The U.S. military is looking to revamp its beleaguered American-run prison system in Afghanistan, according to a published report.
'beleaguered'? Is Iran PressTV running Yahoo?
The development is in response to concerns over detainee abuse and the military's belief that the Taliban is recruiting militants in the prisons, the New York Times reported Monday.
Oh. NYT. No wonder.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a confidential message last week to all of the military service chiefs and senior field commanders asking them to redouble their efforts to alert troops to the importance of treating detainees properly.
Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone of the Marines was credited with a successful overhaul of the American detention practices in Iraq and is entrusted with reviewing detention details in Afghanistan.
That sounds like a good idea.
General Stone's report has not been made public. It's being read by senior American officials, and recommends separating extremist militants from more moderate detainees, two American officials who have read or been briefed on his report blabbed to told The Times.
That sounds like a good idea, too, now that there's enough manpower now to do more than the bare minimum.
Plans call for the United States to finance and construct a new Afghan-run prison for the extremists. These prisoners are using the Afghan corrections system as a camp to train other inmates to become deadly militants, the American officials said.
As if there's any shortage of training in Pakistain ...
Madrassa training is pretty basic, and from what I've read most jihadis get nothing further than, "Here's your gun. Go thataway," before being shoved across the border. Those are the ones being trained to be deadly instead of cannon fodder.
The remaining inmates are to be taught vocational skills and offered other classes. They would also be taught about moderate Islam with the intent of releasing them into society, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the review's findings had not been released publicly.
The recommendations coincide with American officials' fears that overcrowded Afghan-run prisons will be overwhelmed by groups of new prisoners captured in the American-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, a place where thousands of Marines are battling Taliban fighters.
Lots of new prisoners, then? How nice.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 09:29 ||
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Adding more electric chairs and guillotines, hopefully?
[Maghrebia] A Moroccan court postponed the trial of well-known Islamist activist Nadia Yassine until 2010, Ansa reported on Friday (July 17th). This is the fifth delay since 2005, whenYassine was charged for stating that she wanted to see a republic replace what she called the "autocratic monarchy". Her father, Sheikh Abdeslam Yassine, founded the unrecognised Islamist movement al-Adl Wal-Ihsane (Justice and Charity).
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Lawyers for the seven Pakistani students still held in prison on terrorism charges have announced they will launch a legal challenge against the UK government this week. Criminal charges against all the students were dropped in May because of insufficient evidence, but they have been kept locked in high-security prisons under immigration laws. Two lawsuits would contest the legality of the government's use of secret evidence in their continued imprisonment as well as the lawfulness of the initial arrest, The Independent reported. In total, 12 students were arrested in April, but five have already been freed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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The U.S. and North Korea have started delicate negotiations over two American journalists who were detained and sentenced to hard labor in North Korea, an influential source in Washington said Sunday. The next three or four weeks will be crucial in deciding whether the two women can walk free.
The U.S. House of Representatives intended last week to adopt a resolution urging the North to release reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling, and the Senate intended to follow suit, but their plans have been postponed at the State Department's request, the source said. The State Department made the request to Congress because it fears that a resolution could anger the North at a time when the two countries have entered sensitive negotiations, the source added.
Earlier, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 10 asked the North to grant the two an amnesty and allow them to return home to their families.
John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 and former U.S. vice president Al Gore, the founder of the TV station the two reporters work for are being mentioned as possible special envoys to Pyongyang, other sources said.
The U.S. government treats the release of the journalists is a separate issue from the North's nuclear provocations, but their release could lead to fresh nuclear talks. Gary Samore, a non-proliferation expert and WMD coordinator at the White House, said, "All the sort of straws in the wind vindicate that North Koreans are probably looking for a way to get back to the bargaining table."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Two luxury yachts ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have been confiscated by Italian police, Italian daily Libero-News reported Friday. It said financial police in the province of Lucca in Tuscany confiscated two yachts waiting for delivery to Kim in a shipyard in the city of Viareggio. The confiscation came under the international trade embargo against North Korea. The two yachts were worth 13 million euros (approximately W23.4 billion), the daily reported.
