The US military is expected to announce disciplinary action on Monday in response to two incidents that provoked outrage in Afghanistan early this year, one over a video depicting Marines urinating on corpses and another involving burning copies of the Koran, US officials said.
British soldiers in Afghanistan are being forced to act as bait in an attempt to draw the Taliban into opening fire, a serving platoon commander has alleged.
Soldiers are risking their lives to get round strict rules of engagement that allow them to shoot only if they are being attacked or are in "imminent danger".
The Taliban are increasingly exploiting the rules by hiding weapons in undergrowth near patrol routes meaning British forces cannot act against them until they actually pick up their guns.
The claims are made by Lieutenant Jimmy Clark , a platoon commander who recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan.
Shocking scenes to be broadcast in a documentary, Our War, on BBC Three this evening reveal how it was only by luck that soldiers survived a bomb while on a patrol nicknamed "Op Bait" late last year.
Lt Clark from 2 Mercian, who was leading the patrol, describes his frustration at the rules of engagement, which led to soldiers acting as bait to tempt the Taliban into attacking them. "It's difficult really to 'fight' an enemy we're not allowed to fight. Under our rules of engagement we can only really return fire and sometimes it's very frustrating." Footage of Op Bait, shot from headcams on soldiers' helmets, released by the Ministry of Defence, shows how the plan almost backfired.
Lt Clark sums up the approach: "You have a foot patrol which has air support you get contacted, you're being fired at and the helicopter can come in and kill that guy." For the avoidance of doubt, he adds: "Our job was to get shot at."
NAIROBI: Six candidates in Somalia are running for the powerful post of Parliament speaker, officials said yesterday, as slow progress is made towards selecting a new administration for the war-torn nation.
'Powerful'?
The United Nations-backed process, which has already selected the majority of a new Parliament and will culminate in a vote for president, is the latest bid to end two decades of instability in the Horn of Africa nation.
The election committee received six candidacies for speaker, 11 for first deputy, and four for second deputy speaker, the UN political office for Somalia (UNPOS) said yesterday.
However, despite progress, the African Union repeated warnings yesterday that the process continues to be jeopardized by individuals determined to maintain Somalia in a state of chaos, it said in a statement. Bitter arguments have begun between challengers for the top posts, divided along Somalia's notoriously fractious clan lines.
All six candidates for speaker to be selected by Parliament in a secret ballot are former ministers in previous administrations. Elections are expected next week, although they have already been delayed several times. Once the speaker is selected, Parliament will then vote for a new president, with over a dozen candidates expected to be in the running for the top post.
At least 210 of the 275-member Parliament have been selected by a group of 135 traditional elders, the majority sworn into office on Monday on the tarmac of the capital's airport, protected by African Union troops.
The new administration replaces a transitional government, which was in place for eight years marred by political infighting and rampant corruption.
Somalia has not had a stable central government since the dawn of time the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohammad Siad Barre, which sparked rounds of bloody civil war and decades of chaos.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So is this position equivalent to Auntie or Iron Bar?
The destruction recently of several archaeologically significant Sufi shrines in northwestern Libya, with the apparent acquiescence of members of the security forces, has prompted a political crisis and underscored the threat radical Islamists pose to democracy there and elsewhere in the Arab world.
Puritanical Muslims who call themselves Salafists, or companions of the Prophet Mohammed, badly damaged major religious sites in the north western town of Zlitan and in the capital, Tripoli. Another Sufi tomb was damaged late on Saturday in the city of Misurata. The sites are revered by Sufis, a branch of Islam known for its moderation but considered heretical by Salafists, who are closely associated with the Wahabbi form of Islam propagated by Saudi Arabia
[An Nahar] Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali resigned on Sunday after coming under fire for the performance of security forces during a surge of violence that has rocked Libya, an official from his office told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"He submitted his resignation to protest against congressmen criticizing the government and to defend the revolutionaries," the official said, referring to former rebels who now form part of Libya's security services.
