Indian investigators have found car bomb designs and an al-Qa'ida-produced film on the computer hard drive of Kafeel Ahmed, one of the British terror plot suspects.
Reports yesterday said experts were scanning about 12,000 files and 5000 emails and phone numbers contained in the hard drive, which has more than double the capacity of an average home computer. Ooooh! More connections to trace... I wonder how many are professionals in the West/Australia on work visas that need be reconsidered? I wonder how many Mr. Ahmed thought he'd deleted, but were accessible to clever computer programmers?
Three CDs and a computer hard drive found at Mr Ahmed's house in Bangalore contained inflammatory speeches by al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, as well as anti-US and anti-Britain propaganda. The hard drive also contained videos of bin Laden and messages to al-Qa'ida operatives, the report said. To operatives, you say?
#1
what? no anti joooooo stuff? must not be doing this islamic terror thing right.
so he had a bunch of car bomb designs on his PC and he chose one that didn't work. allah surely must have had a hand in that.
speaking of allah, doesn't it strike anyone as odd that they keep saying "inshallah" (if allah wills it) and things like this happen to them? why don't they consider that allah wanted this guy to burn. allah didn't want the bombs to work. allah wants muslims to be in the back of the pack economically, intellectually, artistically, morally, etc.
#2
Maybe it's time to start rigging vehicles being shipped overseas for delivery to the MME (Muslim Middle East) as massive car bombs. Hook up the digital equivalent of a stepping relay to the ignition so the thing doesn't blow up during the dockside drive-away. Give the car ten or twenty starts so that it's more likely to detonate on a city street. Hell, use an AND gate path connected to motion sensors that detects external proximity movement.
I'm so fed up with this torrent of Islamic taurine fecal matter that giving Muslim populations an up front and personal taste of the crapulence they spread so cheerfully begins to look like a well-considered option. Yeah, this is terrorism, but when will we have had enough? When will we decide that proportionatewhich is what I'm suggesting hereor disproportionate retaliation is finally justified?
If the MME got a chance to relish constant terrorist attacks that we in the West endure, maybe they'd stop being so keen about supporting them.
Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri said on Tuesday the group was preparing a precise response to Britains decision to knight author Salman Rushdie. I say to Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair that your message has reached us and we are in the process of preparing for you a precise response, Zawahiri said in an audio recording posted on an Internet website often used by Islamic militants.
The queen had knighted Rushdie last month in her birthday honours list, prompting condemnation from a number of Muslim countries and organisations. The author is accused by some Muslims of blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses, which triggered an international outcry when it was first published in 1988. The Indian-born Rushdie, 59, was forced to go into hiding for a decade after erstwhile Iranian supreme leader Aytatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death sentence over the book in 1989. Khomeinis successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in January 2005 that he still believed the British novelist was an apostate whose killing would be authorised by Islam.
Following Rushdies knighting, Iran said the death sentence still stood. The stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran on this issue has not changed from what was put forward by Imam Khomeini, foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Hosseini said.
In the audio message billed Malicious Britain and its Indian Slaves, Zawahiri said Britain was hypocritical for giving Rushdie the knighthood under the banner of freedom of speech. He said the least Muslims could do was to boycott Britain to protest Rushdies knighthood. Why dont they honour the British historian David Irving? The queen did not honour him because she cannot rebel against the Jews, who are her masters, he said.
Irving had spent 13 months in jail in Austria following a conviction there for Holocaust denial. Zawahiri also warned Britains new prime minister, Gordon Brown, to alter his states foreign policy. The policy of your predecessor Tony Blair has brought tragedy and defeat upon you not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also in the centre of London. If you did not learn the lesson, we are prepared to repeat, God willing, until you have understood, he said.
Zawahiri also praised an attack last month on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in which six soldiers were killed. This operation came as a response against the invading Crusader forces who were occupying a beloved part of the land of Islam, he said.
Zawahiri also urged Hamas in the Palestininan territories to wage holy war against Israel and called on Muslims in Pakistan to resist their corrupt president, General Pervez Musharraf, by offering moral and financial support to militants in neighbouring Afghanistan. An Islamic emirate in Afghanistan is the hope for real change in the region and hopefully the final blow to the Crusaders in South Asia, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Al Qaeda threatens 'response' to Rushdie's knighthood
#2
The seething and knashing of teeth will begin in ernest when they discover that Rushdie was indeed "knighted" .....but to the secret and holy order of Godfrey de Saint-Omer of Templars.
#3
Mr Charisma strikes again. It can't be much fun having a face like a camel's ass. A MOAB would be the most humane option.
Posted by: Dark Lord of the Spheres ||
07/11/2007 8:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Worf: "Nice forehead"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/11/2007 8:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"Precice" response? Could this actually mean something, or is it just yet another example of "Cultural Linguistic Differences", that makes Al's-Koran so difficult to translate.
Of course given the widened definition of "innocent" and "civilians", so often worked into the small print of the denunciations by the MMM-MSM puppets, widespread carnage in the dar-ul-harb could indeed be considered "Precise".
Alternatively, does this suggest a shift of tactics away from high profile stunts, to targeted assasinations and if so, what are the likely implications?
Regardless of all of this, it should be clear to anybody and everybody who still has an inkling of remaining doubt as to the motivations behind these attacks that they hate us for who we are, not what we do. Our very existence threatens their stupid retrograde ideology, almost as much as their continuing failures in every avenue of life does.
It is not so much a matter of telling people to choose sides, but forcing them to see reason, that most important of duties, criminally neglected by our useless post-modern academics.
The Rushdie Knighthood hurt them, clearly. Take note! So we give Knighthoods to Ibn Warraq, Patrick Sookhdeo, Trifkovic, Bat Ye'or. How about Rowan "Mr Bean" Atkinson, the only man with enough sense/stones to stand up to the religious incitement bill, prior to the Danish Cartoon Jihad? The Holy Order of Charles Martel.
Glasgow/London was nothing to do with Iraq, Tony/Gordon, 7/7 anniversary, it happened exactly and directly because it was publicly sanctioned by the Pakistani Minister Ejaz ul-Haq, two weeks prior.
Every single announcement from AQ has been followed up with an attack of some sort, as promised. So now, we wait, remain vigilant, remain on the ideologico-military offense, and pray that our security services get it right. Again.
#6
On a separate, but related point, this is more blowback from the disproportionate sentence passed on Irving.
Deborah Lipstadt, the plaintiff, made it quite clear that a custodial sentence was completely inappropriate. The fact that he was found guilty was enough to preserve the truth of the memories of the victims of the Holocaust. Freedom of speech should mean just that; our courts are there to arbitrate truth in cases of defamation and incitement, not to stifle discussion.
Nor should we be stifling discussion of Jihad within Islam, by imposing our rose-tinted views of the world on it. Let freedom reign and along with it, bring back the ability to discriminate between good and evil to a world where discrimination is the dirtiest of dirty words.
#8
Why dont they honour the British historian David Irving? The queen did not honour him because she cannot rebel against the Jews, who are her masters, he said.
Doc Knothead oughta hook up with Lyndon Larouche for some good Queen Talk. Looks like they share the same opinions on her.
#9
Israel should immediately award Rushdie it's "Wolf Prize".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/11/2007 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Why dont they honour the Purple Tracksuited British sports commentator David Icke? The queen did not honour him because she cannot rebel against the shape shifting reptilians, who are her masters, he said.
