a crackdown against the foreigners in Bajaur Agency and arrested two of them, Geo News reported Thursday. The forces have moved the foreigners to unidentified location. Meantime, Political Administration launched a crackdown on the Mamond tribes and arrested at least 16 tribesmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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On this day in history: June 19th.
1269 King Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver.
1846 The first baseball game under recognizable modern rules is played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
1862 U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying the Dred Scott Case.
1865 Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 13 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.
1870 After all of the Southern States are formally readmitted to the United States, the Confederate States of America ceases to exist.
1875 The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1910 The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
1944 First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York.
1961 Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom.
1978 The Garfield comic strip debuts and grows to over $1 billion in revenue within over 110 countries.
1982 In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University in Beirut, is kidnapped.
Very long piece at WaPo; worth the read. Just the first part here.
For Kim Jong Il's birthday, North Korean insurance managers prepared a special gift.
In Singapore, they stuffed $20 million in cash into two heavy-duty bags and sent them, via Beijing, to their leader in Pyongyang, said Kim Kwang Jin, who worked as a manager for Korea National Insurance Corp., a state-owned monopoly.
Kim said he helped arrange the shipment and watched in February 2003 as the cash was packed. After the money arrived, Kim Jong Il sent a letter of thanks to the managers and arranged for some of them to receive gifts that included oranges, apples, DVD players and blankets, Kim said.
"It was a great celebration," he said.
The $20 million birthday present and the gratitude of its recipient, who is known as the Dear Leader, were annual highlights of a sophisticated global insurance fraud that North Korea has concocted to provide its communist leadership with hard currency, said Kim, who spent five years as an executive of the state insurance company in Pyongyang and worked for a year at its banking subsidiary in Singapore before defecting to South Korea.
"This money helps keep Kim Jong Il in power at a time he is engaged in nuclear brinksmanship," said David L. Asher, who supervised a State Department unit that attempted to track various illegal activities by North Korea during the Bush administration. "This is the gift that keeps on giving. It has become one of the North's largest illicit revenue generators."
In interviews and court documents, Western insurers, U.S. officials and defectors such as Kim said the impoverished and isolated North Korean government has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from some of the world's largest insurance companies on large and suspicious claims for transportation accidents, factory fires, flood damage and other alleged disasters. Still, recent attempts by international insurers to overturn North Korea's claims have failed in British courts.
For years, the U.S. government and law enforcement agencies around the world have documented what they describe as state-sponsored criminality in North Korea. They have linked the North to illegal manufacturing and trafficking of drugs ranging from heroin to Viagra, as well as to expert counterfeiting of $100 bills and the production of high-quality counterfeit cigarettes.
Much less has been disclosed about North Korea's international insurance claims, in part because they have been cloaked in legal settlements by firms with no interest in highlighting their losses.
"The exact scale of the fraud is hard to determine . . . because the insurance industry has been so gullible," Asher said. North Korean insurance fraud "was absolutely something I should have been looking into more when I was running the [State Department's] illicit activities initiative," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
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#1
Who would even be stupid enough to write a policy for the North Koreans? I think this is just greedy insurance companies getting burned. Heck, we know acceptance criteria are crap.
Some brokers and companies, he said, thought they were dealing with a company from South Korea, while others were unaware that North Korea is a secretive totalitarian state with one of the world's worst human rights records.
And I was right! Anyone need more proof that the entire financial services sector is run by idiots claiming that they're talented?
#4
so lets see.... in the latest Triumvirate of Evil, we have NKorea, Iran and Syria. Remembering Richard Armour's definition of a triumvirate - "it's where two guys get together and say uncomplimentary tings about a third...", who doesn't belong in this list:
In which Rantburg cites, with approval, a post from HuffPo ...
by Shirin Ebadi
On Monday, June 15, more than 1 million people marched in the streets of Tehran to support Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi -- two defeated presidential candidates -- and to object to the results of last week's election. Their destination was Azadi Square (Freedom Square) which, at the time of the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago, had been the gathering spot for revolutionaries. Mir Hossein Moussavi climbed on top of a minibus and spoke to the people through a loudspeaker. He told them to continue their objections but refrain from aggressive behavior, in order not to give security forces an excuse to resort to violence.
Peaceful demonstrations ended, and while people were slowly dispersing to go home, suddenly, from the rooftop of a building belonging to Basij (the volunteer people's militia), shots were fired on the people. Another group started firing from another direction. Based on reports, there are seven killed and around 30 wounded and hospitalized thus far.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
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#1
"I Have a Dream"
The best solution for establishing peace in Iran consists of:
1. The unconditional release of every individual arrested and imprisoned for having objected to the results of the elections. Retroactive to 1979
2. Ordering the cessation of Basij andBastasd police violence toward protestors.
3. Declaring the election void. (And running Dinner Jacket over with a camel)
4. Ordering new elections under the auspices of international organizations. (Yeah bring back Coffee Anin)
5. Paying compensation to the injured (physically and civily) and to the families of those who have been killed. ((Since 1979)) (All expense paid relocation to the destination of your choice - any Iranian should qualify)
Calm could perhaps be brought back to the Iranian society (the three people that remain in the country) if these conditions are met. Otherwise, there is a great possibility of increased violence in Iran
#2
I would point out that both candidates hate America and want to wipe Israel off the map. While it's nice to watch from the cheap seats I don't care which team wins and hope both would lose.
#3
Dinnerjacket probably considers Ms Ebami one of the least important people in Iran. She has very little influence inside the country but a lot of influence among liberals in the US and EU.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/19/2009 13:05
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Dressed in a lime green Middle Eastern style abaya, or dress, American socialite Paris Hilton entered the conference room and bid the eagerly awaiting media with a "Salam Alaikum," Arabic for hello, a day after she arrived in Dubai to film a new season of her raunchy reality show.
The hotel heiress who has only been in Dubai for only 24 hours is already besotted with the glitzy town as she told the press: "Dubai is hot, hot, hot and not just literally."
"I love the Middle Eastern culture and want to learn more about it. The women here are very beautiful and their dresses are certainly a lot more elegant than what women wear in Hollywood," Hilton told a press conference held at the Inter Continental hotel.
