A 14-year-old who was trained to kill by radicals in the tribal regions of Pakistan now sits in a crowded classroom at a detention facility in Kabul. His only wish is to see his parents again.
"I miss my parents, my mom and dad," Shakirullah says in soft tones. Like others in tribal regions, he goes by one name. Lucky for you you're still able to miss them.
Shakirullah is already a convicted terrorist for planning to carry out a suicide bombing. He says Muslim radicals lied and tricked him into becoming a would-be bomber. "I have been detained for trying to commit a suicide attack," he says.
He says his recruiters told him it was his mission as a Muslim to kill British and American soldiers because they were killing Muslims. They told him that once he blew himself up he wouldn't die because God would save him for being a true Muslim.
Asked what he now thinks of Americans and Westerners, Shakirullah is calm, but quick in his response. "I don't know. God knows what type of people they are, whether they are good or bad. I don't know them," he says. Hmm. Not a good sign. These guys want to save you, those guys want you to be a tool. That's not exactly a tough one.
He's a teen ...
Shakirullah now passes his hours in a cell block at a juvenile detention facility in Kabul. He is serving at least five years in detention. He is to be transferred to an adult prison in a couple of years, authorities say.
He hasn't heard from his family in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. He tried to send them a letter through the International Committee of the Red Cross but is not sure it reached them. "I don't know what they are thinking. They have no news of me," he says.
On this day, Shakirullah attends a rehabilitation class, easily lost in the crowd of boys with shaved heads. All of the children are convicted for various crimes, including theft, fighting and even murder. Three boys like Shakirullah are here, all guilty of planning to kill themselves and others after being recruited by terrorist groups.
With the increased violence in Afghanistan, international observers say they have seen more and more children being recruited by armed groups and national forces. The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan with its strict Islamic rule from 1996 to 2001, has regrouped and launched a fierce insurgency. Tricking kids is a fierce insurgency? I'd call it a deplorable, desperate act maybe. This is CNN...
"As you see in many places in the world, children are being used in armed conflict. They've been recruited as child soldiers; they've been recruited as armed groups. And the phenomena is now impacting, again, Afghanistan," says Catherine Mbengue, the UNICEF representative in Afghanistan. How about you go the HRW that, Catherine.
Inside the detention center, Shakirullah walks up to his cell, his sandals sliding across the tile floor. The cell block is empty and has metal bunk beds lined across the wall and a television set, ready for the times they have electricity. Shakirullah shares this space with 10 other boys. He sits in the center of the room with a blanket draped around him.
He barely makes eye contact and looks away as soon as he does. He is shy, but forthright in his words. "I didn't want to do it but he forced me to go," he says of his recruiter.
Rubbing his face with his hand, he says he now spends his time dreaming of his life back home in rural Pakistan. His eyes begin to water and his voice becomes softer when he talks about missing his mother. Asked what he misses most about her, he says simply, "A mother is a mother."
His was a life of farming and tranquility in Pakistan, he says. It was also a life that took a drastic turn when his father decided to send Shakirullah for studies at a madrassa. And your father is a mother, too, dude.
He says his dad wanted him to learn more about Islam and the Quran, something he could not do himself. He says his father didn't know radicals ran the school. Yeah, Right. And my wife is Morgan Fairchild.
In the madrassa, Shakirullah learned to recite the Quran in Arabic, not his native language. He relied solely on the fanatical interpretations the mullahs were giving him. "When I finished reciting the Quran, a mullah then came to me and told me, 'Now that you have finished the Quran, you need to go and commit a suicide attack.' That I should go to Afghanistan to commit a suicide attack," he says. "And then what?"
"We'll talk about that after you get back."
The teenager wasn't given the chance to say goodbye to his parents or siblings when he was driven to the Pakistan-Afghan border and handed over to strangers.
He says he was taken to the southeastern province of Khost, a hotbed for terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Suicide attacks have risen in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban began in late 2001, after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Shakirullah says that before the police arrested him, he was learning how to drive a car but that he was not sure how he was supposed to carry out his attack. Here's a clue: Did they teach you how to park the car?
