The wreckage of a helicopter chartered by the Red Cross that went missing four months ago with seven Turkmen on board has been found near the Afghan capital, a Red Cross spokesman said on Friday.
An Afghan government official said pilots who spotted the plane wreckage also reported seeing five bodies, some still trapped in the wreckage, which was found in the northeastern province of Kapisa. "We've spotted the wreckage of the chopper," the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the bodies were still intact due to freezing weather in the snow-covered mountains. The official did not reveal the exact location due to security concerns. He said a police patrol first reported sighting the wreckage.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the chopper on January 20 as it was leaving Pakistan, where it had been doing relief work after last year's October 8 earthquake, to return to its home base in Turkmenistan via Afghanistan. "It has been found in Kapisa province," Reto Stocker, the Red Cross spokesman in Afghanistan, told AFP. The province is about 65 kilometres northeast of Kabul.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'll do it, but leave my brother out of this one.
As the Islamic Courts militia gain the upper hand in the battle for Mogadishu, is hardline Islam on the rise in Africa?
The courts were set up several years ago, funded by businessmen who preferred any semblance of law and order to complete anarchy. They want to set up Sharia law to end the years of lawlessness. Nigeria, where there are about 60m Muslims, has already seen a strict Islamic law adopted across its northern states, leading to tension and violence.
What is Islam like in your country? As a Muslim, have you noticed a change? Is militant Islam on the rise in Africa? If so, why is this happening? Do you think that Sharia law could end the lawlessness in Somalia? Article is followed by comments, mostly from Africans and Muslims, in response to the last paragraph.
#1
SOCIALISM-COMMUNISM > like to make promises of Government-Third Party-Populist/Proletar control and accountability. SAFETY, SECURITY, PROTECTION, RESPOSNIBITY and ACCOUNTABILITY - the glitch is that when all the alleged lawlessness and corruptions, etal., i.e. "problems of a sick society" are ended, what will the innocent and the law-abiding GET BACK IN ORDER TO MOVE SOCIETY FORWARD.
GALLOWS maker David Lucas is demanding the return of capital punishment after receiving huge support from the public.
Mr Lucas was criticised by charity Amnesty International when his trade in execution equipment was revealed and reported in newspapers, radio and television across the country.
But Mr Lucas, who displays a gallows outside his Eldon Farms animal feed business at Holywell Row, near Mildenhall, said: "The support of the British people has been outstanding. Not one person has condemned me.
"People want a return of capital punishment. This is getting so big I need to take it to the Government or even the EU.
"It's unbelievable how this has gone. I went to a factory the other week and the boss brought out all the workers to meet me. I went to a market where there were hundreds of people and no-one condemned me.
"I've even had an American serviceman from one of the bases round here stop and come over to shake my hand.
"The only way to cut serious crime in this country, to get law and order, is to have capital punishment. The Government has tried everything else and it hasn't worked."
Mr Lucas said he had been burgled and robbed in the past. But he said his views had not been influenced by his own experience.
"I'm only talking about murder - particularly of a police officer - and rape. Each case has to be judged, but the only form of answer is execution. If you put a gallows in each market town it would be a deterrent."
Mr Lucas is reported to have sold gallows, and an adapted lorry where up to six people could be hanged at once, to Third World countries including Libya and Zimbabwe. But he refused to say how many he had sold.
"I'm not doing anything wrong," he said. "There is no law that prevents me from selling execution equipment."
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK director, said Mr Lucas's apparent trade to President Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe was appalling.
She said: "There have been gaping loopholes in regulations concerning execution equipment for years. It makes a mockery of the UK's effort to oppose the death penalty around the world if, right under its nose, a British company is sending hanging equipment abroad." Late word is that this gentleman is being forced out of the business.
She was in Ilopango, a poor neighbourhood of San Salvador, and a light drizzle was falling. She did not want to get wet but her fellow gang members had given her orders. Besides, unless she did it she would never earn the tattoo they had promised her. I really wanted that tattoo, she recalls.
She took a 9mm pistol and went in search of a victim. It was 1992 and she was 12.
Nelly is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, the biggest of several gangs that are turning the poor urban areas of El Salvador into a battlefield barely 14 years after the country emerged from a long and bloody civil war.
Continued on Page 49
#1
This problem could easily be solved in Central American countries.
Cordon and search, anyone sporting ANY gang affiliation tats gets a pistol shot to the head and is left to rot. Anyone moving the body before it has become a bleached skeleton...gets shot.
Here in the States, enact legislation authorizing limited martial law for the purpose of gang elimination. Again, cordon and search known gang areas. Again, instant justice.
If drastic action isn't taken to decimate these gangs, and destroy their attractivness to new recruits, one day parts of the US will be like South Africa is now.
A MILLIONAIRE Victorian businessman who has vowed unswerving loyalty to a Middle Eastern dictator is almost certain to take a Labor seat in Victoria's Parliament.
Syrian-Australian trucking boss Khalil Eideh has been chosen by Labor to run for one of its safest Upper House seats in November.
But the Sunday Herald Sun has seen two letters from Mr Eideh to the Syrian Government warning of Zionist threats, reporting to the terror-sponsor regime on Australians and pledging "absolute loyalty" to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Syria has been condemned by the US and the UN for "supporting terrorist groups" and was accused of involvement in the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In an Arab newspaper in 2002, Mr Eideh wrote "Satan brigades are getting ready to enslave the Arab world", praising "Arab martyrs".