Libyan security services have come in for censure following double car boomings that killed two people on the day Mohammedans celebrated the feast of Eid al-Fitr a week ago in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and attacks on several Sufi shrines in the past few days.
The criticism has been led by the newly-elected General National Congress, which on Sunday accused the interior ministry's High Security Committee of being lax or even implicated in the destruction of the Sufi shrines.
Islamist hardliners on Saturday bulldozed part of the mausoleum of al-Shaab al-Dahman, close to the center of the Libyan capital.
The demolition came a day after hardliners blew up the mausoleum of Sheikh Abdessalem al-Asmar in Zliten, 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of the capital.
According to witnesses another mausoleum, that of Sheikh Ahmed al-Zarruq, had been destroyed in the port of Misrata, 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli.
Hardline Sunni Islamists are implacably opposed to the veneration of tombs of revered Mohammedan figures, saying that such devotion should be reserved for God alone.
The Sufi sect, which practices a mystical form of Islam and has played a historic role in the affairs of Libya, has increasingly found itself in conflict with Qatari- and Saudi-trained Salafist preachers who consider it heretical.
The High Security Committee comprises ex-rebels who fought Muammar Qadaffy's ... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope... forces last year in a conflict that ended in the dictator's death.
The rebels had taken over security in the country after the fall of Qadaffy's regime before they were integrated into the ministry of interior's forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
CAIRO - Egypt will have a new constitution drafted by the end of September and ready to be submitted to a nationwide referendum, the country's prime minister said on Saturday. Hisham Kandil did not specify a date for the referendum, though, according to Egypt's MENA state news agency.
The drafting of a new constitution has been a highly divisive issue in Egypt since last year's uprising that ousted longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. The new charter is expected to define limits on the president's powers and the role of Shariah. Liberals walked out twice from the panel tasked with writing the constitution in the past, complaining that the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political group, was trying to monopolise its drafting.
The panel was appointed by members of the Brotherhood-led parliament.
After the legislature was dissolved, the country's military generals gave themselves the right to oversee the drafting process. However, in a bold political move, President Mohammed Mursi, who is a member of the Brotherhood, forced the top generals into early retirement this month and seized back control of the constitution writing process. Mursi has said that if the 100-member panel currently drafting the document does not finish its work for whatever reason, he will appoint a new one within 15 days and give it three weeks to finish its work. The draft will then be put to a vote in a national referendum within 30 days.
Who wants to bet that the new constitution will enshrine the Muslim Brotherhood as keeper of the faith in Egypt, and ensure that Mursi is 're-elected' for the next thirty years?
A safer bet is that the words on the paper won't matter a whit once the ink is dry.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
CAIRO: In the first direct contact with his Israeli counterpart since taking office, Egypt's new defense minister defended his country's increased military presence in the Sinai Peninsula, saying it is needed to fight terrorism and assuring him it is only temporary, Egyptian officials said Saturday.
The officials -- one from Egyptian intelligence and another from the military -- said Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called Ehud Barak on Thursday in their first conversation since el-Sissi became defense minister earlier this month. The phone call followed grumbling from Israeli officials about not being consulted before Egypt's leaders deployed tanks to the Sinai Peninsula.
The Israeli defense ministry refused comment. An Israeli defense official said no conversation took place between el-Sissi and Barak. But as the new defense minister, el-Sissi at some point would have to speak with senior Israeli officials, particularly after they publicly expressed their concerns about Egypt's deployment of heavy weaponry to Sinai.
Under the 1979 peace accord between the two countries, Egypt is allowed to have only lightly armed policemen in the zone along the border with Israel. The treaty stipulates that significant military moves by Egypt must be coordinated with Israel.
Egypt used attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers in coordination with Israel to go after militants suspected of being behind the Aug. 5 killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. Later, however, Egypt deployed US-made M60 tanks to Sinai without consulting with Israel, which drew objections from the Israel despite the fact that it has long encouraged Cairo to crack down on militants in Sinai.
Israel does not view the Egyptian military buildup there as a strategic threat.
