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Frontier Corps refuses security to NATO terminals
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Child suicide bomber threat to British troops
Posted by: tipper || 12/14/2008 00:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe the goal of this kind of attack is to cause our troops to shoot other INNOCENT children (and retarded women etc.) - the strategic damage caused by the publicity of such a 'war crime' is far greater than the tactical damage of the attack itself.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/14/2008 9:00 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Muslim-Christian clashes erupt in Egypt
Several people were wounded in renewed clashes between Muslims and Christians in Egypt over the past week. Christians, also known as Copts, were on their way to a monastery to pray when children hurled stones at them, according to a report in the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Stones were also hurled at Christians in a separate incident in the north east of the country, in Minya Al-Qamh, as Christian worshipers made their way to a building set to be transformed into a church. Coptic sources said thousands of Muslims surrounded the building in Kafr Farag Girgis to stop the Christian gathering. Security forces were summoned to the area to ease tension between the parties.

In Luxor, several buses carrying Christians were attacked with stones, lightly wounding the travelers. The monastery to which they were heading announced it would close its doors to visitors in the evenings, out of concern for the visitors, following the clashes last week.

Tension between Muslims and Christians throughout the Middle East tend to flare up ahead of Christmas. Rights groups say the Egyptian government is failing to provide effective measures to eradicate sectarian violence. They say that perpetrators enjoy immunity and that the Coptic Church often pressures victims of sectarian violence not to complain so as not to ruffle the authorities' feathers.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 09:48 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muslims attack Christians = Muslim-Christian clashes
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/14/2008 13:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Ahhh. Using the 'children'....again.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/14/2008 16:08 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Uganda rebels set for January peace talks
Peace talks between the Ugandan government and a reclusive Muslim rebel group could begin early next year, sources on both sides told AFP on Sunday. "I have named my team and we want to start negotiations on January 15," said Jamil Mukulu, commander of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The ADF rebellion began in the 1990s and the heaviest fighting occurred between 1996 and 2001, forcing tens of thousands of people in western Uganda's Rwenzori region to flee their homes. The group, which says it is fighting for equal rights for Muslims in the East African country, was effectively driven out of Uganda in 2001 and has since been based in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mukulu, speaking from his base in the DRC, expressed frustration that the government had not yet publicly declared an interest in peace talks. Contacted by AFP, Ugandan Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said that if the ADF proved it was serious about peace, the government was ready for talks. "The question of public announcements is not important," he said. "A genuine ADF delegation is welcome and will be received."

Rugunda also dismissed concerns that a rebel delegation would be arrested after crossing the border. "The government of Uganda cannot arrest someone when it comes for peace," he said.

Mukulu said the ADF would demand amnesty for all of its fighters as part of the talks. It said some of his top commanders might want positions within Uganda's national army. He also said he wanted to meet his counterparts "face to face." The government should not shy away from peace talks just because a deal agreed with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had broken down, he added.

Uganda's two-year peace process with the LRA has stagnated after rebel leader Joseph Kony balked at signing the final agreement agreed by his representatives in April. "I am not the LRA," Mukulu said. "We are ready for peace. We are Ugandans and we want to come home."
Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 09:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea threatens to slow down denuclearisation
North Korea warned Saturday it would slow down work on ending its nuclear drive after six-party talks collapsed, but South Korea predicted a fresh start for diplomacy under US president-elect Barack Obama.

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea - half of the group involved in the North Korean disarmament talks - all voiced hope for the negotiations as they held a rare joint summit in the southwestern Japanese province of Fukuoka. The six-way talks - which also involve the United States, Russia and North Korea itself - broke down Thursday in Beijing as the United States pressed North Korea for verification of its denuclearisation activities.

In response, Washington said that North Korea's negotiating partners were suspending shipments of fuel to impoverished Pyongyang, which were part of last year's disarmament deal. North Korea's nuclear negotiator, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan, played down the US response as he spoke to reporters at Beijing's airport, according to Japan's Kyodo News. But he warned: "If (fuel shipments) are not provided, we will adjust the speed of disablement."

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said he expected negotiations on North Korea to resume after Obama settles in at the White House. "Once the United States has the Obama administration, full-fledged discussions are expected," Lee told a joint news conference after the summit with the Japanese and Chinese premiers. "The North Korean nuclear issue turned out to be 10 years of disappointment, but it is also true that we have progressed little by little," Lee said.

"The participants of the six-party talks should work together with patience," he said. "It may take time but this is an issue which we should and can resolve". Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chinese President Wen Jiabao issued a joint call for a resumption of diplomacy to end North Korea's nuclear drive. "The three countries will make concerted efforts with other relevant parties to push forward the process of the six-party talks," they said in a statement after their summit.

Nuclear verification: In a separate meeting earlier in the day, Aso and Lee voiced regret over North Korea's "refusal to discuss verification" of its nuclear disarmament, a Japanese official said. "But they agreed to continue to co-operate closely in the six-nation talks as the verification issue is very important in pressing ahead with North Korean denuclearisation," the official said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How can you "Slow" a non-existent slowdown?
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 12/14/2008 14:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Talk about the definition of a one-trick pony, talking to these mutts is has been a waste of time for over 50 years. Stop talking to them, stop feeding their army, and stop their ships on the high seas and see what they are selling to the other dangerous people in the world!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/14/2008 20:28 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Raising Federal Gas Taxes Raised to... Stop Terrorism?
The Washington Post is directing a December 8 plea to the incoming Obama administration. The Post wants to raise the federal gas tax so high that it will stop people from driving. The Post thinks this will serve our national security purposes and add more money to rebuild our nation's roads.
If people stop driving why rebuild the roads? ...
Apparently, the Washington Post has the foolishly mistaken notion that federal gas tax receipts actually go where our Congress initially claimed it was going to go; our nation's roads. In fact, nearly half of the federal gas tax receipts go to pork instead of roads and infrastructure.