The socialite said she had big plans to enjoy the culture and wanted to go for a camel ride and get a henna tattoo as well as swim with the dolphins, meaning she would be headed to the luxurious Atlantis hotel, which launched last year with a massive celebrity-studded party as the financial crisis hit.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
Yokay-y-y, I'll bite, what is it about DUBAI thats getting my various les femmez cousins, immediate andor extended, all excited to go or move or work there???
#9
a day after she arrived in Dubai to film a new season of her raunchy reality show.
This ought to cause a few pious Arab (little) heads to explode. Riots in 3,2,l.
Posted by: ed ||
06/19/2009 11:14
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#10
A camel ride, is that like a donkey punch?
Joe, I have no idea..I have a family member who visited; I guess its what all the cool kids are doing. 6 star hotels, vegas-in-the-gulf without all the 'sin' and you get to sneak around for a beer like living with the parents again.
Like I GaS, but this is an excellent way to drum up tourism and say, "Hey, we'll have a skank like hilton show up and we can prove how progressive we are".
Personally I think people going to Dubai to party is glorified cow tipping.
#13
Here's an eye-opening (also stomach-churning, bile-inducing, and BP-spiking) look at the real Dubai. If Paris does swim with the dolphins, she should make sure it's in a well-treated pool.
#14
xbalanke--Thanks for that link. That was like watching a car wreck... tragic, yet so fascinating you can't turn away. Sounds like this place will be a perfect fit for someone of such fine moral character as Ms. Hilton...
Posted by: Dar ||
06/19/2009 17:48
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#15
I didn't realize there was a pop-up edition of the art of war...
#16
from xbalanke's link "All over Dubai, crazy projects that were Under Construction are now Under Collapse. They were building an air-conditioned beach here, with cooling pipes running below the sand, so the super-rich didn't singe their toes on their way from towel to sea."
The Eastern Turkistan Islami Party has trained a female suicide bomber in Waziristan, a private TV channel reported on Thursday. Citing a letter dispatched by Punjab Home Secretary Nadeem Hasan Asif to law enforcement agencies, it said the female bomber was wearing an abaya, and could target any building or important personalities. He warned all Punjab departments concerned to remain alert and vigilant, saying Turkistan Party terrorists also have plans to plant pipe bombs at key installations. Solution's pretty simple: no jeans, no tee-shirt, no admittance.
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06/19/2009
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[Maghrebia] In a statement issued on Wednesday (June 17th), the Malian Defence Ministry said a major counter-terrorism operation began June 10th in the "Sahel-Sahara band" of Northern Mali and the border region with Algeria, Niger and Mauritania, AFP reported. The offensive follows the recent execution of British hostage Edwin Dyer and the assassination of a senior Malian intelligence official in Timbuktu who was investigating al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
"These operations are justified by growing threats in this area, such as the taking of hostages, which are now cross-border and affect people's daily lives" the ministry statement said, without disclosing the number of troops involved in this first-ever offensive targeting al-Qaeda terrorists in northern Mali.
On Tuesday, Malian armed forces seized an al-Qaeda terrorist base in the northern Timetrine region near the Algerian border, killing as many two dozen terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Geo News] Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar Thursday said the picturesque Swat valley has been cleared from the miscreants, the operation is virtually over and targets have been achieved.
In an Interview with a local news channel, he said initially armed forces were unable to take any serious action because of the presence of population there. Once the trouble zone is vacated there was no stopping and the whole operation in Swat valley is virtually ended.
He was optimistic that internally displaced persons (IDPs) would start moving to their native places from Saturday the June 20.The process of returning home would take about a month and a half.
The next offensive would be against Baitullah Mehsood. The Mehsood threat is not very serious but he is creating chaos and unrest by sending suicide bombers across Pakistan.
Right now government does not have any specific information about the whereabouts of Baitullah Mehsood. As soon as information is received, forces will hit him with the support of F-16 and precise laser guided bombs, he concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
All of Swat valley cleared of miscreats? What is it with this guy? Sounds like he is a perpetual April Fool. My sympathies to his family.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 16:29
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt on Thursday forcibly deported four Chechen students to Russia, where rights group Amnesty International says they risk being tortured, but delayed the deportation of a key warlord's son.
"What's he worth to ya, Pops?"
Four students among dozens rounded up by security services on May 27 were put on a flight to Moscow. Mashkud Abdullaev, whose father Supyan is fighting Russian rule in Chechnya, was not, an airport official said.
The official said two students due to be deported, including Abdullaev, had missed the plane. Russian Vice Consul Yusup Abakarov told AFP they would be put on a plane "maybe tomorrow." "There is a problem with the decision," he said, declining to elaborate.
The students had been rounded up for suspected links to an alleged al-Qaeda cell responsible for a Feb. 22 bombing in Cairo's tourist district in which one person died. Amnesty said about 35 Russian students, mainly from the provinces of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, were arrested in May during a wave of detentions of foreign students at al-Azhar.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency said it had asked the Egyptian government grant it access to the men.
Abdullaev, who had been studying at Cairo's renowned al-Azhar Islamic University since 2006, has been held incommunicado since his arrest, London-based Amnesty said.
The students all claim to have refugee status in Azerbaijan, but the Egyptian authorities insisted they return instead to Russia where they face torture or other ill-treatment, Amnesty said.
It added that four other students arrested at the same time were deported to Russia on June 9, where Russian and Chechen security forces handcuffed them and took them away on arrival. One of the four has since disappeared and is believed to have been moved to Chechnya.
Amnesty says it regularly receives reports of detainees being tortured in Russia, while in Chechnya detainees are at risk of torture, extrajudicial execution and enforced disappearance.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
abuse the Egyptian hospitality by booming tourists, don't expect tears or fears if they ship your beturbanned ass to Russia.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2009 9:40
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#2
Ha ha!
Posted by: Nelson Muntz ||
06/19/2009 17:52
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"Egypt on Thursday forcibly deported four Chechen students to Russia, where rights group Amnesty International says they risk being tortured"
What's the downside?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/19/2009 18:01
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[Iran Press TV Latest] One person has been shot dead during demonstrations in favor of former Haitian president which erupted at a funeral service for a well-known priest.