That's because it's Egyptians driving and maintaining the things.
The problem, Israeli officials said, is with Egypt setting a precedent by moving troops to Sinai without coordinating the move with Israel first. Israeli officials stressed that significant military moves by Egypt must be run by Israel first, giving it a veto of sorts over Egyptian security strategy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11124 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
So Egypt allows the terrorists into the Sinai and then claims it needs tanks in the Sinai to get rid of the terrorists. Why am I thinking they won't get rid of the terrorists?
#3
Egypt has some awesome tanks but the article I read by an American serviceman working with them a dozen years back left me less than impressed with their maintanance and communications. Typical third world covet information to help your career instead of training those below you to handle the job they need to do. Israel would clean their clocks.
Egypt's attorney general has referred an outspoken anti-Islamist former politician and for investigation by police prosecutors over claims he called for the downfall of the regime, according to a statement Sunday.
The charge added to concerns that the government is backtracking on the democratic aims of the uprising that toppled the autocratic regime last year.
Conservative news site reveals broadcaster's efforts to suppress a 2004 study on its coverage of Israeli-Paleostinian conflict
But really, they are rigorously fair and balanced, just like the New York Times.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has spent almost £333,000 in legal costs associated with its efforts to conceal the Balen Report, a 2004 internal inquiry into the BBC's coverage of the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict whose contents were never released to the public.
The BBC was recently forced to reveal the legal fees as a result of a Freedom of Information request from conservative news site The Commentator, which reported on Sunday that the total amount was £332,780.47, more than $500,000.
The real figure is likely higher, because in-house hours and Value-Added Tax were not calculated into the released figures, the website said.
The Balen Report, written by veteran journalist Malcolm Balen, was originally commissioned in response to allegations that the BBC had an anti-Israel bias in its reporting. It was never released, leading to a series of legal battles to divulge its contents.
The revelation comes at a time when the publicly funded BBC is facing deep cuts and looking to downsize. BBC head Mark Thompson recently said the corporation was "getting very, very close to the edge."
The BBC's response to The Commentator's inquiry, dated August 10, 2012, reiterated the organization's stance that the release of the Balen Report was not obligatory under the Freedom of Information Act. The broadcaster cited a 2010 UK Supreme Court judgment to that effect.
#3
I remember once I was in Israel and we got Al Jazeera in english, CNN international and BBC international.
The least biased was Al Jazeera in english (of course Al J in arabic is a different story), the most biased was the BBC (which also came with the trademark sneer)
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/27/2012 10:42 Comments ||
Top||
Russias North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya is ready to ask federal authorities to mark off an administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, saying its lands are being seized, according to the Chechen leaderships website. The issue was discussed at Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrovs meeting with officials of the republic.
A statement posted on the Chechen leader and governments website stated, Participants of the meeting informed that officials in Ingushetia undertake measures not only to legally settle at territories which the Chechen authorities considered the borderland between the two republics, but also to seize new lands, encroaching on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
"I will raise the issue of delimitating the administrative border between the republics at the federal level. If two republics, two federal entities are now separate, they should have a clear border between them. This is vital for economic activities, taxation, law-enforcement and nature conservation efforts."
Kadyrov continued, Whole villages and districts have been seized [by those] taking advantage of the Chechen peoples problems. We showed restraint. But the process to seize more and more Chechen territories is underway... We will not allow any jokes.
These actions are provocative by nature. The boundary line, which we have never drawn and in which we took no interest, is being pushed inside the Chechen Republic.
The boundary line, which we have never drawn and in which we took no interest, is being pushed inside the Chechen Republic. Which, by definition, cannot be established because its boundaries have never been drawn and the Chechens have no interest in it.
And here I thought Mooselimbs had no sense of humor.
[An Nahar] North Korea's leader has warned of an "all-out" war against the South while denouncing its ongoing joint military drill with the United States, state media said Sunday.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries on Monday began a two-week exercise aimed at testing defenses against the communist North, insisting it was defensive in nature but Pyongyang called it a drill for a preemptive nuclear attack.