#11
I think the Queen knew exactly what she was doing and I admire her for it. We need more books like the Satanic Verses, more Danish cartoons and more media outlets with the guts to publish them in the name of free speech, freedom of the press and in the name of sanity. Hollywood should be making movies about how ridiculous islam is instead of putting out tripe like Sicko or An Inconvenient Truth. Put this death cult under constant media scrutiny until all of its adherents understand that they should be ashamed of it.
Oh, and BTW, Dr. al-Z (yet another muzzie doctor turned terrorist), the Queen is nice and comfortable there in Buckingham Palace. Where are you holed up these days?
Wow. It's almost like it...disappeared or sumthin...
STRASBOURG, France - European funds designated for the African Union mission in Darfur have not reached the undermanned and underequipped military force for months, leaving soldiers there without pay, officials said Tuesday. The African Union acknowledged the problem, but said the European Union requires cumbersome accounting impossible in a remote and violent region the size of France. Yeah. It's them damn bookeepers!. And these bumpy roads make a lot of it fall off the trucks. And hungry crocodiles. There was a terrrible storm!
The European Commission has earmarked $384 million for the African Union since November 2004, and further funds have been provided by the individual EU states, for a total of more than $544 million. The European Union is investigating why its money has not been paid to AU soldiers, officials said Tuesday. Ummmmmmmmm...I dunno
Notice the reporter didn't bother to ask whether the funds were actually, you know, disbursed. Anybody bother to check an account balance? I'm reminded of Evita: "and the money kept rolling out in all directions ..."
The AU is supposed to pay the soldiers, but a recent EU fact-finding mission to Sudan's war-torn western region met with widespread complaints from unpaid troops, Spanish EU lawmaker Josep Borrell said. "We're in a situation which is very embarrassing. For months they have not received their pay. Some have not received any pay at all," said Borrell, a former president of the EU assembly who led the four-day mission.
The African Union mission in Sudan said the soldiers' salaries have not been paid since February, but blamed the delay on administrative problems. The AU force lacks the logistical means and trained staff to distribute the salaries and write reports to account for the funds in Darfur, where communications are difficult, said Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the mission. Convienient, eh, Noureddine?
I'll just bet the AU doesn't have staff to write reports. I hear they don't have staff to keep track of supplies that are delivered, nor can they tell you what they've done recently. They don't have staff to do much of anything, far as I can tell.
"It's a vicious circle," he said, calling on the EU to simplify the paperwork so that the African soldiers could receive their pay faster. A vicious circle, I tells ya!!!
The 7,000-strong AU force has failed to stop the violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled in nearly four years of fighting between the government and ethnic African rebels. Maybe I'd tell them they're not getting paid because they're not doing their friggin jobs?
The EU has sent two experts to determine what happened to the funds sent to the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia and the force's management in Nigeria, a European Commission official told The Associated Press. "We're aware of the complaints. Indeed, it is a serious problem," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. ...and maybe they'll cut us in on the deal.
Nah, Euros always get their cut up front. They're really sophisticated that way ...
"As far as we aware the money has not disappeared, we have received political assurances that this is not the case," the official said. "What's basically happening is a problem of management." ...and if you can't trust an African despot, who can you trust?
A hybrid force of some 23,000 African and U.N. peacekeepers is slated to deploy in Darfur. The Sudanese government for months resisted a push for the U.N. to replace the overwhelmed AU force, but finally agreed in June to a compromise the U.N. will deploy jointly with the African Union. ...so lock up your daughters, Darfurians.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
07/11/2007 14:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
...so lock up your daughters, Darfurians.
Come to think of it, you'd better lock up those young boys, too. This IS a UN Force we're talking about............
#3
According to the Ministry of Naivete the EU expected that the African Union would use a reputable bank and accounting firm. They had no idea that those institutions do not exist in Africa.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/11/2007 17:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
EU investigating fate of Darfur funds
Let me save you guys a bunch of time, effort, and money and just say that maybe 10% got to where it was supposed to.
There is no system that can keep these kinds of countries on a straight and narrow path when they are handed money. Might as well not even bother helping them. And just what changes can the EU make when they figure this out? I imagine nothing would work except possibly offering more direct assistance, which noone will do. Might as well learn to tell these parasites to go pound sand. The sooner the better.
Mohamed Aboulbaki, a French Muslim, unfurled the design sheets for a gleaming new mosque where Muslims from ethnically mixed eastern Paris and its suburbs could congregate, away from the cramped prayer houses they now frequent. The Catholics, Protestants and Jews all have a place to pray in dignity. Why not us? asked Aboulbaki, showing the modern minaret that would change the skyline in Montreuil, a suburban town east of Paris. Islam is the second largest religious group in France. Surely we can have a decent place, he said.
After four years of debate, the first stone for the Great Mosque of Montreuil was laid at a ceremony six months ago during which the mayor declared that the town would finally have a mosque in full sight. But construction had not yet started when a local far-right politician won a court ruling last month outlawing a lease negotiated with the city for a plot of land to build the mosque. The victory of the far-right in Montreuil followed a similar court decision in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille in April, both of which have dealt a setback to efforts by Muslim groups and city councils to build new mosques.
Home to Europes biggest Muslim community, Frances five million Muslims have only 1,500 mosques or prayer houses, most of which are housed in small modest halls often described as basement mosques. Echoing the view of many Muslim leaders, Aboulbaki said France must get its mosques out of the basements if it wants its Muslim population to fully integrate into mainstream society.
Three years after France banned headscarves in schools, the court rulings barring cities from providing land for mosques is shaping up as the latest test on how France, with its strong Christian roots, can accommodate Islam. President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose tough stance on immigration has made him an unpopular politician among Muslims, said during his campaign for the presidency that he had no objections to the local governments helping communities get a proper place of worship. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced last week that she would soon present proposals with a view to finding pragmatic solutions to the problems raised by the practice of religion.
In Montreuil, Marseille and in a third upcoming case challenging the construction of a mosque in the Paris suburb of Creteil, far-right groups have seized on provisions of a law on the separation of church and state to argue that city councils are illegally subsidising religion by awarding leases for little money.
The Montreuil city council agreed to a long-term lease of land for the paltry sum of one euro (1.4 dollars) while Marseille had demanded 300 euros per year for a plot for the new mosque. Both have since reviewed the leases. In Montreuil, there is opposition to the symbolic sum of one euro but in the 1930s, the Catholic Church in the Paris region got long-term leases for 1,000 francs, or about 1.50 euros, said Didier Leschi, the director of the religious affairs office at the interior ministry.
For Patricia Vayssiere, the far-right councillor from Montreuil who successfully challenged the citys decision to provide land, building a mosque amounts to nothing less than encouraging the emergence of a dangerous political force in France. We are not against Islam as long as it remains a private matter, said Vayssiere, a senior member of the far-right National Republican Mouvement (MNR). What we want to halt is the Islamisation of our country. When we see in some towns that pork is no longer served in cafeterias, so as not to offend Muslims, or that municipal pools now offer separate swim hours for men and women, we can see that we are not just dealing with religion, but rather a political force.
Confronting the Islamophobia of the far-right is not the only roadblock in the way of Montreuils Muslims. Despite a major fund-raising campaign, only 200,000 euros of the total 1.5 million euros needed to build the mosque have been raised from the local community made up mostly of Malians, north Africans, Senegalese and Muslims from the Comoros.
Frances first mosque, the Great Mosque of Paris, opened in 1926 in Paris Latin Quarter, an architectural gem with a tea room, built with help from Algerian donors. City councils have come around to the view that building a mosque could help ease some of the tensions in the immigrant-heavy suburbs that exploded into three weeks of rioting in 2005, said Geisser. Many mayors see a mosque in their community as a sort of clinic, with clearly identified people that they could talk to and enlist for help, said Geisser.
