Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"When I get to heaven, tie me to a tree
For I'll begin to roam and soon you'll know where I will be
I was born under a wandrin' star
A wandrin' wandrin' star"
On this day in history: April 17th
1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1492 Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices.
1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
1907 The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than any other day.
1961 A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1964 The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
1975 The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
[ADN Kronos] Police on Thursday arrested two men over the recent slaying of Afghanistan's leading women's rights activist, Sitara Achikzai in the southeast, the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Achikzai, was shot dead on Sunday by two gunmen aboard a motorbike in the southeast province of Kandahar.
The 52-year-old MP's killing sparked international outrage and calls from many politicians for Kabul to provide greater protection for women in Afghanistan.
Human rights activists are up in arms over the recent approval of a conservative marriage law governing Afghanistan's Shia minority, which critics say legalises rape.
The law was passed last month, sparking international outrage. It allows a husband to demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse.
It also denies Afghan Shia women the right to leave their homes except for 'legitimate' purposes, and forbids them from working or receiving education without their husbands' express permission.
Rights activists say the law marks a return to the oppression women experienced under the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001.
Achikzai's killing came amid an increasingly violent Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.
In September 2006, the leading Afghan official working on women's rights, Safia Amajan, was also shot dead in Kandahar.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Foreign navies have agreed to protect a vessel installing an undersea high-speed Internet cable from pirates off the coast of Somalia, a Kenyan minister said on Thursday.
Sea gangs from lawless Somalia have been increasingly striking the Indian Ocean shipping lanes and strategic Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels and hundreds of hostages in attacks that have driven up insurance rates.
Patrols by Western navies have done little to deter the attacks.
Kenyan Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio said the 5,000 km (3,107 miles) fibre optic cable was on course for completion in June.
Last month, a government official said the route for the East African Marine Cable (TEAMS) had been shifted an extra 200 km from the coastline for fear of pirates.
"These are concerns we have but they are being addressed. We know it will be secure and will land in Mombasa on time," Poghisio said in a statement on Thursday. "The process (of laying the cable) has begun and will probably take two months. It is likely that by the middle of June the ship should be anchoring in Mombasa, or rather delivering the cable to Mombasa," he added.
The $130 million cable will link Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa with Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Kenya has been putting down a terrestrial cable connecting different parts of the country to prepare for the arrival of the marine cable, which could be east Africa's first speedy but cheap telecoms link with the rest of the world.
Another undersea project known as SEACOM is also expected to be operational in the second half of 2009 and two others are due to land in 2010 -- the Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the France Telecom/Orange Sat3-wasc-Safe cable.
[Maghrebia] Terrorists ambushed and killed an Algerian communal guard and a cook employed in an army barracks on Wednesday (April 15th) in Beni K 'sila, (40 km west of Béjaïa), Tout sur l'Algerie reported. In the same region last Wednesday, a bomb attack in Souk El Djemaa injured four soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
How do they know it was terrorists? Lotsa people don't care for Army cooks.
[Bangla Daily Star] Eight years into the Ramna Batamul blast, a Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against 14 operatives of outlawed Islamist outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan in two cases filed in connection with the incident.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge ANM Bashir Ullah rejected the discharge petitions submitted by the counsels for Hannan and five others and framed charges against all 14 accused.
Ten people were killed and scores injured in the blast at Ramna Batamul during Pahela Baishakh celebrations on April 14, 2001. Following the carnage, two cases -- one for murder and the other for possession and use of explosive substances -- were filed with the Ramna Police Station.
List of names at the link: you don't know any of them ...
All five arrestees were produced before the court amid tight security. Akbar was also present at the court. They pleaded not guilty after the charges brought against them were read out.
Moulana Tajuddin, younger brother of former BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and seven other accused have been absconding since filing of the cases. Charges were framed against them in absentia.
The court fixed April 28, 29 and 30 for trial of the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act and set May 3, 4 and 5 for trial of the murder case. It also summoned complainants in the cases to appear before it on the scheduled dates.
Both the prosecution and the defence had earlier completed hearing on charge framing. The prosecution argued that the charges brought against the accused were primarily proved and they be charged with carrying out the bomb attack. But the defence prayed for clearing their clients of the charges saying the charges brought against them were false, fabricated and baseless.
On December 30 last year, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and 13 others for committing the offence.
CID Inspector Abu Hena Mohammad Yusuf, investigation officer (IO) in both the cases, submitted the charge sheets to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court showing 84 people as prosecution witnesses. Following the incident, Akbar was arrested for his alleged involvement in the blast. He gave a confessional statement to a magistrate disclosing Mufti Hannan's involvement in the incident.
The investigation remained incomplete although it got a boost after the caretaker government came to power. During investigation, three others including Hannan and Jewel gave confessional statements to magistrates on different dates.
The charge sheets said the Huji members orchestrated the attack at their headquarters and the Saat Gambuj Mosque, both located in the capital's Mohammadpur.
