Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington could send up to 30,000 more troops over the next six months. The senior US commander in the country, General David McKiernan, had previously asked for more than 20,000 soldiers to counter the increasingly violent Taliban insurgency.
But Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman claiming to represent the fugitive leader Mullah Omar, said: "Russians also sent that many troops but were badly defeated. When the US increases its troop levels to that of the Russians, they will also be cruelly defeated."
He added: "More troops - that means there will be more targets for the Taliban."
Soviet forces lost 15,000 men in bitter fighting with US-backed Afghan resistance movements during their 10-year occupation of the country and withdrew in 1988.
The US reinforcements are due to arrive in the country in January and be deployed in the provinces of Logar and Wardak, on the southern flank of Kabul.
The insurgency of Islamist fighters has encroached on the capital this year, cutting several routes out of the city for westerners and aid agencies.
The Afghan government welcomed the prospect of more US troops, but said they should be used to train the Afghan Army and block the flow of insurgents from Pakistan's tribal regions. Sultan Ahmad Baheen, a foreign ministry spokesman, said: "These forces should be deployed in places where they are needed - particularly in Helmand and along our eastern borders, from where terrorists infiltrate into our country."
Other US reinforcements are due to join British troops in Helmand, where commanders have described the insurgency as a "stalemate".
#4
Again, the broader issue is whether RUSSIA, CHINA, + INDIA, etc. Asian sub-regions, + to include AFRICA, will willingly accept or tolerate the RETURN OF NEW WESTERN MILITARY FORCES + INFLUENCES TO FORMER COLONIES OR VASSAL STATES AS A CONSEQUENCE OF LOCAL SOVEREIGN GOVTS. INABILITY TO EFFEC HALT THE SPREAD OF VIOLENT ISLAMISM + ISLAMIST DESTABILIZATIONS.
* E.G. HINDU-LED ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE > many Hindis prefer their WE-KNOW-WHOM-YOU-ARE-AND-WHERE-YOU-LIVE LOCAL ISLAMIST BAD-BOYS, over feared US-LED MILPOL INFLUENCE AND DOMINATION [read, UK = Clive + East India Company, etc.] IN SOVEREIGN INDIAN-ASIAN AFFAIRS.
The 13-year-old was keen to escape the dismal Kenyan refugee camp for displaced Somalis. So the girl returned to her parents' homeland. But there, she was raped and then stoned to death.
#1
It's because of occurrences like this that Islam keeps its women so deeply under lock and key.
There are lots of stupid 13 year old boys and girls. None of them should have to pay for their stupidity with their lives. It was more than bad enough she was raped. Muslims in general, and Somalian Muslims in particular, are just sick, evil bastards.
I wonder how many Muslimas commit suicide every year? I suspect the answer is a very large number.
The Ministry of Interior has denied reports published in a Washington-based online newspaper that Saudi officials had launched a massive crackdown on Al-Qaeda terrorists who were allegedly planning to attack pilgrims participating in this years Haj.
The Middle East Times a sister publication of the Washington Times which is owned by News World Communications carried the report on Dec. 16 quoting unnamed US intelligence officials. The report said the Saudi governments operation followed alerts that Al-Qaeda planned to launch a bloody assault on pilgrims.
Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, described the report as incorrect. We didnt launch any huge counterterrorism operation, he said, adding that there was no intelligence of an attack targeting the pilgrims.
The Times report stated that this years pilgrimage began on Dec. 6 under the nervous eye of Saudi security forces that included 20,000 ground troops, flights of combat helicopters and a large number of armored vehicles deployed at key locations. It added that technical and other surveillance was increased in and around Makkah, and that the site was monitored by 10,000 security cameras and Saudi agents mixed with the pilgrims. Communication between Saudi fast reaction and special security units was improved and capability augmented. The report added, No four-wheel vehicles were allowed because of fears of car bombings.
Al-Turki, refuting the claim, said security forces take part in serving the pilgrims every year to assure a successful pilgrimage. This is not something new. Its normal, we do it all the time ... These types of security measures have been taken well before the Kingdom was struck by a wave of terrorist attacks in 2003. Whats the big deal? he added.
Referring to a claim that Saudi counterterrorism operations started three months ago with preemptive raids on suspected Al-Qaeda cells and hundreds of arrests, Al-Turki said, No such arrests were made.
Security and intelligence agencies last month warned Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina of possible attempts on her life by extremist groups including Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, said sources concerned.
It was at that time Special Security Force (SSF) assumed the responsibility of ensuring her security, they added.
