A US national and three Afghans were killed when a gas tanker exploded in a prison in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, the defence ministry said. The ministry did not provide further details about the casualties in the accident at Pul-i-Charki prison, where hundreds of Taliban suspects transferred from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba are being kept. A gas tanker exploded while transferring gas to the prisons kitchen. Four people were killed - the deaths included an American, his (Afghan) interpreter and two contractors, the ministry said in a statement. The explosion triggered a fire, it said. Two soldiers and a civilian were wounded, the statement said, without providing details. It was not a soldier, a coalition spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Why not load the senators on a plane and send 'em off to Spin Boldak to do the talking?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Reminder: there is NO seperate identity between Taliban and al-Qaeda. When those animals were in power they allowed that terrorist group to run genocide camps, which allowed training in the production and use of chemical weapons.
Let's not forget that Karzai has been mouthing reconciliation with Taliban for years. He is well aware - as a Pashto - that his part of Afghanistan was pacified by armistice. Taliban dissolved; most combatants simply formally abandoned the terrorist organization, while working for the same goals. In Helmand, they wage terror in the Summer after collecting earnings in the opium fields. Under Karzai, Afghanistan became a Heroin producer for the first time. Even as UN opium eradication programs go on outside of Pashto areas, Helmand has become the major drug zone in the world.
Pashtos remain committed to the same legal basis - Pashtun Code - that Taliban imposed on the entire country. They expect that the perma-war conditions, supported by Pakistan, will eventually lead to their restoration. And they have good reason to believe so. 100% of land captured by NATO in the Summer, is returned to Taliban in the Winter. This cycle will not change until Pashto regions are carpet bombed and the opium fields are cleared by Napalm.
#3
It's worth noting that the Senate in Canada is not exactly like the Senate in the US - Canadian senators are appointed by the Prime Minister, not elected by citizens. Mostly, they're bag men and former aides who are rewarded for service by being appointed. They never have to stand for election. They don't represent any region of the country but they do get to vote on legislation, although they're expected to approve anything passed by Parliament.
They used to be appointed for life but now I think they retire at 75. Good pay, lots of perks, not too much work, and no worries about what voters think.
#4
I read the article but not the report. The article doesn't mention any location - maybe they're considering "talking" with the Taliban in the local offices in Ottawa?
Posted by: Caesar Ebbaviger1593 ||
06/12/2008 10:48 Comments ||
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#5
Yah, the "talk" mentality doesn't come from the Canadians: it is from Karzai's drug mafia.
PARIS - The World Bank will maintain its aid to Afghanistan steady at $1.1 billion over five years but will press Kabul to improve its tax system and fight corruption, a senior official said on Wednesday. The 65 nations attending a donor conference in Paris on Thursday are expected to push strongly for more action to fight rampant corruption in a country that provides the bulk of the world's heroin.
"We will support the Afghan government and people with about $1.1 billion over five years, very similar to what we did in the past," World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters ahead of the donors' conference. She said the money would largely be made up of grants. "This amount will of course be dependent on the progress that they make in those areas that have been outlined," she said.
Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped the Afghan government could identify two or three areas, including strengthening the judiciary and the rule of law, where it could show progress to reassure donors wary of widespread corruption.
The World Bank is one of about 15 international organisations taking part in the conference which will be opened by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
As well as action on corruption, donors also wants the Karzai's Western-backed government, which relies on aid for 90 percent of its spending, to do more to increase the amount of revenue raised from legitimate taxation. Currently equivalent to around 8 percent of gross domestic product, official government revenue is among the lowest in the world, Okonjo-Iweala said.
"If they can improve that upwards to 12 percent, that would be good," she said.
Since resuming operations in Afghanistan in 2002, the World Bank has committed around $1.6 billion but is aware donors will be unwilling to keep pouring money in if confidence does not improve. Already there have been problems with donor countries falling behind with existing spending pledges, partly due to concerns over where the money was going.
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06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, while the World Bank is throwing away money I could use a few bucks.
Peace is no small feat in Somalia, and if the reaction to the accord struck on Monday night is any gauge, peace may still be a long way off.
Chances are somewhere between minuscule and "no way in Hell."
