Forty-four candidates submitted nominations to run for president before the close of registration on Friday, a field full of people who served under President Hamid Karzai but have since broken with him, often over his management style. The large crowd of presidential hopefuls included two women, several former ministers, a mix of former Communists and people who fought against them in the jihad, a former boy genius and Mr. Karzai, said the spokesman for the election commission, Noor Muhammad Noor.
Mr. Karzai, despite his falling popularity, is widely recognized as the leading candidate. After him, the most serious contender is Dr. Abdullah, 51, an eye specialist who uses only one name and who served as foreign minister under Mr. Karzai for five years. He is the candidate for the main opposition movement, the United Front, which commands wide support among the northern tribes.
The broad field showed Afghanistans progress from its first presidential elections five years ago, which were dominated by faction leaders of the mujahedeen, the armed groups that once helped push out the Soviet occupation. This time, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the powerful Uzbek militia leader, is absent from the race, as is Muhammad Mohaqeq, a former Hazara militia leader and member of Parliament with significant popular support.
The group Dr. Abdullah represents, the United Front, is based on the old Northern Alliance, the main mujahedeen faction of the north. But he is seen as a moderate reformer who has chosen educated civilian deputies as his running mates, Homayoun Shah Wasefi and a well-known surgeon, Dr. Cheragh Ali Cheragh. Instead it is Mr. Karzai who has stuck with old faction leaders, naming the former Northern Alliance leader and former Defense Minister Muhammad Qasim Fahim as his first vice president, and Muhammad Karim Khalili, an ethnic Hazara, to continue as his second vice president.
Mr. Karzai seems to be calculating on maintaining deputies who appeal to mujahedeen supporters who can mobilize a huge popular vote, especially in the rural areas, but he also seems to be seeking to divide his opponents, in particular the United Front, analysts and diplomats said. Nevertheless, Western officials in Kabul and many educated Afghans have criticized Mr. Karzais choice of deputies, in particular his choice of Mr. Fahim, who represented the rigid determination of the jihadi factions to hold on to power, and came to symbolize a resistance to disarmament and reforms when he served as defense minister and vice president in the first government after 2001.
It is so important to avoid that burden of the past that squanders the hopes for the future, said Kay Eide, the head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. I am concerned when we see candidates presenting their teams that they should be forward looking, he said. No greater authority on 'squandering the hopes for the future' than someone from the UN, admittedly.
Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister and mastermind of the early reconstruction efforts, also entered the race. He has been a sharp critic of Mr. Karzais leadership since leaving his government.
Two other longtime allies of the president also entered the race against him. One of them, Abdul Salam Rocketi, is a former mujahedeen commander who also fought with the Taliban and has been working on establishing contacts with the Taliban for Mr. Karzai. The other is a former minister, Hedayat Amin Arsala. The two men may be calculating to garner support and then withdraw in favor of the president closer to election time, as candidates have done in the past.
The two women joining the race are little known. They are Dr. Frozan Fana, a medical doctor and widow of Dr. Abdur Rahman, the civil aviation minister who was murdered in 2003, and Shahla Atta, an independent member of Parliament from Kabul. Other candidates include the former Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit; the former minister of planning and anticorruption campaigner, Ramazan Bashardost; a Turkmen leader, Muhammad Akbarbai; and Syed Jalal Karim, a former Afghan boy genius and now a man genius successful international businessman. Last-minute rumors that the former American ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, would run proved to be unfounded.
The price tag for running the war in Afghanistan will outstrip the cost of the conflict in Iraq next year, according to budget documents released today by the Pentagon.
Afghanistan, in the words of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is now supposed to be the Pentagons main effort and strategic focus. This budget makes it official: The Department is requesting a $130 billion overseas contingency operations fund, of which the Afghanistan campaign will receive the largest share.
Vice Adm. Steve Stanley, the director of force structure, resources and assessment on the Joint Staff, told reporters that the budget request represents where youre going to first see the swing of not only dollars or resources, but combat capability from Iraq to Afghanistan.
The money requested here about $65 billion for Afghanistan actually exceeds the $61 billion that were requesting for Iraq, he said. So thats the first time in our war costs request.
Those numbers are based on keeping an average of around 100,000 troops in Iraq and 68,000 in Afghanistan. Troop levels are supposed to come down gradually in Iraq over the next year, and these numbers are based on plans to bring troop levels down to around 50,000 by the end of the fiscal year, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale. In addition to paying for a plus-up of troops, the Afghanistan portion of the operations budget will pay for new equipment, like the scaled-down version of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected truck that will be customized for the primitive roads of Afghanistan.
