#1
I do not have all of the details of this case, but from everything I have read, this was a case of prosecutorial overzealousness. Given the lousy job the BP have, I would have thought the gov would have supported them. They did not, and it seems they tried to make an example of them instead.
The whole thing stinks.
I would look at the prosecutor, closely, for ties to Mexican drug lords.
I would look very closely.
Probably my paranoia showing again.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
12/03/2007 21:17 Comments ||
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#2
What if the prosecutor has ties to American drug gangs, who of course have ties to the Mexican ones, Whiskey Mike? That's not being paranoid, is it? ;-)
#3
Busheron's guy in the Justice Department, Sutton, is dirty. The case against Ramos and Campeon is based on the testimony of a drug runner - a fellow who used his Justice Department safe conduct pass provided by Sutton to move more drugs across the border. The case against the BP agents is falling apart. Whatever this was, it has been a travesty of justice.
You gotta love the rooters' version : "Pentagon chief in Afghanistan as al Qaeda regroups".
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday began his third trip to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief a year ago, visiting the country at a time when Afghans are becoming increasingly critical of U.S. military efforts in the country. Gates, who arrived Monday evening, was planning to hold talks on Tuesday with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai at a time when his government has complained about U.S. and NATO strikes that have killed civilians. His most recent visit to Afghanistan was in June, when he declared that Iranian weapons were falling into the hands of anti- government Taliban fighters. He also was in Afghanistan in January.
Just ahead of Gates' visit, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol Monday in southwestern Afghanistan, killing four people including two policemen, an official said. Separately, the U.S.-led coalition fighting in Afghanistan said it killed five suspected Taliban in the south. The negative spin begins, or was it in the preceding paragraph?
Gates' visit coincides with the release of a new poll that found Afghans are increasingly critical of U.S. military efforts, with just over half of Afghans still having confidence in the ability of U.S. and NATO forces to provide securitydown from two-thirds a year ago. The surveyconducted for ABC News, the BBC and the German public TV station ARDnoted that Afghans overwhelmingly prefer the government of Karzai to the Taliban, but they also believe that government should negotiate with the Taliban to end the war.
Poll didn't ask what the Kabul government should do if the Talibunnies say no, did it?
In southwestern Afghanistan, support for NATO-led forces has plummeted to 45 percent this year, from 83 percent a year ago, it found. "Civilian casualties blamed on these forces is a prime complaint," the survey said.
This year has been the most violent yet since the U.S.-led invasion in and insurgency-related violence has killed nearly 6,200 peoplea record number, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and western officials. More than 800 civilians have died in insurgency attacks and military operations.
Pollsters conducted 1,377 face-to-face interviews with Afghans in all of the country's 34 provinces. They found that 42 percent of Afghans rate U.S. efforts in Afghan positively, down from 68 percent in 2005 and 57 percent last year.
#1
See, here's the game that the media plays that I absolutely hate. You report civilian casualties ... and later that turns out to be false. Then you report more civilian casualties and later that one turns out to also be false or exaggerated. Lather rinse repeat a few times.
Now you change your angle and report on the growing number of reports of civilian casualties taking great pains to NOT mention that they are almost all false. So the angle changes from the number of civilian casualties to the number of REPORTS of civilian casualties.
Let there be no mistake, our news media are staffed with professional political propagandists.
KABUL: The government of President Hamid Karzai denounced the latest recorded message of the elusive al-Qaeda chief as ludicrous and inconsistent with the Islamic culture and core human values. Osama bin Laden has no right to speak on behalf of the sovereign Afghan government and people or comment on the casualties resulting from military operations in the landlocked country, according to the media office at the Presidential Palace here.
The Afghan government, which views the multimillionaire Saudi dissident as a key factor behind the imposition of terrorism on the impoverished country in the wake of the Cold War, held Osama bin Laden responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people and displacement of many more. Even now, the Presidential Palace media office alleged, the worlds most wanted man was causing untold suffering to the Afghans through his efforts to perpetrate more terrorist acts. The Afghans attached little importance to the statements of a man they considered the enemy of international peace, the media office said in a statement mailed to Pajhwok Afghan News.