On
The so-called deal is rubbish and inconsequential, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a strident Islamist leader, told The Associated Press. It will not in any way result in peace.
Tuesday, militant Islamist leaders immediately rejected the deal, which had been signed by moderate Islamists and the beleaguered transitional government of Somalia. The so-called deal is rubbish and inconsequential, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a strident Islamist leader, told The Associated Press. It will not in any way result in peace. Instead, he said, the deal will bring more bloodshed.
Usually I make a point of not agreeing with Sheikh Aweys, but I'll make an exception in this case.
He was among the key Islamist figures who boycotted the peace talks, which had been organized by the United Nations to end the combat between Somalias transitional government and a determined insurgency.
Moderate Islamist leaders, under the banner of the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, have agreed to a cease-fire in return for Ethiopian troops being replaced by United Nations peacekeepers, though it is not clear when or even if that will happen. The deal was signed on Monday night in Djibouti, Somalias small, peaceful neighbor, which is considered neutral ground.
People on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalias battered capital, seemed doubtful and hopeful. There could be fighting from the hard-liners, but it wont be the same as it used to, said Hassan Gabre, a retired engineer. Peace is important, but Somalis desperately need government, too, he said.
This article starring:
Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys
Islamic Courts
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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A 10-day peace process, engendered under the auspices of the United Nations, has resulted with Monday's announcement that the Somali government and its opposition have inked a peace agreement paving the way for "the cessation of all armed confrontation" across Somalia.
But already, a key rebel leader and a well-known outfit of Islamist guerrillas have rejected the agreement.
Ink didn't even dry ...
Representatives from Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its opposition - the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) - met in neighboring Djibouti between 31 May and 9 June. The talks, mediated by UN Special Envoy to Somalia Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, were aimed primarily at finding a lasting resolution to the Horn of Africa country's 18-year-old armed conflict.
Egyptian police on Monday prevented groups of Christian Copts congregating inside a church in east Cairo from staging a protest against government inaction in recent acts of violence against members of Egypt's Coptic minority.
Police cordoned off the church in the Zaytun district Monday evening and security forces were deployed across the area to prevent protestors inside the church from taking to the streets.
Acts of violence occurring in the past two weeks, which are believed to be religiously motivated, have angered Copts, whose number is estimated at be around 10 million in the country's predominantly Sunni Muslim population of 75 million
In Zaytun, a Coptic jeweller was shot dead in his shop along with three Christian workers by unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle. Another worker was badly injured in the incident.
A few days later, a historic monastery in the southern town of Malawi was attacked by armed men from the local Muslim community of Bedouin. A Muslim man was killed and four Coptic priests were injured in the attack.
The protestors voiced their anger at what they perceive as bias against Copts shown by police investigators and prosecutors. Authorities are accused of not exerting enough effort to arrest assailants in attacks against Copts and not unveiling the identities of those they arrest.
Police also prevented a group of Muslim youths from staging a street demonstration Monday evening in Zaytun in solidarity with Copts. Eight activists, mostly bloggers and journalists, were held then later freed by police.
SANAA - Yemen on Wednesday said US criticism of a jail sentence meted out to a Yemeni journalist was a form of 'political pressure' by Washington. The US criticism "is surprising given the silence over (American) violations of human rights at Guantanamo, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere," a foreign ministry spokesman said, as quoted by the official Saba news agency.
"Questions of human rights should not be used as means of political pressure or to present crimes judged in the courts as a matter of freedom of expression," he added.
The US State Department on Monday condemned Yemen's jailing of the editor of Zaidi weekly Al-Shura, Abdel Karim al-Khiwani, for six years, saying it points to a "distressing trend" in which Yemeni courts muzzle independent media.
Khiwani was among 12 people who were given jail sentences after being convicted of forming an armed group and killing two security officers. A Zaidi Shiite rebel was also condemned to death in the case, but the State Department only commented on Khiwani's sentence.
Khiwani's sentencing "points to a distressing trend in Yemen of intimidation and prosecution of independent journalists in criminal and security courts," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Khiwani "himself has been the victim of violence, intimidation, and kidnappings that the government of Yemen has yet to fully investigate and prosecute those responsible," he said.