Meanwhile, security measures for Hasina have been stepped up following news by an Indian television network that Huji has unleashed a six-member suicide squad to kill the former prime minister. SSF Director General (DG) Major General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf told The Daily Star yesterday, "We often receive such leads and none of those is less important to us. We have taken extra safety precautions for Sheikh Hasina like we do each time after we have such information."
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 00:00 ||
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SCOTLAND - Britain was commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing Sunday, recalling the night a US-bound jet carrying 259 passengers and crew was blown up over a Scottish town. Memorial services are scheduled to take place from 1400 GMT in the small, quiet community of some 4,000 people, where 11 people were also killed on the ground as flaming debris from the plane crushed houses.
Relatives of the dead are expected to attend a service at London's Heathrow Airport, where Pan Am Flight 103 took off on the night of December 21, 1988, carrying mostly Americans home for Christmas. Barely 40 minutes into the flight to New York, the Boeing 747 was ripped apart by a bomb in the luggage hold at an altitude of 9,400 metres (31,000 feet), killing everyone on board.
Lockerbie residents recall the explosion turning the sky orange and wreckage, fuel and bodies raining down. The town had unwittingly been caught up in international terror.
The tortuous investigation into the bombing eventually led to the jailing for 27 years of a former Libyan intelligence officer, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi. He is serving his sentence in a prison in Scotland--now suffering from cancer, he recently failed in an attempt to be released.
The bombing killed 180 Americans, an unprecedented toll in an age before the attacks of September 11, 2001, and plunged ties between Libya and the West into a chill which has only recently thawed.
Some Lockerbie residents continue to be haunted by memories of the night the jet crashed from the skies on to a town decked out in Christmas decorations.
"It was the nearest thing to hell I ever want to see," said retired police inspector George Stobbs, 74, who had just returned home when he saw a TV newsflash. Heading to nearby Sherwood Crescent, where the 11 residents perished, he recalled: "There was this great crater, a great mass of burning. The heat was intense. I saw an iron gate melting as if someone was putting a blow torch on to butter."
Maxwell Kerr, 72, remembers finding poignant reminders of the passengers. "It was families going home at Christmas. We did find lots of Christmas presents lying scattered about. There was men, women, children and babies. It's horrific when you think about it," he said.
The link to Libya was uncovered by investigators who painstakingly traced material from the Samsonite suitcase in which the explosives were planted inside a radio-cassette player. They found that the bomb had probably been placed on board in Frankfurt, from a non-Pan Am flight which connected with the doomed aircraft at Heathrow.
In fact, Flight 103 was late taking off--if it had been on schedule it would have been over the Atlantic when the bomb detonated, sparing the town of Lockerbie and probably leaving the plane's remains at the bottom of the ocean.
Al-Megrahi and co-accused Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were eventually tracked down in an international manhunt by Scottish police and the CIA, although it took years of diplomatic wrangling to put them on trial. An extraordinary court was set up in the Netherlands and Al-Megrahi was tried and convicted by Scottish judges, while Fhimah was acquitted.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2008 00:00 ||
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I remember the memorial that was broadcast from Syracuse Univesity, that lost a number of students. Never forgive, never give up, no mercy.
#2
I went by the Lockerbie memorial in November 1992. My reaction was a mix of humbleness, sadness, and anger. Libyan government and military sites should have been leveled for this one.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/21/2008 22:03 Comments ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview released on Friday only an "idiot" would trust North Korea, which is why the United States is insisting on a way to check its nuclear claims.
A 2005 multilateral deal under which Pyongyang would abandon its nuclear programmes has become snagged on Pyongyang's refusal to spell out a protocol on how to verify its disclosures about its nuclear programmes. The sticking point appears to be North Korea's reluctance to allow inspectors to take samples to test a declaration of its atomic programmes that it submitted this year as part of the aid-for-disarmament agreement.
Speaking to a group of foreign policy experts and students on Wednesday, Rice rejected criticism from US conservatives who believe the Bush administration has been too trusting of Pyongyang in recent years. "Nobody was trusting of the North Koreans. I mean, who trusts the North Koreans? You'd have to be an idiot to trust the North Koreans," she said in the appearance at the Council of Foreign Relations think tank, prompting laughter. "That's why we have a verification protocol that we are negotiating," she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:48 ||
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Ironic failure here by Condi. First, there's the policy, which has been ill-advised - and obviously so from the start. Second, the SecState looks/sounds undignified or unpolished using language like this. She should have communicated the idea differently. Bluster and colorful language don't make up for lack of nerve or vision. The mystery is that this administration initially did the right thing, got abused for it, THEN flip-flopped back to an approach reminiscent of previous, less capable administrations.
