RABAT, Morocco: Syrians in the military and business who still support President Bashar Assad should turn against him, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.
The longer you support the regimes campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honor. If you refuse, however, to prop up the regime or take part in attacks on your fellow citizens, your countrymen and women will hail you as heroes, Clinton said at a news conference in Morocco as she conveyed a message to those holdouts backers of the embattled leader.
Assad would have the Syrian people believe that it is only terrorists and extremists standing against the regime. But that is wrong, Clinton said. So many Syrians are suffering under this relentless shelling. All Syrians should be working together to seek a better future.
She said in the Moroccan capital that were appealing to members of the Syrian army to put the people of their country first before a family or a political party. And we are pushing hard for a plan that would lead to a political transition.
What kind of political transition is the question. We really don't need another Sunni-dominated, Islamicist regime that plans to suppress the women and minorities, kick out the Westerners, and work to turn the country back a few centuries. Granted it's hard to answer that question now, but the fact that King Abdullah in Saudi-controlled Arabia is happy to fund the rebels should tell us something about where he wants this go.
Earlier Sunday, Clinton was asked if the participants in the conference shouldnt be doing more.
I am incredibly sympathetic to the calls that somebody do something, she told CBS News. But it is also important to stop and ask what that is and who is going to do it and how capable anybody is of doing it.
Asked about continued US reluctance to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels, Clinton responded: What are we going to arm them with? ... Were not going to bring tanks over the borders of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Thats not going to happen. So maybe at best you can smuggle in, you know, automatic weapons. Maybe some other weapons that you could get in. To whom? Where do you go?
Aren't you paid to answer those questions?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
22:16 ||
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Both have some interesting history. P-36 Was designed by Edgar Schmued, workaholic. Yes, from Germany. The P-47 was a couple of Russian designers. The P-47 had eight fifty calber/ four per wing. Good story.
Israeli defence officials on Sunday confirmed $1.6 billion in deals to sell drones as well as anti-aircraft and missile defence systems to Azerbaijan, bringing sophisticated Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran.
The sales by state-run Israel Aerospace Industries come at a delicate time. Israel has been labouring hard to form diplomatic alliances in a region that seems to be growing increasingly hostile to the Jewish state.
Its most pressing concern is Iran's nuclear program, and Israeli leaders have hinted broadly that they would be prepared to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if they see no other way to keep Tehran from building bombs.
Iran denies Israeli and Western claims it seeks to develop atomic weapons, and says its disputed nuclear program is designed to produce energy and medical isotopes.
#1
Azerbaijan is focused on recovering Nagorno-Karabakh and therefore putting pressure on Armenia to negotiate. Armenia is allied with Russia and Iran so this purchase of Israeli military hardware makes sense for both parties.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/26/2012 14:03
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A Defense Department official visited a Virginia mosque Friday to reiterate the White House's apologies for the burning of Korans at a US military base in Afghanistan, pledging that those responsible will be held "appropriately accountable."
Good lord, does it ever end? How many times do we grovel to people who care not if they murder our people?
Peter Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, attended services at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Va., and told the congregation he was there to express his "sincere regret" on behalf of the Department of Defense for the incident.
The Boss already apologized. Why are you doing it again? And at home, no less.
"I know that apologies are never enough and do not erase this incident," he said, adding, "We will hold people appropriately accountable."
He also noted that US commander Gen. John Allen apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and to the Afghan government and people, that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta apologized and pledged to personally review results of an investigation into the incident and that President Barack Obama wrote a letter of apology to Karzai that US Ambassador Ryan Crocker delivered by hand.
Did the White House milkman apologize?
The string of apologies from the Obama administration has come under harsh criticism by Republicans. Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called the president's apology "an outrage" and a "destructive double standard," while Sarah Palin tweeted that the "US trained & protected Afghan Army can apologize for killing our soldiers yesterday."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
11:53 ||
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This mosque btw is run by Muslim Brotherhood affiliate ISNA.
KUNDUZ/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Seven U.S. military trainers were wounded on Sunday when a grenade was thrown at their base in northern Afghanistan, police said, as anti-Western fury deepened over the burning of the Koran at a NATO base.
It's all our fault, of course...
Despite an apology from U.S. President Barack Obama, riots raged across the country for a sixth day on Sunday against the desecration of the Muslim holy book at a NATO air base at Bagram. Some protesters hoisted the white Taliban flag.
Interesting choice...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
11:49 ||
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Apologies seem to have worked real well. Maybe it's time to try killing instead. Animals can sense weakness in their opponents, but they tend to back off when members of their herd start getting blown into pieces.
#3
The important word here is "northern". Bases in northern Afghanistan come under attack only rarely, so their security is much lower. The Taliban have probably been scoping out those bases for their vulnerabilities for a while now.
#4
Might be time to go to Plan B: Hot Lead. And lots of it. I'll bet that option would sink in with the Troglodytes.
Of course, it will never happen...
A top Iranian military commander said Saturday that nothing but burning the White House could remedy the pain caused to Moslems by the burning of Korans at a US military base in Afghanistan, pan-Arab Al Arabiya news channel reported Sunday.
"The US has committed such an ugly act and burnt Korans because of the heavy slap it has been given by Islam," Basij (volunteer forces) Commander Brig.-Gen. Muhammad Reza Naqdi told Iran's semi-official Fars new agency, according to the Al Arabiya report.
US President Barack Obama How's it going, Sunshine?... sent a letter to Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Thursday apologizing for the incident, which occurred last week, sparking angry protests against US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces in Afghanistan.
"Their apology can be accepted only by hanging their commanders; hanging their commanders means an apology," he was quoted as saying.
White House front man Tommy Vietor said, "in the letter ... the president also expressed our regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled at Bagram Airbase ."
Saw this over in "North Korean Economy Watch". Follow-up to a story we've been looking at for a while.
Rason (South Koreans would pronounce the initial "R" as an "N") is an ice free port in the Sea of Japan. Rason was formally known as Rajin-Sŏnbong.
China has secured the rights to build three new piers at Rason, one of which will be dug out to accommodate 70,000 ton vessels.
China will build a power plant, an airfield, and a new rail link to the Chinese city of Tumen. A rail link already exists between Rason and Tumen but it is 156 km in length (and slow). The new link will be just 55 km. China will invest about $3B US.
Note that a rail link already exists between the Russian eastern border town of Khasan and Rason. Of the three currently existing piers, one is leased by Russia and the other by the Chinese. Making it easier for the Norks to play a shell game when exporting internationally banned items.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/26/2012
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More than 80,000 Syrian refugees have decamped the nearly 11 months of violence in their homeland and settled in neighboring Jordan, a Jordanian government official said Sunday.
The skyrocketing number of refugees, which was significantly higher figures than previously reported by the Jordanian government, attests to the growing violence in Syria where Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... is trying to suppress a months-long rebellion by Syrians demanding he step down.
#2
Zerohedge and foreign policy commentary do not go together.
LOL. All foreign policy is about economics, or rather self interest. Did I emphasis ALL? Well I'll emphasis it again.
#3
Excellent article. 'Nice job of integrating game theory - the "iterated prisoner's dilemma."
What was new to me was the close tie-in of Iranian oil exports to the continued functioning of Greece. If there were two pending calamities that I would want to keep clearly unentangled, they would be the Iranian "cruising for a bruising" situation, and the slow meltdown of Greece.
#4
Foreign policy IS about national economies and national interest, but Zerohedge has a blind spot for areas where US self-interest meshes with its foreign policy. At least Rantburg regularly discusses these issues.
Unlike Iraq, POST-INVASION IRAN = NEW, GIANT OR SUPER-SIZED "AFPAK", wid ARMED BASIJ + IRGC + LOYALIST MILFORS + OTHER ALIGNED MOVING BACK-N-FORTH INTO OCCUPIED IRAN ACROSS "NEUTRAL" SOVEREIGN BORDERS FOR THE CONDUCT OF ANTI-US/NATO/COALITION "RESISTANCE" = TERROR OPS = MIL OPS???
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN: TROUBLE BREWING, domestically + politically, + likely to worsen or explode once the new EU Embargo goes into effect this coming July 2012.
* SAME > FULL-BLOWN "PERSIAN AUTUMN" [Spring?] EXPECTED IN IRAN | [Gulf News] IRAN: THE WAR WITHIN. ANALYSTS EXPECT RESENTMENT FROM SANCTIONS-HIT PEOPLE TO EXPLODE INTO "PERSIAN AUTUMN".
versus
* WORLD NEWS > [Foreign Policy] "IT IS NOT IN THE US NATIONAL INTEREST TO GO TO WAR WID IRAN ANYTIME SOON".
* SAME > US COULD BE PULLED INTO WAR IFF ISRAEL STRIKES/HITS IRAN, EXPERTS SAY.
* SAME > {Times of Indjuh] BRITAIN DRAWING UP IRAN BATTLE PLANS, SAYS REPORT, in case it gets "sucked" into a Mil Conflict agz Iran.
00's of Troops + a Nuke Sub - repor may base Troops in BFF UAE, its strongest Gulf ally.
versus
* RUSSIA TODAY > {Patrick Young] "GREECE IN DEATH SPIRAL".
ARTIC > YOUNG = Greece should've left the EU + EUroDollar three years ago.
* SAME > IRAN DENIES GREECE 500,000 BARRELS OF OIL SHIPMENT, which Debt, EuroDollar-troubled Greece sorely needs.
Is Iran attempting to foment or spark GREEK REVOLUTION + AEGEAN, BALKAN CHAOS, i.e. FIGHTING THE US "OVER THERE" IN EUROPE'S BACKYARD, NOT THE GULF???
#6
OOOOPSIES, forgot POSTERS = opine that the THE COUNTDOWN TO DE FACTO US-ALLIED-VS-IRAN WAR BEGAN WHEN IRAN DECIDED TO CUT OFF OIL SUPPLIES TO SEVERAL EU COUNTRIES, as the US-West take oil cutoffs most seriously.
* "JULY 2012" = either IRAN BLINKS, OR THE US WILL BLINK IN "NUCLEAR GAME OF CHICKEN"???
Afghanistan's interior ministry has said one of its own employees is suspected in the killing of two senior American NATO officers inside the ministry. Officials had earlier named police intelligence officer Abdul Saboor from Parwan province as the primary suspect behind Saturday's attack.
The suspect, if guilty, would have been the ideal assassin. He was a trusted insider. He worked in the interior ministry, had access to top security intelligence briefings and also had a walkie-talkie on a secure channel. He would have known the most highly sensitive information within the ministry. According to officials, he even knew those who were killed on Saturday.
The interior ministry said in a statement, "An employee has been identified as a suspect and he has now fled. The interior ministry is trying to arrest the suspected individual."
The ministry did not give a name, but other officials said Saboor, 25, was the suspect. He had served in several Afghan ministries and had worked at the interior ministry for some time, with responsibilities for security arrangements and access to top level intelligence briefings and secure radio communication channels.
His family home in the Salang valley area of Parwan province was raided overnight and his relatives in Kabul detained.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber drove a car filled with explosives into a church in the Nigerian city of Jos, killing two people and injuring 38, and Christian youths beat two Muslims to death in revenge.
A journalist at the scene of the bombing saw two of the bodies, which police said included the suicide bomber, who had slammed his Volkswagen into the church before detonating the explosives.
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushua Shuaib said by text message, "NEMA confirms three dead in suspected suicide car explosion in Jos today, including the bomber whose body was shredded to pieces. As of now 38 victims have been admitted to hospital for treatment. NEMA and the Red Cross have completed evacuation (of the church)."
Another bomb exploded near a church in the Nigerian town of Suleja, outside of the capital Abuja, injuring five people.
In controlled explosions, police detonated two bombs that had been planted at the police barracks in Gombe, a northeastern city that had been largely free of the Islamist violence until this weekend.
Keep the satellites and the drones in place. Watch the Taliban.
I can find little to disagree with what Dr. Steve has to say, below, until that prescription. He has laid out the situation squarely for our review. That said, please go read his piece first; mine will make more sense afterward.
The only point I would add is that while the government of Pakistan, such as it is, does not wish to be at war with us, and while Pakistan's Army of the Pure does not want us to think they are at war with us, the People of the Land of the Pure are mostly in full support of the hard jihad of the sword against the Crusaders and the Jews, and against the Hindus and the non-conformists who live down the street between times. The few who openly disagree are very careful to write about it in English; we've been reading their increasingly impassioned op-eds here at Rantburg for years, their cris de coeur for common sense, reason, and the rule of law instead of favours and bribes given and received by a religion-mad populace.
Like the countries of the Arab Spring, bad as the rulers are, on average the people of Pakistan -- as a group noun -- are worse. Once upon a time this was perhaps not so. But the generations have been carefully taught, and have learnt even more on their own. Pakistan once had Anglo-Indians and Jews, Ahmadis were as Muslim as Shiites and Sunnis, covered women were scorned as ignorant and old-fashioned. But then the land shed its English overcoat, and the worm emerged from its first molt.
There have been several more molts since then, and each time the worm has emerged larger and grosser, acquiring nuclear weapons and ever more jihadi groups that the ISI put to ever more specific purposes. Meanwhile, out on the street a riot can be raised to lynch a man and destroy part of a city merely because he threw out a business card with the name of Muhammed on it, somehow profaning the name of the holy prophet himself.
Because the thing is, Afghanistan is the place where the chess pieces of Pakistan play out only some of their moves. The game -- continuing the Great Game of Britain, they fondly flatter themselves -- is half played and all plotted on the Pakistan side of the border. Brave as the people of Afghanistan have been this past decade, with their new schools, new roads and wells and household biogas power plants, new East Point officers for their new army, the border provinces of Afghanistan stand against the need for jihad of all of Pakistan. Even much of the leadership of the Afghan Taliban are comfortably ensconced in Pakistan -- in Quetta, if I recall correctly.
