Hundreds of demonstrators rallied on Saturday in front of the American embassy, shouting "God is great!" and "Down with the CIA!" to demonstrate against new U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan. Police cordoned off the tightly guarded U.S. compound as protesters shouted slogans criticizing President Bush, who announced Tuesday that the U.S. had blacklisted 31 companies and three individuals, forbidding them from conducting business with an American company or bank.
The move aims to pressure Sudan to end violence in its Darfur region, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million chased from their homes in four years of fighting between local rebels and government forces. "The sanctions are not even worth the ink they were written with," rally organizer Omar Kambal said in a speech. Kambal, who heads Sudan's Youth Union, called on the government to "sever all economic ties with the U.S., today rather than tomorrow."
After a decade of U.S. economic sanctions, the two countries have little business in common. Sudan conducts nearly three quarters of its trade with Arab and Asian nations -- mainly China. Organizers said 1,000 people, mostly students and members of Sudan's lawyers association, attended the demonstration, which lasted about two hours and was held for the second time in as many days. The embassy said its staff was absent because it was the weekend.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How about blacklisting companies that do business with China?
DHAKA - A team from the United Nations met officials at Bangladeshs foreign affairs and law ministries on Sunday to assess efforts by the army-backed interim government to tackle terrorism, especially by Islamist militants.
Better the other way around: the RAB has more to offer the UN.
The team will talk with officials, intelligence agencies and law enforcers and visit Chittagong port and an Islamic religious school (madrassa) during a week-long stay in Bangladesh. The major goal of our visit is to make an assessment of the state of the current implementation by Bangladesh of Security Council resolution 1373, which was adopted after 9/11, the teams leader Sergey Karev told reporters after the meeting.
We will monitor not only legislation, but how Bangladesh cooperates with neighbours and rest of the world, said Karev, a director for assessment and technical assistance to the UN counter-terrorism committee. The team will also assess what technical assistance is needed, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Prince Harry is in training at a military base in Canada to prepare for a possible British Army deployment to Afghanistan, newspapers reported on Sunday. The 22-year-old officer, third-in-line to the throne, is at the British Army Training Unit Suffield, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) southeast of Calgary in Alberta. The casually-dressed prince flew to Calgary from London Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, newspapers said. They got him in and out of there very quickly, a witness was quoted as saying in The Mail on Sunday, News of the World and the Sunday Mirror.
Army top brass stopped Harry from joining his regiments recent deployment to Basra in southern Iraq over fears he would be headhunted by insurgents. Reports have said he is being lined up for a posting to Afghanistan instead, where it would be harder for Taliban rebels to pinpoint his location. British troops are taking on insurgents in the restive southern Helmand province.
Harry is a second lieutenant in the elite Blues and Royals regiment of the British Armys Household Cavalry, responsible for 11 soldiers and four Scmitar reconnaissance vehicles. Harry, known as Cornet Wales in the Army, is expected to practice fire and manoeuvre operations at Suffield, the largest training area available for British armoured vehicles, according to the Sunday Mirror. All the armoured live firing training is done at Suffield. It points towards a posting in Helmand. That kind of role is less in demand now in Iraq, a military source told the tabloid. The British Armys website says: this area is one of the largest our army trains on and it provides a highly realistic environment. The British Army and Britains Ministry of Defence refused to comment.
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06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Britains incoming leader Gordon Brown plans to unveil several new anti-terrorism measures when he replaces Prime Minister Tony Blair later this month, three British newspapers reported on Sunday. The Sunday Times and The Observer both carried detailed outlines of proposals that they claim Brown will make public this week.
In 2005, British lawmakers rejected the governments bid to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days, forcing it to accept a compromise of 28 days, but according to the papers, Brown is trying to revive the proposals. He also plans to grant judges greater powers to punish terrorism by making it an aggravating factor in sentencing, and will call for a review of laws banning the use of phone-tap evidence in court. This goes contrary to the wishes of security services, which say using intercept intelligence as evidence could give terrorists an insight into their methods. Brown plans to propose an increase in the security budget in the forthcoming spending review as well, when a single security budget will be unveiled.
The Sunday Telegraph said Brown would promise to give courts and Parliament greater oversight over his proposed counter-terror measures following clashes between government and opposition groups including the judiciary and civil liberty groups. He said, Because we believe in the civil liberties of the individual, we must also strengthen accountability to parliament and independent bodies overseeing the police, not subjecting people to arbitrary treatment. The world has changed, so we need tougher security. We must recognise there is a group of people we must isolate who are determined to attack. Our security must be strengthened, but we must also strengthen the accountability of our institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A radical Islamic group known for launching a bloody 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad faced growing scrutiny at home and abroad well before an alleged U.S. terrorist plot focused new attention on it. The four suspects named on Saturday in the plot to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York tried to enlist the help of Jamaat al Muslimeen, according to U.S. court documents.
