American officers deployed as mentors in Afghanistan's main military hospital discovered a shocking secret last year: Injured soldiers were routinely dying of simple infections and even starving to death as some corrupt doctors and nurses demanded bribes for food and the most basic of care.
The discovery, which hasn't previously been reported, added new details to longstanding evidence of gross mismanagement at Dawood National Military Hospital, where most salaries and supplies are paid for by American taxpayers.
Yet the patient neglect continued for months after U.S. officials discovered it, as Afghan officials rebuffed American pressure to take action, multiple documents and testimonies viewed by The Wall Street Journal show.
The way senior Afghan officials tolerated such deadly graft shows just how deeply rooted corruption has become in President Hamid Karzai's administration, as well as the limits of Washington's ability to rein it in. American advisers have since forced an improvement in conditions at the hospital.
Afghan policeman Ali Noor Hazrat had been admitted to Dawood hospital after being injured in a Taliban rocket attack on a police convoy last fall. Initially patched up by American doctors, he spent his last days starving there while his brother Sher sold off what little land the poor farming family had in order to bribe nurses and doctors for care and food, the brother said in an interview. In photos, Ali's flesh hangs off his frail, boney frame, his eyes heavy with pain. He died on Dec. 27, Afghan government documents show.
"Malnourished/starvation," said an internal coalition slide showing Mr. Hazrat, dated Nov. 5, prepared by American mentors at the hospital to document abuse cases. "Willful neglect," another bullet point said.
Sher Hazrat is determined that none of his relatives in the eastern Nangarhar province will consider joining Afghan security forces after what happened at Dawood. "If there's no service for us," he says, "why should we serve our country?"
[ToloNews] The Ministry of Finance on Saturday said that after Russia expressed willingness to fund infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, the ministry has decided to propose some projects to the country.
According to the Ministry the Russian government is committed to provide approximately 500 million dollars to the Afghan transportation and energy sector. The projects will be prioritised by the Afghan-Russia Economical Cooperation Commission.
#2
IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > AFGHANISTAN IS NOW THE US, NATO'S NORTHERN LOGISTICS DISTRIBUTION NETWORK.
Moscow was previously elated at the US-PAK diplomatic row - first oer US UAV attacks agz allged Pak Civilians, not Jihadi Bad Boyz, + later Abbottabad - which put US-NATO air, transport bases + routes thru Central Asia = former Soviet SSRS at risk, BUT NOW MOSCOW APPEARS TO HAD CHANGED ITS TUNE DUE TO THE POOR GLOBAL ECON + EXPANSION OF THE TALIBAN THREAT IN POST-OSAMA/ABBOTTABAD PAKISTAN.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Rebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, imprisoning them in makeshift jails across the capital and accusing them of being mercenaries for Moammar Gadhafi.
As the rebels and their Transitional National Council (TNC) struggle to maintain credibility in a post-Gadhafi Libya, they have been targeting black Africans for weeks now. The United Nations warned about mass arrests, beatings, and revenge-killings against the suspected mercenaries, and the African Union this week refused to recognize the TNC as the legitimate governing authority in Libya on the grounds that their treatment of the black Africans was a human rights violation.
#1
Of course, the media was silent about Khadaffy's recruitment of black African mercenaries to kill his own people. The facts didn't fit the narrative, you know.
#4
Actually, like in Suadi Arabia it was Blacks who were doing most of the work in the country. Also, the MSM have been surpriosngly (tong in cheek) silent about pogroms, sadistic pogroms both of Blacks and of GHadhafi lyalists in the vein ofb thse perpetrated by the Islamists in Algeria, perpetrated by Obama's and Sarkozy's protegés.
#5
From what I've seen, the TNC and its people, who are not soldiers, mind you, have really bent over backwards to not injudiciously slaughter blacks. Given that both Arabs and Berbers look at blacks as somewhat lower than farm animals, this was no easy task.
They have, however, caught a lot of black mercenaries with evidence on them, like one dumbass who took camera pics of his buddies committing war crimes. The future is not bright for these guys.
