Uh-oh. This'll piss them off...
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The Taliban have warned Afghans that possessing pictures of "unrelated women and handsome boys" was against Islamic law and owning "shiny new phones" runs contrary to their religious dignity. How about pictures of "fine, silky haired goats"?
The Taliban have been posting "night letters" in the volatile southeastern province of Ghazni, reminding Afghans of their religious obligations and reiterating warnings that they will attempt to disrupt crucial presidential elections on Aug. 20.
In a restatement of the Taliban's austere interpretation of Islam, one letter warned people, especially the young, against using hi-tech gadgets such as cell phones with photography and video functions. "People with camera cellphones must not have pictures of unrelated women and handsome boys in their phones, which is against Islamic sharia," reads one letter, obtained by Reuters on Monday. Sharia is Islamic religious law. They call dibs on the "handsome boys"...
"People should think of their Afghan dignity rather than buying shiny phones," it said.
Mobile telephones also should not have "immoral video clips", ring tones with verses of the Koran, or derogatory messages against individuals or tribes. It regarded such offences as "a serious crime" that would be punished severely, the letter said.
The "night letters" have been springing up overnight in mosques and on the walls of Ghazni villages since last Friday.
The Taliban also warned voters in Ghazni to stay home from the day before the Aug. 20 election or face serious consequences. Wouldn't you want them staying home on the day of the election? Might be more effective...
With attacks escalating across Afghanistan in recent weeks, the Taliban's leaders last week vowed to disrupt the poll, urging voters to boycott the ballot and "join the trenches of jihad".
The letters in Ghazni have even been distributed by hand in one district, telling voters polling stations will be targeted. "In order that this illegitimate process faces failure, the fighters will intensively attack polling centres, and (we) warn voters to stay home one day before," read another letter.
The use of "night letters" and similar threats are a common tactic in the south and east, long Taliban strongholds.
#4
The Taliban have warned Afghans that possessing pictures of "unrelated women and handsome boys" was against Islamic law
It seems to me that the only available targets in a lot of conservative Muslim communities are the household men and women. I have to wonder what percentage of "honor" killings are set off by an inceest victim threatening to expose his or her violator, who happens to be a member of the household.
The newly appointed commander of US-led troops in Afghanistan says he does not plan to halt controversial air strikes which have killed many camp followers civilians in the war-torn country. Gen Stanley McChrystal emphasized the air strikes were necessary to protect troops taking part in ground operations across Afghanistan.
"It's very hard because it's a balance for the young soldier on the ground, who is in combat. One of the assets that he has that might save his life might be air power or indirect fire from artillery or mortars and we don't want to take away that protection for him," the BBC quoted McChrystal as saying.
Camp followers Civilians have been the main victims of violence in Afghanistan particularly in the troubled southern and eastern provinces where the main fighting is going on.
The spiraling civilian casualties amongst camp followers inflicted by US-led forces in Afghanistan have sparked outrage among Afghans and constitute a moot point between Kabul and Washington.
The top US commander added that he plans to reduce Afghan camp followers civilians' death but not on expense of troops' lives. He said both "preventing and investigating" camp followers civilian causalities would be Washington's priority in the conflict-torn country.
The remarks comes a day after a UN report suggested that air strikes by the US-led forces and insurgent bombings were responsible for a higher number of camp followers civilian causalities in the war-torn country. UN assistance mission in Afghanistan warned on Friday that the number of Afghan camp followers civilians killed either in US-led airstrikes or Taliban attacks had risen beyond the 1000 mark in the first half of 2009.
The development comes as a Saturday air-strike in southern Afghanistan reportedly killed five camp followers civilians and wounded ten. Reports said missiles were fired at a weapons depot residential area in a small town in Helmand province.
The UN has warned that an increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan could mean a greater loss of camp followers life in the war-torn country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The UN figured out that more troops leads to more violence?
What's next?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2009 6:34 Comments ||
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The UN has warned that an increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan could mean a greater loss of life in the war-torn country.
Happened in Italy '43-'45, France '44-'45, the Low Countries '44-'45, and Germany '44-'45. The UN [or it's precursor] didn't object then.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Afghan government warned Sunday it would deal strictly with anyone who uses violence to protest the outcome of this month's elections, amid fears of a repeat of the bloody demonstrations in Iran.
A reported warning that Afghans could take their guns onto the streets should President Hamid Karzai win a second term on August 20 has drawn strong condemnation, with the British embassy adding this would be "unacceptable."
" The Ministry of Interior will deal strictly with those who want to impose their wishes on the ... people of Afghanistan through the force of guns "
Ministry of Interior
"The Ministry of Interior will deal strictly with those who want to impose their wishes on the ... people of Afghanistan through the force of guns," the office said in a press release.
The ministry, responsible for securing the election, said those behind statements that cause "destruction, plunder and disturb the security of citizens" were subject to criminal charges that could earn the death penalty.
The time had passed in which people could force their wishes on each other with weapons, it said, referring to Afghanistan's decades of war.
An international newspaper article last week cited an Afghan analyst as saying that should Karzai's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, not accept the outcome of the vote there would be violent protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Afghanistan denies reports that President Hamed Karzai had admitted that his country was home to "terrorist" camps that operate against Pakistan.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said last week that Kabul had admitted that the separatist Baloch youths are being trained on Afghan soil to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan and that President Karzai had promised to take action against these training grounds.
"This is absolutely not true. This is baseless," Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told a press conference on Sunday adding that after the Pakistani minister expressed Islamabad's deep concerns over the deteriorating security condition in the region, the president had pledged "firm action" against threats to Pakistan from Afghanistan should he receive evidence.
The Afghan minister also rejected his Pakistani counterpart's reported claim that 90 percent of militants arrested in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, saying Kabul had "strong evidence that Afghan as well as Pakistani, Central Asian and Al-Qaeda-linked militants of various nationalities were operating from safe havens across the border."
Malik had also claimed that Indian intelligence agencies were running the anti-Pakistani terrorist camps to cause unrest in Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Gulf News] An Egyptian emergency state security court will start on August 23 trying 26 Arabs allegedly recruited by the Lebanese group Hezbollah to launch terror attacks in Egypt, prosecutors said on Sunday.
