ANKARA - Turkeys government convened an emergency meeting on countering terrorism on Wednesday, a day after a powerful bomb blast in the capital Ankara killed six people and wounded 102 others, authorities said. The rush hour explosion at the entrance of a shopping mall was believed to be the worst in at least a decade to strike the capital and came at a time of heightened political tension in the European Union-aspirant country.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who is also deputy prime minister, chaired the emergency meeting, attended by intelligence, security and military officials as well as ministers to assess measures for countering terrorism. No details were immediately available.
There was no claim of responsibility but the A-4 plastic explosives believed used in the blast pointed to the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a security source and newspapers said.
Turkish media said eight people had been detained in connection with the blast. Police declined to comment.
Too busy waxing their mustaches and unlimbering their truncheons.
Leading newspapers Hurriyet and Radikal said that the blast took place shortly before senior military commanders, including armed forces chief of General Staff, General Yasar Buyukanit were due to pass the area to go to a defence industry reception.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2007 00:00 ||
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House Republicans have a fairly simple plan to reclaim the majority: Blame Nancy. The National Republican Congressional Committee launches its first national advertising blitz Thursday with a drive to tie freshmen Democrats to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The GOP's cash-strapped campaign arm will launch a mix of radio ads and automated phone calls targeting 18 freshman Democrats for allegedly marching in lockstep with the speaker, a California Democrat who is regularly depicted by Republicans as an out-of-touch liberal.
This modest campaign comes 17 months before the next election and signals the seats that Republicans are targeting in 2008. But it also marks an ambitious decision by the campaign committee to go after the speaker in an effort to unseat her most vulnerable members. Democrats employed a similar strategy to great effect over the past two years in branding former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as the face of what Democrats relentlessly portrayed as the GOP's "Culture of Corruption."
#2
I disagree DoDo. The Donk have never tone down their rants. They keep the lies out there long enough and loud enough and too many of the uncommitted are sold. The Clinton administration showed effectiveness in quickly responding and hammering back at any sign of traction by the opposition. The communications environment has changed. 90 days before the election is way too late. You've already lost the message war. You have to hammer them back just as continuous and hard as they do. Welcome to the 21st Century. It's fight or surrender.
#5
LOl, Battle. Damn Straight. The truth does not take a vacation.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/24/2007 19:09 Comments ||
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#6
I also think the Stupid Party needs to run ads in those areas in which they lost narrowly, you didn't like the corruption but look at how your new rep voted.
Headlines at Drudge:
Bush holds news conference...
On Edwards: 'This notion that this isn't a war on terror is, in my view, naïve'...
Wants Tougher Sanctions on Iran...
Iraqi leaders must 'show real progress'...
*Says summer critical...
**Says USA would leave if Iraqis asked them to go...
Someone's been reading Rantburg, it appears. The president hit all the key points, said mostly the things we've been begging him to say. Excepting that immigration bill thingy that's got so many hot under the collar, but he does make some valid points, even if the first steps ought to be to fence the border and enforce current laws. Go ye and read it.
#1
Nearly an hour long, and nly one guy asked the same-old, same-old question until W went on a roll and finally wore him down.
Now I know hating isn't nice, but I sure wish some of those dopes would grow up!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/24/2007 15:55 Comments ||
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#2
No prob, Bobby. I got yer back. I got enough hate for the both of us. How 'bout this...I wish some would get pushed down a flight of stairs. I could go on..you get the picture.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/24/2007 19:28 Comments ||
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Congress cut just $4 billion in money not requested by President Bush from an Iraq war spending bill. About $17 billion worth remain in add-ons that Bush did not seek. Items include:
-$3 billion above Bush's request for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery.
-$3 billion for disaster farm aid.
-$1.2 [billion] above Bush's request for mine-resistant vehicles
-$1.1 billion for airport, border and cargo container screening.
-$1.1 billion for military housing allowances
-$1.6 billion for military readiness.
-$1.8 billion for veterans health care.
-$949 million for Afghanistan.
-$650 million for low-income children's health care.
-$465 million for fighting wildfires.
-$425 million for rural schools.
What's out:
-$400 million for low-income heating assistance.
-$663 million for pandemic flu preparedness
-$1.2 billion in further homeland security funding
So cut the clear non-military spending, keep the veteran and Afghanistan money, and send it on.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Wish the politicians weren't so eager to play "pile on" with our tax money. I wish the President had the power of line item veto. I also would like to see "stand alone" bills--get rid of the pork. Where did this concept of "pork" begin?
#2
A pork barrel (or pork barrel politics) describes government spending that is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes. The term is thought to have originated on Southern United States plantations, where slaves were allocated the unwanted remainder of slaughtered pigs, or the "pork barrel."
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_barrel.
LAHORE: In response to the statement of President General Pervez Musharraf that uniform was his second skin, the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has invited butchers from across the Punjab to its rally on Thursday.