"It was one of our supporters. He was killed by Brazilian UN soldiers," one of the demonstrators told Haitian television.
Thousands of people had turned out on Thursday for the funeral of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who died two weeks ago in Florida and was close to the former president Jean Bertrand Aristide.
"It seems that one person was killed close to the cathedral. The first reports we have show that the soldiers fired in the air," said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the UN forces in Haiti. "The blue helmets were apparently attacked by stone-throwing demonstrators from different parts of the town center."
The unrest came a day after a UN vehicle was set on fire by demonstrators demanding that UN forces leave Haiti, accusing them of using tear gas to end the protests. Haitian students have been demonstrating for the past two weeks demanding that the rate of the minimum salary should be revised. But the protests have regularly ended in violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched in early July from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country.
Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii's main islands, which are 4,500 miles from North Korea.
Details of the launch came from the Japan's best-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun. Both Japanese intelligence and U.S. reconnaissance satellites have collated information pointing to the launch, according to the report.
#1
WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC "SCUD UNION": CLOSE TECHNICAL COOPERATION BETWEEN NORTH KOREA AND IRAN ON DEVELOPMENT OF BALLISTIC MISSLES, ENERGY, ARTILLERY SYSTEMS, AND BATTLEFIELD MICRO-WEAPONS. WMD-CAPABLE ARTILLERY SHELLS.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA DEFECTORS: WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM ENRICHMENT FORCES NORTH KOREA TO USE UP APPROXI 1/3 OF ITS ELECTRICAL POWER GRID [all sources]. NORTH KOREA FORCED TO COVERTLY FOCUS ON DEV OF NUCLEAR, WMD/CBRN-CAPABLE ARTILLERY SYSTEMS AND NUCLEAR-WMD COMMANDO STRIKE OPERATIONS TO WIN IN WAR AGZ SOUTH KOREA, DETER US-JAPAN MIL INTERVENTION OUT OF FEAR OF PROVOKING CHINA.
#2
WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC "SCUD UNION": CLOSE TECHNICAL COOPERATION BETWEEN NORTH KOREA AND IRAN ON DEVELOPMENT OF BALLISTIC MISSLES, ENERGY, ARTILLERY SYSTEMS, AND BATTLEFIELD MICRO-WEAPONS. WMD-CAPABLE ARTILLERY SHELLS.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA DEFECTORS: WEAPONS-GRADE PLUTONIUM ENRICHMENT FORCES NORTH KOREA TO USE UP APPROXI 1/3 OF ITS ELECTRICAL POWER GRID [all sources]. NORTH KOREA FORCED TO COVERTLY FOCUS ON DEV OF NUCLEAR, WMD/CBRN-CAPABLE ARTILLERY SYSTEMS AND NUCLEAR-WMD COMMANDO STRIKE OPERATIONS TO WIN IN WAR AGZ SOUTH KOREA, DETER US-JAPAN MIL INTERVENTION OUT OF FEAR OF PROVOKING CHINA.
#8
Since I'm sitting here on Kaua'i with a gutless self-serving moke for a President, I'd like to thank all you folks out there who wouldn't vote for McCain 'cause he wasn't a real conservative. Way to go.
#9
Don't worry there TH, its a favorite retreat for the family should be safe.
Slightly on topic, slightly off, I've noticed that the talking point for anti-missile defense types around here has changed from "unproven waste of time and money" to "that weapon system". Still against it, but admit it works.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead Friday prayers in Tehran in the presence of the Basij volunteer Islamic militia, the Mehr news agency said on Thursday.
"Alert Basijis... with their epic presence, will take part in Friday's prayers to be led by Ayatollah Khamenei," the agency quoted a statement issued by the militia.
The Basij, which has been at the forefront of the crackdown on protesters, also warned the defeated presidential candidates who have complained about the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that they must "explicitly dissociate themselves from the rioters".
Supporters of defeated challengers Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have said they will join the prayers, for the rare occasion they are being led by Khamenei.
The Basij called for all sides to "avoid provocative actions."
[ADN Kronos] A joint Iraqi-United States forces raid arrested ten people on Thursday in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, according to police. The arrests followed a search in al-Huwaiyja district's Tabah village. Most of the suspects are wanted men and during the operation the joint security forces seized three unlicensed vehicles and six guns, the Voice of Iraq news agency cited Brig. Sarhad Qader as saying.
The arrests followed a hand-grenade attack late on Wednesday in Kirkuk's Baghdad Road region in which two civilians were injured, an unnamed military source in Kirkuk told VOI.
Also on Wednesday, police said they had arrested in the Iraqi capital Baghdad the alleged deputy commander of Al-Qaeda's military wing in Iraq.
Ahmed Abed Oweiyed is suspected of having masterminded last week's assassination of a prominent Sunni MP in Baghdad, Harith al-Obeidi.
Al-Obeid's death and continuing bombings have raised fears of increased violence as US troops are due to pull back from Iraq's urban areas by the end of the month.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] France's Muslim council hit out Thursday at a lawmakers' call for an inquiry into women who wear the burka, the head-to-toe Islamic veil, warning not to "stigmatize" the country's five million Muslims.
A group of 58 French MPs are asking for a parliamentary panel to look at ways to curb the wearing of the burka or niqab, which they describe as a "prison" and "degrading" for women and contrary to French secular principles.
The lawmaker spearheading the drive, Communist Andre Gerin, is mayor of the southern city of Venissieux, home to a large north African immigrant community, where he says the sight of fully-covered women has become commonplace.
"Green fascism"
" To raise the subject like this, via a parliamentary committee, is a way of stigmatizing Islam and the Muslims of France "
Mohammed Moussaoui, CFCM
"Our politicians need to stop acting so blind," Gerin said, describing the burka as evidence of a new "green fascism" led by Islamic fundamentalists.
Housing minister Fadela Amara, a Muslim-born women's rights campaigner, waded into the fray saying "we must do everything to stop burkas from spreading, in the name of democracy, of the republic, of respect for women."