"We call upon the government of Yemen to protect Yemeni journalists and their right to free expression in the pursuit of their profession. A free and independent media is a key component of a democratic society," he said.
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06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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The wife of one of the failed 21/7 suicide bombers was jailed for 15 years today for failing to disclose details of his plot to cause carnage on the London Underground.
Yeshi Girma, 32, who has three children by the bomber Hussein Osman, wept throughout the sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey and threw her hands in the air as the jail term was handed down. She had to be helped from the dock as she was led away to begin the jail term.
Her sister Mulu Girma, 24, a model, and brother Esayas Girma, 22, were each jailed for 10 years for helping Osman escape a massive police manhunt and withholding information from the authorities.
Judge Paul Worsley told the three siblings, who held hands as they sat in the dock, that the sentences he was able to pass by law were woefully inadequate to reflect the enormity of what you were about in July 2005. He said that had they informed the police of Osmans whereabouts, the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot by officers hunting the bomber, might have been avoided.
The judge also jailed Mohammed Kabashi, 25, Mulus former lover, for nine years after he admitted the offences.
Osman was one of four men who tried to detonate suicide bombs on Tube trains and a No 26 bus two weeks after terrorists had killed 52 innocent passengers in the July 7 attacks. A huge death toll was only averted because the bombers, all former worshippers at Finsbury Park mosque, failed to mix the chemical components of their devices properly.
Osman was supposed to blow up a train at Shepherds Bush, west London, and ran off across the tracks when it partially exploded.
He called his wife and she and her brother came to meet him in car before driving Osman to Brighton where Mulu Girma, a student and fashion model, tended burns to his leg caused by material leaking from his rucksack bomb. Mulu then took Osman to a safe house while her brother and sister returned to London with Kabashi to attempt to destroy evidence.
Osman was later able to return to London then leave the country on a Eurostar train before he was arrested in Rome eight days after the attacks.
The four-month trial was also told that Yeshi knew in advance of her husbands plans and that Osman and his fellow bombers made final preparations for the attacks at her flat in Stockwell, south London.
The judge told her: You already shared Osmans extreme views on Islam and coordinated the escape plan for the father of your three children after he failed to achieve his sought-after place in paradise.
Addressing all four defendants, he added: I have no doubt that each of you were prepared to aid a ruthless fanatic and that in so doing each of you must have harboured the hope that the bombers would ultimately be successful in their mission to seek to damage our society.
The judge said his sentences would reflect public condemnation of their actions and serve as a deterrent to others tempted to follow their example. The judge added: You did not encourage Osman in his fanatical mission but fell under his evil spell.
Pavlos Panayi, defending Yeshi, said in mitigation: Her actions were instigated by a twisted and irrational devotion to Osman, the father of her children, with whom she had had a long, troubled and volatile relationship.
Osman and his fellow bomb plotters were jailed for life last year for conspiracy to murder and told they would serve a minimum of 40 years. In February, five men received sentences of between seven and 17 years for assisting them and withholding information about their activities.
#1
Pity the Brits don't have the death sentence anymore. The lot of them deserve a bullet to the back of the head and a quick trip to surgery for use as organ donors
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
06/12/2008 18:16 Comments ||
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Plans to set up a secret Islamist state in Scotland were discussed by two supporters of jihad, a court has heard. The pair said it could provide a safe haven for those who felt "oppressed", London's Blackfriars Crown Court heard. Aabid Khan, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said the only problem was the availability of weapons, the court was told.
The 23-year-old and three others deny terrorism-related counts of possessing articles or documents. In the dock are Mr Khan and Sultan Muhammad, 23, also from Bradford, Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from Woolwich, south-east London, and Hammaad Munshi, 18, from, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Jurors heard the state would also be run according to Sharia law and eventually be used as a base to "discreetly train" for attacks against non-believers. The court heard the online exchange was part of a "mass" of allegedly incriminating material found by police during a series of swoops in Bradford and London two years ago.