Suman, Jewel, Johnny and Sujan carried the bombs to Ramna Park that day. Posing as decorators, they entered the park through the gate adjacent to the National Tennis Complex at around 4:00am. Johnny detonated the bombs by remote control.
The charge sheets also said Ramna Batamul, where thousands of people gather to celebrate the Bangla New Year, was chosen as the target because Huji considers Pahela Baishakh celebrations anti-Islamic.
Moulana Tajuddin supplied the bombs. He also supplied grenades for carrying out the attack on an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Bhola court yesterday placed Faisal Mostafa and his prime associate Hassan Saifuddin Badal again on a 10-day remand to grill them on the motive behind keeping arms and ammunition at Green Crescent Madrasa in Bhola.
The Investigation Officer (IO) of the case produced the two before the Bhola Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court on completion of a 10-day remand and prayed for more 10 days for each in the case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2008.
Earlier, the court showed Faisal arrested in the case following a petition filed by the IO, Sub-inspector Rafiqul Islam of Borhanuddin Police Station. "Faisal and Badal have admitted owning the seized firearms but they are yet to disclose why they had assembled arms and ammunition at the madrasa. That is why we have sought further remand for them," said the IO.
Meanwhile, seven solicitors representing Faisal and Badal filed a petition seeking bails, but the court rejected their plea and granted the two 10-day remand each.
Earlier on Wednesday the two were taken to Bhola where the Task force Intelligence (TFI) questioned them.
Faisal was not initially made accused in any of the two cases filed in connection with the recovery from Green Crescent Madrasa cum Orphanage. He was later shown arrested in both the cases as his name came in the recent confessional statement of Mohammad Russell, one of accused of the two cases. Police sources said both Faisal and Badal might be again sent to the capital for TFI interrogation.
Faisal, the founder of Green Crescent madrasa, was apprehended along with Badal at Pubail, Gazipur on April 6 in connection with the arms haul.
On March 24, Rapid Action Battalion unearthed the 'mini-ammunition factory' inside the madrasa-cum-orphanage and seized 10 firearms, 2,500 bullets, 3,000 grenade splinters, 200 grams of gun powder, different components of ammunition and 72 books on jihad, Abul Ala Maududi and Osama bin Laden.
This article starring:
Faisal Mostafa
Hassan Saifuddin Badal
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
[Bangla Daily Star] Yet another BDR jawan died in custody yesterday. This is costing me a fortune in flowers, you know?
When you care enough to send the very best.
Havilder Kazi Saidur Rahman, 46, of 13 Battalion, arrested in connection with the February 25-26 BDR carnage, was the 13th jawan to die in custody. Perhaps it's something in the water?
Only if they're being water-boarded ...
Meanwhile, 73 BDR men, 48 from Kushtia and 25 from Netrakona, were taken to the BDR headquarters yesterday for quizzing in connection with the carnage that left 75 people dead. "Into the paddy wagon wit' youse!"
"Ummm... It's 3 a.m. Are we gonna die?"
Besides, 20 more BDR men were placed on a seven-day remand each while one BDR jawan confessed his involvement in the carnage to a magistrate. "Dat's right, yer honor! I dunnit! Don't let 'em get me!"
BDR Director General Maj Gen Mainul Islam told The Daily Star, "Saidur died of cardiac arrest as part of the will of the Creator [The Almighty]. However, the autopsy report will confirm the cause of the death." In the end, it's always heart failure, isn't it?
Meanwhile, Saidur's relative Kamruzzaman alleged that he died due to torture as several injury marks were found on his legs and knees. Well, he didn't die of leg failure, did he?
Spiders .. why does it always have to be spiders ...
Saidur's wife Sheeuly Begum over telephone said, "I talked to my husband on April 5 and he said he was well." They always say that just before the heart attack hits. It's one of the warning signs, y'know.
She said her husband was present during the carnage but fled the BDR headquarters. "I'm outta here!"
He later joined the BDR headquarters. "I'm back now."
Hailing from Dhuliha village under Harinakundu upazila in Jhenidah district, Saidur Rahman joined BDR in 1981. "'At's right. 28 year I been here. Seen 'em come. Seen 'em go. Now I'm gone."
Asked about the injury marks, the DG said, "The mutineers used different ways to flee...they had to jump over walls and overcome various obstacles. Those might be the injuries sustained during the escape." "A lot of 'em have those roofing nail injuries."
A press release issued by BDR public relation officer yesterday said Saidur felt chest pain around 1:00am yesterday. "Jailer! Jailer! My chest hurts!"
That always worked for Kirk ...
He was taken to the hospital at BDR headquarters around 3:00am. When his condition deteriorated, he was moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) around 4:00am where doctors on duty declared him dead at 4:30am. "Cheeze. That's terrible. I'm sure they did all they could for him. Who was the attending physician?"
"Dr. Quincy."
