Pakistan and Afghanistan on Saturday decided to jointly fight terrorism with a follow-up strategy of reconciliation with their "adversaries" ? an indirect reference to the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ? as the four-day peace jirga ends today (Sunday). Delegates at joint jirga's Working Committee No 2 recommended a joint campaign against "centres of supporting, training and arming terrorist activities," according to a document obtained by Daily Times.
But there aren't any in Pakistain, mind you...
The delegates recommended that the so-called war on terrorism be stepped up, followed by a reconciliation process with the Taliban. The delegates also proposed setting up a 40-member committee to facilitate the implementation of decisions and recommendations taken at the jirga. Twenty members each from the two countries will be appointed by the two respective governments, Syed Hamid Gilani, Afghan delegate in Working Committee No 2 told Daily Times.
All recommendations of the five working committees will be submitted to the Executive Committee of the joint Pakistan-Afghanistan peace jirga, which can adopt, make changes or reject them. "The Executive Committee will discuss all the recommendations and approve or disapprove the recommendations," Rustam Shah Mohmand, Pakistani consultant for the jirga, told Daily Times.
According to jirga officials, the 40-member committee will meet once a month to monitor the decisions reached at the jirga. "The committee will report the implementation of the decisions to their respective governments," Gilani said.
Another working committee recommended that people sheltering terrorists must be punished by their respective governments. "Whoever gives sanctuary to a terrorist or supports him should be identified and punished by the government authorities concerned," a recommendation of Working Committee No 3 stated. It also suggested that the two governments should "appoint official representatives in each madrassa to ensure these are not used for extremism and terrorism". "The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan should strengthen controls to regulate funding to madrassas, including regular external accounting of the financing of madrassas," it recommended. "The intelligence agencies of Pakistan and Afghanistan should help identify terrorists' sanctuaries in each other's country," another recommendation said.
Working Committee No 1 disagreed on the issue of interference in each other's affairs, so there was no recommendation for Pakistan to give Afghanistan access to Indian markets. President Musharraf, meanwhile, agreed "in principle" to address the concluding session of the jirga after a phone call from President Karzai, AFP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
We'll crack down right after we let the prime suspects off the hook. This is gonna take longer than even the pessimists thought...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/12/2007 9:36 Comments ||
Top||
A Taliban leader taking part in hostage negotiations for the lives of 21 South Koreans said Saturday that the hostages would "definitely" be released and possibly as soon as "today or tomorrow."
Mullah Qari Bashir said that face-to-face negotiations with four Korean officials that began Friday were going well and that the Taliban were sticking with their original demand, that 21 Taliban prisoners be released from prisons in Afghanistan. "God willing the government (of Afghanistan) and the government of Korea will accept this," Bashir said outside the Afghan Red Cross office in Ghazni. "Definitely these people will be released. God willing our friends will be released." Asked when the Koreans might be freed, he said: "Hopefully today or tomorrow. I'm very optimistic. The negotiations are continuing on a positive track."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Depends on whether the sick ones die Er, are executed. (They'll never be able to tell that they died first, put a few more slugs in them)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2007 19:10 Comments ||
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Egyptian police arrested 40 university students and their professors at a beach resort on charges of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a security official said Saturday.
"You, there! In the Speedo! Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
The students and teachers were accused of holding meetings aimed at reviving the banned Islamist organization, which is Egypt's main opposition group, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
A spokesman for the Brotherhood said that the students were at the Balteem resort on the Mediterranean coast, east of Alexandria. Saturday's arrests bring the number of Brotherhood members detained to at least 600, said Abdel Galil el-Sharnoubi.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
The family of a British resident being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have released a graphic dossier detailing abuse he says he faced at the hands of his captors, the Guardian reported on Saturday. Omar Deghayes, 37, is one of five men who Britain asked the United States to release from the controversial camp earlier this week in a move which was seen as a toughening of London's stance over the "war on terror."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
What, no graphic details? No examples?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2007 6:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hey, Omar? Is that your Koran in the toilet? Again?
yeah, there's the Koran in the toilet, seeing prisoners 'partially drowned' (waterboarding?) and
being deprived of food for 45 days, beatings he said he suffered although funny to say
there are no pictures of his wounds. Huh.
