Somalias Islamist insurgents are honoured to have been included on the United States list of terrorist organisations, a senior official from the militant group said on Wednesday. We are very pleased on the decision of the United States to put us on their list of so-called terrorists, Mohamed Ali, a high-ranking member of the Shabab organisation, told reporters in Mogadishu. The freedom fighters of Kashmir, the heroic people of Palestine and the liberation army of Chechnya are all on the so-called US list of terrorist organisations, he said. The US state department on Tuesday announced it had added the Shabab to its list of terrorist organisations, describing it as violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with Al Qaeda. Officially, the Shabab is the youth branch of the Islamic Courts Union that briefly controlled large parts of the Horn of Africa country before being ousted by government troops and the Ethiopian army last year. While the Islamists political leadership has scattered into exile, fighters from the Shabab have stayed behind, mainly in the capital Mogadishu, to wage a deadly insurgency against Ethiopian, Somali and African Union forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
#1
Then they should be really honored some night when an AC-130 shows up to rain down death on their heads.
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
KAMPALA, Uganda (CNN) -- A fight between Ugandan and Libyan presidential guards sparked chaos during a ceremony attended by the heads of state from 11 African nations on Wednesday. Fembots???
Several of the guards to the visiting heads of state from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti sustained serious injuries in the fight, which included punches, kicks and the drawing of guns. Sounds like the Vibe Awards.
No leaders were hurt in the melee, though several were knocked over. Several journalists also were caught up in the fracas and suffered injuries or lost their grips on cameras and recorders. Oh, sure. It's always about you guys, isn't it?
The incident occurred at the opening of a massive Gadhafi National Mosque in Kampala, a structure begun by the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972 and completed with financing from Libya, according to African media reports. Let the festivities...begin!
Minutes after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his host, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, jointly unveiled a plaque to mark the event, the Libyan guards pushed away the guards of other delegations at the mosque's entrance. Show's over! Outta the way...INFIDELS!!
The Ugandan guards -- who had traded hostilities with the predominantly-Arab Libyan guards at every joint event since Gadhafi's arrival in the country Sunday -- reacted with fury and fought back. SMACK! POW! WHACK!
Museveni briefly lost his balance when a hefty Libyan guard pushed him to a wall. Another Libyan guard pushed Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who also lost his balance but was caught by his own guards. The vice president of Tanzania was knocked over by fighting guards as he was taking his shoes off to enter the mosque. Guards to the rest of the visiting presidents and prime ministers kept their respective leaders out of the fray, with some drawing their guns as the dignitaries looked on in disbelief. Some leaders -- notably those from Somalia, Burundi and Djibouti -- were visibly uneasy as guns were drawn on all sides. Probably for good reason.
By the time the fight was over more than six minutes later, about a dozen presidential guards were left bleeding from compound fractures and the Libyan and Ugandan protocol officials traded bitter accusations of disrespect and racism. So who won?
"What are your people up to? Do you want to kill our leader?" a Libyan protocol official said to his Ugandan counterpart. Well, geez, doesn't everybody?
The Ugandan official, who declined to be named, shouted back, "Why do think you're superior? What makes you think Uganda has any ill intention against Gadhafi?" Just because he dresses like Joan Crawford and struts around like he owns the place does that make you better then us?
The Ugandan official said Museveni's guards were simply doing their job as security for the host country and had a right to respond when the Libyan guards pushed them back. This is our house...
It has taken 36 years to complete the giant mosque on a hill in the heart of Kampala. The mosque can accommodate as many as 17,000 people at one time, according to the engineers, who call it the largest mosque in sub-Saharan Africa. Many Muslims interviewed said the mosque's opening evoked sweet memories of Amin, the deceased dictator. For a cannibal who butchered his own people...he wasn't a bad guy.
"It is a great day and thanks be to Allah for the completion," said Salim Abdul Noor, 39. "This should remind us that while Amin is demonized as Africa's worst dictator, there are many things he did for this country that successive governments largely depend on, and much of the completed installations and structures like this beautiful mosque was Amin's dream, may Allah rest him in peace." Sure. Hitler had some issues too...but he built the autobahns.
The Swedish vice president of the European Islamic Conference, Adly Abu Hajar, 57, said the mosque heals rifts in a religion introduced to Uganda in 1844 by Arab slave traders. Swedish? And I'm sure it'll erase all that slave trade...stuff.
"I find this complex has brought unity among Muslims in Uganda. There have been so many factions, but this attraction has brought them together, identifying themselves with a common home." Uh-huh.
The fight prompted a crisis meeting by Ugandan security authorities, after which invited diplomats from mainly the European missions in Uganda expressed dismay."It's disgrace. It shows there is something wrong yet unknown between the two parties," said the head of one European mission in Kampala, who declined to be named. Jee-zus. Who did I piss off to get stuck in friggin Kampala?
The police chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, and the head of the army, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, declined to comment on the fight. We'll have to look at the films and get back to you.
But Capt. Edison Kwesiga, the spokesman of the Ugandan Presidential Guard Brigade, confirmed their hostile relationship with the Libyans. "It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of any visiting head of state. We have to do our job using any means. But our Libyan brothers always want us to fail. True, it's not the first time they come and act as you see," Kwesiga said. Uppity Libyan bastids!
The 12 defendants in Australia's largest terrorism prosecution are not getting a fair trial, the judge overseeing the case has admitted. The startling claim admission came as Justice Bernard Bongiorno said the conditions under which the accused are being held are so severe they could cause mental illness and jeopardise their ability to defend themselves. In a ruling he described as "extraordinary'', Justice Bongiorno ordered the men be moved to a new prison and called for their conditions to be upgraded.
The 12 accused went on trial in Melbourne last month charged with being members of a terrorist organisation and other terror-related offences. The trial is expected to continue until at least the end of the year, but Justice Bongiorno ordered it not resume until the men's conditions are improved. He warned if their conditions were not improved, he would consider releasing them on bail.