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#5
Long lines of communication, airlifts and insecure shipping routes will tend to drive up your costs. That, and it sounds like Afghanistan chews up helicopters like nobody's business.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/09/2009 11:14 Comments ||
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#6
obambi sez "I liked this war before I didn't like it..." in 3..2..1.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/09/2009 17:32 Comments ||
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American airstrikes killed dozens of civilians during a firefight in western Afghanistan this week, U.S. military investigators have concluded. The death toll about 50 people, including at least 20 militants makes the battle in Farah Province one of the bloodiest in recent years. But its far lower than initial reports, by the Red Cross and Afghan officials, of up to 120 civilians killed. The investigators have also found evidence that Taliban fighters prevented some families from evacuating their houses during the nearly 12-hour firefight, effectively assuring civilian casualties, the Wall Street Journals Yochi Dreazen reports.
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Afghan president asks the United States to end air strikes blamed for the death of around 130 civilians this week in Farah province.
Hamid Karzai talking to CNN of Friday said that air strikes in Bala Bulak district in western Afghanistan by US planes 'are not acceptable'.
Karzai was in Washington for three-way talks with President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on stepping up the fight against Taliban insurgents.
Dismissing talk that the insurgents could have been to blame, Karzai said that US air strikes were 'definitely' the cause for the deaths of the civilians this week in western Afghanistan.
He said he strongly believes that air strikes 'are not an effective way of fighting terrorism' and that air strikes cause civilian casualties, which does no good either for the US or for Afghanistan.
He said, investigating teams from both the US and Afghanistan are examining a police report which said that nearly 125 to 130 people were killed - about 25 to 30 of them insurgents and the remainder civilians, including elderly people and children - 'and it was done by the bombing'.
Karzai dismissed the US military report that said the toll was 'grossly exaggerated', although they did not immediately release their own toll.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
does Karzai not realize who is keeping him in power of his shithole he calls a nation
#3
Karzai is a total dumb ass, just like our president. The meetings they held last week were totally useless on the wars going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
#6
Yeah, look how well it worked for us in Vietnam after we took out Ngo Dinh Diem.
C'mon guys, Karzai is the best of a not-so-good lot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2009 11:45 Comments ||
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#7
That's why the best solution is to get out now before it gets worse. But, in his effort to be a great liberal; president in the mould of Lyndon Baines Johnson, he will stick it out so he doesn't look like a wus, and lead us into our second defeat against a rag tag army.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Tribal violence in south Sudan that has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks is worrying and the region cannot afford another war, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.
Attacks stemming from disputes over cattle have escalated in recent months in south Sudan between two rival ethnic groups in an area where livestock are prized by southern pastoralists and represent wealth, status and stability in fraught times.
"The scale of conflict, scale of death, scale of destruction is really worrying," U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told journalists in Akobo in south Sudan's Jonglei state that is the scene of the fighting.
"It suggests there's a real problem about how to reconcile the communities, because this fighting has not necessarily stopped," Holmes said, adding: "We saw people with bullet wounds which are quite recent. So there's a real fear this fighting will restart ... This area cannot afford another war."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Egypt has yet to establish a direct connection between Iran and the alleged Hizbullah terror cell recently discovered on it soil, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this week.
"We need to establish a link first," spokesman Hossam Zaki told The Jerusalem Post when asked about Teheran's involvement with the cell. "The link has been established with Hizbullah, which in our view has its Iranian links, which is an indirect link."
Teheran has supported Hizbullah financially and militarily but it is unclear to what extent the Islamic republic was involved in the cell. Much of the Egyptian media has taken a very harsh stance toward what it believes to be Iran's involvement in the affair.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government is trying to determine the sources of "money transfers from abroad" sent to members of the 49-member cell, a member of the cell's defense team told the Post.
Twenty-two of the suspects are in detention while the rest are apparently at large. Some have been in custody for about six months.
Egypt accuses the cell of planning attacks against Israeli targets and Egyptian installations throughout the country. Lebanon-based Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah admitted that one of the men - known as Sami Shehab - was a member of Hizbullah, but he said that he and some 10 others had been helping to smuggle arms into Gaza, and denied any intention to carry out attacks in Egypt.
In an apparent message to Iran, President Hosni Mubarak warned "regional forces" last month against interfering with Egypt.
"We are aware of your plans... We will expose your plot and catch you," he promised." Stop exploiting the Palestinian issue and "be warned of Egypt's fury."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The One is taking his teleprompter and 500 of his closest partygoers friends to Egypt next month to 'address the Muslim world'.
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice on Thursday night echoed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's condemnation of Hizbullah for its "unwarranted interference" in Egypt's affairs and his call for the guerrilla group to transform itself into a purely political party.
"Let me be clear: we see no distinction between these groups' so-called political and military wings. Nor will we engage with them until they completely disarm," Rice told the council in closed consultations, according to a transcript of her remarks released by the US Mission to the UN.
Rice said the United States will continue to support "voices of peace and moderation" and she called for open and fair parliament elections in Lebanon on June 7 "without the specter of violence, the intimidation of militias and the pressure of outside influence."
Earlier, a UN envoy said Ban was alarmed at Hizbullah's public admission that it provided support to Gaza-based terrorists from Egypt and that the UN chief condemned the "unwarranted interference" in Egypt's domestic affairs.