Italy's financial police are in charge of investigations into tax evasions or financial crimes. According to the daily, a businessman in Vienna, Austria paid cash to place an order for the yachts in the first place, but the title to the yachts and the responsibility for the balance were later transferred to a Chinese company.
Financial police in Lucca became suspicious and, in cooperation with the Austrian government, tracked the relevant bank accounts back to Kim. Libero-News said investigations are now focused on how Kim is getting supplies of luxury goods from Italy and other European regions. The confiscated yachts will be put up for auction and the money already paid for them has been frozen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/20/2009 11:39 Comments ||
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#3
I'm willing to bet that the 'yachts' will become smugglers' scows once they make it to CommieMafiaWonderland. What's an ailing cancer victim need with luxury yachts? He's probably gonna be vomiting enough without the aid of seasickness.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2009 13:11 Comments ||
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Ethnic rioting in China's far western region of Xinjiang was well planned and coordinated to take place at more than 50 locations across the regional capital Urumqi, the official People's Daily reported on Sunday.
The account of the violence, in which 197 people were killed and more than 1,600 wounded, followed the official line that Xinjiang's worst ethnic unrest in decades was pre-meditated. Xinjiang's governor, Nuer Baikeli, told a small group of media, including Reuters, late on Saturday that the rioting was an attempt by exiled separatists to split Xinjiang from China. But exiled ethnic Uighurs have denied the allegation, saying the unrest was sparked by deaths last month of two Uighur factory workers in southern China.
Knife sales: Citing witnesses and footage from surveillance cameras, the People's Daily said that ringleaders had orchestrated the riots in more than 50 locations across Urumqi, including government offices and police stations, with rioters reportedly driven to some spots in groups.
In the days preceding the riots, the newspaper said there were "noticeably hot" sales of long knives, some of which were used in the attacks. Meanwhile the successful burning of vehicles suggested a "high possibility" such methods had been studied beforehand, it added, citing experts. The presence of purported ringleaders dressed in similar clothing, including women in long black Islamic garb and black head scarves who issued "commands" to the rioters, was also noted by the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
"These kind of women were seen many times at different locations on surveillance cameras," the report said. In the group interview with Reuters, Nuer Baikeli said Chinese police shot dead 12 armed Uighur rioters after they ignored warning shots fired into the air, a rare government admission of deaths inflicted by security forces. Nuer Baikeli insisted police exercised the "greatest restraint" but the use of force was necessary to protect citizens and restore order. Stability has been restored, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Meanwhile, as per MWF tensions between CHINA + VIETNAM are rising vee DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA. IIRC ARTIC [paraph] > claims that CHIN has offic demanded that the USA stop OIL EXPLORA + COOPER wid Vietnam, + may had threatened or inferred to send PLA Troops = Mil Forces to CONUS iff need be???
#2
If it had been preplanned, state security would have been all over it. It wasn't planned, it was spontaneous anger, and thus the streets weren't filled with People's Armed Police when the riots happened.
#3
SAME WMF > consternation wid the USA over its proclaiming of the DISPUTED DAOYU ISLANDS AS DE FACTO JAPANESE TERRITORY, as agz CHINA's claims of sovereignty???
IOW, Chin PLAN is being strategically blocked/denied access to nearly all areas in EAST ASIA + DEEP PACIFIC save just-off-the-Chin-coasts maritime = sampan routes???
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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#5
WAFF > seems those repor PRO-Uighur IRANIAN CHANTS OF "DEATH TO RUSSIA" at Friday Prayers as per ne US-Russ Anti-MilTerr AFPAK RAPPROCHEMENT, also bodes true for CHINA = "DEATH TO CHINA"[Xinjiang]???
