Australia's major combat role in Afghanistan is likely to end by December, with an announcement overnight that the ADF will soon be finished mentoring the four Afghan battalions in Oruzgan.
The announcement, made by the Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, at a NATO conference in Brussells overnight, also means that Australia's presence in the southern Afghan province will dramatically decrease early next year.
Mr Smith's statement follows his announcement on Wednesday that the first of the four 400 - 600 man Afghan National Army battalions - called kandaks in Afghanistan - was this week declared to be able to operate without asssistance.
"We expect the other three infantry kandaks currently rated as effective with advisers to also commence independent operations by the end of the year."
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Australia's main role in Oruzgan is to mentor Afghan soldiers and accompany them on patrols and other operations.
But Mr Smith's statement - that mentoring at a kandak level will be over by January - means that role is all but finished.
"What this means is we are gong to start seeing Australian convoys rolling down to Kandahar, moving equipment out of Oruzgan by early next year," said Lowy Institute analyst James Brown.
Kandahar, the province directly south of Oruzgan, is the headquarters for the country's southern region and is where Australia will likely move their personnel and equipment ahead of leaving the country.
Mr Brown, who has served with the Australian army in Iraq and Afghanistan, said what the announcement meant was after more than a decade, Australia's major combat role in Oruzgan was only weeks from ending.
"What they're saying is the job is done," he said.
"Which means we don't need to have advisors out with [the ANA in Oruzgan] over the winter.
#4
I guess it's late in the day, but "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle is a really moving song about a Gallipoli veteran.
Eric's a lefty, too, but I don't see any spin in the song.
#1
I drilled down through the menu referenced above & got to this point: BGA 2012 Annual Luncheon: Lara Logan
Switch off the "HD" option unless you have a really fast internet connection
#2
CBS. If only 1/10th of the people of CBS had at most half of this journalist's honesty instead of being Obama bott propagandist liars, more Americans (troops, etc.) would be alive today.
Laura Logan learned about reality in a horrible way, but the rest of them are stuck in stupidity.
#3
If we can pretend the problem does not exist, then we don't have to deal with it. If we can decide the war is over at 2pm on a Thursday, then we don't have to deal with it. All that jihadi talk about global caliphates, destroying America; that's crazy talk. And if it's just talk, we don't have to deal with it.
Pity we didn't think of this in WWII. We could have avoided all that unpleasantness in the Pacific.
Nice to finally see the video we talked about the other day. Spunky gal.
#4
To those who have lost homes, farms, family and friends to political betrayal, America is their last hope. Freedom holds special meaning to them. I salute her.
#1
Hate to say it, and I'm not sure how the video & testimony by Hassan went over with the jury, but the way the article was written suggests there's some room for doubt..
Posted by: American Delight ||
10/11/2012 6:26 Comments ||
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(Sh.M.Network)--President Kibaki has called for demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration of Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... snuffies surrendering to Amisom forces.
Speaking in Kampala, Uganda, on Tuesday when he held bilateral talks with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia, the Head of State said as part of reconstruction of the war torn country, those surrendering should be disarmed to stop them from regrouping.
t the same time, the President assured the Somalia leadership that Kenya has no ulterior motive but was keen to see Somalia return to peace and stability.
"In carrying out the stabilisation efforts, I would wish to assure your Excellency that Kenya has no other agenda and its only desire is to see Somalia return to peace and stability," he said.
Kibaki explained that under the auspices of IGAD, Kenya is involved in the stabilisation of South Central Somalia and its desire is to work hand in hand with the Somalia Government to achieve this goal and create a conducive and stable environment for the return of displaced persons and refugees.
The President also called for the extension of the mandate of Amisom, which expires at the end of this month, to consolidate the gains made so far against bad boys.
The Head of State further reiterated Kenya's commitment in lobbying for international support for Somalia. "We are in this regard willing to host an international donor's conference for Somalia," he said.
Kibaki lauded Somalia for the peaceful transition that culminated in the election of President Mohamud.
He pledged Kenya's support to the new leadership and government as they embark on rebuilding Somalia.
The President pledged Kenya's support towards addressing the priority areas identified by the Somalia Government, adding that this can be undertaken through the framework provided by the Joint Commission for Cooperation.
He further said the Government was willing to support capacity building for the Somalia Security Forces and civil service as well as other training initiatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
or dead. That works too
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/11/2012 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
"Dead" really does provide a favorable impact on rates of recidivism.
