The Talibans former foreign minister said on Saturday that the group remained a united force, adding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai needed to initiate wide-ranging talks to save the country from more bloodshed.
Speaking to Reuters in Kabul, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil noted that the Taliban to a large extent is the only group that has remained united before and after its fall. If we look back to past years, evidence shows that they have expanded and increased their operations and there is the possibility of that once again. Karzais reconciliation efforts to bring what he calls moderate Taliban into the mainstream have so far failed, as have his efforts to invite senior leaders for talks.
However, Muttawakil was optimistic about recent peace overtures to the Taliban at a summit of tribal chiefs in Kabul. The former Taliban foreign minister said that the calls for peace, which came days after Karzai had renewed an offer of negotiations with various guerrilla forces would bolster the Afghan presidents position. But, he warned, Karzai still needed to build trust.
Muttawakil said that any talks should include Taliban leaders as well as former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who can't throw a grenade is currently leading a separate guerrilla force against both the government and foreign troops. Talks should start without any exception . . . an intra-Afghan dialogue is needed. Talks will bear fruit with those who cause problems, Muttawakil said, referring to Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and Hekmatyar. As the elected president, Karzai needs to take the initiative himself and rescue Afghans from this situation.
He went on to say that the Afghan government needs to show a gesture of goodwill and for that the prisoners should be released, referring to the hundreds of Taliban suspects held by Afghan and US authorities in both Afghanistan and at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
Muttawakil surrendered to US-led forces after the overthrow of the Taliban and was released from custody in 2003. Refusing a job offered with the government, he stood for the 2005 parliamentary elections but failed to win a seat. Muttawakil, 37, lives with his family in a rented house under the protection of the Kabul government, where he spends most of his time reading books, mostly in Arabic and Pashto. The former Taliban foreign minister has met Karzai several times and is the only high ranking Taliban leader to have surrendered since the fall of the regime.
This article starring:
GULBUDIN HEKMATYAR
Hezb-i-Islami
MOHAMAD OMAR
Taliban
WAKIL AHMED MUTTAWAKIL
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why the hell is that guy alive? Foreign troops should shoot on sight, anyone with a white turban.
Or better, shoot anyone with a beard, fat belly and dour expression. Those are all Taliban tells.
#2
who pays his rent? He "he spends most of his time reading books, mostly in Arabic and Pashto", which doesn't pay rent. Typical Islamic parasitical asshole.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2007 15:08 Comments ||
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Even the Guardian has to admit that the situation in Kabul is vastly improved.
The war is a long way from Kabul's butchers' bazaar. Just off the Jaid-e-Maiwand, the avenue named after the defeat of a British force 127 years ago, skinned sheep carcasses and bloody sides of beef hang above the heads of the crowds around the narrow stalls. Meat, once a luxury for many in the bustling capital, has become a staple.
While southern Afghanistan is occasionally racked by a violent but ineffectual insurgency, Kabul is thriving. The bazaar is humming with activity. The crowd is mostly male. Any women weaving between the barrow boys, the old men selling boiled eggs and the little girls with trays of sticky home-made cakes, are veiled. Most wear the full burqa, although some have hauled the stitched face grille back on their foreheads to turn it into a cape. A few wear just a headscarf. None will talk to a Westerner. What the Taliban had enforced was merely a stricter version of an entrenched social code, and the ragtag Islamic militia were easier for Western governments to remove from Kabul than the burqas.
Yet the relative economic stability and security in the capital - though by no means equally shared - means support for the Nato peacekeepers is relatively robust. A pause in the suicide bombing and rocket attacks of the past 18 months has helped, too. 'The bombings last year... shook everyone, but things are better now,' said Muqib Jamshady, a Kabul businessman who has seen his hopes of converting his homeland into a prime tourist destination disappointed in the short term, but remains sanguine about the future. 'Business is good,' said Matiullah, a money changer standing with thick wads of notes - dollars, Pakistani rupees, afghanis - in his hand. 'The currency has been stable for a long time.'
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The president of Djibouti, Ismael Omar Gelle said his government was ready to host the leaders of the ousted Islamists if they request to be given political asylum in the country, Arab TV reports on Saturday.
Fine with me as long as they host them at the US base we maintain there.
In an interview with the Al-Jazeera TV channel on Friday, Mr. Omar Gelle said that the Islamist leaders deserve to be given asylum. He said Somalias ousted parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, along with other MPs is in Djibouti. But that does not mean that Djibouti backs Adens belief towards the Somali transitional federal government, he said.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Gelle showed dissatisfaction with the way the Somali government spread its power into other parts of the country. He said the Somali government did not have to use outside power. However, my government will always stand by the Somali transitional government, he said. He pointed out that the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia would not be part of the solution for Somalia.
He denied the US warplanes that struck southern hideouts of the Islamists and suspected al-Qaeda members flew from Djibouti, adding they took off from US aircraft carrier stationed at the coasts of Somalia.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Islamist leaders to be given loocked in an asylum.