More than 30,000 U.S. troops, including most of those based in the South plus 3,000 from overseas, are taking part in the annual joint drill known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian.
North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the hereditary potentate of North Korea... called the drill a grave threat and said his army was ready to deal "deadly blows" if their territory was violated during the exercise.
"If the enemies fire even a single shell on our inviolable territory... the whole army should turn out as one and lead the battle to an all-out counter-offensive," said the leader, according to KCNA news agency.
The courageous officers... are now waiting for a final order for charge for a life-and-death battle against the enemies," Kim was quoted as saying in a speech to army officials Saturday. "There is a limit to our patience."
On the eve of the ongoing drill, the young leader visited a frontliner artillery unit that carried out a deadly 2010 bombardment of a South Korean island near the disputed western sea border.
Kim praised its personnel as heroes and told them never to tolerate enemy aggression.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
See also VARIOUS > DPRK LEADER SIGNS ORDER OF BATTLE, in case of wily dastardly US-ROK attack agz the North's sacred soil.
In his own particular way, JONG-UN + DPRK = [anti-Israeli] IRGC + IRAN = "welcomes" a ROK or US-ROK unilateral attack in order to justify initiating the FINAL? Great Patriotic War for Korean/Inter-Korean Unification???
Jong-un says any such ROK or US-ROK milstrike does NOT have to be a powerful or destructive one to initiate the Pratiotic War.
and
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > AMERICAN SCHOLAR: CHINA NEEDS TO WAGE A GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR OER DISPUTED ISLANDS IN ORDER TO RAISE NATIONAL MORALE, + UNIFY THE GOVT AND PEOPLE.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [RT.com Video] MUSLIM REPRESENTATIVE/OOFICIAL SAYS THERE WILL BLOOD [spilled] IN THE STREETS [Moscow only?] IFF MUSLIMS DON'T GET SHARIA LAW + COURTS | ... ... WARNS OF BLOOD IN MOSCOW IFF SHARIA LAW, COURTS NOT ESTABLISHED.
#2
Lest we fergit, TOPIX/WORLD NEWS [old]> IS NORTH KOREA BECOMING CHINA'S NEW PROVINCE?
The Chinese takeover threat to the DPRK, be it econ-led state collapse or anti-US-Allied warfare, can be ascribed as subtle or hidden, but is also very very real.
[Jerusalem Post] Merah made some 2,000 phone calls in 2010-2011, to countries in North Africa and the Middle East, new information shows.
So the man had a lot of friends...
Five months after an Islamist murdered seven people in southwest La Belle France, French media revealed over the weekend that the terrorist likely did not act alone but was probably had an Islamist/Middle East connection.
Last March, Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old French-Algerian, killed three soldiers and four Jews (a rabbi, his two children and another girl) in three attacks in Toulouse ...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France... He also maimed five people.
He was killed after a siege of his apartment by the French National Police's RAID elite anti-terrorist unit, after an investigation by the DCRI, the country's counter-espionage and counter-terrorism intelligence agency.
According to the new information, Merah made some 2,000 phone calls during a period of several months in 2010-2011, to countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
According to a secret DCRI document dating from that period, Merah normally had no cellphone, and when he had one, it was monitored by the security services. So he used, for his "professional" purposes, cellphones belonging to relatives, including his mother. All the calls were to such countries as Algeria, Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq.
A few weeks ago, French media reported that Merah had been under surveillance and identified as "of interest" by the French security services since at least 2009. He was a "privileged target" of the DCRI for his relationships with radical Islamists in Toulouse, which included his brother Abdelkader.
The DCRI documents classified as "secret-defense" were declassified and made public on August 3 by the Interior Ministry and then forwarded to the Justice Ministry. The daily newspaper Le Gay Pareeien published the essential information drawn from their 23 pages.
The report said: "The young jihadi could come back [from his frequent and long trips to the Middle East and Afghanistan where he was trained by al-Qaeda] and be instructed to commit armed attacks."