Via JihadWatch
The flow of radical Islamists from Germany to training camps in Pakistan has doubled this year, the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Sunday without naming any source.
German police monitor the so-called homegrown terrorists, mainly from the Turkish and Arab immigrant communities, who volunteer to fight on the Islamist side in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Not according to the info two paragraphs down.
"This year we have so far logged 40 Pakistan-bound departures among the German Islamist crowd," a senior German security official was quoted saying. In the corresponding months of last year, only half as many departed for training. That you know about.
The men commonly used flights via Syria, Egypt or Turkey. Many returned home to Germany like Hamburg? after spending time in the camps.
Security forces forecast earlier this month that terrorists might try to unnerve the German public in the run-up to the September 27 general election, with the intention of obtaining a German military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 09:00 ||
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Security forces forecast earlier this month that terrorists might try to unnerve the German public in the run-up to the September 27 general election, with the intention of obtaining a German military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That would not be a good idea on the part of the Turks, and even less so on the part of the Arabs. The German community as a whole do NOT like the Turks, and treat them as some kind of disease. I would not like to be in the shoes of anyone who tried that kind of crap, because the Germans are very likely to retaliate, cubed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/20/2009 19:41 Comments ||
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#2
be a good idea to get that blonde hair dye and blue contacts when the sh*t hits the fan, swarthies
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2009 19:45 Comments ||
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The Obama administration proposes to reign in the operations of private security contractors conducting contingency operations in combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan through rules that make the military largely responsible for their actions.
The proposed rules would only allow security contractors to be armed after a case-by-case review by the staff of the Judge Advocate General, and the approval of a flag officer, and in compliance with the laws of the host country.
Contractors must prove that they have received training regarding rules for the use of force, the distinction between the rules of engagement applicable to military forces and the use of weapons by civilians, and the Law of Armed Conflict.
In addition, the rules restrict security contractors to a defensive posture limited to direct response to hostile activity or hostile intent. The military will create a reporting and disciplinary procedure to investigate any incidents of force used by contractors and to generally review their performance.
The proposed rules do not apply to contractors engaged by the U.S. intelligence community for intelligence operations and support. I wonder if this is an effort to claim control over US mercenaries, wherever they operate?
Ahmednur Ali's family fled the chaos and violence of their East African homeland Somalia in the 1990s, eventually making their way to Minnesota like thousands of their compatriots.
While many of the estimated 32,000 Somalis who settled in the state have struggled to adapt, Ali flourished. By age 20, he had blazed a path to Minneapolis' Augsburg College, where he played soccer, studied political science and aspired to a political career modeled on President Barack Obama's.
He was shot and killed last September outside a busy community center where he worked part-time as a youth counselor, and prosecutors said the 16-year-old accused of killing him was part of a gang.
Ali was one of seven Minneapolis-area Somali men killed over a 10-month period, and authorities believe all were killed by fellow Somalis. Police say it's too simple to tie all the killings to Somali gangs, which have lured hundreds of young community members to their ranks in recent years.
Is that because they don't have a handle on gang activity, or because they're afraid to speak out about gangs in a Muslim immigrant community?
Those in the insular community willing to speak out, however, disagree.
"It was all gang activity, totally, 100 percent," said Shukri Adan, a former Somali community organizer who estimated in a 2007 report for the city that between 400 and 500 young Somalis were active in gangs. "The police don't want to say that but everybody else knows that."
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 16:00 ||
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In london we have lots of somalian gangs who fight with the black and asian gangs.
They have the highest unemployment figures- the women having lots of kids in welfare housing and the men chew Khat all night at their cafes and sleep during the day!
Welcome to the dumping ground of the world thanks Labour!!!!
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit on Sunday rejected US allegations that terrorists involved in attacks on the US and India were living in Pakistan, calling the claim baseless, a private TV channel reported. Reacting to a statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the perpetrators of 9/11 attacks in the US and the Mumbai attacks were in Pakistan, the spokesman said the culprits were in Afghanistan, not Pakistan.