Montreuil Muslims say they are ready to go to court if the government fails to redress what they see as discrimination and a violation of their rights to freedom of religion. This government needs to say what it wants from its Muslims, said Aboulbaki. Muslims need to be respected and the idea that building a mosque amounts to encouraging Islamisation and fundamentalism must be removed once and for all.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
we can see that we are not just dealing with religion, but rather a political force.
Precisely. Now youve got it. Remember, dear French friends, fire is your friend.
#2
The Catholics, Protestants and Jews all have a place to pray in dignity. Why not us?
Last I checked: The Catholics, Protestants and Jews haven't been flying fully loaded passenger jet airliners into occupied skyscrapers.
Echoing the view of many Muslim leaders, Aboulbaki said France must get its mosques out of the basements if it wants its Muslim population to fully integrate into mainstream society.
Do tell. Now please go on to reassure us that once those mosques are built there will not be Muslim agitation to close down all liquor stores, charcuteries and wine bars within a 100 10 kilometer radius of them. The empty promises that Muslims will fully integrate have been heard before. No one with half a brain believes them anymore. Where are Saudi and Kuwaiti donations to help provide native French citizens with replacements for so many of their vehicles that were lost to banlieue Car-B-Ques?
We are not against Islam as long as it remains a private matter, said Vayssiere, a senior member of the far-right National Republican Mouvement (MNR). What we want to halt is the Islamisation of our country. When we see in some towns that pork is no longer served in cafeterias, so as not to offend Muslims, or that municipal pools now offer separate swim hours for men and women, we can see that we are not just dealing with religion, but rather a political force.
Clearly, Vayssiere gets it.
Many mayors see a mosque in their community as a sort of mental clinic, with clearly identified peopleinmates that they could talk to and enlist for help, said Geisser.
#3
What we want to halt is the Islamisation of our country. When we see in some towns that pork is no longer served in cafeterias, so as not to offend Muslims, or that municipal pools now offer separate swim hours for men and women, we can see that we are not just dealing with religion, but rather a political force.
Confronting the Islamophobia of the far-right is not the only roadblock...
With the ability to inject a ludicrous and biased opinion so brazenly, this writer definitely has career options including working for the New York Times or the Washington Post.
#5
The Catholics, Protestants and Jews all have a place to pray in dignity. Why not us?
Show us all the great churches, temples and synagogues in muslim occupied Mideast, Africa and Asia. Please give directions to the Grand Synagogue in Mecca. The Saudi Tourist Bureau Brochure is a little vague.
Posted by: ed ||
07/11/2007 6:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
must get its mosques out of the basements if it wants its Muslim population to fully integrate into mainstream society
Bullsh*t. If they truly wanted to integrate they'd start by learning to speak French. In fact, mosques have a track record of creating MORE separation from the broader society. What they preach, in arabic and away from outsider scrutiny, foments hate, superiority and creates an environment where for some, at least, violence becomes acceptable -- valued and rewarded, even -- with no checks and balances.
Definitiion: A phobia (from the Greek öüâïò "fear"), is an irrational, persistent fear of certain situations, objects, activities, or persons.
It's rational, therefor not a phobia, though many are responding as to a phobia (avoiding the cause). The appropriate response would be to make the cause avoid YOU.
#8
Why should havens (mosques) of terrorism be built? Why should islamics be allowed to create a terroristic nest that is a threat to law and order and culture within a resident country? Why should islamics be allowed to do what they want in your country when it is the most intolerant religion barbaric repressive cult in the world.
#9
Whenever I read "islamophobia" in the MSM, my BS alert starts flashing its red lights & a siren goes off. But mostly the term's foul odor alerts me.
Muslims all have a very large place to pray in dignity. It's called Saudi Arabia. Let them go there, and remain.
#12
I've come to believe that every time I hear or read the "islamophobia" that it is a smokescreen to just divert attention from what is really going on. Use of "islamophobia" is just Al-Takeyya (propaganda) in operation.
#13
Despite a major fund-raising campaign, only 200,000 euros of the total 1.5 million euros needed to build the mosque have been raised from the local community made up mostly of Malians, north Africans, Senegalese and Muslims from the Comoros.
Couldn't get any help from the Soddies? That's a shame.
I would advise the French to pass a law real quick to forbid the use of foreign funds for purposes of building mosques.
BTW, that violin is way too big. What happened to the tiny one that they guy holds in the palm of his hand?
#14
The Catholics, Protestants and Jews all have a place to pray in dignity. Why not us?
Same old blame card. They love to play on the moral and cultural underpinnings of the West by such trickery, in order to inflitrate, separate, and utlimately make war via direct jihad or causing various weakenings and disintegration of morale and cultural identify of the "infidels." It's major coup for them to be able to win any point, no matter how small, and they do congratulate themselves profusely when they do and bitch and whine and accuse until they get more.
Mosques are strategic planning facilities first and foremost, and have nothing at all to do with supposed goals of integration into the larger population of host countries.
#15
Show us all the great churches, temples and synagogues in muslim occupied Mideast, Africa and Asia. Please give directions to the Grand Synagogue in Mecca. The Saudi Tourist Bureau Brochure is a little vague.
This is the bottom line: Reciprocity. Muslim majority nations have no freedom of religion. This should serve notice to the West of what to expect from Muslims who settle here.
All further construction of mosques in the West should be halted until the MME (Muslim Middle East) institutes genuine freedom of religion. They should be given a three to five year time frame to implement this. If they fail to do so, Islam should be outlawed and all mosques shuttered and demolished as outposts of religious intolerance. During the intervening timespan, for every Christian, Buddhist, Coptic, Greek Orthodox, Hindu temple, church or Jewish synagogue that is destroyed, a mosque in every Western country should be demolished.
Islam must be read the riot act. This putrescent gang of barbaric savages needs to be slapped down so hard that, when we're finished, only their hair doesn't hurt.
#16
Getting rid of forward operating bases trouble moskkks is not something any western government will do until it's people leave it no choice. They might shut these down if they know the people are going take it upon themselves to shut down either the moskkks or the government. Western governments tend to lay around and eat grapes until people die in large numbers. We should work to change the political landscape and perhaps prepare for something more drastic if need be. We don't know if it will happen or not, but if our government remains full of apologists and Muslim toadies, the people just might chose the more direct option. We should not be totally unprepared for Extreme Moskkk Makeover.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/11/2007 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Perhaps the issue is more fundamental: separation of church and state: if the Catholics, Protestants and jews all built on privately held land, then why should any particular group get assistance from the gov't? I think that perhaps that was the underlying issue, not one of trying to prevent the spread of a nasty form of religious syphillis.
#19
If any muslim ever tells me something along the lines that Jesus/Issa was their prophet, too, my response would be but you didn't learn anything from him, did you?
A man was charged with trying to bring a gun wrapped in aluminum foil and a towel aboard a plane at Jacksonville International Airport, authorities said Tuesday.
Ahmad Abdallah Abu Ghanam was on his way to Chicago then Jordan on Monday when Transportation Security Administration workers found the .380-calibar semiautomatic gun in his checked luggage. The serial number had been scratched off, said Michael Stewart, director of external affairs for the airport.
Abu Ghanam told police he bought the weapon on the street a month ago and he did not realize the serial number was missing. Abu Ghanam was charged with removal of a firearm serial number. He was being held on $10,003 bail, The Florida Times-Union reported. Travelers are allowed to check unloaded handguns as long as they are declared to airline employees and are stowed in special cases.