The would-be MP has a wife in Melbourne, but in Lebanon he has a second female partner -- of whom his wife approves.
While admitting to authorising the letters to Syria, Mr Eideh yesterday denied any extremist views and said he abhorred terrorism.
"My first loyalty is to Australia, but, of course, with a Syrian background I like Syria," Mr Eideh said.
The revelations will reverberate through the Government and Labor.
The ALP said yesterday it would investigate the matter.
In an October, 2002 letter to President Assad -- a few months before the start of the war in Iraq -- the magnate highlighted threats of "Zionist and colonial attacks on the Arab nation". It concluded: "Loyalty, total loyalty to your wise and brave leadership, and we promise to remain faithful soldiers behind your victorious leadership."
In another letter, to the Syrian Government in June, 2001, Mr Eideh states: "The Syrian influence in Melbourne, Australia, is completely absent and doesn't play any role in the Australian political arena."
He also reported on members of the Syrian-Australian community, saying they attended a lunch hosted by friends of former senator Edward Obeid, who he said "harbour ill will towards the Syrian Arab republic".
ALP sources say Mr Eideh has Premier Steve Bracks's backing.
Mr Eideh is managing director of trucking giant Blue Star Logistics, which sponsors Collingwood and Essendon football clubs.
Close friends include federal frontbencher Lindsay Tanner, senator Kim Carr and state MP Liz Beattie.
He lives in Roxburgh Park with wife Souad, but has a relationship with Maha, in her early 30s, in Lebanon.
Mr Eideh yesterday said he had nothing for which to apologise.
Of his declaration of "absolute loyalty" to Syria's dictator, he said: "What we mean by that is we support the president with the reform to get rid of corruption in Syria."
New public opinion surveys conducted among "opinion elites" in Europe show that support for the Palestinians has fallen precipitously, according to a leading international pollster, Stan Greenberg, who has been briefing Israeli leaders on his findings in the past few days. There has not necessarily been "a rush to Israel" but there has been a "crash" in backing for the Palestinians, he noted.
A wake-up is in progress regards Israel and Paleos. Reality intrudes upon elitist memes. And the center of this, at least as far as this polling data is concerned, is in France.
By extension, and with first-hand experiences with the Francifada and other evidence which can't be ignored, the same might be expected to occur regards immigration.
Will they get it in time? Do French attitudes have influence in other European countries? Or, from another angle, are the same factors causing a parallel wake-up and return to reality in other countries, regardless?
I found the anti-American aspect interesting, too. Perhaps we'll also benefit from this shift, though I won't lose any sleep either way. I think it's insane to give a shit what Europeans think of us.
Hat tip - Dhimmi Watch
Immigrant children should be allowed to go to the front of the waiting lists for day care spots, and should get free care if their parents are strapped for cash. Words fail me....
While failed promises to provide day care for all remains a sensitive political issue, Rita Kumar, government adviser on immigration and integration, adds a new element to the debate, newspaper Dagsavisen reports. Kumar is the head of KIM (The Contact Committee for Immigrants and the Authorities) a government-appointed advisory body made up of representatives from immigrant organizations, political parties and relevant governmental agencies and ministries.
This proposal actually makes a bit of sense to me. Day care frees parents to work - and women in particular. Given that they are not willing to stop immigration, they really do need to get these people working, not only to contribute to the economy but also to integrate them into the wider society. Otherwise you get what they have: Islamicized ghettos.
Tell that to the people who pay taxes for day care but can't get day care because all has gone to immigrants who never paid.
Also that is exactly what France has been doing for twenty five years: giving them priority for subsidized appartements and day care. You saw the result.
BTW: I would not be so keen to put children in the hands of leftist educators who will teach them to hate the eductaors's country and his countrymen
#5
think they'll have submersion in Norwegian? Nahhhh it'll be bilingual (emphasis on the native language) and mini-madrassahs ..for "cultural reasons". Bullshit. Assimilate or GTFO. This will be the Norwegian version of the L.A. school I posted about this week
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 10:54 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Immersion, D'oh!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 10:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
This *might* work without the multiculturism. But dollars-to-doughnuts they will demand (and get) 'Islamic Daycare' where emphisis is on memorizing the koran and hatred of jews, christians, and non-muslims.
Tell that to the people who pay taxes for day care but can't get day care because all has gone to immigrants who never paid.
Also that is exactly what France has been doing for twenty five years: giving them priority for subsidized appartements and day care. You saw the result.
BTW: I would not be so keen to put children in the hands of leftist educators who will teach them to hate the eductaors's country and his countrymen
#10
The Illegal-Unlawful-Criminal having power = sway = priority over the Legal-Lawful-Law Abiding, the Few over the Many and twain never the two shall meet.
Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, has said in an interview that he published the cartoons that sent a wave of protest across the Muslim world as an act of inclusion, not exclusion.