Really? And how does the spokesman know that, pray tell?
Talking to media in New Delhi, Clinton had asked Pakistan to act against the culprits of the Mumbai attacks, adding that terrorism was a major problem which threatened global peace.
Not to mention Pakistan's continuing viability as a nation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Really? And how does the spokesman know that, pray tell?
He just got off the phone with them and they said, "Nope, we ain't here. We're somewhere else".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/20/2009 9:25 Comments ||
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Former president Pervez Musharraf has said dialogue had to be established with the Taliban and political progress, rather than military might, would achieve a solution in Afghanistan.
Brilliant! Do lend us your cell phone for a moment, there's a dear.
"I think the strategy is right but we need to put in a little more input, more forces required, and maybe we need to concentrate also on the long-term strategy," the former general told Britain's Sky News television.
"Military is never the ultimate solution. The military can buy you time, it can create an environment, but ultimately it is the political instrument that has to be used," he said, adding he thought political dialogue needed to be established with senior elements within the Taliban. He said he did not think the Taliban were open to any discussions or any negotiations with (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai. He said the situation required people who had access to the Taliban," he added.
That would be you, right?
Musharraf also said that while the Taliban's influence in Pakistan's areas along the Afghan border had strengthened since he resigned the presidency, he was sure Pakistan would remain stable as long as the armed forces of Pakistan were intact.
That certainly is a theory.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Musharraf is showing his true colours now.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/20/2009 0:52 Comments ||
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The taliban nmust be worried re extra US troops/Predators as their ultimate sponsor/ spokesman/trainer is talking about dialogue!
Three explosives-laden cars have been sent to Islamabad and major cities of Punjab, according to intelligence reports available with the Interior Ministry. According to the reports, terrorists are likely to target law-enforcement agencies, important installations, buildings and offices; and target mosques on the motorway in suicide bombings. One of the vehicles is a Pajero, registration No SXD-1500, installed with an emergency police light; another is a black Corolla, registration No 225; and the third is a Toyota Corolla 2D, registration No MNH-1122.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
ARCLIGHT a major Pakistani city and blame it on the suicide bombers. Just make sure it's not on the Karachi-Kabul highway. Maybe Lahore? That seems to be the source of a lot of problems in India. Just about any trouble anywhere in the world seems to have a Pakistan connection. Giving them something else to worry about might bring some of those problems to a halt.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/20/2009 6:44 Comments ||
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OP, the ARCLIGHT wing is suffering flight fatigue lately. Best to let them stand down for a bit of maintenance & R&R.
(AP) An Iraqi military commander on Monday compared new restrictions on the U.S. military to "house arrest," saying American combat troops cannot patrol as freely as they did before pulling out of cities on June 30.
Col. Ali Fadhil, a brigade commander in Baghdad, cited several occasions in which Iraqi troops turned down U.S. requests to move around the capital, and in one instance to conduct a raid - the Iraqis carried out that operation themselves. The new balance of authority stems from a security agreement that requires all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
Fadhil spoke to The Associated Press about conditions in Baghdad, where violence has dropped dramatically since the sectarian bloodletting and insurgent attacks that swept much of the country in past years.
"They are now more passive than before," he said in reference to his U.S. allies. "I also feel that the Americans soldiers are frustrated because they used to have many patrols, but now they cannot. Now, the American soldiers are in prison-like bases as if they are under house-arrest."
The U.S. military in Iraq had no immediate comment Monday on the relationship with its Iraqi counterparts. It has said that it remains available to assist them and has noted progress in the Iraqi military despite lingering questions about its resolve and training.
On July 16, three U.S. soldiers were killed in an assault on a U.S. base near an airport in Basra in southern Iraq. Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, commanding general of Multi-National Division-South, said the U.S. was committed to fulfilling the terms of the security agreement. But he also said: "U.S. forces have an inherent right to self-defense and the authority to protect themselves."