Imagine if the US had flip-flopped on the ABM Treaty after abrogation, or implored the Int. Criminal Court for admission after rejecting the idea of participation. That's how weird I see the Nork policy progression having been. The 'Stache called it an "intellectual collapse" - but I can't figure out WHAT to call it.
SYDNEY, Australia Authorities on Sunday lifted the last remaining restrictions on an Australian man who spent more than five years as an inmate at Guantanamo Bay and admitted assisting the al-Qaida terrorist network. David Hicks, a 33-year-old ex-kangaroo skinner and Outback cowboy, was held in U.S. custody at the military detention center in Cuba before striking a plea deal that returned him home to Australia to serve a nine-month sentence.
Hicks was released a year ago after completing the sentence for providing support for terrorism, but was placed under a strict court order that required him to report to police three days a week, observe a curfew and banned him from using any telephone or Internet account not approved by police. The order expired at midnight Saturday. Australian Federal Police, which had sought the original order citing national security reasons, said last month it had decided not to ask a court to renew the restrictions.
Decided that he was just a washed-up punk ...
Hicks has kept a low profile since being released from prison. He is living in his home city of Adelaide, and has said through lawyers and recorded statements that he is struggling to return to a normal life after suffering trauma at Guantanamo Bay.
Hicks was captured by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in late 2001 and handed to U.S. troops invading the country to unseat the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Hicks spent 5 œ years in captivity without trial at Guantanamo Bay before pleading guilty to supporting terrorism at a U.S. military tribunal in a plea bargain. Hicks admitted providing material support to al-Qaida in exchange for serving a sentence in Australia.
Throughout his ordeal, Hicks family and lawyers insisted he was an immature young man who was caught up in events beyond his control after the Sept. 11 attacks. They said Hicks converted to Islam and sought adventure as a fighter in Kosovo and Kashmir after the Australian army rejected him because of a lack of education.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2008 00:00 ||
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They said Hicks converted to Islam and sought adventure as a fighter in Kosovo and Kashmir after the Australian army rejected him because of a lack of education
"Fat, drunk jihad, and stupid is no way to go through life, son"
/Abu Dean Wormer
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2008 10:41 Comments ||
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The jury deciding the fate of five foreign-born Muslim men charged with plotting an attack on Fort Dix in hopes of killing U.S. military personnel will begin it fifth day of deliberation this morning.
The anonymously chosen panel wrapped up their considerations shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, completing more than 25 hours of deliberations since getting the case Tuesday night. The jury remains sequestered at an undisclosed hotel until it reaches a verdict. U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said the jury told him it was making progress and getting along. It gave him no other information.
On Saturday, the eight women and four men asked for the transcript of the testimony of a Philadelphia Police sergeant, who testified about his involvement with defendant Serdar Tatar of Philadelphia. He testified that Tatar told him a man was pressuring him for a map of Fort Dix and feared it could be terrorism related. The officer contacted the FBI and told Tatar not to give the man, since identified as FBI informant Mahmoud Omar, the map. By the time the FBI interviewed Tatar weeks later, he had given the map to Omar. Tatar took it from his father's former Cookstown pizzeria, Super Mario's, just outside the main gate of Fort Dix.
The government contends Tartar was not trying to avert an attack by Omar. Instead, authorities allege he was trying to figure out if the FBI knew about the alleged Fort Dix plot he is now charged in. When Tatar was questioned by the FBI, he denied giving the map to Omar three times, an officer testified during the eight-week trial.
Tatar and co-defendants Mohamad Shnewer and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka, all of Cherry Hill, are all charged with conspiracy and attempted murder. Tatar, a legal, permanent resident, is the only defendant not charged with weapons offenses. He also is the only suspect who the jury was instructed did not watch the jihad-training and propaganda videos and cannot use that evidence against him.
The jurors have some 48 binders of evidence to consider.
There are some parallels between the Fort Dix case and the so-called Liberty City Seven, men who were accused of planning to attack the Sears Tower and several FBI offices. One of the men was acquitted last year, while federal jurors in Miami twice deadlocked on the charges for the other six and mistrials were declared. There were nine days of deliberations before the first mistrial was declared and 13 before the second.
Tribal elders from Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Saturday demanded an immediate end to the ongoing military operation in the Tribal Areas. The tribal elders, including Syed Ahmad, Abdul Khaliq, Malik Zardar and Malik Khair Rehman told a press conference that the government had started the operation without taking them into confidence. "We, the tribal people of Mohmand Agency, have no plan to raise any lashkar against the Taliban, but we want the issue to be resolved through a tribal jirga and this is the only way to bring peace to the region," the said. They accused the government of not allowing tribesmen to move to safer places. "The government asked the people to leave the tehsil so that it could start the operation, but blocked all the exit routes leaving the locals stranded," they claimed. They demanded the government send back the agency's internally displaced persons and compensate them so that they could rebuild their houses damaged during the operation, or arrange proper residence for them in settled or safer areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:31 ||
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#1
Gawd amighty JoePa is go on Jihad?