There was also 'sexual torture' although for him
it is too painful to really tell what went on. Riiiiiight.
#4
Release him and tell him he has to swim home. Give him a small inflated float. Oh, and just before he's dumped into the Caribbean, cut his achilles tendons. Watch as the sharks have a feast.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/12/2007 15:13 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I once hear about them only having two flavors of ice cream after the dinner meal! Oh the Humanity!
Hey! Could we get some sort of Jihidi symbol on the spider, instead of some old American Indian symbol?
For three days, Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, had haggled with congressional leaders over amendments to a federal surveillance law, but now he was putting his foot down. "This is the issue," said the plain-spoken retired vice admiral and Vietnam veteran, "that makes my blood pressure rise."
McConnell viscerally objected to a Democratic proposal to limit warrantless surveillance of foreigners' communications with Americans to instances in which one party was a terrorism suspect. McConnell wanted no such limits. "All foreign intelligence" targets in touch with Americans on any topic of interest should be fair game for U.S. spying, he said, according to two participants in the Aug. 2 conversation.
McConnell won the fight, extracting a key concession apparently by duping the moronic half-wits, despite the misgivings of Democratic negotiators. Shortly after that exchange, the Bush administration leveraged Democratic acquiescence into a broader victory: congressional approval of a Republican bill that would expand surveillance powers far beyond what Democratic leaders had initially been willing to accept.
Yet both sides acknowledge that the administration's resurrection of virtually unchecked Cold War-era power to surveil foreign targets without warrants may be only temporary. The law expires in 180 days, and Democrats, smarting from their political defeat, have promised to alter it with new legislation to be prepared next month, when Congress returns from its recess. Nope, nio spin here. Front page of The Washington Post.
"The real train wreck happens in September," said a senior administration official involved in the negotiations with Congress. He was referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's declaration hours after the bill's passage that portions are "unacceptable" and that the public will not want to wait six months "before corrective action is taken."
Until September -- and possibly for much longer -- the new law will enable the high-tech collection of foreign communications without judicial scrutiny on a vastly larger scale than previously possible, allowing billions of phone calls and e-mails inside as well as outside the United States to be routinely screened for possible links to terrorism and other security threats. And thousands will have to be hired to screen all the new data! That's probably what sucked in the dimwitted Dems in the first place!
Congressional, administration and intelligence officials last week described the events leading up to the approval of this surveillance, including a remarkable series of confrontations that ended with McConnell and the White House outmaneuvering the Democratic-controlled Congress, partly by capitalizing on fresh reports of a growing terrorism threat.
"We had a forcing function," a senior administration official said, referring to the intelligence community's public report last month that said al-Qaeda poses a growing threat to the United States and to lawmakers' desire to leave town in August. "The situation was key to making it work," the official said, adding that the report's conclusions were "fortuitous" rather than engineered.
The encounters left mistrust on both sides that will complicate the next round of debate. "They said, 'Trust us, we'll fix it,' " the senior administration source said of the Democrats' proposals. "But every time the bill came back, it had language [the administration] couldn't live with."
What McConnell wanted most from Congress was to be able to intercept, without a warrant, purely foreign-to-foreign communications that pass through fiber-optic cables and switching stations on U.S. soil. That provision was meant to restore a U.S. capability that existed three decades ago, when a 1978 law allowed warrantless surveillance of foreign calls that were overwhelmingly relayed wirelessly.
Since then, advances in technology have caused 90 percent of global communications to pass through wires -- mostly optic fibers capable of carrying 6,000 calls in a strand. That development has been a boon to the National Security Agency, which has worked hard to monitor the traffic with U.S.-based taps and concluded it was doing so legally.