#2
SOCOM Africa is based in Djibouti so I am not too worried about them pulling a fast one on the West. It sounds more like a power politics move on the Djiboutians part : get the more reasonable Islamists into one place, under guard and in nice quarters, and then Djibouti can make appeals politically to the Islamists' followers regarding Somalia. Plus, any of the Islamists that failed to take the offer are the "unreasonable" whackos, whom then can be killed with a clear conscience by any and all comers.
Mogadishu 10, Feb.07 ( Sh.M.Network) -Authorities in Baled Hawo, Gedo provincial town near the Kenyan border, have asked the Kenyan government to reopen its border along with Somalia. The local administration in Baled Hawo requested Kenyan border security guards in Mandhere to reopen the border, which was sealed by Kenyan government early last December after authorities in Kenya feared that the Somalias routed Islamists could cross the border.
Baled Hawo administration say there are no dangers in the area currently, urging Kenya to allow residents in Gedo province and those in Mandhera to do their business as usual, and cross the border between the nations.
And they have to get the qat trade restarted.
Since Kenya announced it sealed its border with Somalia, trade between the two sides halted, sparking more cargo trucks from Somalia to be held up in Baled Hawo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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From now on, the Saudi King will have no absolute power to select his successor. Rather, a special council of the monarch will select three crown princes and the king will have to choose one from them, British newspaper Telegraph reported. The report said Saudi Arabia has significantly reduced the powers of its absolute monarchy by quietly removing the Kings authority to choose his own successor.
This landmark constitutional reform, enacted by royal order last October but only disclosed this week, fundamentally changes the way the desert kingdom which controls 25 per cent of the worlds oil is governed. Until now, the king alone has selected his successor, known as the crown prince, from among the sons and grandsons of King Abdul-Aziz, the founding leader of Saudi Arabia, better known as Ibn Saud. In the future, a committee consisting of senior members of the royal family, called the Bayah Council, will vote for the crown prince from three candidates named by the king. The council is empowered to reject the kings choice and can even impose a crown prince against the monarchs will. It can also declare the king or crown prince incapable of ruling.
SANAA - Yemens parliament on Saturday voted for the government to take military action against Shia Muslim rebels who have killed dozens of soldiers in recent clashes, parliament members said.
"Moidalize 'em!"
The vote, held in a closed parliament session, was expected to give a stronger hand to the government in tackling the rebels led by Abdul-Malik Al Houthi, brother of anti-American cleric Hussein Al Houthi who was killed in 2004. MPs said some opposition members joined the majority GPC party of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in advocating action against the rebels, who are also accused of preaching violence against the United States.
Some nationalists, Socialists and Islamists, whose parties had earlier helped in mediation efforts, have criticised the government for planning tough action against the rebels it accuses of wanting to install Shia religious rule in the country.
Sunni Muslims make up most of Yemens 19 million population, while Shia Muslims are estimated at about 15 percent. A wide majority approved a proposal to ask the government to use the necessary military means to resolve the problem with Houthis followers, said an MP, who declined to be identified.
"Especially if they can kill apostates."
Yemen said on Monday at least 42 soldiers had been killed and 81 wounded in over a week of sporadic clashes with the rebels. Saleh warned the rebels after the latest violence, which began late last month, to surrender their weapons or face a showdown.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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An error of judgement in sentencing the six militant kingpins to death has been reported and the full hierarchy the Supreme Court judges sit today to hear and mend the mistake. The Supreme Court that dismissed all the six applications for leave to appeal by the condemned JMB kingpins against their death sentences in the Jhalakati judges killing case would take up today the judgement for necessary correction, Attorney Generals office sources said. The matter will come up for hearing as first item, one source in the AG office said, pleading ignorance about what has actually gone wrong with the judgement delivered on November 28, 2006 and what correction has to be made.
A seven-member full court of the Appellate Division had pronounced the verdict dismissing all the petitions for leave to appeal to overturn High Court confirmation of the capital punishment. Meanwhile, Shamsul Islam, counsel for Khaled Saifullah, one of the six condemned JMB militants and a suicide bomber, told the news agency that he had filed a petition for review of the judgement on his clients death penalty.
Muslims in Cambridge have demanded a public apology from a student who printed anti-Islamic material in a magazine. The material included a cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed which sparked worldwide outrage last year when it was published in Denmark. It is thought this is the first time the cartoon has appeared in a publication in England.
Asim Mumtaz, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said: "I'm horrified and shocked. In such a seat of learning, I am horrified that things could stoop to this level. I'm actually shocked that intelligent people know how offensive this cartoon is and that they have decided to reprint it in such a horrible manner. It's disgusting."
The cartoon was reprinted in Clare College's student magazine in a special edition on religious satire. The 19-year-old student who printed the cartoon has since gone into hiding and the college has called a rare Court of Discipline to decide how the student should be brought to account.
Mr Mumtaz, a former Cambridge University student himself, is now demanding that everyone involved with the publication of the cartoon should make a public apology. He said: "I hope the magazine and the JCR apologise for what they have done. We thought we had gone past this and that people realised there is a difference between freedom of speech and outright insult. I am very shocked, I would not imagine this in Cambridge, maybe some other university, city or country. We have such intelligent people and they understand the consequences of their actions." Mr Mumtaz added that although the student involved had behaved immaturely, he believed there was also some intent to be offensive.
