We can now begin surging hither and yon as the nation's subgeniuses begin applying the same hammer to all problems.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
But it was announced two days ago that we are sending three brigades (12,000-15,000 troops) over the next six months. The think-tankers are a little behind reality.
#2
I'm sorely tempted to get a biplane, the kind with the agricultural spraying tanks, and a few thousand gallons of RoundUp™. I'm thinking I could put a dent in the poppy crop, at least til I got shot down, and I keep wondering if that would put the Talibunnies out of business.
Don't know, just saying ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2008 9:27 Comments ||
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#3
same hammer dont work for all problems.
Interesting though how for several years the notion of using MORE troops in Iraq and changing counter insurgency tactics was derided as foolishness - both by the left (which insisted that Iraq was a mistake apart from tactics) and the right (which could countenance no criticism of Rumsfeld, and by implication, of Cheney and Bush). Now we've found both were wrong, and the neocon critics of Rumsfeld - Kristol, Kagan, and McCain - were right all along.
I'd like to see a detailed analysis of the situation in afghanistan (hey, maybe I should check the link, huh?) and I would like to see WHY clear-hold-build, using large numbers of troops, is NOT the optimal strategy for Afghanistan. My vague impression is that Petraues has been promoted to CINC Centcom in PART to implement in Afghanistan more or less what he did in Iraq.
This year - 2008 - has been the deadliest year, there have been more attacks and more sophisticated attacks. This has had a psychological effect on the people of Afghanistan.
"They don't believe international troops can defeat the Taliban and if they think that we will lose their support."
IE the strong horse theory. An idea RB sometimes supports in other contexts, esp at the grand strategic level. In Iraq we've seen how important it is at the tactical level. It doesnt seem that unreasonable to think it plays similarly in afghan.
Zakhilwal said Western leaders must urgently increase troop numbers and transfer peacekeepers, including German troops currently based in the north, into combat roles.
Like many afghans, apparently, he'd like the germans to get off their butts.
"What the Taliban has done is to spread their lines, they are overstretching the military,"
Consistent with discussions here of Pashtun demographics, attrition, etc.
he said. "Small pockets of insurgents are operating in different areas which makes it harder for NATO troops to fight.
When they bunch up its easy to kill em. Sometimes they are dumb enough to do that, but often not.
"Tuesday's attacks show that the Taliban is on the steps of Kabul. It looks like the Taliban are attacking Kabul from three sides - south, west and east."
Zakhilwal said apart from increasing troop numbers, more needed to be done to prevent the cross border movement of militants from Pakistan.
Does anyone disagree? Other than the Pakis, that is?
"Afghanistan is key in the war on terror," he said. "If we fail it is about global security, global terrorism. Afghanistan is the key to winning the war on terror, not Iraq."
while I can see where THAT will get some panties in a bunch, the grand strategic judgement is not really key to the tactical situation in afghanistan.
The Senlis Council, an independent security and development policy group, has research offices throughout Afghanistan, has been documenting the Talibans activities since 2006.
It has documented a number of violent attacks that have taken place across the country in the past week from Khost in the east to Kandahar in the south.
The council said there had also been heavy fighting in the southern province of Zabul where the government claimed to have killed 32 insurgents early this week.
they do not seem to among the clueless.
It has predicted the situation will worsen in Afghanistan without a change of strategy and increasing troop numbers to a total of 80,000.
I dont know when they asserted this, or how it relates to the recently announced changes in US deployments.
#5
pardon - on rereading its not real clear if he meant the taliban were becoming overstretched or rather that the Afghan military and NATO troops were becoming overstretched. I think he meant the later - too bad he wasnt asked about the former.
#7
pardon - on rereading its not real clear if he meant the taliban were becoming overstretched or rather that the Afghan military and NATO troops were becoming overstretched. I think he meant the later - too bad he wasnt asked about the former.
The Taliban don't have to really hold territory in Afghanistan, they just have to make it hard for us to hold territory.
#8
yeah, but they have to engage in disruptive actions in several places at once. At least against a large clear-hold-build strategy they do. In that sense they CAN become overstretched - theyre blowing stuff up in Kabul, while say, losing their base in Helmand.
#9
Harder to do in a country with fewer cities and large areas of mountainous terrain between them, for one thing.
hmmm. 18 or so months ago the cities in Iraq looked very bad. Very, very, very bad. Im sure mountains present a DIFFERENT challenge, but Im not sure cities presented a lesser one.
#10
Point of information, liberalhawk: John McCain is not a neocon, he's a warmonger. ;-) In fact, a lot of his positions would make him a Scoop Jackson Democrat, were that species not extinct. Hence the cries of "RINO!" that have on occasion reverberated through the right side of the blogosphere.
I, on the other hand, might be considered a neocon, except for not having been a red diaper baby.
#11
liberalhawk, with all respect, you have less than deep familiarity with military tactics and strategy, with logistical requirements or with the equipment (including C4ISR capabilities) that we've brought to bear on Iraq.
Cities are well suited to clear/hold/build tactics because of their density of population and economic activity, among other reasons. It's possible to clear and hold an urban neighborhood or, with some effort, open and fairly flat terrain, using a manageable number of troops augmented by e.g. UAVs. Once they're held, they can be rebuilt for peaceful economic and force projection purposes. Their density means that logistics supply routes are manageable within the urban area and that it is feasible to set up local operating bases which stabilize each area.
Heavily mountainous areas with far fewer ground mobility routes, with substantially greater density of natural cover and with fewer natural 'hold' locations present a significantly different challenge.
Cities presented a problem because we weren't willing to flatten blocks and kill a lot of civilians. Mountainous terrain present problems for entirely different reasons and call for different tactics and overall strategy.
#13
I think I made clear I understand the challenges are different.