(Sh.M.Network)--A US journalist held hostage by pirates in central Somalia town said on Wednesday that he fears to be handed to the Al Qaeda linked snuffies of Al shabab by his current kidnappers.
Micheal Scott, an kidnapped American journalist in Hobyo town of Mudug region said his captors are planning to transfer him to Al shabab, if their ransom demand is not paid three days.
"I appeal to the News agency I worked for and my government of United States to safe myself as soon as possible from falling to Al shabab hand," he cried.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
not sure the term journalist is correct. he was there doing background work on a book about the pirates. it was a very bad judgment call.
Islamists who seized control of part of Mali are amassing money from ransoms and drug trafficking while imposing Sharia law, says a senior UN official.
They are also buying child soldiers, paying families $600 (£375) per child, Ivan Simonovic said after a fact-finding visit to the country.
Islamic extremists seized two-thirds of Mali in March when a military coup plunged the country into chaos.
Mr Simonovic painted a grim picture of human rights abuses there.
Women's rights were being particularly restricted, said Mr Simonovic, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, citing the compilation of a "frightening" list of unmarried women who were pregnant or had borne children.
More women were being forced into marriage - with a wife costing less than $1,000 - and some were then being resold in "a smokescreen for enforced prostitution", added Mr Simonovic.
"Human rights violations are becoming more systematic," he told reporters at UN headquarters in New York, adding that Islamists had "imposed an extremist version of Sharia".
Amputations and floggings
The fact-finding mission gleaned information from people travelling to and from northern Mali, where he said Islamists were imposing harsher punishments for crimes.
So far, he said, there had been three public executions, eight amputations and two floggings.
There were allegations of torture and inhuman prison conditions in southern Mali, where the government retains control, Mr Simonovic added.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A French Islamist has warned La Belle France, the United States and the United Nation against staging a military intervention in Mali, in a video posted on the Internet Tuesday.
The video, posted by the Mauritanian online news agency Sahara Media, came as French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... promised Tuesday to provide support for a UN-backed African military intervention in Mali, where Islamist groups seized control of the north after a March coup.
Speaking in French and sporting a black turban with a rifle at his side before a background mentioning Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdel Jelil warned that a military intervention "would only cause sedition, major sedition and a human and humanitarian catastrophe."
The video, which lasts around 11 minutes and contains anti-West and anti-Israel sentiments, was recorded Monday, according to a Sahara Media correspondent in northern Mali.
Jelil introduces himself as a former merchant navy officer of French origin who has lived in the city of Timbuktu in northwest Mali for the last two years with his wife and five children.
Late last month, the French daily Le Monde reported that French citizens had been identified among AQIM ranks in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... Le Monde quoted a Mali security source as saying that one of them was "a pure jihadist," while the other who "referred to himself as Abdel Jelil and lives with his Maghreb wife and their children in the north of Mali" was not "a real jihadist" but that he had espoused their cause.
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10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Muammar Qadaffy's ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... son Seif al-Islam without a doubt would get a death sentence if tried in Libya, his lawyer told the Hague-based International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... on Wednesday.
"Although the Libyan government has danced around the issue, let's be very clear: if convicted (in Libya) Mr Qadaffy will be hanged," Melinda Taylor, a court-appointed lawyer, told judges amid a dispute on where Seif should face justice.
While the ICC wants Seif, the only son of the slain Libyan leader in jug, to be tried in The Hague, Libya's post-revolutionary authorities insist he should stand trial in his home country.
Libya's lawyers told a three-judge bench on Tuesday the country had enough evidence to charge Seif with crimes against humanity, committed when Qadaffy and his loyalists tried to put down Libya's bloody revolution last year.
But the lawyers admitted although 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... was committed to a fair trial for Qadaffy, it was a "complicated process and that Libya needed more time."
Taylor, a member of the ICC's defence office, said Qadaffy's right to a fair trial was being violated while he is held in isolation in the northwestern Libyan hilltown of Zintan, where he has been in jug since his arrest on November 19.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Gaddafi son 'would be hanged in Libya', defence tells ICC
...Well, duh....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/11/2012 5:47 Comments ||
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[Al Ahram] Diplomatic security in Benghazi was weak and deteriorating, a former special forces soldier who was the head of a US security team in the Libyan capital was to tell politicians Wednesday.