One document qualified Merah as "an individual with a heavy past of delinquency going toward radicalization" and as "a direct menace."
"Damming and disturbing" were the newspaper's words to describe the declassified documents, enough to put into question "the lone wolf theory" put forward at the time of the attacks by Bernard Squarcini, then boss of the DCRI.
"Why then wasn't he placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... before committing his series of crimes," one of the victims' lawyers asked La Belle France 2 television.
#1
Weighing the value of sustained intelligence collection and reporting against the potential of the source actually undertaking an attack is very risky business. MAJ Nidal Hasan is but one example.
Pär Norling, group leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in Bollnäs, told national broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), "Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion."
The neo-nazi Swedish Resistance Movement marched in the central Swedish town of Bollnäs earlier this summer, after a controversial rape case had rocked the community. On Saturday they marched again and anti-racist protests were held nearby.
Swedish Democratic Norling said he does not approve of Nazism, but mainly considers it a by-product of immigration. He also agrees with the neo-nazis that Islam has no place in Sweden.
He said, "That can exist elsewhere but in Sweden it doesn't fit in."
When asked what should be done with those who still want to practice the religion, despite it being banned, Norling responded, "Then the solution is deportation."
This is the second time in days that Swedish Democratic politicians have benn in similar controversies. On Friday, the Swedish Democrat Sven-Erik Karlsson remarked on the harassment Somalian families have been suffering from teens in the southern Swedish town Forserum, saying that all Swedish municipalities should have gangs to harass refugees.
After the uproar that followed, Karlsson resigned his position on Saturday.
* WORLD NEWS > [USA] NATION NEEDS TO RE-DISCOVER GOD, CAL THOMAS SAYS.
ARTIC > THOMAS = argued the US Govt. has devol into nothing more than a "GIANT ATM" dispensing $$$ Monies wid little or no personal responsibility or accountabilty.
IIUC, Cal is saying that the US Govt. itself = DemoLeft-beloved "Big Govt." is its own greatest or ultimate example of how excessively throwing $$$ at societal problem(s) DOESN'T SOLVE IT. SOCIETY'S ILLS CANNOT BE SOLVED E-V-A-R! WHEN THEIR IS NO MORAL CENTRE TO LEAD OR GUIDE BY, ONLY PERVASIVE OR TOTALITARIAN SECULAR NEUTRALISM = HYPER-PCORRECTNESS-DENIABILITY???
and
* WORLD NEWS > [US] MILITARY ANARCHISTS WERE BUSTED TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE GOVT., ASSASSINATE OBAMA | [AP] PROSECUTORS: GA MURDER CASE UNCOVERS TERROR PLOT.
F.E.A.R Group's plot allegedly also included taking over Fort Stewart, GA; bombing targets in Savannah + Washington DC.
The group was repor founded by Isaac Aguigui - I wonder iff he's Hispanic or even Guamanian? Mestizo? Aguigui's pregnant wife repor died under circumstances in which Aguigui himself is a possible suspect.
QUETTA: Levies arrested at least 18 Afghan nationals under Foreigners Act at Chaman border. Levies said on Sunday that the detained Afghans had entered the country illegally and were travelling without documents. Later, they were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further interrogation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
Top|| File under:
ISLAMABAD - Civic life in major cities of Balochistan came to a complete halt on Sunday, the sixth death anniversary of former governor Nawab Akbar Bugti, amid calls for arrest of his killers.
Bugti was killed in a military action in the mountains of Dera Bugti district on August 26, 2006. A call for strike was given by Baloch nationalist parties who demanded that Bugtis alleged killers including former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf and his premier Shaukat Aziz be arrested without further delay. Both Musharraf and Aziz live abroad.
Shops, business centres and virtually all public transport were closed in the provincial capital Quetta and several other cities in the province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
The Gaza Strip will not be "a liveable place" by 2020 unless action is taken to improve basic services in the territory, according to a UN report.