Terje Roed-Larsen said the secretary-general urges Hizbullah to "cease any militant activities outside of Lebanon and complete its transformation into a solely Lebanese political party."
The UN chief also reiterates his call for Hizbullah and all other terror groups operating in Lebanon to be disarmed and demobilized as demanded by a UN Security Council resolution adopted in 2004, he said.
Roed-Larsen is Ban's envoy dealing with implementation of the 2004 resolution, and he discussed Hizbullah's alleged interference in Egypt as he presented Ban's latest report on compliance with the resolution to the Security Council.
Roed-Larsen said that in recent weeks, "there has been a growing concern that Hizbullah has engaged in clandestine and illegal militant activities beyond Lebanese territory."
He cited Egypt's announcement on April 8 that it had uncovered a plot by 49 men linked to Hizbullah to destabilize the country by carrying out "hostile operations" on Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists.
Two days later, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah rejected the accusations but admitted a Hizbullah member was in Egypt supervising weapons shipments to Hamas.
Nasrallah said in a televised speech on April 29 that Hizbullah had no intention of setting up a cell in Egypt to destabilize the predominantly Sunni Muslim country.
Roed-Larsen said Egypt's president and foreign minister shared preliminary elements of the investigation into the Hizbullah cell with him during a visit to Cairo on April 26.
In recent correspondence, Roed-Larsen said, Egypt informed the secretary-general that a cell led by a Lebanese member of Hizbullah was uncovered during 2008, and that the Hizbullah operative "had visited Egypt over several years using a real passport with a false identity, where he recruited members for the network."
The secretary-general "has expressed concern at the statements made by Hizbullah leaders and condemned such unwarranted interference in the domestic affairs of a member state," he said.
"Equally alarming was the fact that Hizbullah has publicly admitted to providing support to Gaza-based militants from Egyptian territory," Roed-Larsen said. "These activities exceed Hizbullah's stated national agenda."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Arrested former director of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Mohammad Sahab Uddin will be taken to the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell in the capital today for further interrogation in connection with the arms haul case.
A Chittagong court on Thursday placed Sahab Uddin on a six-day fresh remand when Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced him before it with a prayer for 10-day remand.
The CID prayed for the fresh remand after a three-day remand of Sahab Uddin ended without making any headway on Wednesday.
The former NSI director (security) was arrested at a residence on Green Road in the capital on May 3 for his alleged involvement in arranging transport vehicles for the firearms and ammunition hauled at Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Company Ltd (CUFL) jetty in the early hours of April 02, 2004.
The arrest was made following confessional statement of former NSI field officer Akbar Hossain Khan on May 2. In his statement, Akbar mentioned Sahab Uddin as one having link with the transport of the smuggled arms and ammunition, said sources in CID.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Via JihadWatch
A medal personally established by the Queen is being withdrawn after it was deemed offensive to Muslims and Hindus.
The honour - known as The Trinity Cross of the Order of Trinity - has been ruled unlawful and too Christian.
It has been awarded to 62 distinguished residents of the former colony of Trinidad and Tobago over more than 40 years, including cricketers Brian Lara and Garfield Sobers, novelist V.S. Naipaul and many diplomats and politicians.
But groups representing the Caribbean islands' Muslim and Hindu communities - which account for around a third of their 1.3million-strong population - had argued that the words 'Trinity' and 'Cross' were 'overtly Christian'. They also said the use of a cross insignia was offensive.
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
So will they eliminate the Victoria Cross next?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/09/2009 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
Isn't the Queen head of the Anglican church?
If they don't like the medal why no introdue alternatives for awardees who feel slighted by the award.
If Someone felt I deserved an award I would feel Honoured and grateful regardless if it was offered by the head of another religion. That's who they are not you.
#7
If they won't accept the medal, just give them a gift certificate. When I can't figure out what gift to give some ungrateful bastard around Christmas time, the gift certificate never fails.
#9
THE PRIVY Council yesterday ruled that the choice of the name of the Trinity Cross back in 1969 by Queen Elizabeth II was unconstitutional, infringing on the rights of Hindus and Muslims alike in Trinidad and Tobago.
The ruling was a symbolic victory for the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha who took the matter all the way to the Privy Council after losing in the local High Court in 2004, and then in Court of Appeal in 2007.
On April 17, 2008, Cabinet agreed that the name of the Trinity Cross should be changed to the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and that the national awards should be re- designed so as to replace the Cross with a medal.
Nonetheless this did not stop a panel of Law-Lords from making a ruling about the Trinity Cross during its 39-year history. They found that the name of the award violated the right to individual equality, equal treatment and freedom of religious belief.
However, they made it clear that their ruling was prospective, and was not to effect the legality of the bestowing of the award in previous years.
The institution of the award of the Trinity Cross as the nations highest honour was an infringement of the enjoyment of the rights described in...the Constitution, Lord Hope of Craighead said in a 20-page ruling. It was an infringement of the rights and freedoms of members of the Hindu and Muslim communities in Trinidad and Tobago, and it was unconstitutional.