However, in the register of the deceased at DMCH it is mentioned that Latif, a ward boy of the BDR hospital, brought Saidur dead at DMCH around 4:30am. "Dr. Quincy! Dr. Quincy! I think this guy's dead!"
"I ain't dead!"
"Shuddup!"
According to sources, a total of 13 BDR men died in custody since March 9 and of them seven reportedly committed suicide and six died of cardiac arrest. Committing suicide leads to cardiac arrest, so you might as well put that down for all of them.
Meanwhile, Sepoy Zakir Hossain confessed to his involvement in the BDR carnage before a magistrate. So far, 37 BDR men have confessed before magistrates. "Dat's right, yer honor! They confessed!"
"Hey! I didn't..."
"Shuddup."
About the 73 BDR men taken to Pilkhana yesterday, Maj Gen Mainul Islam told The Daily Star that they were present at Pilkhana during the carnage but later fled. "Cheaply made boots, don't fail us now!"
"They were asked to join the BDR headquarters. But they joined elsewhere. They should be quizzed," the DG said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Saidur died of cardiac arrest as part of the will of the Creator [The Almighty].
#2
This is costing me a fortune in flowers, you know?
Fred, I can make you a deal on blooming dandelions - that is, if the current snowstorm doesn't kill 'em. It usually doesn't - the only things harder to kill than dandelions are cockroaches. Don't have any of those, however...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/17/2009 15:08 Comments ||
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H/T weaselzippers
Yesterday evening, government prosecutors filed a motion with the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA), asking that the unanimous ruling of a 3-judge panel in favor of LtCol Jeffery Chessani, USMC, be reconsidered by all 9 judges of the court. A majority of these 9 judges would have to agree to take the case.
On March 17, 2009, the 3-judge panel of NMCCA unanimously vindicated the ruling by Colonel Steven A. Folsom, USMC, dismissing all charges against LtCol Chessani on the grounds of Unlawful Command Influence. LtCol Chessani is the senior-most officer criminally charged as a result of the much-publicized and ill-described "Haditha massacre."
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, represents LtCol Chessani alongside his detailed military attorneys LtCol Jon Shelburne, USMC; Capt Jeffrey King, USMC; and Capt Kyle Kilian, USMC.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, "The way our government has treated this true American hero is outrageous. After spending over 20 years in loyal service to his nation and considered one of the best combat officers in Iraq, the government is giving Jeffrey Chessani less legal consideration than it is giving the terrorists held at Guantanamo."
In dismissing the charges against LtCol Chessani, Col Folsom described Unlawful Command Influence as the "the mortal enemy of military justice." But despite the solid legal basis for the ruling, the government appealed the decision to NMCCA. NMCCA heard oral arguments on the governments appeal on October 17, 2008.
In seeking a reconsideration by the entire panel of NMCCA, government prosecutors now argue that the 3-judge panel misunderstood the difference between an officers rank and his billet (job). Essentially, the government argues that a full colonel in the Marine Corps could not unlawfully influence a Lieutenant Colonel if they held similar billet (job) positions.
The Law Center has a week to file a response to the governments motion for reconsideration. If the NMCCA does grant the governments motion, the government then has 60 days to appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) and then even to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If you get a chance to see the video of he and his wife speaking before many microphones, do so. What great Americans they are!
Richard Phillips, who was freed from his ordeal with Somali pirates on Easter Sunday, landed in Burlington, Vt., late Friday afternoon on a small blue Maersk chartered jet. Embraced by his wife and daughter, Phillips gave as a wave as he exited the plane at Burlington International Airport with other family members.
A few minutes later, the captain told the media he is not a hero. "I'm not a hero, the military is. Thank them." he said. "They are doing an impossible job. I would not be here without them."
Phillips also thanked his family, his crew, his company and all Americans for their prayers and support during the difficult time. "We're just seamen, we do the best we can with what we've got," he said.
Phillips' wife said this is not a typical homecoming for the family. "This is truly one of the happiest moments of our lives -- having Richard home," she said. "I've always been proud to call myself an American. Today I am even prouder."
Relieved and jubilant, a small Vermont town that held its breath for five tense days got ready to welcome back its 53-year-old hero Friday, a shipping captain whose high-seas hostage drama riveted the world. The white picket fence in front of his home was festooned with homemade signs, ribbons and bows.
Phillips was to be feted at home with his favorite beer, a chicken pot pie made by a friend and brownies made by his mother-in-law. There was no immediate plan for a parade or public celebration, owing to the family's status as somewhat reluctant celebrities. "We're respecting the family's wishes and waiting to see what they'd like to do," said Kari Papelbon, the town's zoning administrator.
But all around town, the yellow ribbons that came to symbolize Underhill's hope during the five days of Phillips' captivity fluttered in a spring breeze, with lots of late additions as his arrival drew near.