The cartoon was printed alongside a picture of the president of the Union of Clare Students, with the captions switched. There was also comment suggesting one was a "violent paedophile" and the other was "a prophet of God, great leader and an example to us all".
Abdul Arain, co-ordinator of the Cambridge Muslims website and a leading member of the Abu Bakar Saddiq Mosque in Mawson Road, also reacted with shock. He said he believed the 19-year-old had deliberately tried to stir up racial hatred. He said: "I feel a mix of emotions, but I am absolutely abhorred this has happened on our backdoor."
Like Mr Mumtaz, he said he believed Muslims in Cambridge would be deeply offended by the publication, but would remain peaceful. Mr Arain said: "These kind of inflammatory remarks brings about the worst kind of character. We need to rise above it. It's one man trying to set up tensions. The Prophet Mohammed in the Muslim world is the most revered figure." He emphasised Islam was not a violent religion, but like Mr Mumtaz, said he believed muslims in Cambridge would be outraged by the publication.
Mr Arain also praised the quick action of Clare College in condemning the publication, and added he believed justice would be done through the college's disciplinary system. He said: "What this person has printed is highly offensive and it has caused abhorrence and distress to many people. This person must realise what he has done and take responsibility for it and come out and make recompense for it."
#1
the college has called a rare Court of Discipline to decide how the student should be brought to account for calling Mohammed a violent pedophile, which is the truth.
What's that old saying about hell and handbaskets?
#3
So... shall we set up a pool on when the Clare College administration will roll over, apologise extravagantly and promise to severely discipline any student who breaths any criticism against Islam?
Put me in the pool for...oh, Wednesday PM.
After all, it is sooooooo much more important to be sensitive, than to actually maintain a pretense of intellectual inquiry. Look at how speedily our news orgs rplled over on this issue.
#5
The high street in Cambridge has a McDonald's with a wonderful design theme; a Regency folly. Though I expect it does not serve a bacon double cheeseburger for fear of offending the deen of the Masters.
#6
The cartoon was reprinted in Clare College's student magazine in a special edition on religious satire. The 19-year-old student who printed the cartoon has since gone into hiding and the college has called a rare Court of Discipline to decide how the student should be brought to account.
WRONG ACTION The student should be protected by Campus police 24-7 and any complaibers investigated THOROUGHLY.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/11/2007 9:20 Comments ||
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#7
The 19-year-old student who printed the cartoon has since gone into hiding
Why? Islam means "peace", right?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/11/2007 9:33 Comments ||
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#8
Mr Arain also praised the quick action of Clare College in condemning the publication
"Clareification" is a weekly student spoof mag, including "Clareifornication", and the cartoons & comments are likely to be consistent with its normal format & content.
Why is a certain "religion" seething about a non-issue, as usual?
Posted by: A Murder Of Muslims ||
02/11/2007 9:53 Comments ||
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#9
"Why is a certain "religion" seething about a non-issue, as usual?"
Because they can... it really must be awful, to be so skinless in a sand-paper world!
Two Chechens are reported to have been arrested on suspicion of killing investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. The pro-Kremlin daily paper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the men were detained following an analysis of photographs from military satellites taken on the day of the murder. Ms Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her home in October. She had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya at the time of her death. Suspicions fell on the Kremlin, despite official denials of any involvement in the killing. The following month, the former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who had been investigating her murder, was also killed. A close friend told The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Litvinenko, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had no doubt he was poisoned at the command of the Russian government.
Ms Politkovskaya was a critic of Kremlin policy in Chechnya, where she alleged officials used abduction and torture in a campaign against separatist insurgents. Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted sources close to the investigation as saying the two men were detained following an analysis of satellite photos.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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PRIME Minister John Howard has launched a broadside against US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, warning his victory could destroy Iraq and prospects for peace in the Middle East.
Mr Howard's stinging attack against the popular Democrat, who formally launched his bid for the Democratic candidacy overnight, also appears to commit Australian troops to staying in Iraq well into 2008. Only days after saying Australia's alliance with the US was about more than his personal friendship with US President George W Bush, Mr Howard warned that an Obama victory would be a boost for the terrorists.
The man who wants to be the first black US president has pledged to withdraw US troops from Iraq by March 2008, a timetable Mr Howard believes is dangerous. "I think that would just encourage those who wanted completely to destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for (an) Obama victory," Mr Howard told the Nine Network. "If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."
Labor described Mr Howard's attack against Senator Obama as unprecedented. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat.
Well yeah, and a good point he makes.
"It's the first time that I can recall that an Australian prime minister has engaged in US politics in such a partisan way... actually telling US citizens what side of politics they should vote for," he said. "It's most inappropriate, it demeans the Australia-US alliance to suggest its a relationship between political parties rather than an enduring relationship between two people."
Mr Howard's comments also suggest he anticipates Australian troops will remain in Iraq well into 2008. He has repeatedly vowed to stay the course with the coalition forces in Iraq and predicted there was no way the US could withdraw in a little over a year.