But, despite the waste by government, here is the Washington Post trying to soak America's drivers even more by suggesting Congress raise the federal gas tax by 46 cents a gallon. The Post thinks that recently falling gas prices offers a "golden opportunity" for the government to emulate Europe and pile taxes high on each gallon purchased. The Post is obviously unaware that the US did not become the greatest nation on earth by emulating Europe!

Posted by: Glugum Slinerong9862 || 12/14/2008 02:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It doesn't really matter where tax receipts "go." A tax increase of any kind, even fuel taxes are a transfer of wealth from private hands to the one sector most responsible for the economic problems we all now face.

The editorial writers at the Washington Post are either too stupid or too dishonest to admit the real world and undesirable results from tax increases.
Posted by: badanov || 12/14/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#2  What do you mean too stupid OR to dishonest?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/14/2008 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  bigjim, Heh.
Posted by: Hellfish || 12/14/2008 13:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Bush should have considered this after Sept 11. The taxes linked to the War Declaration so that they could not be kept afterwards. That way gas prices would go up and people would drive less (feel the pain of the war a bit) and less money would go to Saudi coffers while bringing cash to pay for the war.

Now the tax seems less useful as people are already driving a lot less and the Saudi's have nearly a decade of profits spread out to Maddrassas.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/14/2008 13:39 Comments || Top||

#5  An extra fifty cent tax will be pretty inconvenient when prices return to three dollars a gallon. I wonder if the editorial staff has consulted with their CFO to see what the impact of 50 cents a gallon will be on their delivery operation.

Obama would do well to follow their advice because it is a well known fact that only families with a greater income than $200K drive vehicles.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/14/2008 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Super Hose: Obama would do well to follow their advice because it is a well known fact that only families with a greater income than $200K drive vehicles.

Welcome back. Long time, no see, in a manner of speaking.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/14/2008 16:29 Comments || Top||

#7  ZF, I still use rantburg as my news source. I have taken on a second job and have time to formulate worthwhile comments.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/14/2008 16:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Dix defendants: jihadists or just tough talkers?
What did the Fort Dix defendants intend to do? Launch an armed attack on the Army base, as prosecutors have alleged? Or, harmlessly fire guns at a shooting range while talking tough about jihad, as the defense has argued?

With closing arguments in the case slated to begin tomorrow morning, jurors soon will be handed the task of determining what, exactly, was in the minds of the five defendants. As District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler said this week, "this is all coming down to what the jury believes as to the intent of these young men." "There is plenty of evidence on both sides," he added.

No doubt, the men talked - and talked constantly - about jihad, weapons and striking back at American forces, either in the United States or abroad. Two FBI informants captured hundreds of hours of conversations with the defendants, and many of the discussions were dominated by those topics. Defense attorneys most likely will remind the jurors that talking isn't illegal.

The jurors' instructions on the law, which Kugler read Thursday, also say that merely thinking about killing U.S. soldiers isn't enough to convict. "You must find . . . that a particular defendant's mental state passed beyond the stage of thinking about the crime to actually intending to commit it," the instructions said.

All five are foreign-born Muslims who came to this country as children and were raised primarily in South Jersey. Brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka are illegal immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. Mohamad Shnewer was born in Jordan and is the only U.S. citizen among the group. Serdar Tatar was born in Turkey and is a legal U.S. resident. None of the defendants chose to testify at trial.

Prosecutors said the men were inspired to plan an attack by watching violent jihadist videos and radical Islamic lectures downloaded from the Internet. The defense countered during the course of the trial, which lasted eight weeks, that the men never formulated a final plan to attack the base. "I anticipate the government to argue they couldn't wait that long," the judge said this week.

The men were arrested on May 7, 2007, after Dritan and Shain Duka attempted to buy guns supplied by an FBI informant. Other defendants - including Shnewer - didn't know the Duka brothers were buying guns, which the defense has argued were intended only for target practice.

To convict on the conspiracy charge, the jurors don't need to find proof of a plan, only proof of an agreement. In one recorded conversation, Shnewer listed all four of his codefendants as willing participants in a jihadist attack. "That's enough evidence in and of itself," Kugler noted this week, when the defense sought to dismiss the conspiracy charge. The defense has tried to portray Shnewer as a "loudmouth," who was not taken seriously by his friends and was often the butt of their jokes.

Prosecutors also listed 30 "overt acts" the men took to further their alleged plan - everything from Shnewer sharing an jihadist DVD at the beginning of the investigation, to the two Dukas attempting to buy the rifles at the end. While the men often acted separately, the prosecution has stitched these overt acts together in an attempt to show an overall plan.

Shnewer, along with FBI informant Mahmoud Omar, drove past Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base and other military installations in what prosecutors called "surveillance." Tatar gave Omar a map of Fort Dix from his family's pizzeria, which delivered to the base. Omar gave the map to Shnewer, who hid it in the bottom of his closet. The Dukases fired guns at a Poconos shooting range and played paintball, which the prosecution called "training" for jihad.