In a press statement issued on Wednesday, LHCBA secretary Sarfaraz Cheema said that political parties and associations of engineers, doctors, teachers, students and traders had been requested to support lawyers movement for the rule of law in the country. Talking to Daily Times, Cheema said that people from all walks of life were expected to participate in the LHCBAs rally on Thursday against the suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
He said that the Pakistan Medical Association would set up a medical camp for the participants of the rally on The Mall. He said that the LHCBA had finalised the agenda for its general house meeting to be held before the rally.LHCBA president Ahsen Bhoon and all office-bearer of the bar will lead the rally, he added.
In another press statement, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) vice president Sahibzada Anwar Hamid criticised General Musharraf for saying that uniform was his second skin. He said that the statement was a mockery of democracy. He said that it was against democratic norms that President Musharraf was holding two offices. Hamid said that all bars would continue their protests till President General Musharraf quit one of his offices. He said that the people from all walks should participate in rallies organised by the SCBA and the LHCBA. LHCBA vice president Firdous Butt told Daily Times that lawyers movement would continue till the independence of the judiciary. She said that time was ripe to end the militarys role in politics.
I heartily agree, except this is Pakland, and if it's not the military, it will be the holy men.
Known for serene, peaceful environment against the backdrop of Margalla hills, Sector E-7, Islamabads most posh sector, is now tense. Residents are in a state of fear. They prefer staying indoors, especially in the evening and at night. The parks and jogging tracks look deserted. Potential tenants are reluctant to rent houses, especially on the Hill Road.
Foreigners, particularly diplomats are not interested in getting the contracts of their rented houses renewed. The property prices and rents have dropped considerably over the past few months. The reason behind all this is a possible crackdown on the Jamia Fareedia, a subsidiary of Lal Masjid, which has locked horns with the government over the occupation of a childrens library by its girl students, enforcement of Shariah, moral policing and abduction of policemen and intelligence personnel.
Daily Times interviewed a number of residents of E-7 and no one favoured the idea of using force against the Lal Masjid and its two madrassas. They rather wanted the government to exercise restraint and carrying forward the process of dialogue with the clerics. In case of an operation, they unanimously opined, there would be bloodletting and thus, create law and order situation in the city.
Property dealers complain of a sluggish business, these days. They said the Lal Masjid issue had adversely affected the property rates and rents. They said normally, a house, measuring 1,000 square yards, in this area, fetched a price of Rs 80 million to Rs 120 million some three months ago. But, they said, the price of such a house has dropped by 25 to 30 percent. Likewise, the house rents have also on the decrease with the same proportion. They said that foreigners were asking for houses in sectors other than E-7. They also said some of the houses, which had been vacated three months ago, still carried the to let boards.
#4
Unfortunately the people in the West think that their lives are more important than our lives..."
In a way, that is true-we do tend to value life more, in general, than they do. Course, they are always welcome to join the rest of the world in valuing life as it should be valued.
"200% sure"
We already know that gossip causes facts in Islamoland to be exaggerated by a factor of 5, so that means he is 40% sure.
Ignoring the threat of militants not to join the Army, nearly 3,000 Kashmiri youths submitted their applications on the first day of the recruitment rally organised at Rangreth, near here, on Wednesday.
Sorta like how lots of young Iraqi men keep volunteering to join their Army even when the jihadis are exploding bomb all around them.
Militant outfits have threatened to kill family members of those who join the army or paramilitary forces.
The recruitment rally has been organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (JAKLI) and will continue till May 25, a defence spokesperson said. The candidates will have to pass initial screening process consisting of verification of documents, physical tests, including a 1.6 km run, pull ups and balance tests. He said this will be followed by physical tests and measurements and then the candidates will be examined by doctors.
Those meeting the standards and found fit in the medical examination will appear for a common entrance examination at the JAKLI on May 27. The selected candidates will get to serve in various categories as soldier general duty, clerks, technical and tradesmen, the spokesman said.
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Militant outfits have threatened to kill family members of those who join the army or paramilitary forces."
Overlooking the fact that all teens hate their folks anyway!
BREAKING NEWS ALERT!
BAGHDAD The Iranian government has spent the last few years training elite secret cells of renegade Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadrs Mahdi Army, while funding that group and other Shia militias in Iraq to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, said Army Gen. David Petraeus, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq.
In an exclusive May 18 interview with Military Times, Petraeus said the involvement of the Iranians is absolutely nefarious. It is hugely damaging to Iraq. It is fuelling the Shia militia side of things and causing enormous problems for Iraq.
The secret cells are Sadr special ops, Petraeus said. But theyre different from JAM, he added, using the acronym for the Mahdi Armys Arabic name, Jaysh al-Mahdi. You really have to distinguish between run-of-the-mill JAM and the secret cells, who, he said, have had extra training and selection and all the rest.
That training is the work of the Quds Force, an Iranian special operations organization that answers directly to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Petraeus said. We have found out an enormous amount about what the Iranians have done, and it is staggering, it really is, he said. It is unbelievable. They have trained dozens at a time over there [in Iran] and dozens doesnt sound like much, but dozens can just wreak havoc on the use of explosively formed projectiles, rockets, mortars and IEDs, and how to do operations.