But the group, whose followers are largely black converts to Sunni Islam, has faded as a political force in Trinidad as its charismatic leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, fends off criminal charges of inciting violence. In 1990, Abu Bakr's group stormed Parliament and took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage in a rebellion that left 24 dead - the only Islamic revolt in the Western Hemisphere. The rebels eventually surrendered and were later pardoned.
Though they did have contact, Jamaat al Muslimeen is not accused of offering any support to the men involved in the plot to blow up the New York airport, its fuel tanks and a jet fuel artery.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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"Anal-yst":. "They haven't identified themselves as a terrorist group,"(DUH!)"They're identified more in terms of protection rackets..."
Well, pardon my jumping in, but that is a perfect way to summarize Islam.
#2
In 1990, Abu Bakr's group stormed Parliament and took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage in a rebellion that left 24 dead - the only Islamic revolt in the Western Hemisphere. The rebels eventually surrendered and were later pardoned.
Russia will once again aim its missiles at targets in Europe if US plans to build a missile defence shield near Russias borders go ahead, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Sunday. In an interview reported in Italys Corriere della Sera, Putin acknowledged Russias response risked restarting an arms race but he said Moscow would not be responsible for the consequences because Washington had started it.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
Russia has not expressly targeted its missiles at Europe since the end of the Cold War but, asked if it would do this again if the US missile shield plan went ahead, Putin said: Yes, naturally.
"Gotta have some missiles to shield against, y'know."
If the American nuclear capability widens across European territory, we will have to give ourselves new targets in Europe, Italys leading daily quoted Putin as saying.
There's logic in there somewhere. I'm probably just not well enough trained to find it.
Putin pressures the EU with missiles and (just as important) a shut-off in natural gas supplies. The EU quivers like a cheap house in an Iranian earthquake and boots us and our missile defense. Putin thus re-establishes some good-old-fashioned hegemony. Mission accomplished.
Russias combative response to the US missile shield has prompted comparisons with the Cold War. Putin has directed angry rhetoric at the White House, last week calling US policy imperialist. Russias response to the US missile moves would be to develop more effective offensive systems, the Italian newspaper quoted Putin as saying. Washington says the shield is not a threat to Russia but is designed to protect against possible missile attacks from what it calls rogue states.
And Poot seems to busily trying to fit Mother Russia into that definition.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Bush must have overlooked something rotten when he looked into this dude's soul.
#7
Ahh putin shifts from his six year lapse of rope a dope, comng strong outta the clinches, ducking under punches ....and just now he does a massive head butt, opening wound under the other fighters chin, man oh man that head butt was fast and his head must be made of steal.....referree stoping it, fighter is bleeding everywhere, putin moves to neutral corner with a smirk. What a fight.
#9
During the cold war the US was willing to risk our cities to ensure Europes defense. Now Europe can risk a city or two to maintain the US missile defense against Iran.
I think Putin knows (a) his arms sales will plummet if the shield really works (b) that if it works it'll be upgraded until it eventually can stop everything he launches in which case Russia can only sell suitcase nukes and thus not have the deniability when something bad happens.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has reappeared in the reclusive state's media, ending a prolonged absence from the public eye and rumours of failing health, reports said Sunday.
Kim gave an "on-the-spot guidance" -- a trademark field lecture for the benefit of state media -- during a trip to revolutionary sites in the northern city of Kanggye, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a story dated June 2 but dispatched Sunday.
I just hope the field lecture wasn't as long as a Castro stem-winder.
The story comes after Kim's month-long disappearance from public view, which prompted reports of a deterioration in his health. A South Korean newspaper said his diabetes and heart disease were worsening. Kim, 65, has reduced his official activities this year. He had not been seen in public since May 5 when he visited a military base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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HT to the Captain
Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas. reeaallly?
Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community. should, but we'll see. Perhaps the FBI, et al, could QUIT using them for sensitivity training? hmmmm?
A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."
The secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America, Muneer Fareed, said his group was surprised to be named in the Texas case. "I can tell you categorically that the current administration of ISNA, as well as its stakeholders, they have no connection to my knowledge with any Holy Land foundations," he said.