In Benghazi "the situation remained uncertain and reports from some Libyans indicated it was getting worse. Diplomatic security remained weak," Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood said in remarks prepared for a special congressional hearing into the September 11 attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Ministry for Family Affairs says article offering instructions on petrol bombs encourages 'violent, terrorist thought'
A popular Tunisian children's magazine is to be prosecuted for telling its young readers how to make a petrol bomb, officials said on Tuesday.
The latest edition of "Qaws Quzah", Arabic for "Rainbow", featured a piece about the history of petrol bombs in its "Knowledge Corner", including detailed instructions and a diagram.
"It is an improvised weapon that is often used in riots and acts of sabotage because it is easy to make and use," the article read.
The magazine, read for decades in Tunisia by boys and girls aged 5 to 15, has no political orientation. But the article touched a raw nerve in a country still seeking to tame the unrest stirred up by last year's successful revolution, the first of the Arab Spring.
The Ministry for Women and Family Affairs said the article "encourages violent and terrorist thought" as well as endangering children's lives by "encouraging the use of Molotov cocktails in acts of vandalism or terrorism".
It said it would ask an investigating magistrate to open a case against the publishers and all those involved in the issue. While the specific charges will be for the judge to decide, the ministry's comments suggested they could include incitement to violence.
Tunisia's revolution led to the democratic election of a transitional government headed by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, but violence persists among extreme religious groups, during which petrol bombs have been a weapon of choice.
[Jerusalem Post] Egypt held talks with terrorist groups in Gazoo demanding them to commit to a ceasefire with Israel in order to prevent regional war, Quds Net news agency quoted senior Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... official Nafeth Azzam as saying on Wednesday.
According to the report, a senior source also said Egypt contacted Israel to inform it Egypt is entirely against Israeli military offenses in Gazoo. Quds Net quoted the source as saying Egypt would hold "Netanyahu personally responsible for further escalation."
The Jerusalem Post could not verify the veracity of the report.
[Bangla Daily Star] Police on Tuesday night cooled for a few years You have the right to remain silent... Abdul Moktadir, a key player in displaying and distributing among locals some Facebook images insulting the Koran on the evening of September 29 in Ramu.
It was the spreading of those images by Moktadir and his friend Omar Faruk that apparently provoked Mohammedans to torch a dozen Buddhist temples and pagodas and damage six others in Ramu that night.
The mayhem begun soon after the two showed those images, tagged in a Buddhist youth Uttam Kumar Barua's Facebook account, to locals at Faruk's mobile servicing shop at Fakirabazar in Ramu.
Eighteen-year-old Moktadir, also known as Alif, is a student of Shyamoli Ideal Polytechnic in Chittagong.
His friend Faruk, also 18, was cooled for a few years You have the right to remain silent... on October 6, and is now being interrogated by law enforcers over the duo's role in distributing the photos, police said.
Three days before his detention, Faruk described to this correspondent at the shop how he and Moktadir showed and distributed among people a number of images derogatory to Islam.
They also supplied soft copies of the picture to some local journalists, which soon got spread in and around Ramu within a few hours, Faruk had said.
This paper on October 4 published a report headlined "It all started form a tiny phone repair shop" based on Faruk's account.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... Moktadir's mother Sajeda Begum Shimul said on Sunday that her son came across the photo when he went to the shop for having a mobile phone fixed.
This correspondent wanted from her Moktadir's contact address and phone number, but she refused to give either. She also would not show any photo of her son, saying there was none.
Plainclothes law enforcers picked up Moktadir from the institute's hostel at Nasirabad in the port city late on Tuesday night, said the principal and the superintendent of the Polytechnic institute.
The law enforcers came within half an hour of Moktadir's arrival in the hostel from outside, said Imam Hossain, the hostel superintendent.
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10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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British Home Office ministers sought a pardon for Jordanian terror suspect Abu Qatada in an effort to deport him from the UK.
James Brokenshire, then the security minister, asked Jordanian ministers in February if the radical cleric could be pardoned if returned. Even when Brokenshire was told this was not possible, the Government had a "plan B" to research when the King of Jordan could issue such a pardon, an immigration appeals tribunal heard.
Anthony Layden, the former British ambassador to Libya, revealed details of the talks which occured in a meeting in Jordan on February 14.
Under cross-examination by Edward Fitzgerald QC, for Qatada, Layden agreed that the possibility of a pardon for Qatada had been explored. He said, "I think the question of a pardon had been asked earlier and Mr Brokenshire was asking for an answer."