They have been funding, over the last several years, certainly hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to different Shia militia groups, and we have found evidence very recently of assistance being provided to Sunni Arab groups as well. One of the Sunni insurgent leaders was just over in Tehran.
However, Petraeus added, the support the Iranian government is providing to Sunni insurgents in Iraq is nowhere near the level of what theyve given to the Shias.
U.S. and other coalition forces have scored some victories against the Iranians and their Shia proxies, Petraeus said. We had some surprising early success against the secret cells of Jaysh al-Mahdi, he said, pointing to the March capture of Qais Khazali, his brother Laith Khazali and several other members of their network in Basra and Hillah. The Khazali brothers were the secret cell leaders who orchestrated the Jan. 20 attack on the provincial joint coordination center in Karbala that led to the deaths of five U.S. soldiers. We found a 22-page document that actually lays it all out on a computer we captured, Petraeus said. The guys that did the Karbala attack are part of this network. It is a Sadr special operations attack.
However, he said, I dont think we have anything that shows that Sadr approved it [or] was involved in it.
U.S. forces have also captured a number of others of that network, Petraeus said. Weve got lots of these secret cell guys, quite a number of them. In fact, we got the emergent head, the guy we thought was going to replace Khazali.
More recently we got a guy named Sheibani, who was the Iraq head of the Sheibani [explosively formed projectile] network, and then three nights ago got Abu Musa, who was one of the big logisticians for the secret cells. Unfortunately he had already distributed the rockets and mortars, some of which have been coming in here.
The detailed documentation captured during the hunt for the Karbala killers is a hallmark of secret cell operations, Petraeus said. It appeared the militiamen had to show proof, or records, at least to the Quds Force that showed what theyd done, he said. And they had it very, very detailed records.
Petraeus said he showed some of the documentation to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after the capture of the Khazali brothers, to demonstrate how widespread their activities had been, how lethal they had been, how murderous they had been, because they had a whole matrix that just tracked their daily attacks.
But despite the Quds Forces extensive support of Shia militias, Petraeus said the training was occurring in Iran and that while there were perhaps ... some Quds Force running around in Iraq, he doubted that many of its operators had crossed the border. Five to seven Quds Force members are in our detention facilities, he said. Theyre not about to go running around in Iraq with a heck of a lot at this point in time.
However, Petraeus said, Irans civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, was active in Iraq. I wouldnt doubt that there are Iranian intel running around, he said. Who do you think populates these [Iranian] consulates and embassies?
Petraeus said he is mystified that there is a debate in the U.S. over whether Khamenei knows about the Quds Forces activities fomenting violence in Iraq. He cant not know, Petraeus said, noting that Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force, reports directly to Khamenei, not to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Its a massive operation. ... There are all kinds of different elements of the Quds Force that are engaged in it. If he doesnt know about it, its the most out-of-control operation in the world. And if he does know about it, of course, its horrific.
As to the Iranians strategic goal in Iraq, Petraeus said he isnt sure whether the Iranians themselves know for certain.
They have to be a tiny bit conflicted, he said. They cant want a failed state. This is a Shia democracy [and] the first Arab Shia-run state. They cant want it to fail, even though they are Persian. They certainly suffered greatly at the hands of Iraq. But with the kinship and the relationships they have with so many of the Iraqi leaders, they cant want it to completely fail.
On the other hand, the establishment of a viable democracy in Iraq would represent a success for the U.S., which Iran would like to avoid, Petraeus said. They dont want us to succeed, certainly, he said. The Iranians would prefer that the U.S. be seized with the war in Iraq, perhaps to divert American attention from Irans nuclear ambitions or its activities in the northern Arabian Gulf, he added.
Tehrans influence over Sadr has raised his profile in the Middle East, according to Lt. Col. (P) Rick Welch, an advisor on political, tribal, religious and cultural issues to Multinational Division-Baghdad commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil. I thought Sadr at one point was just fighting a defensive fight: Im here, were not going to let the Sunni power elite who were in the former regime dominate us again, and he was the defender of Iraq, Welch said. But then Iran started really meddling here, and he now has become a bigger symbol, beyond just nationalism here. It has a purpose to extend the influence from Iran here, in the same way Hezbollah does it in Lebanon through its leader Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Indeed, Sadr, who has modeled his organization on Hezbollah, another Shia group that is part political party, part social services organization and part guerrilla army, is strengthening his ties to the Lebanese group, officials here say. It looks like folks in his organization are connecting to other, similar Shia kind of groups around the Middle East, and theyre coalescing together, Welch said.
But there are signs that Sadr fears his links to Tehran might be costing him popular support at home. There may be some sense that hes thinking he went a little bit too far, and now hes trying to ... clean himself up a little bit, but maybe at some point he will say hes lost his national identity and is now seen as a pawn of Iran, and he doesnt like that, Welch said. Maybe hes trying to get back a sense of nationalism here so he doesnt lose influence over people.