There was a "Welcome Home Captain" sign in front of the Stitch In Time yarn shop, a "Welcome Home Captain Phillips" sign in front of Browns River Middle School and a "Welcome Home Captain Phillips" tar paper sign affixed to a red barn across the street from the family's home.
Just as telling were a pair of posterboard signs on the fence in front of Phillips' home. "Thank You for Your Prayers," said one.
"Please Give Us Some Time as a Family," said another, a polite message to members of the media and anyone else hoping to get close.
Police also had kept people away from the airport. Still, two women inspired by the bravery of Phillips, who gave himself to the pirates as a hostage to save his Maersk Alabama crew, sat in the airport's parking lot with a sign to welcome him home: "You're a good man, Captain Phillips," it read.
"We're so, so proud of him," said Lynn Coeby, of Ripton, alongside her mother, Eleanor Coeby. "We think that he has such character and morals and ethics to potentially put his life at risk for his crew, and we wanted to be here to say we think he's a good man."
Other crew members marked homecomings this week, as well. On Sunday, just days after returning to his home in New York City's Harlem neighborhood, William Rios will be in the pews at Second St. John Baptist Church. The Rev. Robert Jones said that he has spoken to Rios since his return and that he agreed to speak during the morning service.
Jones also said Rios told him about his ordeal in a telephone conversation. "He was very afraid," Jones said. "He said, 'I was afraid because I didn't know what was going to happen.' He's thanking God, and we're thanking God."
Time, of course is horrified...
The Bush Administration approved the use of "insects placed in a confinement box" during the interrogation of top Al Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah, according to a 2002 document that President Obama declassified for release Thursday. Muldoon, break out the jar of daddy long legs.
No Sarge! Not that!
The legal memorandum for the CIA, prepared by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, reviewed 10 enhanced techniques for interrogating Zubaydah, and determined that none of them constituted torture under U.S. criminal law. The techniques were: attention grasp, walling (hitting a detainee against a flexible wall), facial hold, facial slap, cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box, and waterboarding. Where's beheading on that list?
The CIA desire to use insects during interrogations has not previously been disclosed, according to two civil liberties experts contacted by TIME. That's shocking!
Manolo! More brandy!
The Bybee memorandum, which was written on August 1, 2002, described the CIA's plans for using insects this way: "You [the CIA] would like to place Zubaydah in a cramped confinement box with an insect. You have informed us [the Department of Justice] that he appears to have a fear of insects. In particular, you would like to tell Zubaydah that you intend to place a stinging insect into the box with him. You would, however, place a harmless insect in the box. You have orally informed us that you would in fact place a harmless insect such as a catapiller in the box with him." God, these "terrorists" sound like a buncha little girls...eeeeeeewwwwww, bugs! I'll tell you whatever you wanna know!
An additional sentence at the end of this paragraph is redacted in the copy made public Thursday. Later in the same memo, Bybee concludes that "an individual placed in a box, even an individual with a fear of insects, would not reasonably feel threatened with severe physical pain or suffering if a caterpiller was placed in the box." Bybee adds, however, that the interrogators should not tell Zubaydah that the insect sting "would produce death or severe pain." So...what's the point?
But... The insect interrogation technique, as it turned out, was never used by the CIA, according to a second declassified memo released Thursday. "We understand that - for reasons unrelated to any concerns that it might violate the [criminal] statute - the CIA never used the technique and has removed it from the list of authorized interrogation techniques," wrote Steven Bradbury, a principal deputy assistant attorney general, in the footnote to a on May 10, 2005 document. Nevermind...
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has admitted that U.S. interrogators used waterboarding on three detainees, including Zubaydah. So... what's that have to do with the bugs? Oh, that's right. Time must remind everybody how evil he was at every opportunity...
The Bybee legal guidance is no longer in effect. Under an executive order President Obama signed during his first week in office, all CIA interrogators must now follow the rules laid out in the Army Field Manual. ...and then it was off to pizza with Stevie Wonder.
#3
See FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIMS HAVE A BEEF WITH BEEF JERKY. Decadent Fascist Male Brute probably Male Amerikan, etc. ....... Globalists-Capitalists have appar been working wid a Radical US Xtremist group led by ARNOLD THE PIG [GREEN ACRES] TO MIX MOTHERLY COMMIE-SOC-LEFTIE ANTI-OWG PORK IN MUSLIMS' BEEF JERKY???
#4
Under an executive order President Obama signed during his first week in office, all CIA interrogators must now follow the rules laid out in the Army Field Manual.
Hmmm. I seem to recall it isn't quite this simple. Haven't the various EOs signed by Bambi left large loopholes WRT forceful interrogations?
#9
REminds me of the old "Bubba" joke, about sitting on the front porch at dusk, boozed to the gills and watching the mosquitos try to fly after biting, those that do get airborne, explode within 5 feet.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/17/2009 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Arnold the Pig, huh? Oh! That's it. Why are we messing with bugs? We should lock 'em in a box with a pig! I'm talking about a great big 500-pound hog. That'd fix 'em.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/17/2009 14:32 Comments ||
Top||
#11
The Marxist Media sez caterpillars are dangerous. Can we get Homeland Security on top of this latest right wing conspiracy?