In delivering a separate agreeing judgement, Lord Mance argued that the Queens letters patent was an executive act, capable of being declared unconstitutional. In the local courts, the Maha Saba had failed because the letters patent were viewed as specially preserved law under the Constitution.
Its a vindication of the 40 years of disquiet and unease silently suffered by the Muslim and Hindu communities whose legitimate grievance with the Trinity Cross was flippantly dismissed by successive governments. I dedicate this victory to the late Dr Wahid Ali and later Dharmacharya Pundit Krishna Maharaj, said the Maha Sabas attorney Anand Ramlogan yesterday. The Government should now consider giving a posthumous award to him because he had symbolically declined the award.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/09/2009 13:36 Comments ||
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#10
On the other hand, there is no such thing as "too Muslim."
The translator could never capture the experience behind Young-Ae Kim's emotional words, but he tried.
"She was raised with the idea that you have one lasting marriage -- never did she imagine that she would be married three times by the age of 30, and treated like an animal."
North Korean defector Young-Ae Kim told her story publically on April 29, along with Mi-Sun Bang, another woman whose account bears tragic resemblance to hers. Both women told reporters at the National Press Club a story that is becoming all too common among North Korean women. Both women were victims of "Bride Trafficking" -- being bought and sold as wives for single Chinese men along the border between North Korea and China.
Mark Lagon, former U.S. Ambassador at Large for Combating Trafficking and now executive director of the Polaris Project on Human Trafficking, says that these women are "thrice victimized" -- starved in North Korea, sexually exploited once they escape to China and tortured if they are repatriated to their home country.
[Kyodo: Korea] The United States on Friday reiterated its willingness to talk bilaterally with North Korea if that would help restart the stalled six-party negotiations on denuclearizing the reclusive state. The reassurances came at a time when Pyongyang is refusing to sit down with other members of the talks -- the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia -- and upping its missile and nuclear ante.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Rubes.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/09/2009 5:01 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Dozens of Palestinian and foreign activists sporting protective face masks demonstrated on Friday against the "occupation flu" from Israel they said was worse than swine flu, as Germany urged Israeli Foreign Minister to resume the peace process with the Palestinians.
The demonstrators gathered in the occupied West Bank village of Bilin brandished banners that read: "Put an end to occupation flu."
"The world today is extremely interested in swine flu because it has killed people but it has forgotten that what we suffer from is worse," one of the protesters, Abdullah Abu Rahmeh said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
what we suffer from is worse
What you suffer from is your own stupidity and vicious hatred combined with the callous indifference of the Arab world that uses you like pawns. It saddens me that the only quick cures for this seem to be kinetic.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is under renewed fire after the Obama administration released documents that critics say contradict her claim that she was never told that U.S. detainees were being waterboarded.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), the top Republican on House Intelligence, in an interview Friday said the document proves that Pelosi knew waterboarding occurred but has denied is because of political pressure from the liberal base of her party. Clearly her left wing is outraged that waterboarding was used, Hoekstra said. The bottom line is she and her key staff, they all knew about it.
Now that these documents have been released, Hoekstra is calling for additional CIA documents to be made public including some that he has read that provide a more complete account of what was discussed in lawmaker briefings. He is also considering calling for congressional hearings on what members knew and when they knew it.
I wouldn't have a problem with the intelligence committee or the Judiciary Committee having hearings on this, he said. If [House Judiciary Chairman] John Conyers [D-Mich.] wants to have hearings, they shouldn't call in the Department of Justice attorneys as their first witnesses. The first people that should be called in and held accountable ought to be Congress.
Hoekstra also indicated he is considering sending Conyers a letter requesting such hearings. He now has a list of who should be the first witnesses, Hoekstra said.
Pelosi's critics had already deemed her answers convoluted when she explained that she'd been briefed in 2002 that waterboarding had been approved but not that it would be used on terrorism suspects.
But a 10-page summary of briefings of congressional officials prepared by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) indicates Pelosi, then the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee was briefed with then-Chairman Porter Goss (R-Fla.) on Sept. 4, 2002. It says they were briefed on interrogation techniques used on a terrorism suspect who is now known to have been waterboarded.
Still, it doesn't conclusively answer the question of what Pelosi knew, and when she knew it. It says that they were briefed on the methods used to interrogate suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, but doesn't specifically mention waterboarding.
Sure hope she likes Spain ...
Pelosi (D-Calif.) did join in a protest filed after the first briefing that specifically mentioned waterboarding in 2003.
In a statement, Pelosi said she stands by her recollection that she was only told that certain techniques had been deemed legal, not that they were being used.
So why didn't you object before they were used?
"Of the 40 CIA briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated," Pelosi said. She reiterated a statement from December 2007 saying she was "briefed on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future."
The summary, titled Member Briefings on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, says Pelosi and Goss, who later became CIA director, were briefed on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, including their use on Zubaydah and a description of particular EITs that had been employed. They were also provided background on authorities.