I also admit to lack of first hand experience. I am going largely by press and blog reports, which seem to indicate a great concern by coalition forces with conditions in Afghan villages. I get the distinct impression that the Taliban use villages, mountain hamlets, and individual compounds as their primary operational bases, more than unpopulated mountainsides (I would also note that Iraq has mountains along the iranian border, yet our adversaries there have normally fought us in cities and surrounding agricultural areas.
#14
Like I said, LH - with all respect, you're missing the main point of my comments.
You could start by pondering the old but true chestnut "professionals study logistics".
If you want to multitask, also consider the ratio of likely useful info gathered per UAV mile flown over an urban area vs. countryside with occasional villages. Extra points if you imagine the impact on sensing of lots of rocks, trees, winding valleys.
Im thinking for example, of some recent writeups of the situation in Helmand. The brits were ensconced in one town, and couldnt press further south. A unit of Marines managed to do so, and then the town to the north went into hold and build mode. I even googleearthed the area to see waht they were talking about. Yeah, I understand in theory the taliban could have tried to go around them and try to attack their supply lines back to the prov capital, but IIUC that didnt happen. Im not sure WHY it doesnt happen more, or if the MSM and the blogs just aret covering Afghan well enough for me to see the reports. I think MAYBE its cause while the taliban can use the low density and terrain to move for hit and run raids, its not sufficient for extended attacks on supply lines, esp given their own logistical limitations, and the continued usefulness of air and sat recon.
My impression is that the Soviets actually had the muj on the run, despite a much broader based insurgency, and Sov forces not quite up to NATO standards, UNTIL the muj got AA capability. Which the Taliban do not now have. IE its my impression that despite cover opportunities in the mountains, air is still a very effective weapon in afghan.
Again, I admit to much ignorance. Im not so much trying to make a case, as to express frustration at the lack of good coverage and analysis of the situation in Afghanistan.
#17
In many ways, Afghanistan is a LOT like Vietnam: we're fighting an enemy who supports a brutal ideology and refuses to acknowledge any other; the nation is built around several large villages connected by poorly-maintained and poorly guarded logistical ties; exchange "mountains" for "jungle", and the terrain becomes very similar (and just as big a problem); the "enemy" has access to a nearby country which offers him sanctuary where he can recover, rebuild, and rearm; the people have a long history and many honored traditions and flat don't like strangers; and there's a long-standing tradition of tribal animosities that makes a simple, one-size-fits-all solution virtually impossible. We won in Veitnam by convincing the people life in the future would be better for them (our congress threw all that away, but it WORKED up until US politicians got cold feet).
There are several things we're doing, but not strongly enough, that would help win the war in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have never had very good medical treatment. We're doing something about that, but it needs to be in greater depth, in more places, and more regularly. They need a transportation infrastructure, and we need a logistical pipeline. We could do more to provide both. The people of Afghanistan have an honored tradition of self-defense. Let's encourage that - give the locals the kinds of weapons and equipment they need to defend themselves from the Taliban, and give them training in how to use those weapons most effectively. We also need to NOT fuss when they go goat-hunting with an 81-mm mortar. Give them something that will allow them to have fun - something forbidden under the taliban. Whether it's music, movies, literature, goat-barbecues, or whatever, a diversion will help them feel better. Case in point: during the Great Depression, attendance at movie houses were never greater. A movie gave you the opportunity to escape your own personal tragedies and enjoy someone else's trials, troubles, romance, or whatever. It will work with the Afghanis, also.
The biggest problem the US has is logistical. Afghanistan is completely land-locked, and the nations on all four sides aren't exactly friendly with the US or its activities in Afghanistan. We may have to end up running land convoys from Karachi to Kabul, guarded by either the US military or a contractor like Blackwater. We may need to build a rail line from Karachi to Kabul, to speed up transshipment and make it easier to defend shipped goods.
The one thing we DON'T need to do is to try to fight the war against Islamic militancy on the cheap. It only makes it more obvious our hearts aren't really in the fight, and the local people can't trust us.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/21/2008 18:33 Comments ||
Top||
#18
OP, exchange "mountains" for "jungle",
Plenty of jungle-covered mountains in places.
The masterminds behind assassination attempt on Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina on August 21, 2004 remain undetected even after charges have been pressed in two cases filed in this connection. The government investigators believe although 22 people are charge-sheeted, the key planners of the grisly grenade attack are still untraced.
"The gravity of the attack indicates it was not possible to be carried out without backing of any influential group or some most powerful people. But we don't see any such findings," says an investigator who was assigned soon after the attack and discharged the duty for quite a long time.
Referring to charge-sheeted accused BNP leader and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, another former investigator says though it's convincing that Huji was involved, they could not trace those who were behind Pintu and Hannan to carry out such a well-planned attack. "It's not possible to reveal the mysteries of an unreachable place. I've submitted my investigation report on the area within my reach. If I could go further, more mysteries of the attack might have been revealed," current investigation officer (IO) of the cases CID Assistant Superintendent Fazlul Kabir told The Daily Star.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Russia circulated its own draft U.N. resolution aimed at bringing peace to Georgia to the Security Council on Wednesday, a day after blocking a rival Western draft that demanded an immediate Russian withdrawal.
The Russian text simply restated and endorsed a six-point peace plan promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed last week by Russia and Georgia.
Western diplomats say they are in favor of that plan but are reluctant to set it in stone through a Security Council resolution when they say Russia is ignoring its provisions by failing to make significant military withdrawals.
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff made clear Washington's opposition to the Russian draft, describing it to journalists as "intended to rubber-stamp a Russian interpretation (of the plan) that we do not agree with."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
FREEREPUBLIC > RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR THREAT IS MORE THAN JUST WORDS [Strangelovian RUSS-FAVORED TACNUKE GAP]???