The defendants, including four fugitives, face charges of planning to carry out terror attacks and spying for a foreign organisation - allegedly Hezbollah. Under Egyptian law, these charges are punishable by life imprisonment or death. The fugitives include Mohammad Qablan, a Hezbollah intelligence official whom the Egyptian authorities accuse of entering the country and recruiting the alleged operatives before leaving.
Egypt's Attorney General for the State Security Prosecution, Hesham Badawi, has said that investigations with the defendants-two Lebanese, five Palestinians, one Sudanese and 18 Egyptians - revealed that they had planned to attack foreign tourists in the Sinai Peninsula and ships using the Suez Canal.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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THE GOVERNMENT has handed out six times more cash to bogus Afghan asylum seekers than to our heroes wounded fighting the Taliban.
Shocking figures show £30million of taxpayers' money has been squandered on food, shelter and legal aid for 2,500 refugees seeking asylum. During the same period, the Government handed out just £5.3million under the controversial Armed Forces Compensation Scheme to 560 British soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
Of the 2,500 Afghans who sought asylum, only 85 were genuine, meaning 2,415 bogus applicants received an average of £12,000 each. The average for wounded soldiers was just over £9,000.
Last week, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth pledged to review the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme after being forced into a humiliating U-turn. The country was outraged by a Government bid to claw back cash paid to injured Corporal Anthony Duncan and Royal Marine Matthew McWilliams.
A Sunday Express investigation can reveal that in the financial year 2006-07, legal aid and accommodation and food allowances for Afghan asylum seekers cost £30million, £12,000 per head for Afghans who represented 11 per cent of all applicants. In the same period the average spent on wounded soldiers was just £9,464. Corporal Duncan was initially awarded £9,250 after he was shot in the leg in Iraq in 2005.
A tribunal increased his money to £46,000, money he has still not received even though he has returned to action in Afghanistan.
Last night, Corporal Duncan's father Andy said: "This is an absolute disgrace. How can it be right for so much money to go on asylum seekers and so little on Our Boys on the front line?"
Shadow defence minister Gerald Howarth said: "I think this says absolutely everything about the Government's priorities."
The Ministry of Defence said the Armed Forced Compensation Scheme was in its infancy in 2006-07 and some soldiers were compensated out of the War Pension Scheme which did not show up in our figures.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- A bill has been submitted to U.S. Congress for imposing an arms embargo on North Korea under a U.S. domestic law for the North's second nuclear test in May after one about three years earlier. The North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009 (HR 3423), introduced by Michael McMahon (D-NY) and Rep Bob Inglis (R-SC) on Thursday, calls on the Barack Obama administration to "impose certain sanctions on North Korea as a result of the detonation by that country of a nuclear explosive device on May 25, 2009" under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).
The AECA bans arms shipments to any countries if the exports "would contribute to an arms race, aid in the development of weapons of mass destruction, support international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict, or prejudice the development of bilateral or multilateral arms control or nonproliferation agreements or other arrangements."
It also prevents U.S. governments and financial institutions from doing business with those countries under an arms embargo.
North Korea has already been subject to international sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the May 25 nuclear test. Under the resolution, the Security Council blacklisted five North Korean firms early last month, imposed a travel ban on and froze the assets of five North Korean officials, and banned the trade to and from North Korea of graphite for electrical discharge machining and aramid fiber, used in nuclear weapons and missiles.
The introduction of HR 3423 also follows a U.S. Senate resolution adopted late last month to call on the Obama administration to "assess the effectiveness" of relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The resolution calls for Obama to submit a report within 30 days on Pyongyang's record on weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism since it was removed from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism in October.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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The epitome of appearance over substance. AFAICR the last time the US sent arms to North Korea was in 1968.
Posted by: ed ||
08/03/2009 2:07 Comments ||
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China has declined a suggestion from the U.S. to discuss a contingency plan in case North Korea collapses after leader Kim Jong-il dies, AP reported Sunday. Quoting diplomatic sources and Chinese scholars, AP said the U.S. asked China in several meetings with senior Chinese officials, including one Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg had during his visit there in June, to discuss a scenario in case the North Korean regime collapses. "Chinese officials rejected the overtures, although they pledged to work constructively with the U.S. on North Korea," it reported.
The U.S. contingency plan reportedly envisages securing North Korean nuclear weapons, solving the issue of North Korean refugees who would rush to the North Korea-China border, and preventing the U.S. and Chinese troops from clashing as they station themselves in North Korea.
But China has refused to discuss the plan, apparently because it does not believe post-Kim North Korea will collapse and worries such a plan would only upset the North.
A diplomat based in Beijing said that the U.S. wants to discuss this issue in consideration of China's influence on the North, but that China has a different view of the post-Kim North Korea and maintains the position that should the North collapse, it would be possible to solve it through the UN.
North Korea "will accuse us of being too colonialist for trying to arrange their future," Jin Canrong, an international affairs expert at Renmin University in Beijing, told AP. "In the minds of our leaders, there's still a lack of confidence and trust in the United States."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Perhaps the Chinese have plans ready that do not include the USA.
ISLAMABAD: The government on Sunday asked Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti to work in coordination with the government of Punjab to unmask the elements behind the Gojra violence, well-placed sources told Dawn.
They said the government had received information that a group of armed miscreants, with masked faces had come from Jhang and led the violence against Christians on the pretext of desecration of the Holy Quran.
The sources said a mob went on rampage after some youths had delivered provocative speeches and set on fire some houses and places of worship. The minority minister has been asked to work closely with the provincial government and expose the people responsible for the tragic incident.
They said the government believed that the incident had been planned to trigger riots between Christians and Muslims and the government was not ruling out involvement of an external hand.
President Asif Ali Zardari has also asked Mr Bhatti to proceed to Gojra and stay there till the situation calms down and affected people return to their homes.
Presidents spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the president had taken a serious notice of the Gojra incident and he was concerned about the violence as well as the wrong signals it had sent about the country and its people to the international community.
Recently in Kasur, houses of Christians had been torched and the latest incident has forced the government to handle the situation with firmness.