At the juvenile detention facility, Shakirullah and the others are now being taught a different interpretation of Islam. I hope it involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's Holy with a capital H, not 'holey', you know.
"The teachers educate them on Islam, and explain to them that the acts that they were doing is not right for them and for others," says Mir Fayaz ah-Din, who works and lives with the boys at the facility, mentoring them and helping them in their rehabilitation. "The way you want to kill yourself and someone else -- it in itself is a big offense in Islam." Instead, you should go get yourself a doctorate in mechanical engineering and then steer an airplane into a building.
Shakirullah now says of his recruiters, "They cheated me." Maybe you can shame your madrassah teachers into paying for a degree.
#2
His was a life of farming and tranquility in Pakistan, he says. It was also a life that took a drastic turn when his father decided to send Shakirullah for studies at a madrassa.
He's likely a hopeless case, but I'll bet his family sold him.
#3
Feel sorry for the kid. Ship is probably right. Got sold and the buyers ruined him for life.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/03/2009 12:38 Comments ||
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#4
He describes his indoctination into suicide bombing as a pretty haphazard affair. My kids are getting a better indoctination in public schools. They watch Al Gore's movie in every class every year.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 23:51 Comments ||
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#5
Do they get demerits for laughing at it, SH?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 23:54 Comments ||
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Military intelligence reports suggest that a small number of UK nationals are among the range of foreign fighters who regularly clash with British troops in Afghanistan. British military sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they believe that some of those Britons have been killed fighting against their own country's forces.
The revelation comes amid growing concern among British military and intelligence officials about militants based in Pakistan launching attacks on British interests in Afghanistan and at home. Foreign fighters enter Afghanistan from Pakistan's lawless border areas, home to the reconstituted al-Qaeda leadership.
British commanders in Helmand say that they have intelligence suggesting that British Muslims are among the enemies they face, albeit in small numbers. "We're talking about ones and twos at a time," said one officer. "It's not big numbers, but they are there, definitely."
Some of those British Muslims may have been killed in battle with British troops, military sources said. Confirmation is near-impossible, but British troop commanders believe that UK nationals are among the enemy dead.
One officer said: "We can't say for sure. If they don't carry passports, who can you say what nationality a corpse is? But it's a reasonable assumption that we've killed some of them."
Another security source highlighted the case of Rashid Rauf, the Birmingham man wanted by British police in connection with a 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic airliners. Rauf is believed to have been killed inside Pakistan in a CIA missile attack in November. "He's not the only [British Muslim] to die out here," said the source.
In August, Brigadier Ed Butler, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, told the Telegraph that there are "British passport holders" in the Taliban ranks. And earlier this year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod surveillance planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents.
The Ministry of Defence says it does not comment or give estimates for the number of enemy dead. But privately, British officers in Afghanistan estimate that several thousand Taliban fighters have been killed since 2006, among them the citizens of several foreign countries.
Foreign fighters entering Afghanistan from Pakistan are a significant component of the eclectic mix of enemy forces UK troops face.
Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the House of Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said it was "to be expected" that British Muslims were among the enemy dead in Afghanistan. He said: "The terrorist operations undertaken by British citizens at home and abroad shows the scale of British Muslims' involvement in extremism around the world. "It should not come as a surprise that some of the enemy dead in Afghanistan can be traced back to the UK."
The ease with which al-Qaeda and its associated groups can operate along the Afghan-Pakistan border is causing growing concern in Whitehall.
In December Gordon Brown visited Islamabad and told Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, he must do more to stop militants operating in the border area and launching operations inside Afghanistan. In particular, Mr Brown demanded more Pakistani action against the training camps set up by extremist groups inside Pakistan.
Several known British terrorists have passed through those camps. Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7, 2005 bomb attacks in London, trained at a Pakistani camp. He went to the camp with the intention of passing into Afghanistan to fight against British forces there, but was persuaded to return to Britain instead.
International Jihadis are also said to be active inside Pakistan. Earlier this month Major General Tariq Khan, a senior Pakistani officer, said that over 300 foreign fighters are still operating in Pakistan's tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
British commanders and intelligence officers working in Afghanistan have largely abandoned the term "Taliban" in favour of the phrase "enemy forces."