BIGNEWSNETWORK > STARS-N-STRIPES - REPORT: US MAY ENTER BLACK SEA [3 ea. Ships for Humanitar Relief]???
#2
From Democrat Representative Ellen Tauscher:,"Republicans in Congress, led by their presidential candidate John McCain, are attempting to show the world that they are capable of reacting swiftly to Russian saber-rattling. Unfortunately, they are once again doing so in a manner that reflects their complete misunderstanding of the threats the United States and our allies face." This is in response to the deal with Poland. She never does say what the real threats are but states as fact that these missle defense weapons do not and never will work and compares John McCain to Dr. Strangrlove.
Jeebus!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/21/2008 12:27 Comments ||
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#3
Do you want to die for Danzig? Maybe yes in '39.
But do you really want to die for Gdansk in '08? Maybe no...
New rules on FBI investigations of national security cases should be delayed, top Senate Judiciary Committee members said Monday, raising concerns that ethnic or racial groups could be targeted despite no evidence of wrongdoing.
In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the senators called for congressional hearings on the rules before they are finalized. They suggested delaying the rules known as the attorney general guidelines until FBI Director Robert Mueller appears before the panel Sept. 17.
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's top Republican, called the guidelines a "laudatory effort to ensure that front-line agents are given clear rules to follow in pursuit of their investigations."
"Nevertheless, efforts to harmonize the rules governing criminal and national security matters also raise potential civil liberties concerns, given the broader latitude currently given to investigators to consider race and ethnicity in national security matters," Leahy and Specter wrote.
They added: "The important aims of the guidelines, and their potential implications for civil liberties, require a meaningful dialogue between Congress and DOJ."
Among the factors that could make someone subject to an investigation is travel to regions of the world known for terrorist activity, access to weapons or military training, along with the person's race or ethnicity.
Mukasey repeatedly has said that investigations will not be opened solely on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or other traits that could amount to unconstitutional profiling. He has declined to answer whether the new rules could change the standards for opening an investigation or otherwise allow FBI to scrutinize Americans without evidence of a crime.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/21/2008 06:07 ||
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#1
Senate Judiciary Committee members said Monday, raising concerns that ethnic or racial groups could be targeted despite no evidence of wrongdoing.
Here's an idea, quit breaking the law, then it doesn't matter if they look at your cell phone records.
#2
Here's an idea, quit breaking the law, then it doesn't matter if they look at your cell phone records.
Or those 1-to-500 calls per month to Pakistan, will the Dhimacrats preclude a look-see at those individuals just because the one or both individuals are Muslims?
Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Dear Lord,
We know both these asshats were democratically elected; but PLEASE help us out here, for truly they must have been a sent to us straight from Hell.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/21/2008 8:10 Comments ||
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#3
I was kinda hoping for the return of COINTELPRO... :-)
#5
It's the "police paradox". That is, while there is a huge emphasis on stopping terrorism, and many laws are passed to do just that, actual terrorism is only .000001% of all criminal activity in the US.
So invariably, the anti-terrorism laws are used for the vast majority of non-terrorism criminal investigations.
When asked, a LOT of people will still say "Fine! Let's crack down on the other criminals, like murderers, arsonists, drug dealers, child p*rnographers and other violent felons using the anti-terrorism laws!"
Unfortunately, even these criminal acts are by far the minority or felonious crimes committed in the US.
Is it worth surrendering constitutional protections so that anti-terrorism laws can be used against: drug possession, vehicular burglary, fraud, unlawful possession of a firearm (Take THAT, Heller!), and consensual statutory r*pe?
Which means that most anti-terrorism laws are being used against teenagers who have s*x after stealing their father's credit card from his car, and who own a gun in New York State.
While they *might* someday be used against a real, honest to goodness terrorist, is it worth it to abuse tens or hundreds of thousands of naughty, gun carrying Americans right now?
#6
We have to be careful on this stuff. The potential for abuse is signficant. The Patriot Act already gives some potentially dangerous powers to the government wrt arrest and hold without charges, etc. It is easy for those of us who are not law breakers to cheer for more government power, but who knows, in the future, these same laws could be used against you because someone in power does not care for what you write here at the burg, or the composition of your gun collection. Just sayin...
#8
trailing wife: Right now, I can win any law and order argument with just two words.
"Obama administration."
I wonder who his attorney general might be?
Ice-T? He played a cop on TV once, and his character was a Republican. This would show that Obama is bi-partisan. Just forget that whole "Cop Killer" thing.
He might offer it to Danny Glover, who also played a cop a few times in the movies, but Glover would want to be Secretary of State, or at least ambassador to Cuba.
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain escalated their debate over foreign policy Tuesday, as the Democrat struck back forcefully against charges that his views on the situation in Iraq are based on political calculation. "The times are too serious for this kind of politics," Obama told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here a day after McCain told the group: "Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president."
The Obama campaign also announced Tuesday that it will hold a rally Saturday at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., to begin the week of the Democratic National Convention. The candidate is expected to appear with his yet-to-be-named running mate at the gathering, party sources said. Obama announced his presidential candidacy at the same location on Feb. 10, 2007.
The presumptive Democratic nominee has a full plate in the days ahead. He will polish his acceptance speech while campaigning by bus through North Carolina and Virginia, two reliably Republican states that he hopes to move into the Democratic column. Party sources confirmed that former vice president Al Gore will speak on Thursday night at the convention, before Obama accepts the nomination at Denver's Invesco Field. The Obama campaign is also completing a highly secretive vice presidential selection process in which the front-runners are believed to be Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
As he heads into a critical week, Obama has been engaged in an increasingly heated debate with McCain over the Iraq war and global terrorism. The candidates' back-to-back VFW speeches contrasted starkly different worldviews, with Iraq emerging as the center of their dispute.
