Canadas defence minister urged parliament on Monday to keep its 2,500 troops in Afghanistan until 2011, warning that an earlier withdrawal could lead its NATO allies to abandon the shaky nation too.
At which point NATO can just fold its tent and go quietly into that good night, an organization whose time has gone.
This is perhaps the most important debate facing our parliament and our nation today, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said at the start of a parliamentary debate on whether to extend the military mission or exit. The consequences of pulling Canadas military out of Afghanistan could have a far-reaching effect or a domino effect on others, he said. If we were to pack up and leave Afghanistan, why wouldnt other nations follow suit? How would history judge us if Canada walked away from Afghanistan?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
NATO will need its resources in the Balkan to protect the European Islamic Republic of Kosovo.
#3
Other than a few air hubs, the US should pull out of Europe, particularly the Balkans. Not our problem. Our forces are hard put to man the places where we need to be, no point being where we are not needed. See what the value of the Euro will do once the predators realize that Europe is basically defenseless.
#4
I disagree with the need for large Western forces, 1/2 of which do very little anyway. The majority would like nothing more than to beat down the Pashtoons. We can make it worthwhile for them to do it at 1/10th what we are currently spending.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2008 13:13 Comments ||
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At the second sitting for an electoral reform dialogue with the Election Commission (EC) yesterday, Jamaat-e-Islami embarked on a tirade against the commission accusing it of virtually stepping beyond its jurisdiction, which the EC rebutted categorically.
But the Islamist party did not specify which action of the EC constitutes stepping beyond its jurisdiction. "The Election Commission's recommendation to amend the laws on different issues is unwanted and tantamount to stepping beyond its jurisdiction," said Jamaat's written electoral reform proposals submitted to the commission yesterday.
In the face of a rising demand of most of the traditional parliamentary political parties taking part in the dialogues, for trying war criminals in an effort to disqualify them from contesting in any poll, the commission on the first day of the second round of talks told some of the parties that it will make a recommendation to the government for trying the war criminals. Earlier, the commission incorporated in its electoral reform proposal a provision for disqualifying any convicted war criminal from contesting in any election.
Yesterday morning at a bilateral dialogue with Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu), the EC made a new promise for making another recommendation to the government regarding disqualifying anti-liberation organisations from contesting in parliamentary elections, considering a majority of participating parties' demand for it.
Launching a broadside against the EC during the bilateral talk between the commission and Jamaat in the afternoon, the latter also termed as 'disgusting' the demand of the participating parties for not to register Jamaat as a parliamentary party labelling it as an anti-liberation force. It also claimed that the accusations against it are completely imaginary.
In the written statement submitted to the EC, it said, "The Election Commission's neutrality will become questionable if it takes any step or make any recommendation giving credence to their motivated demands."
Jamaat's delegation led by its Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid also said in the EC's pattern of inviting parties to the talks it is evident that it has a bias against Islamic political parties while favouring some parties which are 'anti-religion'.
The Jamaat secretary general, who on October 25 said his party did not work against the liberation war in 1971, and claimed that there is no war criminal in the country, however declined to comment yesterday on an EC proposal for barring convicted war criminals from contesting in polls. Emerging from the talk, Mojahid left the EC Secretariat premises hurriedly avoiding questions from journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
Britains Home Office says it is deporting at least one person after every eight minutes, one of the highest numbers of deportations from any European country, according to Dawn News. According to the channel, the data released by the British Home Office on Tuesday shows that the British border and immigration agencies deported 63,140 illegal immigrants from the United Kingdom (UK) last year. The deported illegal immigrants also include a number of South Asians and Africans which means that at lease one person is being deported after every eight minutes. In addition, the British government also deported 12,525 asylum seekers, the channel said. It reported that the British authorities were reviewing their immigration policy after the July 7 London bombings, and the Sept 11 attacks in view of increasing threat from such attacks. The channel said the newly enacted stern immigration laws were particularly affecting the Pakistanis and other South Asians seeking jobs in the UK and other European countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
sounds great. How many immigrants did they let in?
#3
This story tells me they're wasting 7/8 of the minutes in every hour, as deportatios go...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/27/2008 10:49 Comments ||
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#4
713,450 NINo registrations from overseas nationals were recorded during 2006-07, a 7.7% increase in non-UK registrations during the previous year.
NINo = National insurance numbers from overseas nationals, needed for those entering employment.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2008 11:11 Comments ||
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#5
At that rate the UK would be deporting: 60x24x365 = 525,600 per year.
At that rate in the U.S., $14 million illegal immigrants would require about 27 years to deport providing the borders could be controlled and not new illegals came in.
A large pink rabbit on a Hamas television children's show promotes the murder of a Mohammed cartoonist and orders Muslim kids to boycott Danish goods
A children's show airing on Palestinian political wing Hamas' own television station, Al-aqsa, has allowed one of its characters to promote the assassination of a Mohammed cartoonist. In an episode last week of the children's programme 'The Pioneers of Tomorrow', the show's large pink rabbit Assud said he would 'bite and eat' the Danes and that Hamas would kill them if they insulted the prophet Mohammed again.
Assud and his sidekick, 12-year-old Saraa, initiated a call-in on the show where a child was asked what should be done about cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who drew a Mohammed wearing a bomb-turban for the original cartoon publication. The cartoons were recently reprinted in several national newspapers. The child called Vestergaard a 'criminal' and said that he should be killed. Assud replied that such is Allahs will. The show ended with the motto, 'We hope all will be martyrs for Allah's sake'. What a poisonous bit of work. Hamas' own hitlerjugend.