"There's no way by March 2008, which is a little over a year from now, everything will have been stabilised so that the US can get out in March 2008," Mr Howard said. "And, if the US is defeated in Iraq, the hope of ever getting a Palestinian settlement will be gone."
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd indicated that if Labor won government, the troop rotation in place at that time was likely to be the last. However, he would not give a definitive timetable for withdrawal. "What we would do with the US is consult with them... about our removal of the Australian force on the ground," Mr Rudd told the Ten Network.
He pledged that Australia, under his leadership, would maintain its security detachment of around 110 personnel guarding the Australian embassy in Baghdad. It would also provide some form of security assistance to the Iraqis.
Mr Rudd indicated that other troops would only remain in Iraq for up to six months at most after a Labor victory. "Rotations of troops are normally in six-month cycles, (so it) depends on where you are in that cycle," he said. "All I'm saying is we'll be taking those troops out of there but we'll do so in close consultation with our US ally."
#2
"If I was running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."
OOOhhh, that's a keeper.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/11/2007 9:38 Comments ||
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#3
I suspect Howard is praying for a Howard win later this year. I'll consider voting for candidates willing to put Oz first and Islam last, regardless of party.
#4
"Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said Mr Howard was virtually telling people not to vote Democrat."
As well he should.
Any vote for any Democrat, for any public office high or low-- even County Animal Control Officer-- is a vote to empower a political movement dedicated to the destruction of everything in this country worth preserving, and dedicated to the creation of a Socialist totalitarian state in America. And I am no more willing to condemn my grandchildren to live as serfs under such a state, than I am to have them grow up under shariah.
And I say that as someone who, until just a few years ago, had been a Democrat for over three decades. After seeing the true soul of the Democratic Party since 9/11, I will NEVER vote for another of those bastards again so long as I live. Nor will I abide anyone who does.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/11/2007 10:34 Comments ||
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#5
Um just between us guys....
since when can a freshman senator order troops around anywhere? If I recall correctly the election isn't until NOVEMBER 2008.
So how the hell can this bozo do anything in March?
#10
AlanC, think primaries, Kerry's hat, and Jimmy Carter, all condensed in one man who claims to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln but works for the Copperheads.
#11
Barack Hussein Obama is the Mujaheddin candidate. Always use his full name, since he hasn't bothered to change it. The more sensible pols in Chicago have been legally changing their names to Irish-sounding ones, like Patrick O'Brien, for quite some time, since the stats show candidates with Irish names tend to get elected in Chicago, anyway, by the brain-dead, and sometimes factually dead, electorate. Obama's biggest strategic failure was continuing to use an obviously Muslim name, rather than changing it during law school to something like Sean Patrick Kennedy, against which Hillary wouldn't stand a chance. Maybe his choice will turn out to be a success, with the 45% of the electorate seemingly under the sway of a death wish.
Meanwhile he continues to speak with a golden forked tongue, out of both sides of his mouth, and the MSM are rolling out the red carpet ahead of the candidate of the hour. "I think that it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me a day after I announced" my candidacy for president, Obama said during a news conference in Iowa, the first state to hold party caucuses. "I take that as a compliment." At the Ames rally, Obama said the war should have been neither authorized nor waged and decried that the lives of 3,000 Americans have been "wasted" in the conflict. "The problem is not that the information's not out there," he said. "The problem is that that's not what you guys have been reporting on."
Get the information out: Barack Hussein Obama is scum.
#13
Pprime Minister was talking to an Australian network, presumably in Australia, about the pledge of an American senator and declared presidential candidate to see that America withdraws from Iraq by 3/08, long before he would take office should he win. We her at Rantburg are quite possibly the only American voters who will know of this. Not exactly interfering in our election in quite the same way as, eg. all those letters from Guardian readers to individual registered Ohio voters was. Y'all remember, when they advised us poor idiots in the strongest possible terms to join the rest of the world in voting for Senator John Kerry?
#14
WEEKLY STANDARD + PRISONPLANET > Bill Kristol > says Obama's POTUS speech is akin to "can't we all get along", feel-good PC speech of appeasement and concession, and is ANTI-LINCOLN + PRO-SLAVERY [SECESSIONIST?] iff Amer was back in 1860.
#15
Obama really screwed this up. First, his spokesman issues an ignorant statement that was very insulting to Australia. Then the Media's Darling appears very agitated before the microphone and calls Prime Minister Howard "George Bush's ally".
Hey dumbsh*t - he's AMERICA'S ally. If you push for surrender, you will be called on it.
Think of how many times a day President Bush gets slammed by allies and enemies - you don't see him react at all. Ain't no way Barak Hussein Obama is presidential material (much less Senator).
#16
This is a very surprising thing for John Howard to do. He is the most low key and discreet politician I have yet to see, and the only credible explanation is a genuine alarm at the implications of an Obama Presidency,for Australia and the world.
BERLIN - Berlin Saturday confirmed reports that Canada is to buy German Leopard tanks to equip its forces serving with the NATO multinational force in Afghanistan. The defence ministry said it was examining a request to that effect from Ottawa, confirming a report in the magazine Der Spiegel due to appear Monday which says that 80 A4 tanks could be bought from the German army reserve. The ministry is in principle favourable to this request, a spokesman told AFP.