In an article published in Germanys leading weekly Der Spiegel, Rose says the worldwide furore unleashed by the cartoons was both a surprise and a tragedy, especially for those directly affected by it. Lives were lost, buildings were torched and people were driven into hiding. And yet the unbalanced reactions to the not-so-provocative caricatures - loud denunciations and even death threats toward us, but very little outrage toward the people who attacked two Danish Embassies - unmasked unpleasant realities about Europes failed experiment with multiculturalism. Its time for the Old Continent to face facts and make some profound changes in its outlook on immigration, integration and the coming Muslim demographic surge. After decades of appeasement and political correctness, combined with growing fear of a radical minority prepared to commit serious violence, Europes moment of truth is here, he writes.
According to Rose, Europe today finds itself trapped in a posture of moral relativism that is undermining its liberal values. He believes that there is an unholy three-cornered alliance between Middle East dictators, radical imams who live in Europe and Europes traditional left wing, which is enabling a politics of victimology, which drives a culture that resists integration and adaptation, perpetuates national and religious differences and aggravates such debilitating social ills as high immigrant crime rates and entrenched unemployment. He writes, As one who once championed the utopian state of multicultural bliss, I think I know what Im talking about. I was raised on the ideals of the 1960s, in the midst of the Cold War. I saw life through the lens of the counter-cultural turmoil, adopting both the hippie pose and the political superiority complex of my generation. I and my high school peers believed that the West was imperialistic and racist. We analysed decaying Western civilisation through the texts of Marx and Engels and lionised John Lennons beautiful but stupid tune about an ideal world without private property.
Continued on Page 49
#1
According to Rose, Europe today finds itself trapped in a posture of moral relativism that is undermining its liberal values. He believes that there is an unholy three-cornered alliance between Middle East dictators, radical imams who live in Europe and Europes traditional left wing, which is enabling a politics of victimology, which drives a culture that resists integration and adaptation, perpetuates national and religious differences and aggravates such debilitating social ills as high immigrant crime rates and entrenched unemployment.
#3
According to Rose, Europe today finds itself trapped in a posture of moral relativism that is undermining its liberal values. He believes that there is an unholy three-cornered alliance between Middle East dictators, radical imams who live in Europe and Europes traditional left wing, which is enabling a politics of victimology, which drives a culture that resists integration and adaptation, perpetuates national and religious differences and aggravates such debilitating social ills as high immigrant crime rates and entrenched unemployment.
And again, 6.
This is it, folks. Spelled out in plain black and white blue and yellow. Anyone who cannot derive the least vestige of a clue from such clear-cut information is the enemy.
Under threat of death, bodyguards always near, Dutch politician and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali keeps on fearlessly criticizing Islam.
Sitting regally at a small table in 19, the tony cafe atop Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, Ayaan Hirsi Ali smiles as if the world were a peaceful place, and all people brothers and sisters. Slim, black, beautiful and stylish, she lifts her espresso cup to her lips slowly, with a princess' sense of self. Waitresses flit about. Wealthy sorts chat across their overpriced breakfasts. Hirsi Ali, 36 looking like 26, turns heads.
To the business guys eyeing her from other tables, her looks compute as "model," or maybe "TV anchor." Hey, is that Iman? Naomi Campbell?
Well, they're easier guesses than the second coming of Spinoza. Hirsi Ali may be the boldest rationalist rebel the Netherlands has seen since that 17th-century philosopher got himself excommunicated for rejecting (among other things) the Amsterdam Jewish community's belief in immortality of the soul.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/03/2006 01:03 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
this guys on the right track
Posted by: bk ||
06/03/2006 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The banning of gatherings was due to an insane increase (300%, or was it 600%) of street crime in his district, which he blamed on the feeling of impunity of the juvenile delinquents opoulation, after the non-response of the authorities to the gauntlet thrown in november 2005.
Antwerp Court ordered Arab European League (AEL) leaders Dyab Abou Jahjah, Ahmed Azzuz and Youssef Rahimi to stand trial on Thursday for their role in the Borgerhout riots after the murder of Mohamed Achrak in 2002. The public prosecution had also wanted to place the three suspects on trial on charges they operated as a private militia keeping tabs on police during the same period. But the defence lawyer for the three suspects, Kris Luyckx, said charges were dismissed during a hearing in chambers.
The 27-year-old Achrak was shot and killed on 26 November 2002 by his 66-year-old neighbour who was suffering from severe psychiatric problems. Hundreds of immigrants rioted on the streets of Borgerhout that night, smashing car and shop windows and clashing with police. Unrest continued for several days and more than 100 rioters were arrested.
The public prosecution said Abou Jahjah, Azzuz, Rahimi and eight members of the AEL incited the riots. But Antwerp Court only ordered the three leaders to face trial on Thursday. The three men will face charges of obstructing traffic, insubordination to police, destruction of 20 vehicles and numerous shop windows, assaulting police officers, threats and defamation.
Continued on Page 49
The youth section of the Norwegian Fremskrittspartiet, the major conservative opposition party in the country, has set up a fundraising campaign in which they say they will buy Mullah Krekar a one-way airplane ticket to his home in Northern Iraq. Krekar, whose real name is Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, is an Iraqi Kurd who received political asylum in Norway in 1991. According to Krekars lawyer the campaign is not funny and proves that the Fremkrittspartiets youth section has no respect for human rights.
"'Tain't funny, y'know. My client may be a terrorist but he has human rights! And one o' those human rights is to never have nobody make fun of him!"
Despite being recognized as a fugitive from Saddam Husseins Iraq, Krekar travelled home regularly until 2002.