For its part, NATO has been none to gentle with black mercenaries, either. That tugboat they sunk was transporting probably a hundred or more, who were quickly shark bait.
#7
Given the lack of organization detailed in the yahoo piece linked by Drudge, I suspect real armed mercenaries would have been able to easily escape.
#9
And I keep having scenarios run through my mind... maybe someone outside put them up to this, say, to keep Europe's immigration problems under control.
OR maybe this is their way of telling the SCOAMF who's _really_ in charge. Or some combination of the two.
#10
The AU supports a diverse, post-Gaddafi Govt. which includes allowing Black Africans - Muslims as well as minority non-Muslims, etc. - to hold political power, A CONCEPT WHICH HISTORICALLY HAS BEEN ANATHEMA TO LIBYA'S + ME'S RULING ARAB = NON-BLACK MUSLIM TRIBES + DYNASTIES.
The good news for the Paleos = PA in the ME is that they are Muslim but not Black African.
[Dawn] Documents found in Tripoli detail close ties between the CIA and Libya's intelligence service and suggest the United States sent terrorism suspects for questioning in Libya despite that country's reputation for torture, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported on Saturday.
The Times reported that the files cover the time from 2002 to 2007, when Moussa Koussa headed Libya's External Security Organization. Koussa most recently had been Libya's foreign minister but defected from now-runaway leader Muammar Qadaffy's ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years... government and flew to Britannia on March 30 amid this year's rebel uprising.
The newspaper reported that the documents, including some English-language files concerning the CIA and Britannia's MI-6 intelligence agency, were found on Friday at the abandoned office of Libya's former spy chief by journalists and the group Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world....
The Times said it was impossible to verify the authenticity of the documents but that their content appears to be consistent with facts known about the US transfer of terrorism suspects abroad for interrogation, a practice known as rendition and other known CIA practices. Renditions occurred under former President George W. Bush's administration.
It has been known that Western intelligence services began cooperating with Libya after Qadaffy abandoned his program to build unconventional weapons in 2004. But the files show cooperation with the CIA and MI-6 was more extensive than previously understood, the Times reported.
One document appears to be a proposed speech written by the Americans for Qadaffy about renouncing unconventional weapons.
Other files show that MI-6 was willing to trace telephone numbers for the Libyans.
A series of communications about renditions is dated after Libya's 2004 renouncement of its weapons program. The files mention having a friendly country arrest a terrorism suspect, and then suggest aircraft would be sent to retrieve the suspect and bring him to Libya for questioning, the Times reported.
One document detailed a list of 89 questions for the Libyans to ask a terrorism suspect, the Times said.
Some documents told the Libyans to respect detainees' human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... but the Americans still turned over the suspects to a Libyan intelligence service with a long-established history of brutality, the Times said.
"The rendition program was all about handing over these significant figures related to al Qaeda so they could torture them and get the information they wanted," Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, who studied the documents in the intelligence headquarters in downtown Tripoli, told the Times.
CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood is quoted by the Times as declining to comment specifically on the documents but saying, "It can't come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats."
The British Foreign Office told the Times: "It is the longstanding policy of the government not to comment on intelligence matters."
#2
Most of the "cooperation" with Libya was because Qaddafi was violently anti-al Qaeda. He not only butchered those that entered his turf, but was more than happy to take back any renditioned Libyans caught making mischief elsewhere, with his secret police squeezing any intel out of them before disposal.
Had he not been such an unpredictable wing nut, he could have been a damned good ally.
Saudi Arabia is still at war with terrorism, but not the Islamic kind. The Saudis defeated al Qaeda three years ago, after a five year battle. Al Qaeda survivors fled to Yemen, and elsewhere. But the Saudi government kept arresting people. The Saudis claim they have arrested 5,700 terrorist suspects since 2003. But Saudi pro-reform groups claim that it may be more than twice that. This is because Saudi Arabia is ruled by Sharia (Islamic) law, which allows the police and courts to do pretty much whatever they want. They are accountable only to God, and the king.