But in a secret ruling in March, a judge on a special court empowered to review the government's electronic snooping challenged for the first time the government's ability to collect data from such wires even when they came from foreign terrorist targets. In May, a judge on the same court went further, telling the administration flatly that the law's wording required the government to get a warrant whenever a fixed wire is involved. If you're titillated so far, you can read more at the link. I chose not to. Registration is required, but it's only to send you more ads.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2007 07:09 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
I dunno. I think the swastika is kind of appropriate.
#2
Ya know, yer right, Pappy. Sometimes I forget about the WW II connection. But at least the Nazis had rules.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2007 13:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No, they were a bunch of little passive-aggressive shits just like the idjits we have today. They overran Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, the Low Countries, and France, all the while whining loudly about how they were the poor downtrodden victim.
#4
The more important issue is what rights the people of America get back from the Govt. once the WOT + Global World Order, etc. is won. NO US VICTORY, NO RIGHTS TO BE RETURNED SAVE AT THE LEISURE OF AMER'S OWG ENEMIES.
#5
What McConnell wanted most from Congress was to be able to intercept, without a warrant, purely foreign-to-foreign communications that pass through fiber-optic cables and switching stations on U.S. soil. That provision was meant to restore a U.S. capability that existed three decades ago, when a 1978 law allowed warrantless surveillance of foreign calls that were overwhelmingly relayed wirelessly.
Jeebus, they couldn't even agree on foreign-to-foreign calls? Where no US citizens were even involved? And, thanks, once again, to Jimmuh Carter, I assume that former law was overturned.
On a side note, I caught a local AM talk show here in Atlanta on the radio late yesterday. They were looking for ideas for a new State (Georgia) motto, since we no longer are the leader in Peach Production ("The Peach State"; supposedly, we're now #29 in peaches, I guess all our illegals go to producing chickens, which we're #1 at). Anyhoo, one guy called in and suggested "We're sorry" as our new State motto. The host asked why, and the caller said "Two little words that have haunted Georgia forever...President Carter!" I just about hit the roadside ditch laughing so hard over that one comment.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2007 22:26 Comments ||
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HYDERABAD: In a stunning follow-up to the attack on Taslima Nasreen by Muslim activists, the Hyderabad police on Saturday booked the exiled Bangladeshi author for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language a charge that can get her two years in prison, if proven.
The attackers are roaming freely, charged with minor misdemeanours. The move by cops, who had dragged their feet on complaints against the goons of a city-based political group, the Majlis-Ittehadul Muslimeen, booked Taslima under section 153 (a) of the IPC after a complaint by MIMs floor leader in the AP assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi.
The MIM leader, who had warned Taslima would be killed if she stepped into Hyderabad again, alleged the novelist had hurt sentiments of the Muslim community with her writings and her speeches against Islam. The case against Taslima was filed at Hyderabad's Punjagutta police station.
Why the police filed a case against Taslima by taking MIM's contention seriously appears to be politically driven the ruling Congress needs the Muslim groups support. And as for MIM, the group, which once backed the Nizams rule and opposed joining the Indian union, was under pressure from the city's Urdu press for letting the feisty author off 'lightly'.
The largest selling Urdu paper in its Saturday edition published a picture of MIM legislators throwing a bouquet at Taslima and chided the party for throwing flowers at the author. The daily poured scorn on MIM legislators for "not even throwing chappals and shoes" at the Bangladeshi novelist, who was in the city for the release of the Telugu translation of her book Shodh .
"Passions are being aroused in the old city with the Urdu dailies and the MIM competing with each other for the sake of religion. There was no other way for the MIM but to file a case against Taslima to demonstrate that they are doing enough," a political analyst said.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/12/2007 09:13 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
Disillusioned with Fatah and Hamas, a group of Palestinian businessmen and academics has decided to establish a new political party to run in the next Palestinian Authority election. Some 120 leading businessmen and academics gathered in Ramallah over the weekend to discuss the formation of the new movement, in the first meeting of its kind in recent years. PA officials welcomed the initiative, saying Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had given his blessing to the organizers.