Send word from Guam, is Penn State missing a coach AND BRITTANY?
The government not providing compensation to the people affected by military operations in the Tribal Areas may set back the peace agreement between the government and the Mehsud tribe, Senator Saleh Shah said on Saturday. The senator from South Waziristan said the government would be responsible if the peace accord failed. Talking to journalists, Saleh said a committee, which included representatives of construction department officials, was formed in February in the presence of the political agent to conduct a survey of losses in Mehsud area. The survey, which covered more then 4,500 houses, was carried out in Kot Kai, Mandana, Kalkana, Murgheban, Spin Kai, Raghzai Bazaar, Chakmadai Bazaar, Nanoo Khail and Laddah areas, Shah said. He said the committee had estimated losses of Rs 1.35 billion in a report presented to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, but no government response has been received so far. The senator said the report was currently with the Finance Ministry and the delay in provision of compensation showed the government's reluctance to facilitate the tribesmen. Shah said the peace accord's continuation now depended on the government's response.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:31 ||
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The government will deal with an iron hand with any individual or group disturbing the sectarian harmony, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Saturday.
Chairing a meeting to review security arrangements for the upcoming holy month of Muharram, Malik emphasised that harmony between various sects should be maintained at all costs and directed the law enforcement agencies to take effective measures to prevent terrorist attacks.
Officials of provincial, Northern Areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) administrations apprised the adviser of the security arrangements made for the holy month. Malik appreciated the arrangements as well as the efforts of the provincial governments to curb abductions for ransom.
Police chiefs and home secretaries of the four provinces, Islamabad, Northern Areas and AJK and the interior secretary attended the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:30 ||
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The Mohmand Agency political administration has extended by two days a deadline for tribes to hand over wanted men, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the channel, the extension came on a request by the Tarkzai and Hilmzai tribes, and the decision was made at a jirga between tribal elders and the political administration. The tribesmen said the Hilmzai and Tarkzai tribes had handed over more than 300 people on a government list of wanted men. The previous deadline was set to expire on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Taliban blew up three shops in Nowshera on Saturday, according to a private TV channel. Separately, the Taliban also blew up a CD shop in Badrashi.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:23 ||
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The NWFP government on Saturday demanded the federal government make the Swat operation 'more effective'.
A meeting of the NWFP cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti, made several decisions to tackle the provincial security situation following a briefing by NWFP Inspector General of Police Malik Naveed and other administrative officials, Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain told reporters.
The meeting observed that Swat operation was not bearing the desired results and innocent people were being killed in most cases instead of those involved in terrorist activities, Hussain said. "The operation must be made effective," he said.
The cabinet also approved increasing the strength of Elite police force, giving police a free hand to take action against kidnappers and equipping the security forces with state-of--the-art gadgets. In this connection, 2,500 personnel would be recruited to the police in a two-phase process. The cabinet agreed to allocate Rs 70 million for the upgradation of the police department and decided to approach the federal government for grant of a special package to buy the latest weapons and intelligence equipment.
"The NWFP government will cut its developmental expenditures to fulfil the requirements of police if the Centre does not agree to release the required amount," he said.
Hussain said police would be allowed to act freely to secure citizens against gangsters and abductors.
The NWFP government also restricted supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan and decided to allow only 200 containers to be docked at Peshawar's terminals at a single time, the information minister said.
He said that the NWFP government had taken a decision in principle to restore the magistracy system in the province. He said a delegation comprising the NWFP home secretary and other senior officials would meet the corps commander on December 23 to discuss law and order.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:23 ||
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President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday regretted threatening statements from India despite Pakistan's serious efforts to defuse tensions following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
He was addressing a meeting of parliamentarians from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Punjab at the Presidency.
The meeting is part of the president's ongoing consultations with lawmakers on the prevailing security and political situation, and focused particularly on the ties between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab.
Sources privy to the meeting said Zardari told the PPP leaders his government had offered complete co-operation in the ongoing investigation into the Mumbai attacks, but India did not share with Islamabad any evidence to support its claims that elements from Pakistan were involved in the attacks.
Zardari told the legislators that the Pakistani government had adopted a responsible approach but would never compromise on national security and sovereignty.
He briefed the participants of the meeting about his interaction with world leaders and envoys who visited Pakistan after the Mumbai tragedy.