That'd tell me that he didn't really need asylum, just a place to crash between fatwahs, but what the hell do I know?
He helped establish an Islamist republic there.
No, he didn't. He was the titular head of Ansar al-Islam, or maybe the spiritual head.
#2
make him eat Lutefisk every freaking day, morning, noon, and night. He'll walk on water to get home
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 1:37 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I can't really condone this, since jet travel is bad for The Environment™. Instead, just attach him to a heavy object and fire him out of a siege catapult in the general direction of Iraq.
#7
The difference between Krekar and Hirsi Ali? He threatens the Norwegians with terror attacks if they throw him out, and she is kicked out because her enemies threaten the Dutch with terror attacks if she is allowed to stay.
Which is no difference at all. Both cases, the terrorists win. Mullah threatens to kill if he's kicked out and Mullahs threaten to kill if the apostate isn't kicked out. Same thing.
THE Danish parliament has overwhelmingly adopted two laws overnight designed to strengthen Danish security services' powers to combat terrorism. In the wake of the London terrorist attacks of July 2005, the Danish government sought to buttress security legislation, fearing the Scandinavian country could be the target of attacks due to its involvement in the American-led Iraq war. Denmark has some 530 troops in Iraq, most of them stationed in Basra in the south of the country under British command.
The Marshmallow People and the other invertebrates will, of course, be out in force to condemn such things...
The measures voted will allow for easier monitoring of suspected terrorists' communications and are will give Danish intelligence services (PET) access to aircraft passenger lists without a warrant. The statutes will allow the PET to obtain the financial history and medical records of suspects, and facilitate information exchange between the PET and the Danish Intelligence Defence Service (FE) concerning individuals in Denmark and overseas. Police are no longer required to obtain a warrant for individual telephone numbers. A single warrant will permit authorities to listen in on a suspect for a four-week period, regardless of which telephone he uses. Video surveillance of public places and large gatherings of people are also to be permitted by the new laws.
I think the festivities surrounding the Mohammad cartoons may have helped with this passing...
The two acts were supported by the majority Liberal, Conservative and Danish People's parties, as well as the Social Democrats, the main opposition party. Other opposition parties voted against the measures, saying that the laws undermined civil liberties. "We are on the way to a police state where the intelligence services have virtually a free hand to spy on citizens," opposition spokeswoman Line Barfod said. "Nothing can justify such Draconian measures as the security of the state is not threatened," Mr Barfod added.
Obviously, though, the majority thinks that the security of the state is threatened. And Barfod is my nominee for Most Unfortunate Name of the Week.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Reaction to the cartoons finally gave these nutcases a kick in the head and cleared their vision. Hoooray !
#3
"Nothing can justify such Draconian measures as the security of the state is not threatened,"
In other news; Mister Barfod was admitted to hospital requiring surgical removal of his fingers from his ears and duct taping of his mouth to prevent him from continuously singing, "la-la-la-la-la ... I can't hear you ... la-la-la-la-la."
Freakin' MSM is now promoting this asstard as a saint? Dayum.
A Man of the People's Needs and Wants; Ahmadinejad Praised in Iran as a Caring Leader
ARAK, Iran -- The ordinary Iranians who poured into the local soccer stadium to hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad one day last month arrived carrying high hopes and handwritten letters. They left with just the hopes. The letters were collected in oversize burning receptacles cardboard boxes, then hoisted into the postal van Ahmadinejad has taken to parking prominently when he barnstorms the provinces, in an audacious campaign to make every Iranian's wish for a pony come true.
"I asked for a proper house and a pony," Vaziolla Rezaei, 57, said of the appeal he addressed to His Excellency the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. "And I also told him about my financial situation."
#2
Power Line Blog links to some good eviscerations, by Michael Ledeen and Clifford May, of this article's author: Karl's Wet Kisses.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/03/2006 15:25 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Crap, crap, crap.
Our press really is made up of the ignorant, the gullible, and the lame, isn't it?
This kind of thing isn't good. The press learned NOTHING from Eason Jordan's admission of soft-peddling Iraq, and they're pulling the same thing with Iran. Idiots, idiots, idiots.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/03/2006 16:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Ledeen's right: Vick wins the Walter Duranty Dictator Fellatio award
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 16:44 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I figure we're going to be subjected to a lot more of this kind of crap, as the MSM all line up to form a cheerleading team for Iran. They seem pretty damn determined to keep Bush from doing anything about the Mad Mullahs.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/03/2006 17:00 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"Zabihollah Sarlak asked Ahmadinejad to see that his mentally disabled son is looked after if he should die"
Oh yeah, sure. Ahmanutjob will take the Paleo approach: strap a suicide belt on the kid and give him a shove toward Israel.
A day after New Yorkers took a big funding cut as a "drop dead" message from the nation's top security official, angry lawmakers decided to drop him a postcard lots of them. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Pete King are launching a postcard protest of the government's decision to cut anti-terror grant money to New York City by 40 percent this year.
Seldom as it is that I agree with Mrs. Clinton, I agree with Mrs. Clinton. And Rep. King. Noo Yawk is much preferred to the Mohammedans over Dubuque or Omaha.
Clinton, D-N.Y., and King, R-Long Island, teamed up Thursday to write Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff postcards from famous New York landmarks, in a dig at the agency's finding the city has zero national monuments or icons at risk of terror attack.