It is not merely a bedraggled remnant we leave behind when we pull out of Afghanistan, to keep close watch on from a distance. It is the Pakistani worm, somewhat reduced to be sure, but with the full-throated faith of the people in their war of choice, quietly supported by Saudi money as well as Taliban opium, that we have been fighting. They are not so reduced that we can safely watch from above against future outbreaks, trusting that our shadows will have a deterrent effect.
So now to my counter proposal:
I can agree to pulling out the main body of troops. They aren't being allowed to do their work, and have become targets of opportunity for every posturing boob in the region.
BUT, I believe we should keep satellites, armed drones, and the ghosts of the night in place, killing off as many Taliban, Haqqani, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and everyone else associated with jihad on both sides of the border as we can. I want it to be bred into the DNA of the Pashtuns and Punjabis -- and by example to the rest of the Ummah -- that to act on the hard jihad of the sword is to die. Anything less, in my ignorant and sheltered opinion, will lead to an explosion of jihad upward from Pakistan to Afghanistan to the world, like an antibiotic resistant desease once the threshold of infectious cases is crossed.
I am not a soldier. I do not treat the wounded. I am not aware of having any relatives actively involved in the fight. Those who are or do may well be justifiably angered that I would put them further at risk, and I cannot defend myself against the charge. I have no answer except that I believe the drive to violent jihad cannot be contained; it must be eradicated, like smallpox or polio or all the diseases that spring back into life as soon as enough people stop inoculating their children.
Our current president appears unconcerned about such issues, I realize. And our senior generals and admirals and such do not appear to have succeeded in convincing him otherwise. Nor has the new head of the CIA, the much-lauded General Petraeus, Ret'd, though the CIA appears to be doing a very nice job indeed of reducing the number of bad guys on both sides of the Af-Pak border. As, apparently, are the ghosts in the night, while all attention is on our brave troops attempting to be hammer and anvil, ink spots, and whatever other concepts the strategists come up with while having two hands and one foot tied behind their backs by whoever it is that makes such decisions far from the scene of the action.
Soon, I hope, we will have a new president. And backing him, both Houses of Congress with Republican majorities beholden to the Tea parties, who understand what is at stake, and understand that extending an open hand to such people is a good way to get your arm cut off at the neck.
#1
I can't argue well against your prescription, TW, except to note that our current administration and indeed, our current political class, has not the stones to make it work.
In a modestly better America our administration would ensure that the special forces had what they needed to carry out such a mission, including support at home and clear, concise rules of engagement. But they do not and will not, and hence asking them to stay in Afghanistan to go after the Taliban simply puts them at risk.
Is it any reason why our current administration is so in love with drone-zaps? It is precisely because it is so Terminator-like; you push a button and a man dies. It is (to use a word) clinical. It is like chess; no one in Washington has soiled hands.
That is not the kind of operation that will succeed long-term.
At this point I do not care if the people of Afghanistan live in the tenth century, AD or BC. I used to care but the Afghanis clearly prefer their clans, tribes and moon-god. So be it.
All they must do now is leave us in peace. Don't kill Americans; don't let their country be used to kill Americans. We should maintain an overwatch and a warning: if we have to come back, it won't be pretty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012 11:37
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All they must do now is leave us in peace
They already don't leave us in peace, Dr. Steve. How many arrests have been reported in Rantburg in the last year or so? In the last six months? David Headly comes to mind...
Based in Chicago, he scouted out the Mumbai attack and was putting together something in Sweden or Norway when he was picked up. Ties to the ISI and Lashkar-I-Taiba, if I recall, and that Kashmiri fellow.
Watching with satellites from above would have done nothing to stop him. Didn't do anything, actually. He flew under the radar until we started tracing things backward after the Mumbai massacre.
Of course this administration loves drone zaps. Cutting edge cool video games, with a great big boom to fill the screen at the end. And the bad guys hate them: there you are, minding your own business and doing your bad guy thing when you suddenly realize you and your friends have just kissed a missile you didn't even realize was on its way.
They don't want to die, no matter how much they blither on about the joys of martyrdom and the further disgusting joys of their Paradise to follow. If they really wanted to die, human waves of suicides would have overwhelmed all unbelievers everywhere a thousand years ago, continuing until today without pause for breath. Instead, they have to brainwash the emotionally fragile, isolate them, dose them repeatedly with drugs, and even then ride herd in them until the moment of impact to ensure they don't change their minds,
And then there's this. It's not Afghanistan, but it's of a piece.
You don't get thought-provoking stuff like this at the mainstream rags.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/26/2012 14:27
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When we did not act decisively, with overwhelming force in the beginning of this sad affair after 9-11, we won battles but we lost the war.
We put our finest men and women in harm's way without the overwhelming support of the Congress, and in many ways, the American people. I am sure that many Rantburgers have read that watershed work, "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" by Lt. Col.Dave Grossman. There is the potential of a severe psychological and physical price on sending your troops into battle. Leaders had better have the plan squared away before they put our finest in harm's way. There is a high price to pay, for even a "good" war.
But we have been fighting our battles with one hand tied behind our back of our own choosing. We had originally gone into Afghanistan to deny the enemy a training ground and base of operations for terrorist attacks against the United States. Then we got into nation building, then we continued playing footsie with Pakistan, who were the enablers of the whole thing, except for one omission, and that was that the Saudis were providing much of the funds for Pakistan.
They financed and are financing thousands of madrases, where Jihadi Bots are developed from an early age. And so it goes on. We still pay Pakistan billions to screw us. We never went after Saudi Arabia with their record of supporting Wahhabi and Jihadi enterprises.
Why did we not do something about that??? It is because enough people in key leadership positions were bought off by Saudi money. Too many of our leaders have sold this country out. That is what has happened and why it really hurts.
Af-Pak should have been resolved and completed in a year or less with overwhelming force. A lesson to all potential aggressors. We have spent 10 years mucking about there and have poured personnel and treasure into a rathole. So what do we do from here?
Supporting the afghan effort is not sustainable. We are being screwed by the paks and our alternate logistical routes are long, expensive and tenuous.
We need to end our effort in Afghanistan and withdraw in an orderly fashion that is not a rout.
We then need to cut off all types of aid to the Paks.
If possible we need to neutralize their nuke assets.
We need to get our domestic energy house in order.
We need to get into the Saudi's faces.
We need to let our potential enemies know that we will destroy them utterly if they pull any sh*t on us. We will not invade. We will decapitate the country's leadership and infrastructure.
We do have some allies. We need to lead by example. We have to clean our own house. WASHINGTON, DC is the biggest threat to our constitutional republic. It is a huge den of parasites and self serving individuals. It needs to be cleaned up constitutionally or the rot will kill us just like what happened to Rome. I hope that we can do it. It's going to be down to the wire.
Actually, it is not an impossible task, but it just needs true leadership. And THAT is what is lacking now.
As far as Petraeus goes in the CIA, I believe that he and others are trying to hold things together to outlast the O administration's efforts in destroying our institutions. Like I said, it will be down to the wire.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/26/2012 18:21
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#7
Excellent and informative points, TW. Excising the tumor is a must wherever they are found--and I mean not just in Afg-Pak. Track and hunt them down in a covert war and keep following all tangents until the web is dismantled worldwide. I am so glad Petraus is at CIA but we need allies--and keep them guessing who is on board the Orient Express. "Do unto evildoers before they do unto you" is about the only way to deal with WMD blackmail by Iran, Syria, or any of their proxies with all the defense cuts.
#8
AP, if we had a bipartisan leadership that could do that, and get the American people behind them, I'd go for it in a New York minute. I don't see that leadership in Washington in either party right now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012 19:45
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#9
You are right, Dr. Steve. The leadership crisis is the main existential threat we have in this country.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/26/2012 20:00
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#10
I am forced to conclude that your way will win out, Dr. Steve, at least until we have a new president. George W. Bush surprised everyone after 9/11, though his best was not nearly as good as we would have liked, in the end. So there is hope for hidden depths in his Republican successors.
Noam Chomsky ...intellectual and political theorist of a socialist persuasion. He is noted for being so far out in left field he can't see the shortstop on every issue he pushes... , one of the greatest Jewish American scholars wrote a masterpiece named, "Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Paleostinians" after the Israeli invasion of Leb. This extra-ordinary book gives vivid details of the horrors of occupation of Paleostinian lands by the Jewish state of Israel. Today, we witness a new alliance on the horizon being forged in the global politics to challenge or undo Iran's nuclear program. Soddy Arabia, United States and Israel have created an alliance to bomb Iran. These strange political bed-fellows may be termed as the new 'Fateful Triangle', which may ultimately catalyze the stage for Armageddon.
The clarion call by the Saudis to bomb Iran is sending shockwaves throughout the Mohammedan world. It is also strange to accept the Israeli stance on their nuclear policy. Israel says that it has the right to own hundreds of nuclear bombs, but other regional governments in the Middle East are not entitled to even enriching uranium. According to Wikileaks, King Abdullah of Soddy Arabia has repeatedly asked the US to destroy Iran's nuclear capability. He has also garnered support from Gulf monarchs of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi to teach Iran a lesson on their nuclear program.
Soddy Arabia and Iran are the biggest oil producers and each country has significant areas of political influence in the Mohammedan world. As such, this would be a 'clash of the oil titans' which would bring extraordinary suffering to the already fragile Middle East Peace Process. Soddy Arabia is a strong ally of the US and has been the biggest consumer of US arms. It is also said to have a state policy driven by Wahabi theocracy which supports extremism to strengthen their religious and political monopoly in the Mohammedan world. In his book 'The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Saud from Tradition to Terror', American scholar, Stephen Schwartz details the vigorous program of ideological export of Wahabism financed and directed by the Saudis. Akbar Ganji, a revolutionary guard at the time of Iranian Revolution, and who later became the strongest voice of dissent, refutes the claims of the Western media that Ahmadinejad is the main culprit of Iran's ills today. It is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has tremendous authority over all major state institutions, and is the head of state, commander in chief, and top ideologue. Khamenei is the Sultan of Shiite theocracy and a key individual behind all repressive operations existing in Iran.
According to the latest ABC news, Gen Dempsey's visit to Israel this week centered on Iran's nuclear program and there is a growing fear that Israel may soon strike Iran. Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... , a Republican nominee for the 2012 Presidential race, was interviewed by a conservative and a hawkish talk show host O'Reilly of Fox News. During the interview, he warned Romney that bombing Iran could escalate to World War III and result in the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which links Iran and Soddy Arabia. It is surprising that Republican candidates are ignoring the work of a renowned conservative scholar and historian, Niall Ferguson. In "Civilization: The West and the Rest", Ferguson argues that 500 years of Western domination is over after the huge economic meltdown. Any act to trigger the war, will raise the oil prices and further destabilize the world economy. If American arrogance continues and Saudi prayers answered, the price of war will destroy the American Empire.
The two key players in this developing conflict, Soddy Arabia and Iran have roots in religious theocracy. It is the Shia/Sunni divide and the repressive nature of the regimes which has become central in the oil politics of the Middle East. Soddy Arabia has treated its minority Shia population as second class citizens and similar treatments have been inflicted on Sunnis by the Iranian regime. Shias have long faced discrimination in Sunni-majority Soddy Arabia which follows a very conservative Wahhabi interpretation of the religion, in which Shia are considered heretics. Conversely, as Sunni Mohammedans, the Baluch people in Iran, experience marginalization and discrimination in a country where Shia Islam is the official state religion and holds political power. In the recent Arab uprising in the streets of Manama-Bahrain, Soddy Arabia supported the brutal crackdown of Sunni Bahraini monarch on the majority Shia population. It is also reported that the Saudis financed the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... alliance in liberating Libya from Qadaffy's wicked rule and also supporting Syrian rebels to defeat Basher Asaad. The ouster of Asaad is to undo the influence of Iran in Syria. These two countries are another example of strange political bed-fellows. Syria's Baa'thist ideology is strictly secular and socialist, whereas, Iran's ideology is rigidly religious. They are both authoritarian, Iran is predominantly Shiite, but Syria is predominantly Sunni with a ruling Alawite family for several decades, a Shiite sect.
It is understandable that Pakistain could be easily caught in this political and religious inferno. Due to the present crisis in Pakistain brought about by American occupation in Afghanistan, Pakistain should avoid this conflict and find an avenue to come out of this abyss. Iran and Soddy Arabia have their own interest in the Sunni/Shia divide in Afghanistan and Pakistain. The Islamist forces in Pakistain should refrain from igniting this religious inferno by supporting the Wahabi doctrine of Soddy Arabia. It is important for the Mohammedan world to know the history, politics and religious divide between Soddy Arabia and Iran to condemn or support Iran's nuclear race. If other Mohammedan countries and Pakistain take a neutral stand on this war-mongering, the tide of war will soon wither away. If sanity does not prevail, the planet Earth cannot be saved from a devastating catastrophe. According to the Mayan prophesy and predictions of Nostradamus, the year 2012 has been termed as end of the world-The Armageddon. The followers of all three Semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam should seriously read their scripture and embrace "Shalom and Salaam", the symbol of Peace in their political lives. The Christians and Jews should wait for the 'Second Coming of the Christ' and the Mohammedans wait for 'Mahdi' to appear.