"The worrying thing is that we are seeing more and more of them," she said, describing the burka as "a kind of tomb for women."
But Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the official French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), insisted full-body veils remain a rare exception among France's Muslim community, Europe's largest. "To raise the subject like this, via a parliamentary committee, is a way of stigmatizing Islam and the Muslims of France," he charged. "We are shocked by the idea parliament should be put to work on such a marginal issue," he said, saying lawmakers would do better to focus on the hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost in the economic crisis.
There are no figures on the number of women who wear a full-body Islamic covering in France -- and whether it is on the rise -- and lawmakers say that is one of the aims of the inquiry.
Gerin's measure is backed by several dozen deputies from President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party and is expected to come up for a vote in the National Assembly.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is rapidly deteriorating, prompting the hasty decision to name his third son Jong-un as heir apparent, sources told the Chinese press. The Global News, a sister paper of the official Peoples Daily, on Thursday quoted a foreign ambassador in Pyongyang as saying that Kim Jong-il's fragile health made the situation in North Korea "very complicated."
There's a warm spot on the bench next to Himmler for him ...
The envoy told the Global News that authorities in Pyongyang are keeping tight lid on information about Kim's health.
A North Korean source in Beijing said Beijing-based North Korean officials from Ponghwa Hospital, which is treating Kim's illness, are looking to import expensive medical equipment, which has become contraband since the North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. Pyongyang is also seeking to import an emergency helicopter from overseas. "Kim seems to be in serious condition," the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
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#1
HMMMM, HMMMMM, wehell, could explain WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC NORTH KOREA SENDS ENVOY ON SUDDEN SECRET/COVERT VISIT TO BEIJING.
#2
What are they going to do with an emergency helicopter? Fly Kimmie to the ER?
His 20is yr old son won't keep things going. NK is likely to crack up if he croaks now. Any general who takes power will lack the hereditary argument to rule and will not be uncontested.
#4
#3 So, any armchair diagnosticians want to give a prognosis on how long Kim's got, based on his earlier health and stroke last year?
Posted by: gromky 2009-06-19 03:01
About twenty years longer than he should have had, all things considered.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/19/2009 4:04
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#6
The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is rapidly deteriorating,...
Faster, please.
It's a pity he won't meet his fate at the end of a rope, but you takes what you can gets.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/19/2009 7:01
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#7
Kim Jong-il - Kim Old-Dead - You had your time, did nothing but crime. My wish for you RIH - Rest in H-LL - may you be visited by all you torched,starved,molested and may this be visited upon you until the end of time.
#12
I'd like to believe that the sanctions really are preventing them from importing the medical equipment that he needs. Might make some of the other piss ant dictators in this world think twice about their own anti-social behavior.
It's nice to see that buzzard hanging around ol' Kimmie.
#14
I'd like to believe that the sanctions really are preventing them from importing the medical equipment that he needs.
Not a chance. With the resources of a nation-state, anything can be bought and shipped in.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/19/2009 12:55
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#15
If Kimmie really is going out, is it possible he plans to go out with a "Bang"? Slight anxiety over that upcoming Missle launch, and whether it could possibly be armed. After-all, if Kimmie's reign is coming to an end, why not throw an "all in"?
Posted by: Charles ||
06/19/2009 14:06
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#16
The work with the pins and dolls is beginning to pay off.
A Christian man was stoned to death in Pakistan for drinking tea from a roadside stall designated for Muslims.
According to International Christian Concern (ICC) the man, Ishtiaq Masih, had ordered tea at a stall in Machharkay village, Punjab, Pakistan, after his bus stopped to allow passengers to relieve themselves.
When Ishtiaq went to pay for his tea, the owner noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a cross and grabbed him, calling for his employees to bring anything available to beat him for violating a sign posted on the stall warning non-Muslims to declare their religion before being served.
Ishtiaq had not noticed the warning sign before ordering his tea, as he ordered with a group of his fellow passengers.
Witnesses claim the owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.
The other bus passengers intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village. Ishtiaq died as a result of spinal, head, and chest injuries. The doctor who took Ishtiaq's case told ICC that Ishtiaq had excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.
A correspondent from the ICC confirmed that he saw a warning posted outside the tea stall, which read: "All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only."
#4
So will the non Muslim tea stall guys be able to whale on Muslims when they "don't see the sign"?
No that would be religious intolerance and will earn a visit from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights [abusers], worldwide condemnation, and riots in the streets of the Islamic world.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters marched for a national day of mourning for those killed in post-election clashes in a bid to keep up pressure on the authorities to repeat the vote in the country's biggest crisis since the 1979 revolution.
Witnesses said Imam Khomeini Square was packed with people dressed in black and holding candles, a day after Mousavi called on his supporters to gather in mosques or at peaceful rallies to show solidarity with the victims and their families.
"Where are our brothers?" read one banner in the crowd. "Why did you kill our brothers?" read another.
Iran's English-language state television has reported eight people killed in protests since official results from Friday's poll showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected.
State media said seven people were killed in an opposition protest in Tehran against what Mousavi says was a rigged election last week in favor of hard line incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran arrested two top elderly dissidents in a massive crackdown, a press report said on Thursday. Ebrahim Yazdi and Mohammad Tavasoli, veteran revolutionaries and leaders of Iran's Liberation Movement were arrested on Wednesday, the Etemad Melli newspaper reported.
Unofficial reports said Yazdi had been detained at a hospital emergency unit.
On his website, Mousavi called on Iranians to stage peaceful demonstrations or gather in mosques on Thursday following a "silent" protest rally held Wednesday by tens of thousands of supporters.
Iranian state television broadcast brief footage of the rally while foreign media, banned from reporting on the protests, relied on videos sent by users directly or via YouTube videos.
Grappling with the biggest wave of public anger in three decades of Islamic rule, Iranian authorities lashed out at enemy "plots," hauling in foreign ambassadors and rounding up scores of reformists.
The Islamic Republic accused foreign media of being a "mouthpiece for rioters" and threatened legal action against websites that publish material that "creates tensions" and issued a new warning to the foreign media, already facing tight restrictions on their work.