The president said in a statement that under no circumstances could anyone be allowed to take law into his hand to settle real or perceived grievances.
It is the responsibility of the state to protect citizens under attack from a handful of vengeful and armed groups in the name of religion, he said.
President Zardari appealed to all sections of society to make concerted and combined efforts to repair the social fabric that has often been shredded by some individuals and some organised groups behind the façade of religious sensitivities.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/03/2009 13:25 ||
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I knew it! Zadari must've read the NY Times this morning...
#6
That's why the ranters from that part of the world go on about Hinjoos. One of the sillier terms of art I've ever heard, but admittedly my experience is limited.
[Dawn] An Internet message purportedly from the leader of an Islamic group fighting Chinese rule in a western province urged Muslims worldwide to attack Chinese interests in retaliation for what it called the oppression of minority Uighurs.
The audio recording in the name of Sheik Abdul Haq al-Turkistani was posted on the Internet Sunday, as China steps up its crackdown against the separatists in the oil-rich region home to the country's Muslim minority Uighurs. 'They (Chinese) must be attacked inside and outside,' the message said. 'Their embassies, consulates, and places where they meet should be targeted to kill their men and capture them to exchange them for our prisoners in Eastern Turkistan.'
The recording, titled 'China's massacres and savagery will not pass unanswered,' appeared on an Islamic Web site that usually carries al-Qaida and other militant videos and statements. Its authenticity could not be independently verified.
Previously, a video purportedly by Abdul Haq's group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, threatened attacks on last year's Olympic Games in China. Security experts say members have received training from al-Qaeda.
In April, the US imposed financial sanctions on Abdul Haq and his group, which the US considers a terrorist organization. The US has alleged that in early 2008 Haq directed the group's military wing to attack various Chinese cities, focusing on those scheduled to hold Olympic events.
The capital of oil-rich Xinjiang province, home to the Uighur minority, has been tense since rioting erupted there on July five after police stopped a protest by Uighur residents. The Uighurs went on a rampage, smashing windows, burning cars and beating Han Chinese -- the nation's dominant ethnic group. Two days later, the Han took to the streets and attacked Uighurs. The government has said the rioting killed 192 people and injured 1,721. State media has reported that more than 1,400 people have been detained.
This article starring:
SHEIK ABDUL HAQ AL TURKISTANI
Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
IOW, pro-ISLAMIST JIHAD has been declared agz CHINA, + very prob CENTRAL ASIA [future time].
Iff its not a direct call or fatwa for Jihad, it'll be a declaration of China, etc, as a "MUSLIM COUNTRY/NATION", which is anuther indir way of calling on world Muslims to protect and defend local Muslim interests, wid ARMED VIOLENCE iff need be.
A powerful group of British MPs expressed concern yesterday that elements within Pakistani Army and intelligence services do not share their civilian government's resolve to fight Islamic terrorists and continue to be fixated on India.
The concern expressed by the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee was echoed by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, the minister of state for foreign affairs who quit his job last week citing personal and family reasons.
In a report published Sunday, the Foreign Affairs Committee also said that whereas Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had pointed to terrorism as the main enemy of his country, 'large parts of the security establishment' of Pakistan continue to be fixated on India.
The report on Afghanistan and Pakistan commended the civilian government in Islamabad for having taken some 'important steps' to counter-insurgency at a considerable cost in terms of military lives lost. "We welcome the increasing recognition at senior levels within the Pakistani military of the need for a recalibrated approach to militancy but we remain concerned that this may not necessarily be replicated elsewhere within the army and ISI," it added.
The report welcomed Zardari's recent remarks that he regards terrorism rather than India the real threat to his country. "However, we further conclude that doubts remain as to whether the underlying fundamentals of Pakistani security policy have changed sufficiently to realise the goals of long-term security and stability in Afghanistan," it added.
Lord Mark Malloch-Brown offered a similar view to the committee. He said, "We are convinced that [the ISI] is on board institutionally, and that the leaderships of both the army and the ISI are supportive of the president and his strategy, which is reflected through the meetings that we have had with (Chief of Army Staff) General Kayani."
"There is a difficulty, that within the ISI there may remain individuals who have some sympathy with these groups," said Malloch-Brown, a respected minister.
The Foreign Affairs Committee said, "President Zardari's comments at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (in June) as well as his recent remarks to the effect that terrorism, not India, was now seen by Pakistan as the greater threat, while welcome, do not dispel the suspicion that a large part of his country's security establishment continues to be fixated on India and on the possibility of a future military conflict between the two countries."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Intelligence agencies have presented the report into Gojra violence to Inspector General of Police Punjab. According to Intelligence sources, the Interior Ministry had, on July 18, informed the provinces through a circular about the possibility of terrorist activities. The circular had alerted Punjab districts including Faisalabad, Tob Tek Singh, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Okara. It warned that terrorist activities may be carried out in these areas in retaliation of Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's Minster of Culture Farouk Hosni said Islamist and Jewish groups are standing against his nomination to become UNESCO's next secretary general, according to media reports Friday. Hosni is being attacked inside Egypt by extremist Islamist group and outside by Orthodox Jewish groups, he said in an interview with Al Arabiya TV Friday.
As we all know, extremist Islamicists and Orthodox Juice ally themselves all the time ...
" I guess it is high time for this post to be occupied by an Arab. All other regions took their turn "
Egyptian Minster of Culture Farouk Hosni
"There are many people inside the UNESCO who do not wish to see me secretary general," he said. "I guess it is high time for this post to be occupied by an Arab. All other regions took their turn."
Hosni denied that Israel is now supporting him, but said it only stopped openly launching campaigns against his nomination.
When asked about inviting Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim to perform at the Cairo Opera House, Hosni replied that he has more than one nationality, one of which is the Palestinian. "I invited him as a Palestinian, and I cannot forget his joint efforts for peace with Edward Said. Plus, art has no borders and no nationality."
As for the latest fatwa issued in the aftermath of giving secular thinker Sayed al-Qimni the State Award of Merit and which stipulated that no writer who insulted Islam should get any kind of appreciation, Hosni said the ministry had nothing to do with choosing candidates for this award.