McCain told the VFW crowd on Monday that Obama "cannot quite bring himself to admit his own failure in judgment," particularly about the 2007 troop "surge" that Obama vigorously opposed in the Senate.
"Senator McCain now argues that despite these costly strategic errors, his judgment has been vindicated due to the results of the surge," Obama responded Tuesday. Increasing U.S. troop levels did work, he conceded. "In Iraq, gains have been made in lowering the level of violence, thanks to the outstanding efforts of our military, the increasing capability of Iraq's security forces, the cease-fire of Shiite militias and the decision taken by Sunni tribes to take the fight to al-Qaeda," Obama told the veterans. "Those are the facts, and all Americans welcome them."
Whoa. That's quite a flip-flop.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"The times are too serious for this kind of politics,"
#2
Unfortunate that the US Political system allows a major political party to nominate an empty suit and the MSM gets on board and functions as free PR.
How can a party like the Democrats, who DO have some very good people, allow itself to put this piece of navel lint up for election.
Posted by: James Carville ||
08/21/2008 10:59 Comments ||
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#4
The presumptive Democratic nominee has a full plate in the days ahead.
better get that empty suit pressed and spiffed up
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2008 19:30 Comments ||
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#5
Breaking news...
In a remarkable announcement today by the DNC, Barack Obama is going to demonstrate his foreign policy prowess by flying to the warzone of the conflict between Russia and Georgia . Obama has directed that a team of his key advisors accompany him into dangerous territory, in hope of brokering a peace settlement between the two sides.
His aircraft is expected to touch down in Atlanta at 0430Z, and it will be accompanied by seven other aircraft containing reporters from CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and Pravda.
In a brief interview before boarding his airplane, Obama said that he will set up operations in Atlanta and will invite Colonel General Anatoly Nagovitsyn of the Russian General Staff to meet him there for talks. Obama went on to say that, in a spirit of inclusiveness, he would agree that Russia could have part of Georgia --- Savannah , Brunswick , and perhaps as far inland as Macon and Valdosta.
However, with his chin firmly set, Obama strongly declared that he would never give up Georgia west of I-75, but east of I-75 is open and negotiable in order to save Georgia from itself.
SRINGAR: A meeting of secessionist groups, called to discuss the future of what has been characterised as the largest Islamist mobilisation since 1990, dissolved into chaos after members of rival factions exchanged insults and blows.
Leaders of the Ali Shah Geelani-led Tehreek-i-Hurriyat and Srinagar cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq's All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) charged each other with engaging in actions damaging the course of the ongoing movement, provoking their supporters to engage in scuffles.
Sources present at the meeting said APHC leader G.M. Hubbi was physically attacked by his Tehreek-i-Hurriyat counterpart Masrat Alam, and several important leaders, including Mr. Geelani and the APHC-affiliated Shabbir Shah, left the meeting in disgust.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
GUAM K57 RADIO > COMMANDER OF SEPARATIST REBELS [MILF] DECLARES ALL-OUT WAR AGZ PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT. Commander known as "Bravo" - Warns his Muslim fighters are READY TO KILL, OR BE KILLED!
Another warning for future Guam, espec for Guam's own FILIPINO COMMUNITY as over time this may lead to MASSIVE EMIGRATION FROM PI TO GUAM-WESTPAC OR CONUS, POTENS STRESSING OR OVERWHELMING GUAM'S "STATUS QUO" AS GUAM'S FILIPINOS KNOW IT TO BE.
Not just the US MARINE RELOC, Not just Chamorros or Chamaoles/Guamaoles, GuamAsians, ....@etal.
Pakistain has a leadership vacuum? When did that start?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The morons we elect here in the US want to micro manage our lives "for our own good," but the asshole tribalists in pakastain who would make a toilet bowl of the entire planet are "off limits." Go figure...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/21/2008 9:59 Comments ||
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#2
Pakistan has tribal clashes? When did that start?
Nine-year-old Sahil truly epitomises the spirit of the Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti activists determined to take their 51-day long agitation over the Amarnath land transfer to its logical end.
On Wednesday morning, Sahil asked his father, Ram Lal, to paint his face with colours of national flag before settling down on his wheel chair. His mother garlanded him with marigold as he moved out of his house in Rehari chanting 'Bharat Mata ki jai' and 'Bum Bum Bhole'.
Sahil was one among several thousands children who defied curfew restrictions in Jammu to participate in the 'jail bharo' agitation. The district administration did not relax curfew in Jammu on Wednesday yet there was no trace of administration. Streets swelled with large number of agitators everywhere across Jammu and supporters of Sangharsh Samiti rallied against the Governor and demanded his ouster.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
[online poker has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: online poker ||
08/21/2008 7:34 Comments ||
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LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Lahore, on Wednesday staged a protest outside the Lahore Press Club against the US government for arresting and allegedly torturing Dr Afia Siddiqui on fake charges of terrorism. In Lahore? Demonstrate and be damned. No skin of my fore.
The demonstration was participated by the PMA Lahore office-bearers including Dr Azimuddin Zahid, Dr Tanveer Anwar, Dr Shahid Malik, Right. I want a doc named Shahid working on me whilst I'm under general anestheia. Figger, if you will, the odds...
Dr Yasmin Rashid, Dr Sarwar Chaudhry, For that matter, if my surgeon's named Chaudry, I'm outta there.
Dr Izhar Chaudhry, Dr Zulfiqar Baig, Dr Aleem and Dr Zahid, representatives of Young Doctors Association of Mayo Hospital and a large number of doctors. The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the US for violating human rights by arresting and torturing Dr Afia Siddiqui. They also condemned the Pakistan government for the arrest of Dr Afia Siddiqui and handing her over to the US.
They said Dr Afia's case was a test for the justice system of the US and a challenge for the democratic government in Pakistan. "Pakistan government must raise voice at every level for immediate release of Dr Afia," they said.