Justice Bongiorno ordered the sweeping changes after hearing medical evidence from four psychiatrists supporting the men's claims that they could not get a fair trial if the severe conditions of their incarceration continued. "I am satisfied that the evidence before the court establishes that the accused in this case are currently being subjected to an unfair trial,'' Justice Bongiorno said. But he added they had not been disadvantaged so far, saying the impact of the conditions would be cumulative.
It is the first time a Victorian judge has ordered that conditions for prisoners be changed. In his ruling, Justice Bongiorno accepted the 12 men were already suffering psychiatric problems that had affected their ability to follow proceedings. A continuation of the treatment was likely to affect their ability to defend themselves, he said.
The men have been held in the high security Acacia wing of Barwon Prison, near Geelong, since their arrest two years ago. To attend court they must travel for up to two hours to Melbourne each day, and two hours back, shackled and handcuffed in small compartments in a prison van. They are strip-searched when they leave Barwon and again when they return and have little time outside their cells.
The poor dears! What will Justice Bongiorno say when, after having not been searched adequately, one of the prisoners buries a shank into the back of a guard?
Justice Bongiorno ordered the men be transferred from Barwon to the Metropolitan Assessment Prison in central Melbourne, that they be transported directly from there to court each day and that they be allowed out of their cells for 10 hours each day when not in court. The judge also ordered that they not be shackled or subjected to any other restraining devices other than ordinary handcuffs while being transported. He said they should not be strip-searched after returning from court and that they be treated as ordinary remand prisoners. The men are currently classified under the highest security rating of any prisoners in Victoria.
There's generally a reason why prisoners are classified as 'highest security rating'. Perhaps the good justice would be happy to assume personal responsibility for their transport?
Justice Bongiorno also ordered that Victoria's Department of Justice make the changes he ordered by March 31 or the trial would be stayed indefinitely and he would consider releasing the men on bail. "Removal of the source of unfairness in this trial requires either that the accused's conditions of incarceration be drastically altered or that they be released on bail,'' he said.
The trial has been told the 12 intended to undertake "violent jihad'' in Australia and had formed a terror cell. They had discussed killing then prime minister John Howard, the court heard, and had identified railway stations and football grounds as likely targets.
The accused, who have all pleaded not guilty are: Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 47; Abdullah Merhi, 22; Shane Kent, 31; Majed Raad, 23; Aimen Joud, 23; Ahmed Raad, 24; Fadl Sayadi, 28; Ezzit Raad, 26; Hany Taha; Shoue Hammoud, 28; Bassam Raad, 26; and Amer Haddara, 28.
US presidential candidate John McCain says the success of Hamas and Hezbollah would put US interests in the region in danger. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post published on Wednesday, McCain said Hamas; the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon's Hezbollah, both threaten the interests of the United States and the West in general.
The Republican candidate, who has promised more wars in the future, has claimed that both Hamas and Hezbollah are dedicated to the elimination of the US, Israel and the West. "If Hamas or Hezbollah succeeds here, they are going to succeed everywhere, not only in the Middle East, but everywhere," he added. "So America does have an interest in what happens here, far above and beyond our alliance with Israel," the Republican presidential nominee said. McCain also voiced support for Israel's military incursion into the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
I think McCain is passing the SUBTLE message that he does not like the situation of Paleostain & Gaza, and unlike GW, he would green light any activities Israel might choose to defend itself. Good idea JM. Bomb, bomb, bomb...
Barack Obama says he will shift to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding in mountainous regions.
As opposed to Iraq, where we're in the process of destroying the al-Qaeda main force.
Obama, speaking Wednesday at North Carolina's Fort Bragg military base, declared he would begin long-term investment in the Afghan people.
Terminology alert: When Dems talk about making an "investment," they're not thinking of getting a return on it, only about handing out cash. For instance, making "an investment in our schools" breaks down to dumping large amount of money into substandard schools, which remain substandard but do become overpriced. They're always eager to "rescue" our schools, but I'm not aware of one that's actually been rescued.
We will start with an additional $1 billion (640 million) in nonmilitary assistance each year aid that is focused on reaching ordinary Afghans,'' he said, according to AP
Without military force to control them, the Talibs will set fire to as much of that billion dollars as they can't steal.
Anti-war activists are commemorating fifth anniversary of US-led Iraq invasion to provoke more public awareness on the prolonged US war abroad. The presidential hopefuls have tried to take advantage of the occasion to show their opposition toward war or highlight their foreign policies.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
And jsut who the F*** does Empty Suit Obama think we have been fighting and killing (and DISCREDITING) in Iraq?
Fricken moron.
Wanna get Afghanistan under control? Kill the opium crop 3 straight years. Agent Orange, roundup whatever. Choke off the cash supply.
#2
A bit difficult to kill off the opium crop when President Hamid Karzai's own brother is involved in the trade. They're all bloody dirty. I'm afraid "Roundup" for people may be required.
#3
ok, so somehow you 'kill of the opium trade', you've just destroyed the livelihoods of several hundred thousand Afghan farmers and their families. Do you think that would improve or degrade the security situation in Afghanistan?
Also, as the price of Heroin dramatically increases, heroin production would no doubt dramatically increase in the Golden Triangle, Lebanon, Central Asia etc. The question is if moving the trade to these countries (assuming such a step was possible), would reduce the funding terrorist organisations receive (I personally doubt it).
#5
That's exactly what people have been saying for years now. Buy the stuff, dump it on the medical markets as needed. Buy the stuff at gunpoint if you have to, if it's more than the pharms can process or use, then dump it at sea. Farmers may be annoyed at not getting black-market prices & having to sell to the soldiers, but either way they're getting paid at gunpoint.