PESHAWAR, Pakistan The Taliban have advanced deeper into Pakistan by engineering a class revolt that exploits profound fissures between a small group of wealthy landlords and their landless tenants, according to government officials and analysts here.
The strategy cleared a path to power for the Taliban in the Swat Valley, where the government allowed Islamic law to be imposed this week, and it carries broad dangers for the rest of Pakistan, particularly the militants main goal, the populous heartland of Punjab Province.
In Swat, accounts from those who have fled now make clear that the Taliban seized control by pushing out about four dozen landlords who held the most power.
To do so, the militants organized peasants into armed gangs that became their shock troops, the residents, government officials and analysts said.
The approach allowed the Taliban to offer economic spoils to people frustrated with lax and corrupt government even as the militants imposed a strict form of Islam through terror and intimidation.
This was a bloody revolution in Swat, said a senior Pakistani official who oversees Swat, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Taliban. I wouldnt be surprised if it sweeps the established order of Pakistan.
The Talibans ability to exploit class divisions adds a new dimension to the insurgency and is raising alarm about the risks to Pakistan, which remains largely feudal.
Unlike India after independence in 1947, Pakistan maintained a narrow landed upper class that kept its vast holdings while its workers remained subservient, the officials and analysts said. Successive Pakistani governments have since failed to provide land reform and even the most basic forms of education and health care. Avenues to advancement for the vast majority of rural poor do not exist.
Analysts and other government officials warn that the strategy executed in Swat is easily transferable to Punjab, saying that the province, where militant groups are already showing strength, is ripe for the same social upheavals that have convulsed Swat and the tribal areas.
Mahboob Mahmood, a Pakistani-American lawyer and former classmate of President Obamas, said, The people of Pakistan are psychologically ready for a revolution.
Sunni militancy is taking advantage of deep class divisions that have long festered in Pakistan, he said. The militants, for their part, are promising more than just proscriptions on music and schooling, he said. They are also promising Islamic justice, effective government and economic redistribution.
The Taliban strategy in Swat, an area of 1.3 million people with fertile orchards, vast plots of timber and valuable emerald mines, unfolded in stages over five years, analysts said.
The momentum of the insurgency built in the past two years, when the Taliban, reinforced by seasoned fighters from the tribal areas with links to Al Qaeda, fought the Pakistani Army to a standstill, said a Pakistani intelligence agent who works in the Swat region.
The insurgents struck at any competing point of power: landlords and elected leaders who were usually the same people and an underpaid and unmotivated police force, said Khadim Hussain, a linguistics and communications professor at Bahria University in Islamabad, the capital.
At the same time, the Taliban exploited the resentments of the landless tenants, particularly the fact that they had many unresolved cases against their bosses in a slow-moving and corrupt justice system, Mr. Hussain and residents who fled the area said.
Their grievances were stoked by a young militant, Maulana Fazlullah, who set up an FM radio station in 2004 to appeal to the disenfranchised. The broadcasts featured easy-to-understand examples using goats, cows, milk and grass. By 2006, Mr. Fazlullah had formed a ragtag force of landless peasants armed by the Taliban, said Mr. Hussain and former residents of Swat.
At first, the pressure on the landlords was subtle. One landowner was pressed to take his son out of an English-speaking school offensive to the Taliban. Others were forced to make donations to the Taliban.
Then, in late 2007, Shujaat Ali Khan, the richest of the landowners, his brothers and his son, Jamal Nasir, the mayor of Swat, became targets.
After Shujaat Ali Khan, a senior politician in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, narrowly missed being killed by a roadside bomb, he fled to London. A brother, Fateh Ali Mohammed, a former senator, left, too, and now lives in Islamabad. Mr. Nasir also fled.
Later, the Taliban published a most wanted list of 43 prominent names, said Muhammad Sher Khan, a landlord who is a politician with the Pakistan Peoples Party, and whose name was on the list. All those named were ordered to present themselves to the Taliban courts or risk being killed, he said. When you know that they will hang and kill you, how will you dare go back there? Mr. Khan, hiding in Punjab, said in a telephone interview. Being on the list meant Dont come back to Swat.
One of the main enforcers of the new order was Ibn-e-Amin, a Taliban commander from the same area as the landowners, called Matta. The fact that Mr. Amin came from Matta, and knew who was who there, put even more pressure on the landowners, Mr. Hussain said.
According to Pakistani news reports, Mr. Amin was arrested in August 2004 on suspicion of having links to Al Qaeda and was released in November 2006. Another Pakistani intelligence agent said Mr. Amin often visited a madrasa in North Waziristan, the stronghold of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas, where he apparently received guidance.