Prosecutor Simon Denison said the MSN exchange between Khan and Muhammad about the secret Islamic state in Scotland occurred on 12 November 2005. He said it began with Mr Muhammad explaining how he and work colleagues had allegedly been chatting about "hijrah" or emigration for Muslims feeling oppressed in Britain. He then continued: "So like maybe a remote part of Scotland - people were like 'What the hell?' - at least to a place where there were Muslim communities."
Mr Khan is said to have replied: "A group of Muslims can go to a remote place and set up a mini Sharia state and they can rule according to Sharia law, like this and stay there, building them up and their children up, preparing for fitness, and then launching jihad once they strengthen themselves." Mr Denison claimed he then added: "In the UK you can isolate with a group discreetly and train, but better in the US as they have weapons there. Over here weapons is problem."
All defendants deny possessing articles or documents likely to be useful to terrorists in 2005 and 2006. Mr Khan and Mr Muhammad also deny possessing articles for a terrorist purpose. The trial continues.
#2
I've been to the Scottish Highlands and islands. Somehow, a bunch of city Islamic types moving to that area and surviving seems highly improbable if not downright amusing.
#11
I am amazed the Christians in the UK havne't created an add campaign, just show shocked pub-goer.
"No booze? No way."
You don't have to even mention Islam to get a saying going. There is an old story about the Russian Czar choosing a religion and Islam was dumped as a choice because Vodka wasn't allowed.
The Pentagon has said an air strike by US forces in the Afghan-Pakistani border region, said to have killed 11 Pakistani soldiers, was legitimate. It said US forces had acted in self-defence after coming under attack in clashes with pro-Taleban militias. The US state department described the deaths as regrettable, and said there was a need for better communication. Pakistan's military said earlier that the soldiers had died as a result of an "unprovoked and cowardly act".
The incident took place on Tuesday night at a border post in the mountainous Gora Prai region of Mohmand, one of Pakistan's tribal areas, across the border from Afghanistan's Kunar province. The US military confirmed that its forces based on the Afghan side of the border had launched artillery and air strikes after coming under fire from pro-Taleban forces. Eight Taleban militants were also killed in the clashes, a Taleban spokesman said.
The incident comes at a time of tension between Pakistan and the US over how to deal with militants in border areas, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports from Washington. A statement from coalition forces in Afghanistan made no reference to the Pakistani deaths "Every indication we have at this point is that this was indeed a legitimate strike in defence of our forces after they came under attack," spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters.
While the US military greatly valued its relationship with its Pakistani ally, he added, US forces were "within their rights to take the action they took".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Pakistan's army and the U.S. military gave widely differing accounts Wednesday of a clash on the Afghan border that left 11 Pakistani troops dead. While their forces were just a few hundred yards apart, a huge gulf existed in their views of events underscoring the mutual suspicion between two uneasy allies in the war against international terrorism.
The alliance is unpopular among Pakistanis, whose newly elected civilian government is negotiating with some militants in hopes of curbing a surge in violence. Western officials fear peace deals could give more space for Taliban and al-Qaida militants to operate. There was no way to independently check on what happened in the fighting Tuesday night on the ill-defined border between Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency and Afghanistan's Kunar province. It is difficult for journalists to reach the area, communications are poor and the different players in the lawless region seem prone to give their own spin not least the Taliban militants against whom both the U.S. and Pakistan are supposed to be combatting together.
U.S. officials said three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs against insurgents attacking into Afghanistan from Pakistan. The Pentagon said it was too early to say whether the airstrike killed the Pakistani troops, as claimed by Pakistan's army, although the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad expressed regret over the deaths.
American officials defended the air attack, saying the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan was retaliating after its troops came under fire about 200 yards inside Afghan territory. The coalition said it had informed Pakistan's army the troops were being attacked from a wooded area near the Pakistani border checkpoint at Gorparai where the Pakistani troops were killed. The implication of that account appeared to be that the Pakistani troops were near the insurgents who were attacking coalition forces inside Afghanistan. Buttressing that view, the Taliban said eight of their fighters also died.
But Pakistan's army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, rejected the claim that insurgents attacked from inside Pakistan or from the direction of the Pakistani border post. He also denied the U.S. military gave prior notice before it opened fire.