The drug warriors fucked up Afghanistan pretty badly. They turned an up-hill march into a cliff-climbing expedition.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no pot-loving libertarian. Drugs suck, and potheads in particular are stinking, halfwitted jackasses. But I care a hell of a lot more about winning the War on Islamism than I care about the War on Drugs & Other Enablers of Countercultural Assholedom.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/20/2008 8:57 Comments ||
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#6
Ya know, the government has lots of experience buying up over-produced crops and storing/destroying the excess, in order to keep prices up. Give the Afghan farmers a slight premium for their crop over the going rate *AND* invest in infrastructure in the areas where farmers cooperate.
Consider it a form of latter-day Berlin Airlift; securing a foreign population in order to increase our own security.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/20/2008 9:09 Comments ||
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#7
Napalm works well too.
As for the farmers, PAY them to make other crops. Firebomb them if they do not. Carrot and stick.
#9
So this racist assclown is still saying we need to invade Pakistan.
Also, many of the opium farmers wouldn't mind trading crops, but the drug gangs threaten and kill them and they don't know how to grow anything else. I wonder how well wheat would do there since the cost of it is going sky-high.
#10
So, let's see, he wants to do his nation building in Afghanistan where the people are only just barely past the stone age, opium is the number one crop and Christianity is strictly forbidden.
Then, he wants to pull out of Iraq where we are beginning to see hopeful signs that they really can pull it together and join the human race. Not to mention all that oil and the strategic positioning on the Gulf. Not to mention that al Qaeda is ready, willing and able to move quickly into the kind of a vacuum that we would leave. And what al Qaeda doesn't take, Iran will. Then they can seize the oil and use the profits to develop WMDs. Hmmmm. Then Big O's gonna take all the "savings" to Cubanize health care in America. Heck, he'll probably want to recruit doctors from Pakistan.
I'll say one thing for him: He has done what everyone thought was impossible by making Hillary Clinton look attractive.
#15
Seems to me the better solution to the Opium Crop is to talk to the plant genetic engineers and make a very specific plant virus, targets poppies only, air spray and no more crop.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/20/2008 18:25 Comments ||
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crap! Can you imagine the increased food and replacement clothing bill, much less the heating and air conditioning at the newly 20,000 sq ft Chateau RezkoGore O'bama?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 22:29 Comments ||
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#19
The bulk of the people at FOX NEWS, CNN, + MSNBC/CNBC appear to be in rough consensus that the USA per se will only have to go back in iff OBAMA or HILLARY proceed wid their withdrawal or redux plans, and to include pulling out when the USA has either already won or on the threshold of complete mil victory.
THE GOOD NEWS FOR OBAMA > STEPHANIE MILLER on FOX - AMERS CAN TRUST BARACK + HIS MENTOR WRIGHT BECUZ HOW MANY AMERS STILL TRUST OR RELY ON THEIR CONTROVERSIAL? MENTORS = PERSONAGES DESPITE NOT ALWAYS BEING IN PUBLIC OR SILENT AGREEMENT WID THEIR VIEWS.
#20
OTOH, given that US Dems must be aware of US success in Iraq, Barack is not clear AGAIN whether by "ending the War" he truly means to UNILATER WITHDRAW FROM IRAQ-ME COMPLETELY = TOTALLY, VERSUS ONLY DIVERTING SIZABLE US ASSETS FROM IRAQ TO AFGANISTAN WHILE MAINTAINING A "SUFFICIENT" POTENT MILSUP LEVEL BACK IN IRAQ.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says, if he is elected president, he will pull out the US forces from Iraq within 16 months. Obama said on Wednesday that the Iraq war had made the United States less secure and that he would withdraw American troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.
The US has witnessed on Wednesday, series of planned anti-war rallies across the nation, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq.
The Illinois Senator, taking advantage of the occasion, described his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as the one who could not be trusted to end the Iraq war. Obama said Clinton only started opposing the war when she began her presidential race, AP reported. "Ask yourself,'' Obama told the crowd, "Who do you trust to end a war: someone who opposed the war from the beginning, or someone who started opposing it when they started preparing a run for president?"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Barak is a f**king idiot that would throw away the lives given and work accomplished in Iraq, only to have to go back in within a year after Iraq collapses from us withdrawing before they are ready. We are winning - but we have not yet won. And we will not win if he forces us to turn tail and run and abandon those who sided with us and freedom.
The bloodbath there from Al Qaeda would be immense, as would the civil war that would ensue, and the Iranian influence to incite the violence. Mix in the loss of oil production and the uncertainties and how they would rocket petroleum prices, knocking us into a depression, world wide.
What a freakin IDIOT.
Destablize the region and kill hundreds of thousand. I guess the deaths don't matter do that Obama? After all they are only BROWN skinned people, and they are worth a lot less than American people, aren't they Barak?
The wrong kind of brown-skinned people, OldSpook. The right kind of brown-skinned people he'll call a friend for decades and allow to baptize his daughters.
#7
And so by withdrawing, he would create another Afghanistan type of country. Then, he would need to re-invade since he said he would go after AQ if they "showed up" in Iraq.
I tell you, the man is a fucking moron and a monument to liberal stupidity.
#9
For all you Obama haters; you have nothing to lose! Simply vote for McCain (OldSpook), clear your conscience, feel good about life. What is 'Little Wright's' strengths, against the 'Power Of The White Side'??
#12
There is a difference between hating the man and disapproving of what he chooses to stand for, smn dear. Besides, how do you know that those here who dislike the honourable Senator Obama are white? Many of us aren't even North American, after all, or even of Caucasian descent.
#13
Some of us, smn, may be not of color, but I, for one, do not hate Obama. I just think he's a hypocrite socialist not worthy of my vote. Is that O.K.?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/20/2008 12:52 Comments ||
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#14
Don't get me wrong, I'm prepared to give my 'blessing' to McCain or Hillary, should Obama lose, but to the lesser of the 'mudslinger'!