While condemning Dr Afia's arrest and her inhuman treatment in the America, they said that mental and physical torture of Dr Afia was a gross human rights violation by the so-called civilised country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD -- A key pillar of the U.S. strategy to pacify Iraq is in danger of collapsing because the Iraqi government is failing to absorb tens of thousands of former Sunni Muslim insurgents who'd joined U.S.-allied militia groups into the country's security forces.
American officials have credited the militias, known as the Sons of Iraq or Awakening councils, with undercutting support for the group al Qaida in Iraq and bringing peace to large swaths of the country, including Anbar province and parts of Baghdad. Under the program, the United States pays each militia member a stipend of about $300 a month and promised that they'd get jobs with the Iraqi government.
But the Iraqi government, which is led by Shiite Muslims, has brought only a relative handful of the more than 100,000 militia members into the security forces. Now officials are making it clear that they don't intend to include most of the rest.
"We cannot stand them, and we detained many of them recently," said one senior Iraqi commander in Baghdad, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue. "Many of them were part of al Qaida despite the fact that many of them are helping us to fight al Qaida."
He said the army was considering setting a Nov. 1 deadline for those militia members who hadn't been absorbed into the security forces or given civilian jobs to give up their weapons. After that, they'd be arrested, he said.
Some militia members say that such a move would force them into open warfare with the government again. "If they disband us now, I will tell you that history will show we will go back to zero," said Mullah Shahab al Aafi, a former emir, or leader, of insurgents in Diyala province who's the acting commander of 24,000 Sons of Iraq there, 11,000 of whom are on the U.S. payroll. "I will not give up my weapons. I will never give them up, and I will carry my weapon again. If it is useless to talk to the government, I will be forced to carry my weapons and my pistol."
The conflict over the militias underscores how little has changed in Iraq in the past year despite the drop in violence, which American politicians often attribute to the temporary increase of U.S. troops in Iraq that ended in July.
American military officials here have always said that the creation of the Sunni militias was at least as important to the precipitous drop in violence as the presence of 30,000 more U.S. troops, and that incorporating them into the security forces would go a long way toward bringing about the sort of reconciliation needed for long-term stability.
After initially embracing the idea of bringing the militia members into the security forces, however, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki hasn't followed through. A committee that Maliki formed to organize the militias' transition to full-fledged government security troops fell apart and was reconstituted only recently. U.S. officials acknowledge that the hiring of the Sunnis has slowed to a crawl.
U.S. and Iraqi officials agree that the Maliki government never agreed to hire more than 20 percent of the militia members. A Maliki ally said it was unreasonable to expect otherwise. "All the Americans are doing is paying them just to be quiet," said Haider al Abadi, a leading member of Maliki's Dawa political party and the head of the economic and investment committee in the parliament. The Iraqi government, he said, can't "justify paying monthly salaries to people on the grounds that they are ex-insurgents."
The best that most of them could expect is to be placed in vocational training for trades such as bricklaying and plumbing, along with a slew of other unemployed people.
The government has allocated $150 million for such training. So far this year, the U.S. military has spent $303 million on Sons of Iraq salaries.
American officials declined to be interviewed on the issue without a pledge of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the subject. But privately they expressed concern. "If they only take a portion of them it's possible they will return to their insurgent ways," one senior intelligence analyst said, acknowledging that most of the men now called the Sons of Iraq had been insurgents, for al Qaida in Iraq and other groups that considered themselves resistance fighters against Americans.
He called the issue the "long-term threat." "People need to be busy, industrious, just like us," he said. Without jobs, he said, they'll "revert back to how they received money before."
About 15,000 militia members have been given security jobs since the beginning of last year, according to the U.S. military. Another 2,342 have been approved for jobs with the Iraqi police after the Iraqi army opposed absorbing them. The United States has 103,000 militia members on its payroll.
Abadi, the Maliki ally, was blunt in calling the militias a problem. "You've created a problem here," he said. "You can't get rid of a program by shoveling it on the Iraqi government shoulders."
Colin Kahl, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a centrist policy institute in Washington, who recently visited Iraq, said the dispute over the militias could set the stage for a return of widespread bloodshed, particularly because the Maliki government seemed intent on thwarting the plan. He noted that of the militia members slated to join the security forces, only 600 have completed the required training. Of those, most are Shiites.
Kahl, who spoke with senior U.S. officials during his visit to Iraq, said that the Iraqi government was providing jobs to the militia members in "humiliating ways." He said former Iraqi army officers were being absorbed as low-level beat cops, and men who saw themselves as the "slayers of al Qaida" were being asked to become plumbers and bricklayers.
"The last time we humiliated thousands of these guys is back in 2003, and we got the insurgency," Kahl said.
Farouk Abd al Sattar Hassan Mohammed al Obeidi, a deputy Sunni militia commander in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Adhamiyah, wore a military uniform in an interview with McClatchy last week because he considered his men and himself to be soldiers.
He voiced frustration that his men had applied repeatedly to join the Iraqi Security Forces, to no avail. "We wish we were part of the army. With deep remorse the government is sectarian," Obeidi said. He described his alliance with the U.S. forces as "the enemy of your enemy is your friend."
"The Sons of Iraq achieved security. Don't they deserve to enter the army?"
Obeidi will never see that happen. On Sunday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed him, along with five of his men and nine civilians.
(McClatchy special correspondent Mohammed al Dulaimy contributed to this report.)
#2
This calls for a grain of salt the size of a Fairbanks-Morse marine diesel. Even if you overlook the fact that it's written on an antiwar newspaper chain's website by a guy named "Mohammed", you need to check out the board of directors at that so-called "centrist policy institute" named as a source...it's completely lousy with Clintonoids and other assorted Neville Chamberlain wannabes.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/21/2008 1:45 Comments ||
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#3
If the duly elected government of Iraq wants to piss away the victory that has been won against the terrorists and wants us to leave by 2011, then we will leave. And the average Iraqi will get to live with the resulting resurgence of terror inside the country.