Abbas described a very different series of events. He said the fighting broke out after Afghan government soldiers who had occupied a mountaintop position in a disputed border zone Monday acceded to a Pakistan request to withdraw. "They were on their way back and they were attacked by insurgents in their own territory," Abbas said. He said the Afghans then called in the coalition airstrikes, which he said hit the Pakistani Frontier Corps post across the border.
One of the few things the U.S. and Pakistani accounts appeared to agree on was that coalition troops did not cross onto Pakistan soil, although Abbas said coalition helicopters might have intruded into Pakistani airspace. A Pakistani army statement condemned the airstrike as a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act" that could undermine cooperation in the war against terrorist groups.
The U.S.-Pakistani alliance was forged in late 2001 after Pakistan's government dropped its support for Afghanistan's Taliban regime before it was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion for hosting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida fighters following the Sept. 11 attacks on America.
But the new Afghan government, and to a lesser extent Western nations, suspect Taliban fighters are given sanctuary across the border even though Pakistan has deployed 100,000 soldiers in its rugged tribal regions and lost hundreds of troops in fighting with Islamic militants. Lending weight to that suspicion, Taliban militants based on the Pakistan side of the frontier claimed their own role in Tuesday night's battle and admitted suffering eight dead.
Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for an umbrella group of Pakistani Taliban, said between 60 and 100 of its fighters attacked NATO and Afghan troops who had set up bunkers and tents on what he called Pakistani soil. He claimed the Taliban fighters killed up to 40 Afghan soldiers, captured several more and shot down a NATO helicopter.
Abbas said he could not comment on the account from Taliban militants which few dispute are often prone to exaggeration and embellishment in describing clashes. "I can only give you my version according to what our security officers on the ground say," Abbas said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON - Pakistan does not view a U.S. air strike that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers at a border post near Afghanistan as an intentional hostile act, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday. Ambassador Husain Haqqani also told Reuters in an interview that the incident was not expected to cause the Pakistani government to reconsider its relationship with Washington, despite strong protests in Islamabad, where the U.S. ambassador was summoned for a meeting with the foreign office.
"We will look upon this as an incident that is not an intentional action to cause harm to Pakistan," said Haqqani, who recently took up his duties in Washington. "The issue has been discussed between representatives of the government of Pakistan and representatives of the U.S. government, and we would like the circumstances of the incident investigated," he added.
"We do look upon it as not an act that should cause us to reconsider our partnership but rather to find ways of improving that partnership," Haqqani said.
Perhaps the Paks have a list of the deaders and have now realized life is a little easier ...
A US air strike in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday in which at least 11 Pakistani soldiers were killed was "legitimate" and "self-defense," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said. "Although it is early, every indication we have is that it was a legitimate strike in self-defense against forces that had attacked the coalition forces," Morrell said.
The US State Department said earlier Wednesday it was "sad to see the loss of life" among allied Pakistani troops who Islamabad says were killed in a "cowardly" US air strike near the Afghan border. "This is a regrettable incident. We're sad to see the loss of life among the Pakistani military, who are our partners in fighting terror," Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.
"This is a reminder that better cross-border communications between forces is vital," the director of press relations, reading from a statement. "We are sure that military on both sides will look into the matter and review how to prevent recurrence and how to prevent extremists from using this area," he added.
Gallegos added that the US ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, met with Pakistan's foreign secretary Salman Bashir to "discuss the incident," but gave no details of the talks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps the Paks have a list of the deaders and have now realized life is a little easier ...
More likely: The entire incident was captured on video.
(VOI)- U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he expects to seal a security pact with Iraq but added there were no plans for permanent U.S. bases there.
"I think we'll end up with a strategic agreement with Iraq," Bush said at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He called media reports that there were plans to build permanent U.S. bases in Iraq "erroneous", adding there was "all kinds of noise" about the issue in the United States and Iraq. A declaration of principles was signed between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in December 2007. The declaration was planned to be ratified on July 31, 2008 to be effective as of January 1, 2009. The agreement governs the U.S. forces' presence in Iraq after the year 2008. This presence currently relies on a mandate by the UN, renewed annually upon the request of the Iraqi government.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Not even 1? Didn't we just spend $543,236,299,998 dollars on them?