They say the change in language reflects the diverse nature of the forces they face, which include local tribal fighters, Afghan nationalists, drug gangs and hired gunmen paid by the Taliban leadership.
This article starring:
Mohammed Siddique Khan
Rashid Rauf
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
There is no such thing as a British Muslim, only Pakistanis with British passports. Mystery solved.
#2
I think you're wrong on that Excalibur. There've been a few stories surfacing to the effect that converting to Islam is increasingly popular among young British nobility.
A top Somali government official resigns after his colleague is gunned down, while three others resign citing corruption in the government. Sheikh Hassan Gaab member of the government of interim Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein resigned after he called a press conference in the city of Baidoa following the assassination of his colleague Abdullahi Abdi Egal in broad daylight also in Baidoa. Gaab accused the government's mishandling of the situation where lawmakers are being killed every day by unknown groups, a Press TV correspondent quoting Gaab reported from Mogadishu.
He added that no one is arresting the killers who roam in the streets freely after every incident. The incidents are not being investigated by the Somali government either, "so we die for nothing", our correspondent quoted him as saying. Gaab said that lawmakers, fearing for their lives, are fleeing the city, blaming the Baidoa clan militia for the killings.
In another development, three Baidoa government officials have resigned from their posts accusing senior officials of misusing taxes collected from local people. They said that the Bay regional government has not made any progress since it was established. The previous day, the Bay region's secretary for justice and religious affairs, Sheikh Abukar Sheikh Abdullahi, resigned from his post after raising similar concerns of corruption.
Baidoa is the capital of the Bay region and the seat of Somalia's federal parliament since 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Preacher of hate Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before ordering followers to convert aliens to Islam. Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy. He issued the decree during a bizarre rant which has been posted on an extremist website.
Bakri, 50, declared: We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah. Allah has created all living beings in order to obey him and worship him.
Last night a security source quipped: Perhaps he could show his people the way it would give everyone a break if he was beamed up.
Syrian-born Bakri, who sparked outrage by praising the 9/11 bombers, spoke from exile in Lebanon. But he is in hiding there after local police accused him of setting up a terror training camp. Bakri is petrified he will be tortured if he is locked up and plans to escape to a safe haven. He said: I must get out. I am talking to people about getting a new name, new passport. I didn't see the "Mars Attacks" image on the menu or I would have used that, but image at the article is even better.
#2
Galactic Admiral Zor'eb: Huhammed you say? Yes we know of him. An earlier expedition briefly abducted him and performed some minor medical procedures. I believe Captains Allah and Jibril were in charge.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 10:34 Comments ||
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#3
"Delays, delays, always with delays!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009 10:40 Comments ||
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#4
Ahhhhhh the old standard "Allah...in order to obey him and worship him"
Well, that's just fine then. As soon as he shows up and gives me my orders in person you got it.
But, just remember, I don't do middle men, no matter how many 9 year old girls they rape.
(AKI) - The Australian government has rejected a US request to resettle inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Australia.
That didn't take long ...
The government said on Friday it was asked by the Bush administration to accept a small number of detainees from the detention facility in Cuba early last year.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the proposal was rejected, and a second request was put to Australia and other US allies last month. Gillard said Australia had been approached along with Britain to accept inmates to help President-elect Barack Obama fulfil an election promise to close the camp. Gillard said the second request was under consideration but the government was unlikely to agree to it.
About 255 men are still held at Guantanamo, including 60 that the United States has approved for release. They cannot be repatriated for fear that they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries.
Who's afraid? ...
According to an Australian media report, the US State Department last week asked around 100 countries to help relocate the camp's detainees.
"Australia, along with a number of other friends and allies of the United States, has been approached to consider resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay," Gillard said in a statement. "This is a request from the Bush administration, and follows President Bush's statement that he would like to see Guantanamo closed. This is not a request from President Elect Obama."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't understand what the final step is after these countries recieve these guys. Do they make them do walk-about? Maybe we should make each detainee do an on-line profile so that we could match them to countries on multiple layers of compatability. I'm sure the all belong in Pakistan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 14:53 Comments ||
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Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) would soon start serial production of multi-role fighter aircraft (JF-17 Thunder) in collaboration with China, Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Defence Production on Thursday was informed.