The group is led by the widely-respected billionaire Munib al-Masri of Nablus, who does not belong to any political faction. Other prominent businessmen who have joined the initiative include Mazen Sinokrot, Bassem Khoury, Muhammad Hirbawi, Maha Abu Shusheh and Said Kan'an. "We want to offer the Palestinians something different and a new way," said a meeting attendee. "We are actually trying to set up a Palestinian version of the Israeli Kadima Party, which attracted voters from both Likud and Labor. We are aware of the fact that many Palestinians are disenchanted with Fatah and Hamas and would like to see a new party that can offer them a better future."
Participants at the gathering decided to take gradual steps toward the formation of the new party. The first step calls for establishing a forum that would lay the foundations for the movement. At a later stage, the forum would declare itself the Association of Businessmen and Academics, which will eventually transform itself into a party.
Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian columnist who serves as spokesman for the new group, said he and his associates were seeking to "test the waters" before making a final decision to run in elections. "In the past, we had many new parties that disappeared very quickly," he said. "First, we want to see what the reactions are. That's why the forum will operate as a lobby only. If we succeed in selling the idea, we will declare ourselves as a political party."
Masri said one of the main goals of the party, which would be formally announced in October if all went well, would be to reunite the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. "We have no choice but to reunite the West Bank, which is under Fatah control, with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip," he said. "We condemn the coup that Hamas staged in the Gaza Strip and urge Hamas to reverse the situation there so that we can resume national dialogue between all the factions."
Participants also drafted a document stressing the need to focus on boosting the Palestinian economy. "Politics have been dominating our lives for too long," Masri said. "It's time to focus on other issues such as the economy, culture, music and sports."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
Now all they need is some milktoast to head it!
A global Islamic movement that wants bring Muslims back to the roots of their religion drew a crowd of more than 10,000 at a rally Saturday and denounced the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank as infidels. However, the Liberation Party [Hizb ut-Tahrir] espouses non-violent change, and PA security officials said they would not restrict the movement's activities as long as it does not resort to violence.
We've been through all this before. If the Fatah can't hunt the Hizbies down and kill them, who can?
The movement's annual rally was held at a time of heightened tension between the Hamas and the moderate Fatah movement of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas seized control of Gaza in June, and Abbas' security forces cracked down on Hamas in the West Bank in response. The Liberation Party, founded in 1953 by a Palestinian cleric in Jerusalem, calls for re-establishing the caliphate, or Islamic state, across the Muslim world.
Saturday's rally was held on the sports field of the Quaker-run Friends School, a private English-speaking school. "The caliphate is coming," read a large poster on the wall of the field.
Several tents were set up, and speakers explained in detail what an Islamic state would look like. They said 13 ministries would be established, including for media and foreign affairs. In a statement distributed in the crowd, the movement said the Palestinian Authority, a result of interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals a decade ago, was set up by infidels and is fighting against the caliphate. "It's known that no one fights the caliphate, except for infidels or representatives of the infidels," the statement said. "The employees in the Palestinian Authority are supposed to be Muslims. How can they stand with the infidels fighting their religion and their nation."
Several speakers addressed the crowd, interspersed by shouts of "Allahu Akbar," or Holy Shit! God is great. The current leader of the group, Ata Abu Rishta, told the audience by telephone that pro-U.S. leaders in the Arab world are being used by the U.S. Hazem Bader, a member of Liberation Party, said an Islamic state is "nearer than ever," but that holy war would have to wait until that state has been established.
Yousef Assaf, 67, said he came from the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem for the rally. "I want it (an Islamic state) to return because it's fairness, the base of religion."
A few Palestinian policemen stood outside the field, and organizers said one of the group's cars had been confiscated. On its Web site, the party said it planned rallies Sunday in Indonesia, the Netherlands, Pakistan and Malaysia.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
#1
Hizb = party
ut = of
Tahrir = liberation
Wonder who was the Quaker genius that thought it would be a dandy idea to open a school in Paleostan
#2
"Friends" is the same assholes that advocate an open border for the illegals to flood across. Purely a cultural suicide cult in pacifist garb, but with long-term goals. The need a strong stick upside the head to remind them that their goals aren't the majority's
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2007 12:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Liberation Party, founded in 1953 by a Palestinian cleric in Jerusalem, calls for re-establishing the caliphate, or Islamic state, across the Muslim world.