#5
I remember working out of 'temp' building in Korea in '88. Hell, I remember working out of WWII temp buildings at Fort Drum in '87. It just means the troops get to live and operate in substandard facilities, so pols can say there are no 'permanent' bases.
#6
Technically, the US has no permanent bases in Germany, Japan, or Korea. Especially since we gave back Okinawa to the Japanese in 1970s. Permanent bases would be ones that have 99 year leases with auto renewal clauses. Technically and legally, the only permanent US military bases are on American soil - whether in a state, a territory, a Commonwealth, or an administrated area.
#2
I can only stand Michael Ware as far as I can throw the guy. I trust him even less.
Wasn't he the guy that was saying a year ago that AQI was just a bogeyman set up by the Bush administration as an excuse to keep fighting in Iraq?
Which means that if this is true, Ware is essentially admitting he got it wrong and if it isn't true, it's just business as usual for CNN's Senior Correspondent for Gloom and Doom (or anything that makes the US look bad).
#3
The story opens with a secret meeting of al-Q's Anbar princes in Christmas 2005. It goes on:
All this would be Phase I, a precursor to the 90 days of attacks of Phase II, to be timed across not just Anbar but across much of Sunni Iraq to stretch and distract America's war commander, Gen. David Petraeus.
Except that in late 2005 and 2006 Petraeus was in the US working on the strategy that led to the revised ROE and surge that he implemented when he assumed command of MNF-I in February 2007.
Now if an amateur like me can find that size error in 30 seconds, exactly how much credibility should I give to the balance of Ware's fable?
Israel said on Wednesday it would support efforts by Egypt to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip but instructed the army to prepare for possible military action in the Hamas-controlled territory if mediation failed.
The decision by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Security Cabinet to hold off militarily for now followed Hamas's release this week of a hand-written letter by Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants two years ago.
But it came against a backdrop of escalating violence in which Israeli forces on Wednesday killed four Palestinians in the coastal enclave, including a 9-year-old girl.
Israel has been pressing for progress on the Shalit case and an end to Hamas weapons smuggling as conditions for a truce that would aim to stop Gaza rocket attacks and Israeli incursions.
Hamas, which has demanded Israel ease its Gaza blockade in return for calm, said the Security Cabinet decision was "not serious" because of Israel's threat of a large-scale operation if its conditions were not met and truce talks collapsed.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has backed the Egyptian mediation effort, plans to return to the region this weekend to try to spur peace talks between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Those talks have been marred by disputes over Jewish settlement building, violence in the Gaza Strip and a corruption scandal that threatens to force Olmert from office.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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One week old. Between the years 2004 and 2007, Muslim extremist groups and local governments closed 110 churches in Indonesia.
Muslim extremists who are members of the Islamic Defenders Front recently attacked 200 moderate Christians and Muslims who protested for religious freedom in the Indonesian capital, threatening the protestors with death and attacking them with machetes and sticks. Twelve people were left wounded as the extremists shouted, Repent or die.
According to the Spanish daily La Razon, the extremists also attacked children and the elderly who were present at the protest. Between the years 2004 and 2007, Muslim extremist groups and local governments closed 110 churches in Indonesia.
La Razon also pointed to the case of Habiba Kouider, a Muslim convert to Christianity in Algeria who was arrested and sentenced for having copies of the Bible in her possession. In addition to her case, seven other Christians are on trial.
The Spanish daily also denounced that in Egypt, two Catholic Coptic priests were wounded by drive-by gunfire against the Monastery of Abu Fana in the southern region of the country.
Former Ambassador Johnny Abdo said during an interview with May Chidiac on LBC Television on Tuesday, June 10, that dialogue is the priority in Lebanon today. According to Abdo, "Not only is dialogue an urgent and more important need than the formation of the government, but it will also help eliminate the obstacles blocking the government's formation."
Abdo stressed that President Michel Suleiman should call for national dialogue amid the latest Sunni-Shia tension. "Yet a meeting between MP Saad Hariri, head of the Future Movement, and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is necessary to diffuse tension in Beirut and other regions."
"Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun does not want Michel Suleiman as president," Abdo added. "Once he lost the biggest victory, that of becoming president himself, he started creating illusory victories. This is like psychiatric therapy for him."