Continued on Page 49
#1
You gotta luv the "Catch 22" at play here - efensive-oriented Iran may not officially declare its State intentions as per NucWeaps until it possesses the covert ability to quickly produce large quantities of same, at least on the TacNuke + MBM, IRBM level(s). AMAP ALAP Iran wants to deny the US-Allies or UNSC use the any "Iran has NucBombs" premise for UN-sanctioned war. OTOH, IRAN [+ by extens Radical Islam] NEEDS NUCWEAPONS IN ORDER TO MAKE THE ISLAMIST-DESIRED OWG/GLOBAL CALIPHATE CREDIBLE, AS WELL AS MILPOL POTENT.
However, the mostly SUNNI GCC + ME STATES FEAR A NUCLEAR SHIA IRAN, REAL OR OTHER. YET IMO RECOGNIZE THAT NUCWEAPS IS LIKELY REQUIRED FOR A CREDIBLE, MILPOL POTENT CALIPHATE.
The Saudis have said they will not go nuclear or dev NUcWeaps unless Iran does.
THE ISLAMIST CALIPHATE CANNOT BE PAR, SUPERIOR OR DOMINANT, TO THE NON-ISLAMIC WORLD + MAJOR NUCLEAR POWERS UNLESS IT HAS ADVANCED WEAPONS TO MATCH - NUCLEAR WEAPONS, THEN, EXISTENTIALLY
"MAKES-OR-BREAKS" THE ISLAMIST CONCEPT OF OWG/GLOBAL CALIPHATE.
#2
Chomsky needs to be remembered as having done more to "keep the black man down" then even Jefferson Davis. By his actions, Chomsky has impoverished and left destitute millions of black Americans.
Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. has finally, and rather dramatically, aired the Joint Investigation Team's report on the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... . But we are already privy to much of what he has revealed, partly because of media dribs and ministerial drabs in the last four years, and partly because of the inquiry reports of Scotland Yard and the UN, on the matter. Nor are we surprised by the choice of the venue - the Sindh Assembly represents the arena of Sindhi "nationalism and anti-Punjabi-establishmentism"; it is the burial province of three martyred Bhuttos and it is the source of a parliamentary resolution on the subject. The timing of the surprise is also understandable: in the run-up to general elections later this year, the theme of martyrdom will doubtless figure prominently.
Some facts are now established. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pak Taliban (who was killed in a Drone strike subsequently), gave the order to kill Ms Bhutto. Several Afghan, Pak Taliban and former Jehadi groups played a role in the chain of command and action. Most of the assassins had been schooled at the Darul Uloom Haqqania, an Islamic radical Deobandi seminary in Akora Khattak whose "Vice-Chancellor" Maulana Sami-ul Haq is the leader of his own faction of the Jamaat Ulema e Islam and currently leader of the firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... Defense Council of Pakistain floated by the military establishment.
It is confirmed that senior military leaders ordered the civil administration to hose down the scene of crime within hours of Ms Bhutto's liquidation. Significantly, the DG-ISI and DG-MI refused to appear before the three commissions of inquiry. Nor is there a shred of doubt about the unwillingness and inability of the Musharraf regime to provide requisite security to Ms Bhutto - who was constitutionally entitled to it as a twice-elected prime minister - after her return to Pakistain.
The background to the "deal" between General Musharraf and Ms Bhutto brokered by the Americans is also well-established. The Bush and Mush administrations were getting along like a house on fire. But, in the run up to general elections in 2007, General Musharraf was looking politically frail in the aftermath of the lawyers' movement and alienation from the mass media. The Americans proposed to prop him up by extending the populist hand of Ms Bhutto in a power-sharing arrangement for the next five years. General Musharraf and Ms Bhutto disliked the scheme but clutched at its potential utility. Musharraf thought he would be able to keep a tight rein on her by denying the PPP an outright majority in parliament and compelling a coalition with his King's PMLQ League. Ms Bhutto believed she would be able to manoeuver after she got a toehold in power. He wanted her to stay away from Pakistain until after the elections so that he could manipulate them. She demanded an even playing field to make a dent. He offered her the NRO as a face-saving device when she sought an amendment in the law barring third-term prime ministership.
As D-Day neared, the existing trust deficit yawned and both backtracked from their commitments. When she firmly declared her intent to return before elections, he cunningly raised the specter of security threats to her life. Conveniently enough, that's when Baitullah Masud publicly threatened to send over 100 jacket wallahs to stop Ms Bhutto in her tracks. When she remained undaunted, General Musharraf warned he wouldn't extend security to her. When she got the US administration to propose sending Blackwater guards to Pakistain for her private security, he refused permission. His hostility peaked when Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... 's Saudi hosts insisted that their guest would also return to Pakistain to "balance" the concession to Ms Bhutto. That is when General Musharraf's carefully laid plans seemed to go awry and all seemed lost because of Ms Bhutto's intransigence. Consequently, if anyone had a powerful personal and political motive for stopping her in her tracks, it was General Musharraf, his military coterie and his political cabal in the Q league. Significantly, on the eve of her departure for Pakistain, Ms Bhutto released a letter naming those in such circles who constituted a threat to her life.
Mr Malik insists he will extradite General Musharraf to face charges in Pakistain. That's a hope in hell. The military has stopped him from establishing any nexus between the assassins and those who facilitated them in the establishment. And it will not allow a former chief of army staff, whose commanders are either still in power or retired at home in Pakistain, to be dragged through the courts and tried by the "bloody civilians".
The thunderous rhetoric of martyrdom, rather than proof and convictions, will therefore have to suffice for the heirs of Benazir Bhutto. That is the formula they have followed to win three elections in the past three decades. And that is the formula they are most likely to follow in the future.
#1
HMMMMM, Siberia - well, judging from the late night + post-Midnite auroraes oer Agana Bay, + other signs, I knew it was somewhere NW or NNW of Guam.
A year has gone by since a failed Texas Tech chemistry student from Saudi Arabia was arrested on suspicion of planning attacks against the United States.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 21, is accused of gathering information on possible U.S. targets, such as the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. Federal agents arrested Aldawsari on Feb. 23, 2011, on a charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, starting a lengthy legal battle scheduled to go before a jury in April.
His lawyers intend to use an insanity defense at trial, but a federal judge has ruled Aldawsari is presently mentally competent.
Activists of a banned jihadi group gave a lecture on the campus of University of Peshawar (UoP) on Friday even though the university`s rules do not allow such gatherings. A student who listened to the sermons said, "Two persons delivered speeches outside Madina Mosque in the university to a group of about 60 people. Their speeches centered on efforts to invite people towards jihad."
The visit by leaders of the Bahawalpur-based banned jihadi outfit was part of the group`s membership drive, he said, adding that about 30 people filled out membership forms after the anti-US speeches by Maulana Mufti Abdur Rehman and Hifzullah.
The day before, posters were posted in the campus asking students to attend the lecture by activists of the group, led by Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar, but the administration failed to take any action and ban their entry to the campus.
Both of the leaders blamed the US and its allies for Pakistan's problems and called on students to stand up against what they called the anti-Islamic forces and foil their attempts to subdue Muslims, a witness quoted the activists as saying.
They also distributed literature. One leaflet said that the group was working to turn Islamic teachings into actions, serve the people and Islam by spreading knowledge of the religion so that people could understand true Islam and its enemies.
The Philippine army says two communist rebels and two children were killed in a clash between troops and the rebels in the northeast.
Lt. Col. Epimaco Macasilang says he deployed a platoon of soldiers to check reports of the presence of New People's Army guerrillas Saturday in a remote village in Camarines Norte province. He said that about 15 rebels opened fire from a hut and a nearby hill as the soldiers approached, leading to an exchange of gunfire.
Maj. Angelo Guzman said that after the guerrillas withdrew, soldiers found the bodies of two rebels and two brothers, aged 10 and 7, in the hut. An investigation is under way to determine who may have shot the boys, thought to be children of one of the guerrillas.
With little fanfare, the Pakistani government leveled the former three-level residence in Abbottabad (some 30 miles northeast of Islamabad) earlier today (February 25), rather than be forced into maintaining the late al-Qaeda leader's home as a tourist attraction. And if they built it again, they could call a releveler to level it again. I've always liked the word releveler, it's a rather long palindrome.
COMMENT: The house legally belonged to a Pakistani who worked as bin Laden's courier and who was killed along with his brother in the May 2, 2011 raid by members of Seal Team 6.
#1
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > GILANI, NAWAZ, + ZARDARI OFFERED USA TO BEING ITS ARMY INTO PAKISTAN | [Telegraph.UK] PAKISTAN OFFERRED SURGE IN US BOOTS ON GROUND IN RETURN FOR HELPING OUST GENERAL.
> US to hvae access to OBL's three Wives.
> Pakistan to help track down [read, CAPTURE OR KILL] MULLAH OMAR + AYMAN ZAWAHIRI, etal.
> Paskistan to disband its ISI Intel Agency's notorius "S-WING".
OOOOOOOOOO, you just know OMAR + AYMAN taint gonna like this one iota!
SANAA: Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi became Yemens new president on Saturday, formally removing autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh from power, as a car bombing in the south of the country underscored the violence that will be the new leaders greatest challenge.
A former army general, Hadi stood as the sole candidate to replace Saleh in a power transfer deal brokered by Gulf neighbors and backed by Western powers. He was elected after more than 60 percent of eligible voters took part in an election this week.
Salehs departure makes him the fourth Arab leader to be removed from power in more than a year of mass uprisings that have redrawn the political map of the Middle East.
Hadi said in a speech that Yemen must draw a line under a year of protests and violence and tackle pressing issues such as Yemens economic problems and bringing those displaced by the crisis back to their homes. I stand here in a historic moment... I look to the Yemeni people and give them thanks. The crisis reached every city and village and house, but Yemen will continue to go forward, Hadi said. If we dont deal with challenges practically, then chaos will reign.
Yemens neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, crafted the power transfer, also backed by Washington and a UN Security Council resolution, to ease out Saleh, who had ruled Yemen for 33 years.
Hadi now is tasked with overseeing a proposed two-year political transition that envisions parliamentary elections, a new constitution and restructuring of the military in which Salehs son and nephew still hold power. Hadi made a point to single out Al-Qaeda as a top priority for his new administration: Continuing the war against Al-Qaeda is a national and religious duty.
Yemenis want an end to the crisis, and to turn a new page. Now its time to rebuild, for consensus and concord... and to bring people into an inclusive political process, said Jamal Benomar, UN envoy to Yemen.
The US ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, said: We are seeing the beginning of a process that I believe will deliver great results over the next two years.
Hadis inauguration ceremony is scheduled for Monday, which Saleh is to attend. Saleh returned to Yemen on Friday after seeking treatment in the United States for injuries suffered in a assassination attempt last year. A high election turnout was deemed crucial to Hadis legitimacy, but the vote was rejected in advance in wide swathes of the country, notably the south, where secessionists urged a boycott.
One of the poorest countries in the Middle East, Yemen had already been fractured before the revolt against Salehs rule, with separatists in the south, rebels in the north and an active wing of Al-Qaeda. Some 42 percent of Yemens population of 23 million live on less than $2 per day in a land where tribal loyalties remain central to society.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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MILAN: A Milan court ended a corruption trial against Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday, ruling that the statute of limitations had run out on the case and essentially handing Italy's former premier another victory in a long string of judicial woes he has faced.
You would have thought the prosecutor would have figured out the statute of limitations issue before proceeding...
Berlusconi had denied any wrongdoing. He was accused of paying a British lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie during two 1990s trials to shield the politician and his Fininvest holding company from charges related to his business dealings.
Berlusconi's lawyers successfully argued that the case should be thrown out because the statute of limitation had run out.
It is "useless to comment," prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale told reporters as he left the courtroom. Prosecutors had demanded conviction and a five-year sentence.
One of Berlusconi's lawyers, Piero Longo, indicated that the defense team was less than elated with the decision because it would have preferred a verdict of acquittal, Sky TG24 TV said.
Berlusconi, 75, had issued a statement Friday railing against magistrates for the "many trials" against him, and saying that he doesn't remember having met Mills.
"Mills was one of many lawyers abroad that occasionally worked for the Fininvest group. I don't recall ever having met him," Berlusconi said in that statement. He added that Mills had received the $600,000 from an Italian arms dealer for some legal work and had made up the story that the money had been a gift from Fininvest employee, who had since died, to avoid paying a 50 percent tax on earnings.
By prosecutors' calculations, the statute of limitations on Berlusconi's case should have expired by July. Evidently the court didn't agree. But even the prosecutors' time frame would not have allowed for the two levels of appeal required to finalize any verdict. The trial was suspended many times due to Berlusconi's obligations as premier and during a period when parliament had granted him immunity, complicating the calculation. In Italy, the clock on the statute of limitations continues to tick even after a trial begins.
Mills was convicted in 2009 on bribery charges, but his conviction was overturned by Italy's highest court after the statute of limitations expired.
The corruption trial is one of several Berlusconi is currently facing in Milan, including charges that he paid an underage Moroccan teenager to have sex with him, then used his influence to cover it up. Both he and the young woman have denied the charges. The charge of using his influence to cover up a crime could bring an additional penalty that would bar Berlusconi from again seeking public office, but that would only occur if a guilty verdict is confirmed on the final appeal.
Berlusconi has faced dozens of trials in Milan, mostly for his business dealings. He has either been acquitted or seen the charges expire under the statute of limitations.
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#1
This is a classic case of "lawfare" mission accomplished.
Cook up some phony charges
Force the accused to spend his time defending himself
Ruin his reputation
Force him out of politics
Take over the vacancy
I wish Belusconi could sue these guys for maliceous prosecution.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/26/2012 10:19
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For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua, click here
By Chris Covert
A Mexican rifle battalion commander is on trial for ordering the 2010 murder of two soldiers in Chihuahua state, according to Mexican news accounts.