Who the hell came up with that opinion?
Clinton and King, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, also are showing their postcards on Clinton's Web site to encourage New Yorkers to write their own.
As well they should. And I'm not even particularly fond of Noo Yawk.
Lawmakers are irate that as part of their funding cut DHS determined the city has no national icons. Oddly, separate DHS documents obtained by The Associated Press show the agency found the rest of New York state has five monuments or icons. To prod Chertoff's memory, Clinton and King will send joint postcards of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shea Stadium and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...in a dig at the agency's finding the city has zero national monuments or icons at risk of terror attack.
Maybe they can dig up some old ones of the WTC.
Either Chertoff's a moron or he's got a lot of them working for him.
#2
IIUC - San Diego lost a lot also, despite the huge tourist/military target opportunities, as did Vegas. If they're reinforcing Boise or Fargo, you have a legitimate bitch, otherwise, it's probably more a reflection on anticipated risk and past record of how well expenditures were used in the past (*ahem, big hint there*). When they use the supplemental funds for everyday Cop OT and Fire OT, and can't explain the need....the money's lost, or should be
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 0:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
just my 2 cents worth
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 0:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
New York pols think everything in the trough belongs to them. Can anyone explain how a zillion dollars would absolutely prevent the next terrorist attack?
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/03/2006 0:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
so raise municiple taxes, they can help pay for their own protection as well.
Posted by: bk ||
06/03/2006 11:27 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The city isn't my favorite place - I pay high state taxes to support it and am not thrilled to do so. That said, NYC's business base tanked after 9/11 and there's not much more that can be raised in taxes there. And as a major financial center, it really is the case that the city's well being affects us all, at least in the short to mid term.
Both the cuts and the protest are political posturing, I suspect. DHS is being ridiculous -- remember the several Brooklyn groups who've been on trial for planning to blow up bridges etc? OTOH, Bloomberg might as well be a Dem and may be planning to switch parties soon.
Ugh ... have I mentioned it's not my favorite place in the world?
#7
Imho this is much ado about nothing. NY did not have ALL it's funding pulled just part of it. As for military bases they are covered by the DOD budget. You all just fell or the oldest liberal trick in the book: "money cures all." Unless we are talking about putting I-Hawk systems around a city we can't really defend against a 9/11 attack only try to prevent the bad guys from getting on an airplane. Also what exactly will not be protected (and from what) with the moiney that NYC will not get? Is the Empire State building now open for attack? The Brooklyn Bridge? The subway systems? Who is protecting them now and who protected them before 9/11?
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Saturday he is concerned that the war in Iraq could alienate people in Southeast Asia's Muslim nations, where he will travel next week. Speaking to military leaders at an annual security conference, Rumsfeld said that the ill feelings will not force the U.S. to leave Iraq prematurely and that the world eventually will understand that American troops are not there to take over Iraqi oil fields, as some critics have suggested. "We don't intend to occupy that country for any period of time," Rumsfeld said in response to a question from the audience. "Our troops would like to go home and they will go home."
"And they will go home at a pace when we're able, along with our friends and allies with the coalition, of passing off responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, so they can pull up their socks and take responsibility for their own country."
Rumsfeld took aim at Russia and China for allowing Iran's involvement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group he said has stated opposition to terrorism and extremists. He said he finds it "passing strange" to bring the "leading terrorist nation in the world into an organization that says it's against terror."
Continued on Page 49
#3
NORTH KOREA = synonymous wid CHINA > as said before, any US defeat in the WOT, in ME andor East Asia ala TAIWAN-NORTH-KOREA, will be interpreted by Amer's enemies as a de facto decline or loss of US power and influence, motivating them to seek more and more concessions from America UNTIL ENEMY ARMIES ARE ENTRENCHED IN CONUS-NORAM, READY TO TAKE OVER FROM AMERICA AND AMERICANS. VOLUNTARILY OR BY FORCE, WHATS LEFT OF THE COUNTRY FORMERLY KNOWN AS AMERICA, THWE REGION FORMERLY KNOWN AS EUROPE, THE IDEA(S) FORMERLY KNOWN AS WESTERN DEMOCAPITALISM AND FREEDOM.
In a strategic decision that Indian policy planners are trying to comprehend, Pakistan has agreed to gift two of its old submarines to Bangladesh Navy.
Authoritative sources in the establishment told DNA that Pakistani authorities agreed to the gift when Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia visited Pakistan from February 12 to 14 earlier this year.
Pakistani authorities would refurbish and refit two of its old submarines for the Bangladesh Navy under the agreement.
The Pakistan gift would provide the Bangladesh Navy its first underwater capabilities. This raises several questions regarding Bangladeshs strategic planning and forecast for the region.
As the information begin to trickle down to policy makers here, the new strength of Bangladeshi Navy is bewildering them. But they admit that they will have to ingrain Dhakas new strength into Indian strategic plans.
Sources said Pakistan would be refurbishing two of its Daphne class submarines, which are being decommissioned presently, and give it to Bangladesh Navy. Pakistan Navy had acquired four Daphne class submarined from France in 1969-70.
The Daphne class submarine PNS Hangor, which sunk Indian naval ship Khukri during 1971 war, was decommisioned on January 2, 2006 and is reportedly being converted into a museum ship.