The Committee headed by Sheikh Aftab Ahmad visited the PAC and was given detailed briefing about the ongoing projects being undertaken by the prestigious organisation in the defence production sector.
The Chairman PAC Air Marshal Khalid Chaudhry HI (M) T Bt gave detailed briefing about the projects whereby informing that the PAC has set up the factory for initiating the serial production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft.
Jihad is not terrorism but terrorism can also not in any way be called jihad, a private TV channel reported Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan as saying on Friday. Talking to the channel, the AJK PM said he believed in the right to self-determination for the people of Indian-held Kashmir. He also endorsed the Pak-India joint anti-terrorism mechanism, saying both countries could protect each other's interest by working together.
Wonder if he supports 'self determination' for the people in Pakistani Kashmir - like holding elections and running their own affairs - something they haven't been able to do since 1947
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban in North Waziristan warned on Friday that all co-education schools in the region must be closed by January 5, or they "will be responsible for their actions". Clerics read out the warning at mosques during Friday prayers in Miranshah. Miranshah's two co-educational schools are believed to be the only ones in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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The US military took a step towards pulling combat troops from Iraqi cities yesterday, moving out of a Baghdad base that Iraqi officials said would be dismantled and converted back into a shopping mall.
It was the first US military base to be handed over to Iraq since US forces came under Iraqi authority on January 1 in step with a new bilateral security pact.
The pact, which replaced a UN mandate, requires Iraqi authorisation for US military operations, gives US forces until mid-2009 to pull combat troops out of Iraq's towns and cities, and until 2011 to withdraw completely.
Brigadier-General Robin Swan, deputy commander of US forces in Baghdad, said the handover of Forward Operating Base Callahan in northern Baghdad was "tremendously significant".
"By June 30th, combat formations are out of the cities. This was a major forward operating base, with 600 soldiers ... three short weeks ago," he said.
US forces set up the base in March 2007 around an abandoned shopping centre, now decayed and riddled with bullet holes, in a bid to repel Shi'ite militias from the largely Sunni Adhamiya district. It has been quiet for months.
Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Pappal, who heads the base, handed a giant key to Hadi Jadoo, a trade ministry official, as Iraqi army snipers watched from the roof.
"After long suffering, we can now develop this area. We are rid of terrorists," said Hadi Hassan, who will manage the mall.
The transfer of the base came two days after US forces handed over control of the Green Zone, a fortified swathe of central Baghdad, to Iraq in a step that reflects the narrowing of US operations and improving security across Iraq.
#1
so does this make the ROE alot more lopsided? do they have too call an iraqi comander and ask for permission too fire now? I f so i think i would just request too be moved too afghanistan
Iraq says it is determined to close Camp Ashraf and extradite members of the MKO on the grounds that they have performed acts of terrorism.
In an interview on Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Iraqi government is keen on implementing parliamentary measures to expel members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) for the sake of Baghdad-Tehran relations. "Iraq is determined to put an end to this [Mujahedin Khalq] Organization because it is effecting relations between Iran and Iraq. This organization participated in many operations that harmed Iranian and Iraqi civilians," he said. "Remaining in Iraq is not an option for them."
Baghdad announced in a statement on Dec. 22 that MKO members at Camp Ashraf must close their training ground and leave the country no later than six months. Iraq has also drawn up a list of MKO members who must stand trial for the operations they have carried out in the war-torn country. The organization is notorious for the help it extended to former dictator Saddam Hussein in the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
The Iraqi premier asserted that his country would not succumb to US demands that Tehran be isolated over its nuclear activities.
"Washington can never persuade the Iraqi government into isolating the Islamic Republic or any other country in the region for that matter," said the Iraqi premier. "We will continue cooperation with neighboring countries to promote our regional ties in line with our foreign policy and constitutional rights," added al-Maliki.
The Iraqi prime minister is scheduled to visit Iran on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Iranian engagement is safer with American soldiers to back you up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 15:05 Comments ||
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Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday warned Israel against continuing its military operation in Gaza.
A videotape of the Damascus-based leader speaking was aired on Al-Jazeera Friday evening, in which he said to Israeli leaders, "The blood of Gaza is the quickest way to bring about the end of your political lives."