The show airs regularly on the Hamas-operated station and is sent throughout the Gaza area of Israel and Egypt. Westergaard said he was extremely troubled by the transmission. 'It scares me that Muslim children are subjected to this type of propaganda,' said Westergaard. 'I don't understand how one can use hate in the name of education.' Oh, come now, Mr. Westergaard. The 20th century is replete with such examples.
But Ehab Galal, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, told Nyhedsavisen newspaper that the show's message is not as serious as it sounds. 'These comments are not necessarily meant as severe as they sound to us Danes,' said Galal. 'Palestinians grow up under extremely hard conditions and they express themselves in a different way.' "Ha Ha Ha - it's the Jews' fault we hate Danes."
And it wasn't his name that was mentioned ...
Earlier this month three men were arrested in Århus for plotting to kill Westergaard.
#1
Don't get too cocky, Assud. Farfur the Mouse and and Nahoul the Bee thought they were pretty hot stuff too and now they're being used to clog up some holes in a leaky Gaza cesspool.
Might wanna remind young Miss Psychopath of it too.
Tension about the possibility of a Muslim politician addressing the Danish parliament in a headscarf has flared again, but Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen tried to calm the debate on Tuesday. Its up to parliament to decide dress codes, and if some people were to get up on the podium wearing a [Muslim] headscarf, I would not leave the room, Rasmussen told reporters. In my opinion, peoples ideas and points of view are more important than what they wear, he said, adding however that it would be beneficial for Danish society if the public sphere were exempt of some religious displays.
Rasmussens comments came after his liberal-conservative governments ally, the extreme-right Danish Peoples Party (DPP), rekindled a row over whether women wearing the Muslim headscarf, or hijab, should be allowed to address parliament.
DPP spokesman Soeren Espersen said last week that Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Dane of Palestinian origin, should not be permitted to address parliament while wearing a hijab. She failed in her bid to become the first headscarf-wearing Muslim in Europe to be voted into parliament in last years general election, but there is a possibility that she could stand in temporarily for a parliamentarian from the small far-left Unity List Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#3
It's precisely because those in power won't challenge the ideas and view points of the scarf wearers that Europe is heading back to a time 75 years ago.
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2008 10:38 Comments ||
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A Swedish Migration Board employee with 20 years' experience is charging that he was demoted due to his pro-Israel political views. Lennart Eriksson, 51, has had what he describes as a long and relatively happy career with the Migration Board (Migrationsverket).
In his spare time he also operates a personal blog in which he expresses his support of democratic freedoms and espouses support for the cause of Israel in particular.
I want to defend freedom and democracy. I try to be humble and just. Therefore I mustas every good democrat mustdefend Israel, reads a passage describing the content of Erikssons blog, Sapere aude!.
I don't think you belong in Sweden, which is a shame. If things don't work out why not come to America?
Lennart Erikssons website does give support to Israel and is considered disturbing to Palestinians seeking asylum. Those who seek asylum are especially vulnerable and it is important that they can have confidence in the Boards personnel, said Migration Board lawyers.
Is there an allegation that Mr. Eriksson hasn't done his job, or that he's overtly discriminated against Paleos? Sounds like this is another situation in which the wrong person was 'offended'.
A coalition of anti-war groups is vowing to protest this summers Democratic National Convention in Denver under the rubric Re-create 68, prompting criticism from some on the left who are loath to revisit what they see as a disastrous time for both the anti-war movement and the Democratic Party.
Capping a year that saw the assassinations of both the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic National Convention erupted in violence as thousands of Chicago police officers, supported by U.S. Army troops and National Guardsmen, battled in the streets with activists protesting the Vietnam War. Inside the convention hall, the Democrats chose as their presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey, who went on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/27/2008 10:20 ||
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#1
So I take it they'll have no problems when the Denver cops start cracking skulls?
They want a re-creation, give em a re-creation...
#7
Somebody remind these chowderheads that the Chicago convention led eventually to a Nixon victory. Unless the thought process is that the yippies *wanted* Nixon on the Leninesque "the worse the better" revolutionary installment plan. Which means that they're expecting a peacenik revolutionary victory under President McCain? I don't know...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/27/2008 11:34 Comments ||
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#8
And if they want to try to push around the CO Army National Guard, they are welcome to try. C 3/19 SF will be more than happy to discuss things with the rabid anti-war idiots when they return from their 3rd overseas combat tour since 2003. Especially if they start in on that "Babykiller" crap again.
#11
A lot of people of course associate it with the DNC of 68 and react negatively, said organizer Mark Cohen. But the point, Cohen said, isnt to reproduce the violence associated with the 1968 convention, just the strong sense of countercultural protest that coalesced against the Vietnam War. We dont call ourselves Re-create Chicago 68, Cohen offered.
Like, no, no, no, man. We don't want, like, yer Bushitler pig violence, man. We want, like, only the good stuff, like, hippie possy and good smoke and, like, stickin it to THE MAN!, and, like, doing whatever we want, man. Like, y'know, Woodstock or Altamont or whatever that movie was about. Maybe, like Green Day or Rage Against the Machine will do gigs, that'd be sooooo cool. So why don't the pigs just realize that and, like, be cool wid it and, like end the war in Iran, man, know whut I'm sayin...
#18
Just remember for the re-creation, the police should not create disorder, they are to PRESERVE DISORDER!
I was in downtown Chicago the day of Grant Park as a youth. Never got any Humphrey stuff, the people at the Hump's HQ wanted donations no freebies. Nixon HQ had a bowl with buttons and some bumper stickers. Take some and get lost kids. as we walked away an old fire truck with a Humphrey Dixieland band pulled up to serenade the Nixon HQ.