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said a dozen Iranian journalists and bloggers have been arrested and many others have gone into hiding.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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Contrary to the sense of chaos and violence offered in unsourced Twitter feeds, Iranian protests have been largely peaceful
Abbas Barzegar
Since the Iranian government has barred foreign journalists from recording the massive rallies in Tehran in the last two days, news outlets in the world have instead been forced to rely almost exclusively on video feeds from mobile phones, YouTube, and Twitter.
The images have splashed across the screen with the intensity of a horror film. Most of these feeds are sent without confirmation of where the events took place, who is responsible for recording them or even when they occurred. Nonetheless, their gratuitous display by some of the largest and most respected news broadcasters has left the impression that Iran is either under nationwide martial law or experiencing a bloodbath under complete darkness.
But, had the authorities here allowed open coverage of the rallies in the last 48 hours, they would have done themselves a favour. Since the announcement of seven deaths two days ago every gathering here has increasingly taken a more peaceful tone. Likewise the initial overreaction by the security apparatus seems to have been corrected.
Perhaps an eyewitness recap of the last few days of street violence can help give readers a non-Twitter view of Tehran.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
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#1
Congrats, dumbass. You're in Tehran, where everybody's holding their breath in a massive Mexican standoff. All the blood and gore seems to be coming from the provinces, where the non-Persian minorities are getting curbstomped like usual, away from the media & international attention.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/19/2009 9:43
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#2
Besides being a shill, he's wrong about how much better it would have been for the ayatollahs if the media could have reported. You'd still see the same scenes - if it bleeds it ledes. (not a typo)
Posted by: Phavith Prince of the Munchkins5585 ||
06/19/2009 12:11
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LAID off from Wall Street? The CIA wants you - as long as you can pass a lie detector test and show that you are motivated by service to your country rather than your wallet.
The Central Intelligence Agency has been advertising for recruits and will be holding interviews on June 22 at a secret location in New York.
"Economics, finance and business professionals, if the quest for the bottom line is just not enough for you, the Central Intelligence Agency has a mission like no other," one radio advertisement for the agency says.
"Join CIA's directorate of intelligence and be a part of our global mission as an economic or financial analyst. Make a difference in your career and for your nation," it says.
Ron Patrick, a spokesman for recruitment and retention at the CIA, told Reuters Television the agency had received several hundred resumes so far from applicants ranging from people just out of graduate school to laid-off bankers.
"It's going to be a very different use of their skill set than perhaps they've used on Wall Street," Patrick said.
Recruits will have to pass rigorous background and medical checks, as well as a polygraph, or lie-detector test.
Starting salaries range from around $60,000 for a new graduate to $100,000 for somebody with more experience, and top out at $160,000. Generous benefits are included.
Patrick said the agency would welcome worthy applicants from Wall Street, whose reputation has been tarnished by the financial crisis and revelations of lavish lifestyles and multi-million dollar bonuses at banks blamed for the meltdown.
"Typically the people that come to the CIA want to serve the government, they want to serve their countries. It's a different mindset perhaps than serving a company or serving profit as a bottom line," he said. "As long as they can make that attitude switch from profit being the motivator to serving their country, I think they'll fit in very well with us."
#5
Fifty years ago a banker was someone who would have had expertise in the sector of business he'd be working to finance. Today... I suspect there are too many bankers who went to work for the bank straight out of college and have never done anything else.
[Bangla Daily Star] Militants of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have started regrouping in the remote villages of four upazilas in the district.
Police sources said JMB members who fled their localities during the crackdown after the August 17 serial bomb blasts in 2005 have returned to their areas in Shibganj, Bholahat, Gomostapur and Sadar upazilas and invited people secretly to join with them. The JMB members collected arms from secret sources and trained up newly recruited members so that they can make arms and ammunition, police said. Under this situation, police arrested four JMB members in Shibganj and Bholahat upazilas and recovered four locally-made guns and 14 rounds of bullet from their houses in last five days.
Police said many women also got involved with the outfit, as the JMB members have targeted women and youths for their membership.
Acting on a tip-off, a special police team from Dhaka arrested Abdul Munib, 25, from Koilardiar Sannayasi village Wednesday night and recovered a shooter gun and three bullets.
Earlier on June 14, police arrested Abdul Mumin, 24, from Khorogpur village under Shibganj upazila with a shooter gun and three rounds of bullet.
Following his confessional statement, police detained Abdul Rakib alias Sumon, 22, of Shamjola village in Shibganj upazila, and Rabiul Islam, 22, of Musribhuja Sonarpara village in Bholahat upazila, and found the firearms. During the raids, police also seized books on jihad, three mobile phone sets and bullet-making materials.
Zannatul Hasan, superintendent of police of intelligence wing in Dhaka, said all the four arrestees admitted to their involvement with the outfit during interrogation. "JMB members made only grenade and hand bomb in the past. But they are now making arms and ammunition at different places of the district. This is a new dimension and police realised it after the arrests of four JMB men Chapainawabganj," he added.
He said the JMB members are making bullets from the gun of spray insecticide machine. They also trained up the newly recruited JMB members so that the newcomers can make arms and ammunition.
The arrested JMB members have been working under the leaderships of Shahadat and Selim of Gomostapur upazila, police said according to the confessional statements of the detainees. The two men are mainly leading the regrouping of JMB. Three JMB men were taken to four-day remand yesterday. Judicial magistrate court granted the remand for Abdul Rakib alias Sumon, Rabiul Islam and Abdul Munib. Another JMB member Abdul Mumin was also granted remand for four days. Shibganj and Bholahat police filed separate cases against them under the Arms Act.
This article starring:
ABDUL MUMIN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ABDUL MUNIB
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ABDUL RAKIB ALIAS SUMON
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
RABIUL ISLAM
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Democrats have found a way round the strict cash ban that US President Barack Obama endorsed on lobbyists, a report says.
Organizers introduced an "Issues Conference" for the morning-after the Democrats Lobbying fundraising dinner that cost USD 5,000 per-person.
The invitations did not only specify the conference was only intended for lobbyists but that it was subject to personal contributions, Politico reported.
An email obtained by Politico disclosed the details of the invitation sent to the Democrat lobbyists. "The Issues Conference is separate from the DSCC/DCCC events with President Obama."