#3
So lets see. Unregistered gun, bought off the street, probably stolen, filed off serial number, trying to sneak it onto an plane. Whaddya figure, at least 10 years in PMITA federal prison?
#4
Slap on the wrist. Ten years if it had been a white kid from the midwest named "John Smith" or the like but it would obviously be racist to come down hard on someone named "Ahmad Abdallah Abu Ghanam".
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it is particularly important to respect the civil rights of Muslim Americans as US troops continue to fight terrorism in the Middle East.
Making Muslims feel fully included in the work and spirit of America is part of making America a better place, and improving US military effectiveness, Chertoff said in an address at the 98th annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
#1
"Take not a Jew or a Christian for your friend or protector." Koran
Chertoff, you speak out of ignorance. This will not be a two way street. You know that you have stated today that you have a "gut feel" that there will be a terrorist attack in the US this summer, and already you are warning people to respect Muslims, just as the Mayor of London did.
#3
You respect "American" Moslems by NOT changing your state laws to respect their banking laws. Title insurance is where you start. When you change laws for the no interest "" idea, you are trading on JUNK BONDS.
Do not capitulate lawful order for the order of foreign law. Do you understand?
#4
LUCIANNE > THE AUSTRALIAN > AL Qaeda moving to [eventually] hit American city(s) with nuclear bombs. Prospects that AQ will succeed in doing so over the next ten years are very good, even at minima probability levels.
Predicting that war with Syria could erupt if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not begin peace negotiations with Damascus, the latest IDF assessment also states that such a conflict would be "at least 10 times worse" than last summer's conflict with Hezbollah.
Olmert told the Arab TV network Al Arabiya that he wants to resume peace talks that stalled between the two nations seven years ago, the Voice of America reported Tuesday.
Cotler described the current threat level to the Jewish people as being "without parallel or precedent since 1938" when the Nazis rose to power. He added, however, that in 2007 there is a Jewish state, "which provides an antidote to vulnerability" and Israel has diplomatic relations with the two emerging super powers, India and China.
"We have some powerful historical assets at our disposal," Cotler said.
/My ears are straining to hear a few Israeli Eagles!
Chertoff was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the son of Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff, the former leader of the B'nai Israel Congregation in Elizabeth, and El Al flight attendant Livia Chertoff (née Eisen). His paternal grandfather, Rabbi Paul Chertoff, emigrated from Russia. His grandfather was a noted Talmudic scholar.
#11
Michael Chertoff should be demanding that Muslimes overseas respect other's rights. Trouble is Chertout was pandering to the black mooslums in the naacp race department.
One more reason Bush has lost our respect. What's next George forcing your staff to wear veils in DC mosques? Wait he's already done that.
#13
All this touchy feely PC blathering will come to an end soon enough. First, it stands for little and accomplishes nothing. These mumblings are just appeasement in another guise. Appeasement has never worked. Islamics will continue to hate infidels and the Jews and continue to try to kill us. They will continue to try to tear down Western civilization through stateless terrorism and proxies sent out by Syria and Iran. Saudi Arabia will continue to be the bankers for terrorists. Second, the islamics will continue their plotting and scheming and one day be successful in a pulling off a major terrorist event such as exploding a nuclear weapon, or a dirty bomb, or pulling off some other catastrophic event. At that time the first point will become meaningless for those who are currently seeking appeasement. At that time appeasement and PC silliness will go out the window and people will get wise to and serious about defeating islamic totaliarism. The war will be on in earnest. At that time, the US and its allies will have to conduct "total war" (classic, clandestine, and asymmetric warfare) worldwide and on every front. There will have to be commitment, will and sacrificenot just by our military but also by everyone else. We are going to have to get smarter quickly. Both political parties will have to scrap their internecine carping and election year politics for something much larger. The muslims are not going to put their plans on hold to comply with our system and politics.
#18
Listened to Graham Allison this AM on C-Span. He wrote a book on Nuclear Terrorism in 2004 and said the trendline then was >51% that we would get hit with a nuke in 10 years (by 2014). He says it still is on the same trendline. His subtitle is "The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe". He gave a few summary points on how to prevent - all of them more diplomatic and security policy type actions. But what he was really hot on was the border and how this administration has blown it when it comes to border enforcement. Especially concerning was the number of OTMs (Other than Mexicans) that have infiltrated the border illegally in the last few years including Iranians, Iraqis and others of the Arab/Muzzie persuasion. You must admit the Pakis have fissile material and so does Iran, most likely. With all the Situation Room activity going on, it would not surprise me that some fissile has gone missing or unaccounted for.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/11/2007 11:14 Comments ||
Top||
#19
First Tom Ridge and now this guy. Homeland Security hasn't exactly created a legacy of inspiring leadership has it?
#20
Bright Pebbles is spot on. I respect all Americans rights irrespective of color, gender, orientation, whatever. Appeasement and sensitivity pandering to any *self-perceived victim* or minority only seems to have negative unintended consequence.
#23
Word, JohnQC. Your post #13 pretty much sums up what we should expect from the current and forthcoming administrations in terms of America's vulnerability to a major terrorist attack.
If the 9-11 atrocity didn't alert America to what is in the works, I'm afraid nothing will. The Twin Towers should have put us on an immediate battle footing and signaled a global war, not on terrorism but on Islam. All the precursors were in place. Our Iranian and Kenyan embassies, the Beirut Marine barracks, the USS Cole, Lockerbie. These run-ups to 9-11 should have made crystal clear that Islam has been at war with us for decades.
The pretense of statelessness that Islamic terrorism maintains is a mask that must be ripped from the face of MME (Muslim Middle East) political leadership. The MME governments collude with Islamic terrorism at every turn and must be held to account.
A dedicated campaign of decapitating strikes against those who lead MME tyrannies should be followed by targeted assassinations of Islam's clerical elite. We need to clear the entire top tier of Islam's facilitators. These high context societies are extremely dependent upon their political and religious aristocracy. Excising these assets would have a devastating effect upon their ability to operate cohesively. Consider how access to so many bulging secret Swiss bank accounts would perish in such a sweep. Untold billions in terrorist financing would be taken offline without notice. This is but one example of why focusing on first string targets is so important in these high context cultures.
Entire terrorist networks would crumble without their central players. Clan rivalries would be thrust to the fore as lieutenants quarreled over the top positions of power. The ensuing chaos would render many such disputes in stark relief for our intelligence agencies to identify. Even a temporary respite from terrorist attacks would gain us some time to implement more effective security measures at home.
Most important of all, the above campaign is one of the few measures that would help to avoid the cataclysmic outcome of a terrorist nuclear attack upon American soil. Contrary to current political opinion, waiting for such a catastrophe to finally justify total war against Islam isnotanoption.
#24
...waiting for such a catastrophe to finally justify total war against Islam is not an option.
Agreed. I thought the U.S. and its allies were going to go on the offensive and take it to our enemy. George Bush said: "You are either with us or you are against us." Somehow this has petered away into political correctiness statements by Chertoff.
To use a phrase by Chertoff: My gut says the American people want to win this war and that we need to quit namby pambying around. Hell, we have no other choice.
#27
JohnQC missed only one thing. When the inevitable happens, the domestic Fifth Columnists in politics, the academy and the media must be made to pay with their lives.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/11/2007 23:29 Comments ||
Top||
I love how so many lefties and Muslim groups like to use the word "illegal" in an attempt to give their otherwise ridiculous arguments some air of rationality.