Hadi al-Amiri, a lawmaker and member of the parliament's security and defense committee, said the Americans' withdrawal from the cities went very smoothly.
Outside of cities, Americans are free to move without approval, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi forces face near-daily attacks in urban areas, though most of the violence is not on the scale of the past.
On Monday, a car bomb killed two police officers and injured eight civilians in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, said Maj. Gen. Tareq Youssef, the police chief of Anbar province. Ramadi, the provincial capital, was once a stronghold of Sunni insurgents.
Four police and one civilian died in attacks in and near the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi police said.
#1
So why do the Ami's stay and put up with such abuse? To avoid the cost of coming back to right things after the overconfident Iraqis undo the progress, yes?
#2
What abuse? The Iraqi commander isn't particularly high-ranking, and it's just his opinion. If US troops aren't needed, and just sit around in their bases, then that's a GOOD thing. If he's mouthing off about how GIs are in prison, then it's just feelings of superiority (caused by an inferiority complex).
#3
Actually, the way I read it, the Iraqi Colonel was making it known that he wouldn't mind if the Americans had more freedom of action. I thought his choice of words was to let his leadership know that he disapproves of the new policy.
#4
When life gives you lemons... In this case, since they are out of the cities, US forces should put a serious crimp in enemy movements in the countryside. There is always more than enough to do.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2009 21:16 Comments ||
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#2
As with the Jewish State the Jordanians don't want to be overrun by the Palestinian population. Presently the Jordanians are outnumbered by their "guests".
According to Israeli Radio the Jordanian authorities officially "advised" senior Palestinian Liberation Organization official Farouq Kaddoumi to leave Jordan after his recent statements that former PA President Yasser Arafat had been poisoned.
The broadcasting of Kaddoumi's statements, that top Fatah officials, among them Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammad Dahlan, conspired with Israeli and US officials to kill Arafat, had infuriated the Palestinian Authority to the point that it closed down Al Jazeera's offices in the West Bank for four days.
Farouq Kaddoumi is said to have left Jordan for Syria today. Meanwhile the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization decided to call for a meeting for the Central Council to make a decision against Kaddoumi.
Sri Lankan troops have recovered a submarine-type craft built by Tamil Tiger guerrillas in an area where they fought their final battle two months ago, the military said on Sunday. The craft was found on Saturday submerged about 500 metres off the coast of Vellamullivaikal in the district of Mullaittivu, the army said in a statement. "Based on information provided by an informant ... the submersible was found and brought ashore with the help of army divers," the statement said. Sri Lanka's navy has already begun investigations into the naval capability of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels to establish how they acquired the technology and supplies, a military official said. Several submersible devices had been found by the military in the run up to the final defeat of the Tamil Tigers on May 18 with the killing of the entire Tiger leadership at Vellamullivaikal. The Tigers had a sea going unit known as the Sea Tigers and had sunk several naval craft as well as merchant ships off the island's northeast coast. Last week, troops uncovered one of their biggest hauls of weapons and explosives since the defeat of the rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Jundullah ringleader Abdulmalek Rigi decided to establish the terrorist group after becoming familiar with al-Qaeda and Taliban, his brother Abdulhamid says.
"After Abdulmalek got to know al-Qaeda and Taliban in 2003, he decided to establish a cell and rebel against the Islamic Republic and Shia Islam," Abdulhamid told reporters on Sunday.
"Abdulmalek and his group had a purpose to sow discord among Shia and Sunni based on the orders received from the US," he added.
"I went to school for two year and after that I went to a seminary in [the southeastern Iranian city of] Zabol. After that I became a vender," Abdulhamid explained about his background.
The remarks by the Jundullah ringleader's brother came after the public relations office of the judiciary in Sistan-Baluchestan Province announced that thirteen people confirmed to have been loyal to the terrorist group, including Abdulmalek's relatives, had been executed on Tuesday.