The Leopard 2A6 has been around a few years. It's a main battle tank similar to the M-1 Abrams.
Spiegel says the Canadians also want 20 Leopards of the latest A6M type which are mine-resistant, of which the German Bundeswehr regular army has 40. But as the German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann cannot deliver them at once, Canada wants to lease them from the German army, according to the magazine.
Canada has 2,500 troops deployed against the Taleban in the south of Afghanistan, while Germany has a force of 2,950 serving with the NATO International Secuirty Assistance Force in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Correct me iff I'm wrong, but to my knowledge the LEOPARD 2A6 is untried in combat, unlike Brit, US, and French Leclerc MBT's.
#2
I get the impression that the Germans aren't using them, so why not sell them to the Canadians somewhat cheaply? Win/win -- the Canadians have a lowered cost of entry to proper troop transport (finally! Hurrah for the Conservatives in government!), and the Germans can use the cash to pay for ... *shrug* something military.
#3
The Canadians had previous been equipped with the original [post-war] German Leopard when they maintained forces in Germany during the '60s. They're probably comfortable with the business relationship. It's unlikely their supplier will play games with spare parts or upgrades that unfortunately the US has done with other foreign buyers in the past. Also unlikely that given a 'pressing need' that said spare parts and ungrades wouldn't be reserved by the seller for large scale commitments someplace else in the world by the US. I'm sure the Germans are interested in someone else 'field testing' their gear since their own government is unlikely to permitting it when it involves the home team.
Even if that were true (I think it isn't) engine can make a LOT of difference: in addition to spped ad accelaration (this shortens time going fromcover to cover), it dictates what ground is unpassable and what is not (and thus not need to be mined/defended). Also M1 turbine is far less noisier than traditional tank engines and gives some element of surprise.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
If by "stifling" you mean wanting Kerry and the other usual suspects to STFU with their constant hate-America yammering, then it ain't just the GOP - it's a good majority of the country.
STFU, you loser.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2007 0:04 Comments ||
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#4
Stifiling my ass. We are allowing open and undisgused treason from sons of bitches like John "Felcher" Kerry, the Democrat party and, 99.9% of the journalists in this counrty.
#6
RUSSIAN GENERAL > Amer's influence, positioning, and diplomatic manipulations in Russia's periphery = sphere of influence is a TOP NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT-CONCERN FOR RUSSIA; + PRAVDA/REGNUM > GATES calls to increase Amer's army due to uncertainty over Russia, Iran, and North Korea > America is preparing for war against Russia. WMF.com > Chinese people will not accept Western forces or influence in NORTH KOREA.
#7
IRAQ > America is winning ergo the Amer People are told we're losing. * FOX's special on Radical Islam > (1) Radical Islam = Commies or Nazis hiding behind the face of God-Religion; (2) the only "Ace" Radicals themselves say they = Islam has left is SUICIDE = SUICIDE OPERS; (3) Radical Islam controls many of the National/Public = Govt Institutions + Medias; and (4) PEOPLE IN THE WEST NEED TO KNOW THEY ARE IN DEEP/SERIOUS TROUBLE WHEN THEY ARE OPPOSED BY OTHERS WHOM BELIEVE IN, OR PREFER, DEATH TO LIFE OR COMPROMISE. "MODERATE ISLAM" IS BECOMING IRRELEVANT + INTOLERATED BY [DESPERATE] RADICALISTS.
Whats there to debate about - be it CNN's or FOX's or Other's, still comes down to its better "Over There" than "Over Here". THE RADICS WANT AMERICA-WEST'S HEADS ON A STICK, AND THAT INCLUDES THE HEADS OF ANTI-DUBYA-GOP DEMOLEFTIES! BY CNN's + FOX, etc. THE DEMS ARE DEALING WID PEOPLE WHO NO LONGER CARE ABOUT BEING $$$ PAID OFF = APPEASED THRU THE UNO. $$$ WILL NOT SAVE DEMOCRAT HEADS-BUTTS.
#12
Been reading the comments by Mendiola for a couple years now and, although he might be insightful,I have yet to clearly understand one of his posts. As OU183 mentioned, we need translator or simpler version for less mentally agile people like me!
Posted by: Jim ||
02/11/2007 9:34 Comments ||
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#13
#9 Him say, America needs to wake up smell the coffee, get a donut and arm to the teeth.
Done, At least here down South.(On second cup)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/11/2007 9:34 Comments ||
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#14
"...and I am also the real father of Anna Nichole Smith's baby."
But then again on reconsideration I'm not. That may change at any time however.