Those arrested in the last three years are increasingly pro-democracy activists. Not criminals at all, except to royalists and Islamic conservatives (who believe democracy is un-Islamic.) And to the royal family and the clerics, these reformers are terrorists. But at least the royal family realizes that kingdoms are in decline, and that some accommodation will have to be made, eventually. But in the meantime, democracy activists are arrested, and held for months, or years, without being charged. Under Sharia law, the accused have none of the protections taken for granted in the West.
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/04/2011 18:32 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, the fantasy comic book environmentalists who permeate the government at so many levels are their allies. The rest of us are along for the ride.
Devastating stash of documents left in British Ambassador's residence
Britain gave Libyan secret police questions to interrogate dissidents
We even informed Gaddafi how Cobra works and MI6 budget
The startling extent to which Labour misled the world over the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber is exposed today in top-secret documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
In public, senior Ministers from the last Labour Government and the Scottish First Minister have repeatedly insisted that terminally ill Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds in a decision taken by Scottish Ministers alone.
But the confidential papers show that Westminster buckled under pressure from Colonel Gaddafi, who threatened to ignite a 'holy war' if Megrahi died in his Scottish cell.
And despite repeated denials, the Labour Government worked frantically behind the scenes to appease Gaddafi's 'unpredictable nature'.
As recently as last month, a spokesman for Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond was insisting: 'The decision was taken on the basis of Scots law and was not influenced by economic, political or diplomatic factors.'
The revelations come in documents some marked UK secret: UK/Libya Eyes Only found strewn on the floor of the British Ambassadors abandoned residence in Tripoli.
Many of the papers demonstrate the warmth of the relationship between Britain and Libya and, in particular, the extraordinarily close links between the Blair Government and the Gaddafi regime.
The notes show how:
Tony Blair helped Colonel Gaddafis playboy son Saif with his dodgy PhD thesis while he was Prime Minister.
British Special Forces were offered to train the Khamis Brigade, Gaddafis most vicious military unit.
MI6 was apparently willing to trace phone numbers for Libyan intelligence.
Gordon Brown wrote warmly to Gaddafi in 2007 expressing the hope that the dictator would be able to meet Prince Andrew when he visited Tripoli.
MI6s budget (£150 million in 2002) was readily disclosed to Libyan officials, along with details of how Britains Downing Street emergency committee Cobra operates.
Britains intelligence services forged close links with Gaddafis brutal security units.
Megrahi was released two years ago and transferred back to Libya, where he received a heros welcome from Gaddafi. Last week, it emerged he is still alive although very ill after he was tracked down to his home in Tripoli.
A series of documents marked confidential and restricted reveal that Gaddafi threatened Britain with dire consequences if Megrahi died in Scotland.
Diplomats feared the harassment or worse of British nationals; the cancellation of lucrative contracts with firms such as BP, Shell and BG; and the end of defence deals and counter-terrorism co-operation.
Devastating stash of documents left in British Ambassador's residence
Britain gave Libyan secret police questions to interrogate dissidents
We even informed Gaddafi how Cobra works and MI6 budget
The startling extent to which Labour misled the world over the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber is exposed today in top-secret documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.
In public, senior Ministers from the last Labour Government and the Scottish First Minister have repeatedly insisted that terminally ill Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds in a decision taken by Scottish Ministers alone.
But the confidential papers show that Westminster buckled under pressure from Colonel Gaddafi, who threatened to ignite a 'holy war' if Megrahi died in his Scottish cell. And despite repeated denials, the Labour Government worked frantically behind the scenes to appease Gaddafi's 'unpredictable nature'.
As recently as last month, a spokesman for Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond was insisting: 'The decision was taken on the basis of Scots law and was not influenced by economic, political or diplomatic factors.'
The revelations come in documents -- some marked 'UK secret: UK/Libya Eyes Only' -- found strewn on the floor of the British Ambassador's abandoned residence in Tripoli. Many of the papers demonstrate the warmth of the relationship between Britain and Libya and, in particular, the extraordinarily close links between the Blair Government and the Gaddafi regime.
The notes show how:
Tony Blair helped Colonel Gaddafi's playboy son Saif with his 'dodgy' PhD thesis while he was Prime Minister.