Mr. Fareed denied his group has any ties to Hamas, though he said it is difficult to police all 300 mosques under his umbrella. "We might have a kid whose dad was president of Hamas for all I know," he said. "How do you verify these things?" he oughtta be dragged outside and kicked with steel-toed boots just for that stupidity
The Islamic official expressed frustration at the lack of detail in the prosecution's filing. "Perhaps there's some evidence. I just don't really know what it is," he said. "I don't know how much they got"
Spokesmen for CAIR did not respond to messages seeking comment yesterday. Efforts to contact the North American Islamic Trust were unsuccessful.
The identification of the alleged co-conspirators could aid prosecutors when the Holy Land Foundation and five of its officials, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulraham Odeh, go to trial on July 16 in Dallas. Statements by and about co-conspirators are exempt from rules barring hearsay.
RTWT - Discovery should've been fun. Now, expose the whole rat's nest. On the front page, dammit
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/04/2007 08:13 ||
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Spokesmen for CAIR did not respond to messages seeking comment yesterday
Keep at it till they do comment. Make 'em sweat. Make 'em show themselves for who they really are.
#3
I am shocked, I'm telling you, absolutely gobsmacked at this revelation...
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/04/2007 11:20 Comments ||
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"We might have a kid whose dad was president of Hamas for all I know," he said. "How do you verify these things?"
shouldn't have been highlighted - my bad - it's an ACTUAL quote
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/04/2007 12:12 Comments ||
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The only thing I want to know is why was CAIR an UNINDICTED co-conspirator?
#6
The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."
Why are these groups even allowed to function? Last I checked, the Muslim Brotherhood is a declared terrorist organization. CAIR needs to be shut down and its members stripped of citizenship then deported thereafter. The Anti-CAIR lawsuit proved all of this a long time ago. Why is our government so reluctant to act against these seditious traitors?
#7
Note the last sentence in Frank G's post. The ID of CAIR, the ISNA and the NAIT as co-conspirators allows (assuming the trial judge allows it) lots of statements by CAIR/ISNA/NAIT officials to be admitted into evidence.
This will be at best embarrassing, at worse crippling for these orgs.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A military judge on Monday dismissed terrorism-related charges against a prisoner charged with killing an American soldier in Afghanistan, in a stunning reversal for the Bush administration's attempts to try Guantanamo detainees in military court.
The chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, said the ruling in the case of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr could spell the end of the war-crimes trial system set up last year by Congress and President Bush after the Supreme Court threw out the previous system. The ruling immediately raised questions about whether the U.S. will have to further revise procedures for prosecuting prisoners, leading to major delays.
But Omar Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured after a deadly firefight in Afghanistan and who is now 20, will remain at the remote U.S. military base along with some 380 other men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, said he had no choice but to throw the Khadr case out because he had been classified as an "enemy combatant" by a military panel years earlier and not as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant."
So the ruling applies only to him. Enemy combatants are properly not tried for lawful acts of war. They're prisoners of war; so now Omar is to be held at an approvede POW camp until the war in Afghanistan is over.
The Military Commissions Act, signed by Bush last year, specifiies that only those classified as "unlawful" enemy combatants can face war trials here, Brownback noted during the arraignment in a hilltop courtroom on this U.S. military base.
Sullivan said the dismissal of Khadr case has "huge" impact because none of the detainees held at this isolated military base in southeast Cuba has been found to be an "unlawful" enemy combatant.
Unless they've been previously ruled to be lawful enemy combatants like Omar, their status has yet to be determined.
Brownback's ruling came just minutes into Khadr's arraignment, in which he faced charges he committed murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism and spying.
"The charges are dismissed without prejudice," Brownback said before he adjourned the proceeding. A prosecutor, Army Capt. Keith Petty, said he had been prepared to show Khadr was an unlawful combatant because he fought for al-Qaida, and that he had videotapes showing Khadr making and planting explosives targeting American soldiers.
The Supreme Court, ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by Hamdan, last June threw out a previous military tribunal system that was set up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, calling it unconstitutional. Congress responded with new guidelines for war-crimes trials and Bush signed them into law.
Khadr's attorneys had decried the charges against him, saying he was a child soldier and should be rehabilitated, not imprisoned.
We'll need to keep hold of him til he is rehabilitated. That's going to take a while ...
#4
Should have called them POWs then we could have sent them back to Afghanistan for punishment or held them until the war with Al Queda is over (probably decades) without trial.
Shooting them rather than capturing them is preferable but it's too late to undo that one.