The defense, which accused Omar of goading the men into taking many of these steps, had far different characterizations. Shnewer's surveillance, they noted, amounted to driving to the front gates and turning around. The map Tatar gave to Omar could be found on the Internet. Tatar also approached a Philadelphia police sergeant after Omar requested the map and later talked to the FBI about him. And the Dukas' firearms training was so rowdy and chaotic that Besnik Bakalli, the second informant who accompanied them to the range, called his FBI handler to complain about how dangerous it was.

Closing arguments are expected to last through Tuesday. Both sides likely will rely heavily on the defendants' words, secretly recorded by the informants, to frame their final statements. Prosecutors have far more material. The defendants talked repeatedly about ways to launch an attack, espoused the most radical views of Islam and made countless inflammatory statements about killing U.S. soldiers. On a few occasions, however, they seemed to demur from their radical line, pronouncing themselves full of talk and lacking the guts for real, armed jihad. "We are going to end up in jail for 30 years, 40 years for doing nothing, just talking," Dritan Duka said in one recorded conversation.

This week, jurors must decide if the men were all talk, or something more.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 08:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fortunately for them, I'm not on the jury. Of course, I could just be talking tough rather than be an actual proponent of life in solitary confinement for people like them.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2008 15:14 Comments || Top||


US enemies warned not to 'test' Obama
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned the United States' enemies on Saturday against trying to take advantage of the early months of the new Washington administration to test U.S. resolve.

Gates also said the United States would stay deeply involved in the Middle East and the Gulf under Barack Obama's administration. "I can assure you that a change in administration does not alter our fundamental interests, especially in the Middle East," he told a regional security conference in Bahrain.

Many foreign policy experts, including vice-president elect Sen. Joe Biden, have suggested enemies of the United States will try to provoke a crisis early in Obama's term while the new administration is still finding its feet.

Gates, who will stay on under Obama, said extensive planning had gone into preparing for the transition.

"Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to test the new administration would be sorely mistaken," he told the Manama Dialogue conference, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. "President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States from the moment he takes office on January 20th," Gates said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Goodness. They said Biden is one of Obamas 'foreign policy experts'. God help us.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/14/2008 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Barry didn't seem dissed when he was called the "House Negro". Oh, I know, he'll get pissed when his belle takes a swipe from some islamofascist.
Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident || 12/14/2008 4:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Cause he's a tough gangsta from the 'hood?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/14/2008 4:33 Comments || Top||

#4  They gonna find out he's an Oreo.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/14/2008 4:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Gates appears to be unzipping and slipping out of his RINO suit at last. Wonder how his Jive classes are coming along. Speak softly and carry a big 'warning' .....more Rice cakes please. How deliciously UN and Change-America.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2008 9:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Laugh now, yo. When the Big O deploys his mad Community Organizer(tm) skillz to convene meetings in order to raise awareness, facilitate process and catalyze consensus among the various stakeholders, you will be laughing out the other side of your face. Biatches.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/14/2008 10:50 Comments || Top||

#7  "President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States from the moment he takes office on January 20th,"

That's because he's inheriting a decent defense; it'll take a few months to reduce it to a shambling, dispirited wreck.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/14/2008 11:58 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
No question of Pakistan being declared 'terrorist state', says US
The US State Department denied on Friday that there had been any 'talk of declaring Pakistan a terrorist state'. While welcoming the steps taken by Pakistan following the sanctioning of Jamaatud Dawa (JD), some other organisations and a number of individuals -- including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed -- State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Pakistan took the step it did "because it saw it in its interest". He said, "As we have said many, many times over, the threat from violent extremists and terrorists in Pakistan is as much a threat to the Pakistani people and the Pakistani government as it is to anybody else. All that said, it's a welcome step that they took. This is a day-by-day process and is something that requires vigilance every single day in fighting terrorism." Asked if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be discussing the UN ban on JD in New York next week, McCormack said, "I'm sure that she will touch on the issues related to India and Pakistan."
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Is one supply line worth kissing these guys' arses for?
I sincerely hope we are making provisions for an alternate arrangement.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/14/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  they should have been declared a terrorist state years ago
Posted by: sinse || 12/14/2008 17:26 Comments || Top||

#3  #2: they should have been declared a terrorist state years ago. Posted by: sinse||

They should have been declared a "failed state" and taken over about five years ago. In the meantime, we have Vietnam War II, complete with a "Cambodia to the south and a "Laos" to the west. I thought we said, "Never again"? Who got cold feet?
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/14/2008 18:45 Comments || Top||


Action against JD not because of Indian pressure: Malik
Action against Jamaatud Dawa is not being taken under Indian pressure, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Saturday, adding that Pakistan being a member of the United Nations (UN) had to adhere to international norms.

The interior adviser told a private TV channel if the action had not been taken against the group, the country would have been isolated internationally. "We are listening to the UN as a world forum. Otherwise we are not taking any dictation from abroad," Malik said.

To a question, he said the people in India and Pakistan wanted peace and friendship, and were against terrorism. He said the Pakistani leadership had given a clear message of friendship to India by extending unconditional support in the investigation of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The interior adviser said the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks wanted a war between the two countries.

The Indian authorities should pass on to Pakistan any evidence they have, he said, adding: "Islamabad will look into it and take action according to the law of the land."