Dialogue: One of the participants told Daily Times the president was optimistic that the situation would normalise soon and India and Pakistan would resume their composite dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:22 ||
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The chief of global police agency Interpol met Indian officials on Saturday and pledged assistance in a probe into last month's attacks in Mumbai by gunmen who India insists came from Pakistan.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble met Home Minister P Chidambaram and promised help in securing details of the 10 gunmen who attacked two luxury hotels, a rail station and a Jewish cultural centre on November 26 in Mumbai, officials said.
Noble told Chidambaram Interpol was comparing DNA profiles and other identifications of the attackers such as photographs and fingerprints with its global database of fugitives, Home Ministry officials said.
The Interpol chief also met the head of India's Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI).
"India and its CBI have much experience in using Interpol tools and services to track down terrorist fugitives," Noble said in a statement.
"India understands that it cannot be expected to find the answers to this incident without the support of the global law enforcement community, and we will help ensure that this happens," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:22 ||
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MUMBAI Doormen in white suits and black turbans greeted visitors to the Oberoi with a bow on the eve of the hotels reopening three weeks after it was targeted in a militant rampage. Security was noticeably tighter as guards scanned bags and sniffer dogs patrolled the ground outside.
Armed policemen stood watch among bunkers of sandbags outside the entrance to the hotels Trident portion, where the owners said 100 rooms would reopen on Sunday, just weeks after 10 suspected Islamic militants stormed sites across Indias financial capital. Inside the Oberoi, private security guards manned all lobby entrances, passing bags through metal detectors and X-ray scanners. Journalists ID cards were checked against a press list, and reporters and photographers were patted down by hand a far cry from the relaxed atmosphere at the luxury Oberoi before the attacks.
Militants from the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba are accused of staging the attacks that killed 164 people over the course of a three-day siege and paralyzed much of the Mumbai. Two of the most high-profile targets were the sleek, sea-front Oberoi and another luxury hotel, the majestic, 105-year-old historic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower.
With Christmas approaching, both hotels have rushed to reopen sections to guests with tighter security. The Taj Mahal Group said the tower wing of its hotel would reopen with a ceremony Sunday evening.
The main areas of the Oberoi and the Taj left in tatters after shooting sprees and a 60-hour standoff with police are expected to remain closed for months. The Taj, gutted by fire and destroyed by grenades, remained dark Saturday even as Christmas trees festooned with lights twinkled outside the main entrance.
The Taj had stepped up security even before the Mumbai attacks, in response to a deadly car bombing at the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, in September primarily to prevent a similar attack. All cars underwent checks, and metal detectors were installed at all main entrances. The gunmen, however, slipped in through a back entrance that did not have detectors, hotel officials have said
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of Iraqi minority Kurds demanded on Sunday the execution of a Saddam-era official known as 'Chemical Ali' for the killing of 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 gas attack.
Ali Hassan al-Majeed, a Sunni Arab who was Saddam's cousin and a member of his inner circle, has already been sentenced to death twice, once in 2007 for his role in killing tens of thousands of Kurds in Saddam's military 'Anfal' campaign. Majeed and three other high-ranking officials accused of mounting attacks on civilians appeared at Iraq's High Tribunal at the opening of a trial for the March 1988 attack.
Prosecutors described how relatives of 483 plaintiffs were gassed to death in the Kurdish border town of Halabja.
Majeed's second death sentence came this month for his part in crushing a Shi'ite revolt after the 1991 Gulf War. Disputes within the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, however, have so far stalled Majeed's execution.
In Halabja, more than 200 km (120 miles) northeast of Baghdad, hundreds of Kurds waved banners and shouted for Majeed and his fellow defendants to be executed. "We ask the court to execute Chemical Ali and to heal the wounds he caused by gassing our beloved," said Shereen Hassan, a Halabja housewife who took part in the protest. "I will never rest until I see him hanged," said Peshtwan Qader.
At the time of the massacre, Iraq had been at war with Iran for almost eight years, and Saddam's government alleged Halabja residents were aiding Kurdish militants and siding with Iran.
Fouad Saleh, the town's mayor, urged the Iraqi government to pay victims' families compensation.
Majeed's Halabja trial will be headed by Judge Mohammed al-Uraibi, a Shi'ite jurist who also headed Majeed's first two trials, a court spokesman said.
Also charged in the case are Sultan Hashem, a former defence minister, and two intelligence officers. All the defendants are already facing life sentences or execution.
Majeed has been held in a U.S. detention centre but is due like thousands of other detainees to be handed over to the Iraqi government under a security pact taking effect on Jan. 1. U.S. military officials in Baghdad on Sunday could not immediately confirm whether Majeed was still in their custody.