Colonel de Infanteria Elfego Jose Lujan Ruiz is accused of ordering soldiers to torture, then killing Mario Alberto Leon Guerrero, AKA El Janos, and Mario Alberto Rodriguez Peralta, AKA El Capulina after the two had deserted their posts. Both men were alleged to be part of La Linea, the enforcement wing of the Juarez cartel.
The charges come from statements from 15 soldiers in Colonel Lujan Ruiz's 35th Infantry Battalion that the colonel had ordered an interrogation detail to extract information from the two detainees about their involvement with La Linea. Allegations are that electric shock treatment was used to obtain the information. Following the end of the interrogation when an unidentified lieutenant in charge of the interrogation detail presumably phoned the colonel asking for further instructions, Colonel Lujan Ruiz allegedly said, "Kill them."
The victims were then led to a location on the road near the army base, strangled to death with plastic bags and then incinerated using gasoline.
The bodies were discovered a day later by local police agents.
According to press reports, elements of La Linea in the rifle unit had gained contact with the families of several elements in the rifle unit, making threats and sufficiently striking fear to influence counternarcotics operations. The actions taken by the colonel appear to be that of a senior commander invoking rule number one in war: protection of command. If in fact La Linea were relying on information provided by the two deserters, it is clear that means of information probably stopped with the two murders.
According to press reports, Colonel Lujan Ruiz was recommended for his promotion to colonel in 2007, which was approved by the national Chamber of Deputies in 2008. He was assigned to the 35th Infantry Battalion based in Nuevas Casas Grandes in far western Chihuahua sometime in 2009 under the command of General Jose de Jesus Espitia, commander of the Mexican 5th Military Zone.
Colonel Lujan Ruiz was arrested in February, 2010 and then formally imprisoned in March, 2010 on the charges.
Colonel Lujan Ruiz could also be facing charges in another more well known disappearance case that took place only a few days before the murders.
In August, 2011, three bodies were found inside an abandoned mine near the town of Buenaventura in Galeana municipality in far western Chihuahua state. It is unclear from concurrent news reports whether the three cadavers found were the three individuals reported taken from their respective residences by men dressed as soldiers 19 months before, or if tests begun by Chihuahua state authorities shortly after they were discovered were conclusive.
According to news and human rights accounts, at around 2000 hrs December 29th, 2010 three individuals were taken in two separate incidents from residences in Buenaventura in Galeana municipality -- Jose Alvarado Herrera, 30, Nitza Paola Alvarado Espinoza, 31 and Rocio Irene Alvarado Reyes, 18.
Relatives had said the three were taken to the Nuevas Casas Grandes army base, while officials both at the local garrison as well as at higher commands denied having them. A human rights report state that on February 4th, a friend of one of the victims received a brief telephone call from Nitza Paola Alvarado Espinoza. A local prosecutor in Galeana attempted to trace the call but failed.
The army has consistently denied knowing the whereabouts or fate of the three victims, a contention which appears to be true.
It later transpired, according to an article in the leftist weekly Proceso, that soldiers dropped the three off at a facility run by the Chihuahua state Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) . According to the article, the detail that detained the three was led by Colonel Lujan Ruiz. The colonel's involvement in the detention was confirmed by three other Chihuahua state officials, however the report fails to state whether the colonel was physically present when the arrests were made, and when the three were dropped off to the AEI. It is clear by virtue of the colonel being in command of the rifle unit that it was his operation. But, it is also unclear if the three officials, who claimed the colonel led the expedition to arrest the three, either saw or knew that a witness had seen him in that detail at that time.
A January 9th, 2010 meeting was set and attended by Luz Estela Castro Rodriguez, a human rights activist, Emilia Gonzalez Tercero, a lawyer for the families, Maria de Jesus Alvarado Espinosa, a sister of one of the victims, Colonel Lujan Ruiz, General de Jesus Espitia, Major Carlos Sergio Ruvalcaba, head of the Department of Rights International Human Rights and the Directorate of Military Justice, and another, unidentified army general.
At the meeting, General de Jesus Espirita attempted to divert focus from the issue by claiming the three detainees had criminal records for theft. The Proceso report does not deny that contention. The meeting erupted when Colonel Lujan Ruiz continually denied that any element of the 35th Infantry Battalion were conducting operations in the vicinity of Buenaventura on the date of the disappearance, a contention which was heatedly contested by Ms. Alvarado Espinosa, the sister of Nitzla.
The colonel, as commander of the rifle unit is in the unique position to know if operations had taken place in the area, since by definition of his position as commander he is operations chief. Unit logs and other data would presumably be available to easily confirm Colonel Lujan Ruiz's contention that the army did not detain the three victims.
However, to date none of that data has been released by the Mexican Army.
According to the Proceso account the meeting was then concluded, and Colonel Lujan Ruiz was later relieved of command. The report does not say, however, that the colonel was likely relieved not because of the triple disappearance but more likely because of the murders of the two La Linea operatives within his ranks only a few days after the disappearance.
Less than six months later General de Jesus Espitia was relieved of his command of the 5th Military Zone as well.
General de Jesus Espitia has been the subject of press reports detailing alleged links with the Sinaloa Cartel, a charge that former alleged subordinates have denied. The general during his tenure also maintained close ties with Patricia Gonzalez, who ended her term as Chihuahua state's attorney general in October, 2010 under a cloud of suspicion that she had links to La Linea, the Sinaloa Cartel's rival in Chihuahua state. Both General de Jesus Espitia and Ms. Gonzalez worked closely together during their time in office.
Neither Maestra Gonzalez nor General de Jesus Espitia have been charged with any crime relating to a nexus with organized crime.
Proceso's treatment of the disappearance yields several questions.
First is Colonel Lujan Ruiz himself. The Proceso article said that the colonel was being sought by families of the victims for his role in the disappearance. But the article also states that ten men dressed as soldiers arrested the three victims, then transported them to AEI facilities in western Chihuahua.
That would track with army practice. Army units and their commanders, even if they develop their own intelligence, do not act on said intelligence unless they are allowed to by the respective state or federal prosecutors. Army units do not operate in secrecy; someone in police agencies or prosecutors' offices almost always knows what is going on when a detachment is sent out.
A second question is whether Colonel Lujan Ruiz himself was present at the arrest. It is very unlikely such a senior commander would have led an expedition to arrest three petty thieves even if ordered by a superior prosecutor. Not that senior commanders don't go out on army security missions; they do. But as the commander of the 35th Battalion, it would follow that the colonel likely had better things to do.
A third question arises about the three victims. In the meeting General de Jesus told the two human rights activists and Maria de Jesus that the three had criminal records as thieves. If the three were wrongly denounced and were killed by authorities, then the question would be who directed the military detail to the three victims.
We know now that Colonel Lujan Ruiz had a severe security problem; his unit was infiltrated by members of organized crime. He is being tried for killing two of his subordinates who were allegedly in the the pay of La Linea. It is impossible to think those two were the only traitors in his unit because of the events of the summer of 2011.
In July, 2011 Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, AKA El Diego was finally arrested by a team of Policia Federal agents in Chihuahua city after a brief pursuit and firefight. Acosta Hernandez had his hand in a number of major security incidents in Chihuahua state, including the Juarez car bomb in July, 2010. He also admitted to well over 1,500 murders during his reign of terror. He must have been at the time of his arrest a wealth of information.
The next month the bodies of the three disappeared were found and were tentatively identified. A news report suggested that Acosta Hernandez had directed authorities to the abandoned mine near Buenavertura, but a news release later refuted the reported fact that he knew where those bodies were.
But Acosta Hernandez was apparently at the time of the disappearance getting his people inside military units, and probably still has some in the army to this day. Assuming the three never left army custody, which is a stretch given what is now known, what if Colonel Lujan Ruiz identified the wrong two? Or if two more that only Acosta Hernandez knew about had reported to Acosta Hernandez what they knew about the three. Or perhaps a new infiltrator entered the unit after the deaths of the two men under Colonel Lujan Ruiz's command?
Since, however, news reports state the three did leave army custody and were presumably under the custody of Chihuahua state, and since the state prosecutor may have had ties with La Linea, it is possible it was through those offices that Acosta Hernandez knew where the three bodies had been dumped.
A last question is why, in light of the fact the victims were left to Chihuahua state authorities, would the family of the disappeared and their representatives be going after the army for information when it is at least as likely that Chihuahua state government officials would know more?
The Procuradoria General Republica (PGR) had throughout the case consistently declined investigation or prosecution in favor of military proceedings, which until last year was de riguer for such cases involving the military and civilians. The case eventually made its way to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Washington DC.
A July, 2011 decision of the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that when a civilian is involved with wrongdoing by the military, investigations and prosecutions must be made by civil, not military authorities. The chief justice of the court, Juan Silva Meza later walked back the ruling saying federal judges have total discretion as to whether a case gets moved to civilian courts.
On February 9th, 2012 a meeting of officials with Secretaria de Gobiernacion (SEGOB) recommended the case be turned over to the PGR.
If the PGR does move vigorously on the case it will conceivably bring Ms. Gonzalez back under investigation, if it turns out agencies under her command knew or covered up the disappearances of the three victims.
That may not mean that Maestra Gonzalez was privy to those actions, but it doesn't rule out the possibility that any delegates under her administration were involved.
When Gilani offered to come to Aitzaz's house
Reported in Jang a close friend of Aitzaz Ahsan and Gilani reported that in his presence Prime Minister Gilani rang Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan and asked him to defend him at the Supreme Court in a case of contempt. Aitzaz Ahsan politely refused and said he was senior to him in age and membership of the party but the PM thereafter said that he was visiting him at his house to convince him. After that Barrister Ahsan agreed to defend him at a fee of Rs 100.
Is that as much as the cost of a cup of tea?
Nasim Wali Khan versus Pak ideologyRespected Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... politician and wife of ANP leader Wali Khan, Nasim Wali, was quoted by Daily Pakistain as saying that Pakistain was not created in the name of Islam but democracy.
She hasn't read the writings of the Mr. Jinnah, esq., Father of Pakistan, it would seem. Granted, they are voluminous, as befits his first career.
She said Pakistain's intelligence agencies later caused religious fanaticism to spread.
That is certainly theory...
She said Abaseen-Pakhtunkhwa as name was acceptable to Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... once. Now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was better than no name (Frontier).
Haqqani should ask for reparations
Writing in Jang Nazir Naji stated that after the winding up of the memo case Husain Haqqani should go back to the Court and ask for reparations for the suffering caused to him. It would be unfair that lawyer Akram sheikh got millions sitting at home while Haqqani had to lose ambassadorship and suffer for no fault of his own.
He made the mistake of picking the wrong side, and getting caught. In that part of the world, this is often enough a Darwinian error.
Powers behind Defence of Pakistain Council
Editor in Chief Khushnood Ali Khan wrote in Jinnah that the grand rally of Defence of Pakistain Council in Rawalpindi was made successful by three organizations. The main work of getting the people and collecting the religious leaders was done by Hafiz Saeed...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... of Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... while Maulana Samiul Haq of JUI(S) was able to attract a lot of people to the arena. Above all there was the organising hand of Maulana Tayyab of the famous seminary of Panj-Pir in Swabi. Tayyab was the brother of the famous ISI officer Major (retd) Amir.
Meera finally chooses husband
After a long wait by her fans filmstar Meera was reported by Mashriq as consenting to marry an American-born Pak pilot named Naveed Parvez. She added that the wedding will take place in the following month (February).
'Memo' prepared by Generals Karamat and Mahmud Durrani!
Speaking to Mashriq ex-army chief Aslam Beg said that Mansoor Ijaz will have to prove at the Court that the memo that he said he got from Husain Haqqani was actually prepared by Haqqani, ex-army chief Jahangir Karamat and Major General (Retd) Durrani. He said if PM Gilani had been defended by Babar Awan he would have been quickly convicted.
Just as well he wasn't, then.
Ramday should not comment on case
Daily Pakistain reported that Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan defending PM Gilani at Supreme Court protested at Justice (Retd) Ramday's decision to go public with opinion opposed to the PM. At which the other side replied by saying that Ramday had completed two years after retirement and Aitzaz should not get emotional about him. Ramday's brother as attorney general had written the letter to Swiss court to start proceedings against Zardari.
Farah Naz Ispahani denies allegation
Reported in Mashriq MNA Farahnaz Ispahani wife of Husain Haqqani, who decamped Pakistain and told British journalist Christina Lamb that she had left Pakistain because she was scared of being killed by the ISI, issued another statement that she had not said anything of the sort against the ISI. She said she had great respect for the Army.
Ramday's son gets a packet!
Revealed in Mashriq Punjab government was said to have paid huge sums to two lawyers for defending the Punjab government in various cases. Khwaja Haris was paid Rs 35 lakh, and the son of the retired Supreme Court judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday a sum of Rs 10.5 lakh. His name was revealed as Mustafa Ramday who was a lawyer.
A columnist makes predictions
Daily Jang had Hamid Mir reporting that Yasir Pirzada had predicted that in 2012 filmstar Meera will contract a real marriage that she will be in a position to own up to. Soon participants and anchors in TV talk shows will come armed with guns and that Musharraf will stop lecturing the world on Pakistain but focus on music while Ustad Hamid Ali Khan will accompany him. Hamid Mir's own prediction: Senate elections will be held in March and no top judge will succeed in becoming the president of Pakistain.
Pasha will go out as ambassador
Editor in Chief Khushnood Ali Khan wrote in Jinnah that when the army chief Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... asked ISI chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha if he would like another extension he replied that he would like to retire after which it was planned that he would be sent out as ambassador. After him, either the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... corps commander General Zaheerul Islam or Lahore corps commander Rashid Mehmood would be chosen by the Army Chief as ISI chief.