Obama refuses to attend fundraising events that lobbyist are allowed to contribute cash, so organizers will not be able to collect money at Thursday night's dinner being held at the Tony Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
The president, however, would not be present at the conference, allowing the Democrats to dash in an estimated USD 3 million from the lobbyists.
The Democrats that had rejected Republicans ways at their fundraising event are now using the same method, although Democrats say Obama has not lifted a finger in promoting the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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#1
I'm agreeing with Iran Press TV? Who'd'a'thunk it?
[Maghrebia] A Moroccan appellate court increased the prison sentences for six terrorists convicted of involvement in the deadly 2003 Casablanca bomb attacks, MAP reported on Wednesday (June 17th). The group's leader, Saad al-Housseini, saw his jail term raised to 20 years from 15 years. Nicknamed "The Chemist", al-Houssaini is believed to have fashioned the bombs that killed 45 people in Casablanca. According to police, he and his network also recruited at least 18 Moroccans as would-be suicide bombers in Iraq.
This article starring:
SAAD AL HUSEINI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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The phenomenon described by Isi Leibler in "Bogus 'Zionist' Israel-bashers" (June 10) is not a new one.
In the 20th century, there were many elitists who despised democracy. They believed that the people didn't know what was good for them and that only they knew what was good for the people. Whenever they could, they seized power by revolutionary means and imposed a ruthless dictatorship which they called a "People's Democracy."
There are Jewish elitists in America today who despise Israeli democracy and believe the Israeli people don't know what's good for them and that only they have this knowledge. They wish to dictate to the Israeli people by persuading their president to force their policies on us.
No doubt there are many sincere but misguided lovers of Israel, just as there were many sincere and misguided liberals in the last century who supported Communism in the belief that the communists were building a just society in the Soviet Union.
Interestingly, those who finance the kind of organizations Mr. Leibler writes about, ostensibly out of love for Israel, have never invested a cent in Israel - neither built a hospital, nor donated money to any charity here.
GUANGZHOU, China (AP) -- Mrs. Chen can't imagine abandoning one of her two best friends: her scruffy terrier mutt and a white fluffy Pekingese mix with buggy eyes.
But that's what the government in this southern Chinese city wants the middle-aged housewife to do when a one-dog policy takes effect in Guangzhou.
Beginning July 1, each household can raise only one pooch. The regulation won't be grandfathered in, so families with two or more dogs will apparently have to decide which one gets to stay.
"It's a cruel regulation. These dogs are like family. How can you keep one and get rid of the others?" said Chen, who declined to give her full name because she feared the police would track her down and seize the dogs.
Such dog controls have touched off resentment among urban - mostly new middle class - Chinese in other cities. The Guangzhou measure comes as many are worrying about the economy, and there's potential for the regulation to trigger a public backlash.
The regulation appears to be part of an effort to control stray dogs in Guangzhou, once known as Canton. An hour north of Hong Kong by train, it is one of the richest cities in China and has a rapidly growing middle class that can afford to own dogs.
Many of the first-time pet owners don't bother to spay or neuter their animals and are new to the burdens of keeping an animal. The canines often end up on the street when their owners grow tired of raising a cute puppy that grew up into a big mutt and constantly demands care.
Guangzhou is also preparing to host the Asian Games next year, and crews have been scrubbing down and sprucing up the city of 12 million people. Reducing the dog population will likely mean cleaner sidewalks.
During the 2006 Beijing roundup, there were no reports of authorities entering homes to seize dogs. But witnesses accused the police of going through neighborhoods and collecting unregistered dogs from the streets, then beating them to death. In one county in the southwestern province of Yunnan, where three people had died of rabies, authorities killed 50,000 dogs, often clubbing them to death in front of their owners.
Dog owners in Guangzhou aren't sure if the one-dog policy will be strictly enforced. Often Chinese authorities announce a tough new law, launch a crackdown, then ignore the measure.
Chen, the owner of the Pekingese and terrier mixes, said her plan was to register one of her dogs with her parents. She said the Chinese are masters at finding loopholes and other ways to skirt around laws.
"In China, we have a saying," she said. "When the people at the top make a policy, the people at the bottom find a way to get around it."
#1
Right. The way to reduce the number of stray dogs is to force people to give up the dogs they have. What do the morons think will happen to the extra dogs? They will become strays!
If you really want to reduce the number of strays, round them up and give them to people. Force them to take care of them. That way, there will be no stray dogs - every dog will will have an owner.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/19/2009 23:00
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Sunni Ittehad Council clerics from across the country on Thursday threw their support behind the government in efforts to root out extremism and terrorism from the country.
The assurance came at a meeting between the clerics and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Parliament House. The delegation of clerics was led by Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman and Markazi Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan President Sahibzada Fazal Karim. The clerics told the prime minister that the military operation in Swat and Malakand should continue and be taken to its logical end. They also asked the government to take stern action against the madrassas involved in spreading extremism and terrorism.
Gilani said that clerics should take the lead in "portraying the true face of Islam". "Our forefathers preached Islam ... they did not spread it through force," he said, and called for the clerics to educate the masses that suicide bombings and killing of innocent people is un-Islamic.
"Terrorists are pursuing a foreign agenda of destabilising this Islamic nuclear state by enforcing their peculiar brand of faith, which is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan," he said. Gilani said the government signed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in good faith, but "when these people took the law into their own hands by challenging the writ of the state, the government had no other choice but to opt for a military operation." He said nobody could be allowed to create a state within state.
The prime minister branded the recent death of Sarfaraz Naeemi in a suicide attack "a national loss". He said Naeemi, who had declared suicide bombings un-Islamic, had given his life for a greater national cause. He vowed to bring those responsible for the clerics death to justice. Following the meeting, the delegation of clerics also sat through the proceedings of the National Assembly and the Senate.
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#1
An amazing transformation seems to be taking place then. I hope it continues.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/19/2009 16:05
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[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The leader of the Pakistani militant group, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Qari Tahir Yuldashev, has been injured in an attack in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region. Army spokesman Maj.Gen. said late on Tuesday that Yuldashev was injured in the northwest town of Makeen.