He said anti-state elements fighting with security forces on the country's western borders wished to get the government's focus on the war against terrorism shifted to the eastern borders.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Mumbai gunman sings
The lone surviving gunman of the Mumbai terror attacks has made a seven-page-long confession describing the planned rampage in details.

Mohammed Ajmal Qasab said he and his partner Ismail Khan, who attacked a train station - Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal - had initially planned to take hostages and outline demands in a series of calls to the media, AP reported Saturday. The two men killed dozens of people at that station, and failed to take any hostages. The gunman also said the attacks were originally planned for September 27th.

After the hostage plan failed, Qasab said, they moved to plan B and stormed into a building - Cama hospital - where they looked for hostages and exchanged gunfire with police.

In his confession Qasab confirmed that he was a Pakistani national. He said he was trained by Lashkar-e-Taiba and instructed on how to evade pursing Indian security forces. He was lectured on India's security and intelligence agencies.

Pakistan has launched a crackdown on Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliate Jamaat-ud-Dawah. Pakistani security forces have arrested a large number of the two outfits' members freezing their assest and shutting down their offices. Islamabad, however, has refused to confirm Qasab's nationality, arguing that New Delhi has yet to disclose evidence.
This article starring:
ISMAIL KHANLashkar-e-Taiba
JAMAAT UD DAWAHLashkar-e-Taiba
MOHAMED AJMAL QASABLashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  He had been told by clerics of the beautiful glow that the faces of martyrs show.

Well, the Indian police showed him pictures of his fellow terrorists, with their eyes shot out, with terrible burns, deformed and bloody.

That shook him apparently
Posted by: john frum || 12/14/2008 7:39 Comments || Top||

#2  I wouldn't be surprised if some of those events occurred pour l'encouragement autres, specifically him.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/14/2008 9:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Must have been the new low-voltage, electronic waterboarding technique.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2008 9:18 Comments || Top||


No proof Mumbai gunman is one of us: Wormtongue
India has provided no proof that the surviving gunman involved in the deadly attacks in Mumbai, or any of his nine slain colleagues, were Pakistanis, Pakistan's foreign minister said Saturday.
They really do lack the gene for feeling stoopid, don't they?
"We're not denying it, we're not accepting it," Shah Mohammed Qureshi told reporters during a trip to Paris. "If you (India) have any evidence, share this evidence with us."
"His Mom and Dad don't count."
Indian police said Saturday that the surviving gunman had written to the Pakistan High Commission in India seeking legal help. The gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, has also asked Pakistani officials to take custody of the body of another gunman who was killed in a gunfight. Iman faces a string of charges including "making war against the country, murder, attempted murder and other charges under the arms and explosives act."

India says all 10 attackers came from Pakistan and has stepped up pressure on its neighbor to crack down on Islamic militants after the attacks last month that left 172 people dead, including nine gunmen.

Suspect charity

" If there is evidence (of terror activities) we will take action "
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Pakistan also said there was no proof that a major Pakistani charity it cracked down on this week, after the U.N. listed it as a terror organization, was engaged in any acts of violence "If there is evidence (of terror activities) we will take action," Pakistan's foreign minister said when asked about Jamaat-ud-Dawa, accused of being a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Kashmiri group India blames for recent attacks in Mumbai. "They're running schools, hospitals, dispensaries... but if this organization or elements in it are getting into a mode of violence," then authorities will take action, Qureshi said.

Pakistan on Thursday placed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed under house arrest and ordered its assets frozen after the United Nations listed it as a terror group the day before.

" We will not allow anybody to destabilize the country. Had we not implemented the resolution we would have been declared a terrorist state "
Pakistan Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar
The move came as Pakistan faces intense international pressure to crack down on militant organizations on its soil in the wake of last month's deadly attacks in India.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is one of Pakistan's biggest charities and is known in Kashmir for its relief work after a devastating 2005 earthquake.

Pakistan Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said Friday that his government had no choice but to act on the U.N. ruling. "We can fight our enemies but not the whole world," he said. "We will not allow anybody to destabilize the country. Had we not implemented the resolution we would have been declared a terrorist state."
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Iraq
Bush Dodges Shoes Thrown by Iraqi Journalist
Posted by: tipper || 12/14/2008 19:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I honestly think he enjoyed the levity.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2008 20:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Shades of Iggy Pop saying "Hey, that guy threw a Strohs..." at the end of the Metallic KO album.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/14/2008 20:24 Comments || Top||

#3  WORLD MIL FORUM > THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF THE USA; + WITH STRATEGIC FAILURE LOOMING IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND A NEW SERIOUS FINANCIAL CRISIS/RECESSION, THE USA WILL LOSE ITS HEGEMONY STATUS.

Articles = The USA is not likely to immediately collapseas a Nation = Major World Power, but it will lose resources + political advantage + geopolitical power/credibility to other formerly weaker States now rising???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/14/2008 21:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Is it, like, totally wrong of me to hope that Olbermann pulls something like this before G-Dub leaves office - and gets a .40-caliber Excedrin headache from the Secret Service as his reward??
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 12/14/2008 21:56 Comments || Top||

#5 

Bush is pretty quick, Maliki wasn't too bad either.
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 || 12/14/2008 22:56 Comments || Top||

#6  It would have been slightly humiliating for the shoe throwing journo if W had remarked that it looked like a size 7.
Posted by: eLarson || 12/14/2008 22:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Is it, like, totally wrong of me to hope that Olbermann pulls something like this ... and gets a .40-caliber Excedrin headache

Yeah, that's wrong. A savage beating should suffice.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/14/2008 23:31 Comments || Top||


Bush makes surprise farewell visit to Iraq
President Bush on Sunday made a farewell visit to Iraq, a place that defines his presidency for better or worse, just 37 days before he hands the war off to a successor who has pledged to end it.