"52 members of the Supreme Cultural Council voted for him and the voting process is kept secret."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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" This visit is a very positive point and opens dialogue between the two (parties) in order to solve the problems between the central government and Kurdistan "
Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman
[Al Arabiya Latest] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki made his maiden trip as prime minister to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Sunday in a bid to resolve key disputes with regional leaders over land and oil.
He will hold talks with regional president Massud Barzani and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, amid U.S. pressure for the central government and Kurdish authorities to settle their differences before American troops leave Iraq in 2011.
It is Maliki's first trip to the region since becoming prime minister of Iraq's first permanent post-invasion government in 2006.
It comes hot on the heels of Kurdish parliamentary and presidential elections that returned Barzani to power, and less than six months before general elections across the country in January.
His talks with Talabani and Barzani will be held at Dukan, a summer resort 75 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sulaimaniya, Kurdistan's second-biggest city.
"This visit is a very positive point and opens dialogue between the two (parties) in order to solve the problems between the central government and Kurdistan," senior Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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Hmmm. I am skeptical, Maliki seems to have improved his standing among Sunnis in part by distancing from the Kurds and standing as an Arab nationalist (not in the Baathist pan-arab sense, but at least in the parochial Iraqi anti-Kurdish sense) I sure hope he and Barzani can do a deal though.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/03/2009 12:44 Comments ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Fatah operatives expressed skepticism over the weekend that their faction's general conference, which is scheduled to convene in Bethlehem on Tuesday, would pave the way for the emergence of a young leadership.
The operatives accused veteran "old guard" Fatah leaders of hampering efforts to select new grassroots leaders to the faction's Central Committee, which is considered its most significant institution.
Some of the operatives said they decided to drop their candidacy for the committee's 21 seats after realizing that their chances of beating wealthy veteran Fatah leaders were very slim.
Continued on Page 49
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08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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"Too many old guard leaders are competing for the 21 seats of the Central Council," Abdel Kader said. "They have the money and resources to defeat their young rivals."
Wow, it's almost like he's describing the U.S. Senate!
Palestine's Fatah faction proposes to free 400 Hamas prisoners, if Hamas allows free passage to its members in Gaza to attend the movement's general assembly.
Acting Palestinian Authority chief and Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, suggested on Sunday that should Hamas allow Fatah members in the Gaza strip to attend Tuesday's congress, Fatah would release 400 Hamas prisoners held in the West Bank, ISNA quoted a Fatah Central Committee member as saying. He however added that half of the prisoners would be released before the congress, while the other half would be set free after the meeting.
This is whilst, the democratically-elected Hamas-led government in Gaza has stressed that it would let the Fatah members out of Gaza, only if the Ramallah-based group releases over 1,000 of its members held prisoner beforehand.
It has also stressed that it would arrest and prosecute Fatah members who sneaked out to the West Bank through Israeli controlled borders.
Only 70 Fatah members were able to leave Gaza, while the majority of more than 400 invitees were unable to head for the West Bank, as Hamas set up check points along roads leading to areas crossing point in northern Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud Abbas has however vowed to hold the Fatah general assembly next Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The Fatah congress, which will convene on Tuesday for the first time in 20 years, is expected to be attended by some 2,000 delegates from around the globe.
They will discuss issues such as Palestinian unity talks, prisoner swap with Hamas and peace talks with Israel.
Hamas leaders have meanwhile threatened to boycott the coming round of reconciliation talks in Cairo, if the political arrests continue in the West Bank.
The next round of Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks is scheduled for Aug. 25 in Cairo. The meeting is part of efforts to secure a power-sharing deal ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections set for January.
Differences between the two Palestinian factions reached its peak in June 2007 when Hamas forced out Fatah security forces from the Gaza Strip to "foil an attempted coup by some Fatah elements".
Later, Abbas, in response, dismissed the Hamas government headed by Ismail Haniya who had come to power after winning the democratic elections in 2006 and appointed Salam Fayyad as the head of a new government in the West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Haaretz Defense] Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday called the Fatah platform outline to be voted on at the faction convention this week a "declaration of war against Israel." Katz made his comments at a meeting of Likud party ministers, who decided that they would wait to see the final wording of the Fatah platform before issuing a formal response to it.
Fatah plans to oppose recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, to call on its supporters to use civil disobedience in its struggle with Israel and to consider launching strategic dialogue with Iran, according to details from a proposed draft of its political platform that were leaked to the Arab press on Saturday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conditioned the establishment of a Palestinian state upon recognition by the Palestinians of Israel as a Jewish state.
Various drafts outlining Fatah's party platform will be voted on by Fatah delegates at its general summit that is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Bethlehem. The draft leaked on Saturday also calls for Fatah supporters to use limited violence against settlements and the West Bank separation fence, as well as against what it calls the Judaization of Jerusalem.
The draft proposes that Fatah weigh alternatives to negotiations with Israel, including the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state along 1967 lines, or the creation of a bi-national state, should talks with Israel fail.
At Sunday's meeting, Katz also said that pressure must be applied to Saudi Arabia in order to allow Israeli planes to fly in its airspace, adding that this demand has the support of the U.S. administration and more than 200 members of Congress.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
In a totally unrelated news item: sun rises in the east.
[Arutz Sheva] (IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad proclaimed historic Jerusalem an Arab capital city in a speech given Saturday near Ramallah. Control of the city must be granted to a future PA state, he said. "The future of the national project and the future of a comprehensive peace in the region are both dependent on protecting Jerusalem, its status, its history, and Palestinian rights in the city," he declared. "East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian statehood and the state's sovereignty over its capital must be complete," he added.
Similar statements were made by senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, who expressed fury Sunday over the implementation of a court order evicting two Arab families from Jewish-owned homes in Jerusalem where they had been squatting illegally for several years. "East Jerusalem is, and always will be, Palestinian," an angry Erekat said. Like Fayyad, he threatened that Israel's presence in the entire city of Jerusalem "threaten[s] the viability of a two-state solution."
Erekat called on the international community to reject Jewish growth in historic Jerusalem, which he termed "a dangerous plan" to thwart Arab demands. "The international community must act decisively, in line with international law, against these Israeli measures... Nobody can say that they didn't see these outrageous actions coming," he said.