British Special Forces were offered to train the Khamis Brigade, Gaddafi's most vicious military unit.
MI6 was apparently willing to trace phone numbers for Libyan intelligence.
Gordon Brown wrote warmly to Gaddafi in 2007 expressing the hope that the dictator would be able to meet Prince Andrew when he visited Tripoli.
MI6's budget (£150 million in 2002) was readily disclosed to Libyan officials, along with details of how Britain's Downing Street emergency committee Cobra operates. Britain's intelligence services forged close links with Gaddafi's brutal security units.
Megrahi was released two years ago and transferred back to Libya, where he received a hero's welcome from Gaddafi. Last week, it emerged he is still alive -- although very ill -- after he was tracked down to his home in Tripoli. A series of documents marked 'confidential' and 'restricted' reveal that Gaddafi threatened Britain with 'dire consequences' if Megrahi died in Scotland.
Diplomats feared the harassment -- 'or worse' -- of British nationals; the cancellation of lucrative contracts with firms such as BP, Shell and BG; and the end of defence deals and counter-terrorism co-operation.
#2
Britain has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.
Apparently they don't even have permanent interests any longer. Nor a government IQ higher than a yob's spew in the gutter on a Saturday night.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
09/04/2011 12:16 Comments ||
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#3
The only real government Britain has these days is in Brussels.
The subtitle is Operation Fast and Furious: The Gunwalker Scandal Connecting Mexican Drugs, Gun Control and Islamic Terrorism.
While seemingly attempting to detail an unlikely conspiracy, Mr. Gullett lays out his thesis using publicly available sources including information from the National Drug Intelligence center in El Paso, Texas and from published writing from modern Islamic resources.
Before we get into the details of your book, I'd like to ask you: The tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the US is coming up in a few days. Could you give your assessment of security conditions now as opposed to ten years ago?
Although it would appear that some elements of our national security today are unquestionably better than ten years ago, in fact some elements are dramatically worse. I think the quality of security inside our continental borders (e.g. domestic airline security) is arguably marginal; outside our borders it is disastrous and unfortunately we do not have control of those situations except for military engagements and our ability to leverage diplomacy with our allies. The White House has failed in this respect on two very dangerous levels.
First, they have failed (as did the Bush administration) to seal our land borders from ongoing illegal immigration, which today includes not only Mexican narco-terrorists but the increasing flood of actors from terrorist states other than Mexico. (Documented in my book using the US Border Patrol OTM report and similar confirmation by mainstream media news stories).
Secondly, the administration of President Barak Obama has utterly failed to recognize and warn the American people about so-called "grass-roots" or "home-grown" Islamic terrorism as the principal threat to American security. The terrorist groups have been providing inspirational leadership to domestic terrorists with step by step instructions on successfully committing terrorism by way of the Internet (e.g. Inspire Fall 2010, a 50 meg download PDF).
Documenting what Islamic terrorists term "Open Source Jihad", the strategy provides Islamic terrorists inside the US (e.g. Nidal Hassan) with information on individual acts, random shootings at vulnerable public locations, bomb-making, counter-intelligence security measures to keep from being caught ahead of time, and weapons training (particularly with Operation Fast and Furious weapons like the AK47). One article (ibid pg. 53) suggests welding butcher knives to the front of a truck and driving into shopping mall crowds. By their own words they consider this superior to military engagements. They claim "...open source Jihad is America's worst nightmare" (ibid, pg. 52).
A considerable amount of data in my book Beirut Arizona deals with an Islamic terrorist support network on the southwest border which operates with impunity as long as the Obama administration continues to ignore the threat by not warning and educating the American people to the specificity of the threat.
In your book, you charge that an unholy alliance among renegade agents of our government, Mexican drug cartels and Islamic Jihadists in the Middle East exists and is aiding Mexican drug cartels. Why do you believe that the drug cartels would aid terrorists in physical attacks within the border of the United States, attacking their own customers?
I don't think this is any more complicated than the old adage "...the enemy of my enemy is my friend". In the end, I think the perception by American liberals of Mexican drug cartels as businessmen victimized by antiquated American drug laws, and the view that Islam is a peaceful religion is entirely erroneous and we suffer the consequences of this psychological denial.