This article starring:
Ali Hassan al-Majeed
Sultan Hashem
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 11:52 ||
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#1
I hadn't known part of the bilateral agreements was transfer of the detainees under IHT jurisdiction. That's a big step, needless to say. I know the US Marshals did stellar work with the Iraqi security force attached to the court - and I hope/assume that this transfer is based on confidence that the Iraqis are ready.
Once, back in the early days of the IHT's proceedings, there was a movement of prisoners in which for some reason the detainees got the mistaken idea they were about to be handed over to their countrymen. Reportedly there was a sudden need for lots of new underwear.
wow! Consequences for actions? Who'da thunk it? Al-Grauniad hand-wringing at link.This part was interesting:
One colleague alleged he had been a Baathist under Saddam Hussein's rule and after the US-led invasion turned into a defender of religious cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's ideals. "I know people are seeing him as a hero, but he would do anything to become famous," said the colleague. "He said many times that he would like to become president of Iraq." Others, however, vehemently disagree with these claims. Wanna-be islamo-celebrity?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/21/2008 08:31 ||
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Wonder if they bastinadoed him too? That might teach him to keep his shoes on.
The fact this punk took an ass-whipping bothers me not at all. He's damned lucky it wasn't a .40 S&W double-tap to center mass as it should have been. I'd bet a number of people in the Secret Service currently on the Presidential security detail are going to be back chasing counterfeiters very, very quickly.
#2
Muntazer al-Zaidi has not been seen in public since he hurled his shoes at President George Bush. In Baghdad, Afif Sarhan talks to witnesses who claim that a series of savage attacks left him with a broken rib and serious damage to his eye
In a country where they regularly blow people to pieces, or torture and bury them in orchards, a broken rib and even an eye damage hardly classify as a "savage attack".
I'm not being facetious.
Iraq's interior minister on Friday angrily dismissed reports that a group of officials from his ministry was plotting to overthrow the government and said the arrests of the men were politically motivated. "It is a big lie. The public must understand this," Jawad al-Bolani told reporters at a news conference, referring to the accusations against the men. "It was clearly motivated by politics and was not related to security."
Bolani's comments came a day after an Interior Ministry spokesman announced the arrests of 23 of the ministry's officials, as well as some from other security ministries, on suspicion of attempting to reconstitute Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which was banned after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
On Friday, the ministry's director of internal affairs said the officials would be released within days. "We will release them very soon," Gen. Ahmed Abu Raqeef said in an interview. A national police official said the men could be released within 48 hours.
If true, that would raise questions about why the arrests were made in the first place. Critics of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have described them as a move to gain an advantage ahead of next month's crucial provincial elections, which could alter Iraq's political balance of power. Maliki's aides have denied those accusations.
The prime minister and his Dawa party are facing competition from other Shiite parties vying for influence in Iraq's predominantly Shiite oil-rich south. His rivals now include Bolani, an independent Shiite, who recently founded his own political party. "I am in charge, and anyone thinking of trying to harm the ministry and its men has to face me," Bolani said Friday. "I do not rule out that 'outside hands' were involved in this case."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 00:00 ||
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is "extremely concerned" about the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and urged an extension of a recently ended truce, his office said on Friday.
"The Secretary General is extremely concerned at statements calling into question the continuation of the Egyptian-brokered calm in and around Gaza," his press office said in a statement. "A major escalation of violence would have grave consequences for the protection of civilians in Israel and Gaza, the welfare of the Gazan civilian population and the sustainability of political efforts."
Ban reiterated his appeal that "the calm should be respected and extended, rocket attacks against Israel must be immediately halted and all acts of violence must cease," his office said.
Shortly after the armed wing of Hamas formally announced that the six-month truce with Israel was over, the smaller Islamic Jihad group said it fired three rockets at southern Israel, which caused no reported damage or casualties.
Violence has escalated for the past several weeks in the run-up to the end of the ceasefire. Militants fired nine rockets on Thursday toward southern Israel that caused no damage or victims after Israeli forces carried out five air strikes and killed one Palestinian on Wednesday.
Israel responded to violence that erupted in early November by tightening sanctions and closing its crossing points with Gaza, halting deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas met in Washington on Friday with US President George W Bush, set to leave office on January 20 without the Middle East peace deal he had hoped to broker by the end of the year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:38 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
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Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin said Sunday that Hamas is capable of firing rockets that can strike targets as distant from Gaza as the Negev capital of Be'er Sheva. He told a meeting of the cabinet that rockets could also hit Kiryat Gat and Ashdod, cities which thus far were seen as beyond range.