But in this case . . . I'm guessing that the buildings didn't apply for the proper permits.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
07/11/2007 13:11 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Debridement of all necrotizing tissue surrounding the cauterized wound. Just what the doctor ordered. Methinks Pakistan has numerous such leisions in dire need of similar treatment.
Leaders of seven political parties said on Tuesday that the government had lost its writ in all tribal agencies and frontier regions where extremist elements were organising themselves.
The leaders announced the formation of the FATA Siasi Ittehad (FATA Political Alliance) to pressurise the government to implement the Political Parties Act in the tribal areas. Tribal people are passing through the worst period of their history. The government has lost its writ in the tribal areas due to extremist elements that are now organising themselves there, said Malik Waris Khan Afridi, Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) leader, while addressing a news conference with other political leaders at the Peshawar Press Club. Afridi said extremism had damaged tribal customs and traditions, due to which tribal jirgas had lost importance.
He said FATAs people were confronting the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR) introduced by the British government in 1901, and wanted reforms in the tribal areas. Young tribesmen have a dark future as unemployment has reached a dangerous point and there is an absence of peace, he said. Afridi termed the FATA Grand Alliance a product of the establishment, and asked that why the people who had formed the alliance had not raised their voice in parliament before if they were sincere. He said political parties represented people which was the reason they had formed the FATA Political Alliance (FPA) to pressurise the government to enforce the Political Parties Act in the tribal areas. The political alliance, consisting of seven political parties, will solve the tribal peoples problems, he added. He said the FPA would consult FATA parliamentarians, lawyers, doctors, tribal elders and people belonging to other walks of life to solve tribal problems. Afridi said the FPA would also arrange public meetings and demonstrations for the acceptance of their demands, including the reform package prepared by former governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah. He said the FPA would make decisions regarding the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, local government elections, FCR, Warsak Dam royalty, minerals and unemployment.
Afridi refused to comment on the growing Talibanisation in the tribal areas, saying that every party had its own viewpoint on the issue. Well talk about it later, he said. Muhammad Iqbal Afridi and Noor Alam Afridi of the Tehrik-e-Insaaf Pakistan (TIP), Farhad Shahab of the PPPP, Imran Afridi and Abdur Rahim Afridi of the Awami National Party (ANP), Malik Zahir Shah Afridi and Said Malook Aurakzai of the PML-Q, Zar Noor Afridi and Hasan Shinwari from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Said Wali Shah from the PML-N and Mufti Ijaz and Qari Muhammad Azeem of the JUI were also present at the press conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Lal Masjid deputy cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, in his last interview with a TV channel on Tuesday morning, said his death was certain and criticised political maulanas for their role in the Lal Masjid saga. Speaking through his cell phone from the besieged compound, Ghazi said the students holed up inside had only 14 Kalashnikovs and rejected the governments claim that there were rocket launchers and piles of ammunition hidden in the compound.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
You say "Ghazi", I say "Gaza", let's call the whole thing off!
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman chaired a meeting of the heads of religious parties in London on Tuesday to review the security forces operation at Lal Masjid. The meeting decided that other madrassas in Pakistan were no longer above the law safe after the military operation, and action might be taken against religious institutions on the pretext of terrorism. Syed Munawar Hassan, Prof Sajid Mir, Pir Nobajar Shah, Qari Zawar Bahadur and Pir Ejaz Hashmi said the governments operation against Lal Masjid was a conspiracy against religious entities and that the main purpose of the operation was to defame the clerics at the national and international level.
They said that in the current circumstances it would be difficult for religious parties to participate in the general elections. The governments propaganda against clerics and madrassas would affect the voters, they said, especially in Sindh and Punjab. It was decided that the clerics would protest in the meeting of the heads of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and other political parties scheduled to be held on July 11 in London at former prime minister Nawaz Sharifs residence. They said that participants of the all-parties conference (APC) must cooperate with the religious parties to prevent further action against madrassas.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
#1
Funny how libs here screeech about separation of church and state, but have no opinion, or worse, the wrong opinion, about it in brown people lands...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/11/2007 7:59 Comments ||
Top||
Al Qaeda-linked militants in control of Lal Masjid posed a threat to the very fabric of Pakistan and President Pervez Musharraf could not allow such a challenge to his authority.
Analysts said the fight for Lal Masjid had become a battle for the future of the extremist-hit nation. They said that Musharraf faced a crunch decision take on the most serious militant threat to the country in years at the risk of a bloodbath or to bow to the militant strain in society and thereby strengthen it. Rasool Bakhsh Raees, professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management and Sciences, said the mosque symbolised a wider confrontation. The trend (of extremism) has been more than menacing, it has been genuinely threatening the internal security of the country, Raees said.
The mosques hardline presence in the moderate city of one million people came to embody widespread concerns about the spread of militancy from the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The vigilante campaign by its students for the introduction of Islamic law put the mosque on a collision course with Musharraf. It also put Musharrafs anti-terror credentials under the microscope at a time of intense pressure from multinational forces in Afghanistan for Pakistan to curb Islamic militants operating in the tribal belt.
After clashes at the mosque on July 3 turned into an eight-day siege, the news that senior insurgents with links to Al Qaeda were inside made the standoff a potential turning point for the country, analysts said.
The mosques deputy leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi demanded that the army should let him and other militants go in return for the release of women and children inside the mosque compounded the situation. One senior government official told AFP during the decision-making process: You are damned if you do and damned if you dont.
If they had allowed him and other extremists safe passage, it would have raised the morale of the militants and damaged Musharrafs image in the West, said Jaffar Ahmed, head of Pakistan studies department Karachi University.
But others said the mosque conflict was partly the governments fault. Pakistans former policies of using Islamists to project itself in Kashmir and Afghanistan were to blame, said Tauseef Ahmed, a professor of Urdu University in Karachi. Its a tragic end for the years-old policy of the military establishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
'Musharraf had to tackle Lal Masjid for Pakistan'shis future'
There, fixed that.
One senior government official told AFP during the decision-making process: You are damned if you do and damned if you dont.
Nice to see Muslims finally getting a chance to savor the usual Islamic crapulence. It is difficult to recall any culture in history that has so consistently cried victim at even the tiniest perceived slight yet had the gall to just as quickly turn every kindness against their benefactors. What cold comfort it is to know that even Muslims can find Islam to be a no-win proposition.
State Information Minister Tariq Azim has said of the Monday nights talk between the government and the Lal Masjid Mullahs that despite the government was ready to accommodate most of the clerics demands, Ghazi Abdul Rashid kept on changing his stance leaving the government with the only option to assault.
He said that after the last negotiations failed and the government left addressing the press conference, Ghazi agreed to release few students as a goodwill gesture but the operation had started by then.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain asked Ghazi to release at least 30 to 40 students to show good intention so that he could request the president and the prime minister that negotiations be given more time. Ghazi first agreed to release only two students. Chaudhry Wajhat, the younger brother of Shujaat, asked Ghazi to release just 10 to 12 students, but Ghazi kept stubborn to his stance. Later, after the press conference when the negotiating team reached the Embassy road turn, Ghazi rang them and said he was agreed to release 10 to 12 students. But the operation had started and it was too late, Azim added.
He rejected the clerics claim that an agreement reached during the negotiations, and said there were only some proposals discussed and an amended draft of the proposals was made which was not accepted by the clerics.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
That was your first clue that he was lying through his teeth, you idjits.