The pardon was being sought because the evidence against Qatada was "granted by torture", Layden agreed.
Layden also said simple assurances from the Jordanian government that evidence obtained by torture would not be used were never going to be enough to deport him since it was a matter for the prosecutors and the courts, not the government.
The British Government also asked Jordanian prosecutors if they would give "an undertaking in advance that they would not rely on the statements" gained through torture, but the Jordanians refused. An attempt to get the State Security Court to rule on the admissibility of the statements before Qatada is deported was also rejected.
A Suspect Islamic fundamentalist thought to have fought in Syria while on sabbatical from his job as an NHS doctor was in custody last night.
The man was arrested with his wife at Heathrow Airport on Monday after returning to Britain from Egypt.
Counter-terrorism officers suspect he was an AK-47 wielding medic among a gang of kidnappers in war-torn Syria.
The fanatics accused the men of working for the CIA before handcuffing and blindfolding them after they were shot when they attempted to escape.
The two hostages -- John Cantlie, who had worked for the Sunday Times, and Jeroen Oerlemans -- eventually ran away a week later with the help of the Free Syrian Army.
On returning to Britain, Mr Cantlie said a doctor with a strong London accent used a saline drip and other equipment with NHS branding to treat a gunshot wound to his arm.
Mr Cantlie said the heavily-bearded AK-47-wielding medic, of Pakistani descent, claimed to have taken a sabbatical from his work in London to treat injured fighters in Syria.
He told the prisoners he wanted to wage 'holy war' and that his experiences on the frontline would serve as good training for a career in treating trauma injuries.
The man, who said he had a wife and child in Britain and kept his face covered with sunglasses and a scarf, said he held a senior post at a South London A&E department.
The photographers were told during their ordeal that two Syrians would be beheaded for spying but they were eventually spared after repenting and promising to follow sharia law.
Mr Cantlie will now be asked if he recognises the man.
He previously said there were up to 15 British nationals at the terrorist camp where the men were held in northern Syria. On one occasion Mr Cantlie heard the doctor on the phone to his family. 'He was saying, "Hello babes, how's the little 'un? Put him on and let me hear him."'
At another point, the man even complained to the hostages about the state of the NHS.
Mr Cantlie said: 'I asked for his help as we were both from London but he refused to even send a text to my girlfriend to say we were alive. He said he would be beheaded if he did.
'It wasn't much fun expecting to end up on an execution video at the hands of extremists -- one of whom was treating Londoners like me a few months ago.'
[Ynet] Twelve members of a terror cell recently exposed in La Belle France were planning to travel to Syria and join Jihadist groups there, apparently in order to take part in the fighting, French prosecutor Francois Molins said at a Gay Pareepresser.
He added that one of the suspects recently visited Egypt and Tunisia. Earlier on Thursday, five of the suspects were released. The remaining seven will appear in court later today.
Members of the group had assembled enough material to make a bomb the same size as explosives used in a deadly wave of attacks in Gay Paree in the mid-1990s, Gay Paree prosecutor Francois Molins added. The weekend police swoop, in which another suspect was rubbed out as he fired at police, dismantled "a terrorist group that is probably the most dangerous (seen in La Belle France) since 1996," Molins told a news conference on Thursday.
[Jerusalem Post] NYPD commissioner says city could be targeted because of large Jewish population; official, 'NY Post' reports.
The New York Police Department is concerned about an Iranian-sponsored terrorist attack on the city, Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday according to the New York Post.
The concern is particularly poignant due to the city's large Jewish population, which stands at over 1.5 million - the largest Jewish population in any city worldwide outside Israel.
Israel has had to cope with a number of terrorist attacks aimed at Jewish nationals living abroad. In the past year alone, bully boyz have targeted Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has blamed Iran and its proxy Hezbollah for many of these attacks.
Speaking at an anti-terror conference called NYPD SHIELD, Kelly said "We've been concerned about Iran for a while, and I think the history of those events throughout the world since January give us cause for concern."
Kevin Yorke, a lieutenant in the NYPD's Intelligence Division, said that authorities feared that Iran would retaliate against an Israeli attack by lashing out at the US, particularly in New York. He also cited Hezbollah as a possible source of cross-border terrorism.
"Within the last year, we've seen a worldwide increase in incidents involving the stockpiling of explosives, the surveillance of targets, and a number of very significant plots and attacks," the Post quoted Yorke as saying. He added that the increase is in direct relation to Iran's nuclear-weapons program and tensions surrounding it.