WASHINGTON: Imam Hafiz Muhammad Hamid, brother of Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was deported along with his family from the United States on Sunday. He is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday morning. Hafiz Hamid was imam at the Islamic Centre of Greater Worcester, Massachusetts, and had been fighting immigration regulation infringements for the last several months. His other brother, Hafiz Muhammad Masood, is also fighting deportation and is now waiting for the next hearing of a US federal immigration court on October 11 this year.
Two brothers milking the US taxpayer while another urges his followers to kill Americans
On Friday, June 1, his friends and supporters arranged a fundraiser to Hamid and his family.
In 2000, the deported imam came to the US to attend a finance conference organised by the Harvard Programme for Islamic Finance.
Harvard organized a program for islamic finance? My boggle just broke.
He stayed on to become the imam of the Worcester mosque. He worked closely with the Islamic Society of Boston. Before coming to the US, he is believed to have been in charge of the Lashkar-e-Taiba safe house
With hot and cold running goats
He ran a terrorist safe house? And was just deported? Is Gitmo full ?
at Moon Chowk, Lahore, a facility that no longer exists
This article starring:
Hafiz Muhammad Masood
Hafiz Saeed
Imam Hafiz Muhammad Hamid
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: John Frum ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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If our government was any more incompetent it would have given FAA clearance for all flight plans filed by the 9-11 hijackers.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban are planning suicide and rocket attacks on the embassies, consulates, NGOs, firms and citizens of the US and UK in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, intelligence agencies warned in reports recently submitted to the Interior Ministry. Sources said the Interior Ministry had directed the home secretaries and inspectors general of police of all four provinces and the Islamabad chief commissioner to enhance security for the suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban targets. They have been directed to ensure regular searches of areas housing the US and UK installations and monitor madrassas, hotels and guesthouses. The Islamabad administration has been directed to ensure daily patrolling of the Diplomatic Enclave besides deployment of extra police force there.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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"This turban's made for talking, that's just what I'll do..."
Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of his own Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) faction, said on Sunday that the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) had split in the last local bodies elections and was no longer an alliance of six religious parties.
The MMA is now an alliance of only two religious parties Qazi Hussain Ahmeds Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Maulana Fazlur Rehmans JUI faction (JUI-F), Maulana Sami told reporters after the partys provincial executive council and Majlis-e-Shoorah meeting at Jamia Masjid Noor, Hayatabad.
Sami said the MMAs support of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) had damaged the countrys interests, and that his party did not support this move by the MMA. He said though Qazi Hussain Ahmed had apologised for supporting the LFO, it could not repair the damage done to nation. He said the loss could be compensated only if it was abolished by a two-third majority in parliament. The JUI-S chief said there was no such thing as Talibanisation, adding that Talibanisation did not exist in NWFP and its adjacent tribal areas. However, he added, it was good to root out evils in an Islamic society and to call this Talibanisation was absolutely wrong.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Outta all the turbans I've seen, that's one of the lamest...
Students of Jamia Hafsa on Sunday wrote a letter to Imam-e-Kaaba Shaikh Abdur Rehman Al-Sudais seeking his decree on 25 issues including military action against Islamists in Wana and Waziristan.
According to the letter, the students sought his observations on various issues including Sharia enforcement in the country and the governments violation of the Council of Islamic Ideologys advice on interest free banking. Some of the questions are: what is the status of helping a non-Muslim state (US) in attacking a Muslim neighboring state (Afghanistan), what is the status of a demand for Sharia enforcement in courts, what does Sharia say on actions to stop obscenity clad in enlightened moderation, and what does Sharia say on handing over Muslims to non-Muslim states for dollars?
"Muslim," y'see, always trumps "criminal."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD [MENL] -- The autonomous northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan has signed a security cooperation accord with the U.S.-led coalition. The accord was signed on May 30 by Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani and U.S. commanders in Irbil. The accord stipulated the handover of coalition security responsibility to the Kurdish regional government in the provinces of Dohuk, Irbil and Suleimaniya.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government was deemed ready to assume security responsibility in the region," a U.S. military statement said.
Officials said the memorandum of understanding took more than a year to draft. They said the more than 30-page agreement outlines the relationship between Kurdish security forces and the U.S.-led coalition.
#2
I fear for the Kurds with this deal. This removes any possibility that US troops could act as a trigger if Turkey invades Kurdistan.
Other than drastically increasing the size and strength of the Peshmurga, the Kurds should be doing everything they can to organize a Kurdish fifth column in Turkey, so that if the Turks ever do get gay, all of their eastern cities go up in flames.