Nawaz Sharif worried about nuclear programme
Columnist Saleem Safi writing in Jang stated that when he told Nawaz Sharif that by bringing up the memo case at the Supreme Court he had put himself and other politicians in trouble to the advantage of the Army, Nawaz Sharif replied that he could swear that his intention behind the memo case was to save the nuclear programme of Pakistain. He was convinced that the real aim behind the move by Haqqani was to deprive Pakistain of its nuclear assets.
Oh my. Pakistani logic is a very special thing, once it gets properly started.
Why Dasti resigned and came back!
Columnist Khalid Masood Khan write in Jang that MNA Jamshed Dasti was returning from Luddan after doing condolence for Azeem Daultana when he heard that Hina Rabbani Khar had got his favourite PEPCO XEN Khalid Nazir transferred. He was already greatly upset by the rising influence in PPP of Hina but the removal of the XEN was the last straw. He announced his resignation from PPP amid rumours that he would join Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... . He had already removed a number of XENs for not listening to his advice on the electricity charges.
Imran Khan is coming!
Yes, yes. We'll believe it when we see it
.Veteran politician Syeda Abida Husain told daily Pakistain that Imran Khan was in politics for the last 15 years but now his time had come and he would be ruling Pakistain. She said he was an honest leader and had won the hearts of the people. She said she was not sure if she would be joining Tehrik Insaf.
ISI chief supporting an Ahmadi
I've got a beautiful bridge to sell, if you're interested. A family heirloom, chock full of olde worlde craftsmanship.
Columnist Hamid Mir writing in Jang stated that once ISI used to accuse the CIA of plotting against Pakistain but now General Pasha was himself trying to prove that Mansoor Ijaz was right in his allegations. People in Pakistain often associate Ahmadis with the CIA but the ISI was now acting as if it was on their side.
Yasir Qasmi a Moses in the house of Pharaoh
Writing in Jang stated that well known columnist Yasir Pirzada was the son of famous Urdu columnist Ataul Haq Qasmi same way as the house of Pharaoh saw the birth of Moses. Yasir said that columnists had descended like a calamity on Pakistain and he was one of them. Yasir was known for his imitation of the style of well known columnists like Hasan Nisar, Haroon Rasheed and Irfan Siddiqi. He had just published collection of his widely read columns.
Continued on Page 49
Azerbaijan, Baku -- Iranian commandos saved an oil tanker from sea pirates, Fars news agency reports.
An Iranian oil tanker was traveling near the Bab-el Mandeb Strait between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa when it was attacked by six pirate vessels. Iranian commandos were able to drive the pirates away after firing on them.
Was this before or after they transferred weapons to the Eritreans?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said on Saturday an Arab League summit would take place as scheduled in Baghdad next month, despite security fears after violence killed at least 60 people this week.
Malikis announcement came after Al Qaedas affiliate in Iraq threatened a new wave of attacks against Shia Muslims, whom the Islamist militant group accuses of persecuting Sunni Muslims in post-Saddam Iraq.The summit has been twice delayed by regional turmoil and acrimony between Baghdad and some Sunni Arab Gulf states over Bahrains crackdown on Shia protesters a year ago.
Maliki said all Arab countries had agreed to attend the March 29 summit, including 13 kings and presidents.
I thank these Arab countries frankly, some of whom said By god, we will go to Baghdad, even if on foot, said Maliki in a speech to Iraqi researchers. Even after the attacks that happened some days ago, their aim was to give a message to prevent the summit from taking place, but thanks be to God, it did not have an effect.
Maliki said the Arab League had inspected security measures Baghdad had taken to secure the safety of dignitaries going from the airport to the meeting venue and back, which they highly approved of and were satisfied with.
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02/26/2012
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DAMASCUS, Syria Syria lashed out at Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a day after the kingdoms foreign minister backed the idea of arming the rebels fighting President Bashar Assads regime, accusing Riyadh of becoming a partner in the bloodshed in Syria.
The sharp riposte from Damascus, which was published in a state-run newspaper, came as activists said at least 68 people were killed across the country and regime forces pounded rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs.
Syrias traditionally cold relations with Saudi Arabia have plunged into a deep freeze since the 11-month-old uprising against Assad began. The Sunni power in the region, Saudi Arabia has been a harshly critical of the Assad regime, which is controlled by the minority Alawite sect, and its brutal crackdown against the mostly Sunni opposition.
A Saturday commentary in the state-run Al Thawra daily sharply criticised Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal, who said during Fridays 60-nation gathering in Tunisia that he supported giving weapons and ammunition to groups fighting the Syrian regime.
I think its an excellent idea, Prince Saud told reporters in Tunisia. Asked why, he replied: Because they have to defend themselves.
Al Thawra said that the prince, by rudely supporting an armed opposition, has become a direct partner in shedding more Syrian blood.
Its shameful for the vocabulary of the Saudi speech to reach this level ... and to announce so rudely support for terrorists, Al Thawra said. The paper reflects the Syrian governments point of view.
In August, Saudi King Abdullah issued a harsh statement against Assads crackdown and recalled the kingdoms ambassador to Damascus in protest. Since then, the ambassador has not returned and Saudi officials have been campaigning against Assads regime worldwide.
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WASHINGTON: The US ambassador to Afghanistan sent a top-secret cable to Washington last month warning that the existence of enemy havens in Pakistan was placing the US strategy in Afghanistan in jeopardy, The Washington Post reported late on Friday.
Why are we reporting it if it's a 'top-secret' cable?
Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said that the cable, written by Ambassador Ryan Crocker, amounted to an admission that US efforts to curtail activities in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, a key Taliban ally, were failing.
In past years, US military officials have argued that the best defence against Pakistan insurgent sanctuaries
Also known as Taliban and ISI strongholds...
was a stronger Afghan army and government, the newspaper report said. But with the US drawdown looming, the need to directly address the sanctuaries seems more urgent.
"The sanctuaries are a deal-killer for the strategy," The Post quoted a senior defence official as saying. The Haqqani network is responsible for some of the larger and more dramatic attacks on Kabul, including one on the US Embassy last year, the paper said.
The group's patriarch, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was a major mujahideen fighter in the CIA-backed effort to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980s. He has relinquished control to his son, Sirajuddin, who carries a $5 million US bounty on his head and runs day-to-day operations from the network's Pakistani base in Miranshah, the paper said.
The location has given the Haqqani leadership a measure of protection, according to The Post.
Not from above. There's a drone carrying a Hellfire missile with 'Sirajuddin' written on it...
A good time to trigger it would be soon.
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KABUL: A gunman killed two American military advisers with shots to the back of the head Saturday inside a heavily guarded ministry building, and NATO ordered military workers out of Afghan ministries as protests raged for a fifth day over the burning of copies of the Quran at a US army base.
The Taleban claimed responsibility for the Interior Ministry attack, saying it was retaliation for the Quran burnings, after the US servicemen a lieutenant colonel and a major were found dead on the floor of an office that only people who know a numerical combination can get into, Afghan and Western officials said.
The top commander of US and NATO forces recalled all international military personnel from the ministries, an unprecedented action in the decade-long war that highlights the growing friction between Afghans and their foreign partners at a critical juncture in the war.
The US-led coalition is trying to mentor and strengthen Afghan security forces so they can lead the fight against the Taleban and foreign troops can go home. That mission, however, requires a measure of trust at a time when anti-Western sentiment is at an all-time high.
Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak called US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to apologize for the shooting and offer his condolences, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement released in Washington.
I'm ever so slightly surprised by that. It's like Wardak actually listened to Sarah Palin. I wish Karzai had made the call.
This act is unacceptable and the United States condemns it in the strongest possible terms, Little said.
Security is tight in the capital, which is covered in snow, and foreigners working at the US Embassy and at international organizations have been banned from leaving their compounds. US officials said they were searching for the assailant, who has not been identified by name or nationality.
The two American service members were found by another foreigner who went into the room, according to the Afghan official. They were shot in the back of the head, according to Western officials. Authorities were poring over security camera video for clues, the Afghan official said.
Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the shooter as one of their sympathizers, Abdul Rahman. He said an accomplice inside the ministry helped Rahman get inside the compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the Quran burnings.
After the attack, Rahman informed us by telephone that he was able to kill four high-ranking American advisers, Mujahid said. The Taleban often inflate death tolls and sometimes claim responsibility for killings they did not conduct.
Little, the Pentagon press secretary, said Wardak indicated that President Hamid Karzai was assembling religious leaders and other senior Afghan officials to take urgent steps to protect coalition forces.
US Gen. John Allen, the top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, met with Afghan Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, who offered both his condolences to the families of the victims and his apologies, Little said.
Afghanistans interior and defense ministers are expected in Washington next week.
Allen said he recalled all NATO personnel from the ministries for obvious force protection reasons but also said the alliance remains committed to its partnership with the Afghan government. NATO forces have advisers embedded in many Afghan ministries. The advisers are helping to develop the ministries so that Afghans can take the lead by the end of 2014, when foreign combat forces are to transfer control of security to Afghan security forces.
At least 28 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since Tuesday, when it first emerged that Qurans and other religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large US base north of Kabul.
President Barack Obama and other US officials have apologized for what they said was a mistake, but their regrets have not quelled the deadly protests.
An Afghan soldier turned his gun on foreign troops, killing two American soldiers, during one riot outside a US base in Nangarhar province on Thursday. It was the latest in a rising number of incidents where Afghan soldiers or policemen, or gunmen wearing their uniforms, have killed NATO forces. Last month, France suspended its training program and threatened to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan a year ahead of schedule after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in the east.
Karzai has said that the Afghan people have a right to protest the Quran burnings, but he urged them to demonstrate peacefully and refrain from destroying property. In a statement on Saturday, Karzai urged Afghan security forces to be patient with the protesters.
Hundreds of demonstrators staged peaceful protests in Afghanistan, but ones in Laghman, Kunduz and Logar provinces turned violent.
The culprits of the burning of the holy Quran should be arrested and hanged to death in public, said Mohammad Karim, one of 1,000 protesters who burned tires and threw stones at Afghan police in Mohammad Agha district of Logar province, south of Kabul. We dont accept it when they say We apologize. We apologize. We dont want Americans here at all.
Laghman provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said about 1,000 protesters threw stones at Afghan security forces, smashed windows of government buildings and tried to attack the nearby governors house in the provincial capital of Mehterlam.
In Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province in northeastern Afghanistan, more than 1,000 protesters threw rocks at government buildings and a UN office, said Sarwer Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said the police fired into the air to try to disperse the crowd. Dr. Saad Mukhtar, health department director in Kunduz, said at least three protesters died and 50 others were injured in the melee.
In a statement, the UN mission in Afghanistan said the UN had deep respect for the Islamic faith and understood why Muslims were upset about the desecration of their holy book, but urged the demonstrators to exercise self-restraint and not let militants use the protests to foment violence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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This is why you *never* apologize to the enemy.
#2
instead of apologizing tell them too go fuck themself pullout and let the taliban take back over.
Posted by: chris ||
02/26/2012 10:03
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The proper response to the Viet Cong doing crap like this was the Phoenix Program, tasked with rooting out high level infiltration and eliminating it. It was very effective in carrying out this counterintelligence role, and crippled many of the Viet Cong networks in the South Vietnamese government.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report on Iran's nuclear programme is "further proof" that Israeli estimates of the programme were accurate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, DPA reported.
The premier's statement came after the IAEA said Friday that Iran has increased its capacity to enrich uranium to higher grades, despite orders from the United Nations Security Council to halt such work. Tehran has tripled its capacity to enrich uranium to levels of 20 per cent at its Fordo facility and boosted the number of centrifuges enriching to below 5 per cent at its Natanz plant by 2,600 to 8,808, the report said.
"Iran is continuing its nuclear programme without let-up ... while bluntly ignoring the demands of the international community," Netanyahu's statement, the first official Israeli response to the IAEA report, said.
Iran's enrichment of uranium up to 20 per cent has caused concern in the West because such material is theoretically much easier to turn into bomb-grade material than uranium enriched at below 5 per cent.
The latest report comes two days after senior IAEA officials returned from a second trip to Iran without a commitment from Tehran to start answering questions about alleged nuclear weapons projects, and without having been allowed to see the key facility of Parchin.
Israel has long maintained that, despite Tehran's denials to the contrary, the real aim of the nuclear programme is to manufacture atomic weapons. Jerusalem regards Iran as its biggest existential threat, because of the country's nuclear programme, coupled with consistent statements by Iranian leaders that the Jewish state should be destroyed.
While no Israeli official has openly or publicly threatened a military attack on Iran, preferring instead to call for tighter and more stringent sanctions against Tehran, they have repeatedly said that "all options are on the table."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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What do you believe? Israel? or the NYT?
I have news for you, Israel is the ONLY accurate news source in these matters.
Shove the gray lady up the LA times rectum and it will still be .003% Journalist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Alison Armitage aka Catherine 'Cat' Avery Pascal in "Acapulco H.E.A.T. (TV Series 1993 & 1998)" aka Ariel Glister in "The New Adventures of Robin Hood (TV Series 19971999)" aka Former Girlfriend in "Jerry Maguire (1996)" aka Ms. Crowe in "Raw Deal (Video 2001)" aka Playboy's Playmate of the Month for October 1990 (age 47)
FWIW, it's been my experience that 'ringknocker' was universally perjorative - an officer less than capable getting ahead by tapping his (or these days, her) Academy ring on the table to remind those Academy grads senior to him that he is one of Them, and they owe him their loyalty even at the cost of others. Hope that helps -
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/26/2012 10:08
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TW,
if you mean the very oversize rings that are given to graduates, it is probably neutral
on the other hand, there is this famous scene from Young Frankenstein (w Gene Wilder and Teri Garr)
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/26/2012 10:12
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Thank you, gentlemen. I've changed it to the more neutral officers. I prefer to do my insulting on purpose.