He has started trying to spread influence through tribal networks and tribal councils, and thats not having a real potent effect yet. Hes trying to encourage them to join him and to follow him. Hes not calling on them for violent resistance, openly. Hes saying peaceful opposition to the coalition presence, so hes trying to build a bridge, again trying to paint himself as a nationalist working for Iraq, as opposed to a pawn of Persia.
This instinct accounts for the sudden appearance of Iraqi flags flying throughout Baghdads Shia neighborhoods in recent weeks, according to Welch. My religious contacts told me that back [in early] May when Sadr called for the national demonstration, he also put out the order that everyone should be flying an Iraqi flag, he said. And the word was that they put out that if you werent flying it, you were going to get a visit from a militia member and disciplined or punished for it. ... Again, thats in line with Sadr trying to promote himself as the Nasrallah of Iraq, so that he could say, I can call the people to nationalism any time I want.
But these moves may be too little, too late for Sadr, who is said to be currently taking refuge in Tehran. Welch said Sadrs ties to Iran are already so tight that they guarantee he will be seen as beholden to Tehran.
#1
I wish I felt that these continuing revelations of Iranian involvement will make a difference - but i just don't see it. The Dems and MSM will make sure to obscure it under a fog of FUD, and the public will contiue to collectively yawn.
#2
^%$!#@#$ W! Get the bombers in the air fer cryin' outloud. What the heck are we doin? This is pathetic. We need to ratchet up the pain index bigtime. Complete 3D blockade to the best of our capabilities....air, land and sea. Nothing goes in..nothing goes out. Then we need to see some oil facilities start having some "work accidents". Bombers at failsafe 24/7. No more pussyfootin'!!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/24/2007 12:36 Comments ||
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#3
They (Iran) dont want us to succeed, certainly,
Many other groups likewise don't want Iraq to succeed - Russia, Democrat party, China, Third World Dictators (pick one). Others are conflicted (Europe, Gulf states), but won't do much either way. That pretty much leaves just a fraction of the Anglosphere on the side of the Iraqi people and (so far) willing to do anything about it. Sad.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/24/2007 19:06 Comments ||
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#8
I dont think we have anything that shows that Sadr approved it [or] was involved in it.
Please. General, ever heard the phrase "good enough for government work"?
Glad he's been having an interesting show-and-tell with Maliki, but what are the chances that our hit teams are actually out there taking it to the "special cells"? Of all the things that the Iraq effort has lacked since 2004, dead enemy is the most important. There've been a lot, but not nearly enough.
I don't really care how many toes need to be crushed, not just stepped on. If killing (that would be killing, ya know, kinetic action, non-non-military solution) somebody upsets their brother in law, who's a distant cousin of Maliki's maid, we don't give a f**k. Kill him. And anybody standing near him at the time. I don't care if it hinders our relationship with IA or IP in a given spot - kill him. None of the short-term problems caused by fighting the war will amount to anything compared to the payoff from killing the enemy.
And if the Quds force isn't "running around" in Iraq, then why can't Quds force barracks and offices vaporize in Iran? I believe there is something called the B-2, and something called the JDAM, and something called "no comment" from US spokesmen.
I'm completely serious, and this is not the raving of armchair strategist who doesn't understand the "subtleties" of the situation. The fact that deniable yet incredibly in-your-face killing of Quds and intel and whatever inside Iran has not taken place is an astounding indictment of both the civilian and military leadership. They're not half as clever as they imagine. You don't win wars with cleverness. We are infinitely more powerful than the enemy - NOT infinitely smarter or more clever. Finesse has become an obsession that has clouded minds into forgetting the basics of armed conflict.
Infuriating. Of course it was already infuriating long ago, back in the days of magic non-military solutions and Sunni engagement and handing over to Iraqis who couldn't get their payrolls to the troops. Back then this "staggering" Iranian role was no secret, either. What's "staggering" is the US response, then and now.
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Seventy percent of foreign insurgents arrested in Iraq came from Persian Gulf countries via Syria where they were provided with forged passports, an Iraqi intelligence officer said in a published report Wednesday.
"They, according to their own confessions, gather in mosques in the said (Gulf) states to travel to Syria using their passports, taking with them phone numbers of individuals waiting for them there," Brig. Gen. Rashid Fleih, the assistant undersecretary for intelligence of Iraq's Interior Ministry, told Kuwait's Al-Qabas daily in an interview.
Fleih did not provide more specific details about the alleged insurgents or which countries they came from. But he said once in Syria, the alleged insurgents were transported to the al-Qaim border area where they were provided with new passports after their old ones were destroyed, Fleih said in an interview from Baghdad. Once in Iraq, the insurgents were provided with forged Iraqi documentation and money to buy cars which they rig with booby traps, Fleih told the newspaper.
So maybe you can use a new division of Iraqi troops to seal the border?
He also accused Baathist followers of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein of offering the foreign insurgents information about targets. "In brief, there is clear intelligence cooperation between them," Fleih told the newspaper.