Shall we pray for sepsis?
Yuldashev is believed to be a key ally of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. He also said to be the third in command of the so called international Islamic front based in the Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The front is said to be headed by Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
He reportedly lives in South Waziristan which is protected by Mehsud, against whom the army is poised to launch an offensive.
Yuldashev commands between 2,000 and 2,500 Uzbeks who whom observers say form the backbone of the Taliban-led insurgency in North West Frontier Province's restive Swat Valley, where militants have been fighting to impose a strict version of Islamic law. He is considered Mehsud's ideologue and his fighters significantly buttress Mehsud's forces in his South Waziristan power base.
Previous reports from Pakistani security forces claiming that Yuldashev had been killed or injured turned out to be false.
Yuldashev is not considered a real threat for western troops based in Afghanistan as his main area of operations is Pakistan, where he allegedly stages attacks against Pakistani troops.
Yuldashev's Uzbek fighters are notorious for their brutality and for releasing to the media gruesome videos showing the agony of victims having their throats cut, typically with rusty knives. They are blamed for having 'trained' militants in such slaughter techniques in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Yuldashev and his fighters in 2007 survived an attempted coup against them by a Taliban commander Moulvi Nek Mohammad who was backed by Pakistani forces in South Waziristan. Nek Mohammad received arms and money by the Pakistani security apparatus in January 2007 and carried out a massacre of Uzbeks in which at least 250 were killed.
Following the attempted coup, Yuldashev and his comrades fled to neighbouring North Wazirstan's Shawal area.
After Nek Mohammad's rival Mehsud rose to prominence as Taliban commander, Yuldashev returned to South Waziristan and reportedly stayed with with Mehsud.
A faction of Uzbeks rebelled against Yuldashev's brutal practices but failed to form a breakaway group in North Waziristan as they could not muster enough fighters.
But if Yuldashev is killed, it is quite possible there will be a 'diaspora' of Uzbek fighters from South Waziristan, according to observers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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Hat tip niacINsight, an excellent blog with up to the minute news on all things Iran.
Riot police had driven off anti-government demonstrators and the sting of tear gas in the air was fading yesterday when the heavy-set man in a camouflage uniform grabbed me, shouting in Farsi, and pushed me into a throng of riot police.
They shouted while I waved my hand and said "Canadian" to no effect. Before I knew what was happening, I was whisked away on a motorcycle to the Interior Ministry headquarters, and taken to a large basement room.
Inside a concrete room to my left, I could see more than 50 others being made to stand in uncomfortable positions - on their toes with their hands pressed behind their heads. Some were covered in blood, and police with batons patrolled the rows, tapping some detainees on the shoulders with their sticks.
There was no screaming, just the sound of boots pacing on the concrete floor.
For a few terrifying hours yesterday, I was mistaken for an anti-government protester, giving me a glimpse into how the hundreds arrested over the weekend are being treated by authorities in a system where dissidents are known to "disappear" and not be seen again for months.
It all started when a few hundred supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi rallied yesterday to protest against the defeat of their candidate.
Men and women shouted slogans, waved flags and called for an end to the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Just like the day before, when election results were first released showing a bigger-than-expected victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad, police dressed in jet-black riot gear charged the crowd with batons, fired tear gas and struck whomever straggled behind.
Plainclothes officers hand-picked whomever they could, throwing them in vans and on black motorcycles to be driven off to unknown places.
I was walking by a checkpoint and an officer grabbed me and forced me onto a motorcycle. As soon as we stopped, I was grabbed from the bike by another officer and slapped across the head. Seven officers ran up to join in the slapping, and one punched me in the head. A large officer, about 6 foot 4 and dressed in camouflage, grabbed me by the neck, pinching my jugular but not my windpipe. His leather gloves cut through my skin and I was pinned against a van, my arm bent high behind my back.
I was then thrown onto a second motorcycle with one police officer in front of me and another behind, slapping me more and cursing during the quick ride around the corner.
When we stopped, an officer grabbed me, pinned my arm behind my back and led me into the bowels of the Interior Ministry headquarters - where so many Iranian dissidents "disappear."
We went down several flights of dark concrete stairs to a large basement room, where I was grabbed by the shirt and pinned against the wall, as more questions were shouted at me in Farsi - and as I caught glimpses of the others being treated far worse. I was separated from the protesters, and officers gathered around me, attracted by the spectacle of a foreigner.
Some pushed me, and I was worried I would be held and beaten for days. But two of the officers fended the others off. They took my camera to see whether I had photographed the riots, but I had already erased the images. I was questioned in broken English for about 20 minutes - sometimes held against the wall, sometimes allowed to stand while officers smiled and chatted.
A man then came downstairs and led me back up the dark staircase to the front of the building where a friendly, English-speaking officer photocopied my passport and press credentials.
"There has been a terrible misunderstanding," I was told. "There is a bad situation in Tehran, and sometimes the officers get confused," he said with a smile, while a plainclothes officer offered me water and tea.
In an almost surreal gesture, they introduced me to the riot police officer standing nearby, who shook my hand and said, "You are my friend," and, "Canada is good."
The officer told me I was free to go, and I was allowed to walk out of the Interior Ministry building with nothing more than bleeding welts on my neck and a swollen arm.
My journalist credentials and Canadian passport got me out of the Interior Ministry building, but dozens of others remained in that basement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/19/2009
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[Quqnoos] Unknown armed men gunned down head of the Oil Dept. in the stable northern province of Kunduz on Wednesday
Mohammad Nazem Jamal, the top government official in Shir Khan harbour on the Afghan-Tajik border, was shot dead on his way to office, provincial spokesman Mahbubullah Sayedi said.
The armed men kidnapped his driver and took away his vehicle, he said. According to the spokesman, gunmen stopped his vehicle on Kunduz-Shir Khan highway and killed him on the spot.
The reason is not clear yet, Sayedi added. Taliban militants who vowed to target Afghan government officials have not yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afghanistan's southern region has been the centerpiece of the Taliban-led insurgency over the past few years but the recent violence in northern Afghanistan indicates that the Taliban is spreading its influence in the country.