These are two competing criminal gangs composed of thugs; one secular, the other mystical but both are criminal organizations and if successful will eventually compete over the same turf. In the mean time, they work together in order to position themselves for this final reckoning. Like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during WWII, each believes themselves powerful enough to withstand the partnership.
You say in your book that Hezbollah and drug cartels do not regard US sovereignty. And you say that Hezbollah has an arrangement with drug cartels to move Hezbollah operatives into the US and money out. Since Hezbollah is funded by Iran, do you think their activities and nexus with drug cartels are a continuation of Iran's terror war against the US?
Unquestionably. Ahmadinejad is an irrational "messianic-twelver" with aspirations of conquering and then destroying Western Civilization. As a state-sponsor of terrorism, he represents a violent militaristic theocracy that is a threat to all religions, Catholic, Hebrew, Hopi, Christian, Buddhist, etc. and he controls the power and the petro-dollars to do it...if we let him.
Why would drug cartels help a religion and ideology that runs so counter to the religion, Roman Catholicism, most cartel operatives practice?
Well, they don't seem to be paying too much attention to "Thou shalt not kill" either. It is unclear to me that just because a criminal is raised in some particular religious tradition that they necessarily see their irrationally related adult criminal behavior as anything but irrationally compromised ethics. Islam does not have the same problem regarding killing, as no such prohibition exists in the Qur'an. As Mohammad clearly indicated on a number of occasions and as is well-documented in Shariah law, there are no consequences for killing Kafir infidels (non-Muslims).
As I understand it, a large subset of traceable weapons come from the US. But the monster's share of weapons seized in Mexico are untraceable, which means serial numbers were altered. In that context, the only entity able and willing to provide guns to cartels are foreign hostile governments. Since Hezbollah is involved with drug cartels, is it possible Iran is providing those weapons? What about Libya? Venezuela? Central American countries? China?
As I document in my book, the Middle Eastern connections to firearms trafficking investigations by the US Government goes back to the 1970's. Iran is clearly a player in providing COMBLOC weapons to terrorist organizations throughout the world.
As I have documented this using credible sources (including official US Government reports and mainstream media news stories), the arms trafficking connection in Mexico is specifically made through an area in South America called the tri-border region which consists of the connecting area of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Recent news events suggest Hugo Chavez has initiated his own AK47 factory in Venezuela and this incrementally compounds the weapons trafficking problem.
The provisioning of cartels with weapons from the US has been informally characterized as an act of war against Mexico; do you agree?
No, I don't think it rises to that. But the ATF wasn't exactly acting in the role of peace-giver either. It is easy to see why some Mexican officials are calling this a violation of sovereignty and demanding that the individuals in the ATF/DEA/FBI, etc. responsible for the deaths of several Mexican officials, more than 150 police and probably hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens as a result of Operation Fast and Furious be turned over to the Government of Mexico for trial.
Good luck on that. US Attorney General Eric Holder won't even give up documents to our own Congress.
If your thesis is true regarding Hezbollah, do you think this nexus between cartels and Hezbollah, the arms trafficking are also an act of war against Mexico?
Absolutely. Hezbollah and the Mexican drug cartels are not just running a few guns or selling a few bags of dope to aging American hippies; these are enormous international criminal syndicates who are violating not only international drug and weapons trafficking laws but in the case of Islam are clearly intending on taking over the world and absorbing it into the new world caliphate so that "...Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions..." (that from Hezbollah's umbrella organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, and their published plan to overthrow Western Civilization).
Why would the national government of Mexico not move to meet this threat head on?
My sense is the Government of Mexico is a model of government corruption. They are fundamentally too busy taking payoffs from the cartels to bother trying to control them. They similarly have no interest in solving the illegal immigration problem on our border as the Western Union money-grams are probably propping up the entire Mexican economy at this point. Rumors have circulated for years regarding Calderon's ties to cartel money.
I have been covering Mexican drug war news since spring 2010, and I have yet to read any Mexican news reports regarding Hezbollah in any Mexican news outlet, let alone in the US mainstream press.