Damascus denies the allegations and says it is doing all it can to stop them.
"Lies! All lies!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2007 00:27 ||
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#1
Back when I was seeing the tallies the greatest number of nitwits (caught/killed) were coming from places other than the Gulf (uh, other Arab places).
I of course don't know all we've done/are doing about the Syrian problem. I of course don't know all we've done/are doing about the Iran problem (come on, I'm not ABC News). However, I know the outcomes on the ground in Iraq for the last 2.5 years (at least). Unacceptable.
#2
I expect the Saudis have thoroughly infiltrated the network by now. I hope we've done the same, because relying on the Sauds to act in a principled way or to put US interests near the top of their priority list requires an enormous and unjustified leap of faith.
If we haven't put our people inside, then the CIA is more clueless than Johnny Lynde. How hard could it be to figure out what phone #'s they're handing out in the mosques?
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
05/24/2007 4:04 Comments ||
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#3
IIRC in 2005 3/4 of the foreign fighters were Saudi or Syrian, with significant numbers of Egyptians. In fact, half of the fighters came from one province in Saudi Arabia (the one where Wahabbism was invented)
The fact that these groups aren't mentioned anymore may mean that those veins have been played out. I hope this means that the number of foreign fighters is getting smaller.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/24/2007 12:16 Comments ||
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#4
I expect the Saudis have thoroughly infiltrated the network by now.
Well, they *ARE* funding it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/24/2007 12:32 Comments ||
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#5
I still think the Saudi's are encouraging (or not stopping) their troublemakers to leave and die (as they did against the Soviets in Afghanistan). This will make the Kingdom more stable in the future. Not sure that's a good thing but I think that's what is happening.
"Who feeds terrorist groups? Who's behind them? That's what we need to look at," said Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey's military chief. Yasar Buyukanit, Chief of the Turkish General Staff, has accused Europe of not doing enough to prevent sympathizers from providing aid to the PKK. In an article published in the latest edition of the technically specialized defense and aerospace magazine, Savunma ve Havacýlýk, General Buyukanýt once more touched upon the issue of PKK presence in northern Iraq.
Buyukanýt, in the article, emphasized that the PKK had been receiving support from Europe and that certain parliaments in the European countries as well as the European Parliament have held conferences which have been encouraging for the PKK.
"What is saddening is the fact that majority of these countries are at the same time members of NATO, which states that terrorism is the biggest threat it faces," Buyukanýt said.
There is growing impatience in Turkey over how to deal with the PKK terrorism. The United States opposes Turkish military action against the PKK bases in Iraq, fearing it would complicate U.S. efforts to restore stability there. The US President and many other high-ranked people promised to remove the PKK camps from Iraqi territories after the Iraq War, yet no concrete step has been taken since then. The PKK uses Iraq to attack Turkish territories.
#1
Baloney! PKK gets a cut of those not so secret tanker truck oil trade with Turkey.
And I seem to remember 30 troop laden US military vessels being stuck in the Mediterrean, as our nominal NATO "ally" denied a Northern Front against the Saddam dictatorship.
The Kurds you're opressing in Turkey? My sympathy meter's broken till the Turks lose as many troops to the Kurds as we've lost in Iraq.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/24/2007 11:40 Comments ||
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#4
I'd be willing to bet that Iran has their fingers in the PKK mess far more than most European nations. Don't look for grand conspiracies when the simplest and easiest solution stares you in the face. Iran wants to destabilize the entire muddled east, so they can gain as much clout as possible even before they go nuke. Frankly, a few "work accidents" aren't enough - Iran needs to suddenly develop some HUGE US-inflicted bootprints across their military, nuclear, and import/export infrastructures.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2007 14:59 Comments ||
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#5
Boston-Irish funded the IRA. I have no doubt German Kurds are funding the PKK. Turkey should consider sanctions or bombing Germany, perhaps security council sanctions. They have the right. If they think that would be against their best interests perhaps they should shut the f up.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi parliamentary committee has failed to finalise an agreement on amending key articles in the constitution, one of the political benchmarks Washington says are important to end sectarian violence.
After six months of talks, the constitutional reform committee had been expected to present parliament with a final draft of their recommendations on Tuesday. Committee members said they would ask political leaders to deal with sensitive issues such as sharing Iraqs oil wealth more equitably and ending a ban on former members of Saddam Husseins party members holding public office.
We have agreed on some articles but there are sensitive issues which need an agreement among the political leaders, said Saleem al-Jubouri, a member of the Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni political bloc in parliament. Jubouri said Sunni Arab and Shiite members of the committee disagreed with a Kurdish demand to allow regions to distribute oil income rather than the central government.
Some lawmakers from the ruling Shiite community, which was oppressed during Saddams rule, are virulently opposed to former Baathists taking up government jobs. Non-Arab Kurds, also persecuted under Saddams pan-Arab policies, resist wording on the Arab identity of Iraq.
Something to offend everyone!