Saturday's rally was held on the sports field of the Quaker-run Friends School, a private English-speaking school.
These are the same Quakers that led blood drives in the USA for wounded Palestinian terrorists. I wonder if they realize how the future envisioned by their Palestinian buddies doesn't happen to include them.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
08/12/2007 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hizbis are subversives. They recognize only Islamic constitutions. I am opposed to intrusive state examination of website history views and library records. Pipes and Emerson patrol the extremist websites for a legitimate research purpose. However, Muslim interest in Hizb-ut-Hahrir, warrants scrutiny.
In the late 19th century, when Pope Pius IX campaigned for prescribed voting for Roman Catholics, under pressure of eternal damnation, secular states shot him down. And Catholics voted according to their own conscience. Given Koranic prescriptions for political violence - "jihad is prescribed to you" - we have to assume that the Hizbis will spawn terror groups. Al-Muhijaroun (UK) was phony spin off from Hizb-ut-Tahrir; they left in name only, to deflect terror advocacy blame from the mother-ship. Similarly, as Emerson has said repeatedly, CAIR, ISNA and HUT are nothing but front groups for terror, and the "islamophobia" label is nothing but a smear against anyone who would tell the truth about said mother-ships. Outlaw them!
#6
and denounced the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank as infidels.
Have I just been asleep for a lil' while, or is this good news? Calling the PA "moderate" actually warms my cockles that there'll be some-a shootin' pretty soon, and it's gonna be red on red.
And, while I respect the Quakers moral and religious beliefs, that group doesn't sound like the brightest bulbs in the pack. Did they really "allow" the Paleos to use their field, or were they forced to allow it, which would be the Muzzie way.
I say, let's hold a good ole' Southern Baptist "dinner on the grounds" with all the ham, fried chicken and sweet tea you can eat/drink at your nearest moskkk. Don't give them a choice, just seize the property for that *reciprocity* thingy the Pope keeps talkin' about.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2007 22:18 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Ya' say ya' live in the West Bank and you prefer to live in sharia?
Move to Gaza, idiots. Two problem solved at once.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2007 22:53 Comments ||
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Some 100,000 Islamists have met in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to press for the re-establishment of a caliphate across the Muslim world. The Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir - which organised the conference - said it had been the largest gathering of Muslim activists from around the world. However, the group is illegal in many countries and key speakers have been stopped from entering Indonesia.
A caliphate - or single state for Muslims - last existed in 1924. Hizb ut-Tahrir regards this as the ideal form of government, because it follows what it believes are the laws of God as set out in the Koran, rather than laws designed by man.
The group says it seeks to set up a caliphate by non-violent means - but many experts see it as ideologically close to jihadist groups. It is banned in most of the Middle East and parts of Europe.
The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Jakarta says that of the estimated 100,000 people packing the stadium hired for the event, the overwhelming majority were women, who have travelled from across Indonesia to attend. If the audience turnout was impressive, not so the speakers lined up to address the crowd, our correspondent adds. One by one, over the past few days, seven of the delegates invited to speak have dropped out.
Controversial Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was asked to stay away on security grounds, while three national leaders cancelled at the last minute. The Palestinian delegate was unable to leave the Palestinian Territories, and representatives from Britain and Australia landed in Jakarta on Friday but were refused permission to enter the country. Hizb ut-Tahrir's spokesman in Indonesia said he was disappointed about these problems and said that the Indonesian authorities had not told the group why its speakers had been barred.
Hizb ut-Tahrir - or Liberation Party - was founded in Jerusalem in the 1950s by Palestinian religious scholar Taqiuddin an-Nabhani. Today it has a mainly clandestine following in the Middle East, a large presence in Central Asia - where hundreds of its members have been jailed - and active supporters in the West, including London, which is believed to be one of its main bases. Many experts see it as ideologically close to jihadist groups, and suspect its commitment to peaceful means is purely tactical.