In Beirut Arizona I document the mainstream news stories you missed in both the US and Mexican press.
Why would the average American reading your book believe that Islamic terrorist organizations would be aided and abetted by Mexican drug cartels?
Suffice it to say people believe what they choose to believe and no author has control over that choice. However, those that are willing to look at the evidence I present with an open mind will find data to support what I believe are well-documented charges. While there may be no honor among thieves, there remains a considerable amount of collusion. In this case, if you follow the guns and you follow the money and the drugs, you inevitably end up in the company of Mexican cartels and Islamic terrorists.
What do you think of the shifting of portfolios going on currently at the ATF?
Although the media has tended to both misrepresent and misreport these as "promotions", the transfers for the most part appear to be lateral moves. The most unfortunate of these has been William McMahon who was placed in Washington to head up the Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations -- the internal ATF ethics division that investigates misconduct by employees.
According to the LA Times, Ken Melson, the ATF's acting director (who also stepped down recently), said in an agency-wide email that McMahon was among ATF employees being rewarded because of "the skills and abilities they have demonstrated throughout their careers."
Somewhere I hear Orwell crying.
What would be a satisfying conclusion to the Gunwalker scandal you would like to see?
First, somebody needs to go to jail; there is a long list of identifiably rich opportunities among the plethora of agencies involved in this scandal. Eric Holder should be at the top of the list.
Secondly, the ATF as a coercive taxing arm of the government needs to go away. No rational interpretation of the Second Amendment ever authorized this kind of rogue bureaucracy to be leveraged against American citizens. After decades of effort and billions of taxpayer dollars, there is not one shred of evidence ATF has done anything but make repeated attempts to overly regulate commerce in the firearms industry and egregiously disarm the American people in direct violation of the US Constitution.
The irony is they are using our own tax money to disarm us and then turning right around and spending more of our money to arm the bad guys all in the name of truth, justice and the American way. You can't get Hollywood to dream up this kind of thing.
Although it is too much to hope for, a nice little invasion of Mexico by the US military followed by the implementation of real laissez faire Capitalism and a constitutionally protected form of individual liberty with a Bill of Rights would be particularly satisfying for both the US and Mexico. I understand our military has some experience in these matters.
Taking over Mexico as the 51st US state and actually enforcing some rational laws down there would go a long way toward solving our problems with cartels, terrorism, illegal immigration and human trafficking and it would probably cost less than a border fence.
Would you tell me where you were the day the towers were attacked.
At the time I was working at a small college here in Prescott, AZ. I had stopped at the Campus Police station and the head of security pulled me aside and told me what was happening--the second plane had just killed a lot of people and it was at that moment I think people started becoming aware that this was an intentional act of terrorism.
What was the first thought that came to you, not the first thing you said, your first thought when you realized the US was under attack.
No one knew at first how much more was going to happen. My daughter was in New York City at the time and I think my first thought was for her safety. In fact, she and her husband had been at the towers just the night before 9-11.
It turned out she was fine, but I couldn't get hold of her for about two or three days which for a parent is an eternity.
You have a long career in technology and you have been in publishing for a long time. The internet has changed publishing and the news business. Do you see the changes as positive?
Yes. The Internet in general and electronic publishing in particular has essentially eliminated the artificial barrier between the author's mind and the act of publishing intellectual property; it has also freed news journalism from the ideological clutches of the liberal left media hacks. The same thing is happening to the rank and file of socialist demigods in the pathetic rancor that passes for education these days; they just don't know it yet.
Do you see newspapers/magazine coming back as they were once?
Possibly. If Obama and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party succeed in pounding us back into the serfdom of tax slavery, but even then it will likely be a digital version of the round end of the stick.
Of course, the digital alternative may not be the change Obama had hoped for; if the Islamic terrorists succeed, the only reading we are likely to do will be the Qur'an online at MyMohammed.com.
#9
Just a suggestion - for original written-for-Rantburg articles, put a statement at the top of the article that it's original so people won't look for a link.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/04/2011 20:01 Comments ||
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#10
Is he the pink one?