My brother's friend then suggested we visit Wallace HQ. Here we at last got a warm welcome, which got even warmer after my brother's friend told them he had sent in money for his official George Wallace campaign kit. Mucho Wallace stuff scored at that stop. On the way back to the train station lots of Nat'l Guard driving real fast, off to Grant Park we later learned.
Posted by: bruce ||
02/27/2008 20:05 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Antiwar groups vow to "re-create '68" at the Democrat convention
#20
Doubled my popcorn order just for the event, RD. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/27/2008 20:50 Comments ||
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#21
Let me guess. All of the protesters are age 58-60? reliving their misspent youth. For them it will ALWAYS be 1968. Sad.
Especially when it dawns on them that 60 year olds can't run as fast as three tour Iraq veterans be they CNG or reservist police back on the beat/riot control duty. Boys, just whisper into their ears after you slam them hard down on the pavement - Gitmo, they'll lose their bowel control. How will they take it - Depends.
If you check the link, note my rephrasing of the MSM headline
In an about-face, Senate Republicans on Tuesday agreed with Democrats to advance an anti-war bill because they said the debate would give them time to hail progress in Iraq. The change of heart came after months of blocking similar measures. But unlike most of last year, security conditions in Iraq have improved, and Republicans say they now feel they have the upper hand on the debate. "bring it on, losers!"
We welcome a discussion about Iraq, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell declared. The measure, by Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, would cut off money for combat after 120 days. It had been expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle and move ahead.
But after Republicans agreed in a private meeting that the debate could help make their case, the Senate voted 70-24 to begin debating it in earnest. Aides said a final vote could come later this week, but may be pushed into next week. Time to get both sides on the record before the election, cowards
We should have the debate a second time in September, and a third time in October ...
The White House said the president would veto such a measure. This legislation would substitute the political judgment of legislators for the considered professional military judgment of our military commanders, the administration said in a statement. "and we've already seen how Sen. "We've lost" Reid and Rep. Nancy "We've lost" Pelosi D- Losers stand"
Democrats said they welcomed the debate, although they accused Republicans of stalling on plans to debate other issues, namely the nation's housing crisis.
If we keep them talking about Iraq perhaps they won't make the housing crisis worse ...
Reid said a civil war rages in Iraq and shouldn't be the responsibility of U.S. taxpayers. Americans need to start taking care of Americans, he said. We cannot spend a half billion dollars every day in Iraq.
Moved the goal posts again, did he?
In recent months, violence in Iraq has subsided significantly and the Baghdad government has made small steps toward political reconciliation, including plans to hold provincial elections on Oct. 1.
While Democratic voters remain largely against the war, polls have shown, the security improvement has helped to cool anxiety among Republicans and turned voters' focus to economic problems at home.
Still, Republicans say they have more convincing to do if they are to control the White House next year. Sen. John McCain, the GOP's likely presidential nominee, said this week that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq in succeeding. If he can't, then I lose. I lose, the Arizona Republican said. He quickly backed off the remark.
McCain was not expected to return to Washington for the debate. But he said he opposes the bill. If ever there was a case for precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and I believe there never was now is the last time anyone should consider such a step, he said in a statement.
Tuesday's Senate vote came as the Army's top general said he wants to reduce combat tours for soldiers in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months this summer. Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would not embrace going back to the longer tours even if Bush decided to suspend troop reductions for the second half of the year. The Army is under serious strain from years of war-fighting, he testified, and must reduce the length of combat tours as soon as possible. The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future, Casey said.
Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told the committee that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force. He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours back to 12 months this summer as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.
The committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., pressed Casey on whether he could keep tour lengths at 12 months if Bush decides to suspend the troop reductions after reaching 15 brigades in July. We believe it will still be possible, even with the pause, Casey replied. When asked by Levin if that would hold true regardless of the length of the pause, Casey, replied, Yes.
However, the number of soldiers retained under the service's stop loss policy which forces some soldiers to stay on beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates is unlikely to be reduced substantially.
We are consuming readiness now as quickly as we're building it, said Army Secretary Pete Geren, who also testified. Geren urged Congress to pass a $100 billion war spending bill this spring, contending that the Army will run out of money by July.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the Army could probably last until August or September by transferring money from less urgent accounts. Army officials counter that this approach is inefficient and can cause major program disruptions. Time to get this out in the open, and allow Americans to vote for military and poltical success with the Surge
If the Dhimmicrats are stoopid enough to dither on the money until September then they deserve to lose ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
" a war-weary country"
The only reason its war weary is that you f**kers in the press only see fit to publicize every negative and ignore the positives.
If you feed oinly the negatives about anything for 5 years, people will get tired of it.
#3
However, the number of soldiers retained under the service's �stop loss� policy � which forces some soldiers to stay on beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates � is unlikely to be reduced substantially.
Of course the reporter never did check the law. You know the law Congress wrote and enacted.
TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART II > CHAPTER 39 > § 671a Members: service extension during war
Unless terminated at an earlier date by the Secretary concerned, the period of active service of any member of an armed force is extended for the duration of any war in which the United States may be engaged and for six months thereafter.
The fact that the vast bulk of members serving are separated at the completion of their 8 year contracts or attainment of retirement eligibility, is ignored. Another example that journalist aren't subject matter experts or even aware there's a war going on or they're just lap puppies for the unquestionable Donks.
#4
First off I find the Dhimicrats bill disgusting and a slap in the face to the hard work our troops have expended so far. But I think McConnell will hit a home run when the entire Donk moonbats will debates this in the Senate. Just imagine the remarks from Hillary, Obama, Kennedy et al as they try to grab defeat from the jaws of success?
#5
We welcome a discussion about Iraq, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell declared.