"I don't believe that the role of Christians in Lebanon is only in the Christians' interest. It is in all of Lebanon's interest... I can't be against someone calling for Lebanon first."
Abdo accused the Free Patriotic Movement of imposing unnecessary burdens on the president. "Aoun was forced at Doha to accept Suleiman's election as president. He was about to quit and withdraw from political life when Suleiman's election was decided."
Abdo added that Hezbollah considers Aoun a "winning lottery ticket," because "the General is providing a cover for Hezbollah's actions, whether right or wrong." He also said that Hezbollah's controversial network of landlines connects all of the party's allies. "There is a line to Rabieh, too," he said in a reference to Aoun's home.
The former Lebanese intelligence chief further stressed the need for the new president to be given the ministries of Defense, Interior and Justice, "as he is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces."
On the security situation, Abdo said that "politicians must not give the impression that there are no men in the country capable of solving the crisis," calling this a big problem that requires a quick solution.
Commenting on the violent incidents that started on May 7, Abdo said the Army Intelligence Services passed MP Walid Jumblatt the information on Hezbollah's telecommunications networks and the surveillance camera the group had set up at the airport; information that that Jumblatt revealed, sparking the conflict.
"A campaign was directed against Jumblatt and not the source that gave him the information," Abdo said, adding, "Did someone push Jumblatt to do this?"
He slammed the opposition, especially Hezbollah, for its attack on Beirut and the Mountain. "Are the residents of the capitol and the Chouf the ones who made the decisions regarding Hezbollah's network and Brigadier General Wafiq Choucair?" Abdo asked, in reference to the head of the airport security services, who was sacked for his alleged ties with Hezbollah.
Abdo also said that when Hezbollah gunmen invaded Beirut, they were looking for specific people as if their search was based on a list of names, which "reveals that the party possesses a reconnaissance network that covers Beirut."
Abdo compared Hezbollah's current status to that of the PLO during the Lebanese civil war. "It is written on Hezbollah's flag: 'The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon', not 'The Lebanese Islamic Resistance.' This means that Hezbollah's agenda has nothing to do with the state."
"Hezbollah is saying, 'We have our own state and institutions, and we want a share in your state and then take control,'" he added.
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06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that U.S. President George W. Bush's era has come to an end and he has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program.
Ahmadinejad, addressing thousands of people in this central Iranian city, also described the U.S. president as "wicked."
"This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. [Bush] made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target," he said.
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"I tell him... your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran," he said.
On the what he said was the failure of the West to thwart Iran's nuclear ambition, Ahmadinejad said, "In the past two-three years, they employed all their might, resorted to propaganda... and sanctions. If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong... With God's help, today we have achieved victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing."
His comments came a day after the United States and the European Union told the Islamic Republic they were ready to impose more sanctions over its nuclear activities, which Tehran says are solely aimed at generating electricity.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
There needs to be the "kick-me" image with the article.
#2
Although Dubya = USA still has months left in his POTUS term, MOUD knows AIR STRIKES ALONE, US + ISRAELI, WON'T CUT THE MUSTARD. As per OSAMA's > GOTTA BE MANO-A-MANO, i.e. GROUND WAR.
#4
Israelis know that if they let Nutjob get his nukes, they are as well as cooked, figuratively and in a short order literally. They'll wait after November, to allow for US politics to play out, my guess. To what degree they can rely on more than a tacit support from US is anybody's guess.
Lebanon on Wednesday dashed Israel's hope that Beirut would follow Damascus in opening peace talks with Israel, saying the state had to withdraw from what Beirut considers its occupied land. Lebanon's response came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet on Tuesday he hoped Lebanon would consider opening talks on peace with Israel.
Israel and Syria have been holding indirect talks under Turkish auspices and further meetings in Turkey are expected later this week.
The caretaker Lebanese government said Israel had to withdraw from the disputed Shaba Farms region in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions. The region, a small area in the foothills of the Golan Heights, is considered Lebanese by the Lebanese government but the United Nations says it is Syrian land. Israel annexed the area in the 1967 Middle East war, a move not recognized by the international community.