#16
If either of those two donks get's into office, Then I can't say they (our population) deserves the service of our armed forces. If the public delivers this stab in the back, then I would applaud any service member who just walked away. Let the protest march attendees fight the next war.
#17
SMN, you are an idiot as well, my little trolling friend.
Obama is certifiably STUPID as are all the "get out now" crowd. They ignore reality of Iraq now and continue to believe it is as it was 2 years ago, argue about how we got there instead of dealing with reality now and how to win, are ignorant of Arab culture in Iraq, and completely oblivious as to the consequences of the actions the demand.
Like a dead mackeral in the moonlight, Obama both shines and stinks. The problem is, the closer we get to the core of Obama, the more you smell the rot of a power hungry politician. Someone who would throw his mother under the bus so he can advance his campaign past his association with racist hate-mongerers.
In short - deliberate ignorance is their hallmark. As is yours. And like Obama, you mix it with wordplay and disingenuousness - which makes you and him both idiots.
#18
The American people wanted the US in Iraq. And that is why the Democrats gave it their blessings. Thousands of people were killed in minutes in Manhatten, the Pentagon was hit, the White House may have been next except for some people who took out that threat in flight.
It was open season Middle East leader who could help the ones that could have the ability to give the new suicidal bombers more powerfull means.
But then you have a whole party of people who are screaming retreat and have been as soon as the first shots were fired. That party includes Hillary and O My Gosh, they be shooting at us Obama.
#19
Hey OLD Spook I just want to clarify a few things... I have been away from my desk for 5 years, so I was just hoping you could clear up a few things. You said "We are winning - but we have not yet won."
What is it that you are winning???
Who is the enemy you are fighting???
Is this enemy contained in Iraq exclusively???
When will we know that you have won???
What is a terrorist???
When does and ordinary Iraqi turn into a terrorist???
Has the reason for America's invasion changed since 5 years ago???
Why is America in Iraq currently ???
Where are the WMD's ???
Was there a such thing as Al Qaeda before America invaded to look for those WMD's???
Did Obama Binladen have anything to do with Sadam Husain???
What did Benazir Bhutto mean when she said Bin laden was dead? How can he be dead when he is still making tapes that say America is safer then ever before...
#20
You guys are giving steak and cavier to these trolls!
Like a dead mackeral in the moonlight, Obama both shines and stinks. The problem is, the closer we get to the core of Obama, the more you smell the rot of a power hungry politician. Someone who would throw his mother under the bus so he can advance his campaign past his association with racist hate-mongerers.
This is very well said. Grandmother too.
Posted by: Jan ||
03/20/2008 21:37 Comments ||
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#21
"mac-d-only" - your name here is "troll". Don't expect a response
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 22:11 Comments ||
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#22
"mac-d-only" - your name here is "troll". Don't expect a response
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 22:11 Comments ||
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#23
twice for emphasis, I guess....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 22:24 Comments ||
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#24
Can't make a horse drink... (shrug)... no worries... I like you frankness...
#25
I thought mac-d-only had been banned. What on earth could he possibly have been doing to be away from his desk for half a decade? If it's that he retired, then he has the time to research his questions instead of demanding others do the work for him. After all, it's all in the Rantburg archives, including links to the original articles so that he can judge the value of the analysis for himself... as well as the analyzers. He needn't rely on OldSpook to interpret for him when he appears fully capable of doing it on his own.
On NPR this evening at 6:35 Eastern Daylight Savings Time... they had on several reporters from national and international print news media, discussing the issues of the day. The moderator brought up Senator McCain's gaffe about the Al Qaeda-Iran link, as reported so gleefully in the New York Times. It was the BBC reporter, I think, who bluntly corrected him, saying that if one looks carefully at the history, the link between Iran and Al Qaeda goes back to the early part of the 1990s; not only was, and is, he said, Iran sheltering several leadership groups of Al Qaeda (including one of Osama bin Laden's sons, as I recall, although he didn't mention that), but he had seen the evidence that Iran was funding Al Qaeda in Iraq now as well as the Shiite groups.
Oddly enough, we've had a great many open source articles here which say exactly the same thing. Those who are curious need only go through the archives. Which is why Rantburgers believe these things to be true. The vexing thing is that the New York Times and so many other U.S. and international news vendors continue to claim otherwise, and those who prefer to think themselves amongst the highly intelligent merely by dint of passing their eyes over those pages, instead of doing the slightest bit of research -- so easy nowadays that even I can google or look up on Wikipedia -- continue to believe them.
#26
TW I love you... anyways, your right I was just playing around with most of the questions, but I am surprised you missed the one I left for you. You usually amaze me with your intuition, but it is friday night and I know you are tired... No worries some other night, but if you ban me I shall not come back :)
Lynndie England, the public face of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, told a German news magazine that she was sorry for appearing in photographs of detainees in the notorious Iraqi prison, and believes the scenes of torture and humiliation served as a powerful rallying point for anti-American insurgents.
In an interview with the weekly magazine Stern conducted in English and posted on its Web site Tuesday, England was both remorseful and unrepentantand conceded that the published photos surely incensed insurgents in Iraq. "I guess after the picture came out the insurgency picked up and Iraqis attacked the Americans and the British and they attacked in return and they were just killing each other. I felt bad about it ... no, I felt pissed off. If the media hadn't exposed the pictures to that extent, then thousands of lives would have been saved," she was quoted as saying.
Asked how she could blame the media for the controversy, she said it wasn't her who leaked the photos. "Yeah, I took the photos but I didn't make it worldwide. Yes, I was in five or six pictures and I took some pictures, and those pictures were shameful and degrading to the Iraqis and to our government," she said, according to the report. "And I feel sorry and wrong about what I did. But it would not have escalated to what it did all over the world if it wouldn't have been for someone leaking it to the media."