Oh goody another symbolic exercise in political dithering. The Democrats get another chance to pander to the anti-war left. And the Republicans get to clear their representational throats. Of course, just like the 41 other Senate bills to limit the militaries ability to wage a successful war, this one will not pass by a veto proof margin if at all. Pathetically enough, both sides are fully cognizant of this inevitable conclusion. And at the end of another wasted week Feingold will pad his Progressive resume and the Republicans will get a sound-byte here and a headline there. But obviously no substantial accomplishments will be achieved on either side. Whats even more pathetic is there wont even be any political gains. In other words, in lieu of a major political breakthrough in the Iraqi government, the American electorate (Of all political persuasions.) has pretty much made up their minds on the level of success that has been achieved. Heres a suggestion to the US Senate. Instead of pretending to be productive with all these futile gestures, how about you actually do something that will be productive.
#6
DepotGuy, the proper role of a conservative in government is to oppose the production of more government. As such, I would think that it would be the obligation of a properly principled conservative Senator to resist productivity whenever possible.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/27/2008 9:46 Comments ||
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#7
There is even more to this bill than cutting off the money. This totally stops our guys from fighting and training. From NRO:
A good staff analysis of the bill making the rounds in the Senate:
The two limitations of greatest operational significance are the restriction of combat operations to targeted strikes against Al Qaeda and the restrictions on training of Iraqi Security Forces:
Targeted operations against Al Qaeda: The bill probably does not authorize all those activities that the military thinks necessary for targeted operations against Al Qaeda. Under U.S. military doctrine that would include the entire current campaign plan in Iraq, which would entail no transition of mission. We are left to wonder what mix of strategy and tactics the bill authorizes as necessary for targeted operations against Al Qaeda. Can we supply the frontline troops fighting Al Qaeda with food and water? Probably yes. Can we clear neighborhoods where Al Qaeda are suspected to be hiding, even if we dont know the particular house? Maybe; maybe not. Can we do intelligence-gathering and surveillance? According to current Army doctrine, intelligence-gathering requires making the population feel safe enough to expose the terrorists. No population security equals no intel for targeted operations, and population security is the essence of the Petraeus strategy.
Limitations on training Iraqi Security Forces. Two limitations are imposed on the training of Iraq security forces: training former insurgents is prohibited, and both joint combat operations and embedding U.S. forces with Iraqi forces are prohibited.
·Prohibition on reconciliation with former insurgents. It is not clear whether this provision would prohibit training of all those convicted of carrying out attacks against U.S. forces (which would include virtually nobody in the Iraqi Security Forces) or rather suspected former insurgents (e.g., former detainees, which would include many current members of the ISF who are entirely innocent of wrongdoing). If the latter, it is impossible to imagine how the bill would be implemented. Small units of the ISF are likely to contain either former insurgents or former detainees or both. Should those still train with their units, but not when the U.S. is providing them with training? If, however, the bill refers only to those known to have carried out attacks against U.S. soldiers, then the effect of the bill would probably be negligible as a limitation on training of ISF. This provision also runs counter to the U.S. policy of encouraging reconciliation among former insurgents and militia-members. And because it would disproportionately affect Sunni members of the ISF, it also contradicts the policy of encouraging national political reconciliation.
·Prohibition on joint combat operations and on embedding with Iraq Security Forces. This provision would close the door on the most vital element of the militarys exit strategy for Iraq. Almost all operations in Iraq now from neighborhood patrols, to targeted strikes against Al Qaeda are conducted jointly with Iraqi Security Forces. There are many benefits:
o The ISF takes heavy casualties that would otherwise be borne by U.S. forces targeting Al Qaeda on their own;
o Joint operations are the most effective way to train local forces;
o Iraqi troops help us interact with the population; we help them by providing logistics, tactical surge capability, and long-range mobility;
o The Iraqi population has become friendly to us because they see our soldiers working side-by-side with theirs to provide security
o The influence of the American military on Iraqi military culture will pay dividends for decades. The ISF are becoming the most capable and most committed military ally of the U.S. in the Arab world. And that relationship-building would be impossible if U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were not sharing the same bases and outpost facilities.
Moreover, the prohibition on embedding U.S. forces is presumably meant to prevent U.S. and Iraqi soldiers sharing the same base facilities. But this would in effect prohibit the over-lapping of Iraqi and U.S. soldiers at the same base, which is the basic modality by which U.S. bases and outposts are transitioned to the Iraqi Security Forces.
Better productivity in government means its more efficient, means we can cut the size of it.
What conservatives want is to limit the scope and reach of government, and promote individualism.
We realize there are legitimate functions for a government, and we woudl prefer those to be highly productive and thus very efficient in terms of smaller better faster and cheaper (and less intrusive).
#9
Sherry, the "interlacing" of US and ISF is vital. Deeds are far louder than words. And anyone that knows basic military leadership, especially at the squad level, knows that your actions teach far more than your words.
And our soldiers' and marines' actions, their professionalism, their attitude, and their bearing as warriors, not bandits, is really rubbing off.
This is especially true of the Iraqi SpecOps guys who picked it up first - warrior to warrior has always been easy. But the Iraqi Army has picked it up now that we have done more weeding of the typical hereditary "Officer class" (damn the Brits for installing that across the ME and reinforcing the Caliph/peasant pattern) and gotten rpoper officers and NCOs stood up - and the academies that are producing more of them. The place where the next wave of improvements are starting to pick up in the Iraqi Police now that they are getting sufficient attention and time on patrol with US forces. And the local militias, who are learning what their brothers in the police and army have learned.
To pull us out now would be a disaster and would collapse their system. They need 5-7 more years of exposure to and support from US forces.