Continued on Page 49
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08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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GOJRA, Pakistan The blistered black walls of the Hameed familys bedroom tell of an unspeakable crime. Seven family members died here on Saturday, six of them burned to death by a mob that had broken into their house and shot the grandfather dead, just because they were Christian. The family had huddled in the bedroom, talking in whispers with their backs pressed against the door, as the mob taunted them.
They said, If you come out, well kill you, said Ikhlaq Hameed, 22, who escaped. Among the dead were two children, Musa, 6, and Umaya, 13.
The attack in this shabby town in central Pakistan the culmination of several days of rioting over a claim that a Koran had been defiled shows how precarious life is for the tiny Christian minority in Pakistan.
More than 100 Christian houses were burned and looted on Saturday in a rampage that lasted about eight hours by a crowd the authorities estimate was as large as 20,000 strong. In addition to the seven members of the Hameed family who were killed, about 20 people were wounded.
The authorities, who said the Koran accusation was spurious, filed criminal charges in the case late Sunday and apprehended at least 12 people. Officials said a banned Sunni militant group, Sipah-e-Sohaba, was among those responsible for the attacks, the third convulsion of anti-Christian mob violence in the region in the past four weeks.
Christians, who make up less than 5 percent of the entire population, are often treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan, where Islam is the official religion. Non-Muslims are constitutionally barred from becoming president or prime minister.
While some Christians rise to become government officials or run businesses, the poorest work the countrys worst jobs, as toilet cleaners and street sweepers. It was the poorest class who lived in Christian Colony, a small enclave of bare brick houses where the mob struck Saturday. Its residents work as day laborers and peddlers in the market, often earning far less than the minimum wage, $75 a month.
The Hameeds were having breakfast when the mob descended, wielding guns, hurling stones and shouting insults (Dogs! American agents!) through their window. The Hameeds did not appear to have been singled out but had the misfortune of living where the mob entered the neighborhood and happened to be home at the time.
When the grandfather, Hameed Pannun Khan, 75, a house painter, opened the door to see what was happening, he was shot in the temple and crumpled to the ground. The crowd then pushed inside, and the rest of the family at least 10 people fled to the back bedroom and locked themselves inside. They listened from behind the door as the mob looted the house, dragging away a refrigerator and a cupboard.
Then came the smoke, thick white plumes under the door. Everyone was shouting to escape, said Umer Hameed, 18. There was no oxygen.
They waited as long as they could, until they thought it was safe, and then made a run for it, but not everybody made it. Three women, the two children and a man were trapped when the roof collapsed in flames. As he ran, Ikhlaq Hameed glanced back and saw his aunt. She tried to come out, but the fire caught her, he said. The fire was on her face.
The rampage began Thursday in a nearby village when Christians at a wedding party were accused of burning a Koran. Few here believed that, and state and federal officials who looked into the case said it was false. Still, local mullahs seized on the news, filing a blasphemy case against the Christian family.We were afraid because the clerics had been railing against us in the mosques, said Riaz Masih, a Christian and retired math teacher whose house was gutted. They said, Lets teach them a lesson.
Pakistans blasphemy law has been criticized as too broad, and many legal experts say it has been badly misused since its introduction in the 1980s by the military dictator Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. Anyone can file a charge, which is then often used to stir hatred and to justify sectarian violence. The blasphemy law is being used to terrorize minorities in Pakistan, said Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistans minister of minority affairs, in an interview in Gojra on Sunday.
The attackers here left a singed trail of destruction in their wake. The Hameeds house was a charred shell, its central room a heap of twisted fans, bicycles, childrens toys and a collapsed cage that had kept pet parrots. The kitchen was empty except for a teapot and a half-burned English dictionary open to the word immoral.
Their neighbor, a grain seller, Iqbal Masih (whose surname means a follower of Jesus), stood looking dazed, his dried corn spilled on the heap of twisted metal wheels that had been his sales cart. A chest for his daughters dowry had been destroyed.
Typical of such attacks, the police, overwhelmed by the mob, did little to stand in its way.
Christians here protested all day on Sunday, blocking the roads and refusing to bury the Hameeds until the authorities filed a criminal case. Late Sunday the authorities did, and the bodies were buried. That was little comfort to the Hameeds. Everything is gone now, said Ikhlaq, his hand and arm blistered. Our family. Our house. We dont want to live here anymore.
* Bomb could be ready for B-2 bomber by July 2010
* Would deliver 10 times explosive power of predecessor
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is seeking to speed deployment of an ultra-large "bunker-buster" bomb on the most advanced U.S. bomber as soon as July 2010, the Air Force said on Sunday, amid concerns over perceived nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.
The non-nuclear, 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, which is still being tested, is designed to destroy deeply buried bunkers beyond the reach of existing bombs.
If Congress agrees to shift enough funds to the program, Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N)'s radar-evading B-2 bomber "would be capable of carrying the bomb by July 2010," said Andy Bourland, an Air Force spokesman.
"The Air Force and Department of Defense are looking at the possibility of accelerating the program," he said. "There have been discussions with the four congressional committees with oversight responsibilities. No final decision has been made."
The precision-guided weapon, built by Boeing Co (BA.N), could become the biggest conventional bomb the United States has ever used.
Carrying more than 5,300 pounds of explosives. it would deliver more than 10 times the explosive power of its predecessor, the 2,000-pound BLU-109, according to the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which has funded and managed the seed program.
Chicago-based Boeing, the Pentagon's No. 2 supplier by sales, could be put on contract within 72 hours to build the first MOP production models if Congress signs off, Bourland said.
The threat reduction agency is working with the Air Force to transition the program from "technology demonstration" to acquisition, said Betsy Freeman, an agency spokeswoman.
Both the U.S. Pacific Command, which takes the lead in U.S. military planning for North Korea, and the Central Command, which prepares for contingencies with Iran, appeared to be backing the acceleration request, said Kenneth Katzman, an expert on Iran at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress.
"It's very possible that the Pentagon wants to send a signal to various countries, particularly Iran and North Korea, that the United States is developing a viable military option against their nuclear programs," Katzman said.