Lord Garth, thank you for that lovely memory from the film. It was one of my first ventures outside the Disney oeuvre, and a revelation in countless unexpected ways.
#7
*giggle*. It's true that heather grey goes with everything, especially if it's cashmere and pearls are involved... On the other hand,mauve was always intended to go with Victorian mourning jet beads, I think, not a subtle look at all, especially with splashes of blood.
Separately, I had occasion to quote what you said a while back about lawyers being happily snapping wolf cubs the other day. With that, I carried my point and the argument, which doesn't always happen with me.
Even more separately, could you drop me an email? I have a silly question you might be able to answer.
A furious mob has desecrated dozens of Commonwealth War Graves in a Libyan cemetery amid continuing fury in the Middle East over the burning of the Koran by U.S. soldiers.
Headstones commemorating British and Allied servicemen, killed during World War II campaigns in the Western Desert, lay smashed and strewn across Benghazi Military Cemetery.
Protesters rampaged through site on Friday, despite efforts by America to calm tensions sparked when it emerged U.S. soldiers had burned Muslim holy books in a pile of rubbish at a military base in Afghanistan. White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to counter criticism, telling reporters on board Air Force One: It is wholly appropriate, given the sensitivities to this issue, the understandable sensitivities.
But it appears to have had little affect on sentiment among many in the Middle East.
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White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to counter criticism, telling reporters on board Air Force One: 'It is wholly appropriate, given the sensitivities to this issue, the understandable sensitivities.'
The assassination of US servicemen sitting at their desks "wholly appropriate" as well Mr. Carney?
BEIRUT: The Syrian military took its bombardment of the rebel-held Baba Amro district of Homs into a fourth week on Saturday as the Red Cross tried to evacuate more distressed civilians from the city.
At least 18 people were killed in Homs and elsewhere in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Deploring the outcome of an international Friends of Syria conference, opposition activists said the world had abandoned them to be killed by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
They (world leaders) are still giving opportunities to this man who is killing us and has already killed thousands of people, said Nadir Husseini, an activist in Baba Amro.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross (ICRC) said it had resumed negotiations with the Syrian authorities and the opposition to enable more civilians to be brought to safety. Husseini said people in Baba Amro were suspicious of the ICRCs local partner, the Syrian Arab Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent, and did not want to work with a group under the control of the regime.
The ICRC denied this, saying the Syrian Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent was an independent organization. Their volunteers are risking their lives on a daily basis to help everyone with no exceptions, ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said in Geneva. The ICRC said the Syrian Red Moon-Shaped Thingy Crescent had evacuated a total of 27 people from Baba Amro on Friday.
Activists in Homs described Fridays Friends of Syria meeting in Tunisia as a failure that had brought them no relief.
I dont really care about the Tunis conference. All I care about is getting help for my family in the besieged areas, said Waleed Fares, contacted from Beirut. The political calculations are not the same as the calculations for us revolutionaries.
A video uploaded by activists in Homs Khalidiya district showed crowds at a funeral, shouting We swear to God we will not be silent about our martyrs. In the background, clouds of smoke were rising from buildings that activists said had been hit by shell fire.
Civilians are enduring desperate conditions in Baba Amro.
We have hundreds of wounded people crammed into houses, the activist Husseini said. People are dying from lack of blood because we just dont have the capability of treating everyone.
The Tunis conference of Western, Arab and other countries was intended to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Assad to end an almost year-long crackdown on opponents of his 11-year rule in which thousands of Syrians have been killed.
But to beleaguered Syrians the speeches seemed remote. A doctor in the restive town of Zabadani said: Im really frightened that after all these efforts we will still end up like Hama in 1982, killed while the world waits and watches.
The people of Zabadani resent what happened in Tunis, said the doctor. We need them to arm the revolution. I dont understand what they are waiting for. Do they need to see half the people of Syria finished off first?
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Maybe that little deity you all pray to 5 times a day to is not helping you?
Maybe upgrade prayer mats, or the loudspeaker on the mosque should be adjusted.
It's not the world you little idiots, it's your corrupt culture of hell. And Baby Assads. Cry me a river?
NEW DELHI: India has marked a major success in its battle against polio by being removed from the World Health Organizations list of countries plagued by the crippling disease. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the WHO removed India from the list Saturday after the country passed one year without registering any new cases.
The milestone is a major victory in the global effort to eradicate polio and leaves only three countries with endemic polio Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. India must pass another two years without new cases to be declared polio-free.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh praised some 230,000 volunteers who traveled across India to vaccinate children and said Indias success against polio shows that teamwork pays.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Well done, India! Not like Pakistan, where polio is on the rise, because everyone knows the inoculations steal Muslim manhood and female virtue.
I strongly supported George W. Bush's leadership and our entry into Afghanistan after 9/11. We had been attacked by a terrorist group that used a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to train and plan. Al-Qaeda killed thousands of my countrymen and women. We had to go get them, and Afghanistan is where they were.
George Bush, that misunderestimated man, articulated our goals for our operations in Afghanistan in late 2001 --
First, to destroy as much of al-Qaeda as we could and deny them the use of Afghanistan as a base of operations for their large-scale terror and insurgency campaigns.
Second, to remove the Taliban from power as a punishment for supporting al-Qaeda.
It was the right thing to do. Using air power, special forces and Marines, we cleaned out most of al-Qaeda, liberated much of Afghanistan from Taliban control, and set the stage whereby al-Qaeda could not return in any strength without our knowing it and fixing it. We were not perfect but we achieved both goals.
Then we blew it by insisting on nation-building.
I understand how it happened. Mr. Bush listened to the Europeans, and that's usually a mistake. It was the professional hand-wringers who invoked Colin Powell's 'Pottery Barn' rule: you break it, you own it. Supposedly it was the U.S. who 'broke' Afghanistan so we had to 'fix' it, not withstanding the facts that there had rarely ever been a functional Afghanistan, and whatever there was in the past had been broken by the Soviets and the Taliban.
We tried. We brought in tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines. We brought in reconstruction advisors, military advisors, and diplomats. We worked to fix the country. Perhaps if the Pashtuns and the Pakistanis (but I repeat myself) had behaved it would have succeeded. But the ISI, supported quietly by the Saudis, could not allow us to beat the Taliban and thereby remove the Pashtun lands from their influence, and so we continue to bleed.
Worse than the ISI has been our own failure to recognize, in Afghanistan today as in other countries in past generations, that 'nation building', particularly done by outsiders, generally does not work. Afghanistan is firmly rooted in the 10th Century (AD or BC is a fair question) with the thinnest veneer of 20th century life in the larger cities. The people there are more tribal than on just about any patch of land on the planet. There is no nation to build. If building a single Afghan republic within the current borders is our goal, we have already failed and will continue to fail for the next century. Having gone through our own nation-building in the Americas and Europe over the last five centuries we many times fail to understand that large swaths of Asia simply are not, and will not be for a long time, inhabited by people with a sense of national identity.
Some point to a defeated, post World War II Germany and Japan as examples of successful nation building. But we did not 'build' nations there, we rebuilt them from the rubble of what were, prior to hostilities, successful nations. Germany had been a leading power in Europe. Japan had been the strongest nation in East Asia. After bombing them flat and occupying them it was a matter of removing the evil political class, re-educating the people and reconstructing the physical plant. Both Germany and Japan had a national self-identity. They were not built, they were reassembled.
What's more, we had no external power in either of these countries that interfered with our reconstruction. We failed in nation-building in Vietnam in large part (besides never understanding the Vietnamese people) because the Soviet Union, China and North Vietnam never let us go forward. Today we are failing in Iraq because Iran continues to meddle, and we are failing in Afghanistan because of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Just as the price of confronting the Soviet Union over its meddling was too high to contemplate, today the price of confronting those who interfere with us is one that we will not pay. Simply watch the long dance of 'sanctions', negotiations and rhetoric with the Islamic Republic of Iran: no nation besides Israel will confront them, and the West is working to constrain the Israelis, not the Iranians.
We have not been able to solve the problem of tribalism. We are not able to change Pakistan. We have not been able to persuade the ISI to leave us alone. And we won't, because of the oil, remove the House of Saud.
An alternative approach would be to remove the heavy presence in Afghanistan and return to the original light footprint of late 2001. Keep Bagram airbase, and use our air power and special forces to suppress al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Make the logistics as simple as we can so that we do not have to depend on Pakistan. We could arm the Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara tribes in the north and west. We could try to split and co-opt the Pashtun tribes.
All that would require a compliant central government in Kabul, and we have no evidence that Hamid Karzai or his successors would be willing to let us stay. Karzai doesn't see the Taliban as an existential threat; they're just one more local, Pashtun sub-tribe to him. Worse yet, arming the other tribes might allow them to fight each other as much or more than they fight the Taliban.
The result of a 'light war' (or light kinetic action if you prefer) is simply a slower bleed on our resources and our brave military people. We could suppress the Taliban, at least for a time, but we would not solve the problem. It also rankles our own sense of how the world should be and puts us in the position of favoring one tribe over another with the resulting bloodshed on our hands. Tribal favoritism was a favored strategy of European colonial powers, perfected in places like the Congo, Rwanda, Burma and the Ivory Coast. We would simply be implementing a 21st century imperialism. Is that who we are? Most Americans would say, 'no', and they would be right.
We have tried nation building. We have tried to help. We have fought with one hand tied behind our backs. None of that has worked.
Pack it up and bring our people home.
Keep the satellites and the drones in place. Watch the Taliban. Make it very, very clear to them that the next time they allow a terrorist group to use their land to come at the United States, there will not be a next time ever again.
It is time to go.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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#1
It really is. Not because the enemy there is formidable, not even because we would lose, because we do not have to.
The Commander of all the troops is worse than the enemy. Straight up.
I rather a Soldier have to put up with fire from the front than from fire from behind from their CINC.
Faster please....
Forget offensive OPS. We are stabbed in the back at home by our own petty king.
#2
After posting this another mod pointed out to me that Drew M at Ace of Spades has written something similar. I wrote my piece Saturday afternoon and wasn't aware of Drew's post at the time, though I should be checking in at Ace more than I do.
But I'm gratified to see that my thinking is similar to Drew's.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012 0:30
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I figured Bush's people recognized that (it's time to go) from the very beginning, which was why they took the first opportunity to 'declare victory' and move the war to Iraq. But no, all the 'brilliant minds' insisted the Iraq War was wrong and Afghanistan was the 'good' war, so back we went to the unwinnable war.
#4
And so, Obama takes the credit, unjistly, and Bush the blame.
Just in time for elections, So rememver people, OBAMA DIDN'T DO IT, JUST CLAIMED IT.
Another Kie.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/26/2012 0:54
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#5
Hell, I first said this a couple years ago when the elections were stolen. Someone advocated my banning from Rantburg.
Glad to see that common sense is sweeping the land.
#6
I do believe that precipitous withdrawal is the least bad option that is also politically realistic.
However we should keep in mind just how terribly bad this option is.
There was a mass fatality attack on the CONUS that in itself constituted a war crime.
The POTUS set an ultimatum to the state sponsors: 'Deliver the terrorists, or we will make you share in their fate!'
After more than ten years of an expensive but half-hearted war effort the US withdraws, the state sponsors return to power (in all likelihood.)
Lesson for potential adversaries: "A POTUS' statements concerning issues of life and death need not be taken seriously."
Just as any Soviet leader rationally took into account the precedent of America's reaction to Pearl Harbor, any adversary in the future will assess the US in light of the 9/11 war and its outcome.
This is very, very dangerous.
I came out of Afghanistan last month following a very frustrating 13 months of attempting to mitigate the effectiveness of the IED threat. You will find very, very few people on the ground in Afghanistan below the rank of Colonel who will agree that we are making any difference or that conditions will be better following our departure. It is simply not so. I do not "hate to say it" it is indeed time to leave Afghanistan. The effort put forth has been a collosal and tragic disaster.
Wars and insurgencies are not won by announcing one's withdrawl schedule whilst permitting cross-border enemy sancuaries to flourish and levying restrictive, non-permissive Rules of Engagement (ROE) upon friendly forces. Insurgencies are not won by the introduction of culturally offensive Female Engagement Teams (FETS) who attempt to target uneducated and oppressed women for conversion to western notions of human rights and decency. Insurgencies are not won through the 'buying' of NATO's reluctant participation. Insurgencies are not won by the monitoring of regional atmospherics through mosque sermons and madrassa activity while openly denying the Islamic threat. The Taliban Senior Leadership are simply waiting us out, training their cadres, and laughing at our nauseating apologies and claims of provincial successes.
At the end of the last Spring Offensive the Taliban Senior Leadership in Quetta, Pakistan issued guidance that their efforts would continue through the winter months with the targeting and assassination of Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) and ISAF key figures. Clearly, this is what is taking place today and with devastating effects.
Yes, it is time to leave, and it is time to study strategic lessons learned in both Iraq and Afghanistan as well. We should not continue to repeat the senseless mistakes of the past. We should think very hard about future foreign military engagements and costly entanglements. Attempting to bring primitive, Islamic cultures into the 21st century is simply a bridge too far. We owe it to our fighting forces. We owe it to all Americans.
#9
It is time to go; well past time. I have been saying this for years. I have long been of the opinion that we cannot drag these people out of their barbarism. They like it; we will not change them (NGO-think) and should not bother.