Hamas officials, meanwhile, are not ruling out a renewal of suicide bombings in Israel. Ayman Taha, a Hamas representative in Gaza, told Haaretz that under the current conditions, no cease-fire is in effect whatsoever. "Rocket fire is in the hands of the military wing. It will decide how to react," he said. "Resistance must continue in every way and by every means, as long as the occupation continues."
According to Diskin, Hamas has lifted its reins from other armed organizations, and had resumed firing on its own. "Make no mistake, Hamas is interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms. It wants us to lift the siege [on Hamas-ruled Gaza], stop [IDF] attacks, and extend the truce to include Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]," Diskin said.
The is no effective mediator between Israel and the Palestinian side, he said. The Egyptians are sitting on the fence, and there's a lack of trust between Hamas and Egypt, he continued, adding that were Hamas to find itself in a situation in which it needed Egyptian mediation, the Egyptians will again be players.
#1
Israel needs to make a blanket statement: "Rockets coming from anywhere in Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon, will have the area of launch completely razed by retaliatory fire. If these are civilian areas, the onus for endangering the civilians rests solely with those who used civilian areas for warlike purposes. Israel accepts no responsibility for damages to civilian or military personnel caused by its legitimate defensive response against those endeavoring to kill Israeli citizens."
Print that in full-page ads in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Cairo and Beirut. Drop leaflets in Gaza, the WB and south Lebanon. Put all involved on clear notice: if you let the terrorists set up shop in your neighborhood, they are bringing down swift and certain death and destruction on your head.
Myanmar authorities have arrested 19 defectors from their ally North Korea and plan to charge them with illegally entering the country, a senior police official said on Saturday. Right. If I was gonna defect from North Korea, Burma would be the first place I'd think of going.
The group of mostly men were trying to make their way to South Korea via China and Southeast Asia, an increasingly popular route for North Koreans trying to escape chronic hunger and repression in their communist homeland. "They were arrested when they entered over the border in eastern Myanmar in early December," said the official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media. "As they were arrested in our territory, we are taking action against them under the immigration act," he told AFP. "Their main reason (for leaving) was to go to South Korea to meet with their relatives or family members there."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/21/2008 09:49 ||
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#1
They were making their way out of China and took the route through Burma.
I think this is because the China-Burma border may be easier to penetrate for "illegals" than other Chinese borders. From Burma I assume they would make for Thailand and the SK embassy.
Iranian police shut down the office of a human rights group headed by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Sunday, the deputy head of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, Narges Mohammadi, told AFP. "They have sealed off the office and are telling us to leave the premises without resistance," Mohammadi said. "Mrs Ebadi is there too. We have no choice but to leave."
She said dozens of policemen had gathered in front of the group's office in northwest Tehran and that the officials had not "shown a judicial warrant but only provided the number of a warrant". She said policemen in uniform and plain clothes had raided the office and made an inventory of its contents. The group had been scheduled to hold a belated celebration marking the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day on December 10.
The closure marks a toughened crackdown on rights campaigners by the Islamic republic, which Ebadi's group accuses of "systematically violating" human rights. "Freedom of expression and freedom of circulating information have further declined" since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in August 2005, the group said in its annual report in May. "The lack of a real and effective observance of human rights deepens the gap between the people and the government and breaks the pillars of peace, stability and development in the country," it warned at the time.
Founded by five prominent lawyers and headed by 2003 Nobel winner Ebadi, the group is a vocal critic of the human rights situation in Iran and has defended scores of prisoners of conscience, including high profile dissidents and student activists. The group holds frequent meetings on what it deems to be human rights violations. At one recent gathering, it renewed calls on Iran to stop executing people convicted of offences committed when they were minors.
In November, Ebadi criticised Iran's new Islamic penal code, saying it remained unfair to women and used an "incorrect" interpretation of Islam. In April, she said she had received death threats pinned to the door of her office building, warning her to "watch your tongue." Ahmadinejad subsequently ordered that Ebadi be protected and that the threats be investigated.
In 1974, Ebadi emerged as the first female judge in Iran, but after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the government decided that women were unfit to serve as judges. She chose to become a lawyer and devoted herself to human rights, women and children. Ebadi and her colleagues also represent the family of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died while in custody in 2003 after being detained for photographing a demonstration outside a Tehran prison.
WADI KHALED -- Crossing back and forth from Lebanon into Syria is woven into the daily habits of Hassan Atiyeh and other residents of this remote border valley.
"If I don't go in the morning, I go in the evening," said Atiyeh, 27, a shopkeeper in the dirt-poor village of Knaisseh. "Anything we have here is from Syria--gas, diesel, bread. We can't live a moment without the Syrians."