#1
The article was interesting, but it made one major bullshit statement that is so wrong they better change it.
"The perception of some of the Israeli right wing is that Britain is pro-Arab, a hostage to Muslim opinion, and also partly responsible for the Holocaust."
The first two are absolutely true. Responsibility for the Holocaust? That is unmitigated self centered bullshit. That implies that people making this statement may have read History, but don't understand it.
#3
Perhaps the person meant that British antisemitism drove them to refuse to allow Jewish immigration to the British protectorate of Palestine, thus trapping them in Europe and condemning most of them to death. Nor was Britain alone in this; Hitler predicted the world's indifference to his genocidal policies after watching the world's non-response to Turkey's genocide of their Armenians. A sin of omission rather than commission, but a sin nonetheless. The point is legitimate, although it wanted fleshing out a bit to make intelligible to most readers.
Brigadier General Erez Zuckerman announced Thursday that he is resigning from the Israel Defense Forces due to his failure as a commander during the Second Lebanon War. "Even during the final days of the war, I felt I had failed in my role as division commander and I decided to take personal responsibility for my failure," he told Haaretz on Thursday. "However, I felt if I resigned immediately after the war, it would be evading my duty to restore order and train the division properly," he said. "After almost a year of work, I am convinced my division is capable of handling any mission given it."
"I am certain that the IDF will succeed in the face of all future challenges under the leadership of its senior commanders," Zuckerman said. "I blame no one but myself for the way I led the division during the war."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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ZAMBOANGA CITY, 4 June 2007 Communist rebels yesterday criticized President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for agreeing to a security pact that would allow Australian troops to operate in Philippine territory.
Arroyo had earlier hailed the defense deal, signed by the Philippine and Australian defense ministers last Thursday during her visit to Canberra, saying it would make not just the Philippines but the Southeast Asian region safer and more secure from militants.
The Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA is aimed at enhancing military capabilities of both countries in fighting terrorism and transnational crimes, officials said.
Arroyo said the defense arrangement, in particular, would allow elite Australian commandos to train local troops to help us fight terrorists lurking in swamps and shadows of remote southern islands.
Philippine security officials said militants from neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia had been seeking refuge on Mindanao, protected by rebels fighting to set up a separate Islamic state.
Gregorio Rosal, spokesman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and head of the partys military wing New Peoples Army (NPA), said the agreement furthers foreign military intervention in the Philippines.
With the Philippine-Australia SOFA, we can expect closer and more sinister coordination between US and Australian troops in the Philippines in carrying out combat, reconnaissance, espionage and other military activities in violation of Philippine sovereignty, Rosal said.
He said the SOFA is similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement between the United States and the Philippine governments.
Through the VFA, the American military has been able to permanently deploy a significant number of combat troops, reconnaissance forces, intelligence operatives and other open and covert interventionist forces in Philippine territory.
US forces in the Philippines have also maintained a practically permanent base of operations in Zamboanga City, Rosal said, referring to the key southern port city that is home to the largest military establishment in Mindanao.
Zamboanga City is also host to a huge number of American soldiers and communications bases.
Rosal also cited Australias all-out support for the so-called US interventionist wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
Communist rebels have previously threatened to attack US targets in the Philippines.
With the signing of the SOFA, Defense Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said the Philippines is to receive 28 patrol craft worth some four million dollars from Australia.
The boats would be used to patrol Mindanaos huge marshlands, used by rebels and terrorists as a springboard to launch terror attacks.
Aside from the patrol boats, Australia would also spend A$4 million dollars each year to train Filipino troops in anti-terrorism warfare.
Arroyo said the SOFA would help to professionalize the Philippine military through training and advanced education along with the vital contribution of special sea craft to help fight terrorism.
Like the Philippines, Australia has felt the lash of terrorism on its citizens. By working together on a regional basis, we hope to make our country and the entire region safer and more secure for our God-fearing people, she said.
The Philippines is also working for a similar military cooperation with Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia. Manila is currently holding joint anti-terrorism training with the United States off the Sulu Archipelago.
#1
Gregorio Rosal, spokesman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and head of the partys military wing New Peoples Army (NPA), said the agreement furthers foreign military intervention in the Philippines.
Sorry, Greg-baby - The Philippines discovered capitalism.
Besides sovereignty isn't worth much if citizens gotta worry about Indo-Malaysian supported terrs in the south and their Chinese-supported communist allies in the north.