With a sharp lookout for Jundullah ringleader, Iran handed down on Sunday the death penalty to two other members of the notorious terror group.
Abdulhamid went on to say that his brother would receive a punishment befitting his heinous crimes.
"I urge Abdulmalek, as my elder brother, to quit his evil acts and refrain from committing further crimes. I ask him to stop playing with people's lives," the apprehended brother of the Jundullah top man said.
The Pakistan-based Jundullah has staged a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran, one of which left at least 25 Iranians dead in early June. Jundullah militants are believed to be closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization.
The Asia Times reported in May that al-Qaeda militants had sought to establish an alliance with the exiled Jundullah to fulfill longstanding plans of creating a strategic corridor in the region and lay the foundation for joint regional operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
In a recent interview, Abdulhamid Rigi told Press TV that his brother had held several "confidential" meetings with FBI and CIA agents in Karachi and Islamabad.
He added that during one of the meetings, two female US agents had offered weapons, safe bases in Afghanistan and professional trainers and had attempted to recruit volunteers.
Two years ago, the Sunday Telegraph claimed that Jundullah was a CIA brainchild engineered to achieve the Bush-era goal of "regime change in Iran".
Abdulhamid, who has been convicted of cooperation in acts of terrorism, awaits imminent execution.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Iran's security services have foiled an attempt by terrorists to assassinate defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, a report says.
Jahan News quoted an unnamed source that five hit squads, had entered Iran as part of a concerted effort with the aim of assassinating the two opposition figures.
In the event, the report says, "with the vigilance of the intelligence and security bodies," these plans were foiled when four of the hit-squads were arrested and one fled.
According to the report, the would-be assassins were from the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and had entered the country from the southwestern province of Khuzestan, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf.
They were reported to have received training at the MKO-run Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The main intention of the operation was to attribute the assassination of Mousavi and Karroubi to the Iranian government, the report added.
The report notes that in the run-up to the June 12 presidential election, "a number of anti-revolutionary groups had intended to carry out a similar plan by placing a bomb in the aircraft carrying [former President] Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, which was foiled by the flight security forces."
Jahan News did not reveal the identities or genders of the terrorist detainees, or whether the assassination plan was foiled before or after the election.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
When the authorities murder Mousavi and Karroubi, remember that they warned you, if you had ears to hear.
MKO, indeed. An Emmanuel Goldstein for every occasion.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2009 13:13 Comments ||
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Amid widely-debated political developments in Iran, influential cleric and politician Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani visits the holy city of Mashhad to confer with senior Iranian clerics.
Hashemi-Rafsanjani -- a two-time former president who heads both the top political arbitration body, the Expediency Council, and the clerical body, the Assembly of Experts - paid a visit to Iran's holy city of Mashhad on Saturday to meet with top clerics in the city and discuss the latest political ferment in the country. The visit comes a day after Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani led the Friday prayers at Tehran University which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. During his sermon, Hashemi-Rafsanjani criticized authorities for their handling of the country's presidential election and the post-vote unrest.
Following the address, opposition supporters took to the streets of Tehran, chanting slogans against the incoming administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Clashes erupted outside Tehran University campus as security forces reacted to the illegal gatherings by using tear gas to disperse protesters.
Meanwhile Hashemi-Rafsanjani's insistence on removing public doubts about the veracity of the election results and his focus on popular legitimacy has drawn fierce criticism from certain political figures in the country. A member of Iran's electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi reacted to Rafsanjani's remark by saying that mere acceptance of people will not ensure the legitimacy of the government. "In Islam, the legitimacy of a government is granted by God and its acceptance by the people,"he said adding "While without the people's acceptance no Islamic government can function, this does not give the establishment its legitimacy... this important principle has been overlooked by Mr. Hashemi."
Tehran lawmaker Bijan Nobaveh has also criticized Ayatollah Rafsanjani for saying that the election dispute had thrown the country into a crisis. "The so-called crisis is Mr. Rafsanjani's personal interpretation of the situation," Nobaveh said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Someone please remind me. Is he the shark or the alligator?