Spouting off from his safe-house in Damascus. "Go and fight to your deaths, brothers, and I shall eat a goat to celebrate your martyrdom."
"To Israeli soldiers I say: A black fate awaits you if you invade Gaza. We're sure of our victory, as we've prepared a better battle, and as Allah is on our side," the tape showed him saying.
With regards to a possible cease-fire with Israel, Mashaal said that Hamas's stance "is clear - we won't give up, and we won't surrender to the enemy. Our demands are clear: Stop the [Israeli aerial] attacks immediately, open all [Gaza] border crossings, and lift the siege." He praised international efforts to bring about such a cease-fire, saying "many have made contact with us, including multiple Arab and Muslim nations. We are willing to cooperate with every effort, but we will not surrender our demands."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Yea, some will die by women & children suicide boomers, and the rest will learn to shoot first and ask questions later.
US President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.
Bush chose his taped, weekly radio address to speak for the first time about Israel's military assault targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began last Saturday.
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected," Bush said. "Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice - there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
They stand proudly with the enemies of civilization.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/03/2009 14:32 Comments ||
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#4
I think many Americans understand that we wouldn't stand for rocket salvos from Mexico or Canada. It is surpising that many people expect Israel to accomodate rocket attacks. That said France does lead by example. I don't know that I would accomodate car-burn-palooza on a repeating basis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 15:00 Comments ||
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The head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, Khaled Meshaal, has said that Hamas will not bow down to any conditions imposed by Israel to end the war on Gaza. That's actually a lot easier to say from Beirut than it is from Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
Meshaal is a p*ssy, hiding in "exile" in Damascus. Every loud knock on the door and he scurries under his daughter's bed, begging "please don't kill me!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 15:12 Comments ||
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#4
The only conditions the IDF are imposing, is 155mm artillery.
Warplanes dropped thousands of fliers over the battered Gaza Strip on Friday, urging Palestinians to report to Israeli authorities the location of Hamas forces, witnesses said.
"Rocket launchers and terrorist elements constitute a risk for you and your families," said the flier, written in Arabic.
The tracts provide a telephone number and an e-mail address for anyone wishing to denounce the "activities of the terrorist elements."
"For your security we ask you to be extremely discreet when contacting us," the text says.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Weary of years of Gaza rocket fire, Israelis are massively backing their army's blitz on Hamas, despite the threat of more casualties and the soaring Palestinian toll. A week into one of Israel's deadliest offensives in the enclave sandwiched between the Jewish state and Egypt, polls show most Israelis support the war, the press is mostly positive and even avowed peaceniks are nodding in approval.
A poll published on Friday -- the seventh day of the offensive -- showed that some 95 percent of Israel's Jewish population supports the bombardment of Hamas. Eighty percent of the poll of 800 people backed "Operation Cast Lead" "without reservation," according to the survey published in the Maariv daily.
Even the leftist Meretz party, which normally opposes such operations, gave its blessing to the offensive.
The support has not been dented by several hundred rockets that Gaza militants have sent into Israel since the start of the offensive -- or the fact that some of the projectiles have reached deeper than ever inside Israeli territory. It has not been hampered by warnings of high Israeli casualties should the army send in troops after the air and naval strikes, nor by threats by Hamas to resume suicide bombings against Israel for the first time in three years.
It has neither been hurt by the soaring toll on the other side of the Gaza border -- at least 425 Palestinians killed, at least a quarter of them civilians including three young brothers slain on Friday, and more than 2,200 wounded, according to medics and the United Nations.
The main reason behind the widespread support is the years of rocket fire coming from Gaza, observers and Israelis say.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said in a televised speech from Damascus on Friday that Hamas was ready to resist any Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip and might abduct more soldiers. "If you commit a foolish act by raiding Gaza, who knows, we may have a second or a third or a fourth Shalit," Meshal said, referring to Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Gaza militants more than two years ago. "We are ready for the challenge, this battle was imposed on us and we are confident we will achieve victory because we have made our preparations," he added.
Meshal urged Arabs to step up aid to Gaza and to send medical teams. He said European and Arab countries had contacted Hamas to discuss ending the fighting, but he did not name them.