Having rendered great sacrifices for the liberation of their land, the Afghans could well tell apart their friends and foes, the press release said, adding they desired to forge close cooperation with the international community for the rebuilding of their conflict-devastated country. The Afghans being devout Muslims understand the al-Qaeda leaders actions are absolutely against the injunctions of Islam. The alleged terrorist mastermind had brought a bad name to Muslims and Islam because of his contemptible deeds, it concluded.
Late Thursday night, bin Laden urged European governments to cease military cooperation with the United States and pull their troops out of the war in Afghanistan, which had no link to the September 11 assault on the worlds sole superpower. In a new audio tape aired by Al-Jazeera television, the Saudi fugitive claimed he alone was responsible for the spectacular 9/11 attacks, which killed thousands of people in the United States. Knowing full well the Afghans were in no way involved in the devastating strikes, he said, the US had been hell-bent on invading Afghanistan. But Europe also walked behind America, whose tide was fast ebbing, he added.
The al-Qaeda leader regretted that Europe also swung behind the US when it invaded the landlocked country to avenge the 9/11 attacks. It would be better for the Europeans if they restrained their politicians from streaming to the White House and forced them into initiating steps to compensate the wrong done to oppressed peoples. "By the grace of God, the American tide is ebbing and they would eventually return to their home across the Atlantic, bin Laden remarked in the recorded message, whose authenticity is yet to be verified. The US forces would soon quit the region, leaving Afghanistans neighbours to settle their scores, he predicted.
The foreign forces were inflicting atrocities on the Afghans, charged the Saudi dissident, who went on to address the Europeans: "Most victims of bombardments are children and women. And you know our (Muslim) women dont fight but you target them even during festivities to bust the morale of mujahideen.
Europe could only be playing second fiddle to Washington by walking behind the Americans in Afghanistan, the speaker observed. "You entered this war and US soldiers were exempted from accountability in European courts. That is why my message is addressed to you, not to your politicians
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The alleged terrorist mastermind had brought a bad name to Muslims and Islam because of his contemptible deeds, it concluded.
I like the sound of that. The more of this kind of talk I hear, the more I hope there still may be some kind of common ground for all of us "people of the book."
Of course, I'm often optimistic on Sunday. Then Monday starts...
A British teacher jailed after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad flew home Monday after Sudan's president pardoned her, a British embassy spokesman said. Wonder if she learned anything
#2
She was talking about how much she respected islam, this after sword wielding lunatics called for her to be killed. I am betting on "didn't learn anything".
KHARTOUM (Rooters) - A British teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammad has been pardoned, a Sudanese presidential adviser said on Monday.
A source in a British parliamentary delegation said the teacher, Gillian Gibbons, was expected to be released on Monday. Asked whether Gibbons had been pardoned, the adviser told Reuters by telephone from inside a meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir: "Definitely, yes.
The news came as two leading British Muslims met the Sudanese president in an attempt to secure an early release for Gibbons, who was sentenced on Thursday to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam to be followed by deportation. The two British peers, Lord Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, had launched a private initiative to secure Gibbons' early release. The peers delayed their departure after Bashir confirmed a last-minute meeting following a two-day wait.
Gibbons let her pupils at Khartoum's private Unity High School pick their favorite name for a teddy bear as part of a project on animals in September. Twenty out of 23 of them chose Mohammad -- a popular boy's name in Sudan, as well as the name of Islam's Prophet.
Sudan's influential Council of Learned Elders Muslim Scholars on Sunday urged the government not to pardon Gibbons, saying it would damage Khartoum's reputation with Muslims around the world. "Kill her! Blood! Blood! Die! Die! Die! Moloch must be pleased!"
Hundreds took to the streets of the capital on Friday, many waving swords and Islamic flags, calling for her death. "Allan needs blood!"