Fight-wise, they are getting there in terms of command and control and intel. Now we have to teach them troop sustainment: medical, food, logistics, etc. Something almost unheard of in the Middle East, who typically use their line troops and enlisted for cannon fodder.
Give these guys a few years to develop and learn, get more USMA grads in there, get them time to form a true professional NCO corps (and the schools to develop them), these guys will be feared and respected across the region.
#12
The congressional dems and lefty moonbats don't get the whole "the Iraqis emulate our soldiers and Marines" thing. They think our fighting men are dumb, losers, sadists, murderers, psychopaths, etc, etc. I see their comments daily on the SF Chronicle comments section. Lots of them really hate our troops and can see no good that the troops could ever do.
(Xinhua) -- Pakistan army will appoint a new intelligence chief and the post will be announced later, said local media on Tuesday. Major General Muhammad Asif will take place of Major General Mian Nadeem Ijaz Ahmed who has served as Director General of Military Intelligence of the Pakistan Army for more than three years and is proceeding for a command assignment, local media The News said, adding that the notification pertaining to the new posting is likely to be issued shortly.
Muhammad Asif belongs to infantry and was previously in Moscow as Pakistan's Defense Attache in Russia. He served in Russian capital for about two years and five months. However, Pakistan's military spokesman Athar Abbas dismissed the report and said the posting is internal and would be announced when it happens.
This article starring:
Major General Mian Nadeem Ijaz Ahmed
Major General Muhammad Asif
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
(Xinhua) -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday said it would extend unconditional support to the Pakistan People's Party government in the center but it would not become a part of the cabinet, the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. Addressing a news conference here, PML-N central leader and newly elected member of National Assembly, Ch. Nisar Ali Khan said the cabinet members would have to take oath from the President under the amended constitution and PML-N was against this.
He said the PML-N parliamentarians would take oath in the National Assembly under the 1973 constitution and not under any "mutilated form" of the constitution.
The PML-N leader said the party had some concerns about a coalition between PPP and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in the center and these concerns had been conveyed to the top leadership of the PPP. However, the PML-N had decided not to create problems for PPP to form the government in the center if PPP wanted MQM support, he added. "PML-N is enjoying massive support after Feb. 18 elections and would support PPP for six months in the center to solve all issues," Nisar Khan said, adding that the party would continue its support to the PPP, if needed, for the development of the country. "We are going to support the PPP without demanding any ministry. The PML-N is only seeking a free judiciary in the country," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Hardcore militants who seized Pakistan's most scenic valley are still holed up in its snowy heights, three months after President Pervez Musharraf sent in the army to show his resolve against spreading Islamic extremism.
Down below, life in the towns that dot the Swat Valley has returned to something approaching normality. But bombings persist and Mullah Fazlullah, the firebrand cleric behind last year's Taliban-style uprising, remains at large.
Earlier Pakistani security forces have arrested more than 440 Islamic "terrorists", including 60 would-be suicide bombers, in the last three months, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.
The announcement comes amid a wave of violence blamed on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, including a suicide bombing near the Pakistani military headquarters on Monday that killed the army's surgeon general. "Law enforcement and intelligence agencies have arrested 442 terrorists and militants during the past three months," interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told reporters. Large quantities of explosives, weapons, suicide jackets and hand grenades were seized from the suspects, Cheema said.
In November, the army launched one of its biggest operations since Pakistan threw its support behind the US-led war against terrorism six years ago. On Monday, the military ferried journalists by helicopter to three mountaintop positions to show the territory its more than 10,000-strong force has retaken. "About 90 percent of the area has been cleared of the (militants), and only about 10 percent, pockets of resistance, are remaining," said army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas. "They have taken to the heights. Hopefully those areas will be taken back soon."
Fazlullah leads a banned extremist group that sent reinforcements for the Taliban when US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001. In Swat, he used his own FM radio station to preach a harsh brand of Islam and won a large local following by pressing for the introduction of Islamic law in the poorly policed region. He took up arms in July, calling for holy war against the government, and used his thousands of followers to seize a string of towns, scattering outgunned police and erecting "Taliban station" signboards outside former police stations.
The militant takeover was a shocking reflection of how Musharraf's government had lost control of tracts of the conservative northwest. Swat, formerly known as a tourist retreat and dubbed the "Switzerland of Asia" for its glorious Alpine scenery, became a no-go zone. Officials accused Fazlullah's long-haired, bearded followers of imposing a reign of terror, shuttering schools for girls and beheading locals who opposed them. They suspect that the militants, apparently supported by some foreign fighters with suspected links to al-Qaeda, were positioning themselves to block the Karakorum Highway that links Pakistan and China.
Maj. Gen. Nasser Janjua, commander of the military operation, said troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery took control of key militant positions and chased the fleeing fighters, mostly locals. He claimed that some shaved their beards and were nabbed as they tried to escape. At one mosque, troops found concealed in the ceiling a horde of chemicals, explosives and other equipment for making bombs. Elsewhere, they found and destroyed a jeep packed with explosives, apparently primed for a suicide attack.
In all, the operation has left at least 11 soldiers, 19 civilians and about 230 militants dead, Janjua said. But he said the army had had little success in tracking the militant leaders, including Fazlullah, thought to be hiding somewhere in Swat or a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
While residents, at least in the valley's main town of Mingora, say they now feel more secure, the threat of attack persists. Janjua said a nighttime curfew was still necessary because of fears of targeted killings by militants of government supporters.
At Uchrai Sar, where a 600-strong army deployment is based on a spectacular mountain ridge at the northwestern end of the Swat Valley, machine-gunners sit in dry stone bunkers scattered amid the pine forest. The camp lies near two of the four remaining "hotspots" in the valley, Beha and Piochar, where a hardcore of a few dozen militants are believed to have fled after they were dislodged in early January.