Kunduz is one of the restive areas in the relatively stable Afghan north where Taliban militants aim to target both security forces and government officials.
A few weeks ago, Governor Mohammad Omar of Kunduz was also wounded after his armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Kyodo: Korea] China on Thursday denied a Japanese media report saying that Kim Jong Un, third son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, secretly traveled to China this month and met with Chinese officials including President Hu Jintao. "The situation reported by relevant media does not exist at all," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular press conference. "Nope. Nope. Never happened."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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[Quqnoos] At least 6 militants, 2 police were killed and other dozen were wounded Wednesday in Khost gun-battle
Two other policemen were wounded in the fighting close to a government building in Spera District of the restive province, said Khost governor spokesman, Kochi Nasiri.
The fighting begun after a roadside bomb stuck a convoy of police force, heading to the district.
The blast has left no causalities, Kochi said. According to the provincial government spokesman, 12 suspected militants have been arrested who are believed to have facilitated the insurgents to carry out attacks and plant roadside bombs.
Khost is a volatile province in the eastern Afghanistan, on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where US president Barack Obama termed it the "most dangerous place in the world".
District governor Mohammad Azim who witnessed the incident occurred nearby his office, said militants launched heavy arms in the gun-battle that left two police dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The NWFP government has imposed a ban on the entry of Lal Masjid prayer leader Abdul Aziz for a period of one month under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 on Thursday, sources said.
An official told Daily Times that the government made the decision to safeguard public order in Hazara division. A cleric from Haripur had invited Aziz as a chief guest at the dastar bandi (convocation) of his madrassa and asked the government for permission, upon which the authorities banned his entry into the province.
An official said that Aziz was stopped from entering the province under sections 5(1) and (c) of the Ordinance of 1960 for a period of one month. Aziz may, however, file an appeal against this decision with the government, he added.
He said his entry was banned to stop Aziz from making inflammatory speeches or indulging in activities prejudiced to public safety and maintenance of good order in the NWFP. "His speeches, presence and activities may pose a threat to the peaceful atmosphere of the Hazara division, thus disturbing the law and order situation," the official added.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Saudi member of al-Qaeda surrenders himself to Yemeni authorities after weeks of being tracked down with the help of information obtained from already captured Qaeda members, Al Arabiya TV reported Thursday.
Early investigation with Qaeda's main sponsor in Yemen Hasan Hussein Bin al-Wan who was arrested last week in Mari, east of the capital Sanaa, helped security forces arrest Naif al-Harbi and uncover Qaeda networks in the country, according to unnamed security sources.
Three foreign hostages were killed this week after being seized in the mountainous Saada province in an attack that an analyst said bore the hallmarks of Qaeda. Yemen has pledged to hunt down those behind the rare killing of three hostages identified by officials as two German nurses and a Korean teacher, and offered a reward of $275,000 for information leading to the capture of the kidnappers. Yemeni authorities have blamed the Houthi tribal group, who belong to a Shiite Muslim sect, for kidnapping the nine foreigners, a charge the Houthis have denied.
This article starring:
HASAN HUSEIN BIN AL WAN
al-Qaeda in Yemen
NAIF AL HARBI
al-Qaeda in Yemen
Posted by: Fred ||
06/19/2009
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
TheHill.com
Investigators on Friday told a Delhi court that 
Jesse Walker, Reason Online
By Joel Mowbray
By Michael Hayden
Desperate for money and wooed by a man offering cash and favors, the men accused of trying to blow up two temples and other terrorist activities had little choice but to go along with the plot, the family of three of the four men said last night at a forum sponsored by supporters. "They got themselves into something they didn't know how to get out of," said Alicia McWilliams of the Bronx, the aunt of David Williams, one of the four accused in the temple bombing plot dubbed the Newburgh Four.
[Quqnoos] Coalition forces Thursday said they recently arrested a Taliban commander, 
Michigan's unemployment rate jumped to 14.1 percent in May, its highest mark in nearly 26 years, according to a state report released Wednesday. The monthly seasonally adjusted rate is the highest recorded in the state since reaching 14.2 percent in July 1983. The rate is up from 12.9 percent in April and 8.2 percent a year ago.
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu revealed significant information regarding February 25-26 BDR mutiny during his third phase one-day remand. "We are verifying the crucial information gleaned from Pintu during interrogation," investigation officer of the mutiny case Senior Assistant Superintendent of CID Abdul Kahar Akand told The Daily Star.
The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last weeks presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji Islamic volunteer militiamen is also expected to be bussed in to support the Supreme Leader.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Defeated reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi submitted a petition to the supreme leader to call for an investigation into elections results that the defeated candidates said showed 646 violations that saw incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide. 
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Dressed in a lime green Middle Eastern style abaya, or dress, American socialite Paris Hilton entered the conference room and bid the eagerly awaiting media with a "Salam Alaikum," Arabic for hello, a day after she arrived in Dubai to film a new season of her raunchy reality show. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt on Thursday forcibly deported four Chechen students to Russia, where rights group Amnesty International says they risk being tortured, but delayed the deportation of a key warlord's son.
The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is rapidly deteriorating, prompting the hasty decision to name his third son Jong-un as heir apparent, sources told the Chinese press. The Global News, a sister paper of the official Peoples Daily, on Thursday quoted a foreign ambassador in Pyongyang as saying that Kim Jong-il's fragile health made the situation in North Korea "very complicated."
[Bangla Daily Star] Militants of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have started regrouping in the remote villages of four upazilas in the district.
[Maghrebia] A Moroccan appellate court increased the prison sentences for six terrorists convicted of involvement in the deadly 2003 Casablanca bomb attacks, MAP reported on Wednesday (June 17th). The group's leader, 
[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The leader of the Pakistani militant group, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Qari Tahir Yuldashev, has been injured in an attack in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region. Army spokesman Maj.Gen. said late on Tuesday that Yuldashev was injured in the northwest town of Makeen. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Saudi member of al-Qaeda surrenders himself to Yemeni authorities after weeks of being tracked down with the help of information obtained from already captured Qaeda members, Al Arabiya TV reported Thursday.