It took two days for the young Muslim assassin to calm his nerves before the slaying. Then, Mohama Waekaji says, he walked one cool morning to a rice mill, carrying a knife and following orders from a guerrilla commander to behead the 72-year-old Buddhist owner. He asked the elderly man, Juan Kaewtongprakam, for some rice husks. As he turned to collect them, Waekaji says, he slashed the blade through the mans neck.
I didnt dare to disobey, the 23-year-old Waekaji said in an interview with The Associated Press - the first time a Thai militant accused of a beheading has spoken to the Western media. I knew they would come after me if I did not do what I was told.
Twenty-five beheadings - including 10 already this year - have been reported in southern Thailand since an Islamic-inspired insurgency erupted in 2004, claiming more than 2,200 lives. Militants in the heavily Muslim region seek independence from mostly Buddhist Thailand.
Beheadings are certainly on the rise outside of the Middle East proper, said Timothy Furnish, professor of Middle Eastern history at Georgia Perimeter College. These groups do take their cues from hardcore Islamic thought coming out of the Arab world. Beheading infidels not only shocks, but also demonstrates Islamic bona fides to other groups. Beheadings are not solely a tool of guerrillas. It imposed as punishment under some strict interpretations of Islamic law such as in Saudi Arabia and under the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Waekajis account of his journey - from quiet, average student to a confessed killer - offers insights into how young Muslims fall under the influence of militant thinking. He was attending a private Islamic school in Pattani province when a school buddy persuaded him to join a religious event at a mosque. There ustad, or teachers, told him about an organisation to liberate southern Thailand, asking him to take an oath to become a servant of Allah, obey the teachers and take the secrets of the organisation to his grave. Although confused and with little knowledge of politics, he took the oath and began secret training at age 19.
His teachers stressed the sufferings of Muslims in the Palestinian territories and Afghanistan and also in Thailand, where many Muslims feel they are second-class citizens in a Buddhist-dominated land.
The teachers detailed the Tak Bai tragedy of 2004 when Thai security forces confronted Muslim protesters, resulting in the deaths of 85. The victims died of suffocation when authorities arrested 1,300 people and stacked them on top of each other in trucks. I was shaken when I heard the story. I was revengeful and I did hate them, those who did this to us Muslims, Waekaji said at the prison in Na Pradu, about 680 miles south of Bangkok.
His story could not be independently confirmed, but Waekaji has made a formal written confession and the police have filed a case against him in criminal court.
During rigorous training, he learned how to do knuckle push-ups, wield knives, swords and guns and how to take a life by squeezing an opponents Adams apple with his hands or breaking a victims neck. After two years, he was sent out to burn tires and spread nails on roads to puncture tires and distract police before attacks staged by his comrades.
When the order came to slay the mill owner - a person he had seen but didnt know - Waekaji said he was frightened, both by the orders and what his leaders would do to him if he failed. It was too late to want out, he said, his eyes closed and his head downcast. It was either me or him. Police found the mans headless body at the rice mill and his head in a nearby field that separates Muslim and Buddhist villages. Waekaji was arrested and charged with the killing about two months later.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Guess what's going to happen to you now?
Best thing to do is kill the one that told you "Murder-or-else".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/04/2007 6:24 Comments ||
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#2
Muslims believe they are in a global war. Even Clinton's pro-Muslim interventions didn't shake that view. Maybe we should engage them on on a global scale.
#3
How young Muslims fall prey to militant thinking
That would be by reading the Koran or listening to anyone who preaches from it.
Maybe we should engage them on on a global scale.
Absolutely, first and foremost by instituting a global campaign of targeted assassinations against Islam's uppermost echalons of jihadist fianaciers and indoctrinators. Less than thirty operations would take a huge amount of wind from the sails of global jihad.
Iran has not received a reply from the US regarding direct flights between Tehran and New York.
The Head of Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization says the counntry has proposed direct flights to the US via a Tehran-New York route , Press tv reported here Sunday.
"The number of tourists from European, Chinese and Japanese origin are on the rise", said Esfandiar Rahim-Masha'i.
The official added Iran has not received a reply from the US regarding direct flights between Tehran and New York.
Rahim-Masha'i said the "government seeks to expand tourism and make use of the country's tourism potential."
He said economy, culture and tourism are among the priorities of the country, adding the planning and organizing of trips to expand tourism is a must for a government system.
"Iran is one of the top ten countries in terms of tourism potential," the official said, adding immediate action is necessary to develop the sector.