Battalion commander, Lt Col Nadir Hussain, said there had been no major attacks on security forces for the past two months in the area, and elections here passed off peacefully last week. But in a reminder of the continuing threat, he pointed to a mountainside where a roadside bomb hit a wedding party just a mile away on Friday, killing 12 people.
At another key mountaintop position, Shangla, the local police chief recalled how in November, his 250 officers had escaped their 10 posts in the district for fear they would be "captured and slaughtered" by Fazlullah's men. "The militants came in the hundreds. It was impossible for 20 men to defend the posts and the public," Mohammed Iqbal said. "We are trained for fighting crime, not guerrilla war and insurgency."
The police force has been doubled and given new equipment but officials say the battle against Fazlullah can only be won if his fighters can find neither sanctuary nor recruits among locals. The army relies on villagers for intelligence. The locals "have not started fighting (the militants) yet, but at least they have started resenting them, telling them, 'Please go away,'" Janjua said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Iraq's presidential council rejected a measure Wednesday setting up provincial elections, sending it back to parliament in the latest setback to U.S.-backed national reconciliation efforts. The three-member panel, however, approved the 2008 budget and another law that provides limited amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody. Those laws will take effect once they are published in the Justice Ministry gazette.
The three laws were approved as a package by the Iraqi parliament on Feb. 13. The step drew praise from the Bush administration, which had sought passage of a provincial powers law as one of 18 benchmarks to promote reconciliation among Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arab communities and the large Kurdish minority.
"No agreement has been reached in the Presidency Council to approve the provincial elections draft law and it has been sent back to the parliament to reconsider the rejected articles," the council said in a statement. The panel is composed of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi.
The White House said it does not believe the setback for the provincial election law has dealt a fatal blow to the measure. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Bush administration would have liked the law to move forward without complications, but added: "This is democracy at work."
Abdul-Mahdi is a senior official in the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the country's largest Shiite party. He objected to the measure and was supported by the Kurds, according to lawmakers who attended the council meeting where the elections law was discussed. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The sticking point was control of the provincial governor's offices. A provision in the measure allows the Iraqi prime minister to fire a provincial governor, but Abdul-Mahdi's bloc wants that power to rest with the provincial councils, or legislatures, where his party has a strong base of support around the country, the lawmakers said.
Naseer al-Ani, a spokesman for the presidential council, refused to say who objected to the measure. "There are some items in this law that contradict the constitution, such as the governor and how to sack him," he said. "There is an objection and it is constitutional. The Presidency Council has the right to object."
Posted by: ed ||
02/27/2008 11:48 ||
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#1
The need for political horse trading is one of the wonderful things about a working democracy.
Iraq's council of ministers says the Turkish military is violating Iraqi sovereignty by conducting the incursion into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.
Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi government, says the government rejects the unilateral Turkish incursion because it is a threat to their good neighborly relations. The Turkish military crossed into Iraq to chase out Kurdish rebels from the Kurdistan Worker's Party. The rebels want autonomy for Kurds in Turkey and have used bases inside Iraq to launch attacks on Turkish forces. Al-Dabbagh acknowledged the threat posed to Turkey by the rebels and said the government stands ready for dialogue.
"Dialogue" hasn't to date dislodged the PKK from their bases, nor has it stopped them from swarming into Turkey and killing people. For that matter, it doesn't seem to have dented their financing, and maintaining a military force takes a good deal of money. The Turks have been waiting to see results for the past five years. I don't blame them for taking matters into their own handfs.
This article starring:
Ali al-Dabbagh
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So does this demand mean that the Turks have just about finished doing what they came in to do and are ready to leave anyway?
Palestinian scheme for mass charge on Gaza-Israel border collapses
DEBKAfile reports: The Palestinian masses did not rise to the summons for 40,000 individuals to turn out Monday, Feb. 25 and draw a human chain along the 40-km border Gazan-Israel to protest the Israeli blockade. Deterred by determined Israeli military preparations to halt their approach to the border and Israeli ministersâ threats to shoot them in the legs if necessary,â only a few demonstrators obeyed the summons. A disturbance by few dozen Palestinians was put down by Israeli border guards, one of whom was slightly injured. The large numbers stayed away when they realized Israel was resolved to forcibly thwart a repeat of Hamasâ success a month ago when they knocked over the Egyptian border to open the gate for a massed Palestinian surge into Sinai.
Sunday night, acting PM foreign minister Tzipi Livni and defense minister Ehud Barak pledged Israeli territory would be defended against infiltration to its sovereign borders. âHamas is directly responsible for activity which puts civilian population at jeopardy â and not for the first time,â said the statement.
Israel army and police forces, heavily reinforced, deployed in two defensive lines to shield the border and Israeli civilian locations facing Gaza.
Overnight, the air force struck armed Palestinian bands as they streamed from all parts of the Gaza Strip to seize battle positions on the border. Air Force and police helicopters scattered on launching pads the length of the Gaza border, armed with tear gas for crowd dispersal. I would like to see the definition of "the air force struck" here.
The next bit suggest they really need to build Sharon's ditch filled with seawater and sharks all around Gaza.
Israel also geared up against Palestinian terrorists accessing tunnels burrowed under the border to strike Israeli forces from the rear and batter the border barrier from the Israeli side. Five of those tunnels were discovered Sunday and 50 Palestinian operatives detained for questioning about Palestinian terror tunnel plots.
#2
Much easier to be a Brave Jihadi Siege Breaking Warrior when one of your Arab brothers rolls out the red carpet for you.