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2009 7:49 Comments ||
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#3
guardian reports 36 army officers were arrested to stop them from attending rafsanjani's sermon in uniform.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
07/20/2009 11:06 Comments ||
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#4
Rafsanjani was, at one time, one of the wealthiest people in Iran. Its possible the money he accumulated by looting the treasury is being relooted by others. If so, he would naturally be ticked off.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
07/20/2009 12:31 Comments ||
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#5
Or else he's positioning himself to pick up all the pieces after he maneuvers the various presidential candidates into destroying each other and Khamenei in the bargain. Try to remember, Rafsanjani's a world-class bastard. A Magnificent Bastard, in point of fact.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2009 13:17 Comments ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice as first vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, has walked away from the job, state media reported on Sunday. Mashaie, a controversial politician and confidant of Ahmadinejad, has "resigned three days after his appointment" as first vice president, state-owned English-language channel Press TV reported.
The channel initially sourced its report to the Education Ministry-funded news agency, Pana. In its news item, Pana said, "The content of his resignation letter will be published soon." There was no immediate independent confirmation of Mashaie's resignation. The appointment was strongly opposed by lawmakers and clerics among Ahmadinejad's own support base.
Mashaie, whose daughter is married to Ahmadinejad's son, is an outspoken figure who last year earned the wrath of many Iranians, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for saying Iran is a "friend of the Israeli people". In his current role as vice president in charge of tourism he sparked ire among MPs for reportedly watching a group of women dance at a congress in Turkey in 2007.
Since the announcement of Mashaie's appointment on Friday, there has been a chorus of criticism from hardliners. "It is imperative to terminate the appointment of Mashaie as first vice president in order to respect the wishes of the majority of the people," said Hossein Shariatmadari, managing director of the Kayhan newspaper. "When people found out about the appointment, they viewed this move as one taken not just in bad taste... but as one which shows indifference," he wrote in an editorial.
Leading cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami also slammed Mashaie's nomination. "This appointment has been made in defiance of the members of the Assembly of Experts, the majlis (parliament) and several leading figures who have often mentioned that the post is a sensitive one," the Jam-e Jam newspaper quoted Khatami as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Lawyers for the seven Pakistani students still held in prison on terrorism charges have announced they will launch a legal challenge against the UK government this week. Criminal charges against all the students were dropped in May because of insufficient evidence, but they have been kept locked in high-security prisons under immigration laws. Two lawsuits would contest the legality of the government's use of secret evidence in their continued imprisonment as well as the lawfulness of the initial arrest, The Independent reported. In total, 12 students were arrested in April, but five have already been freed.
Ethnic rioting in China's far western region of Xinjiang was well planned and coordinated to take place at more than 50 locations across the regional capital Urumqi, the official People's Daily reported on Sunday. 
Former president Pervez Musharraf has said dialogue had to be established with the Taliban and political progress, rather than military might, would achieve a solution in Afghanistan. 
Three explosives-laden cars have been sent to Islamabad and major cities of Punjab, according to intelligence reports available with the Interior Ministry. According to the reports, terrorists are likely to target law-enforcement agencies, important installations, buildings and offices; and target mosques on the motorway in suicide bombings. One of the vehicles is a Pajero, registration No SXD-1500, installed with an emergency police light; another is a black Corolla, registration No 225; and the third is a Toyota Corolla 2D, registration No MNH-1122.
(AP) An Iraqi military commander on Monday compared new restrictions on the U.S. military to "house arrest," saying American combat troops cannot patrol as freely as they did before pulling out of cities on June 30. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice as first vice president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, has walked away from the job, state media reported on Sunday. Mashaie, a controversial politician and confidant of Ahmadinejad, has "resigned three days after his appointment" as first vice president, state-owned English-language channel Press TV reported.