Lebanon and Syria, which have never formally demarcated their frontier, agreed to work on this after forging diplomatic ties in October for the first time in their difficult history. They have also agreed to cooperate on border security, a hot issue partly because Syria's foes complain that weapons supplies for Hezbollah--which has re-armed since Israel's 2006 war with the Lebanese Shi'ite group--still transit Syrian territory.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/21/2008 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.
The 13-year-old was keen to escape the dismal Kenyan refugee camp for displaced Somalis. So the girl returned to her parents' homeland. But there, she was raped and then stoned to death.
The Ministry of Interior has denied reports published in a Washington-based online newspaper that Saudi officials had launched a massive crackdown on Al-Qaeda terrorists who were allegedly planning to attack pilgrims participating in this years Haj.
Security and intelligence agencies last month warned Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina of possible attempts on her life by extremist groups including 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview released on Friday only an "idiot" would trust North Korea, which is why the United States is insisting on a way to check its nuclear claims. 
Tribal elders from Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency on Saturday demanded an immediate end to the ongoing military operation in the Tribal Areas. The tribal elders, including Syed Ahmad, Abdul Khaliq, Malik Zardar and Malik Khair Rehman told a press conference that the government had started the operation without taking them into confidence. "We, the tribal people of Mohmand Agency, have no plan to raise any lashkar against the Taliban, but we want the issue to be resolved through a tribal jirga and this is the only way to bring peace to the region," the said. They accused the government of not allowing tribesmen to move to safer places. "The government asked the people to leave the tehsil so that it could start the operation, but blocked all the exit routes leaving the locals stranded," they claimed. They demanded the government send back the agency's internally displaced persons and compensate them so that they could rebuild their houses damaged during the operation, or arrange proper residence for them in settled or safer areas.
The government not providing compensation to the people affected by military operations in the Tribal Areas may set back the peace agreement between the government and the Mehsud tribe, Senator Saleh Shah said on Saturday. The senator from South Waziristan said the government would be responsible if the peace accord failed. Talking to journalists, Saleh said a committee, which included representatives of construction department officials, was formed in February in the presence of the political agent to conduct a survey of losses in Mehsud area. The survey, which covered more then 4,500 houses, was carried out in Kot Kai, Mandana, Kalkana, Murgheban, Spin Kai, Raghzai Bazaar, Chakmadai Bazaar, Nanoo Khail and Laddah areas, Shah said. He said the committee had estimated losses of Rs 1.35 billion in a report presented to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, but no government response has been received so far. The senator said the report was currently with the Finance Ministry and the delay in provision of compensation showed the government's reluctance to facilitate the tribesmen. Shah said the peace accord's continuation now depended on the government's response.
The government will deal with an iron hand with any individual or group disturbing the sectarian harmony, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik said on Saturday.
The Mohmand Agency political administration has extended by two days a deadline for tribes to hand over wanted men, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the channel, the extension came on a request by the Tarkzai and Hilmzai tribes, and the decision was made at a jirga between tribal elders and the political administration. The tribesmen said the Hilmzai and Tarkzai tribes had handed over more than 300 people on a government list of wanted men. The previous deadline was set to expire on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Taliban blew up three shops in Nowshera on Saturday, according to a private TV channel. Separately, the Taliban also blew up a CD shop in Badrashi.
The NWFP government on Saturday demanded the federal government make the Swat operation 'more effective'.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday regretted threatening statements from India despite Pakistan's serious efforts to defuse tensions following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
The chief of global police agency Interpol met Indian officials on Saturday and pledged assistance in a probe into last month's attacks in Mumbai by gunmen who India insists came from Pakistan.
Hundreds of Iraqi minority Kurds demanded on Sunday the execution of a Saddam-era official known as 'Chemical Ali' for the killing of 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 gas attack.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is "extremely concerned" about the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and urged an extension of a recently ended truce, his office said on Friday.
Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin said Sunday that Hamas is capable of firing rockets that can strike targets as distant from Gaza as the Negev capital of Be'er Sheva. He told a meeting of the cabinet that rockets could also hit Kiryat Gat and Ashdod, cities which thus far were seen as beyond range. 
Myanmar authorities have arrested 19 defectors from their ally North Korea and plan to charge them with illegally entering the country, a senior police official said on Saturday.
Iranian police shut down the office of a human rights group headed by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Sunday, the deputy head of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, Narges Mohammadi, told AFP. "They have sealed off the office and are telling us to leave the premises without resistance," Mohammadi said. "Mrs Ebadi is there too. We have no choice but to leave."