President Obama and other Democrats have deemed the interrogation techniques torture.
They're going to have to un-deem it unless they want Judge Garzon picking their party clean ...
Republicans claim that Pelosi has known for years that intelligence agents were waterboarding terrorism suspects, but complained only when the practice was made fully public and liberal activists protested.
Pelosi has said she was powerless to do anything after being told that Justice Department lawyers determined waterboarding and other tactics had legal approval. Youre really a hostage if youre notified that something has happened. Theyre not asking for your thoughts, she said in a television interview.
But Pelosi has also said she concurred with a protest Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) had filed with the CIA after a 2003 briefing, the first time waterboarding is specifically mentioned in the DNI sumary. Harman had succeeded Pelosi as the top Democrat on the panel.
The documents release note that they might not settle the debate over who knew what and when.
In the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened, states the May 6 cover letter from CIA Director Leon Panetta to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sure looks like Pelosi is in water over her head. She has been the one causing "cruel and unusual punishment" to our Great Country (USA).
#2
It's taken the House Pubs a couple of years to regain their footing but this is an issue they can hammer on the inside, much like they hammered at Jim Wright over the book deals. It's inside baseball but it helps weaken her. They then just need an issue that gets traction with ordinary voters.
Oh, and a plan to reform how they themselves screwed up last time ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2009 11:49 Comments ||
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today ruled out sending army to Sri Lanka and favoured solution to the problem of Tamils within a united and federal set up, ignoring demands voiced by parties in Tamil Nadu, including ally DMK, for a separate Tamil Eelam.
On a short visit to the city, he looked up Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the hospital and made it clear that DMK is Congress' ally in the elections and the alliance would be maintained.
"What is possible and what is not possible, I think it is a matter of speculation. But quite frankly we are dealing with a sovereign state Sri Lanka, a sovereign country. It is not so easy to march armies to a sovereign state," he told a press conference here.
He was replying to a question on AIADMK chief's Jayalalithaa's remarks that if a government of her choice comes to power after the elections, it would send army to Sri Lanka for creation of a separate Tamil Eelam state.
With AIADMK and its allies PMK and MDMK raising the stakes on the Eelam issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi also joined the bandwagon for a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka.
"There is such thing as international law and all those constraints I think are known to all those who are making tall promises," he said in an apparent reference to Jayalalithaa's recent election speeches
Posted by: john frum ||
05/09/2009 14:46 ||
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[Geo News] Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif Friday denied any knowledge regarding the alleged military's role in bringing to an end the lawyers long march. In an interview, Mian Nawaz Sharif said he has his own ideology to follow and that he would never act on any dictation. "I have no intention to come into power with the support of the US," he clarified, adding it has never been our ultimate goal to rule the country and earlier we joined the government to achieve some objectives. He said PML-N can better support the government in the existing circumstances than by joining the government. The PML-N Chief said: "We will join the federal cabinet if the dictator is subjected to accountability."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The chief Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain has advised the people to hoist the national flag at their homes, shops, schools, offices and other places and buildings to express solidarity for national sovereignty and with armed forces. In a statement released from London, Altaf said Pakistan is undergoing a very critical situation while NWFP province is on fire due to Taliban-military clashes. "Taliban have waged a formal war against armed forces challenging the writ of the government", Altaf remarked adding, "Government and private buildings, educational institutes, the mausoleum of saints and the homes of the opponents are being targeted and devastated". Our country needs unity and national integrity as much today like never before, he added. Altaf appealed the country men to hoist national flags on their homes, offices, schools, shops and on highways to express solidarity and sincerity with the armed forces of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The US Congress Committee has approved $1.9 billion in additional assistance to Pakistan, Islamabad ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani said on Friday.
Speaking to media persons here, Haqqani said: "The United States wants enduring bilateral ties with Pakistan."
Terming the approval of $1.9 billion by the US committee a great success, he said that it was a proof that America wants better relations with Islamabad.
"We have told the US that no compromise will be made on the country's sovereignty," Haqqani added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Minister Rehman Malik in his meeting with US Attorney General Eric Holder demanded repatriation of Dr. Afia Siddiqui presently in US detention. The US Attorney General assured the Interior Minister that Dr. Afia Siddiqui will be allowed to meet her mother and brother.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Which part would you like first?
Posted by: ed ||
05/09/2009 1:54 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Former Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed Friday said that the government had launched military operation in Swat on the behest of United States. Speaking at a ceremony here, he said that Sufi Muhammad's dead son was not a militant. He had gone to the house of his father-in-law to bring some luggage where he was killed.
Ahmed noted that preparations were underway to launch a Lal Mosque-like operation that would draw a strong reaction. He further said that nearly one million people had displaced. To a question, he said that the government had said in its consensus resolution that use of force was not the solution of every problem.
This article starring:
Qazi Hussain Ahmed
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Syed Munawar Hassan Friday said that the government had admitted its failure by launching the military offensive in Swat valley.