Sources said the the two-submarine deal was the high point of Bangaldesh Prime Minister's visit to Pakistan. The deal was kept under wraps, but New Delhi now has authoritative information through its intelligence channels about Pakistan's strategic move.
Pakistan Navy has a small submarine arm and is presently in the process of inducting Agosta-90B submarines from France.
Sources watching Bangladesh are mystified by the move, given its small navy of just over 10,000 personnel. The Bangladesh Navy is limited mostly to coastal patrolling and is getting a modern frigate built in South Korea.
Indian efforts to woo the Bangladesh Navy, with a possible gift of a ship, has not gone too far. Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash had undertaken a visit to Bangladesh in December, and had made several offers including training for its personnel in Indian facilities and assistance on various other fronts.
Posted by: john ||
06/03/2006 16:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Getting into a 40-year old Phrench-built, Paki-maintained and retired submarine seems, ummmmm, imprudent.
#6
I dunno, it's strange, the Paks and the 'Deshis have, shall we say, a turbulent history. If this is reproachment on the cheap, hokay, but it does make you wonder if the 'Deshis have decided that India is their enemy, and not the friend who helped liberate them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/03/2006 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
WASHINGTON A proposed nuclear deal with India that the White House considers one of the most important pillars of President Bush's foreign policy legacy is in jeopardy because of growing objections in Congress and abroad. Administration officials say quick congressional action is needed for survival of the complicated deal, which would permit civilian nuclear cooperation as a way to forge a historic alliance between the United States and a rising power in Asia. But lawmakers fear the accord would unravel international agreements designed to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, and encourage the nuclear ambitions of countries such as Iran.
Despite pressure from senior administration officials and personal lobbying by Bush, key Republicans remain on the fence. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee has been largely silent on the proposed legislation, and Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is uncommitted.
The White House faces months of delay, if not outright defeat. The Senate is unlikely to consider pending legislation crucial to the deal until after November's midterm elections, aides said. In the House, where opposition is stronger, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame), ranking minority member on Hyde's committee, supports the accord, but he recently warned that the administration's bill did "not have the wide and bipartisan backing it needs to pass."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
06/03/2006 12:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The PACIFIC AND EAST-SOUTH ASIA > iff American-Western democracy doesn't control or dominate same, CHINA and CHINESE-CENTRIC COMMUNIST SOCIALISM will. The pro-China Commies-
ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the request made by members of the US House of Representatives to hand over Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for interrogation and termed the action blatant violation of the countrys sovereignty. The resolution was moved by Professor Khurshid Ahmed and signed by leader of the House Senator Wasim Sajjad and senators Syed Mushahid Hussain, Liaquat Bangulzai of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Saadia Abbasi of PML(N).
This House views with concern the unwarranted request of some members of the US House of Representatives demanding the handing over of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for interrogation, the resolution said. The resolution further said, We term this action blatant violation of Pakistans sovereignty and integrity, and interference in our internal affairs. Pakistans nuclear programme is vital to our defence and is not directed against anyone. Furthermore, Pakistan is a responsible state and is fully cognizant of its responsibilities in international politics. We condemn in no uncertain terms the character assignation of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and other scientists, which is an attempt to malign Pakistans nuclear programme. Our scientists enjoy the respect and appreciation of all Pakistanis. Our nation is indebted to them for the remarkable progress that our country has made in the field of nuclear technology and weapons development, the resolution concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, has said that she is not in favour of running an agitation campaign against General Pervez Musharraf. In an interview with ARY television on Friday, Bhutto said that agitation along with the Muttahida Mujlis-e-Amal (MMA) on its one-point agenda against the present government would not be a sensible route towards real democracy in Pakistan.
"What Musharraf will do if we start agitation before the elections is that either he will stop the election process or leave the scene, paving the way for another general to rule for another five years with lots of promises of good governance," she said, adding that peaceful and controlled transition would be appropriate for the democratic future of Pakistan. She said that agitation could be opted only if Musharraf closed every door for impartial and transparent elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The White House on Friday sought to soften criticism by Iraq's prime minister over allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians in the western town of Haditha last November.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had told U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad that he had been misquoted. But Snow was unable to explain what al-Maliki told Khalilzad or how he had been misquoted. "That is a little too complicated for me to try to read out," Snow said at a briefing where he was pressed to explain how al-Maliki's remarks were supposed to have been distorted. "It becomes a little convoluted and so I don't want to make a real clear characterization because it's a little hazy to me," Snow said.
The prime minister was quoted a day earlier as saying the Haditha deaths were "a horrible crime." He also was quoted as saying, "This is a phenomenon that has become common among many of the multinational forces. No respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch. It's unacceptable."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I would want to see an accurate translation if it was not made in spoken english. I can believe it was said.
THE armed wing of Islamic Jihad has thrown its weight behind a prisoner-led plan to implicitly recognise Israel in a move that could transform the deadlocked Middle East peace process. Support for the plan was announced yesterday by the most militant of the Islamic Jihad factions, the Al-Quds Brigades, in a move that significantly boosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has invested much of his political capital in the idea. Mr Abbas had given the Palestinian Hamas-led Government until Tuesday to agree to the terms of the proposal. If Hamas reneges, he says he will take the key themes raised by the prisoners to a referendum, to be held within 40 days.