"Obviously if there's any action involving Israel and Iran we have to be very cognizant of the potential of retaliation here in New York City," he said.
#1
Mamdouh_Mahmud_Salim - see wikipedia & Google. He was the one who, about to face trial on a previous terrorism change, fashioned a knife out of a plastic comb & stabbed a prison guard through his eye into his brain 1 Nov 2000. The guard lost his eye & is severely impaired. Salim pleaded guilty to the attack & was sentenced to 32 years for that offense alone. From National Review: "Judge Deborah Batts, the Clinton appointee assigned to the case, declined to sentence Salim to life imprisonment. Judge Batts was unmoved by the government’s contention that a terrorist’s maiming of a prison guard might possibly have had something to do with terrorism. It didn’t seem to matter that the attempted murder arose out of a plot designed to facilitate an al-Qaeda escape, or that Salim, who pled guilty to conspiracy, had admitted to planning the attack with another al-Qaeda member. Thus, the thoughtful jurist refused to apply the sentencing guideline that governs “federal crimes of terrorism.” Though Batts did impose a term of 32 years, a federal appellate court finally reversed her absurd ruling last year, sending the case back to her court." Salim's sentence was later 'upgraded' to life without parole.
Hamza can eat out of a trough.
[Dawn] Pakistain's Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. on Wednesday vowed to bring to justice the Taliban attackers behind the shooting of 14-year-old child activist Malala Yousafzai, DawnNews reported.
"No matter where the gunnies may escape, we will bring them to justice," said Malik, speaking to news hounds at a presser in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. . "We have identified the gang which carried out the attack (on Malala Yousafzai) ... and we also know when the gunnies arrived in Swat."
Pak doctors had successfully operated on Malala Yousafzai and removed the bullet lodged in her neck after being shot by the Taliban.
Doctors were to decide whether to fly abroad Malala abroad for further medical treatment, however, the interior minister confirmed that, according to her doctors, the girl was "out of danger" and the decision to send her abroad had been temporarily postponed.
"The girl is out of critical condition ... and she will be sent abroad if the medical board thinks there is a need for further treatment there," he said, also confirming that the central part of Malala's brain had not been affected.
Malala Yousafzai was shot on her school bus with two friends in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... on Tuesday, then flown to the main northwestern city of Peshawar to be admitted to a military hospital.
Malala had spent Tuesday night in intensive care, where doctors at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) described her condition as critical.
Last night, a doctor at CMH told AFP that the bullet had travelled from her head and then lodged in the back shoulder, near the neck.
"She is in the intensive care unit and semi-conscious, although not on the ventilator," he told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The next three to four days would be crucial, he added.
Army chief issues pious statement
Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... visited the CMH on Wednesday to inquire on Malala's condition.
The country's top military officer also issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the attack.
"In attacking Malala, the terrorist have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope, who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism," Kayani said.
He vowed the military would not bow to gunnies like those who shot the young activist. "We will fight, regardless of the cost we will prevail," he said.
Tuesday's shooting in broad daylight raises serious questions about security more than three years after the army claimed to have crushed a Taliban insurgency in the valley.
The Pak Taliban claimed the attack in a series of telephone calls to news hounds and then issued a strongly-worded statement justifying the attack on a child on the grounds that Malala had preached secularism "and so-called enlightened moderation".
The Taliban controlled much of Swat from 2007-2009 but were supposedly driven out by an army offensive in July 2009.
"It's a clear command of sharia that any female, that by any means plays a role in war against the mujahedeen, should be killed," said front man Ehsanullah Ehsan.
He accused the media of pouring out "smelly propaganda" against the Taliban, saying that women had also been killed in Pakistain military operations and were tossed in the calaboose Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! by the intelligence services.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[France24] Paks held protests and public prayers for 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai on Wednesday as doctors scrambled to save the teenage activist who was shot and seriously maimed by Taliban gunnies in the country's northwest.
Yousufzai, a schoolgirl who rose to prominence in 2009 when she spoke out against Islamist Islamic fascistiwho had temporarily closed down her school, was shot in the head and neck by gunnies on Tuesday when she was leaving school in the restive Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... valley.