Addressing the Friday Sermon at Jamia Masjid in Mansoora, he said that Swat operation had been launched without taking the nation into confidence. Hassan said that bombardment had created an atmosphere of fear and terror in Swat. The JI leader said that all political forces of the country were calling on the prime minister to convene an all parties' conference. But no attention was paid in this regard. He asserted that his party would step up 'Go America Go' campaign and unmask the nefarious designs of United States in Pakistan.
This article starring:
Syed Munawar Hassan
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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The 'bitter experience' of Taliban rule has hardened the local population, who are now willing to accept a higher degree of collateral damage as a price for the security forces wiping out extremist elements from Swat district.
"We will rebuild our homes, but would not want to see the presence of even a single Talib after this operation," displaced residents of Mingora said upon their arrival in Peshawar on Friday.
Public hope for a decisive military offensive against the Taliban received a big boost with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's announcement on Thursday calling for the army to crush the Swat Taliban.
"With almost 100 percent public support for the military operation it doesn't stand to reason to see that at the end of the day the target -- flushing out the Taliban -- is not achieved. We would see fault with no other institution than the military if the targets remains unachieved," the terrified residents spoke to Daily Times on condition of anonymity.
Afzal Khan Lala, who is seen as symbol of resistance against the Taliban, has no doubt about the army's ability to do the job against the Swat Taliban. "There is no such force in the country which our army cannot dismantle, provided it shows the commitment to do so," he told Daily Times from his hospital bed in Islamabad.
He said it "makes no difference who brings peace to Swat, and there is no other way out than employing deterrence, as all other options have already been exhausted. The people of Swat want peace and are least bothered about the price."
Military experts say the price can be high as urban warfare causes considerable collateral damage.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"We will rebuild our homes, but would not want to see the presence of even a single Talib after this operation,"
Scorched Earth...that's what it will take to kill all of the cockroaches.
JI, NWFP, chief Sirajul Haq told a news conference here that Sufi Muhammad's son was killed in his house, which was a commendable act. He accused security forces of targeting civilian population in Maidan and Adenzai. "Innocent people including women and children are being killed in Dir, Swat and Buner during the military operation. "Bodies are lying on the streets and in the fields as people are denied their burial," he said. The JI leader said the operation had caused over one million displacements in the area. He said the operation was initiated to please the US. He demanded immediate halt to military offensive and that the government appoint Sufi Muhammad's proposed qazis in Malakand Division.
This article starring:
Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi
Sirajul Haq
Jamaat-e-Islami
Sufi Muhammad
Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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Mumbai: Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had said the 26/11 trial would be wrapped up in four to five months. Now he says it could drag on for at least five years with Abbas Kazmi, lawyer for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, refusing to admit any of the documents submitted by the prosecution.
"I was hoping the trial would be over in four months," Nikam said. "But with the defence not admitting any documents, I am pretty sure the trial will take at least five years to finish."
Nikam had earlier told the court that he would examine about 100 witnesses. But with the defence not admitting the prosecution's documents, he will have to examine around 400 witnesses now, he said. The prosecution has submitted 1,350 documents in the court.
Defending his stand, Kazmi said: "In most sessions [court] cases, the defence doesn't admit documents. In the Parliament terror attack case, the Supreme Court said the amicus curiae appearing for Afzal Guru wrongly admitted certain incriminating documents. I don't want some document to boomerang on us at a later stage."
Nikam said the same thing had happened in the 1993 serial blasts case trial, which dragged on for 12 years. "The defence didn't admit a single document and we examined even victims' relatives to prove that people had died in the blasts," he said.
In the 26/11 trial, Nikam had issued a notice under section 294 of the CrPC calling upon the defence to allow or deny admission of 83 documents pertaining to the encounter of terrorist Abu Ismail at Chowpatty.
Kazmi told the court on Friday that he would not admit any document.
Nikam argued: "Kazmi has been appointed at the cost of the public exchequer. A panchnama of sealing of the uniform of slain police officer Tukaram Ombale, for instance, cannot be injurious to him [Ajmal]. I am constrained to say that there is a D2 tactic at play -- that of derailment and delay of trial."
Judge ML Tahilyani then tried to reason with Kazmi that some of the documents were not against Ajmal. "You have to work in the interests of the trial," the judge said.
When Kazmi didn't budge, the judge asked Nikam if he had any witnesses ready. Sub-inspector Bhaskar Kadam from the Lamington Road police station became the first witness to have been examined in the trial.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD -- Violence is on the rise in Iraq as American troops withdraw. A ground-level look at the handover provides one explanation: The Iraqi government is neglecting many of the successful counterinsurgency initiatives it is inheriting from the U.S. military.
In the Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad, once an Al Qaeda stronghold, contractor Hossam Hadi used to send 1,000 military-aged men out on U.S.-funded jobs to pick up trash and repair bullet-riddled store fronts. That work pacified potential troublemakers, but now he's down to 60 workers.