Salmon is Steve White, Pepto-Bismol pink is Scooter McGruder, and badanov is bright green, Nimble Spemble.
Shiite terror group to use operations center to launch attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper reports
[Ynet] Hezbullies has established a center of operations in Cuba in order to expand its terrorist activity and facilitate an attack on an Israeli target in South America, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the attack is meant to avenge the death of Hezbullies commander Imad Mughniyah. The organization alleges that Israel was behind his 2008 liquidation.
According to the report, three Hezbullies members have already arrived in Cuba with the purpose of establishing a terrorist cell there. The cell is to include 23 operatives, hand-picked by Talal Hamia, a senior member tasked with heading the covert operation.
The operation, titled "The Caribbean Case," was reportedly allocated a budget of $1.5 million. The Cuba base is to be initially used for logistics purposes, including intelligence collection, networking and document forgery.
Hezbullies has been active in South America for quite some time now, primarily in Paraguay, Brazil and Venezuela, the report notes.
The biggest question now is whether Hezbollah will content itself with Israeli targets. The arrest of a Hezbollah member tasked with setting up a cell in Tijuana was confirmed in a memo from the Tucson Police Dept. in April 2010. "Many experts believe Hezbollah and drug cartels have worked together for decades." wrote U.S. Rep. Sue Myric R-NC to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. "Hezbollah operates almost like a Mafia family in Northern Mexico, often demanding protection money and "taxes" from local inhabitants." She also noted that lately gang tattoos of many prisoners in Arizona jails are written in Farsi.
"Several reports, citing U.S. law enforcement and intelligence sources, document that Hezbollah operatives have provided weapons and explosives training to drug trafficking organizations that operate along the U.S. border with Mexico," testified Roger Noriega (former U.S. Ambassador to the OAS) to the House Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence on July 7th.
Hezbullies has sought new alliances in Latin America since attention was brought to the terrorist group's redoubt in the Tri-border area at the intersection of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, as well as numerous reports of training camps in Venezuela.
The report also detailed that the base in Cuba would be used initially for logistics, intelligence collection and document and id forgery - a scenario given more credence since Cuba took over the agencies that issue identification and immigration documents in Venezuela.
Cuba has been a center of terrorist operations and training since shortly after Fidel Castro usurped the sitting government in 1959. Rooters reported as early as May 30, 1978, that Paleostinian beturbanned goons of the PLO had been trained in Cuba, and on September 13, 1978, the Egyptian daily Ahar Sa'ah reported that as many as 500 Paleostinians were on their way to Cuba to receive terrorist training.
The Subcommittee on Counterterrorism in the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings in July, entitled "Hezbullies in Latin America - Implications for U.S. Homeland Security," which detailed the terror group's ties to left-wing regimes in the region. And the U.S. Military's Southern Command reported recently on the terror group's activities on Venezuela's Margarita Island, where Hezbullies and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,beturbanned goons are alleged to have held planning meetings, as well as a number of money laundering operations.
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. said that operations will continue against extortionists and hit mans in Bloody Karachi, while at the same time he reassured the people of Lyari that they are not being singled out.
Rehman Malik along with Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan visited Saeedabad Training Centre and spoke with a gathering of the Frontier Constabulary.
The Interior Minister said that action will continue against extortionists and hit mans at all costs. He also said that there will be no breathing space given for terrorists.
Rehman Malik said that he had been given a go ahead by President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.
He also said that the action taken against faceless myrmidons in Lyari should not be seen by the residents of the area as an operation being taken against them.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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In case you were wondering how completely relations between Turkey and Israel have flipped...
Dozens of foolsrubesrusticsterroristsmuttonheads supporters of the Islamic Hamas movement demonstrated in Gaza City on Saturday in support of Turkey's decision to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Israel, Xinhua reported.
The demonstrators, who waved Turkish and Palestinian flags, condemned a UN-led report over the Israeli naval forces' attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May last year. Chanting slogans supporting Turkey and against Israel, the demonstrators burned the Israeli flag. They also condemned the UN- led report for legalizing more than four years of Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas leader, told the demonstrators that the "besieged Gaza Strip is greeting Turkey's people and leadership for their heroic decision of expelling the Israel ambassador out of Turkey."