Each time the landlords fled, their tenants were rewarded. They were encouraged to cut down the orchard trees and sell the wood for their own profit, the former residents said. Or they were told to pay the rent to the Taliban instead of their now absentee bosses.
Two dormant emerald mines have reopened under Taliban control. The militants have announced that they will receive one-third of the revenues.
Since the Taliban fought the military to a truce in Swat in February, the militants have deepened their approach and made clear who is in charge.
When provincial bureaucrats visit Mingora, Swats capital, they must now follow the Talibans orders and sit on the floor, surrounded by Taliban bearing weapons, and in some cases wearing suicide bomber vests, the senior provincial official said.
In many areas of Swat the Taliban have demanded that each family give up one son for training as a Taliban fighter, said Mohammad Amad, executive director of a nongovernmental group, the Initiative for Development and Empowerment Axis.
A landlord who fled with his family last year said he received a chilling message last week. His tenants called him in Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which includes Swat, to tell him his huge house was being demolished, he said in an interview here.
The most crushing news was about his finances. He had sold his fruit crop in advance, though at a quarter of last years price. But even that smaller yield would not be his, his tenants said, relaying the Taliban message. The buyer had been ordered to give the money to the Taliban instead.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/17/2009 11:40 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
The feudal Zamindari system was abolished after Indian independence but retained in Pakistan.
Many of those Punjabi Muslims supporting partition feared the land reform plans of Gandhi and Nehru. The creation of Pakistan preserved their feudal lifestyle.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/17/2009 11:52 Comments ||
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#2
The Emiratis are funding these people and seem very oblivious to what's gonna happen when they get to them.
#3
Sounds a bit like the way Hamas prevailed in Gaza over Fatah.
Now, I was once chastised on this blog for asserting that the Taliban kicked the Pak army's butt in Swat. I was informed that the Pak army soldiers in Swat were poorly trained, poorly armed frontier rangers and such and that the "real" Pak army was deployed along the eastern border with India. So now my question is, at what point does this "real" Pak army on the eastern border give up the dream of conquering India and start fighting the Taliban? Or will they just acquiesce to a Taliban revolution? And then, does anybody have any idea what will happen to the nukes?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/17/2009 14:52 Comments ||
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#4
Good questions.
I have no idea as to whether the Pakistani Army is in denial, in bed with, or in control of the Taliban.
I do know that the 'soldiers' in the northwest territories were Frontier Constabulary (poorly trained, poorly armed) and the Pakistan has never really had control of the tribal regions.
Anything other than that would be conjecture and, to use an unfortunate quote, "above my pay grade".
#5
The Pak Army hasn't exactly been showered by Allah with success. I think he doesn't like losers. The ISI will be shown as the same IMNSHO, in a brief blinding flash of 100 suns of overreach
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2009 20:28 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A senior U.S. soldier was jailed for life Thursday for the murder of four bound and blindfolded prisoners in Iraq two years ago, a court martial here said. Four Iraqi detainees, unarmed, handcuffed and blindfolded, were shot dead near a canal in Baghdad in March or April 2007. Four soldiers have already been convicted of crimes linked to their involvement in the incident.
U.S. Master Sergeant John E. Hatley was also found guilty Wednesday of conspiracy to kill the unidentified men, but was acquitted of a fifth charge of premeditated murder and of obstruction of justice. He will be eligible for parole in 20 years, Hatley's defence lawyer David Court said Thursday.
During the sentencing hearing, 40-year-old Hatley told an eight-man army panel that he respected their findings but recounted the stress of dealing with mounting American casualties at the hands of insurgents. "I understand your decision," he said. "I'm not perfect, I ain't no angel" the sergeant said, fighting back tears as he spoke of cleaning or "policing up the pieces of our soldiers" and friends following bomb and sniper attacks.
Hatley was the highest ranking of three soldiers tried for killing the prisoners, who were shot "execution style," according to army prosecutors.
The bodies, which witnesses said were dumped into a canal, were never found.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
There is no other country in the world fighting as big of a war as the U.S. is, I mean what would anothercountry's soldiers be put on trial for? Being late to an assignment? the point is the U.S. and Israel are the only armies killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, therefore they should be made responsible.
#2
the U.S. and Israel are the only armies killing hundreds of thousands of civilians
Why you litter troll, we killing millions not your pussified thousands. Hell the Coast Guard kills 20,000 before noon every damn day - and that's just in the Bermuda sector.
#3
The American forces are one of the very few in all of history who clean their own house. As this clearly demonstrates. Are the Russians pursuing crimes committed by their personnel in Georgia? Are Serbs, Croats, Bosnians pursuing their own for crimes in the Balkans? How about the Sudanese for their crimes in Dafur? Did Saddam prosecute his people for crimes committed by his uniformed enforcers during his reign? Where's the outrage? /rhetorical question. Sorry, dude, move your guilt game along to your echo chamber.