But he cautioned against concluding there was any specific mission in mind at this time.
The MOP would be about one-third heavier than the 21,000-pound (9.5 million kg) GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb -- dubbed the "mother of all bombs" -- that was dropped twice in tests at a Florida range in 2003.
#6
"Both the U.S. Pacific Command, which takes the lead in U.S. military planning for North Korea, and the Central Command, which prepares for contingencies with Iran, appeared to be backing the acceleration request, said Kenneth Katzman, an expert on Iran at the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress"
this could also be a message to Israel, about the importance of patience, at least till July 2010
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/03/2009 12:50 Comments ||
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#7
OKAY LibHawk - What's so special about July 2010?
all midterm primary elections done?
Did you not read the first sentence of the posted item?
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/03/2009 15:24 Comments ||
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#13
3dc, the most recent message to Israel -- and Iran -- was that America's deadline for Iran to discontinue working toward a nuclear weapon is November, 2009. So the July, 2010 deadline is an eight-month move in the wrong direction, as far as Israel's needs are concerned.
#14
TW - the Nov 2009 deadline is for a switch from engagement to sanctions. IE a return to the pre January 2009 glide path. That glide path had to move through a sanctions/coalition building phase before military action.
and this administration will never bomb Iran
I cant say whether that is true or not. The point is though, if you are Khameni, are you willing to base a position on the idea that there is a Zero chance of that attack happening. Certainly one of the more prominent rationales presented for NOT attacking has been the technical infeasibility. To announce this new bomb, and its expected data, cant be reassuring in Teheran.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
08/03/2009 16:34 Comments ||
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#15
LiberalHawk..
I know it's not PC to say so... but we do have stuff in our bag of tricks that does a lot more than this conventional bomb....
This is a PC answer of sorts.
Your first post suggested this announcement was directed toward Israel. Now you argue it is directed toward Iran. Fine. I'll play along.
If this is directed to Iran, it is weak tea indeed. You don't fear the gun. You fear the man holding it, and Iran has nothing to fear from this administration. The world press has already picked up on Bammo's foreign policy weakness. It's no secret. No one could believe for an instant that a pretty new bomb would suddenly cause Bammo to grow a pair.
Further to this point, an attack by Israel may be enhanced by a better bunker buster, as they would only get one shot at hitting all their targets. An attack by the US would be from closer range, employ significantly more assets and be more sustained. Buried nuclear assets could be targeted in many ways likely to produce better results and which do not require this weapon. It is not a game changer, as Iran no doubt understands.
#17
TW - the Nov 2009 deadline is for a switch from engagement to sanctions. IE a return to the pre January 2009 glide path. That glide path had to move through a sanctions/coalition building phase before military action.
True, liberal hawk. But from Israel's perspective, to interrupt engagement with violence against the engagee risks rupture with the US in a way that interrupting the glidepath does not. I don't think PM Netanyahu is likely to wait until next July -- or that indeterminate later time when President Obama or his successor decides to sell them to Israel -- to deal with Iran's little nuclear device production problem.
ABC News has learned that the detainees are two writers and an environmental worker with ties to the Midwest and West Coast.
Shane Bauer is a freelance journalist based in the Middle East and originally from Minnesota; Sarah Shourd is also based in the Middle East as a writer and teacher and is from California; and Joshua Fattal is an environmental worker from Oregon.
According to his Web site, ShaneBauer.net, Bauer is a fluent Arabic speaker and is a correspondent for New America Media. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and The Nation. His site says he graduated with honors from the University of California Berkeley with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies
A profile on BraveNewTraveler.com says that Shourd is a teacher-activist-writer who "loves fresh broccoli, Zapatistas and anyone who can change her mind." Keep em...
#3
New America Media? Isn't this Gore's little media enterprise. If so it seems his folks have a tendency to hang out on dangerous borders. And get caught doing so.
Probably finding the world is not so friendly as they thought.
#4
New America Media? Isn't this Gore's little media enterprise.
Probably not. Their web site says that they're "The First & Largest Collaboration of Ethnic News Organizations" and has a tagline of "Expanding the News Lens Through Ethnic Media". On their site is this article from '07 calling Gore a "prime time hypocrite".
Their front page has an article on Bauer (unclear what ethnic group he represents; hope it's not Jews). Says Shourd is his girlfriend.
Hello Miss, welcome to the Chapel, An Imam will wed you to Mahmoud over there, after which you get slipped a mickey and he gets to have his wedding night with you whether you like it or not.
Your husband for tomorrow will be Achmed over there, and his brother. We will change your mind. And you will therefore love us, long time.
Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times.
The sources said that Iran completed a research programme to create weaponised uranium in the summer of 2003 and that it could feasibly make a bomb within a year of an order from its Supreme Leader.
A US National Intelligence Estimate two years ago concluded that Iran had ended its nuclear arms research programme in 2003 because of the threat from the American invasion of Iraq. But intelligence sources have told The Times that Tehran had halted the research because it had achieved its aim -- to find a way of detonating a warhead that could be launched on its long-range Shehab-3 missiles.
They said that, should Ayatollah Khamenei approve the building of a nuclear device, it would take six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. The Iranian Defence Ministry has been running a covert nuclear research department for years, employing hundreds of scientists, researchers and metallurgists in a multibillion-dollar programme to develop nuclear technology alongside the civilian nuclear programme.
"The main thing (in 2003) was the lack of fissile material, so it was best to slow it down," the sources said. "We think that the leader himself decided back then (to halt the programme), after the good results."
Iran's scientists have been trying to master a method of detonating a bomb known as the "multipoint initiation system" -- wrapping highly enriched uranium in high explosives and then detonating it. The sources said that the Iranian Defence Ministry had used a secret internal agency called Amad ("Supply" in Farsi), led by Mohsin Fakhri Zadeh, a physics professor and senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Council.
The system operates by creating a series of explosive grooves on a metal hemisphere covering the uranium, which links explosives-filled holes opening onto a layer of high explosives enveloping the uranium. By detonating the explosives at either pole at the same time, the method ensures simultaneous impact around the sphere to achieve critical density.