The authorities on Tuesday barred journalists from visiting all major hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The decision was apparently aimed at preventing the journalists from assessing the exact number of causalities in the operation against the Lal Masjid militants. Most of the injured people were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
The Supreme Court (SC) said on Tuesday that it was unable to halt the operation against Lal Masjid, saying that the court had limited powers in matters when the armed forces were called out in aid of the civil administration.
We are not intervening in the ongoing operation, but want safe rescue of those who have been made hostages inside the mosque and madrassa, said Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi. The apex court had taken suo motu notice of the Lal Masjid issue.
Advocate Dr Tariq Asad submitted that had the court ordered the suspension of the operation on Monday, many deaths of innocent people and soldoers could have been averted. He again sought a stay order against the operation.
Justice Faqeer Muhammad Khokhar, the other member of the bench, said that once the armed forces came in aid of civil authorities under Article 245 of the Constitution, the courts were left with limited powers. Even a high court cannot entertain any challenge against a military operation under Article 199 of the Constitution, he said.
National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Director of Operations Lt-Col Imran told the bench that he was not aware of the exact number of casualties and injured or number of those still holed up inside the mosque. He said all the women and children who had come out of the mosque had been released. The men would be released after they are screened, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Sounds like Mushie's put together a reasonable Supreme Court.
"The men would be released after they are screened executed"
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Tuesday that the Pakistan government was left with no choice but to use force against the Lal Masjid administration, and it had been right in confronting the militants. She said that Pakistan was facing being taken over by militants if President Pervez Musharrafs dictatorship continued. She said she was frightened for the future of the people of Pakistan.
Unfortunately, a military dictatorship needs the external crutch of a militant threat to justify its existence to the international community, she told Sky News television. So dictatorship, in my view, fuels extremism rather than contains it, as proven by the emergence of the Lal Masjid complex in Islamabad, she added. She however said that it was a wise move not to accept a ceasefire, since that would have emboldened the militants.
She said that Gen Musharraf had failed to build a true democracy as he had promised. Instead, she said, his government had exploited the international communitys concern about terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
"She said that Pakistan was facing being taken over by militants no matter what happens toif President Pervez Musharrafs dictatorship continued."
BRUSSELS [Where else?]: The EU is gravely concerned about fighting between government forces and militants in Pakistan, fearing it may spill over into Afghanistan, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday. We are concerned because the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan is fundamental for peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, where many European countries have deployed troops, Solana said. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downs said his country is concerned with extremism in Pakistan but backs President Musharrafs efforts to overcome the menace.
This is a classic example of "pay me now, or pay me later - with interest." Had Perv exercised a bit of firmness a year or, even better, two ago, there wouldn't be piles of corpses today. But the Euros will set their teeth and refuse to pick up on that.
Set their teeth, close their eyes, block their ears and instruct their state-owned media to censor the news accordingly. Because being Euro means never having to pay for things yourself.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
"...because the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan is fundamental for peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, where many European countries have deployed troops,
My understanding of the frontier is that it is a conduit for cross-border attacks.
As for the EU concern, it sounds as if there is concern only for the European troops. There must be much less concern in Dafur where no Europeans are at risk.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/11/2007 2:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Too bad we don't have a well supplied and well trained, combat veteran Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) of local mounted tribal Muj to assist with this effort in Afghanistan. Oh, oh, geez we did, but we ... demobilized them to build a nice big green Afghani Army (suitable for parades) and re-subordinated the CJSOTF to US leg infantry and Embassy pogs. Anyone besides me smell failure?
#5
Can anyone tell me where the Kyber pass is in reference to modern borders. Is it between India/Pakistan, between Pakistan/Afghanistan or smack in the middle of Pakland?
I'd hardly call it a "triumph" when you first let a situation grow, then get out of hand because you're too timid to act. It wasn't a triumph when the beturbaned storm troopers were escorting the veiled harridans of Islam through the streets to kidnap, thump, and threaten their fellow citizens. It wasn't a triumph when the arrogant brats set off an international incident with the Chinese. And it certainly wasn't a triumph when the army had to be called in to dynamite the place and shoot it out with gunnies both domestic and imported in the heart of the nation's capital. As long as they're shooting people, they should shoot Shaukat, too.
Addressing the federal cabinet and later the PML Policy Planning Group, he expressed satisfaction over the successful operation and said any attempt to use madrassas to promote militancy and extremism was intolerable.
In that case, why did you tolerate it until you needed artillery?
The two cleric brothers always challenged the writ of the state due to which a grand operation against them was inevitable.
This article starring:
ABDUL RASHID GHAZI
Lal Masjid
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
Lal Masjid
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
"I'd hardly call it a "triumph" when you first let a situation grow, then get out of hand because you're too timid to act."
So our victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan was not a triumph? Hmmm? A triumph is a triumph, even if it comes later than it should have.
We'd all prefer to stop terrorism early, and the Clinton administration should have seen the signs regarding Binnie and the Taliban. Alas, they missed (as did most of the rest of us), and so we had to use artillery (and B-52s). It was still a triumph, but we all wish it had been done on 9/10.
Ditto the Red Mosque: Fred's right; should have been handled long before artillery was required. At the same time, Ghazi's now cavorting with Himmler, so it's a triumph.
Just not a smart one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/11/2007 11:20 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I agree with Steve.
One quibble though - It wasnt only Clinton - I dont seem to recall anyone in the US doing anything about the Taliban in that forgotten period between January 2001, and September 10th. 2001.
#4
But I think the main point holds - it was a very professional op (Im talking Islamabad now) in which they killed or captured plenty of baddies, took few casualties, managed to get the women and kiddies out alive, and managed to substantially keep the building in tact (smirk if you must, but thats a hearts and minds benefit)
I presume this was an "elite" commando unit that went in. For a change a 3rd world "elite" unit actually acted kind of elite. So from a purely MILITARY POV, this was a triumph.
Was it a strategic triumph for Perv? Well thats a bigger question. I think we should not forget the range of constraints Perv is acting under, including probably at least some continued sympathy from some quarters of the military for the ISI, the presence of Hamid Gul as a shadow President should an alliance of the MMA and the anti-Western factions of the military (much more likely than a pure MMA-Taliban win) ever take power, the relatively modest numbers and internal division of the secularist, educated elite in Pakistan, etc, etc.
You can say that shows how wacky Pakistan is. Very well. But that wacky country is the one that Perv rules, not Britain or New Zealand or even Tunisia or Indonesia. To paraphrase a certain ex-cabinet member, you rule the country you've got.
#5
LH,
Not that it concerns me a whole lot, but we don't know that they got more than a few women and children out of the mosque unharmed. It could be worse than Beslan and we wouldn't know, becuase one thing Pak authorities did do professionally was manage media access. So far.
SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- An investigating officer has recommended dismissing murder charges against a Marine accused in the slayings of three Iraqi men in a squad action that killed 24 civilians in Haditha, according to a report released Tuesday.
The government's theory that Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt had executed the three men was "incredible" and relied on contradictory statements by Iraqis, Lt. Col. Paul Ware said in the report, released by Sharratt's defense attorneys. "To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, and sets a dangerous precedent that, in my opinion, may encourage others to bear false witness against Marines as a tactic to erode public support of the Marine Corps and mission in Iraq," Ware wrote.
Defense attorneys James Culp and Gary Myers in a statement welcomed the report and said it "reflected the value of the calm of a courtroom and the adversarial process."
Sharratt's mother Theresa said she was overjoyed. "This is a huge result; that report is a declaration of Justin's innocence," she said. "This is very, very good news."
The recommendation is nonbinding. A final decision about whether Sharratt should stand trial will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general overseeing the case.