In Baghdad's Shaab district, residents say that when the constant patrols of U.S. troops gave way recently to Iraqis who manned static posts, kidnappings and robberies rose. And just south of the capital, a former Sunni insurgent hired by the U.S. to keep the peace says his 145 militiamen are angry because they've received only a month's pay since Baghdad took over their program in January.
Many Iraqis fear a security gap just as the U.S. military hands the reins to the Iraqi government. American soldiers are already fading from Iraq's streets ahead of this summer's deadline for the withdrawal of forces from Iraqi cities. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, has been slammed by dwindling oil receipts -- leaving it tens of billions of dollars short in its budget for security and other bills.
All that has coincided uncomfortably with a wave of attacks since late March. Iraqis worry that insurgents and sectarian militias may be regrouping and appraising an Iraqi force that lacks the money and will to replicate tactics the U.S. used to quell violence.
The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised recent budget cuts won't affect security. "The militias and the criminals believe there will be a security vacuum as the U.S. withdraws, and they're testing the Iraqi forces," said government spokesman Tahseen Sheikhly. "But we will show them."
The U.S. counterinsurgency strategy, implemented by Gen. David H. Petraeus in early 2007, called for soldiers to live in bases among the population and run constant foot patrols. It also called for reconciliation with enemies who were willing to negotiate, and encouraged buttressing the economy with jobs for locals.
U.S. officials say job-creation programs like the one Hadi oversaw in Adhamiya yielded big counterinsurgency gains. Many are now being abandoned.
Hadi's Iraqi contracting firm, Rosco Co., got its first U.S. contract in 2005, clearing the hulks of bombed-out cars from the streets. It won more U.S. jobs, becoming one of Adhamiya's largest employers. Neighborhood elders erected a billboard thanking Hadi for the work.
"We bought a lot of security with these jobs," says Army Maj. J.P. Hart, a civil-affairs officer in Baghdad. "Now the city just can't afford to pay these guys."
The U.S. military is trying to persuade the government to take over such projects. But Hadi, 32 years old, says he hasn't signed a new contract since October. "There are no contracts, no work and no money," he says.
#1
We are pulling our troops out at a to rapid of a pace. Take our troops out from Iraq too fast and our casualty rate will increase due to increased Al Qaeda insurgency.
#2
If al Qaeda is smart, they will leave American troops alone as long as we continue to withdraw. That way we won't have an excuse to stay.
As long as they continue to just kill Iraqis, why should we care?
/Obama's "thinking"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/09/2009 11:12 Comments ||
Top||
#3
If al-Qaeda had been smart they'd have gone to ground until we'd established "peace" and withdrawn all but a token force, then launched Zarq's offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 11:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
well it's not like this part of the world has ever been peaceful even though it's where civilization supposedly began
#5
We have held the Iraqis hand long enough. Certainly the bad guys will cut up rough when the US is gone. But what they're not counting on is that the Iraqi police and military no longer have to play nice either.
I expect that after a flurry of activity, the Iraqis are going to start hanging bad guys like there is no tomorrow.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will turn its eye on Damascus following the release of the four generals, European sources said, as former chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis said his recommendation to arrest the former security chiefs was based on the testimony of king witness Zuhair Siddiq as well as others.
Mehlis said the U.N. commission investigating ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder had recommended the arrest of the four generals and it would have retracted its order had it been mistaken.
Mehlis told al-Mustaqbal daily that when he quit as head of the commission, the provisional arrest of the generals was legal under Lebanese, German and French law.
He stressed that at that time he thought the probe would need only one more year. He told al-Mustaqbal that he would have sent the file to the court if he had enough evidence and if not, he would have announced that finding the truth is impossible.
"Had the investigation been on the right track, it would have been over long time ago," the former head of the U.N. panel said.
He told the newspaper that his recommendation to arrest the four generals wasn't only based on the testimony of witness Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq.
Mehlis said he recommended the arrests after hearing the testimonies of several witnesses including Gen. H. and another person to whom one of the released officers, Gen. Mustafa Hamdan, had said there is an intention to send Hariri on a "trip."
Mehlis said that the commission had asked Syria for information on a possible Israeli involvement in Hariri's assassination but Damascus did not cooperate on the matter.
The panel, according to Mehlis, also ruled out the involvement of fundamentalists in the former premier's murder.
Sources involved in the investigation into Hariri's assassination informed official Western and European parties that the court will continue its work because the commission investigating the former premier's killing has enough evidence and information to find the truth.
The sources stressed that the tribunal's judges are committed to the Lebanese and the international community to hold accountable and punish the culprits.
An Nahar quoted the Western and European officials as saying the release of the generals will support international efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad to cooperate with the tribunal and comply with its demands, including the interrogation of Syrian witnesses or accused persons when needed.
Well-informed diplomatic sources in Paris said "the next strike by the court after the release of the generals will be in Damascus because the Hariri case is of significance to Syria more than any other country outside Lebanon."
Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities informed pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen that they are implementing his decision to protect the generals, including taking security measures and putting guards to protect them and their property.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards on Friday became the most prominent figure so far to register as a candidate in Iran's June presidential election just hours before incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, registered.