But I'll bet the Gypos learned a lesson the hard way...
Trained terror activists and al-Qaeda operatives have recently entered the Gaza Strip through the breached border with Egypt, head of the IDF's Intelligence Branch Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday. In a briefing to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yadlin stated that "the breaching of the border along the Philadelphi route has enabled Hamas to bring back to Gaza activists that were sent to undergo training in Syria and Iran, including snipers, explosives experts and engineers." According to Yadlin, al-Qaeda operatives have also managed to infiltrate Gaza before Egypt resealed the border.
Commenting on the recent assassination of Hizbullah's military leader Imad Mugniyah in Damascus, Yadlin warned about a possible, imminent retaliation against Israel. "From post experience we know that many retaliatory terror attacks often come on the 40th day following such an assassination, said Yadlin.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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"Without the massive IDF presence in the West Bank, Hamas would take over the institutions and apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority within days," OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni told President Shimon Peres Tuesday as the two toured the Command's main base in Jerusalem.
Shamni said Hamas was engaged in a constant effort to increase its influence in the region "and its presence is felt in hospitals, preschools, schools, universities and mosques."
Peres was shown a Kassam rocket and launcher captured in Nablus. "Although there are no rocket attacks emanating from the West Bank, we've found rockets produced here, and this tells us that there are [rocket production] labs in the region," Shamni said.
Shamni said the Palestinian Authority was exerting great efforts in keeping the public order but was not seriously working to stop terrorists operating in the West Bank. On the other hand, he said, "for the first time in a decade, the IDF, intelligence services and the police have managed to almost completely prevent terror attacks on the home front."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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A report commissioned by the United Nations suggests that Palestinian terrorism is the "inevitable consequence" of Israeli occupation and laws that resemble South African apartheid - a claim Israel rejected Tuesday as enflaming hatred between Jews and Palestinians.
The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the UN Human Rights Council, will be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body's Web site.
In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says "common sense ... dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by al-Qaida, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation."
Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva slammed Dugard's analysis. "The common link between al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorists is that both intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill," Itzhak Levanon said. "The fact that Professor Dugard is ignoring this essential fact, demonstrates his inability to use objectivity in his assessment."
"So turn in your expert's license, Dribble!"
This article starring:
UN Human Rights Council
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Or 'Palestinian Terror Inevitable Consequence of Being Paleostinian.'
JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israeli military chief Dan Shomron, the paratrooper who commanded the famed 1976 hostage rescue at Entebbe airport in Uganda, died Tuesday from the effects of a stroke. He was 70. He never recovered after being rushed to Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv on February 5, hospital spokeswoman Aviva Shemer said.
Israeli leaders remembered Shomron as one of the greatest military minds in the country's 60-year history. "Dan Shomron was a brave-hearted warrior who left his stamp on the fighting spirit of the Israeli army, with some of the most daring operations in its history, " Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement. "His death is a loss to the whole of Israeli society"
Born on a kibbutz collective farm near the Sea of Galilee in 1937, Shomron enlisted as a paratrooper in 1955 and fought in the Sinai war the following year, when British, French and Israeli troops invaded Egypt after it nationalized the Suez Canal.
The 1967 Middle East War saw him back in the Sinai fighting Egyptian troops again. According to his military resume, he was the first Israeli paratrooper to reach the canal. Promoted to brigadier general in 1974, he was put in command of Israel's paratroopers and infantry. It was in that post that he oversaw the daring Entebbe mission in 1976. His commandos landed at the Ugandan airport under cover of darkness and freed more than 100 airline passengers who had been held hostage by Palestinian and German hijackers for a week.
He served as head of the army's southern command in 1979-83, orchestrating the withdrawal of troops from the Israeli-held Sinai following Israel's historic 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. Shomron was chief of the military staff in 1987-91, years during which the Palestinians launched their first uprising against Israeli control and Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israel during the U.S.-led war to liberate Kuwait. After leaving the military in 1991, he became chairman of state-owned arms manufacturer Israel Military Industries.
He was called out of retirement in 2006 to head a military inquiry into Israel's inconclusive war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon that summer. It concluded the general staff failed to translate Olmert's policy objectives into defined military targets.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was Shomron's deputy before succeeding him as chief of staff, said he was one of the army's most outstanding field commanders, and its bravest, in recent decades. "I knew him for many years, since we were both young captains," Barak said. "I loved him very much, I loved working with him."
#2
One of the few military events over the years that actually brought me to tears; the brilliance, the audacity in the planning and execution. Gliding in 'black' like the space shuttle; Paratroopers storming the terminal in sneakers to eliminate 'running rumble', silencers all, timed to the precision of a stop watch in the extraction! All parts of the Israeli machine under the direction of the Mossad Aced the rescue and would have been a perfect operation short of the two critical operation unit members that were killed.
An international group of Muslim leaders has sent a letter to the worlds Jewish community appealing for better relationships between the faiths, according to a report in the Telegraph on Tuesday.
Many Jews and Muslims today stand apart from each other due to feelings of anger, which in some parts of the world translates into violence. It is our contention that we are faced today not with a clash of civilisations but with a clash of ill-informed misunderstandings.
The unprecedented letter, which is being seen as a significant gesture of reconciliation, said: Many Jews and Muslims today stand apart from each other due to feelings of anger, which in some parts of the world translates into violence. It is our contention that we are faced today not with a clash of civilisations but with a clash of ill-informed misunderstandings.
Signatories of the letter include Professor Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistan high commissioner to Great Britain, who also signed a similar statement earlier this year from Muslim scholars to Christian leaders around the world.