Air Force One, the president's distinctive powder blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time, after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington and an 11-hour flight.

Bush planned a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The two were marking the recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which sets a deadline of Dec. 31, 2011, for the withdrawal of all American troops. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the agreement was "a remarkable document — unique in the Arab world because it was publicly debated, discussed and adopted by an elected parliament." Hadley said the trip "shows that we are moving into a different relationship ... with Iraqis rightfully exercising greater sovereignty, we in an increasingly subordinate role."

It was Bush's last trip to the war zone before President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20. Bush's most recent Iraq stop was over 15 months ago, in September 2007. For Bush, the war is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. He saw the invasion and continuing fight — even after weapons of mass destruction, the initial justification for invading Iraq, were not found — as a necessary action to protect Americans and fight terrorism. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.

After a 10-hour-plus fight, Bush was met at the airport by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander Gen. Raymond Odierno. The president then climbed aboard a helicopter for a five-minute flight to the presidential palace. Other Iraqi officials on Bush's agenda were Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the country's two vice presidents, the speaker of the Council of Representatives and the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government Massoud Barzani.

Signs of the security gains made in Iraq, Bush arrived in daylight and was welcomed with a formal arrival ceremony — a flourish that was not part of his previous three trips to Iraq. Still, the trip was conducted under heavy security and a strict cloak of secrecy. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and police officers blocked streets, checked for roadside bombs and brought traffic to a standstill from Camp Victory, near the airport, to the Green Zone. And people with the president agreed to tell almost no one about the plans. The White House tried to avoid raising suspicion about the president's whereabouts by putting out false schedules detailing activities planned for Bush in Washington on Sunday.

Bush's visit came after Defense Secretary Robert Gates' unannounced stop in Iraq on Saturday, at a sprawling military base in the central part of the country. Gates will be the lone Republican holdover from the Bush Cabinet in the Obama administration.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 09:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AP BDS on display - But in many ways this was a victory lap without a victory: Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a remarkably unpopular war. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have been killed in the war, which has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began more than five and a half years ago.

Gee, they just can't stop can they. Forty years after V-E day we still had around 250,000 troops in Germany, spending billions every years, and suffering hundreds of deaths [largely due to training and traffic accidents]. And you think the war was 'popular' in early '45 with the casualty lists mounting - you weren't there. People wanted to get it over just as much then as now, but they wanted it to end just like this one - in victory. Then again, you have no history that is more than 6 or 8 years. No thank you AP for working as hard as you could to be the open conduit for unquestioned enemy propaganda. Upset your side lost?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/14/2008 11:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Procopius, it's truly infuriating to be reminded how orwellian the public square has become/remained WRT Bush and many other topics. Here's another whopper:

the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.

Oh, really? Is that why votes compelling such departure have fared so well in the people's house, where the opposition has reigned for two years? Or why the newly elected and pathetic CinC flip-flopped like the shallow newbie he is on the topic, ending up guess where?

One thing that is right, but isn't stated here. The American public pretty much disgraced itself and undercut the motivation of many by its whining and impatience and general childish behavior on Iraq. Even with the administration's disastrous abandonment of politics and public communication, the national hysteria was inexcusable. It's not really a good idea to see just how long the dedicated and responsible few can carry the pathetic self-indulgent and ignorant many. Such experiments belong in coffe-house or bar b.s. sessions, not reality. Yet that's what we've been doing, and will now perhaps embark on with earnest, if the new crew dares to follow in the sad steps of its recent Dem forbears.
Posted by: Verlaine || 12/14/2008 12:35 Comments || Top||

#3  the national hysteria was inexcusable

Substitute the national media for the American public, and I'd agree completely, Verlaine. We have no idea what the American public thinks, because the media have made a point of distorting whatever they couldn't bury.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2008 15:03 Comments || Top||

#4  The BBC has a big splash about an Iraqi reporter throwing his shoes at Bush.

The grin on the BBC anchor's face had to be seen to be believed. He of course enlightened the viewers about Arab culture and shoes being an insult.
Posted by: john frum || 12/14/2008 15:42 Comments || Top||

#5  FREE On-Demand TV Shows (Full), Movies (Full), Music (6 million digital quality tracks), Unlimited Games, Easy Money, and College Educations (Stanford, Oxford, Notre Dame and more) @ InternetSurfShack.com

Posted by: Crerese the Great9942 || 12/14/2008 16:24 Comments || Top||

#6  FREEREPUBLIC > AGILITY IN TRAQ: BUSH DUCKS THROWN SHOES, from TV Correspondent.

Again, despite entrenchments at this time US domination of desired OWG-NWO is NOT assured or absolute, whereas Radical Islam [includ IRAN]is not only NOT defeated but is still capable of victory, and is actually trying to NUCLEARIZE WHILE BREAKING UP PAN-ASIAN ORDER [Nuclear States espec Russia China India, + large areas/parts of Oil-Rich, etc. AFRICA].