Basic infrastructure in water, health, education and sanitation "is struggling to keep pace with a growing population", according to the report.
It estimates Gaza's population will rise from 1.6m to 2.1m by 2020.
Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza after the Islamist movement Hamas came to power in the territory in 2007.
Israel says the blockade, policed with Egyptian co-operation, is necessary to prevent weapons reaching Hamas.
The UN report estimates Gaza will need double the number of schools and 800 more hospital beds by 2020, and says the territory is already suffering from a housing shortage.
The report also says the coastal aquifer, the territory's only natural source of fresh water, may become unusable by 2016.
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/27/2012 19:21 Comments ||
Top||
#6
You left out the minus sign, Grunter.
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/27/2012 19:27 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The Paleos still prioritize the destruction of Israel aka the only ones most likely to help the Paleos survive, develop, + prosper as a de facto sovereign Nation-State or other.
Again, iff Maha-Rushian histoire' is any measure, the Paleos' larger Muslim neighbors 'taint gonna help them. THAT LEAVES ISRAEL, + BY EXTENS THE US-WEST, TO DO SO.
[Ma'an] Dozens of foreign peace activists were denied entry into the West Bank by Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge crossing on Sunday evening, organizers of the third 'Welcome to Paleostine' initiative said.
"The Welcome to Paleostine Campaign decries the Israeli denial of entry via the Allenby Bridge to over 100 internationals who wanted to visit us in the occupied Paleostinian Territories," organizers said in a statement.
The group of around 100 activists had finished passport checks at the Jordanian side of the Allenby crossing but were denied entry at the first Israeli checkpoint and told to return to where they had come from, a front man for WTP told Ma'an.
No explanation was provided by Israeli crossing authorities as to why the group was denied entry, but the delegation will try to enter the West Bank again on Monday, the front man added.
"The denial of entry today at the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan shows that the previous policies of siege and isolation continue," organizers said.
"We thus will continue to initiate more Welcome to Paleostine campaigns. We insist on the freedom of entry. As Israel persists in these unjust policies, it is only fair to ask all countries to reciprocate by denying Israelis entry to these countries."
Since Friday, around 100 activists have arrived in Jordan, with the intention of crossing the Israeli-controlled border with the West Bank on Sunday.
The group included French, British, German and American supporters, campaigners told Ma'an.
Political figures were due to greet the delegation in Bethlehem and the group was then scheduled to spend five days visiting Jerusalem, refugee camps, the Negev and villages in Hebron that are struggling against Israel's separation wall.
Welcome to Paleostine had previously organized two "flytillas," when foreigners stated their intention to visit Paleostine on entry to Israeli airport Ben Gurion, drawing Israel to deny entry to many of the passengers and distribute blacklists to airlines.
Israeli authorities denied entrance to some 100 pro-Palestinian activists, mostly from Europe, seeking entry into Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge on Sunday.
According the activists, IDF soldiers did not let them off the bus, and stamped their passports with the words "Entry Denied."
[An Nahar] Jordan on Sunday barred pro-Paleostinian U.S. and European activists from trying to cross into the West Bank for delivering school supplies to students.
"Two buses carrying 100 activists were not allowed to leave the Jordanian side" of Allenby Bridge Crossing, also known as King Hussein Bridge between the West Bank and Jordan, Walid Atallah, a front man for the "Welcome to Paleostine" campaign in Jordan, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The Jordanian authorities stamped their passports and charged them fees and everything was okay. When the buses left, the last checkpoint on the Jordanian side was closed. No reason was given."
Atallah said the "activists left the buses and started to demonstrate near the checkpoint. One of them fainted and was taken to hospital."
"This was deliberate. Jordan did not want Israel to be held responsible for denying the activists entry," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
Almost a decade after their daughter was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she tried to block its path in a Gaza Strip conflict zone, Rachel Corrie's parents are preparing for a judge's ruling in their high-profile civil lawsuit against the military.
They hope Tuesday's court decision will conclude a case that's turned their daughter into a rallying cry for pro-Palestinian activists, taken years of their life and drained their savings.