The new letter said: Deep-seated stereotypes and prejudices have resulted in a distancing of the communities and even a dehumanising of the Other. We urgently need to address this situation. We must strive towards turning ignorance into knowledge, intolerance into understanding, and pain into courage and sensitivity for the Other.
It added: There is more in common between our religions and peoples than is known to each of us. It is precisely due to the urgent need to address such political problems as well as acknowledge our shared values that the establishment of an inter-religious dialogue between Jews and Muslims in our time is extremely important.
This article starring:
Professor Akbar Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
It is our contention that we are faced today not with a clash of civilisations but with a clash of ill-informed misunderstandings
No doubt the misunderstanding being that the Jews simply won't give up their land and throw themselves into the sea. As soon as the dhimmis bow down and pay their tax, everyone will get along just fine.
#4
Only if you stop trying to kill Jews all the time, preach the glories of killing Jews and stopping all other anti-Jewish propaganda. Otherwise, fuck off.
In a conference call with bloggers this morning, the Army outlined the newest version of its Field Manual (FM 3-0 Army Operations), the first revision of Army doctrine since 2001. According to LTG William Caldwell IV, Commander of the Combined Arms Center, the manual has finally taken the step of elevating stabilization operations to the level of offensive and defensive ops.
An Executive Summary was passed out beforehand that outlines the chapters of the manual, which goes like this:...
#1
...exploit the initiative through combinations of four elements: offense, defense, and stability or civil support operations. Huh? I count three unless 'stability' and 'civil support' are mutually exclusive elements rather than synonymous terms.
The U.N. nuclear monitoring agency presented documents Monday that diplomats said indicate Iran may have focused on a nuclear weapons program after 2003 the year that a U.S. intelligence report says such work stopped.
Iran again denied ever trying to make such arms. Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, dismissed the information showcased by the body as "forgeries."
He and other diplomats, all linked to the IAEA, commented after a closed-door presentation to the agency's 35-nation board of intelligence findings from the U.S. and its allies and other information purporting to show Iranian attempts to make nuclear arms.
A summarized U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, made public late last year, also came to the conclusion that Tehran was conducting atomic weapons work. But it said the Iranians froze such work in 2003.
Asked whether board members were shown information indicating Tehran continued weapons-related activities after that time, Simon Smith, the chief British delegate to the IAEA, said: "Certainly some of the dates ... went beyond 2003."
He did not elaborate. But another diplomat at the presentation, who agreed to discuss the meeting only if not quoted by name, said some of the documentation focused on an Iranian report on nuclear activities that some experts have said could be related to weapons.
She said it was unclear whether the project was being actively worked on in 2004 or the report was a review of past activities. Still, any Iranian focus on nuclear weapons work in 2004 would at least indicate continued interest past the timeframe outlined in the U.S. intelligence estimate.
A senior diplomat who attended the IAEA meeting said that among the material shown was an Iranian video depicting mock-ups of a missile re-entry vehicle. He said IAEA Director General Oli Heinonen suggested the component which brings missiles back from the stratosphere was configured in a way that strongly suggests it was meant to carry a nuclear warhead.
Other documentation showed the Iranians experimenting with warheads and missile trajectories where "the height of the burst ... didn't make sense for conventional warheads," he said.
Smith and the senior diplomat both said the material shown to the board came from a variety of sources, including information gathered by the agency and intelligence provided by member nations. "The assumption is this was not something that was being thought about or talked about, but the assumption is it was being practically worked on," Smith told reporters.
He said the IAEA presented a "fairly detailed set of illustrations and descriptions of how you would build a nuclear warhead, how you would fit it into a delivery vehicle, how you would expect it to perform."
The U.N. agency released a report last week saying that suspicions about most past Iranian nuclear activities had eased or been laid to rest. But the report also noted Iran had rejected documents linking it to missile and explosives experiments and other work connected to a possible nuclear weapons program, calling the information false and irrelevant.
The report called weaponization "the one major ... unsolved issue relevant to the nature of Iran's nuclear program."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
BIGNEWSNETWORK > JAPANESE FM:IRAN, NORTH KOREA ARE A THREAT TO ALL ASIA, after Israel's OLMERT gives INTEL data; + TOPIX > INTELLIBRIEFS - THE NORTH KOREAN BALLISTIC MISSLE PROGRAM.
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.
A Swedish Migration Board employee with 20 years' experience is charging that he was demoted due to his pro-Israel political views. Lennart Eriksson, 51, has had what he describes as a long and relatively happy career with the Migration Board (Migrationsverket).
Capping a year that saw the assassinations of both the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic National Convention erupted in violence as thousands of Chicago police officers, supported by U.S. Army troops and National Guardsmen, battled in the streets with activists protesting the Vietnam War. Inside the convention hall, the Democrats chose as their presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey, who went on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon.
Fazlullah leads a banned extremist group that sent reinforcements for the Taliban when US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001. In Swat, he used his own FM radio station to preach a harsh brand of Islam and won a large local following by pressing for the introduction of Islamic law in the poorly policed region. He took up arms in July, calling for holy war against the government, and used his thousands of followers to seize a string of towns, scattering outgunned police and erecting "Taliban station" signboards outside former police stations.
Iraq's council of ministers says the Turkish military is violating Iraqi sovereignty by conducting the incursion into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. 
It was in that post that he oversaw the daring Entebbe mission in 1976. His commandos landed at the Ugandan airport under cover of darkness and freed more than 100 airline passengers who had been held hostage by Palestinian and German hijackers for a week.
The U.N. nuclear monitoring agency presented documents Monday that diplomats said indicate Iran may have focused on a nuclear weapons program after 2003 the year that a U.S. intelligence report says such work stopped. 