#17
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., blamed Republicans for squelching Senate debate on the Iraq war
First things first, it is the majority leaders prerogative to set the agenda. But it is not his prerogative to dictate to the opposing party which resolutions they will offer. And thats exactly what he tried to do by not allowing the Judd resolution to be debated. It was Sen. Reid that shelved the debate after parliamentary objections from the minority as to the required number of votes for passage and which resolutions to debate. There are essentially four resolutions before the Senate. First is the so-called Warner amendment. It is a non-binding resolution that urges the President to strongly consider alternatives to adding additional troops into the theater. This confetti resolution is favored by the Democrats not because it would actually accomplish anything but to simply put Senators on record. In short, this allows the Democrats to carp about the administration, blame the Republicans, and still not have to offer any credible alternatives. The next is the McCain amendment. It argues that it is contradictory to approve General Patraeuss nomination but not support his plan. It too is non-binding and like the Warner amendment most likely wouldnt have 60 votes required to pass. Then theres the Feingold resolution that essentially defunds the Iraq war. Unlike the previous two resolutions it actually has teeth. However, it could portray the Democrats as not supporting the troops and it too doesnt stand a chance for passage therefore Reid wont allow it to be debated. And finally there is the Judd resolution. In essence it is the opposite of the Feingold plan and clearly states that no matter what there will be money for the troops. So why would Reid be opposed to bringing a concise resolution that would actually have an impact? Because he knows it is the only one of the four proposals that would pass.
SUKKUR: Central leader of the Sunni Tehrik (ST), Muhammad Shakil Qadri, has given a 30-day ultimatum to the government to arrest the Nishtar Park tragedy culprits or brace for a countrywide protest. Speaking to a news conference at a local hotel Saturday, he said that had the culprits of the explosion been arrested in time, the entire country would have been saved from terrorists and subversive elements. He warned that during their protest they might even besiege the provincial and national assemblies. The ST leader said that if the government made sincere efforts, it could put an end to the heinous crimes taking place in Sindh and the entire country.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD SHAKIL QADRI
Sunni Tehrik
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. military officials on Sunday accused the highest levels of the Iranian leadership of arming Shiite militants in Iraq with sophisticated armor-piercing roadside bombs that have killed more than 170 American forces.
The military command in Baghdad denied, however, that any newly smuggled Iranian weapons were behind the five U.S. military helicopter crashes since Jan. 20 four that were shot out of the sky by insurgent gunfire.
A fifth crash has tentatively been blamed on mechanical failure. In the same period, two private security company helicopters also have crashed but the cause was unclear.
The deadly and highly sophisticated weapons the U.S. military said it traced to Iran are known as "explosively formed penetrators," or EFPs.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/11/2007 17:30 ||
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#1
Bill Roggio has a more extensive post up on this topic.
Excerpts:
"The Iranian suspects detained in Irbil have confirmed these reports and we have found with them maps and explosives-related material. Those Iranians were trying to get rid of these documents in the lavatories... the Iraqi government has notified us that (the Iranians detained in Irbil) were not diplomats and had no passports."
The Irbil raid in early January netted the most significant evidence, as well as a senior member of the Iranian Qods Force. Six Iranians were detained in Irbil, including Mohsin Chizari, the operational commander of the Qods Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps specialized force that is equivalent to U.S. Special Forces. During the Irbil raid, "the Iranians were caught trying to flush documents down the toilet," and "bags of their hair were found... indicating they had tried to change their appearance." Chizari was "apprehended after slipping back into Iraq after a 10-month absence." Earlier it was reported Chizari was detained in the Baghdad raid, and subsequently released.
The smuggling routes have largely been identified, with "most of the components are entering Iraq near Amarah, the Iranian border city of Meran, and the Basra area of southern Iraq."
#2
FREEREPUBLIC > Iran announces it has new 2000-km missle + warheads for same [Shahab 4?]. Large parts of Western, Eastern Europe, ME, and portions of Western China in range. Near enuff to Moscow to recomm to Putin to build that fallback Capital close to Siberia-Far East. NET > prob derived from circa 18-24? Soviet SS-N-6 designs purchased from North Korea. In addition, WMF.com > RADIO ISRAEL named as possib source > Iran is indeed smuggling disassembled Anti-Air SAM's hidden in disguised spaces built within normal truck vehix carrying contrux and other goods/cargoes to civilian areas where Radicalists operate andor control. Many truck operators-crews have been trained to operate various combat functions of the SAM's - IN TRUE TERRORIST FORM, SAM CREWS MAY NOT ALL BE MEMBERS OF THE SAME RADIC OR TERROR ORG/CELL(S). NETTER SPECULATION > NUTSHELL - IRAN is getting ready to destabilize Israel's + other pro-USA/Moder/
anti-Islamist nations by attacking and destroying their international air travel and air-centric logistics capabilities. Iran also allegedly wants retaliation in case its recently captured diplomats-officios in Iraq are NOT released.
GAZA - The Palestinian unity government which will be formed under an agreement reached in Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday. The issue of recognition was not addressed at all (in Mecca), Ahmed Youssef said. In the platform of the new government there will be no sign of recognition (of Israel), regardless of the pressures the United States and the Quartet would exert, he said.
Youssef said Haniyeh hoped to form the new government before a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators on Feb. 21 and urged the Quartet to lift sanctions on the Palestinians. The pretext by the Quartet to continue the boycott of Hamas members in the government should end because they are wrong policies that will only push towards more tension and possibly towards more conflict in the Palestinian territories, he said.