England, who was a private first class, was in several images taken in late 2003 by U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib. One showed her holding a naked prisoner on a leash, while in others she posed with a pyramid of naked detainees and pointed at the genitals of a prisoner while a cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth.
Asked by the magazine if what happened at Abu Ghraib was a scandal or something that happens during wartime, England said it was the latter. "I'm saying that what we did happens in war. It just isn't documented," she was quoted as saying. "If it had been broken by the news without the pictures it wouldn't have been that big."
She told the magazine that there are other photographs that have not been released that contain more graphic images than those that were seen on television, in newspapers and on the Internet. "You see the dogs biting the prisoners. Or you see bite marks from the dogs. You can see MPs (military police) holding down a prisoner so a medic can give him a shot," she said. "If those had been made public at the time, then the whole world would have looked at those and not at mine."
England was released in March 2007 after serving half her 36-month sentence. She was convicted of six counts involving prisoner mistreatment. England said she is living with her parents in Fort Ashby, W.Va., along with her son, Carter, whose father is Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of those who took the pictures. They were both members of the 372nd Military Police Company based in western Maryland.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
"You see the dogs biting the prisoners. Or you see bite marks from the dogs.
#3
Uh, Lynndie, you moron, it was the defense attorneys that "leaked" the pictures to the media.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/20/2008 9:05 Comments ||
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#4
The investigation was completed and briefed to the MSM in January, papers prepared in February, proceeding started in March and April. In desperation the attorneys and family were 'somehow' able to make it all 'public' just in time for sweeps month broadcast on 60 minutes. Unlike most other institutions, the military was indeed efficiently cleaning their own house of bad people.
#7
I wonder how many of you lovely, highly educated folks that are referring to England as a retard, moron, trailer trash, whatever....have ever pulled on a pair of boots and spent time in a combat theater of operation? I'll stick with the soldiers and young Lynndie England. Had her chain of command been watching soldiers like they were supposed to, things might have been a bit different. My comment on the dog bite still stands. I'd much rather be bitten by a hond than blown up by a VBIED or vest bomber.
#9
I feel sorry for Lynndie England. She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, granted, but she did try to serve our country and better herself in the process. The fact that she was foolish enough to be led astray by Graner and then got made the poster girl for the Abu Ghraib problems shouldn't obscure the former.
Anyone who doesn't think Abu Ghraib was deliberately exploited and aggrandized to the nth degree by the internal traitors and our external enemies is delusional. It simply wasn't as bad as it was painted. England spent 18 months in jail. Graner is doing ten years. Hell, gang-bangers KILL people and get less time than that. Remember: nobody died in the Abu Ghraib incident. Some people were humiliated but that beats the hell out of the way Saddam used to take care of such problems. We're still digging up his mass graves.
Posted by: Ho Chi Whimp8387 ||
03/20/2008 19:01 Comments ||
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#10
I feel sorry only for the baby that was made that night. What a screwed up situation.
Terror suspects Riyazuddin Nasir and Asadulla Abubakkar on Wednesday told the court that they were attacked by co-inmates in Hubli sub-jail on Tuesday night.
The accused, who were produced before the second JMFC court here under tight security, sought special security as they were not feeling safe in the jail. When the judge asked whether they had brought the issue to the notice of the jailer, the terror suspects replied that the jailer was not responding to their complaints properly.
Taking serious note of their statements, the judge ordered for medical check up of Riyazuddin and Asadulla and asked the jail authorities to submit a report.
Later, hearing the case judge K B Patil ordered extension of judicial custody of Asadulla and Riyazuddin till March 27. The terror suspects were taken to the sub-jail.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/20/2008 07:12 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
Second storey men don't like the possibility of being blown up during their exertions?
#2
"Later, hearing the case judge K B Patil ordered extension of judicial custody of Asadulla and Riyazuddin till March 27. The terror suspects were taken to the sub-jail."
Translation: 'Da boyz didn't do a good enuff job, so's we're gonna throw youse back in so's dey cin get anudder chance....'
In a bold statement on Wednesday, the wife of Sarabjit Singh said they did not wish him to be repatriated from Pakistan if it meant India had to release some terrorists in exchange.
Myself and my daughters would never like Sarabjit freed in exchange for any hardcore Pakistani terrorists lodged in Indian jails, Sukhpreet Kaur, wife of the Indian prisoner on death row in the Lahore jail, told PTI.
Sarabjit is due to be executed on April 1st.
She said that for the family nothing is above the nation and we cant go against the interests of our motherland.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/20/2008 07:04 ||
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#1
"Come back with your shield or on it," isn't that what Roman matrons told their menfolk? If I recall correctly, Singh is the surname of the Sikhs, which goes some way to explain such wisdom and courage.
#7
Sarabjit was sentenced to death in 1991 for his alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. His family denies he is a spy as claimed by Pakistan and insists he accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory.
#8
He is most likely a drunken trespasser. He is a simple farmer and doesn't have the police, military or IAS background to be a RAW/IB black operative.
Someone like him would not have been tasked with crossing the border to organize bombings.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/20/2008 16:01 Comments ||
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#9
Someone like him would not have been tasked with crossing the border to organize bombings.
ya mean he's NOT muslim? ...JK
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 19:34 Comments ||
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Manshera: Longhaired gunmen burst into the white stone building and killed four charity workers helping earthquake victims, then wrecked the office with grenades and set it on fire. Police came, but did not intervene.
In a tactic reminiscent of Ghengis Khan neighboring Afghanistan, militants are attacking aid groups in Pakistans volatile northwest, and local authorities appear incapable - or unwilling - to stop them. The threat has forced several foreign agencies to scale back assistance to survivors of the October 2005 earthquake, risking the regions recovery from the worst natural disaster in the countrys history.