It is the second time an investigating officer has recommended charges not continue to trial in the Iraq killings. In the case of Marine lawyer Capt. Randy W. Stone, the investigating officer recommended his dereliction of duty charge be dealt with administratively.
Three enlisted men are charged with murder and four officers are accused of failing to investigate the killings. On November 19, 2005, a roadside bomb blast killed one Marine, and in the aftermath other members of his squad killed two dozen Iraqis, including women and children in their homes.
Prosecutors at Sharratt's preliminary hearing introduced several accounts from Iraqis that said Sharratt had separated four men from a group of women and children and ordered them into a house. There, in a bedroom, he shot three of them and when he ran out of bullets the squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich allegedly shot the fourth.
Sharratt's case is the first of the three men who are charged with murder to go to a hearing known as an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury.
#6
I downloading the scanned PDF and it is DEVASTATING. NCIS basically bought everything the Iraqi 'witnesses' said even when it was contradicted by the freakin' evidence when they brought these charges. Fuckin tranzi bastards!
BTW, the only testimony that fit the evidence was that of the accused. These charges should have never been brought. I will try and figure out where I downloaded it and post it here.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over security duties in the tumultuous southern city of Basra when British forces hand them over at the beginning of September.
...
Al-Maliki told a visiting delegation from the defense committee of Britain's House of Commons Tuesday that Iraqi forces "have already begun to take principle responsibility for the security mission, with the British forces playing the role of support when needed," according to a statement from the prime minister's office. He reassured them of the "readiness of the Iraqi forces to receive security duties in Basra at the beginning of September."
Posted by: ed ||
07/11/2007 06:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
Yeah, they're ready to hand mookie the keys to the province, the sh*tbirds...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/11/2007 7:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What are you going to do, Mr. PM? Going to send in 25,000 Kurds? Otherwise, you're going to have your hands full.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/11/2007 22:18 Comments ||
Top||
Hamas is claiming it has vastly improved Gaza's only prison, having seized control of the institution during its violent rout of Fatah last month. The group boasts the place is cleaner, the food is better and that Islam will reform the offenders. "Hamas has come to build the homeland with the mercy and justice of Islam," prison director Ali Hmaid told CTV News.
Graffiti on the wall promises that "Islam is the solution," along with "No injustice from now on." The prison's barber no longer shaves beards, in a gesture of Islamic devotion. And in another twist, cell doors are now open and prisoners can play sports. Rules governing family visits have been loosened and the sewing factory has been reopened. One prisoner said he should not have been jailed for having just one marijuana cigarette. But he had no complaints about his treatment, even with his guards out of earshot.
Most of the cells emptied out at the height of fighting between Hamas and Fatah, a conflict that left Hamas in charge of Gaza and Fatah holding on to the West Bank. More than 500 prisoners escaped, and files were burned. People saw Fatah guards changing out of their uniforms into civilian clothes to blend into the exodus. They too wanted to escape.
Promising an end to the injustice that existed under Fatah, Hamas urged the escapees to return. Sixty did. One accused collaborator with Israel came back because he said he would be safer in prison. He said Hamas promised to review his case.
Hamas claims to have no political prisoners, although Fatah and some human rights groups claim they are being held elsewhere in the confines of the Gaza Strip. There are also allegations of torture.
Hamas opened the prison to the media, in part because it wants to show it can be an effective governing force. Right now, the regime finds itself ostracized, mainly because of its hardline stance against Israel.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/11/2007 10:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
But it sounds like they just might have a littttle more work to do...
PCHR calls upon the Attorney-General to open an immediate investigation into the death of Fadel Dahmash in Gaza Central Prison on Tuesday evening, 10 July 2007, and to instruct the conduct of forensic checking to find out the reasons of his death.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 19:00 on Tuesday, 10 July 2007, the body of Fadel Mohammed Saleem Dahmash, 31, from Deir al-Balah, was brought into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The body was transferred to the hospital from Gaza Central Prison. According to a letter from the manager of the prison to the hospital, Dahmash suffered from a heart failure and had difficulties in breathing. The body is still at the hospital, and has not been checked by forensic medicine specialists so far due to the lack of instructions from the Attorney-General.
The al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad) captured Dahmash for suspicions of his collaboration with Israeli occupation authorities. The web page of the al-Quds Brigades showed on Thursday, 5 July 2007, a video clip of a person, whom it described as a collaborator with Israeli security services, and named as F.D. The web page reported that the al-Quds Brigades were able to capture him red-handed on Wednesday, 4 July 2006, in the east of the Gaza Strip. The video clip shows a person getting out of an Israeli military jeep, taking off his military uniform and putting on civilian clothes at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and then jumping over the border to enter the Gaza Strip.
PCHR then called upon the al-Quds Brigades to ensure the safety and life of the suspect, and to hand him to concerned bodies at the Palestinian National Authority. PCHR learnt that the al-Quds Brigades handed Dahmash to the Executive Force on Wednesday evening, 4 July 2007. He had been detained in Gaza Central Prison.
replace "islam" with any other religion and you'll be weirded out. Sure, some fundamentalist Christians might say something like that, but even they are willing to work within the system. yet, we have come to expect this crap from these guys and it doesn't seem particularly out of the ordinary. How frikkin superior they are. How self important they are.
Our expectations for muslims are so much lower than those we have for any other group.
A Russian billionaire has launched a new political party in Israel with the aim of toppling Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government.
Arcadi Gaydamak said his new party, Social Justice, could win as many as 20 Knesset seats in the next election. Mr Gaydamak said he would not stand for the Knesset, but would first run for the office of mayor of Jerusalem.
Some 1,400 activists have already begun working for the new party, which will hold its first meeting on Thursday.
The party's platform states that it will work to preserve democratic values, promote equality, and protect human dignity and freedom.
Wonder if he knows George Soros?
As Social Justice's leader and chairman, Mr Gaydamak will retain complete control of all party-related matters and will personally decide its candidates for any government or parliamentary posts.
Thank you, Comrade Chairman.
Correspondents say Social Justice appears to be a right-wing party that will focus on immigrant issues.
Speaking at the party's official launch, Mr Gaydamak said his primary aim was to oust Prime Minister Olmert, the leader of the rival Kadima party. "There is an urgent need to change the current government that justifies the creation of a party," he said.
Mr Gaydamak has criticised Mr Olmert and his government for its weak leadership, especially during the war in Lebanon last year, and has angered the prime minister with several highly publicised events. He gave aid to communities in northern Israel which suffered damage during the war and also offered to pay for holidays for the residents of the southern town of Sderot, which frequently comes under rocket fire from Palestinian militants in Gaza.
"I am the most popular public figure in Israel," Mr Gaydamak said. "I want to fulfil the wish of the majority of the Israeli population by fundamentally changing things in Israel.
"I am not aiming to become prime minister, but I wish to play a central role in Israel's political life."
A spokesman said a recent survey commissioned by Mr Gaydamak had showed his party could win between 17 and 23 Knesset seats in the next general election.
The 54-year-old is a hugely successful businessman in Israel and has made a series of high-profile investments. He already owns Beitar Jerusalem, one of the country's top football teams, and is also a sponsor of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team.
Mr Gaydamak's commercial dealings have, however, come under scrutiny both in Israel and abroad. He has been questioned by Israeli police investigating allegations of financial irregularities and is the subject of two French arrest warrants in connection with an arms-dealing case in Angola. The warrants have forced him to travel on an Angolan diplomatic passport.
"Lies! All lies! Now get out of my way, I'm immune!"
His office says he has "not broken any laws in France or elsewhere".