According to the daily Jang, an interesting situation developed when dozens of PIA officials pushed Iranian Mahan Air aircraft to send it back to Iran. When the airplane crew forgot to place an engine part called tobar on the plane, 60 to 70 PIA workers and passengers started to push the plane. Iranian planes have previously been started like this on a number of occasions.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/04/2007 23:31 Comments ||
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Iran has called a U.S. missile defense program intended to safeguard Europe against Iran a "joke of the year," the official IRNA agency reported on Monday.
Washington's missile shield project in Europe should be called a"joke of the year" since Iranian missiles can not yet reach Europe, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani told IRNA on Sunday.
Larijani stressed that Europe is the most important commercial partner of Iran and there is no even the slightest evidence to support the U.S. claim.
"One might reasonably suppose that the U.S. is following a bigger plan and thus resort to such propaganda to divert the public opinion of their other objectives," he said.
The deployment of a U.S. missile defense system at the gate of Russia would also make significant changes to the current Russia-U. S. military balance in Europe and the East-West equilibrium in conventional weapons, according to analysts.
U.S. President George W. Bush defended on Friday U.S. plan to deploy the missile defense shield in East Europe while trying to soothe Russia's concern over the disputed missile defense program.
"It's aimed at rogue regimes that would use a missile to achieve political objective or to create unrest," Bush said of the U.S. plan in an interview with foreign press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the planned deployment of the U.S. anti-ballistic missile components in Europe "is turning the continent into a tinderbox."
Source: Xinhua
#4
Not a joke to the Russians, apparently, but it is a joke to the Finest Military Establishment in the Known Galaxy, The Mighty Mad Mullah Military Monster Mobscene.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/04/2007 12:26 Comments ||
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#5
All we need now is for Kimmie to pipe in against this and we will have a trifecta.
#6
...but George looked in Putin's eyes and knew he could trust that man. Bad call, George. Perhaps trust isn't the right word but knowing what kind of guy Putin was could mean he knew what cards Putin would play and felt he could deal with him.
#7
I think Bush has learned more about Putin and would retract that statement. Fortunately Condi is a Russia expert so, if anything, dealing with Putin is our strong suit.
My question to Iran is whether our 2nd strike capability is also part of the JOTY. I don't think it's too funny myself, but they seem intent on provoking it.
#8
Russia and Iran both talk a hell of a game, but I suspect the real truth is that neither of them can afford an arms race with anyone right now. So a lot of bluster and big talk will ensue, with russia claiming to have some "super cool" unstoppable missile that nobody can shoot down, and iran babbling on about the countdown to Israels destruction, blah, blah, blah.
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. "The countdown has started for the Zionist regime's destruction at the hands of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples," the student agency ISNA also quoted the president as saying.
Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah showed for the first time that the "hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime," IRNA quoted him as saying. "God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests mostly from African, Arab and neighboring countries who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ahmadinejad has made anti-Israel comments in the past. In October 2005, he caused outrage in the West when he said in a speech that Israel's "Zionist regime should be wiped off the map." His supporters have argued Ahmadinejad's words were mistranslated and should have been better translated as "vanish from the pages of time" -- implying Israel would vanish on its own rather be destroyed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
With every word from Madman-ejad the countdown to Tehran being turned into one huge mirror gets a little shorter.
A prominent MP from North Lebanon said a government of national unity in Lebanon is possible as soon as Hezbollah and Amal support the Hariri International tribunal and start defending the Lebanese army. Samir Franjieh, told Voice of Lebanon, "if the Hezbollah led opposition thinks that the approval of the tribunal by the UN means we will now accept their conditions, then they are mistaken". Franjieh said the March 14 parliament majority alliance has already offered a proposal to the Hezbollah-led opposition to achieve a "historic settlement" based on respect for multi-confessional Lebanon and rejection of allegiance to foreign powers.
In reference to Hezbollah Franjieh said the problem we have is that a Shiite party has kidnapped the rights of the Shiite population in Lebanon and is trying to link the future of our country to that of the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad. Franjieh said time for a new national leadership in the Shiite community to reverse the current position and put Lebanon first, just like other communities have done over the years in Lebanon. Franjieh added, the Hezbollah and Amal leadership should meet with Syrian leadership and tell them bluntly that Lebanon has paid a high price for getting the tribunal approved under Chapter 7.
Last week Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah issued a warning to the Lebanese army saying attacking the camp is a "red line". March 14 leaders ridiculed Nasrallah warning and called Fatah al Islam "terrorists that have nothing to do with Islam nor the Palestinians and should be finished off."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmad Abul Gheit, urged on Sunday the Lebanese factions to achieve understanding over sensitive issues. This came during his reception of the Lebanese Charge de' Affaires here Ali Al-Halabi today.