"We've gathered our fig leaves, and you should now prepare to be fooled!"
The Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- on Friday repeated its demand that any Palestinian government renounce violence, recognise Israel and respect peace deals in order to receive Western aid. In a joint statement, the Quartet withheld judgement on whether the new Palestinian unity government to be formed by Fatah and Hamas met its conditions.
I can hear the Euros whining, the Russians scheming, the UN blustering and W refusing.
This article starring:
ISMAIL HANIYEH
Hamas
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Well, I for one am just shocked!
Who could have seen that coming?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/11/2007 0:09 Comments ||
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what's the diff. No support if they don't meet the minimal 3 req'ts. No aid. Within a week it'll be back to the internal killin' - hey! They're Paleos...it comes natural
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2007 0:23 Comments ||
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LYING INFIDEL PIGS!!! I am Anna Nichole Smith's baby's father!!!
#5
I must be in a mood. I was dreaming about ARClight and carpet bombing Gaza last night... and I'm not even really clear what the ARC thingy is, besides nasty, overwhelming, and very effective.
#6
Happy talk, keep talking happy talk. Talk about things you like to do. You got to have a dream. If you don't have a dream how you gonna have a dream come true?
Iran has begun mass producing a drone invisible to radar, the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, announced on Saturday. According to Safavi, whose statement was reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the new drone will have "a range of 700 kilometers."
"The drone can be used in reconnaissance operations, information gathering, picture dispatching and film shooting," the general said, adding that "the shape and material of the drone makes it impossible to be detected by radars so it cannot be targeted."
"The drone has passed its experimental phase and is being mass produced, and we are currently using it in our operations," Safavi claimed. He added that the drone was a defensive tool, saying: "We do not intend to invade countries and we do not believe in expansionism, rather, we are to protect our revolution, develop our country and remove our problems."
In the past week, Iranian state information agencies have boasted a number of Iranian 'achievements,' including an alleged AIDS cure, as part a build-up of Iran's official 'ten-day dawn' celebrations marking the Islamic revolution.
President Ahmadinejad is expected to make an announcement on Iran's nuclear program later in the day.
#7
40-some years ago I had a stealth drone, invisible to radar (made of plastic, except a tiny 2 cycle engine), and armed with a (dummy) bomb. Modelled after the Stuka dive bomber. Of course its range was limited - to the amount of string I put on its control harness, and its path was limited to a circle of that radius. Less than $20, if I recall. 700 km is a lot of string, but those Persians have been known to exaggerate.
#9
Must have gotten the idea from Al Quada. Back in October 2005 the Pak Army discovered Chinese made UAVs in a raid on an AQ camp. Actually, it was a fairly large (5-6 ft. wing span) remote control aircraft painted a bright yellow. The Pakistani army reported that the Chinese UAV was equipped with a video camera and transmitter. It was also reported that the plane could be purchased in a big Pakistani city hobby shop for about $55. Iran may be building a knock off the Chinese RC model airplane and painting it black.
By Christoph Schult, Britta Sandberg and Ansgar Mertin
An important bank in the Arab world offers accounts paying a type of life insurance to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. But now it could soon face a lawsuit from American lawyers representing the victims.
Rooters - Palestinian suicide bomber Bassam Takruri killed seven people when he blew himself up on a Jersualem bus on May 18, 2003. His family then received $200 a month for over a year, after opening an Arab Bank account.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2007 7:32 Comments ||
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I hope CAIR really energizes itself to denounce and protest Hirsi. It will make for compelling TV; beautiful woman who was mutilated by her moslem family and states that OBL's more blood curdling comments are Quran based vs.an organization easily tied to terrorism apology.
It will take time to breakdown the liberal narrative of "oppressed muslims vs. evil capitalism - zionism - western civ" but this breakdown is inevitable. The only question is when (before or after Sharia is imposed)
#3
The breakdown of the liberal narrative is not inevitable. It's a continuation of the "party line" going back to 1917, or even farther. The jihadis are just riding on the narrative's coattails, since the jihadis are also interested in bringing Western Civ down.
As a child, Ayaan Hirsi Ali fled violence in Somalia with her family. As an adult she fled Kenya to escape an arranged marriage. She left her adopted Holland after she was caught up in political turmoil and had her life threatened. Now Hirsi Ali a brave critic of Islam to her supporters, a bigot to her critics has found refuge in the intellectual bastion of leading U.S. conservatives.
Hirsi Ali joined the American Enterprise Institute last September, after a sometimes stormy 14 years in the Netherlands, where she was a member of parliament and became a central figure in two events that jolted the nation.
First, after she wrote a script for a film that depicted naked women with Quranic verses scrawled on their bodies, a Dutch-born Muslim gunned down the filmmaker, Theo van Gogh. A letter threatening Hirsi Ali was left on a knife plunged into van Goghs chest. Next, a fight within Hirsi Alis political party over her Dutch citizenship brought down the government.