The February 25 attack on employees of Plan International, a British-based charity that focuses on helping children, was the worst in a series of threats and assaults on aid workers in the northern mountains where Taliban-style militants have expanded their reach in the past year. Nearly a month later, menacing letters are still being sent to aid organisations. Although all four victims in Mansehra were Pakistani men, extremists despise the aid groups because they employ women and work for womens rights.
Local officials in Mansehra, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said letters from extremists distributed March 13 and 14 also warned schools to make sure girls are covered from head to toe and to avoid coeducation. Police accuse a local militant, Mohiuddin Shakir, who goes by the alias Mujahid, of masterminding the attack last month on the aid office in Mansehra. He has not been arrested. Shakir, a former member of an Al Qaeda-linked group, has criminal charges against him in Pakistan dating back to 2002, including for murder, according to police records obtained by The Associated Press. Shakir now leads a militant group called Lashkar-e-Ababeel. Last summer, Shakir wrote a letter to newspapers warning international aid groups about hiring women and warning women to wear an all-encompassing veil.
Yet Abdul Ershad, an officer investigating the attack, said that as recently as late 2007, Shakir had a working arrangement with police in his hometown of Phulra not far from Mansehra. To advance his agenda, he would tell police about residents involved in un-Islamic activities - like men selling pornographic videos and socialising with women - and police would arrest them, Ershad said. Brig Waqas Iqbal Raja, the chief security official for the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency, acknowledged a growing presence of extremists in the quake zone, including some militants displaced by an army offensive against supporters of a pro-Taliban cleric in neighboring Swat district.
He could not explain why Shakir was still at large. Distrustful residents did not alert police when six or seven militants with long hair and their faces hidden behind scarves descended in broad daylight on the Plan International compound. The militants ordered the security guard to leave. Sajjad Mahmood, a clerk working next door, said police arrived after 30 minutes and just stood outside the gate while the assailants were inside. When the gunmen emerged, police did not try to stop them, he said. It was a real act of brutality and you feel very worried, and still there is no real arrangements from the police for security, said Aneela Tobassam, a Pakistani worker for US-based Mercy Corps who provides vocational training to women. Even inside her office, Tobassam, an ethnic Pashtun, wears a large shawl covering her head. I dont feel safe outside right now, but I wont leave. I will stay here and I will do my work even if for now it is inside the office, she said.
There was a bombing outside the office of a local charity, Strengthening Participatory Organisation, which wounded eight people. Attackers also sprayed the compound of CARE International with automatic gunfire, but no one was hurt.
The quake-hit region has long been a haven for militant groups allegedly linked to the Pakistani military and intelligence service. The Jamaatud Dawa, a successor to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, was among the first to help quake victims after the disaster and worked closely with the Pakistan military. It and banned groups like Harakatul Mujahedeen set up medical camps alongside an extensive, and widely welcomed, international relief effort.
Graham Strong, country director for US-based World Vision, which heads an umbrella group of 20 international aid organisations operating in Pakistan, voiced concern that aid workers here will face the same problem as in Afghanistan. I hope we are not going down the same road here, Strong said in Islamabad. We are generally concerned that things might be changing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
The solution is so simple, NO AID, let Allah Provide.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/20/2008 18:30 Comments ||
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#2
Here's an idea. Let's have another earthquake up there and then have everybody they ask for help tell them to go fuck themselves...
Reports say that a doctor of Arab origin, residing in the building, was among the dead.
A pro-government militant commander has accused Pakistani and US forces of carrying out Sunday's missile attack in South Waziristan. Maulvi Nazir, who won the support of the government after launching an armed campaign against Uzbek militants, said the Mujahideen would soon avenge the death of their comrades.
Officials said that nine militants had been killed in the attack on a house, while local people put the death toll at 18, Dawn News Network reported. Reports say that a doctor of Arab origin, residing in the building, was among the dead. However, officials were not available for confirmation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
Not blame - credit...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/20/2008 11:27 Comments ||
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India on Wednesday accused Pakistan of refusing to hand over hijackers involved in the 1999 seizure of a domestic passenger airline that was commandeered and flown to Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that despite several requests by India, Islamabad had failed to hand over the hijackers, which he said New Delhi believes are on Pakistani soil. Pakistan has consistently denied that it is harbouring the hijackers. The matter is still being pursued with the Pakistan government, including through the joint anti-terrorism mechanism and the home secretary-level talks on terrorism under the composite (peace) dialogue, he told parliament. The New Delhi-bound aircraft with 157 people on board was hijacked and flown to the Afghan city of Kandahar by five men after it took off from Kathmandu on December 24, 1999.
The crisis ended after Indias then Hindu nationalist government swapped the captives for three Islamic militants imprisoned in New Delhi. The freed rebels and the five hijackers are on a list of 20 most-wanted men India claims have been granted sanctuary by Pakistan. A peace dialogue launched in 2004 between the two South Asian adversaries has made little headway on Indias demands that Pakistan hand over the men.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
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#1
The crisis ended after Indias then Hindu nationalist government swapped the captives for three Islamic militants imprisoned in New Delhi.
One of the freed "militants" Omar Said Sheik, is on death row in Pakistan, convicted for the murder of wall street journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
It is alleged that Sheik was an intermediary for the $100,000 transferred to lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/20/2008 6:50 Comments ||
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Looks like Hans takes his job too seriously and can't see past Hussein's intentional misrepresentations, or the fact that WMD was only one facet of the whole problem in any case.
Hans Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector, slammed the Iraq war as a "tragedy" and blamed it on leaders ignoring the facts, in a comment piece published Thursday. You mean ignoring the facts according to a dictator known to be a pathological liar? Saddam was playing all sorts of games at the time, as evidenced by statements that he made in captivity that he didn't think the US or the Coalition had the cajones to attack. He got what his ignorance asked for.