#4
"The last time we humiliated thousands of these guys is back in 2003, and we got the insurgency," Kahl said.
Hmmm. Mr. Kahl's credibility just swooped down towards zero. Without denying the bizarre and pathological Iraqi and even Arab concept of humiliation (being party to genocide - no big deal; losing your job - time to blow up grandmothers at vegetable markets!), this is the Iraq equivalent of "root causes" for the wider GWOT.
And - hate to I say I told you so - but these sorts of problems (though probably far less ominous than painted by Kahl and McLatchy, nee Knight-Ridder, whose sometime bureau chief was nice but quite dumb back in '05/'06) are the key side effect of "winning" without crushing the will of an enemy to resist. Long before any Sunnis were alienated by idiotic and vicious AQIZ behavior, they should have been cowering and beaten and terrified of not cooperating with the new order. Instead we had the surreal spectacle of Ramadi being a pitched battle between alien supergods (the USMC) and teenagers (the local AQIZ and "insurgents"). Though as ever I stand ready to be completely set straight by those with better info or analysis, I consider the Ramadi stand-off all by itself to be an inexcusable and clear example of a flawed strategy in Iraq that is working OK due to circumstances. A situation that would have been resolved in a week or less in previous eras - much to the benefit of all concerned save the vaporized enemy - stretched on for years and gave the quite dim would-be jihadi recruiting pool the ridiculous idea that they could stand up to US military power for even an afternoon.
If Gen. Casey became COS after presiding over a debacle, I fear there won't be many/any brave souls to make bold remarks about the absence of imperial garments when the upbeat assessments of the surge are done in the DOD and at the service schools.
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
McClatchy special correspondent Mohammed al Dulaimy contributed to this report.)
The cleanest word that this article invokes is
OFFAL
An Islamist and a Commie shared a pen and wrote a hold yer breath XMAS WISH for the Damn Devil Himself.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/21/2008 3:36 Comments ||
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#6
I've noticed maybe three articles in this general vein over the last week. They don't pass the smell test from my point of view. They seem to be trying to create a problem, rather than exposing any particular problem. Handful of salt is recommended.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/21/2008 6:57 Comments ||
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#7
It depends on money, and where it is coming from.
They fought for Al Qaeda for money, not spiritual convictions. They're fighting for Iraq now for $300 a month. If there is better money in crime or insurgency, I guess that's where they'll go.
#8
A McClatchy article? The odds of accuracy match Debka, the level of bias is up there with CNN and the BBC. Remember that junior reporter they sent out who insisted that the sentry on duty at the Green Zone border let him through without credentials, while openly insulting the man for stupidity? The reporter's previous assignment had been something like Community Activities at a weekly village newspaper somewhere in the wilds of California. The story came out because the idiot wrote about it, quivering with indignation, on his McClatchy blog, if I recall correctly.
#10
While I agree that anything McClatchy is suspect, Big Jim does have a point: many of the 'Sons of Iraq' are decent enough (for that region), patriotic fellows, but they're also there for the money. If the money stops they have to live somehow, and becoming auto mechanics isn't in the cards for most of them.
Since the central government is blessed with $73 billion that it can't spend, how's about having them pick up the tab for a while until one can sort out what happens to all the awakening councils?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2008 9:43 Comments ||
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#11
Oh, and I predict we will see a lot more articles like this from sources like this after the primary. Gotta show that Obama was right and McCain is wrong ya know and try to influence an election.
#12
When we see something like this in the NYT under a John Burns byline (and ONLY under a John Burns byline), then it's time to worry. Until then, we return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/21/2008 9:56 Comments ||
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#13
they should have been cowering and beaten and terrified of not cooperating with the new order
we didnt do that in Germany, or in Japan. Arguably, we didnt have to because wed beaten, terrified,etc in the course of the war, before we occupied. Not to many examples in US history, cause we didnt beat too many countries conventionally in 3 weeks. Closest comparison maybe the Phillipines after the Spanish American war. I dont know much about that, but IIUC it took some time to resolve. So call me skeptical of the "we werent tough enough" school. I think it is pretty clear to most that not keeping the Iraqi army employed, and using it to keep order, was a mistake (caveat to that is that it wouldnt have been THAT easy, as many Iraqi soldiers - esp Shiite enlistess - had simply run home and had no interest in the Iraqi army. That said, we could have kept SOME more than we did, and that would probably have helped) And most were not war criminals. And yeah, losing your job, feeling hopeless, etc does lead often to acts of violence - esp when such economic loss is also accompanied by POLITICAL changes as dramatic as Iraq saw in 2003 (Marxists are always scratching their heads cause they expect poverty to lead to revolution WITHOUT regard to the political situation, often much more important - and also cause they dont take into account changes in status, more important than income figures) As for blowing up grandmas, SOME of the insurgents in 2003 and 2004 spent most of their time attacking oil pipelines, etc - it was mainly AQ proper that specialized in the orcish stuff.
That leaves now. I agree that I think the pessimism sounds a bit overwrought. As usual, there are different reports from different sources, and from different places in Iraq. My vague impression from reading MSM mainly, and other sources a bit, is that Maliki IS absorbing more sons of Iraq than some thought he would, largely under US pressure, partly out of common sense, esp in places like Anbar where there really arent any Shiia. But that in Baghdad and esp Diyala, he (and the whole Shia side) are much more reluctant.
#15
Dr. Rice just made a surprise visit to Iraq to hammer some of this out. Any reconstruction plan and integration of refugees needs to include Sunnis and any other sect. If they have a stake in its future, wages to support a family, they won't be so quick to blow up vegetable markets. All that oil revenue should be used for housing projects, building schools and hospitals, roads and other infrastructure, to benefit all.