Jubouri said that one area of disagreement was the status of the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk which sits atop one of the worlds richest oilfields. The current constitution says Iraq should hold a referendum on the final status of Kirkuk this year. While Kurds claim Kirkuk as part of Kurdistan, Arabs oppose this.
Another official in the committee said Arab members -- Shiites and Sunnis -- proposed making Kirkuk a separate region and dropping the idea of the referendum, which Kurds would anyway be likely to win. Of course the Kurds dont want this because they still want it to be part of their autonomous region, the official said. Only political leaders can decide on this. These are very sensitive issues.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Typical Arab decision making. They can only agree to disagree. There has to be a fire under their feet (literally) to get anything at all done.
#2
OK, Gen. Petraeus, repeat after me, "I fully realize that all the constitutional and other changes under consideration by the Iraqi parliament will have no material effect on the security situation whatever the legislative outcome, and that progress on the security front requires violence, coercion, the threat of violence, cash, continuing to improve Iraqi security forces, and general toughness. I will state this each day at the beginning of the BUA, and all MNF-I and MNC-I staff will recite this language to start every staff meeting, and also every time they hear anything on TV about political solutions from some nitwit journalist, congresscritter, or White House official."
Iran on Wednesday dismissed International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei's latest report on Tehran's nuclear program as "devoid of any new points" and insisted there is no obstacle for the agency's inspections of its nuclear sites.
"The latest report of UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Iran's nuclear program is devoid of any new points," Ali Soltanieh, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, told the official IRNA news agency in Vienna. "This report is meanwhile an international document that once again confirms the legitimacy of our nuclear activities, and that Iran has not breached any of its international commitments, and that our activities have no deviation from peaceful objectives." His remarks came just after a confidential report of the international nuclear watchdog saying that Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment activities in defiance of UN demands to scrap its nuclear-related program. The report also expressed concern about its "deteriorating" understanding of unexplored aspects of the program.
The report, which was posted on the IAEA internal website, blamed Iran for blocking IAEA efforts to probe its nuclear activities. It was handed over to the UN Security Council president for distribution among its members.
Deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Saeedi also said on Wednesday that there is no obstacle for legal inspections of its nuclear sites by the international nuclear watchdog. IAEA's inspections of the nuclear facilities are based on Iran's legal commitments, Saeedi told IRNA. He also defended Iran's move earlier this year when it decided to limit its cooperation with the IAEA after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Wednesday was quoted by the state television as saying that Iran continues to cooperate with the IAEA and abide by its commitment to carry out the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on March 24 a new resolution with tougher sanctions to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities.
Iran has refused to heed the Security Council's demand, insisting that its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes only.
The United States and some other Western countries have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear programs.
US sanctions against Iran have caused damage to the countrys economy, Iranian business leaders and analysts say, even as the UN Security Council prepares to consider additional measures to force Iran to curb its nuclear program. The U.N.s nuclear watchdog issued a report Wednesday that sets the stage for new US Security Council sanctions. A first set of limited UN sanctions imposed last March were focused on companies involved in the nuclear program.
But unilateral actions that the United States has taken in recent months have been broader, attempting to block dollar transactions into and out of Iran and targeting energy firms and financial activity. The US measures are driving up prices in Iran while increasing business costs and making it tougher for Iran to import ordinary goods, businessmen and analysts said this week.
The sanctions imposed by the U.S., especially in the past year, have been more harmful than we expected, said Saeed Laylaz, a prominent political and economic analyst in Teheran. The main impact is that all of our imported goods have become more expensive. US firms had already been banned from doing business with the Islamic Republic. But in recent months, US officials have bluntly warned non-American businesses, too, that they face possible US retribution if caught doing business with Iran.
Given the choice between doing business in Iran or America, at least nine major international banks as well as companies in Europe, Japan and Arab countries have quietly cut ties with Iran, according to interviews with banking and government officials in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, international banks have curbed most of their dealings inside Iran in recent months, under threat that their US operations may be shut down, a Dubai-based representative of an international bank said on condition of anonymity, because of the topics sensitivity.
Laylaz said the US measures are leading Iran away from traditional suppliers in western Europe and closer to Russia and China, where US policies have less traction. Laylaz expects trade with China to reach its highest level ever this year, around US$16 billion (Ð12 billion). But in Germany, one of Irans traditional largest trading partners, exports dropped by 6 percent last year. German companies reported pressure to cut business with Iran and exports have dropped further this year, according to EU figures.
Dubai and nearby ports in Bahrain and Pakistan are serving as a lifeline for Iran, enabling businessmen to bypass the sanctions but also adding to their business costs. Dubai expects to see its trade with Iran jump to US$10 billion (Ð7.4 billion) this year from US$7.8 billion in 2006.
US Vice President Dick Cheney, visiting here earlier this month, asked the United Arab Emirates to join the American effort to isolate Iran. But Cheney was told the Emirates wont consider the restrictions unless they are adopted by Irans other neighbors, said a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the informations sensitivity.