Writing in The Guardian on the five-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Blix, who clashed with Washington in the run-up to the Iraq war, described the war as "a tragedy -- for Iraq, for the US, for the UN, for truth and human dignity." How many Iraqis was Saddam killing each year on the average? How many Kurds had he gassed? How hard did the US have to work to keep him off the Kurds? What would have happened if we had walked away? Does this have anything to do with human dignity?
In the sub-headline to the comment piece, Blix, who headed the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, wrote that responsibility for the war "must lie with those who ignored the facts five years ago". How do you ignore the IA sterilizing every suspected WMD site as fast as the slides are put up for display?
At the time of the Iraq war, Blix accused the US and Britain of exaggerating the threat from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's alleged "weapons of mass destruction" -- traces of which have never been found. Apparently we aren't going to discuss all the precursors that I understand were found all over the place?
In his comment piece, he said the war was a "setback in the world's efforts to develop legal restraints on the use of armed force between states" and added that in 2003, "Iraq was not a real or imminent threat to anybody." Except Kuwait. And Iran. And SA. and Israel. And anyone who depended on ME oil.
Blix wrote that had coalition troops not deposed Saddam, "he would, in all likelihood, have become another Kadhafi or Castro; an oppressor of his own people but no longer a threat to the world." Let's ask Kuwaitis how they would feel about putting Saddam et. al. back in power.
He said that one positive sign to emerge from the conflict was that "it may be that the spectacular failure of ensuring disarmament by force, and of introducing democracy by occupation, will work in favour of a greater use of diplomacy and 'soft power'." Means a lot coming from a milktoast who can't find his a$$ with both hands.
#1
It is a tragedy---a tragedy of wasting (approx) trillion dollars and 4000 human lives where a few billion worth of nukes could've yielded a much better result.
#2
Right Grom. That's the only workable approach. And why hasn't Blix been afflicted by some uncurable disease so we don't have to endure his continuing BS.
#3
This guy is a total failure and he still gets press. The Guardian is the enemy of western civilization after all; no wonder he was allowed to promote his failure in it.
#4
Thanks, Blixie. You can come back from irrelevancy again in about another six months, spout the same old shit all over again and give your ego it's nice semiannual media handjob.
We're looking forward to it...well, not really.
#9
Relax, OS. All of Rantburg's readers except the trolls have memorized all the dialog in that movie. I'm quite sure you surprised no one. Just remember, there are three types of people in this world.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/20/2008 22:15 Comments ||
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SDEROT - US Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday showed vigorous support for Israel, where he made a highly symbolic visit to a town hit by near-daily rocket fire from Gaza. No nation in the world can be attacked incessantly and have its population killed and intimidated without responding, McCain said in the southern town of Sderot, where he visited a house hit by a rocket fired by Islamists in the Gaza Strip, just a few kilometres (miles) away.
Seeing it first-hand, the situation here is one that is very compelling, McCain told reporters in Sderot after touring the town with Defence Minister Ehud Barak. Nine hundred rocket attacks in the last three months; this puts an enormous strain on everyone here, especially the children.
Especially when you can't or won't fight back.
Earlier in the day, the senator and his colleagues Joe Lieberman (Democrat) and Lindsey Graham (Republican) were taken on a helicopter tour by Barak, who briefed them on security issues.
McCain warned in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia threatened not only the Jewish state but also US and Western interests. If Hamas-Hezbollah succeed here, they are going to succeed everywhere.
They are dedicated to the extinction of everything that the US, Israel and the West believe and stand for, the Republican candidate added.
I'm hoping that a President McCain doesn't get turned by the State Department.
He also called Iran a threat for the region, expressing certainty Tehran was pursuing nuclear weapons.
Boy howdy, you let McCain be himself and you end up with a pretty decent statesman. And I like this quote as reported here:
On the topic of Hamas, McCain said, "Someone is going to have to answer me the question of how you are going to negotiate with an organization that is dedicated to your extinction."
I dunno John, that's a pretty simple idea in a complex world. And this quote:
"No nation in the world can be attacked incessantly ... without responding," he said. "The fact is that I come from a border state, and if people were rocketing my state, I think that the citizens from my state would advocate a very vigorous response," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The honourable Senator McCain may well have different ideas about the correct approach to border-crossing illegal aliens as president of the country than he did as senator of Arizona.
As for the following quote from one of Dr. Steve's links, that was the one I heard yesterday on NPR, to my shock and delight.
On the topic of Hamas, McCain said, "Someone is going to have to answer me the question of how you are going to negotiate with an organization that is dedicated to your extinction."
#2
You know, I've had a lot of disagreements with McCain, particularly over amnesty, but if he keeps saying and doing things like this visit and the visit to Iraq, he can win me over. That's something neither of the other two POTUS candidates have any hope of doing.
#4
I think that was his point, too, Besoeker. Only he presented it in the Socratic mode. ;-)
The point has been made over and over that President Bush is simply too nice, and not blunt enough. I think as president John McCain would not elicit such complaints.
#5
One thing I can't complain about McCain, is he hits home runs on foreign policy almost all the time. Domestically, he may be a disaster, but you can't fix the domestic front if it has been overrun. I believe he would at least keep the wolves at the door or far from the door while the dhimocrats would invite the wolves in to dine on our children, then blame us for not understanding the "Root Causes".
#6
On the topic of Hamas, McCain said, "Someone is going to have to answer me the question of how you are going to negotiate with an organization that is dedicated to your extinction."
Excellent statement Mr. McCain. Now, I would like to get a response from Condi on what you said there, and put it in the record.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/20/2008 22:03 Comments ||
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Hamas' number two Mussa Abu Marzuk said on Wednesday the Islamists would share control of the Gaza Strip if Hamas' Ismail Haniya was reappointed prime minister by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Abu Marzuk said Hamas would accept a "return to the situation which existed before June 13 including a return of the government of Ismail Haniya in its capacity as a government of national unity."