#16
I've seen similar articles at Long War Journal (Bill Roggio's place). I don't see it as BS. If Maliki does not make a good-faith effort to bring the Sunnis into the fold, then everything could come undone very fast. It is going to take time combined with a whole lot of credible actions to reduce tensions between the sunni and shia communities.
U.S. and Iraqi negotiators completed a draft deal on Wednesday to give U.S. troops a legal basis to stay in Iraq after 2008, without setting out a timetable for their withdrawal, Iraq's top negotiator said.
The White House denied that the long-awaited deal -- which will replace a U.N. Security Council resolution that now provides the basis for the U.S. presence -- had been finalized.
"The delegations finished the draft which now goes to the political leaders for discussions," chief Iraqi negotiator Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud told Reuters. Iraq's political leadership must approve it and submit it to parliament.
He said the draft did not spell out a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, and also leaves unresolved the thorny question of whether U.S. troops will be subject to Iraqi law.
Iraqi officials have said for weeks that the deal is close and they hope to present it to parliament when lawmakers return from the summer recess. But issues such as a timeline for withdrawing troops, their immunity from Iraqi law and the status of prisoners held by U.S. forces, have held up a final deal.
Asked about the draft in Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said "discussions with the Iraqis on a bilateral agreement are ongoing." Asked if that meant there was still no deal, he said "Right."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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(CNN) -- Lebanon's prime minister paid a visit to Iraq on Wednesday -- the first such visit by a Lebanese leader in the post-Saddam Hussein era -- and he and his Iraqi counterpart discussed issues including oil exports and investment. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and a delegation were greeted at Baghdad International Airport by Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, the government said in a news release. After the two met, they spoke to reporters.
Al-Maliki said Iraq welcomed Lebanese investors and will work to provide them the proper economic incentives. "Iraq will supply Lebanon with crude oil according to a bilateral agreement that will be signed by the related ministers from the two countries," al-Maliki said.
Siniora's visit follows last week's visit by Jordan's King Abdullah II, which was the first trip to Iraq by an Arab leader in the post-Saddam era. Iraq has been working to develop closer relations with Arab nations. Saad Hariri, the leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority, visited Iraq last month.
Lebanon named an ambassador to Iraq two years ago, but he died, and a replacement has not yet been chosen. There is an Iraqi Embassy in Beirut.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Top Sunni politicians on Wednesday accused Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces of carrying out political arrests, and warned that this could push Iraq into another round of sectarian fighting.
The outcry came in response to the high-profile arrests Tuesday of three Sunnis -- the son of a senior politician, a university president and a provincial council member.
The arrests could upset the delicate political cooperation between the Shiite majority and Sunni minority in parliament.
The Sunnis' angry words -- though not backed by specific threats of action -- highlighted the country's stubborn religious divisions. Sectarian hatred pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out Sunni-Shiite civil war two years ago, though recent months have seen a sharp drop in violence.
Despite its domestic troubles, Iraq's Shiite-led government took another step toward wider recognition Wednesday, winning a pledge of support from visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, the country had been largely isolated.
Saniora, a Sunni, was only the third senior Arab politician to visit since the war. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the two countries would sign trade deals, including on the sale of Iraqi oil to Lebanon. The Lebanese are expected to get a discount, one official said.
The latest round of arrests began early Tuesday, with raids in the town of Baqouba in the volatile Diyala province, where a university professor and provincial council member were taken.
Late Tuesday, security forces arrested the son of a senior Sunni politician, Adnan al-Dulaimi. Al-Dulaimi said troops arrested his 44-year-old son, Muthanna, at the family's home in western Baghdad. Another son was detained eight months ago. Al-Dulaimi said Muthanna is not involved in politics, and that his arrest was meant to silence his father instead.
An Iraqi military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, told the state-run Iraqiyah TV that Muthanna al-Dulaimi is suspected of involvement in sectarian killings, forcing Shiites out of certain areas and banning displaced families from returning.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Hamas has threatened to harm kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not give us a pony and also free Gaza-based Hamas terrorists following Friday's planned released of 199 Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorists from Judea and Samaria. The Prime Minister agreed to free them as part of continuing series of "goodwill" measures to bolster the popularity of Fatah party leader and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The PA is planning a hero's welcome in Ramallah for terrorist Sa'id Atba, followed by a large hometown welcoming in Shechem, one of the terrorist capitals of Israel. Atba has been in jail for 32 years for leading a cell of terrorists who attacked a Petach Tikva market, killing immigrant from the former Soviet Union Tzila Galil and wounding dozens of others. Galil's son, violinist Zinovi Kaplan, said that the government should have killed the terrorist instead of jailing him. "Those who elected such a government shouldn't be surprised that terrorists are being freed," he added.
"If the enemy continues with its stubborn attitude, Gilad Shalit will become a second Ron Arad," warned a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing Izzadin Kassam. The statements came after the group held a drill simulating their kidnapping another soldier. They used as staging ground for that drill the site of the ruins of the Jewish Gaza community of Netzarim, which was destroyed in the expulsion of Gaza's Jews in 2005 in exchange for a hoped-for peace with Gaza's Arab terrorists. Other groups have held similar abduction drills recently, following threats to kidnap more soldiers in order to secure the release of their terrorists from Israeli prisons. Expecting to merit an assault on Gaza, Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades and the Sallah a-Din Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees have held large-scale abduction exercises. On Saturday, 50 Sallah a-Din terrorists are reported to have participated in their own group's drill at the Netzarim ruins.
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Izzadin Kassam, has accused PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad of hindering a deal to free Shalit. "Abbas and Fayyad do not want the Resistance to achieve a respectable deal as they do not believe in the way of resistance. They only believe in the way of negotiations and begging to the enemy and succeed only in releasing prisoners who were anyway approaching their release date," said Obeida. The terrorist spokesman continued that his group would continue to kidnap IDF soldiers as long as Israel continued to hold PA terrorists.