This article starring:
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Posted by: john frum ||
08/12/2007 08:36 ||
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Top|| File under: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
#1
A caliphate - or single state for Muslims - last existed in 1924.
Err... the Ottoman Empire might have been ruled by a Sultan calling himself "Caliph" but he was never the religious and temporal ruler of all the world's Muslims.
The Shahanshah (King of Kings) of Iran also claimed to be Caliph.
The Badshah-e-Hind (Emperor of India) also had supreme religious authority in his realm.
The various kingdoms in what is now Indonesia were never under the rule of the Turkish Sultan.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/12/2007 8:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
laws designed by man
First, all of mankind is under the rule of God, so God allows all laws, for His purpose. I suppose that'd include Hitler, too. Well, God at least permits evil to exist.
Second, remind me again, who wrote the Koran? And all of the interpretations thereof? And the fatwas; who writes them?
Ahh, but see, I have a logical mind - sort of like an engineer.
Pity the poor moose - surrounded by mooselimbs.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2007 9:07 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Well, God at least permits evil to exist.
Yeah, blame God. You get free will and you still blame him. All you have to look around at the crazed left to see that We permit evil to exist as long as it serves our need be it political or non-involvement. However, We choose. We get the consequences. We do not lack the means. We do not lack the resources. We simply lack the will particularly when it means we have to get our own hands bloody. Better to be lesser creations and let God do the correcting than be a greater creation and do the job ourselves.
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane".
#7
Hizb ut-Tahrir regards this as the ideal form of government, because it follows what it believes are the laws of God as set out in the Koran, rather than laws designed by man.
One sure reason for opposing such a notion with all your might.
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was asked to stay away on security grounds
We must have had a hit man in the crowd.
The Palestinian delegate was unable to leave the Palestinian Territories
Qu'elle surprise!
Many experts see it as ideologically close to jihadist groups, and suspect its commitment to peaceful means is purely tactical.
The Iranian government on Sunday announced that Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh had stepped down, the second resignation from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet within a day.
The surprise announcement came in a decree by Ahmadinejad quoted by the ISNA agency which said Vaziri Hamaneh had been appointed a special advisor to the president in oil and gas affairs.
His replacement as oil minister of Iran OPEC's number two producer and world's fourth biggest will be Gholam Hossein Nozari, head of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), according to the decree.
"You are appointed acting head of the oil ministry," said a decree addressed to Nozari. "I hope that with the cooperation of the cabinet you will fulfill your duties in full compliance with the main programmes of the government."
Vaziri Hamaneh meanwhile was thanked "for your sincere work" as oil minister.
The reasons for the change were not immediately clear.
The switch came on the same day that Iranian Industry Minister Ali Reza Tahmasebi resigned in what the government said was a move aimed at increasing coordination with the industrial sector.
Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, a top advisor to Ahmadinejad, played down the changes, saying the cabinet remained cohesive and unified.
"This does not mean that those who have resigned are exempted from responsibility and they will not cooperate with the government team but these persons are given new responsibilities," he said.
Vaziri Hamaneh was Ahmadinejad's fourth choice for oil minister when he became president in August 2005 after previous candidates were vetoed by the conservative parliament.
He oversaw lucrative receipts from oil exports due to the high price of crude and also supervised the implementation of the government's petrol rationing drive.
But Iran's oil sector vital for the wider economy and responsible for 80% of its export earnings has been suffering from a lack of investment over past years.
The problem has been exacerbated by the unwillingness of European banks to lend money to Iran in the face of US pressure linked to its controversial nuclear programme.
Kamal Daneshyar, the head of the parliament's energy commission, said that the two ministers had been in disagreement with certain methods of the government.
"It seems that certain methods do not suit the thinking and the action of the two ministers, and it is for this reason that they were replaced," he added.
Vaziri Hamaneh becomes the fourth minister to step down since Ahmadinejad became president.
The original social affairs and cooperatives ministers have both resigned. The education and agriculture ministers have each survived impeachment votes in parliament.
The resignations of the two ministers come at a time when Iran's economy is experiencing problems with double-digit inflation, poverty and high unemployment.