#4
There is no other country in the world fighting as big of a war as the U.S. is
One would think the other countries would be ashamed to let the U.S. and Israel -- and Britain, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Poland, and a few others on a smaller scale -- fight the world's battles, while the rest lounge about ordering yet another pot of hot cocoa with extra whipped cream and those lovely little cream cakes that Cook does so well, losing muscle tone and adding another few rolls of fat round the middle. And yet, as you prove so thoroughly, dear Play4Keeps, their indolence is exceeded only by their ignorance. Perhaps when you can actually do a few push-up and sit-ups, and walk to the end of the drive without stopping to catch you breath, you will be capable of researching the opinions you parrot so smugly, and learn the difference between fact and fiction.
#6
Yes she did, and she used that "dear" word again! We hope your doing well TW.
P4K you should be very carefull of your shameless smears on our soldiers. They have defended your freedom, wherever you are, so you can be a POS and spout false statements about America's finest. This soldier committed a crime, the US military has no patience for people like this and justice was served. You on the other hand slander our great Americans while hiding behind your silly name. Grow up.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/17/2009 14:55 Comments ||
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#7
That we find this man guilty speaks volumes. The armies he was fighting would have considered such an act honorable.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/17/2009 15:59 Comments ||
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#8
Sometimes when I dear the person, it is because I'm terribly fond of him or her, 49 Pan -- truly! I dear Mr. Wife and the various trailing and temporary daughters all the time... and mostly they aren't in any sort of trouble at all. Separately, I think we've got things in order for my mother, well enough that I'm comfortable about heading home tomorrow. She is taking Daddy's death pretty well at this point, but we did celebrate his 90th birthday a few days before he died, and had clearly been declining for some time. My mother is a tiny whisp of a woman who loves the beautiful things in life, but tough as nails where it matters.
#10
Thank you, dear Besoeker. Daddy actually had a bad heart condition predating his marriage to my mother, so he'd assumed he wouldn't see his children graduate high school. He overshot by a bit, which brings us comfort. In the next few days I'm going to ask one of the O Club regulars who knows how to do such things to post a photo I have of Daddy's medals from Israel and his stint in the British Army. If you'd poke your head in and see if you recognize any of them, I'd be grateful -- Mama hasn't a clue, because he somehow managed never to really tell the stories about them.
A Palestinian man has been shot dead after he tried to stab residents of the West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai, the Israeli military says. One Israeli was lightly injured before the man was shot by a resident of the settlement, the military said. No Palestinian account of the incident has yet emerged.
A 13-year-old boy was killed and a seven-year-old wounded by a Palestinian carrying an axe through the Bat Ayin settlement earlier this month. The military wing of Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh Group was reported to have claimed responsibility for that attack. No group has claimed responsibility for Friday's incident.
The Palestinian man infiltrated the settlement which is south of the West Bank town of Hebron. He "tried to stab a few people" before he was killed, a military spokesperson said.
Resident Uziel Shientof told Israeli media that he and a neighbour were on a security patrol when they spotted the Palestinian walking among the houses. "My friend asked him who he was, and the man drew a knife," Uziel, who was lightly injured in the attack, said. "My friend took my gun and killed the terrorist."
Troops and police have closed nearby roads and are now searching the area.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] A week after Palestinian Authority security forces uncovered an explosives lab under a mosque in Kalkilya, Palestinian police on Thursday discovered a warehouse in the West Bank city which was serving as a Hamas weapons cache.
Are they sure it wasn't a mosque?
The police officers discovered the warehouse inadvertently during a chase after a gunman tried to evade arrest and ran into the seemingly abandoned building.
I take it the Israelis are holding all the smart gunmen ...
The officers were shocked to find a weapons stockpile inside the three-story building, located only several hundred meters from the security barrier. At least seven explosive devices ready for premature detonation were reportedly found in the warehouse, as well as propaganda material against the Palestinian Authority and its security apparatuses.
On Tuesday, PA security forces announced they had uncovered an explosives lab under a mosque during an operation in Kalkilya. Eight people were arrested during the operation, the PA police said.
The explosives lab then had a change of ownership, new letterhead and signs, and placement of a new supervisor, followed by the rehiring of the old employees.
Adnan Damiri, a police spokesman, said two bombs were found in the lab. He would not say which organization the lab belonged to, but stated that it was run as part of efforts to destabilize ineffectual PA President Mahmoud Abbas's rule.
Who's been the paragon of stability ...
Meanwhile, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip condemned the operation, and said the arrests were politically motivated.
Oh, you really think so?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
But wouldn't it be fun for the PA police to blow up the lab and the warehouse! I think they should indulge themselves, and leave worrying about the prosecution to the lawyers.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The IAF on Thursday evening demolished a booby-trapped building in central Gaza in the first air strike in over a month, the army said.
Palestinians reported no casualties in the attack near the Gaza border as the structure was unoccupied at the time of the strike.