Earlier, a Palestinian official who declined to be named said talks had begun between Egypt and Hamas to discuss ideas about restoring calm to the strip.
Meshal said Hamas would not submit to Israel's ceasefire demands and Israel would first have to stop its attacks, end the blockade of the strip and open all border crossings. "Our demand is clear, that aggression should end immediately. The siege must be ended and the crossings must all be opened," he said.
Israel's bombing of the coastal enclave entered a seventh day on Friday. At least 426 Palestinians have been killed and 2,000 wounded. Four Israelis have been killed by rockets that have hit towns and villages in southern Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
how about for every soldier kidnaped that would be a city block or 2 that is totally leveled civilians or no civilians
#3
So this yahoo thinks that Israel should submit to everything in return of a promise (broken how many times) of a ceasefire? I hope a couple of those blocks leveled include his.
#4
Bulldoze Gaza into the sea, leaving nothing higher than a marble half-embedded in dirt. Then, and only then, will Israel not have to worry about rockets or terror attacks from Gaza.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 15:24 Comments ||
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#5
i hope mossad knows where this guy is in damascus and sends one for him. just kinda let the Syrians know their air defence ain't worth a shit kinda like a few months ago when the raids in their territory happened
The US has given Israel free reign to send troops into the Gaza, insisting that a ceasefire is based on Israeli's demand for Hamas to halt rockets. "Go get 'em, Ehud and Ehud! May the Force be with youse!"
White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters on Friday that they are in contact with Israeli officials and the US has asked to Israel to minimize the civilian casualties.
However, Johndroe said that "So I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation, those will be decisions made by the Israelis."
"Israel has a right to defend itself from these rocket attacks, and so we'll see," Johndroe said when asked about progress toward a ceasefire.
Also on Friday Amnesty International berated the US government over its "lopsided" support for Israeli attacks on Gaza and urged Washington to suspend weapons deliveries to Israel.
"Amnesty International USA is particularly dismayed at the lopsided response by the US government to the recent violence and its lackadaisical efforts to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the rights group said in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Since Israel unleashed its air and sea campaign six days ago, at least 65 children are among the 430 Palestinians killed, the overwhelming majority of whom are ordinary civilians and not Hamas combatants or group members and 2,250 others wounded, according to Gaza medics.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What about Condoleeza, I thought she was against Israel defending itself. Again.
#4
I wonder what they mean by children? Are they under age 10 or high side of 17? Plus why so concerned about he children? Afraid they might run out of willing suicide bombers? BTW I am pretty sure the U.S. killed a large number of chidren in Germany and Japan. It's part of warfare.
#6
CyberSarge, insofar as the sixty-some children represent something other than a propaganda fever-dream, they're probably the pediatric contents of Gaza's morgues from the last six months or so, saved up against the next opportunity to parade dead children for the news cameras.
It must have been very frustrating to not have foreign cameramen to hold their morbid little parades for.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2009 8:25 Comments ||
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#7
Spot on .5 When The One arrives in two short weeks he'll be calling for an immediate end to the fighting, speaking before the UN General Assembly, and offering to send US "Peace Monitors" I'm sure. Got to win back that Muzzie vote.
#8
"Amnesty International USA is particularly dismayed at the lopsided response by the US government to the recent violence and its lackadaisical efforts to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,"
It's AI's job to "ameliorate the humanitarian crisis," not the U.S. Maybe you figured out that volunteering at the Gaza soup kitchen is a bit different from downtown Detroit and now you want to blame the U.S.
NEW DELHI: With Sri Lankan troops closing in on LTTE's last bastion Mullaitivu, Congress on Saturday asked the island nation to hand over Tamil Tiger chief Prabhakaran once he is caught so that he faces trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"We will be happy if Prabhakaran is caught and handed over to India for the heinous crime he has committed. He should be brought to book for the assassination of our beloved leader Rajiv Gandhi," party's chief spokesman M Veerappa Moily said.
Moily said the Sri Lankan government would do an excellent service to India if it hands over the LTTE chief after catching him. "We want his extradition...The request is pending," he told reporters here.