Abul Gheit said in a statement that it was vital for the Lebanese factions to resume their talks as soon as possible to settle many constitutional matters. The foreign minister asserted Egypt's keenness on Lebanese stability and expressed solidarity with the Lebanese government and army. He also underscored the importance of fighting any group or faction that may undermine the security of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
They're talking Ahmad---the only way they know how.
(AKI) - Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a close aide of Iran's supreme leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the head of the powerful Guardians' Council watchdog, said Friday. Tehran remains "anti-American and a foe of the United States" despite the first high level talks between the two countries in three decades which took place earlier this month in Baghdad. Jannati, who was addressing faithful during prayers at Tehran's university, stressed that the "talks in Baghdad do not change in the least the anti-American policies of the Islamic Republic. If the Americans want to guarantee a certain level of security to their citizens they must pull out of Iraq and abandon the region."
The first high-level meeting in 27 years between US and Iranian officials - US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi - took place on 28 May in the Iraqi capital and focused solely on security in Iraq. Washington, which broke relations with Iran in 1980 after the Iranian Islamic revolution and the storming of the US embassy in Tehran, accuses Iran of funding, arming and training Shiite insurgents in Iraq. Iran rejects the claim and says Washington must withdraw its troops from Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/04/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Where's the surprise meter? When the regime finally collapses, and it will. All of those holy men will get to Switzerland, or France as fast as they can.
#1
I recall reading an article once about a town in Wisconsin back in the 1950's that held a "Life under the Soviet Union"-type fest. It was pretty grim and they were all glad to "return" to Packers football and plentiful bratwurst in the butcher shops.
This New Hampshire excercise sounds less authentic and thus of less educational value.
#2
If memory serves me - were'nt some of the bin Ladens we flew out on 9/12 staying in NH? I thought I read something about them having a summer compound there.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/04/2007 11:22 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like NH and VT don't have enough Green Mountain Boys these days.
#4
Were the Muttawa there to beat any women not in a Burqua? Did they ensure the mens and the wimmins were kept apart? Did they arrest any women driving to the event? Did they stone any infidels?
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.
Prince Harry is in training at a military base in Canada to prepare for a possible British Army deployment to Afghanistan, newspapers reported on Sunday. The 22-year-old officer, third-in-line to the throne, is at the British Army Training Unit Suffield, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) southeast of Calgary in Alberta. The casually-dressed prince flew to Calgary from London Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, newspapers said. They got him in and out of there very quickly, a witness was quoted as saying in The Mail on Sunday, News of the World and the Sunday Mirror.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A radical Islamic group known for launching a bloody 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad faced growing scrutiny at home and abroad well before an alleged U.S. terrorist plot focused new attention on it. The four suspects named on Saturday in the plot to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York tried to enlist the help of 
Russia will once again aim its missiles at targets in Europe if US plans to build a missile defence shield near Russias borders go ahead, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Sunday. In an interview reported in Italys Corriere della Sera, Putin acknowledged Russias response risked restarting an arms race but he said Moscow would not be responsible for the consequences because Washington had started it. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has reappeared in the reclusive state's media, ending a prolonged absence from the public eye and rumours of failing health, reports said Sunday.
WASHINGTON: 
Al Qaeda and the Taliban are planning suicide and rocket attacks on the embassies, consulates, NGOs, firms and citizens of the US and UK in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, intelligence agencies warned in reports recently submitted to the Interior Ministry. Sources said the Interior Ministry had directed the home secretaries and inspectors general of police of all four provinces and the Islamabad chief commissioner to enhance security for the suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban targets. They have been directed to ensure regular searches of areas housing the US and UK installations and monitor madrassas, hotels and guesthouses. The Islamabad administration has been directed to ensure daily patrolling of the Diplomatic Enclave besides deployment of extra police force there.
Brigadier General Erez Zuckerman announced Thursday that he is resigning from the Israel Defense Forces due to his failure as a commander during the Second Lebanon War. "Even during the final days of the war, I felt I had failed in my role as division commander and I decided to take personal responsibility for my failure," he told Haaretz on Thursday. "However, I felt if I resigned immediately after the war, it would be evading my duty to restore order and train the division properly," he said. "After almost a year of work, I am convinced my division is capable of handling any mission given it."
Iran has called a U.S. missile defense program intended to safeguard Europe against Iran a "joke of the year," the official IRNA agency reported on Monday. 