Ahmadinejad was elected on a platform letting all of Iran's population feel the benefits of its oil wealth but poverty remains a major problem in the Islamic republic with over 13 percent living beneath the poverty line.
Samareh Hashemi added that in the coming days Ahmadinejad would appoint Ali Akbar Mehrabian as acting head of the industry ministry. Mehrabian is currently Ahmadinejad's special representative on the fuel consumption committee.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Saturday he is confident that presidential elections would be held on a consensus base and according to constitutional schedule, disclosing that convening a regional conference on Lebanon is being considered. Berri, in an interview broadcast live by the Voice of Lebanon Radio, said the Lebanese "ought to reach consensus ? I am not frightened at all."
Convening a regional conference on Lebanon "is being considered," Berri said, clarifying that the idea has been brought up in meetings between French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Egyptian and Saudi counterparts, Ahmed Abul Gheit and Prince Saud al-Faisal. Berri stressed that he has relayed his approval of the proposal to Egypt's ambassador to Lebanon, stressing that "I am ready to take part in any meeting, anywhere, to save Lebanon."
Addressing MP Saad Hariri, leader of the al-Moustaqbal parliamentary bloc, Berri said: "Change all your plans, because after a while you won't be in accord with (Premier Fouad) Saniora."
Commenting on the outcome of by-elections at the Beirut and Metn constituencies, Berri said that at the first parliamentary session he would inform legislators on an interior ministry memo announcing the results "if no objections were made, then things will be put in course."
Commenting on the tense relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, Berri said: "Syria is closer to us than being termed an enemy ? Lebanon cannot be ruled from Syria and cannot be against Syria."
Berri said he supports "distinguished and diplomatic relations" with Syria. But Syria has so far refused to recognize Lebanon as a sovereign and independent state and for this reason they refused the offer made by Siniora to establish diplomatic relations and open embassies in both Beirut and Damascus. Syria has also refused to demarcate the borders between Lebanon and Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
"Elections will be held on schedule"
Nabih Berri
The parliamentary majority alliance of March 14 termed "decisive" the forthcoming presidential election, rejecting any compromises on holding it on time. The alliance, in a statement issued after a meeting of its follow-up committee, also said the election of a new head of state is "not subject to compromises or black mail."
Electing a head of state to succeed pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud is "a top priority at the Christian and national levels and a land mark along the march for independence." The statement rejected all proposals made by the Hezbollah-led March 8 opposition that link electing a new president to the formation of a so-called national unity government that gives Syria's allies veto powers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Saturday decided to jointly fight terrorism with a follow-up strategy of reconciliation with their "adversaries" ? an indirect reference to the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ? as the four-day peace jirga ends today (Sunday). Delegates at joint jirga's Working Committee No 2 recommended a joint campaign against "centres of supporting, training and arming terrorist activities," according to a document obtained by Daily Times. 
A Taliban leader taking part in hostage negotiations for the lives of 21 South Koreans said Saturday that the hostages would "definitely" be released and possibly as soon as "today or tomorrow." 
Egyptian police arrested 40 university students and their professors at a beach resort on charges of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a security official said Saturday. 
The family of a British resident being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have released a graphic dossier detailing abuse he says he faced at the hands of his captors, the Guardian reported on Saturday. Omar Deghayes, 37, is one of five men who Britain asked the United States to release from the controversial camp earlier this week in a move which was seen as a toughening of London's stance over the "war on terror."
A global Islamic movement that wants bring Muslims back to the roots of their religion drew a crowd of more than 10,000 at a rally Saturday and denounced the moderate Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank as infidels. However, the Liberation Party [Hizb ut-Tahrir] espouses non-violent change, and PA security officials said they would not restrict the movement's activities as long as it does not resort to violence. 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Saturday he is confident that presidential elections would be held on a consensus base and according to constitutional schedule, disclosing that convening a regional conference on Lebanon is being considered. Berri, in an interview broadcast live by the Voice of Lebanon Radio, said the Lebanese "ought to reach consensus ? I am not frightened at all."