The prisoner plan calls for Israel to return to the borders held before the 1967 Six Day War and, in return, allow the capital of a Palestinian state to be established in Arab East Jerusalem. The quid pro quo would be for all Palestinian militant groups to fall under the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which is a signatory to past peace deals with Israel and formally recognises the existence of the Jewish state. Neither Islamic Jihad nor Hamas have previously talked in terms of a two-state solution. Both groups' reason for being has been to eliminate Israel and establish Palestinian rule across the Holy Land.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/03/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Mullet? Is that fried mullet? Heavenly for 1 hour.
The Justice Department is asking Internet companies to keep records on the Web-surfing activities of their customers to aid law enforcement, and may propose legislation to force them to do so.
The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales held a meeting in Washington last Friday at which they offered a general proposal on record-keeping to a group of senior executives from Internet companies, said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the department. The meeting included representatives from America Online, Microsoft, Google, Verizon and Comcast.
The attorney general has appointed a task force of department officials to explore the issue, and that group is holding another meeting with a broader group of Internet executives today, Roehrkasse said. The department also met Thursday with a group of privacy experts.
The Justice Department is not asking the Internet companies to give it data about users, but rather to retain information that could be subpoenaed through existing laws and procedures, Roehrkasse said.
While initial proposals were vague, executives from companies that attended the meeting said they gathered that the department is interested in records that would allow them to identify which individuals visited certain Web sites and possibly conducted searches using certain terms.
It also wants the Internet companies to retain records about whom their users exchange e-mail with, but not the contents of e-mail messages, the executives said. The executives spoke on the condition that they not be identified, because they did not want to offend the Justice Department.
The proposal and the initial meeting were first reported by CNet News.com and USA Today.
The department proposed that the records be retained for as long as two years. Most Internet companies discard such records after a few weeks or months. In its proposal, the department appears to be trying to determine whether Internet companies will voluntarily agree to keep certain information or if it will need to seek legislation to require them to do so.
The request comes as the government has been trying to extend its power to review electronic communications in several ways. The New York Times reported in December that the National Security Agency had gained access to phone and e-mail traffic with the cooperation of telecommunications companies, and USA Today reported last month that the agency had collected telephone calling records. The Justice Department has subpoenaed information on Internet search patterns -- but not the searches of individuals -- as it tries to defend a law intended to protect children from pornography.
In a speech in April, Gonzales said investigations into child pornography had been hampered because Internet companies had not always kept records that would help prosecutors identify people who traded in illegal images.
"The investigation and prosecution of child predators depends critically on the availability of evidence that is often in the hands of Internet service providers," Gonzales said in remarks at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. "This evidence will be available for us to use only if the providers retain the records for a reasonable amount of time."
An executive of one Internet provider that was represented at the first meeting said Gonzales began the discussion by showing slides of child pornography from the Internet. But later, one participant asked Mueller why he was interested in the Internet records. The executive said Mueller's reply was: "We want this for terrorism."
At the meeting with privacy experts on Thursday, Justice Department officials focused on wanting to retain the records for use in child pornography and terrorism investigations. But they also talked of their value in investigating other crimes like intellectual property theft and fraud, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington.
"It was clear that they would go beyond kiddie porn and terrorism and use it for general law enforcement," Rotenberg said.
Officials sought to assuage concerns that the retention of the records could compromise the privacy of Americans. But Rotenberg said he left the session with lingering concerns.
"This is a sharp departure from current practice," he said. "Data retention is an open-ended obligation to retain all information on all customers for all purposes, and from a traditional Fourth Amendment perspective, that really turns things upside down."
At today's meeting with executives of Internet access companies, Justice Department officials plan to go into more detail about what types of records they would like to see retained and for how long, said a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It will be much more nuts-and-bolts discussions," he said, adding that the department would stop short of offering formal proposals.
#1
Um.. no. In this aspect, I would say the Justice department has gone too far. No only the data storage and safekeeping costs would be far greater than most companies could afford, this is a little too much big brotherish. Terrorism I could see, but not only does the DoJ want to combat child porn, but the law can be seen as an attack on all porn. Some of the writers of the law also want to apply it to campaign spending, like the 527s as well.
There is far more information to gain from somebody from seeing what they surf. You can build entire psyche profiles off them. The web anonymity would be gone. There has been talk in congress to put another law out like McCain-Feingold to apply to the web. Then they could easily force ISPs to turn over records and fine/imprison not only the website, but the contributors as well since they are acting against the law.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/03/2006 14:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Is the Justice Department going to pay for this data retention? No it is not. I sure as hell do not want to pay for it. It going to be exceedingly expensive to store all this data. I also know how this data will actually get used. It will really get used to see if we are "stealing" the MPAA and RIAA members "intelectual property" It won't be about tracking down terrorists.
If they want the data they can pay for it after they get a warrant.
Nayyera Haq, a member of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, says her group hopes to dispel misconceptions about Islam. Asked during a radio interview what should be done if Muslim terrorists attacked the United States, Mr. Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, suggested bombing Islam's holy sites, including Mecca.
"That's when I realized there was something really wrong," said Ms. Haq, spokeswoman for Representative John Salazar, Democrat of Colorado. "Not just with members of Congress, but as Americans and our approach to dealing with 'others.' "
By last fall, Ms. Haq had joined with 22 other Muslims on Capitol Hill to form the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association. Ever since Muslim staff members began meeting for Friday prayer on the Hill in 1998, they had talked about organizing a staff members' association, one of the many groups in Congress based on ethnicity, religion or shared interests.