These days, Hirsi Ali is promoting her autobiography, Infidel. It gives a graphic account of how she rejected her faith and the violence she says was inflicted on her in the name of Islam. Im an apostate. Thats why the book is called Infidel, she said in a telephone interview from New York.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations thinks Hirsi Alis campaign amounts to slander and bigotry. We believe that she will bring an increase to the level of anti-Muslim bias in this country that we saw her bring to the situation in Europe, the councils communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, said in an interview Saturday. Unfortunately her message is one of bigotry, not one of mutual understanding.
Her new colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute laud Ali Hirsi as a brave voice taking on a taboo subject. Shes very original, a very courageous thinker, and she has independence of mind, said Christina Hoff Sommers, an institute fellow who specializes, among other things, in feminism. At the institute, Hirsi Alis studies will involve Islam and women: the relationship between the West and Islam; womens rights in Islam; violence against women propagated by religious and cultural arguments; and Islam in Europe.
Many institute scholars have had a close relationship with the Bush administration. Among its senior fellows are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Cheney.
It may seem like odd company for a woman born in a Mogadishu hospital 37 years ago. Ive been accused of selling out, she said. Ive been told, Youre hanging the dirty laundry outside.
Ali Hirsis book provides a graphic account of how her grandmother had her subjected to genital mutilation, sometimes called female circumcision, when she was 5 years old. The practice began in Africa, before Islam, but some African Muslim societies still see it as a requirement of religion.
She also describes a time when she was a teenager in Kenya, a majority Christian country with many Muslim Somali refugees, and a Quran teacher cracked her skull after she challenged his insistence that students write Quranic verses on wooden boards and memorize them. I started to call him uncivilized and backward and said he lived in the time of ignorance before Islam had come around and this was an outrageous system, she said. The man bashed her head against the wall.
She lied to be accepted as a refugee in Holland, became a Dutch citizen, graduated from prestigious Leiden University and won a seat in the Dutch parliament for a party that was tough on immigration. She became known as a firebrand. That led to her collaboration with van Gogh on the short television movie, Submission. In 2004, a man enraged by the movie shot van Gogh seven times and slit his throat on an Amsterdam street, leaving the note threatening Hirsi Ali.
Her lie when she entered the country she used an assumed name caught up with her last year. By that time her falsehood was widely known, even to her good friend Rita Verdonk, the immigration minister. Because of a notorious similar case in which Verdonk expelled a young woman, she came under pressure to cancel Hirsi Alis citizenship. She did, and the six members of the governments smallest coalition party resigned in protest. The government fell, although Verdonk had used a technicality to restore Hirsi Alis Dutch citizenship.
Considering van Goghs death, and her outspokenness about Islam, Hirsi Ali said she no longer can feel safe without bodyguards in the presence of even moderate Muslims.
Unlike many world leaders, including Bush, who say Muslim terrorists are distorting the peaceful Islamic religion, Hirsi Ali said the terrorists in large part have truth on their side: The violence is in the Quran and the hadith, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, she said. Islam today, she said, is not my grandmothers amulet-wearing, superstitious sort of Islam that is just comforting for the believer. Todays Islam sees the world as its enemy, she said. And you wage war against your enemies.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Hooper contends that she exaggerates to further her agenda. She is just one more Muslim-basher on the lecture circuit, he said.
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.
The Talibans former foreign minister said on Saturday that the group remained a united force, adding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai needed to initiate wide-ranging talks to save the country from more bloodshed. 
From now on, the Saudi King will have no absolute power to select his successor. Rather, a special council of the monarch will select three crown princes and the king will have to choose one from them, British newspaper Telegraph reported. The report said Saudi Arabia has significantly reduced the powers of its absolute monarchy by quietly removing the Kings authority to choose his own successor. 
An error of judgement in sentencing the six militant kingpins to death has been reported and the full hierarchy the Supreme Court judges sit today to hear and mend the mistake. The Supreme Court that dismissed all the six applications for leave to appeal by the condemned JMB kingpins against their death sentences in the Jhalakati judges killing case would take up today the judgement for necessary correction, Attorney Generals office sources said. The matter will come up for hearing as first item, one source in the AG office said, pleading ignorance about what has actually gone wrong with the judgement delivered on November 28, 2006 and what correction has to be made.
Two Chechens are reported to have been arrested on suspicion of killing investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. The pro-Kremlin daily paper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the men were detained following an analysis of photographs from military satellites taken on the day of the murder. Ms Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her home in October. She had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya at the time of her death. Suspicions fell on the Kremlin, despite official denials of any involvement in the killing. The following month, the former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who had been investigating her murder, was also killed. A close friend told The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Litvinenko, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had no doubt he was poisoned at the command of the Russian government.
BERLIN - Berlin Saturday confirmed reports that Canada is to buy German Leopard tanks to equip its forces serving with the NATO multinational force in Afghanistan. The defence ministry said it was examining a request to that effect from Ottawa, confirming a report in the magazine Der Spiegel due to appear Monday which says that 80 A4 tanks could be bought from the German army reserve. The ministry is in principle favourable to this request, a spokesman told AFP.
GAZA - The Palestinian unity government which will be formed under an agreement reached in Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister 
By Christoph Schult, Britta Sandberg and Ansgar Mertin