#1
But in recent months, US officials have bluntly warned non-American businesses, too, that they face possible US retribution if caught doing business with Iran.
Given the choice between doing business in Iran or America, at least nine major international banks as well as companies in Europe, Japan and Arab countries have quietly cut ties with Iran,
Since Bush is the worst President ever and has alienated every decent country that ever considered allying itself with America, this story cannot be happening. Because of Bush's abysmal performance, no country, institution or individual of any consequence will ever side with the US over its enemies again. Therefore, this story is untrue.
QED
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
05/24/2007 4:14 Comments ||
Top||
The Iranian government is calling for the release of a former Phoenix nuclear engineer arrested for taking software from Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station to Iran. Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. officials asking for details about the arrest of Mohammad Alavi, 49, who is being held without bail at a federal detention facility in Arizona. The minister demanded Alavi's immediate release in the letter sent to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which responds to American interests in the country. Officials with the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
Alavi, an Iranian native who lived in the United States as a naturalized citizen for 30 years, worked as an engineer for 16 years at Palo Verde, the nation's largest nuclear power plant, about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix. In August, Alavi resigned from his post at Palo Verde and moved to Tehran. He was arrested April 8 as he stepped off a plane in Los Angeles. He had returned to the United States with his wife for the birth of their first child. Alavi has been charged with a single count of violating a trade embargo with Iran, which carries a maximum penalty of 24 months in prison. Trial is set for July 3.
Authorities say when Alavi left for Iran, he took a laptop computer containing diagrams, schematics and details of the power plant. In the letter demanding Alavi's release, Iran's foreign minister cited the Vienna convention and called for "clarification" of Alavi's situation. He's guilty and will be spending time as a guest of the government. Clear enough?
A report about the letter is the top posting on the English-language Web site of the Iranian Republic News Agency, the government's official news outlet.
#1
He was arrested April 8 as he stepped off a plane in Los Angeles. He had returned to the United States with his wife for the birth of their first child.
Trying for that "anchor baby"?
Alavi has been charged with a single count of violating a trade embargo with Iran, which carries a maximum penalty of 24 months in prison.
Whaddabout FELONY GRAND THEFT? That code prolly cost millions to write. This shithead needs a couple of DECADES in prison, not just years.
#2
Wossamatter, Zen? Feeling generous this morning?
How about aiding a known terrorist gubbamint?
We ought to be able to hang him.
And then deport him.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/24/2007 7:09 Comments ||
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#3
Once the gentleman has been convicted and jailed for something, other charges can be investigate and sent to trial at our leisure. Just like sending all those Mafioso to prison for tax evasion on their ill-gotten gains.
Iranian authorities announced Wednesday they have detained Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant of the Open Society of American billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
The arrest brings to four the number of Iranians with US passports being held in Iranian jails or being prevented from leaving Iran.
Tajbakhsh, 45, who was in Tehran researching drug addiction and AIDS, was detained on 11 May but the news became public only on Wednesday. The former World Bank consultant is accused by the authorities of coming to Iran for Soros with the aim of organising a non-violent revolt against the theocratic regime.
Haleh Esfandiari, 67, the other US academic of Iranian origin, in jail in Tehran since 8 May is also accused of complicty with the Hungarian-born Soros.
The Ministry of Intelligence, in a statement, alleges that the involvement of Soros and his Iranian consultant in a plot to overthrow the regime was revealed in a full confession by Haleh Esfandiari. According to the Iranian intelligence service, the foundation headed by Soros was seeking to finance and organise "a coloured revolution like that which happened in recent years in Serbia and in some former Soviet republics".
The same accusation is made against Parnaz Azima, a journalist of Radio Farda, a Farsi language broadcaster, based in Prague and financed by the US Congress. Parnaz Azima, who is not in detention but whose travel documents have been confiscated, was asked on Wednesday morning to provide a 350,000 Euro caution to be allowed to leave the country. "My client has been accused of propaganda against the regime and therefore has to pay a caution, which according to the judge corresponds to the salaries received in these years for her work for the radio" said lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi.
An orange, rose or velvet revolution seems to be an obsession of the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The four citizens with double US Iranian citizenship, currently detained in Iran, are the only ones accused of wanting to organise a civi and not a violent revolt against the regime.
The very same charge was raised last year against a wellknown Iranian intellectual Ramin Jahanbeglu, who is currently free on bail i awaiting trial. Many feminists and almost all the leaders of the student movement in Iran are accused of collaborating with internaitonal bodies planning a "coloured revolution".
Civil society initiatives to promote democracy and defend human rights, according to the Iranian intelligence ministry, are simply "a cover" for trying to overthrow the regime.
Esfandiari has not been allowed to meet her lawyers at Tehran's Evin prison where she is detained. Nobel Peace Prize Shirin Ebadi along with other Iranian lawyers are representing Esfandiari, one of the leading US authorities on Iran. She works for the Washington-based think tank Woodrow Wilson Centre. A spokesman for Tehran's prosecution's office claimed she had refused to be represented by a lawyer. Rights groups and US authorities have called on Iranian authorities to free Esfandiari, who was visiting Tehran to foment dissent before strangling DJ with her bare hands on national teevee see her 93-year-old mother.