I fully supported our going into Afghanistan after 9-11. I was unhappy with the nation-building efforts both there and in Iraq; naive and arrogant, wasteful of our people and our treasure. We owe them nothing, except to flatten their 'societies' whenever they constitute a threat to us. Rinse and repeat as required. Oderint dum metuant.
There have been some upsides; Turkey and Pakistan were unmasked as enemies, and now Egypt has been as well (like it wasn't obvious before). So be it. Avoid future Libya-like idiocy (Syria, anyone?); involve ourselves only when we are directly threatened. Take note that the Europeans (and need I add, the Saudis?) are not our friends; they will use us to their advantage whenever they see it as beneficial to themselves, and laugh up their sleeves while we spend our lives.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/26/2012 7:33
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Whiskey Mike,
As a Brit i would point out that the common man in UK is alot closer to the US than the Europeans who hate us.(Cultural and history reasons)
What sticks in my throat is Obama saying France is your closet ally.He hates us also.
Saudi and Pakistan have undermined us in Afghanistan and every ally?in the Middle East undermined us in Iraq.
People in US need to know who their True allies are(UK,Canada,Australia,NZ) not put us down just because we are not the power we used to be.Thanks to Labour and its workshy multiculture views.
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/26/2012 8:45
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#11
or we could favor one faction, say the Northern Alliance which has long been pro American or at least America friendly
let them have the $$ and keep the drone assets there
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/26/2012 8:46
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#12
What sticks in my throat is Obama saying France is your closet ally.He hates us also.
So does he hate France, Paul D. But saying the other way is an easy two fingers to you lot, whom he hates for the sake of the father who is a wholly invented figment of his imagination, though Barack, Sr. was real enough to others.
#14
It's funny, I don't think of England as being European. A blind spot of mine, probably. Sounds like you don't consider yourselves European either. All good. I count as our true, few allies just those you listed. I would add a few more, but not many.
France, ...France is odd. I like their troops, I despise their elites. French society is very stratified. Liberté, égalité, fraternité; lived by many, but merely mouthed by most of the elite. I understand how what Obama says sticks in your craw; I think he says it only in spite, to injure. Obama does not represent the majority of the US. This will pass. I think. I hope.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/26/2012 9:44
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#15
I shudder to think it costs us all that we have spent and lost in Afghanistan just to kill Osama bin Laden. But we screwed it up from the very beginning. When reports came that Binny was crossing the border into Pakistan we should have pursued him and if the Pakis didn't like it we'd just have to see what they were able to do about it. Even before that, when Clinton lobbed a cruise missile into Binny's training camp after telling the Pakis so they could pass the word to Binny. Don't we have stealth bombers that could have attacked that compound without any need to tell the Pakis? Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda. But at least we learned who our real enemies are. Now can we please stop giving them money?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/26/2012 10:58
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This ought to be in the newspapers. I'm old enough (55) to remember when the gummint lost overall popular support for Vietnam. It wasn't so much when Cronkite declared it unwinnable after we'd actually won a smashing victory in the field during Tet '68 - it was more of a slow movement toward the realization that the politicians had no intention of winning the war. At that point, your average Joe Lunchbucket (who was likely a WWII vet) said "the hell with it, if we aren't going to win, we should cut our losses and bail."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/26/2012 11:13
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Oh, we'll be back. Of course it will require another smack in the face with casualties that shouldn't be. Hopefully, by that time the ruling elite who know how to screw up everything but fix nothing will have passed on, voluntarily or involuntarily.
#18
Some point to a defeated, post World War II Germany and Japan as examples of successful nation building. But we did not 'build' nations there, we rebuilt them from the rubble of what were, prior to hostilities, successful nations.
Bingo again. There was also the fact that in each case, the country's executive authority was vested in guys wearing U.S. uniforms, backed by large forces of occupation troops. The underlying message was "become a peaceful, liberal democracy or we'll kill you."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/26/2012 11:19
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#19
"The underlying message was 'become a peaceful, liberal democracy or we'll kill you.'"
I'm getting fed up waiting for the first part (which is not likely to happen), Ricky, and more than ready for the second. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/26/2012 12:18
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#20
Obama does not represent the majority of the US. This will pass. I think. I hope.
Posted by Whiskey Mike
Ring me up early on the morning of 5 Nov. I will be able to confirm or deny this statement with some degree of accuracy.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2012 13:44
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#23
I hate to say it also ... and to look at the Koran-burning and the murder of two officers (by an Afghan security officer no less) as a Walter Cronkheit moment, but there you go. Perhaps Afghanistan might yet be 'fixable', by interdicting the Talibunnies, and keeping a couple of small safe enclaves, arming and supporting the non-Pashtuns ... but not with Obama and Crew at the top. The instant apology to Karzai is the last straw.
We gave it our best shot, but if the Afghans and the Paks prefer the 7th century, then so be it.
#24
How bout make the 7th century something they can aspire to again in a millenium or so?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/26/2012 14:12
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#25
I think that was an excellent assessment of Afghanistan. I have one concern: Taliban victims; ie. defenseless women and children. Years of chaos left many widows without the ability to protect themselves from the barbarous and actually hate the Taliban. Like Viet Nam, we should offer an airlift out for those who want to flee and relocate them. Teachers and others willing to leave the rez have an opportunity to adapt to reality. Using the Northern Alliance as a base for drones, the region could also host refugee camps, letting them work out their own ethnic bigotries. Containment seems like the way to go to me.
#28
Drill deep holes and plant lots of big remote control nukes. Fill holes with concrete. Inform the world publicly of what we have done and that the deadman switch is in the Pentagon.
Explain that from now on they have to tiptoe.
FOAD on them.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/26/2012 15:13
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#26 It's almost as if we are at war with Islam, not just "extremists", ya know? That couldn't possibly be, could it?
Nearly from the get-go, our government bent over backwards about making a distinction between the good muslims and the bad muslims. It's becoming clearer and clearer that nearly? all of them hate us.
#30
Defenseless Taliban victims admitted to Western nations will demand submission to Sharia from their benefactors. And if that isn't forthcoming they will attack and kill.
Afghanistan is not Viet Nam. Southern Vietnamese boat people weren't fanatical communists. Afghan refugees would be fanatical islamofascists.
Our 'ally' aka the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is officially demanding Sharia restrictions for non-Muslims in the West.
Did the South Vietnamese government demand the adoption of Marxist-Leninist laws?
#31
Current US foreign policy is simple in principle: Do that which will help get BO re-elected. The schwerpunkt is Ohio, not Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/26/2012 17:02
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#32
Destroy the major airfields and roads going in and out of the place and start to take visas seriously. If you travel to an Islamic nation you should have additional security.
#33
I thank everyone for their comments. This one was hard for me to write.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012 19:46
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#34
If we can't take it with us, destroy it. Power stations, cell towers, water treatment, everything. After all, Mo didn't have any of that infidel shit. You wanna live like The Prophet, here's your chance, troglodytes.
Also, tell the caped restauranteer and his corrupt buddies that there's no room on the plane for them. Wish 'em luck and tell them to don't even think about moving over here.
I remember after 9/11 some people talked about nuking Afghanistan. I thought they were lunatics. I don't think that way anymore.
#35
Watch the Taliban Make it very, very clear to them that the next time they allow a terrorist group to use their land to come at the United States, there will not be a next time ever again..
Threats like that won't make a difference to them. You are assuming they are rational actors. They're JIHADIS, for goodness sake.
CAIRO American diplomats scrambled on Saturday to work out a deal to resolve the criminal charges against 16 Americans here on the eve of their scheduled trial in a case that has threatened to upend the 30-year alliance with Egypt. As late as Saturday evening, United States officials said they still could not predict what would happen when the trial opens Sunday.
You get the sense that the Egyptians would love to have a scapegoat for all their miseries right now, and American/European meddlers are as good a scapegoat as they have handy. The only thing better would be a Zionist spy, and I'm betting the Egyptian military is working on that.
American diplomats, Egyptian lawyers and others involved in the case said the efforts had foundered amid a breakdown in the lines of authority within the military-led transitional government in the final months before the generals have pledged to leave power. American officials say they have tried to find Egyptian counterparts who might intercede, but Egyptian leaders say they cannot intervene in the judicial process.
Oh no, never, such a thing has never happened in the history of Egypt.
If the case is not resolved, Congress and the Obama administration have vowed to cut off the $1.55 billion in annual aid to Egypt, potentially rupturing the three-way alliance among Washington, Cairo and Jerusalem that has been a linchpin of regional stability.
The 16 Americans and 27 others face criminal charges of working for unlicensed nonprofit groups and accepting foreign money to operate them. Nine of the Americans were outside Egypt when the charges were filed, and Egypt has barred the remaining seven, including the son of the United States secretary of transportation, from leaving.
The seven Americans work for a pair of federally financed nonprofit groups with close ties to the Congressional leadership, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, which are chartered to promote democracy abroad. In court papers, Egyptian prosecutors accuse the groups of collaborating with the Central Intelligence Agency in a campaign to destabilize Egypt and manipulate its revolution for the benefit of the United States and Israel.
If convicted, the accused face a fine and up to six years in prison for working for unlicensed nonprofit groups, and a minimum of six years for receiving money from abroad. As of Saturday, the seven Americans in Egypt had taken refuge in the United States Embassy for fear of arrest, officials said.
American officials dismiss Egypts allegations of subversive aims as political grandstanding playing to domestic anti-American sentiment. The officials say it is implausible that the United States would give about $15 million a year to have the two groups undermine the Egyptian state when it spends $1.3 billion a year to support the Egyptian military.
There is no dispute that the two groups and their staffs have broken the letter of Egyptian law. Both groups sought, but never received, licenses from the Egyptian government, and both are openly financed from abroad. They therefore violate two restrictions on civil groups left over from government of Hosni Mubarak, the strongman president who was deposed a year ago. But both groups have been tolerated here for years, along with scores of Egyptian nonprofit groups that also break both rules.
American officials say that they increased financing for the groups after Mr. Mubaraks ouster on the presumption that the restrictions would be lifted, as the Mubarak government had pledged to do as recently as two years ago. Instead, an Egyptian cabinet official held over from the Mubarak government, Fayza Abul Naga, initiated a criminal investigation that has applied the old rules with new vigor.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised the matter twice with the Egyptian foreign minister, Mohamed Amr, in London on Thursday and again in Tunis on Friday, officials said.
Last week, Senator John McCain, the chairman of the International Republican Institute, left a meeting in Cairo with Egypts top military rulers assured that a resolution was close at hand, people briefed on the meeting said.
But the case has continued to move forward, and the American threats to cut off aid have set off a new wave of Egyptian nationalism.
American officials say they are seeking some kind of resolution that might free the seven Americans trapped here while saving face for the Egyptian authorities. Egyptian lawyers have suggested that the security agencies responsible for overseeing nonprofit groups could grant licenses to the American groups, signaling to the presiding judge that their activities were not threatening and light sentences would be in order.
The National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute headed in Egypt by Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood are best known here for offering seminars and training programs to candidates and political parties preparing to run in elections.
United States law forbids the groups from seeking to influence political results in the countries where they operate, and many people who have worked with the groups say that Egyptians across the political spectrum have taken advantage of their programs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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#6
Well, they're our citizens, to be sure, but they are in the service of the worst kind of internationalist UN/NGO types. They're totally guilty of doing exactly what they're accused of doing. Meddling in the internal politics of a foreign country. I wonder if any of the arrested even has any idea why that's a bad thing.
#7
Now I ask you, who do you think this organization actually reports to? Yes, you are correct.
General Info The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. Calling on a global network of volunteer experts, NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. NDI works with democrats in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. It undertakes a wide range of programs, including democratic governance, political party development, citizen participation, and information and communications technology. Headquartered in Washington D.C., The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs has locations throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and Middle East.
#8
American diplomats, Egyptian lawyers and others involved in the case said the efforts had foundered amid a breakdown in the lines of authority.......
#9
Now I ask you, who do you think this organization actually reports to? Yes, you are correct.
The International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute are center-left organizations, are nominally tied to the respective political parties, but have separate 'missions'. They do not "report" to the parties.
Well, they're our citizens, to be sure, but they are in the service of the worst kind of internationalist UN/NGO types.
The charters of both NGOs are granted to them by the US Gov't. Essentially they took over the "winning hearts and minds" duties that the CIA once held.
They're totally guilty of doing exactly what they're accused of doing. Meddling in the internal politics of a foreign country.
How do you feel about Tiananmen Square?
American officials dismiss Egypts allegations of subversive aims as political grandstanding playing to domestic anti-American sentiment.
Partly that, but mostly it was because the NGOs were working with the secular parties; something the current junta did not want.
VIENNA/WASHINGTON: Iran has yet to clarify a discrepancy in uranium quantities at a Tehran research site, a UN nuclear watchdog report said, after measurements by international inspectors last year failed to match the amount declared by the laboratory.
The United States has expressed concern the material may have been diverted to suspected weapons-related research activity.
So it's not the IAEA who is suspicious of a diversion, it's the U.S.
UN inspectors have sought information from Iran to help explain the issue after their inventory last August of natural uranium metal and process waste at the research facility in Tehran measured 19.8 kg less than the laboratory's count. Experts say such a small quantity of natural uranium could not be used for a bomb, but that the metal could be relevant to weapons-linked tests.
The discrepancy remains to be clarified, said the latest quarterly report on Iran by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), issued to member states on Friday evening. The 11-page IAEA document also showed that Iran had sharply increased its uranium enrichment drive. The report's findings, which added to fears of escalating tension between Iran and the West, sent oil prices higher.