#1
There is 1 Israeli life at stake in this negotiation. If they release 199 hardcore criminals how many Israeli lives will be taken by them in the future?
#2
Other groups have held similar abduction drills recently, following threats to kidnap more soldiers in order to secure the release of their terrorists from Israeli prisons.
They don't even have to keep them alive either. Just kill them and desecrate their bodies. Israel will still pay top dollar in live prisoners.
Olmert has placed a price on the corpse of each and every Israeli.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The European Union gave a financial boost on Wednesday to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries. The 40 million euro ($59 million) injection of funds comes on top of the 440 million euros ($648 million) that the EU pledged for the Palestinians in 2008.
Fayyad has struggled in recent months to pay government workers because many Arab donors have not met their financial commitments. "The situation is very, very tight, for sure," a top official from Fayyad's office said this week.
A Palestinian official said the EU money would help Fayyad meet the next government payroll, due in the first week of September. Fayyad has been waiting for months to receive $80 million pledged by Kuwait but it is unclear when the funds will arrive in the Palestinian Authority's coffers, officials say.
The EU money will also be used to pay for ammo Palestinian retirees and poor families, and to provide fuel to Gaza's lone power plant, according to an EU statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Palestinians get cash boost from EU
EU Fills Terrorist Coffers
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/21/2008 3:44 Comments ||
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#2
Fayyad has struggled in recent months to pay government workers
Posted by: ed ||
08/21/2008 12:25 Comments ||
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#4
The 40 million euro ($59 million) injection of funds comes on top of the 440 million euros ($648 million) that the EU pledged for the Palestinians in 2008.
Yep. Way, way back in...ought-eight. Seems like only yesterday.
Looks like their undying love doesn't last unless ya pay for it. Like a whore's.
Deputy Prime Minister Issam Abu Jamra called in remarks published Wednesday for establishing his own office at the Grand Serail so he can keep an eye on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. "I will not accept to play a marginal role and watch what Siniora does without knowing the documents he is signing or discussing," Abu Jamra told the daily As Safir.
Abu Jamra said he would suggest amending the text of the prime minister performance management system "such as it preserves the role of deputy prime minister."
The deputy premier also said he would reject a proposal for renting property near the finance ministry where Abu Jamra's offices would be located, pointing out that rehabilitation of the office building would cost $2 million, let alone the expensive rental.
In support of Abu Jamra MP Nabil Nicola who is also s a member of the reform and change bloc which is headed by MP Michel Aoun told ANB TV today:" We are not asking to take over the responsibilities of the Prime Minister but we are asking for responsibilities for the deputy Prime Minister . To start with he should have an office at the Grand Serial...after all his position is a ministerial post.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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MP Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party has informed Interior Minister Ziad Baroud that terrorists disguised as tourists have entered Lebanon to carry out apparent suicide attacks. The PSP's media official Rami al-Rayyes told Naharnet "we have received information about suicide attackers entering Lebanon disguised as terrorists."
"We've relayed the information to interior minister Baroud. This is a major threat that could destabilize the whole situation," Rayyes explained. He said the PSP relayed the information to Baroud to help "counter-terrorism officials follow up the issue and control the situation."
"Lebanon is surrounded by threats at various levels," Rayyes said, predicting renewed attempts to assassinate political figures in Lebanon.
The previous round of political assassinations, which started on Oct. 1, 2004, had targeted politicians opposed to Syria's role in Lebanon. Rayyes did not disclose the PSP intelligence sources for the information on the terrorists
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Lebanon has tourists? That make 'em terrorists or crazy...
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/21/2008 6:03 Comments ||
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#3
Some terrorists entered Lebanon disguised as tourists humans
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/21/2008 7:00 Comments ||
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#4
Lebanon has lots of tourists. It's long been the Arab Riviera. And don't forget all those dual passport holders, coming back for the summer to visit family... or at least sending the wife and children.
The Salafi groups in Lebanon on Tuesday announced indefinite freezing of a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah, 24 hours after it was announced at a press conference in Beirut.
Sheikh Hassan Shahhal, who signed the understanding on Monday with Hezbollah's Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, declared freezing the agreement pending "appropriate circumstances that allow its implementation."
Sheikh Hassan made the announcement after a meeting with leaders of Salafi factions presided over by their highest authority Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal who had rushed to denounce and criticize the deal with Hezbollah, minutes after it was announced on Monday.
The Dai, or Preacher, on Monday termed the agreement "media crackling in favor of Hezbollah and the Shiite community" and called for abolishing it.
The freeze was announced in the northern town of Tripoli, power base of the Salafi movement. "The Salafi movement totally rejects this document ... and who signed it has no right to claim belonging to the Salafi movement or representing it," the ageing Dai al-Islam Shahhal said on Monday. "This document is ... harmful to the Sunni community and would end up in vain, God willing," he added. "Those who signed it have no influence, and whoever wants to defuse tension should talk to forces that do exist," he stressed.
Hezbollah and its allies welcomed the understanding that was sharply rejected by almost all Sunni factions and members of the March 14 majority alliance.
Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, who heads the largest Sunni bloc, had avoided direct comment on the understanding. But his aides and members of his parliamentary bloc said he opposed it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain escalated their debate over foreign policy Tuesday, as the Democrat struck back forcefully against charges that his views on the situation in Iraq are based on political calculation. "The times are too serious for this kind of politics," Obama told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here a day after McCain told the group: "Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president." 
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The European Union gave a financial boost on Wednesday to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries. The 40 million euro ($59 million) injection of funds comes on top of the 440 million euros ($648 million) that the EU pledged for the Palestinians in 2008.