The Congress leader, however, said the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka and the humanitarian concerns have to be looked into by the neighbouring country.
"LTTE is a terror outfit and a banned organisation...But the ethnic and humanitarian issues will have to be dealt with by the government and the Tamil population cannot be discriminated against...One cannot mix issue of terror with the humanitarian ones," Moily added.
On the statement of MDMK leader Vaiko who had said it was a temporary setback for the LTTE and they will bounce back, Moily said it was the opinion of an individual and not the government of India.
"He (Vaiko) does not reflect the views of the government of India. Only, the MEA would respond to the development. It is a diplomatic issue," the Congress leader said.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 10:44 ||
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#1
An ultimatum by the Congress Party in India, is like being threatened by Nancy Pelosi. Ignore it and move along.
A senior Iranian cleric has urged the Muslim states to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip by sending them weapons to defend themselves.
"The oppressed Palestinian people can stand up to Israel if they receive political and financial support and also weapons," Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said in his Friday prayers sermons. "Over the past week, the Palestinain people in the Gaza Strip have found a large number of supporters, many of who are interested in launching Jihad against Israel," IRNA quoted the former Iranian president as saying.
He noted that Tell Aviv is suffering from delusions of grandeur, adding that Israeli tanks cannot break the resistance of Gaza.
But they could do a nice facsimile of it ...
"Israel thinks it is more powerful than Arab states and other regional countries, while it has no weapon but the weapon of brutality," said the chairman of Iran's Expediency Council.
Citing that Hamas' newly developed home-made rockets are capable of destroying Israeli tanks and hit targets deep in the southern parts of the occupied territories, Rafsanjani said that Israel is covered with fear and enjoys no peace of mind.
He also warned against any Israeli ground incursion into the strip, which he said would be repelled by Palestinian resistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
He'll no doubt be happy to know the IDF has anticipated his request and is sending weapons at selected Palestinians. Loud reports suggest they're being received.
Posted by: James ||
01/03/2009 0:33 Comments ||
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#2
But they could do a nice facsimile of it ...
Maybe that's how Rafsanjani plans to send weapons to Gaza -- by fax.
#4
Well .... remember that radioactive ship that was intercepted off the Somali horn?
Iranian, reportedly destined to be a dirty bomb on Israeli shores.
Yeah, by ship, offloaded onto small boats that will run the Israeli blockade, or through Egypt and then tunnels if any are left, or over the border dessert at night.
#5
Here, I'll make it all US Gummit Combined Federal Campain (CFC) easy for youz:
AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS
CFC code: 12475
Join our Muslim-led interfaith coalition condemning terrorism, protecting human rights for all, promoting pluralism, and advancing interfaith understanding in a time of crisis.
www.aicongress.org
What kind of weapon protects you from a JDAM coming through your bedroom window?
multiculturalism combined with PC indoctrination have led to the kinds of spineless leaders that will protect these sacs of fecal material from a JDAM through said window. The KGB began building that shield more than 5 decades ago and even tho the soviet empire fell, the academic fifth columnists in the west have worked continuously to finish that work.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/03/2009 14:30 Comments ||
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#8
20' half ton rockets aren't easily transferred to small fishing boats, lotp.
#9
How about Israel sends a few weapons to Rafsanjani? They have at least two submarines in the Red Sea that can lauch Tomahawk cruise missiles. Tomahawks can, and frequently do, carry nuke warheads. A nice midnight sunrise over Qom would probably do wonders for the combined IQ of Iran.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 15:29 Comments ||
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Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has arrived in Syria to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. During the two-day visit, Saeed Jalili will hold talks with senior Syrian and Palestinian officials, including the Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, IRNA reported. Jalili will also hold talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and Hamas political leader, Khalid Mashal. Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iran's deputy foreign minister and a group of senior political experts are accompanying Jalili. Tehran has launched a political campaign to stop the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009 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.
Preacher of hate Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before ordering followers to convert aliens to Islam. Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy. He issued the decree during a bizarre rant which has been posted on an extremist website. 
Warplanes dropped thousands of fliers over the battered Gaza Strip on Friday, urging Palestinians to report to Israeli authorities the location of Hamas forces, witnesses said. 