BREAKUP OF PAN-ASIAN COLD WAR ORDER > MIDST OF MSM-NET PERCEIVED " US DECLINE" = ESTABLISH PRO-ISLAMIST/MUSLIM-SPECIFIC AUTONOMOUS ANDOR SOVEREIGN ENCLAVES, FOLLOWED BY FORMAL STATES, THEN MERGE OR INTEGRATE LATER INTO THE "OWG CALIPHATE/ISLAMIST-JIHADIST STATE" [Nuclearized].

THROWN SHOES > IMO SYMBOLIZES HOW FAR THE US = US-ALLIED STILL HAVE TO GO ALA WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS" OF WORLD MUSLIMS = NON-ISLAM, AND IN SPITE OF ANY EFFECTS OR MILPOL CONSEQUENCES AS PER THE "US-GLOBAL RECESSION/DEPRESSION".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/14/2008 19:14 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jimmy Carter meets with Hamas for 2nd time this year
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Sunday met with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus, for the second time this year... no news conference was scheduled....

Carter first met with Meshal, Hamas' political leader, in April. That meeting drew sharp criticism from the Bush administration, which labels Hamas a terrorist group and contends such meetings give credibility to hard-line militants.

Carter said on Saturday, however, that he intends to continue meeting with Hamas leaders because peace requires dialogue with all sides.
--------
note 1: Hesbollah declined to meet with Jimmah earlier this week
note 2: as Carter was meeting with Hamas, Hamas was issuing the usual 'death to Jews' public affairs announcements, etc.
Posted by: mhw || 12/14/2008 11:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  well at least it wasn't an American representative
Posted by: Frank G || 12/14/2008 15:01 Comments || Top||

#2  This time is the charm Jimmah, you can announce your conversion then.
Posted by: regular joe || 12/14/2008 15:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Georgian red clay needs no foreign additives. Please bury him at sea when he dies, and well outside the territorial limits.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2008 15:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Can we pay them to keep him?
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/14/2008 16:27 Comments || Top||

#5  is he an honorary member now. fuckin trator is what i wouod call him`
Posted by: sinse || 12/14/2008 17:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Can't we just move his (taxpayer funded) library to South Beirut and be done with it?
Posted by: crosspatch || 12/14/2008 18:01 Comments || Top||

#7  The sick thing is that there will be a state funeral when this old moron dies.
Posted by: Hellfish || 12/14/2008 18:03 Comments || Top||

#8  I doubt there'll be a uric acid deficit on his gravesite
Posted by: Frank G || 12/14/2008 18:07 Comments || Top||


Hamas will not renew truce with Israel
The Palestinian group Hamas will not renew a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip that expires later this month, said a statement issued by the group in the Syrian capital on Sunday. "There will be no renewal of the calm after it expires," the statement quoted Khaled Meshaal, the Islamist group's exiled leader, as telling a Hamas television station.

Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 09:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh noes! What will happen to the cease fire?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/14/2008 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  This just means that they have restocked their weapons supplies and are ready to rock and roll again.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/14/2008 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Anticipating the new U.S. administration.
Posted by: DoDo || 12/14/2008 13:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Good. Now Israel can move on to actually doing something significant about the situation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||

#5  How do you tell when Hamas has a truce with anyone?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 12/14/2008 21:01 Comments || Top||


Thousands mark Hamas anniversary
Thousands of people have gathered on Sunday in Gaza to celebrate the 21st anniversary of Hamas as Haniya was expected to announce whether or not the truce would be extended.

A series of Hamas leaders have addressed massive crowds of supporters on the 21st anniversary of the founding of the Hamas movement. The day's festivities were aired on Al-Aqsa satellite TV, and are expected to be followed with a landmark speech by Palestinian Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh.

"Hamas has gone from stonethrowing to guns and rockets, from a support base of a few thousand people to a backing of millions in Arab countries and around the world," one of the movement's top officials in Gaza, Mahmud Zahar, boasted on the Hamas website. "It has succeeded in striking at Israel's national security."

Hamas television put the turnout for the afternoon demonstration in Katiba Square in the city centre in the hundreds of thousands.

Hamas member Salah Al-Bardawil told thousands in Gaza City Sunday imprisoned member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Aziz Dweik is the next legitimate Palestinian President until such time as elections are called, Ma'an reported. Al-Bardawil told the crowd that Dweik would be the next President on 9 January "in accordance with the Palestinian basic law." He explained that Dweik will be president for 60 days during which he will prepare for presidential elections.

Hamas officials say Israel failed to honour its side of the bargain by easing its crippling blockade of aid-dependent Gaza. According to the terms of the ceasefire Israel would open the Gaza Strip crossing points, allowing in sufficient quantities of fuel, food, goods and building supplies. The Strip had been under a tight blockade until the ceasefire took effect. During the six months of the agreement, however, Gaza was not sufficiently supplied. "There is no sense in extending the truce while the enemy is not respecting it and is keeping Gaza in a state of siege," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum, without saying whether the Islamists intended to declare it over.

The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine on Sunday called on all Palestinian factions to refuse to renew the truce with Israel, which will expire on December 19, KUNA reported. The movement said in a statement that "The renewal of calm at this stage will give the Zionist enemy the opportunity to implement its plans against the Palestinians." According to this statement, "We call upon the resistance factions to agree on a consensus to refuse to renew the truce which has become a threat to the higher Palestinian interests."
Posted by: ryuge || 12/14/2008 09:04 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a good place for a couple of cluster bombs.
Posted by: Hellfish || 12/14/2008 13:21 Comments || Top||


Israel ready to renew fragile Gaza truce with Hamas
Israel is willing to renew a six-month old ceasefire deal with Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip if militants halt all attacks against the Jewish state, a senior defense official said on Sunday.