Mr Gaydamak's son, Alexandre, jointly owns the British Premiership football club, Portsmouth with Milan Mandaric, a Serbian-American businessman. The more recent arrivals from Russia probably learned a lot from the Russians and are far less wishy-washy when it comes to dealing with their enemies.
Hamas said it would boycott a Palestinian Parliament session called by President Mahmoud Abbas for today, a tactical move that could consolidate the leaders power over the sidelined chamber. We will boycott this session that we consider illegal, the chief of Hamas parliamentary bloc, Salah Al-Bardawil, said in Gaza.
Senior Fatah MP Azzam Al-Ahmed said last week that if Parliament does not meet, Abbas would invoke Article 43 of the basic law.
That provision gives the president the right in exceptional cases ... and while the Legislative Council is not in session, to issue decisions and decrees that have the power of law. Abbas could therefore prolong the mandate of his emergency government, sworn in for one month on June 17, after he dismissed the previous Hamas-run Cabinet.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Hamas: We will boycott this Illegal(R) session!
Abbas: Who said you were invited?
The drama continues . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
07/11/2007 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday called for an international force in the Gaza Strip, which is now controlled by the rival Hamas movement. We have insisted on the necessity of deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid and to allow citizens to enter and leave freely, Abbas said at a joint news conference in Ramallah after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
The call threatened to further widen the yawning Palestinian chasm, as Hamas has warned that it would not accept any foreign troops in Gaza and would treat them as an occupying power. Abbas said on Monday the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is protecting Al Qaeda and allowing it to gain a foothold in Gaza. Through Hamas, Al Qaeda is entering the Gaza Strip, Abbas told Italian state television channel RAI in an interview in the West Bank city of Ramallah ahead of a meeting on Tuesday with visiting Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Boy howdy, all those gazillions of dollars just couldn't build you an effective security apparatus, eh, Abbas? Tell you what, Abu Mudhen, I've got your security apparatus right here.
Chief U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz has asked Syrian authorities for information on the identity of the occupants of the stolen car used in the Nov. 2006 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, according to well-informed sources. They said Brammertz traveled to Syria last week to ask security and judicial officials for detailed information on how the Honda CRV entered Syrian territories.
Yesterday Syria reportedly handed over the stolen car to Lebanon, after potentially possessing it for over 7 months.
Last week, reliable sources informed of the investigation said that the vehicle used in the Gemayel assassination was stolen from the mountain resort of Brummana in October 2006 and taken to an area in the northern sector of the eastern Bekaa valley where car bandits operate.
Shortly after that, a member of Ahmed Jibril's Syrian-backed PFLP-GC approached the gang and bartered the car for a quantity of weapons, the sources added. The car was used in the assassination of Gemayel in suburban Jdaideh, almost a month after it was stolen from Brummana, the sources added. The vehicle was later driven to Syria, which turned it back to Lebanon in Dec. 2006 in line with a warrant issued by the Interpol, they explained.
The well-informed sources told Naharnet on Tuesday that U.N. investigators in the Gemayel probe were focusing on two assumptions. The first hypothesis is that the Honda CRV entered Syrian territories through "legitimate" border checkpoints, meaning that Damascus authorities likely had information on the vehicle's occupants.
The second theory is that the stolen car entered Syria through "illegitimate" passages, which implies that the subject of border crossings -- overseen by Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian sides -- has to be brought up.
So it entered either legally or illegally. Brilliant, inspector, simply brilliant.
This also suggests that illegal smuggling along the border is being carried out in areas familiar only to its local residents, since traveling by strangers in confined neighborhoods could expose individuals.
The U.N. commission is investigating the vehicle's course to pin down the culprits in Gemayel's assassination. It is also studying the possibility that the white Mitsubishi van used in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 murder had crossed into Lebanon from Syria.
Mohammed Zuheir Saddiq, a key witness in the Hariri killing, had told investigators that he saw the van being prepared for the bombing in one of Syria's Palestinian refugee camps.
The sources said that Brammertz has asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon to agree to postpone the submission of his report on Hariri's killing and related crimes from mid-June to mid-July after investigators had laid their hands on important information.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
The UN atomic watchdogs No 2 official goes to Iran on Wednesday to test Tehrans latest promise to answer questions about its nuclear agenda under the threat of stiffer sanctions. Irans gesture of an action plan to address suspicions its nuclear programme has military goals, combined with a slowdown in uranium enrichment, have raised the hope of defusing a standoff with big powers, according to the IAEAs director. But the United States and EU allies wonder whether Irans offer of transparency is more than a time-buying gambit designed to avert further sanctions against what Western powers suspect is a bomb making programme in disguise.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/11/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Prediction. The IAEA passes them with flying colors. ElBaradei evens buys the Vaseline...
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.
Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri said on Tuesday the group was preparing a precise response to Britains decision to knight author Salman Rushdie. I say to Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair that your message has reached us and we are in the process of preparing for you a precise response, Zawahiri said in an audio recording posted on an Internet website often used by Islamic militants.
Mohamed Aboulbaki, a French Muslim, unfurled the design sheets for a gleaming new mosque where Muslims from ethnically mixed eastern Paris and its suburbs could congregate, away from the cramped prayer houses they now frequent. The Catholics, Protestants and Jews all have a place to pray in dignity. Why not us? asked Aboulbaki, showing the modern minaret that would change the skyline in Montreuil, a suburban town east of Paris. Islam is the second largest religious group in France. Surely we can have a decent place, he said.
Leaders of seven political parties said on Tuesday that the government had lost its writ in all tribal agencies and frontier regions where extremist elements were organising themselves. 
Lal Masjid deputy cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, in his last interview with a TV channel on Tuesday morning, said his death was certain and criticised political maulanas for their role in the Lal Masjid saga. Speaking through his cell phone from the besieged compound, Ghazi said the students holed up inside had only 14 Kalashnikovs and rejected the governments claim that there were rocket launchers and piles of ammunition hidden in the compound.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman chaired a meeting of the heads of religious parties in London on Tuesday to review the security forces operation at Lal Masjid. The meeting decided that other madrassas in Pakistan were no longer 
Al Qaeda-linked militants in control of Lal Masjid posed a threat to the very fabric of Pakistan and President Pervez Musharraf could not allow such a challenge to his authority.
State Information Minister Tariq Azim has said of the Monday nights talk between the government and the Lal Masjid Mullahs that despite the government was ready to accommodate most of the clerics demands, Ghazi Abdul Rashid kept on changing his stance leaving the government with the only option to assault.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Tuesday that the Pakistan government was left with no choice but to use force against the Lal Masjid administration, and it had been right in confronting the militants. She said that Pakistan was facing being taken over by militants if President Pervez Musharrafs dictatorship continued. She said she was frightened for the future of the people of Pakistan.
Chief U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz has asked Syrian authorities for information on the identity of the occupants of the stolen car used in the Nov. 2006 assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, according to well-informed sources. They said Brammertz traveled to Syria last week to ask security and judicial officials for detailed information on how the Honda CRV entered Syrian territories.
The UN atomic watchdogs No 2 official goes to Iran on Wednesday to test Tehrans latest promise to answer questions about its nuclear agenda under the threat of stiffer sanctions. Irans gesture of an action plan to address suspicions its nuclear programme has military goals, combined with a slowdown in uranium enrichment, have raised the hope of defusing a standoff with big powers, according to the IAEAs director. But the United States and EU allies wonder whether Irans offer of transparency is more than a time-buying gambit designed to avert further sanctions against what Western powers suspect is a bomb making programme in disguise.