Iran says it is enriching uranium only as fuel for nuclear power plants, not atomic weapons, but its refusal to curb the activity has drawn increasingly tough sanctions aimed at its oil exports. In discussions with Iran this month about the discrepancy at the Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory (JHL), the IAEA said it had requested access to records and staff involved in uranium metal conversion experiments from 1995 to 2002.
Iran indicated that it no longer possessed the relevant documentation and that the personnel involved were no longer available, the UN agency's report said.
The IAEA said Iran had suggested the discrepancy may have been caused by a higher amount of uranium in the waste than had been measured by the UN inspectors.
In light of this, Iran has offered to process all of the waste material and to extract the uranium contained therein, it said. The IAEA said it had also begun taking additional analysis samples of the material involved.
Iran's envoy to the Vienna-based UN agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, last year dismissed the reported discrepancy as absolutely not an issue.
But a senior US official said in November it required immediate resolution, citing information indicating that kilogram quantities of natural uranium metal had been available to Iran's military program.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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#2
Iran in 2012 must decide whether to formally declare it desires + will build NucBombs; or it will hold off building same while possessing the ability to quickly do so.
As subject to ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > A [Air = ISAF/ISAF] STRIKE ON IRAN WOULD POSE TOUGH TEST FOR ISRAELIS.
* TOPIX > WHAT IS HEZBOLLAH'S ROLE AFTER ATTACK ON IRAN?
Even iff AIRPOWER + MOSSAD ASSASSINATIONS + COMMANDO, ETC. STRIKES are successful, at best it would only delay Iran's NucProgs while giving Iran legal + moral reason/credence to demand "defensive" NucWeaps [e.g. Post-Kennedy, Missle Crisis CUBA]; + activate Regional, International Proxy Terror Ops agz the West.
* PREMISE FOR UN-SANCTIONED US-IRAN WAR > either "IRAN HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS" VERSUS "IRAN MIGHT DEV NUCLEAR WEAPONS", wid "Iran" = also meaning Radical Islamist MilTerr Groups + aligned NGOS.
A Michigan man accused of buying and hiding more than 4,000 pounds of explosives [ANFO] with enough potential firepower to equal the Oklahoma City bombing has pleaded guilty to one count, though his attorney insisted Wednesday that his client had no violent intentions, saying "He had no intention of hurting anybody, destroying anything. He would have used them eventually for business." A wired informant provided evidence: A sheriff's detective listening to the recording heard the informant ask Lechner what he planned to do with the material, and Lechner replied: "When the government gets taken over, we will be mercenaries." I guess you could call that a 'business'
KARACHI: Separatists on Saturday targeted the railway track using low-intensity explosive devices in eight districts of Sindh, affecting the movement of trains for hours. No loss of life was, however, reported.
Irshad Baig, a spokesman for Pakistan Railways, told Daily Times that at least 13 small blasts were reported on the railway line in different areas, including Bin Qasim, Karachi, Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Sukkur. The track in Karachis Bin Qasim area was targeted at two separate locations. Officials from the Bomb Disposal Squad said that two low-intensity bombs of less than 100 grammes had been used in the Bin Qasim attack. The train service from Karachi was restored within three hours after the blasts.
The officials said the blasts in other districts were more intense than that of Karachis. Law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and found a letter written by the Sindhu Desh Liberation Army from near the blast site. The organisation says it aims to secure the rights of Sindhis and calls for an autonomous status for Sindh. Police sources said the outfit has claimed responsibility for all the blasts, adding that the group said the Balochistan issue was being taken up both nationally and internationally whereas we are also a deprived and suppressed nation. The struggle will not be stopped until the independence of Sindh, the communiqué read.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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#1
I'm concerned that the jihadists could use pressure plate IEDs on train tracks..
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/26/2012 7:42
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SINDHU DESH LIBERATION ARMY ...
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Neverforget84.com] SIKHS WANT THEIR OWN STATE, extending from India's northern Khalistan province + Delhi City into disputed Jammu-e-Kashmir.
Pragmatically, HALF-A-SIKH-STATE AT LEAST AS DRAWN FROM INDIA'S SIDE???
versus
* WORLD NEWS > GOVT. CALLS NATIVE AMERICAN RESISTANCE FROM 1800'S "MUCH LIKE AL-QAIDA".
OSAMA BIN LADEN, ETAL. aka "THE LIBERATOR(S)/FREEDOM FIGHTER(S)", ALA SIMON BOLIVAR + ZAPATA???
Which for Me brings up the question as to why OBL's beloved MTV Babe WHITNEY HOUSTON seemingly overdosed on Drugs, instead of joining Osama in mighty Jihad = Global War of Liberation???
Azerbaijan, Baku -- The U.S. air base located in the Kyrgyz "Manas" airport should not be used against Iran, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev said.
"The base in Kyrgyzstan should not be used against Iran. That is why we are talking about the necessity to withdraw foreign troops from the civil airport after 2014 and close the base," Atambaev said in an interview with Voice of Russia radio station.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that the Ministry fears that the Manas air base can be used in the potential conflict with Iran.
Air base at Manas which was later renamed as the Transit Centre was opened in late 2001 after the U.S launched its operation in Afghanistan. At present, it accommodates about 1,200 U.S soldiers. According to Pentagon statistics, the base handles up to 15,000 coalition servicemen and 500 tons of cargoes a month. The agreement on deployment of the U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan is valid until 2014.
Atambayev said that the decision on the withdrawal of foreign troops and military bases from civilian airport is provoked by considerations of Kyrgyz capital and civil population.
In other words, the Russians got to him...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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LANDIKOTAL: Three children, two girls and a boy, were killed when a mortar shell landed at their house in Akakhel area of tehsil Bara, local sources said on Saturday. The sources said that a mortar shell fired from an undisclosed place on Friday night hit the house of Muhammad Ali, killing his two daughters and son on the spot. Alis wife, two sons and a daughter were injured in the incident, they said. The locals retrieved the bodies from the debris of the house and shifted the injured to a nearby health centre.
It is important to mention here that similar incidents had occurred in the past in Bara, causing human and property loss.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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Despite the bloodshed, Syrian President Bashir Assad is staging a referendum on Sunday on a new constitution which he says will pave the way for a multiparty parliamentary election within three months.
The opposition has called for a boycott of the vote, deriding Assad's reform pledges and demanding he step down.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu questioned how the vote could take place in the midst of so much violence.
"On one hand you say you are holding a referendum and on the other you are attacking with tank fire on civilian areas. You still think the people will go to a referendum the next day in the same city?" he asked, at a news conference in Istanbul.
Davutoglu, whose country has turned strongly against its former friend since the Syrian revolt began in March, said Syria should accept an Arab League plan that calls on Assad to quit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/26/2012
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#1
This proposal by Assad might be the best solution for now.
What others options now are there for Syria?
1) Assad goes the Islamics take over, and much of the minority are either going to be thrown out or terrorized.
2) Assad tries to stays, and we have more of the same.
A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle outside a presidential palace in southeastern Yemen Saturday, killing 26 elite troops and overshadowing the swearing in of the first new president in Sanaa since 1978, medics and a military official said.
The bodies of 20 soldiers were taken to the mortuary and there are many others wounded, a medic had said at the Ibn Sina hospital in the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla. Another medic said later that six others have died of their wounds.
A military official said that a pick-up truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the entrance of the presidential palace in Mukalla as Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took the oath of office as president in the capital.
The official said the attack carries the fingerprints of Al Qaeda, adding that the attacker could be Mohammed Al Sayari, a Saudi who is originally from Hadramawt. The same source said that no high-ranking officials were in the palace when the bomber struck.
The palace is guarded by troops of the elite Republican Guard, who are under the command of outgoing president Ali Abdullah Salehs son Ahmed.
The bombing was followed by an exchange of fire between the soldiers and gunmen, the military official said. Mukalla residents told AFP that gunfire was heard from the area surrounding the Ibn Sina hospital as a medic said that Republican Guard troops were turfing out civilian patients to make room for their wounded.
Republican Guard troops have surrounded the hospital to guard their men, the military official said.
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02/26/2012
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QUETTA: Three gas pipelines were blown up in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti on Saturday, disrupting gas supply to purification plant. According to official sources, unidentified militants planted explosive materials along three gas pipelines, which were supplying gas to the purification plant and detonated it with a remote control. As result, the gas pipelines were blown up and gas supply to the plant was suspended.
A heavy contingent of security forces reached the sites soon after the explosion and threw a cordon in the area.
Three gas pipelines were blown up in Pirkoh area, an official from Dera Bugti confirmed. The law enforcement agencies have launched a manhunt in the area.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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MOGADISHU, Somalia: Somali militants say that a Moroccan was killed in a strike that a US official said was carried out by an American drone.
The statement Saturday on an Al-Shabab website named the dead Moroccan as Sheik Abu Ibrahim. The statement said two others including a second foreigner were killed in the overnight Friday attack.
A US official told The Associated Press the attack was carried out by a drone. Somali officials identified another of the militants killed in the attack as a Kenyan citizen.
Somalias Al-Shabab counts hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks. It formally merged with Al-Qaeda this month.
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#1
We'll enforce the Somalian border, the Afghanistan border, and the Iraqi border, but we won't enforce our own border.
#2
Hopefully they will eventually hit the guy wearing the goalie mask and then all the post-apolytical crazies will scatter leaving the peaceful citizens to rummage the remains of their society.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/26/2012 3:38
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#4
Gromky: I will translate. The Feds have decided on a course of action where it will be very easy for the Russians to pass him messages or get messages from him, and/or kill him outright in an untraceable manner and blame the killing on us.
#5
who cares, everyday ppl have too sweat it out in general population so why not him. He is no threat , he'll step on the wrong toes and catch a shank in a kidney.
Posted by: chris ||
02/26/2012 10:07
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#6
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled on Friday that Bout there was "no rational basis" to believe... that he had connections to terrorists or engaged in violent acts.
I dunno Judge, maybe that conviction of "providing material support to terrorists" might be the rational basis yer lookin for...just sayin.
#7
#5 who cares, everyday ppl have too sweat it out in general population so why not him. He is no threat , he'll step on the wrong toes and catch a shank in a kidney.
For the people he used to work for and sell to, that would be considered a best-case scenario. For us, not so much.
I have made a transcript of the Pennsylvania case in which state judge Mark Martin, a Muslim convert and U.S. Army reservist who served in Iraq, relied on a sharia law defense (as well as some evidentiary contortions) to dismiss an open-and-shut harassment case against a Muslim man who assaulted an atheist activist at a Halloween parade. (See my earlier post.)
The victim, Ernest Perce, wore a Zombie Mohammed costume and pretended to walk among the dead (in the company of an associate who was the Zombie Pope and who, youll be shocked to learn, was not assaulted). The assailant, Talag Elbayomy, a Muslim immigrant, physically attacked Perce, attempted to pull his sign off, and, according to police, admitted what he had done right after the incident. The defense argued that Elbayomy believed it was a crime to insult the prophet Mohammed (it is, under sharia law), and that because he was in the company of his children, he had to act to end this provocation and set an example about defending Islam.
As you will see, Judge Martin did not lecture the defendant about free speech or how disputes are resolved in a civilized country. He instead dressed the victim down for failing to appreciate how sensitive Muslims including the judge himself are about Islam. The audio of Judge Martins remarks can be heard on YouTube (The audio, beginning at around the 2-minute mark on the YouTube clip, lasts about 7 minutes. Martin has reportedly threatened to hold Perce in contempt for recording and publishing the judges statements, which were made in open court. Perce says he had permission to make a recording as long as it was only audio, not video.) Here is the transcript:
#1
Since it's legal now for Muslims to assault atheists at Halloween parades, we should recruit some atheists and go beat up some Muslims coming out of their Mosque.
Elbayomy's been acquitted so he's home free on the criminal side, though I suppose Perce could try to sue him if he could figure out some monetary damages to make it worth the trouble. At this point the most important thing would seem to be to get Martin off the bench.
#2
Muslims versus atheists? Now there's a match made in hell. The collective head of our Dept. of Justice collective must be spinning like the girl in the Exorcist trying to figure out which side they ought to be on. Glenmore, you are right. Martin ought to go.
#3
The collective heads of our Dept. of Justice collective must be spinning like the girl in the Exorcist trying to figure out which side they ought to be on.
#7
The Volokh Conspiracy has correspondence from the judge stating otherwise
I am less concerned about the honorable judge's religious practices than what appears to be a totally insane legal decision elevating Sharia law over American legal practice.
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.
KUNDUZ/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Seven U.S. military trainers were wounded on Sunday when a grenade was thrown at their base in northern Afghanistan, police said, as anti-Western fury deepened over the burning of the Koran at a NATO base.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Noam 
Nawaz Sharif
When Gilani offered to come to Aitzaz's house
VIENNA/WASHINGTON: Iran has yet to clarify a discrepancy in uranium quantities at a Tehran research site, a UN nuclear watchdog report said, after measurements by international inspectors last year failed to match the amount declared by the laboratory.
A suicide bomber blew up a vehicle outside a presidential palace in southeastern Yemen Saturday, killing 26 elite troops and overshadowing the swearing in of the first new president in Sanaa since 1978, medics and a military official said.
QUETTA: Three gas pipelines were blown up in Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti on Saturday, disrupting gas supply to purification plant. According to official sources, unidentified militants planted explosive materials along three gas pipelines, which were supplying gas to the purification plant and detonated it with a remote control. As result, the gas pipelines were blown up and gas supply to the plant was suspended. 
MOGADISHU, Somalia: Somali militants say that a Moroccan was killed in a strike that a US official said was carried out by an American drone.