#1
Muslims on Capitol Hill draw some hope instead from other ethnic and religious groups that faced discrimination a generation or two ago, most notably Jews and Japanese-Americans, and who have since become more accepted by American society.
Where is that all Muslim assault regiment? 1919th?
More and more in the coming months, we're going to be seeing a truly MASSIVE public-relations blitz by the MSM aimed at conning us into denying what our "lying eyes" tell us about Islam's imperialistic, totalitarian nature, and convincing us instead that the ummah are no different from Christians and Jews. The message will be pounded home, again and again: "Move along, please, nothing to see here; they're nice people just like you and me, you know, and all this 'terrorism' stuff you hear about from time to time is just a minor aberration by a few misguided extremists who don't understand that Islam is the Religion of Peace and stands for the brotherhood of all mankind-- along with warm, fuzzy puppies and cute little kittens, of course."
The Democrats want very much to get back into power; and recently, along with the rest of the liberal establishment, they have been making it increasingly clear that they want us to return to the "law enforcement model" of dealing with Islamic terrorism that was practiced during the Clinton years, and dealing with any international dimensions of terrorism not through military action, but instead through dialog via established international institutions like the United Nations. Today's liberals are process-oriented, not results-oriented; and they are, as we've seen again and again over the last couple of decades, very uncomfortable making war. To them, it's far better-- and certainly more moral-- to have the U.N. issue one high-minded, toothless resolution after another, ad infinitum, than to take any bold, forceful, decisive action that gets the job done.
But even though five years has passed since the 9/11 atrocities, selling Americans on returning to the very approach that encouraged those atrocities is going to be a difficult job. And convincing Americans that Islam is essentially benign and intrinsically harmless, and that terrorism is the work of just a few disgruntled cranks, is going to be a major part of it.
Look for more and more articles like this leading up to Election Day-- and again, in the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election. By then, the trickle of disinformation will become a raging torrent.
Keep a barf bag handy.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/03/2006 10:11 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Just another bunch of horseshit, "we're the victims", "Islam is the religion of peace and love", oh yeah and my personal favorite,"the Zionists commit the terrorist crimes to stir hatred of muslims".
#4
If they really wanted to score some points with real Americans they should start by admitting that muslims have done some really shitty things lately and organize moderate muslims(if there is such a thing) to speak out against hate and violence. More than three or four muslims will have to stand up to the Imams and the whole muslim body will have to really show me something before I go changing my perception of them.
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.
The wreckage of a helicopter chartered by the Red Cross that went missing four months ago with seven Turkmen on board has been found near the Afghan capital, a Red Cross spokesman said on Friday.
Antwerp Court ordered 
The youth section of the Norwegian Fremskrittspartiet, the major conservative opposition party in the country, has set up a fundraising campaign in which they say they will buy 
THE Danish parliament has overwhelmingly adopted two laws overnight designed to strengthen Danish security services' powers to combat terrorism. In the wake of the London terrorist attacks of July 2005, the Danish government sought to buttress security legislation, fearing the Scandinavian country could be the target of attacks due to its involvement in the American-led Iraq war. Denmark has some 530 troops in Iraq, most of them stationed in Basra in the south of the country under British command. 
A day after New Yorkers took a big funding cut as a "drop dead" message from the nation's top security official, angry lawmakers decided to drop him a postcard lots of them. Sen. 
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Saturday he is concerned that the war in Iraq could alienate people in Southeast Asia's Muslim nations, where he will travel next week. Speaking to military leaders at an annual security conference, Rumsfeld said that the ill feelings will not force the U.S. to leave Iraq prematurely and that the world eventually will understand that American troops are not there to take over Iraqi oil fields, as some critics have suggested. "We don't intend to occupy that country for any period of time," Rumsfeld said in response to a question from the audience. "Our troops would like to go home and they will go home."
ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the request made by members of the US House of Representatives to hand over Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for interrogation and termed the action blatant violation of the countrys sovereignty. The resolution was moved by Professor Khurshid Ahmed and signed by leader of the House Senator Wasim Sajjad and senators Syed Mushahid Hussain, Liaquat Bangulzai of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Saadia Abbasi of PML(N).
Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, has said that she is not in favour of running an agitation campaign against General Pervez Musharraf. In an interview with ARY television on Friday, Bhutto said that agitation along with the Muttahida Mujlis-e-Amal (MMA) on its one-point agenda against the present government would not be a sensible route towards real democracy in Pakistan. 
The White House on Friday sought to soften criticism by Iraq's prime minister over allegations that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians in the western town of Haditha last November.
THE armed wing of Islamic Jihad has thrown its weight behind a prisoner-led plan to implicitly recognise Israel in a move that could transform the deadlocked Middle East peace process. Support for the plan was announced yesterday by the most militant of the Islamic Jihad factions, the Al-Quds Brigades, in a move that significantly boosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has invested much of his political capital in the idea. Mr Abbas had given the Palestinian Hamas-led Government until Tuesday to agree to the terms of the proposal. If Hamas reneges, he says he will take the key themes raised by the prisoners to a referendum, to be held within 40 days. 