"If the Supreme Leader takes the decision (to build a bomb), we assess they have to enrich low-enriched uranium to highly-enriched uranium at the Natanz plant, which could take six months, depending on how many centrifuges are operating. We don't know if the decision was made yet," said the intelligence sources, adding that Iran could have created smaller, secret facilities, other than those at the heavily guarded bunker at Natanz to develop materials for a first bomb. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency only keep tabs on fissile material produced at monitored sites and not the number of centrifuges that Iran has built.
Washington has given Iran until next month to open talks on resolving the nuclear crisis, although hopes of any constructive engagement have dimmed since the regime's crackdown on pro-reformist protesters after June's disputed presidential elections.
Ehud Barak, Israel's Defence Minister, last week reiterated that a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities was still an option, should the talks fail. Israeli officials estimate that a raid on Natanz and a nuclear facility at Arak, in central Iran, would set Iran's nuclear programme back by two to three years.
An Israeli official said that Iran had poured billions of dollars over three decades into a two-pronged "master plan" to build a nuclear bomb. He said that Iran had enriched 1,010kg of uranium to 3.9 per cent, which would be sufficient for 30kg of highly enriched uranium at 95 per cent. About 30kg is needed to build one bomb.
British intelligence services are familiar with the secret information about Iran's experiments, sources at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. Although British agencies did not have their own "independent evidence" that Iran had successfully tested the explosive component of a nuclear warhead, they said there was no reason to doubt the assessment.
If Iran's leader does decide to build a bomb, he will have two choices, intelligence sources said. One would be to take the high-risk approach of kicking out the international inspectors and making a sprint to complete Iran's first bomb, as the country weathered international sanctions or possible air strikes in the ensuing crisis. The other would be to covertly develop the materials needed for an arsenal in secret desert facilities.
Last week, during a series of high-level US visits to Israel, officials outlined Washington's plans to step up sanctions on Iran, should Tehran fail to agree on talks. Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, and General James Jones, the National Security Adviser, said that Iran had until the end of next month, when the UN General Assembly is to meet, to make a positive move towards engagement.
If Tehran fails to respond, Washington aims to build a tough international coalition to impose harsh sanctions focusing on petroleum products -- an area where Iran is particularly vulnerable because it sends almost all of its crude abroad for refinement.
Experts believe that the unrest of the summer will make Iran particularly vulnerable to sanctions. They would also hit the Revolutionary Guards Council, which finances its operations by running a huge conglomerate of international companies, rather than drawing directly from state coffers
#1
It would be useful to remember who wrote the NIE, and to get a video cam on him as he explains how he was so wrong.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2009 12:43 Comments ||
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#2
IIRC, that NIE was an egregious piece of crap in that it rightly claimed the Iranians had stopped working on the bomb at the time of the Iraq invasion but made no reference to them starting up again when they felt it was safe.
[Gulf News] A number of Iranian MPs have filed a complaint to the judiciary against opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi over post-election violence, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday, quoting a lawmaker.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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With less than 24 hours until Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be officially approved for his second term, one of his advisors resigns. Ahmadinejad's top media adviser quit as the president, whose disputed re-election is to be officially approved by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution on Monday, plans a major reshuffle in his Cabinet. "I feel ethically obliged to resign from the position of media adviser to the president to let him choose a capable and effective person to this position," Ali-Akbar Javanfekr said Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid reports of a connection between three US tourists captured in Iran and the CIA, Iran's foreign policy committee says their case will take its natural course.
The US nationals identified as Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel were reportedly arrested on Friday after crossing into the country via Iraq's northern Kurdish region. They had "mistakenly" crossed into Iranian territory Friday while hiking in a mountainous area, Kurdish officials from the self-ruled region were reported as saying.
This is while reports clamed Colonel Anwar Haj Omar of the Halabja police force in northern Iraq on Sunday linked the three to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). "These three people were agents working with the CIA and were arrested near the resort town of Ahmed Awaa," Omar was quoted by Ayandeh news as saying.
The head of the Iranian Parliament's foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, elaborated on the issue. "This case is currently on its natural course," Boroujerdi said without giving any additional information on the status of the detainees.
The US State Department said on Sunday that the Swiss ambassador to Tehran is trying to obtain information concerning the three Americans. The Swiss embassy looks after US interests in Iran since the two countries have no diplomatic relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if they'll be given all the rights and privileges they extend to their own citizens....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/03/2009 19:08 Comments ||
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#4
The US nationals identified as Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel...
Hmm. The ABC News article linked above gives their surnames as Bauer, Shourd, and Fattal. You can see how Bauer might become Bower and Shourd Short, but Fattal...? A google search on Fattal turns up an Israeli hotel chain, Syrian bakery, Lebanese diplomat. Hmmmmmmm.
#6
Well, I'm thinking they're all Jews, in which case they're a) stone stupid for bumbling around over there alone and b) in deep trouble.
There's a Josh Fattal who's written two articles for Jewish Week, but I'm not positive he's the same one, because that one is a yeshiva student in Brooklyn (as opposed to living in Oregon). There's a Facebook page, but you have to have a Facebook page to look at it, so to hell with it.
But it's interesting that Press TV would Anglicize their surnames.
Just a hours before, Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami lashed out at the trial of 100 people accused of rioting after Ahmadinejad's re-election, putting him at loggerheads with hardliners who accuse him of "treason."
Around 100 people went on trial in a revolutionary court in Tehran on Saturday on various charges, including rioting, vandalism, having ties with counter-revolutionary groups and of planning to launch a "velvet revolution."
"As per my information, what was done yesterday is against the constitution, regular laws and rights of the citizens," Khatami's office quoted him as telling a group of political activists and lawmakers.
Khatami said the court had relied on "confessions taken under certain circumstances which are not valid."
" The most important problem with the trial procedure is that it was not held in an open session. The lawyers and the defendants were not informed of the contents of the cases ahead of the trial "
Khatami
"The most important problem with the trial procedure is that it was not held in an open session. The lawyers and the defendants were not informed of the contents of the cases ahead of the trial," Khatami said.
Khatami said he hoped such "harmful shows" do not make officials "forget to pursue the real crimes and offences" in jails where protesters who opposed Ahmadinejad's June election victory are held.