Top defense ministry official Amos Gilad will head to Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and senior officials to discuss the renewal of the Egyptian-brokered deal which is set to expire on December 19, the official told AFP.

" If Hamas is ready to maintain the calm and return to the situation as it was three weeks ago, Israel will be willing to continue the truce "
Israeli official
"If Hamas is ready to maintain the calm and return to the situation as it was three weeks ago, Israel will be willing to continue the truce," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The ceasefire agreement has been rattled since November 4 by a string of tit-for-tat attacks between the Israeli army and militants, who fired dozens of rockets against southern Israel.

In response, Israel regularly sealed off all its crossings with the Islamists-ruled territory, raising international fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory.

But recent days have seen a return to calm and the reopening of the crossings.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  heh
Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident || 12/14/2008 4:31 Comments || Top||

#2  The two Ehuds ride again.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/14/2008 4:34 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesian Islam splitting into sects
There is increasing tension within the Muslim community in this country as a result of the growing number of people embracing what might be called ""new religions"".

The most recent of these is al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyyah, whose leader Ahmad Moshaddeq proclaims himself to be a prophet.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, has witnessed no less than 250 ""new religions"" since 2001. Prominent among these are Ahmadiyyah, Inkarussunnah and the Eden Community, apart from al-Qiyadah. The Attorney General's Office has declared al-Qiyadah an outlawed sect, which sets a precedent for bans on other sects.

The phenomenon has sparked a serious debate among Muslims over the nature of these so-called new religions. Central to their debate is the question of whether these religions are legitimate and lawful, or violate the true tenets of Islam. The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) has had no hesitation in branding these religions unlawful simply because they run counter to the true faith of Islam. Among the teachings that the MUI regards as antithetical to Islam is the claim that their leaders are the promised prophets and their disregard for the mandatory five prayers a day.(...)
Posted by: Uleck Ghibelline9225 || 12/14/2008 03:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AAnyone can be a "Prophet" in islam. Look at mo.
Posted by: newc || 12/14/2008 11:07 Comments || Top||


The Yoga Threat to Islam...
Banned to Muslims in Malasya...
Posted by: Uleck Ghibelline9225 || 12/14/2008 03:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yokay, I think I remember this artic from 2007, but I'll say it again - YOGA, + "A THREAT"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/14/2008 18:43 Comments || Top||


Abu-MILF reported merger
The military intends to raise before the "proper channels" the reported merger between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan, Military Chief of Staff General Alexander Yano said Wednesday.

In an interview during the closing ceremonies of the 18th ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM) in Camp O'Donnel in Capas, Tarlac, Yano said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines has received "raw reports" of the Moro groups' union in Basilan and that they were investigating the matter. He said the issue will be raised before the Joint Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (JCCH).

"We will expect they'll have to do something about it, there are mechanisms on the ground that should work," Yano said without giving details.

The JCCH is the monitoring team composed of representatives from the Philippine government and the MILF. It is tasked to oversee the standing ceasefire agreement between the two parties.

Earlier, Marine Commandant Major General Ben Dolorfino said they believed the Abu Sayyaf extremists who fled to MILF territories were being coddled by elements of the MILF 114th base command in Basilan. He said that after a day-long gunbattle in Albarka town in Basilan Sunday between Marines forces and Abu Sayyaf extremists, the Al-Qaeda-linked group was allegedly reinforced by an undetermined number of MILF rebels.

Five soldiers were killed while 24 others were wounded during the clash.

But Yano said the military had the "upper hand" in the recent clashes in Basilan. "Although we suffered some casualties, we are able to inflict considerable damage to the Abu Sayyaf and related groups," Yano said.

Military reported that some 50 Abu Sayyaf and MILF rebels were killed during the encounter in Albarka. This was denied by the MILF, saying that only three of their men were killed, including a sub-commander.

Despite the clashes, Yano said he saw no need to deploy additional forces in the province. "I have talked to the commanders on the ground, there is no need, we have enough forces in the area," Yano said, even as he said troops in the Zamboanga Peninsula could be deployed in Basilan when the need arises.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf

#1  The ASG has always worked as the extreme arm of the MILF. Yano, a solid officer, has always known this. Parouk Hussain, MNLF, Hashim Salamat, MILF, and Janjalani, ASG, were all taking orders from their Middle Eastern leaders and working together. The MNLF over the last ten years has worked the political side to deteriorate the will of Manila's leaders and grow the ARMM. The MILF continues to sew the seeds of civil war at the community level, and the ASG terrorize the communities and civil leaders. It’s a team effort on three fronts.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/14/2008 13:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran set to dispatch aid for Gazans
Iran is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip in a bid to help improve the deteriorating living conditions in the costal sliver.

Along with Indonesia and Syria as members of Asian Gaza troika, Iran seeks to help the besieged people of Gaza, Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said Saturday in a telephone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart, Agung Laksono.

The parliament speakers of Iran, Indonesia and Syria are to travel to the countries which neighbor Palestine to discuss initiatives for providing aid to the people of Gaza.