Hamas seized control of Gaza in June after routing forces loyal to Abbas in a week of deadly street battles. Abbas then dismissed Haniya from his role as prime minister and suspended talks with Hamas, which he has refused to reopen until the Islamists relinquish control of Gaza. Abu Marzuk made the proposal during a visit to Sanaa at the same time as a delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organisation was also in Yemen's capital for separate talks with Yemeni officials on Palestinian reconciliation.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi said both Hamas and PLO delegations appeared to back the Yemeni reconciliation initiative "completely and without condition." "The discussions which have taken place in Sanaa have focused on the mechanisms to allow the implementation of this initiative," he said. In addition to a return to the pre-June situation, the Yemeni initiative involves elections in the Palestinian territories, resumption of talks based on the Cairo (2005) and Mecca (2007) agreements, and Palestinian Authority security forces returning to Gaza. "We want to see a situation where the West Bank and Gaza Strip are reunited under one government, one security force and one authority," Abu Marzuk said. He added Hamas wanted an "open dialogue without condition" with Abbas's Fatah party based on the seven points of the Yemeni plan. However, he stressed that talks must take place with Fatah and not with the PLO delegation. "The Yemeni plan is for a dialogue between Fatah and Hamas, the two groups which are in conflict."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat warned on Wednesday that failure to reach a peace deal with Israel this year could lead to a collapse of the moderate Palestinian Authority. "If we fail to produce an agreement in 2008... we may disappear," Erakat said. "The impact will not be limited to Israel and the Palestinians. Watch the region," he warned.
Israel and the Palestinians, led by president Mahmud Abbas, last November relaunched the Middle East peace talks at an international conference in the United States after a seven-year hiatus. Although both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have expressed their desire to ink a deal by the end of 2008, talks have so far made little headway. Abbas said after meeting Slovenia's Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel in the West Bank town of Ramallah that peace talks were the only option for the Palestinians. "We don't have any other options but to negotiate. Time is short and we must reach a result before the end of the year," he said.
Erakat declined to say whether the Islamist Hamas movement could rout Abbas in the West Bank, but conceded the popularity of Abbas has declined sharply while support for the Islamists has risen. "People are angry with us... their pessimism and anger is because of our inability to deliver," he said, referring to a recent poll.
The Islamist movement last June violently seized power in Gaza after routing forces loyal to Abbas, effectively splitting the Palestinian Authority in two. Erakat claimed Israel's failure to carry out its commitment to freeze its settlement construction and to ease movement restrictions in the occupied West Bank undermined Abbas's credibility. "At the same time we tell (Palestinians) we will make 2008 the year of peace, we fail to stop roadblocks, we fail to stop settlement activity."
He said Olmert personally pledged to Abbas the roadblocks would be removed, but that nothing was done about it. And since the November conference in Annapolis, where Israel committed to halt Jewish settlement activity, 5,378 settlers' houses were built, said Erakat. "Settlement activity must stop... it's either settlements or peace," the negotiator said.
This article starring:
Saeb Erakat
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
But Senator McCain said from Israel that he doesn't believe a peace deal can be consummated this year. Oh, well.
#2
Standard Arab tactic---scare the USDS by threatening their dreams, and they'll convince the administration into pressuring Israel---that's how a Palestinian Nation was created out of thin air.
#3
and this should concern us how? After watching the "Palestinians" for as long as there have been "Palestinians" (I was born in 1948), I firmly believe that the only way for Israel to deal with them is to take the land that Israel wants (including all of Jerusalem and most of the West Bank), expel all Muslims from Israel and keep them out. Ignore the bleating from the liberal European anti-Semites and kill anyone who shoots at them.
#6
No Paleostinian Authority, no Oslo Agreement in force any more. No Oslo agreement, no electricity, no water obligations for Israel. Like the Russians say, "Tough Schitskis."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/20/2008 22:07 Comments ||
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#7
Bullshit. If they go under who's gonna be around to mooch all that international aid money for their "people"? Hamas?
They'll have to peel the keys to that piggy bank out of Abbas's cold, dead hand.
Settlements have nothing to do with Rockets
BUT
Rockets have EVERYTHING to do with settlements
As far as I know I came up with this - google searched it and it has not been coined yet... My gift to Rantburg... Could probably make a few bucks on it I reckon... Sell it to trolls :P
Many Iranian youths rallied in streets across the country, shouting "Death to Ahmadinejad," in celebrations marking the end of the Persian calendar year.
The last Wednesday of the Persian calendar is celebrated as the Fire Festival in Iran, with bonfires and firecrackers marking the occasion.
In the western city of Ahvaz, angry mobs declared "Freedom is our legitimate right" while demonstrators in the western city of Sanandaj shouted "Death to (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad," Ynetnews reported Wednesday.
The police in Tehran were out in force and, though they were met with a barrage of firecrackers, the situation didn't escalate beyond what is typical for the Fire Festival, local reports cited in the news report said.
Ahmed Raza-Radan, the police chief in Tehran, warned demonstrators against violating the rule of law in a news conference. "The police force has resolved to detain any party-goers who break the law. The secret police will have full control, and will not hesitate to photograph citizens for evidence," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So the question is, are the current Iranian thugs more brutal at putting down students than the SHah's folks, or did the Iran/Iraq war cull the herd so much that the students just can't get critical mass?
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 12 defendants in Australia's largest terrorism prosecution are not getting a fair trial, the judge overseeing the case has admitted. The startling 
Lynndie England, the public face of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, told a German news magazine that she was sorry for appearing in photographs of detainees in the notorious Iraqi prison, and believes the scenes of torture and humiliation served as a powerful rallying point for anti-American insurgents.
Manshera: Longhaired gunmen burst into the white stone building and killed four charity workers helping earthquake victims, then wrecked the office with grenades and set it on fire. Police came, but did not intervene. 
Many Iranian youths rallied in streets across the country, shouting "Death to Ahmadinejad," in celebrations marking the end of the Persian calendar year.