Another Hamas leader Ahmed Bahar welcomed Turkey's decision to sue Israel at the International Court of Justice over the UN-led report "which legalized the unfair siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. "
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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Over-covering the story, I realize, but the Israeli response to Turkish eye-popping screams of rage is absolutely scrumptious!
Turkey's threat to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in The Hague following Friday's release of the Palmer Commission Report is a "pistol firing blanks," Israeli officials said Saturday, pointing out that the court only adjudicates issues brought to it by two disputing states, or referred to it for an advisory decision from the UN.
Oh. Bummer 'bout that, d00ds.
Israel won't agree to go to the ICJ, the official said, and the UN will be hard pressed to ask for an advisory opinion after a UN body, the Palmer Commission, found that the blockade of Gazoo was legal, as was Israel's interception of vessels trying to break it.
[Al Jazeera] Turkey and Israel should improve their diplomatic ties and accept the recommendations of a UN report which looked into the deaths of nine Turks in the Israeli attack on a Gazoo-bound ship, the UN secretary-general has said.
The man has spoken. All fixed, now -- he's better than a mommy kissing a scraped knee.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said strong ties between Turkey and Israel, which both share a border with Syria, were important for the Middle East.
"I sincerely hope that Israel and Turkey will improve their relationship," Ban told news hounds in Canberra, Australia, on Saturday after talks with Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister.
"Both countries are very important countries in the region. Their improved relationship, normal relationship, will be very important in addressing all the situations in the Middle East, including the Middle East grinding of the peace processor."
Ban said he would make no comment on the specifics of the report, written by a panel headed by Geoffrey Palmer, a former New Zealand prime minister.
"My only wish is that they should try to improve their relationship and do whatever they can to implement the recommendations and findings of this panel's report," he said.
The report found Israel's naval blockade of the Gazoo Strip was "legal", but that Israel used unreasonable force when its commandos raided the ship, despite meeting strong resistance from those on board.
The rift between Turkey and Israel comes despite US efforts to encourage a rapprochement between the two regional powers whose co-operation it needs to address changes sweeping the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
"Turkey and Israel should improve their diplomatic ties"
Ties are important to diplomats. The wrong tie can just RUIN a good session of chair shuffling and gnocchi noshing. Bolo ties might be on their way back 'in', though.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/04/2011 13:06 Comments ||
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#2
OTOH WAFF > ISRAELI OFFCIAL [Hawk] TO CLINTON: DELCARE TURKEY A TERROR-SUPPORTING STATE, to include the imposition of Econ + Diplomatic Sanctions as such; TURKEY IS MOVING OR GETTING CLOSER TO IRAN.
* SAME > AKP-SPONSORED [read, TURKEY] TERROR GROUPS TO OPERATE IN AZERBAIJAN.
* TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > NETANYAHU: WE DON'T NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO TURKEY.
Gaza Flotilla controversy = NUTTIN' BUT A THWANG???, that Israel does for its own security, espec agz extremists.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > POLL: MOST PAKISTANIS SAY COUNTRY SHOULD RECOGNIZE KOSOVS + TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS.
[Straits Times] An Indonesian man blamed for South-east Asia's deadliest suicide kaboom could escape with just a few years behind bars.
The tough anti-terrorism law passed after the double nightclub blasts in Bali cannot be used retroactively against Umar Patek, leaving prosecutors scrambling to convict him of lesser crimes, from premeditated murder to immigration violations.
Patek, an Al-Qaeda-linked myrmidon captured on Jan 25 in the same Pak town where the late Osama bin Laden ... Maybe his Mom misses him... was killed by US forces, allegedly told interrogators he made the explosives used in the 2002 attacks on Bali island.
The bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. They were followed by near annual suicide kabooms on glitzy Western hotels, restaurants and an embassy in the world's most populous Mohammedan nation.
This article starring:
Umar Patek
Posted by: Fred ||
09/04/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
#1
Wonder what would happen if we asked to extradite him?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/04/2011 10:16 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea
Interior Minister 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