Doctors succeeded in removing the bullet that had lodged near her spine early on Wednesday, Rezaul Hasan from the Press Trust of India told FRANCE24, adding that the teenager remained at death's door.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. has ordered military and medical staff to transfer Yousufzai out of the country whenever it is deemed possible, The Pakistain News Service reported.
A medically equipped aircraft was put on standby at Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. airport, ready to airlift the injured girl to Dubai.
Yousufzai was being kept unconscious by medical staff.
A front man for the Taliban told the BBC on Tuesday that the 14-year-old would not be spared if she survived Tuesday's attack.
Prayers and protests
Prayers for Yousufzai's recovery and anti-Taliban protests were held in Mingora -- the Swat valley's main city and the activist girl's hometown -- as well as in the capital, Islamabad, and the eastern city of Lahore.
Pakistain's lower house of parliament on Wednesday suspended normal proceedings to condemn the attack and pray for Yousufzai.
"Malala Yousafzai is a role model for all Pakistain and we should stand united to fight the elements that attacked the 14-year-old girl," said Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
Schools closed across Swat in protest over the attack, which also maimed two other girls.
The powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... visited Malala on Wednesday and said it was time to "further unite and stand up to fight the propagators of such barbaric mindset and their sympathizers."
"We wish to bring home a simple message: We refuse to bow before terror. We will fight, regardless of the cost, we will prevail God willing," he said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... also condemned the shooting on Wednesday, saying the tragedy should rally support for "brave young women (...) who struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility, and sometimes violence."
Uncertain future for Swat
Pak officials in Yousufzai's hometown have offered a 10 million rupee ($104,000) reward for information leading to the capture of her attackers, who escaped after the shooting.
Yousufzai won plaudits at home and abroad for speaking out against the Pak Taliban at a time when Islamabad seemed to be appeasing the Islamist thugs.
After an initially successful offensive in the Swat valley in 2009, the Taliban closed down many schools for girls, including Yousufzai's, and burned down others.
At that time a documentary team filmed a weeping Yousufzai, who later launched a blog denouncing the Taliban on the BBC's Urdu website.
Pakistain's army eventually retook control of Swat later that year, and Yousufzai went on to receive the country's highest civilian award. She was also nominated for an international children's peace award.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
The Hard Boyz shot a 14-year old girl, + at last check are publicly warning they will do so again + likely kill her unless she stops her activities.
[Dawn] Pakistain's National Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution condemning a Taliban attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai for speaking out against the krazed killers, DawnNews reported.
Usual proceedings of the assembly were temporarily suspended today to open the floor for a debate on the the attack by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) gunnies.
Following the debate, Law Minister Farooq H Naek tabled the resolution condemning the attack and asking for the culprits to be brought to justice. The resolution was unanimously approved by the house.
Malala Yousufzai was shot her in the head and neck on Tuesday as she left school. Yousufzai began standing up to the Pak Taliban when she was just 11, when the government had effectively ceded control of the Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Valley, where she lives, to the krazed killers. Her courage made her a national hero and many Paks are shocked by her shooting.
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10/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... sees the shooting of a 14-year-old Pak girl, Malala Yousufzai, who protested against the Taliban as "barbaric" and has offered air ambulance services, his front man said Wednesday.
The National Peace Award winner and young Pak children's rights activist Malala Yousafzai was attacked by Pak Taliban on Tuesday in Mingora city of Swat.
Malala was shot on her school bus with two friends in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... on Tuesday, then flown to the main northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. to be admitted to a military hospital.
"I know that the president found the news reprehensible and disgusting and tragic," White House front man Jay Carney said, adding that US forces were ready to offer transport and treatment to Malala Yousafzai if appropriate.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Dean Acheson ... also condemned the attack.
She said the attack should serve as a call to action for those promoting the rights of women and girls.
Clinton said the shooting of Malala Yousufzai should galvanize support for "brave young women ... who struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility, and sometimes violence" to pursue their rights. She blamed the attack on bully boyz who are threatened by girls' empowerment.
Clinton said the "attack reminds us of the challenges that girls face, whether it is poverty or marginalisation or even violence just for speaking out for their basic rights."
Malala had spent Tuesday night in intensive care, where doctors at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) described her condition as critical.
Doctors were to decide whether to fly abroad Malala abroad for further medical treatment, however, Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. confirmed that, according to her doctors, the girl was "out of danger" and the decision to send her abroad had been temporarily postponed.
The Taliban has taken responsibility for Monday's shooting in Pakistain's volatile Swat Valley.