Around 2,000 protesters, reformists, political activists and journalists were initially detained by authorities in a crackdown to quell unrest after massive public protests over the June 12 vote.
Around 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the violence, which set off the worst crisis in the Islamic republic's 30-year-old existence.
In the meantime, Rezai called for the prosecution of security forces members who attacked vote protesters, the Mehr news agency reported. "Recent incidents were created by two groups, the rioters and rogue elements and officials who trampled on the law," he wrote in a letter to judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi.
Rezai said "offenders" including those who "attacked Tehran university dorms, beat up detainees and hit protesters calmly demonstrating in the streets" should go on trial. "As long as this second trial is not held justice will not be implemented, the Islamic republic will suffer further damage and the chain of errors will continue," warned Rezai, who headed the Revolutionary Guards for 16 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on Sunday that confessions made by protesters at a closed-door trial were made after they were put through "medieval-era torture," while Iranian MPs revealed they filed a judicial complaint against him.
"The scenes that we saw were a clumsy preparation for the launch of the 10th government," Mousavi said on his website Ghalamnews the day after 100 people were put on trial over post-election protests.
" They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election "
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi
"They expect a court, which itself is fraudulent, to prove that there was no fraud committed in the election," said Mousavi, who was defeated by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election.
In the meantime, a group of Iranian MPs revealed they had filed a complaint to the judiciary against Mousavi over post-election violence, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday, quoting a lawmaker.
"We submitted this complaint against Mousavi's radical moves to the judiciary a few weeks ago," Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, a hardline member of parliament's judicial commission, told Fars.
"We expect it to be examined as soon as possible," he said, without specifying how many lawmakers had backed the action.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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One day after Iran opened a mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei questions the fairness of the move, calling for a trial of the security forces who broke the law.
The first court session for opposition activists and protesters convened in Tehran on Saturday only days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to be sworn in for a second term. The Saturday court charged several politicians, including former vice president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, of planning the post-election riots ahead of the vote and sparking unrest through "allegations of vote fraud."
In reaction to the trial, Secretary of the Expediency Council Rezaei adopted a critical stance over the handling of the cases of the post-vote detainees and questioned the true motive behind the timing of the court session. "Recent events which brought severe damage upon the nation and the Islamic Republic were caused by two groups; one group were rioters and the second group comprised of self-driven individuals and security forces who violated the law," Rezaei said in a letter to Iran's Judiciary Chief, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, on Sunday.
Rezaei, who challenged Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election, argued that with two types of defendants, the authorities should move to hold two types of court proceedings. "Otherwise justice and fairness will not be administered and it is even possible that insecurity does not come to an end and calm is not restored to the society," Rezaei warned.
He said while Saturday's trial only dealt with the first group of the accused, the question remains as to when the second trial is set to begin and why it was not held at the same time with the first court session.
Rezaei called on the country's judiciary chief to put to trial "the security forces who attacked Tehran University's dormitory and classes in Isfahan University", "those responsible for battering the prisoners including Mohsen Ruholamini", and "those responsible for assaulting peaceful protestors in the street".
Rezaei, who was the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps for sixteen years, called for the second trial as police chief Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam acknowledged in July that some law enforcement officers went to "extremes" during the post-election protests. "Some of our officers went to extremes during these events and caused damage while pursuing protestors," Brig. Gen. Ahmadi-Moqaddam conceded, vowing to 'deal firmly' with the officers who had broken the rules.
Reformists were quick to condemn the trial as a sham staged by supporters of the incumbent president.
After the disputed vote in June, Iran witnessed widespread protests as supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi took to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad's re-election as president with a massive margin. At least 30 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in the course of the protests staged by supporters of the opposition who dismiss the official election results as "fraudulent" and call for its annulment.
Iranian authorities argue that foreign agents fueled the post-vote violence, causing the deaths.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 00:00 ||
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[Gulf News] Shafik Al Hout, a close aide to Yasser Arafat who fell out with the late Palestinian leader over the 1993 peace accords with Israel, died in Beirut on Sunday. He was 77. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority's representative office in Beirut did not give the cause of Al Hout's death but an official at the office reached by telephone said he died of cancer at the American University hospital on Sunday morning. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to release the information to the media.
Al Hout, a founding member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, resigned from the PLO in 1993 in protest against the Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
Born in the Palestinian city of Jaffa on January 13, 1932, Al Hout emigrated with his family to Lebanon in 1948 following the creation of Israel, according to the Palestinian statement. After graduating from the American University of Beirut in 1953, Al Hout worked as a schoolteacher in Beirut before moving to teach in Kuwait. He later returned to Lebanon where he worked as a journalist. He authored several books in Arabic on the Palestinian issue. Al Hout served as the PLO's official spokesman between 1974 until 1992 and was a longtime PLO representative in Beirut.
He will be buried at a Palestinian cemetery in Beirut today. Al Hout is survived by a son, Hader, and two daughters, Hanin and Syrine.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2009 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.
[Gulf News] An Egyptian emergency state security court will start on August 23 trying 26 Arabs allegedly recruited by the Lebanese group Hezbollah to launch terror attacks in Egypt, prosecutors said on Sunday.
[Dawn] An Internet message purportedly from the leader of an Islamic group fighting Chinese rule in a western province urged Muslims worldwide to attack Chinese interests in retaliation for what it called the oppression of minority Uighurs.
A powerful group of British MPs expressed concern yesterday that elements within Pakistani Army and intelligence services do not share their civilian government's resolve to fight Islamic terrorists and continue to be fixated on India.
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is seeking to speed deployment of an ultra-large "bunker-buster" bomb on the most advanced U.S. bomber as soon as July 2010, the Air Force said on Sunday, amid concerns over perceived nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.
[Gulf News] Shafik Al Hout, a close aide to Yasser Arafat who fell out with the late Palestinian leader over the 1993 peace accords with Israel, died in Beirut on Sunday. He was 77. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority's representative office in Beirut did not give the cause of Al Hout's death but an official at the office reached by telephone said he died of cancer at the American University hospital on Sunday morning. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to release the information to the media.