Mohsen Rezaie, a conservative who is now secretary of the powerful Expediency Council arbitration body, said the economy of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter needed "fundamental change" and advocated a broad based government of experts.
Even though he is well-known in Iran after a long career as Guards commander, analysts don't expect him to be among the frontrunners in the June 12 vote, in which Ahmadinejad will seek a second four-year term.
Moderate politician Mirhossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, is expected to be the incumbent's main challenger but was yet to officially register as a candidate at the Interior Ministry registration center in Tehran.
Candidates have until Saturday to register, after which they will be vetted by the Guardian Council, which has strict moral and other criteria, requiring them to be established statesmen. In the last vote in 2005, only about 10 were cleared.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Rezaie sounds like he's Ayatollah Khameni's shot across Ahmadinejad's bow.
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri on Thursday responded to charges made by his political opponents that his movement had accused Syria of the assassination of his father ex-premier Rafik Hariri, saying: "The people of Lebanon made the accusation when the crime took place."
"I am the son of Rafik Hariri and I say the accusation made against the Syrian regime is political," Hariri told a huge electoral rally in the area where MP Walid Eido and his son were assassinated in a car bomb in 2007.
Addressing the crowd, Hariri said: "You were the first to know that the accusation did not come from nowhere. You also know that Rafik Hariri, prior to his assassination, was threatened by well-known people at the top of the pyramid of the previous regime under (Syrian) tutelage."
Hariri reiterated his political stance regarding the 2005 assassination crime that killed his father saying: "If Israel was the one that assassinated my father, then why the attempts to hinder the Special Tribunal? Israel assassinated Palestine, gentlemen it assassinated Palestine."
"We shall never fall into the trap of arms, sedition and civil war. We shall maintain our path -- that of the legitimate state, justice, moderation and education," Hariri said.
He was referring to events last year on the same day when Beirut was overrun with violence.
"Today is the first anniversary when madness believed it could overrun Beirut, but the city overran madness with its patriotism," he said.
Hariri added, "The only weapon my father provided for young people is the weapon of education and progress. When Lebanon was under tutelage, when all Lebanese were desperate to have a state and an army, Rafik Hariri drafted the plan for state institutions," Hariri said.
He accused his political opponents of attempting to carry the country outside the Taef accords. "The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is established and justice is coming. Criminals won't escape justice," Hariri charged.
He announced Al-Mustaqbal Beirut 3 district list which includes Tamam Salam, Imad al-Hout, Ghazi Aridi, Atef Majdalani, Ammar Houry, Nabil de Freij, Ghazi Youssef, Bassem al-Shab and Mohammed Qabbani.
Earlier, Jamaa Islamia parliamentary candidate Imad al-Hout said: "We don't want any sectarian clashes. We shall proof that May 7 events are behind us."
Beirut 3 parliamentary candidate Culture Minister Tamam Salam added: "I am honored to be with Hariri on a single list. We want a strong Arab Lebanon far removed from any axis."
Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi addressed rally supporters saying: "Beirut knows how to overcome hardships. This is the capital that has vanquished every injustice."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2009 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.
Forty-four candidates submitted nominations to run for president before the close of registration on Friday, a field full of people who served under President Hamid Karzai but have since broken with him, often over his management style. The large crowd of presidential hopefuls included two women, several former ministers, a mix of former Communists and people who fought against them in the jihad, a former boy genius and Mr. Karzai, said the spokesman for the election commission, Noor Muhammad Noor.
[Geo News] Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif Friday denied any knowledge regarding the alleged military's role in bringing to an end the lawyers long march. In an interview, Mian Nawaz Sharif said he has his own ideology to follow and that he would never act on any dictation. "I have no intention to come into power with the support of the US," he clarified, adding it has never been our ultimate goal to rule the country and earlier we joined the government to achieve some objectives. He said PML-N can better support the government in the existing circumstances than by joining the government. The PML-N Chief said: "We will join the federal cabinet if the dictator is subjected to accountability."
[Geo News] The chief Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain has advised the people to hoist the national flag at their homes, shops, schools, offices and other places and buildings to express solidarity for national sovereignty and with armed forces. In a statement released from London, Altaf said Pakistan is undergoing a very critical situation while NWFP province is on fire due to Taliban-military clashes. "Taliban have waged a formal war against armed forces challenging the writ of the government", Altaf remarked adding, "Government and private buildings, educational institutes, the mausoleum of saints and the homes of the opponents are being targeted and devastated". Our country needs unity and national integrity as much today like never before, he added. Altaf appealed the country men to hoist national flags on their homes, offices, schools, shops and on highways to express solidarity and sincerity with the armed forces of Pakistan.
[Geo News] The US Congress Committee has approved $1.9 billion in additional assistance to Pakistan, Islamabad ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani said on Friday.
[Geo News] Former Jamaat-e-Islami Amir 
[Geo News] Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir 
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Friday condemned the killing of 