The KP information minister said Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has personally announced that Rs10 million will be paid to those who will help in leading to arrest or identification of the attackers.
UN chief outraged at attack on Malala
UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... is expressing outrage and the strongest condemnation over the shooting of Malala Yousufzai.
He declared the attack as a "heinous and cowardly act," UN front man Martin Nesirky said.
Ban urged that the perpetrators be swiftly brought to justice and expressed solidarity with Pakistain's efforts to confront violent extremism, he said.
Nesirky said Wednesday that the secretary-general was deeply moved by Malala's "courageous efforts" to promote education, a right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He said Ban is writing to her family to express his hope for her full and speedy recovery, and expresses sympathy to the two other girls injured in the attack.
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#1
Clinton said the shooting of Malala Yousufzai should galvanize support for "brave young women ... who struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility, and sometimes violence" to pursue their rights. She blamed the attack on bully boyz who are threatened by girls' empowerment.
'Tradition and culture and even outright hostility' are mandated by Sharia, Allah's eternal law for all humans at all times in all nations.
The Prophet of Islam Muhammad (SAW) notified mankind of Allah's will through Quran, Sunna and Hadith.
Criticism of Sharia and the proclamation of unislamic 'rights' is slander of the Prophet (SAW), an act the US government has called 'disgusting and reprehensible.'
As President Obama said, 'The future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam!'.
#2
"I know that the president found the news reprehensible and disgusting and tragic," White House front man Jay Carney said, adding that US forces were ready to offer transport and treatment to Malala Yousafzai if appropriate.
The peaceful exercise of the right to free speech (part of which is protest against anti-Coptic pogroms in Egypt) is morally equal to the attempted murder of a 14 y/o defenseless girl who protested theocratic fascism?
Really?
This is supposed to be the leadership of the 'Free World?'
BTW a car accident would have been 'tragic'. This was a pre-planned attack. The only 'tragic' turn of events for the Taliban is that she survived.
The radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder of the group behind the 2002 Bali bombings, is believed to still be giving orders to would-be terrorists from his jail cell.
Bashir was transferred from police headquarters in Jakarta last week to Batu Penitentiary on the island of Nusa Kambangan, dubbed the Alcatraz of Indonesia because of its extremely high level of security.
The prison island, off the southern coast of Central Java, was also where Bali bombers Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas were housed until their executions in 2008.
While police did not initially disclose the reasons behind the sudden decision to move Bashir, which came days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings, it has emerged authorities are concerned that he has continued to be actively involved with terrorist groups even from behind bars.
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"The leading figure (for terrorism) is still the same," Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency chief Ansyaad Mbai has told AAP.
"Even though he's already in jail, he's still giving commands."
The 74-year-old founded Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group responsible for the attacks in Bali, and remains the spiritual leader for Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), which was designated a terror organisation by the United States earlier this year.
Mbai has also warned that the new crop of violent jihadists now active in Indonesia is being driven by the same radical ideology that led to the 2002 bombings.
"It's no longer important what their name is. What's obvious is the new group and JI are linked ideologically," he said.
"Their ideological figures remain the same."
Bashir, who spent 26 months in prison over the Bali bombings before later being acquitted, was jailed again last year for helping set up a terrorist training camp in Aceh.
He was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty of using JAT as a front to raise funds for the Aceh camp. The terror cell found training at the remote jungle base was believed to be planning attacks on Western targets.
The counter-terrorism chief also confirmed that a group of five men shot dead in Bali in March were part of a new military wing formed by JAT.
"JAT has several wings. The military wing is called Tim Hisbah," Mbai said.
"This group is also linked with the five people shot in Bali."
Terrorism analyst Noor Huda Ismail said more effort was needed to counter the radical ideology still flourishing in Indonesia, warning that failure to address the problem would almost certainly lead to a repeat of the attacks in Bali.
He said extremist elements in Indonesia were still regrouping after a successful campaign by authorities over the past 10 years.
"We arrested 600, we killed some of them," he told AAP.
"But eventually, those people will be released."
"What do we do with them? Can we hope that they will de-radicalise voluntarily? There needs to be a systematic effort."
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A Suspect Islamic fundamentalist thought to have fought in Syria while on sabbatical from his job as an NHS doctor was in custody last night.
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
The radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder of the group behind the 2002 Bali bombings, is believed to still be giving orders to would-be terrorists from his jail cell.