"With regards to bilateral issues hanging between Lebanon and Israel, they are dictated by international resolutions concerning Israel, specifically (UN Security Council) resolutions 425 and 1701 and these are not subject to political negotiation," the government's media office said in a statement. "Lebanon seeks to enforce these two decisions completely especially with concerns to the end of the occupation of the Shebaa Farms...."
The statement said once Israel withdrew from Lebanese land, Lebanon got back its prisoners and received maps of landmines and cluster bombs which were used in previous wars, "a truce agreement between Lebanon and Israel will be in effect".
Israel fought a 34-day war with pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in 2006. After that conflict Israeli leaders made peace overtures towards Lebanon's Western-backed government but no diplomatic breakthrough ensued. Under a Qatari-mediated deal last month, Hezbollah, which has vowed to keep its weapons until Israel withdraws from all Lebanese land, has guaranteed veto power in a yet to be formed national unity government.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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The leader of Hezbollah deputies in the Lebanese parliament, Mohammad Raad, rejected an initiative Wednesday to place the Shaba Farms area of the Golan Heights under the control of the United Nations. Raad told the Hezbollah-run al-Manar television channel that such a move would prevent the militant group from achieving its goal of wresting the area from Israeli control.
The initiative to place the territory under the control of the UN was reportedly put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Lebanon last week.
Hezbollah officials told Sarkozy that the group wasn't opposed to a diplomatic solution to the Shaba Farms dispute -a departure from their traditional policy advocating force to return the disputed area- according to a report published in the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat on Monday. Newly elected Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Monday that he would provide the world body with documents "that will prove the Shaba Farms belong to Lebanon."
Israel captured the land in the 1967 Six-Day War and has refused to return it on the grounds that its status is ambiguous. According to the plan proposed to the UN, the Shaba Farms would be demarcated and returned to Lebanon at some future stage.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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TEHRAN - A bomb was found at the entrance of the Iraqi ambassador's residence in Tehran, a day after Iraqi prime minister ended his visit to the Islamic republic, the envoy said on Wednesday. The suspicious package was discovered by the ambassador's driver in front of his home and was later found to contain explosives, he said. However Iranian police insisted this was not the case and it only contained "aquarium supplies."
Hard to mistake one for the other ...
"I am not an expert on the issue but the experts that were sent to us told and assured us that it was explosive package," Iraq's ambassador to Iran Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh told AFP. He did not lay the blame on any specific group but said: "I think those who are against good relations between Iran and Iraq are behind it.
"Especially after the successful visit by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki," who wound up a major three-day visit to Iran on Monday.
But confusingly, Iranian news agencies carried reports denying the package contained a bomb. "In the examination by the bomb squad, it was found out that the suspicious object was aquarium supplies," police spokesman Mehdi Ahmadi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. The state news agency IRNA quoted an unnamed official in the Iranian foreign ministry as saying that "after expert examination it turned out the package only contained "normal material'."
Bombs being a normal state in Teheran ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
In the west you'll find little pirate ships and treasure chests that flop open and closed because of the stream of bubbles that get pumped under the lid at the bottom of aquariums, and in Iran you'll find little bombs in the bottom of aquariums that explode when government officials come into the room. It's a misunderstood cultural thingy.
A particularly incoherent piece from the Observer. Posted more for insight into the garbled thought processes on the Left, than any significance to the Obama fist jab.
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.
PARIS - The World Bank will maintain its aid to Afghanistan steady at $1.1 billion over five years but will press Kabul to improve its tax system and fight corruption, a senior official said on Wednesday. The 65 nations attending a donor conference in Paris on Thursday are expected to push strongly for more action to fight rampant corruption in a country that provides the bulk of the world's heroin.
Peace is no small feat in Somalia, and if the reaction to the accord struck on Monday night is any gauge, peace may still be a long way off.
TEHRAN - A bomb was found at the entrance of the Iraqi ambassador's residence in Tehran, a day after Iraqi prime minister ended his visit to the Islamic republic, the envoy said on Wednesday. The suspicious package was discovered by the ambassador's driver in front of his home and was later found to contain explosives, he said. However Iranian police insisted this was not the case and it only contained "aquarium supplies."