The decision to form such a troika was made during the third Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) meeting late November in Jakarta. "Besieged Gazans have to cope with the difficult situation they are currently going through. They are denied essential supplies of food, medicine and fuel," Larijani said.

The senior Iranian official meanwhile called for collective effective measures to ease the closures imposed on the coastal strip by the Israeli regime. Tehran has repeatedly called on Cairo to ease blockade by opening the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian convoys to deliver food, medical equipment and other essential supplies to the strip.

Laksono acclaimed Iranian initiative to help Gazans, saying the Palestinian issue is an Islamic and humanitarian one. He added that Indonesia fully understands the gravity of the situation and voiced support for the Palestinians -- and Gazans in particular.

Gaza has been faced with a humanitarian crisis ever since Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal strip in June 2007. An estimated 70 percent of Gaza has experienced lengthy power outages as Tel Aviv cut off fuel supplies to the strip's only power plant. Hospitals must rely on generators to keep life-saving equipment running.

Recent reports reveal that 80 percent of the families living in the strip are fully dependent on food supplies from aid agencies. The number of children suffering from malnutrition, diarrhea, insomnia and anxiety attacks has increased to 40 percent under the current siege. School dropouts have also surged due to the dangers of commuting to and from schools in such a volatile security situation, and also since many of the Gazan families cannot afford schooling for their children any more.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Iran is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip

IEDs, ammo, and DVD of Ahmadinejad dancing Lambada?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/14/2008 4:32 Comments || Top||

#2  It'll likely be humanitarian. An attempt to both reinforce Hamas as a so-called government and tie them closer to Iran.

Think of them as becoming an eventual Hesb'allah, Gaza subsidiary.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/14/2008 17:11 Comments || Top||

#3  JPOST > US ANALYSTS: GAZA-BOUND IRANIAN SHIP [Red Crescent] MAY HAVE HIDDEN AGENDA [covert delivery of Al-QUDS Intel Agents-Operatives, etc].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/14/2008 20:24 Comments || Top||


'Fresh sanctions should paralyze Iran'
The German government favors additional sanctions against the Islamic Republic targeting the country's banking and transport sectors. The weekly Der Spiegel said Saturday that Germany is preparing a package of fresh sanctions against Iran that Barack Obama could use to put pressure on Tehran when he takes office.

The magazine added that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was seeking come to a consensus with other world powers with respect to the package in a bid to give US President-elect the means to press Iran into relinquishing its nuclear activities. The new round of sanctions are expected target Iran's banking and transport sectors to in a bid paralyze the country, it said.

According to Der Spiegel Frank-Walter Steinmeier's chief-of-staff Volker Stanzel on Thursday proposed new measures to his French and British counterparts. The plan aims at collecting western support for a new set of sanctions that would not necessarily be implemented immediately.

The German Foreign Ministry has so far declined to comment on the report.

Obama has said he is prepared to offer Iran 'carrots' in form of economic incentives to stop its nuclear program, but he has also warned Tehran could meet with 'sticks' in form of toughened sanctions should it refuse to halt its nuclear program.

Under US pressure, the UN Security Council has so far imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran, demanding the country to halt its enrichment program.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  From the continent that complained the loudest about sanctions in Iraq, comes a new sanctions proposal for Iraqs neighbor.

If Irans economy tanks badly enough, sanctions and incentives might get them to stop. Until the money comes back.
Posted by: Mike N. || 12/14/2008 1:08 Comments || Top||


Sarkozy's criticism lacks credibility: Ahmadinejad
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday shrugged off criticism from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and said his comments lacked "political credibility."
"I mean, what does some Frenchy know?"
Sarkozy, whose government has taken a tough stance against Tehran over its alleged nuclear drive, said on Wednesday he could not sit at the same table as Ahmadinejad, who has regularly slammed Israel's inhumane treatment of Palestinians. "We do not care much, we have to see in practice. We do not consider this remark to have any political credibility," Ahmadinejad told reporters.

Iran said on Thursday that its foreign ministry had summoned the French ambassador to Tehran, Bernard Poletti, to express the Islamic republic's "strong objections to the recent interfering comments by the French president."

France has condemned Iran's perceived threats against Israel and maintained its position after Tehran summoned the ambassador "The declarations of the Iranian authorities questioning this right are unacceptable and can only have a negative effect on the perception of Iran by the international community," a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2008-12-14
  Frontier Corps refuses security to NATO terminals
Sat 2008-12-13
  Indian Navy repulses attack on ship off Somalia, captures 23 pirates
Fri 2008-12-12
  Captured terrorist Kasab my son, admits Pop
Thu 2008-12-11
  14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Wed 2008-12-10
  Hamid Gul to be 'declared terrorist'
Tue 2008-12-09
  Masood Azhar confined to his headquarters
Mon 2008-12-08
  Paks torch 160 NATO supply trucks
Sun 2008-12-07
  Al-Shabaab set up regional administration
Sat 2008-12-06
  Suspected US missile kills 3 in Pakistan
Fri 2008-12-05
  Iraq Presidency Council approves US troop pact
Thu 2008-12-04
  Italy: Police arrest two Moroccan terrs
Wed 2008-12-03
  Abu Qatada back in jug
Tue 2008-12-02
  Zardari sez not to do anything rash
Mon 2008-12-01
  Pak Army Brass Turban: Baitullah Mehsud, Fazlullah are Patriots!
Sun 2008-11-30
  Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege

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