It came a day after a Kassam rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip landed in an open area in the Eshkol region. No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the first Kassam attack since the end of last month, when two rockets slammed into the western Negev, causing neither casualties nor damage.
Also Thursday, Egyptian security forces arrested nine Sinai Beduin near the Gaza border on suspicion of smuggling weapons, merchandise and money to Hamas. Two of the suspects were caught at the Rafah border crossing in possession of more than $90,000.
On Wednesday, Egyptian police discovered 900 kilograms of TNT hidden in 18 sacks near the border with Gaza. In addition, Egyptian authorities arrested three young Palestinians on suspicion of infiltrating into the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
caught ...in possession of more than $90,000.
Probably several times more than $90,000; probably some very happy Egyptian security guards and their officers, wives and mistresses.
[Straits Times] A CONTAINER ship rescued at least 10 crew members from a Singapore-registered tugboat taken over by machete-wielding pirates near Philippine territorial waters, coast guard officials said on Thursday.
The rescued crew - six Indonesians, a Malaysian and three from Myanmar - were taken by the M/V ANL Explorer to Manila after they were found drifting aboard a lifeboat in the South China Sea on Tuesday, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, coast guard chief, said.
'They were hungry and exhausted but all of them were found to be physically fit,' Adm. Tamayo told Reuters, adding the government had alerted the international piracy centre in Kuala Lumpur to the incident.
He said the Singapore-registered tugboat Prospaq T1 was on its way to Vietnam towing a huge empty barge to load sand when it was attacked by about a dozen pirates on April 7 in the South China Sea.
He said the crew was held for about a week before they were set adrift on a lifeboat without food and water. The pirates took off with the tugboat and the barge.
The waters around the maritime borders of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Phiippines in the South China Sea have traditionally been a haven for pirates, but there has been a decline in their activity in recent years because of increased surveillance and patrols.
Since mid-2000s, the coast guard said only two piracy cases had been reported within Philippine waters, when armed men took control of vessels. Two attempts were also reported last year in waters near the southern island of Mindanao.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Another member of an alleged spy network for Israel has been arrested in Lebanon, local media reported on Thursday.
G. Alam, a general security department corporal, was arrested earlier this week in the South Lebanese town of Naqoura and his home, located in another province, was also raided. Authorities retrieved a computer from his home, according to al-Hayat newspaper.
On Saturday, his uncle, a retired Lebanese general named Adib Alam, was arrested at his office in Beirut, also on suspicion of spying for Israel. Adib's wife was also questioned. The uncle is accused of using his business, which managed foreign domestic workers, as a front for his espionage activities.
"We are facing a professional and well-trained network, even while it is being discovered, and as a result, the investigation will take a long time," a security source told a-Safir newspaper. The spy ring may not be limited to only espionage activities but might also be engaged in carrying out missions, he said.
Hizbullah's Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem has called the arrest of Adib Alam a major achievement for security forces. "Preliminary information indicates he had been working as a spy for Israel for over 25 years and retired from his position in national security eight years ago," Qassem told AFP.
Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Lebanese officials say Israel continues to recruit and operate spies. Several arrests were announced in November and February. Last year two people were arrested for allegedly trying to pass information to the Mossad about a range of Lebanese activities, both via pictures of military and civilian installations and through spoken contact.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2009 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
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#1
The uncle is accused of using his business, which managed foreign domestic workers,
Lebanon has economic immigrants? What hell-hole are they escaping? (Yes, I do realize that the non-Hizb'allah portion of Lebanon has been peaceful for, what, a decade or so? But still!)
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.
[ADN Kronos] Police on Thursday arrested two men over the recent slaying of Afghanistan's leading women's rights activist, Sitara Achikzai in the southeast, the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday. 
[Maghrebia] Terrorists ambushed and killed an Algerian communal guard and a cook employed in an army barracks on Wednesday (April 15th) in Beni K 'sila, (40 km west of Béjaïa), Tout sur l'Algerie reported. In the same region last Wednesday, a bomb attack in Souk El Djemaa injured four soldiers.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Bhola court yesterday placed 
A Palestinian man has been shot dead after he tried to stab residents of the West Bank settlement of Beit Hagai, the Israeli military says. One Israeli was lightly injured before the man was shot by a resident of the settlement, the military said. No Palestinian account of the incident has yet emerged. 
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] A week after Palestinian Authority security forces uncovered an explosives lab under a mosque in Kalkilya, Palestinian police on Thursday discovered a warehouse in the West Bank city which was serving as a Hamas weapons cache. 
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The IAF on Thursday evening demolished a booby-trapped building in central Gaza in the first air strike in over a month, the army said. 
[Straits Times] A CONTAINER ship rescued at least 10 crew members from a Singapore-registered tugboat taken over by machete-wielding pirates near Philippine territorial waters, coast guard officials said on Thursday. 
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Another member of an alleged spy network for Israel has been arrested in Lebanon, local media reported on Thursday. 