#3
That's why the NYT and all other usual suspects are aggresively covering these stories. If it were 'Bijal Tehrani from the Heritage Foundation', there wouldn't even be a Page 29 article.
#4
...is accused by the authorities of coming to Iran for Soros with the aim of organising a non-violent revolt against the theocratic regime.
Yeah sure. Soros is too busy in the U.S. trying to manipulate things. Iranians may be trying to hold up Soros for a few million in ransom since they are a little cash strapped.
The majority of terrorist attacks result in no fatalities, with just 1 percent of such attacks causing the deaths of 25 or more people.
I haven't had a chace to go and look at their data yet, but if they are including all the Eco-Terror groups like PETA and their "militant wing" ELF, that sounds about right. Those are mostly property crimes. You get a lot of people being killed a few at a time and it skews the percentages. Hek's boys toss a lot of grenades, and miss most of the time, too.
And terror incidents began rising some in 1998, and that level remained relatively constant through 2004. These and other myth-busting facts about global terrorism are now available on a new online database open to the public.
The unclassified Global Terrorism Database (GTD) will give anyone interested the opportunity to peruse through the actual details of global terror attacks. The database identifies more than 30,000 bombings, 13,400 assassinations and 3,200 kidnappings. Also, it details more than 1,200 terrorist attacks within the United States.
The database was developed by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland, with funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It includes unclassified information about 80,000 terror incidents that occurred from 1970 through 2004. (Visit the database.)
The searchable database parses the data by more than 100 variables, ranging from type of perpetrator-such as religious or ethno-nationalist-to type of weapon used and the number of injuries incurred. Summaries of each incident divulge the date, location, weapons used, target type, number of casualties and, when possible, the perpetrator.
Searches of the database have uncovered some additional unexpected statistics. For instance, terrorist groups are not so long-lived, with about 75 percent of such alliances formed between 1970 and 1997 lasting no more than one year.
A lot of them are the same groups with just a new name on the door.
From 1998 through 2004, India reportedly experienced the greatest number of terror attacks (1,000), followed by Colombia, the Russian Federation and Iraq, which came in fourth with nearly 500 attacks.
LaFree and a colleague mined the database for clues about the effectiveness of counter-terror measures. Among their findings announced last year: British counter-terrorist interventions used in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1992 may have backfired and actually aided in a terror backlash.
Ah yes, the old "Fighting terror only causes more terror" meme.
A documentary billed as "the film PBS doesn't want you to see" will at long last get a national audience. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) announced a joint agreement yesterday to make "Islam vs. Islamists" available to the 354 Public Broadcasting Service member stations across the nation as a "stand-alone" TV program, with a little extra embellishment. The details have not been hammered out, but OPB's Mr. Bass anticipates that the documentary -- and its extra taped discussion -- will be made available nationwide in the next few months.
"We plan to distribute the film to any public broadcasting station that wants it. We'll package it and also produce some sort of discussion to accompany the film, and give it some context," OPB President Steve Bass told The Washington Times yesterday. "As stewards of the investment in public broadcasting, this fulfills our responsibility to the taxpayer," CPB President Patricia Harrison said yesterday.
The often-disquieting 52-minute film explores the struggles of moderate American Muslims at the hands of their radical brethren and gives details about a "parallel" Islamist society that is slowly but surely developing within the U.S. borders. The film was produced by conservative columnist Frank Gaffney Jr., founder of the Center for Security Policy, filmmaker Martyn Burke and Middle East scholar Alex Alexiev.
Originally made for the six-part PBS series "America at a Crossroads," the film was intended for broadcast in early April. It never made it to the air, however. The producers, who received $675,000 in funding, said their work was shelved in "an ideological vendetta" and stifled on "political grounds."
1) a ad hominem attack on the film maker.
2) a taqyia flavored rebuttal by CAIR.
3) a rebuttal by al jiz
4) a rebuttal by Rep. Ellison (D) Jihadistan
5) all of the above
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.
ANKARA - Turkeys government convened an emergency meeting on countering terrorism on Wednesday, a day after a powerful bomb blast in the capital Ankara killed six people and wounded 102 others, authorities said. The rush hour explosion at the entrance of a shopping mall was believed to be the worst in at least a decade to strike the capital and came at a time of heightened political tension in the European Union-aspirant country.
Congress cut just $4 billion in money not requested by President Bush from an Iraq war spending bill. About $17 billion worth remain in add-ons that Bush did not seek. Items include:
BREAKING NEWS ALERT!
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Seventy percent of foreign insurgents arrested in Iraq came from Persian Gulf countries via Syria where they were provided with forged passports, an Iraqi intelligence officer said in a published report Wednesday.
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi parliamentary committee has failed to finalise an agreement on amending key articles in the constitution, one of the political benchmarks Washington says are important to end sectarian violence.