"We are here with a great deal of anticipation for Tuesday," said Corrie's mother, Cindy, 64, a homemaker and musician from Olympia, Washington. "We are hoping for some accountability here for what happened to Rachel."
Corrie, a pro-Palestinian activist, was 23 when she was killed in March 2003 while she and other activists sought to block an Israeli military bulldozer they believed was about to demolish Palestinian homes in the Gaza border town of Rafah. The driver has said he didn't see Corrie, and the death was accidental. The Israeli army had been undertaking systematic house demotions in the densely populated border area, trying to halt shooting and mortar attacks against soldiers and Jewish settlers who used the route. The house destruction sparked international condemnation at the time..
Corrie belonged to the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, whose activists enter conflict zones and try interfere with activities of Israel's military. Supporters of Israel argue that Corrie, like thousands of other foreign activists, recklessly chose to risk her life.
"Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of her prohibited action, for which she is solely responsible, due to her considerable negligence and lack of caution," the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
The family's case is the first civil lawsuit of a foreigner harmed by Israel's military to conclude in a full civilian trial. Others have resulted in out-of-court settlements.
Since the Corries went to court in 2005, there have been 15 hearings and testimony from 23 witnesses. They hope the court will apportion blame to the bulldozer driver and his superiors, who have all been cleared of wrongdoing in a military court. The Corries are seeking a symbolic $1 in damages, along with compensation for the money they've spent bringing the case to trial.
Israeli rights group B'Tselem said in 304 cases where soldiers killed Palestinians, only nine indictments were filed. Another 27 cases were awaiting a decision of the military advocate general and 14 cases were under investigation.
The Corries said they spent over $200,000 of their own savings to fly in witnesses, attend hearings and translate over 2,000 pages of court transcripts. They were supported by an army of volunteers, including lawyers, translators and media activists.
#1
Corrie's mother, Cindy, 64, a homemaker and musician from Olympia, Washington. "We are hoping for some accountability here for what happened to Rachel."
"Accountability" has already been crushingly delivered.
#2
Verdict must include "Stupidly standing in the way of heavy machinery" and "Too stupid to live".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/27/2012 10:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Or maybe "Suicide by Bulldozer".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/27/2012 10:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Corries said they spent over $200,000 of their own savings . . . They were supported by an army of volunteers, including lawyers, translators and media activists.
Wasted on a futile search for "accountability" because they can't deal with reality. Seems the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/27/2012 16:29 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"Rachel Corrie was injured as a result of her prohibited action, for which she is solely responsible, due to her considerable negligence and lack of caution intelligence"
[An Nahar] Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa made his first public appearance in over a month on Sunday, following rumors that he had tried to defect and was under house arrest.
Sharaa, who met the head of the Iranian parliament's foreign policy committee, Aladin Borujerdi, was last seen in public at a state funeral for top security officials who were killed in a Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... kaboom on July 18.
Speculation has swirled since last week over the fate of Sharaa, the most powerful Sunni Moslem figure in Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... 's minority Alawite-led regime, since the opposition claimed he had tried to defect.
Assad's regime has been rattled by several high-profile defections as the Syrian conflict has escalated, including former prime minister Riad Hijab and prominent General Manaf Tlass, one of Assad's childhood friends.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali resigned on Sunday after coming under fire for the performance of security forces during a surge of violence that has rocked Libya, an official from his office told Agence 
North Korea
Pär Norling, group leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in Bollnäs, told national broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), "Ban Islam in Sweden and deport those who persist in believing in the religion." 
Jordan on Sunday barred pro-Paleostinian U.S. and European activists from trying to cross into the West Bank for delivering school supplies to students.
Almost a decade after their daughter was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer as she tried to block its path in a Gaza Strip conflict zone, Rachel Corrie's parents are preparing for a judge's ruling in their high-profile civil lawsuit against the military.
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa made his first public appearance in over a month on Sunday, following rumors that he had tried to defect and was under house arrest.