"Retracting this light sentence ... would wound the sensibilities of the Muslims in Sudan," Council Spokesman al-Sheikh Mohammad Abdel Karim told Reuters. And we all know mooselimbs are a sensitive lot.
"This is not a matter to be settled politically. This is a matter which goes to the very core of Muslims and their sensibilities." "We feel so violated."
But many ordinary Sudanese said they thought it was an innocent mistake which could be forgiven after an apology.
Britain's ambassador to Sudan, Rosalind Marsden, saw Gibbons on Sunday and said she was in high spirits.
Her lawyer said Gibbons was being held in a clean and private environment at an undisclosed secure location. "It is clean, well guarded ... she came to me smiling if a little bit sad," lawyer Kamal al-Jazouli said. "She said she was sad because she never imagined her stay in Sudan would end up like this."
"She loved her pupils very much and they loved her. She said she would miss them when she goes outside Sudan."
#1
I heard this on the radio this morning and was hoping to post this under the headline "Moderate Muslims Mollify Mad Mohammadeans"
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/03/2007 7:02 Comments ||
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#2
"Gibbons was being held in a clean and private environment"
We knew this would happen when she got a light sentence. She was such a hot potato that she probably was held in the president's residence and is already on a plane. Sudan has enough problems without having her lynched by a mob.
Sudanese Central Bank has ordered local banks to stop dealing with the US dollar in transactions with Saudi Arabia and China and replace it with both countries' local currencies. The bank, in a circulation made public on Saturday, stated that all remittances to Saudi Arabia will be in the Saudi riyal and through Saudi National Commercial Bank. Dealing with China will be also in yuan.
The central bank ordered the Sudanese local banks not to make any monetary transfers to Saudi, or open new credits with the kingdom in any currency other than the riyal, with the exemption of existing and forwardly-paid credits.
It decided, last August, to deal with other currencies other than the US dollar because of unilateral economic obstacles imposed by the United States on Sudan.
Chairman of the Bahraini Council of Representatives Khalifa Al-Dhahrani called Saturday for depegging his country's currency from the US dollar and to benefit from Kuwait's experience on this matter. In a statement published by the daily Akhbar Al-Khaleej, he said the constant depreciation of the US dollar was harming the Bahraini dinar in international markets, which compelled the depegging of the dinar from the dollar and then pegging the Bahraini currency to a basket of major currencies.
He called for using the Kuwaiti experience as a model the Gulf state had reversed its decision of 2003 to peg its currency to the US dollar, which was of benefit to the value of the Kuwaiti dinar.
The chairman noted the economic similarities between Kuwait and Bahrain, explaining that as his country was an importer of many goods, the depreciation of its currency in international markets was bringing great financial losses. The best means to avoid this is to peg the Bahraini dinar to a basket of major currencies, Al-Dhahrani reiterated.
He also stressed the need for conducting a detailed and thorough study on the advantages and disadvantaged of depegging the dinar from the dollar, and what the Bahraini economy could achieve on the short and long terms.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The top U.S. envoy on North Korea departed for the communist country Monday to inspect work to disable its main nuclear reactor, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill would be the highest-level U.S. official to check on the work at the plant in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang.
North Korea began disabling its plutonium-producing reactor and other related facilities last month under the guidance of U.S. experts, a key milestone in international diplomacy aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and other benefits. North Korea had promised to complete the measures by year's end, but lead South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said last week it would take longer to remove about 8,000 spent fuel rods from the reactor.
A key issue during Hill's three-day trip was expected to be another North Korean pledge to declare all its nuclear programs by the end of this year. Hill said last week that the North is finalizing the declaration of its nuclear programs and that he will talk about the document with the North Koreans. The declaration will serve as a map of all North Korea's nuclear programs, which Washington hopes can be dismantled by the end of 2008.
Anyone expect the Norks to tell the whole truth?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Find the pea, Mr. Hill. Good luck.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/03/2007 0:19 Comments ||
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#2
The USA has reportedly added on 3 additional stringent pre-condition which NK must satisfy in order to be finally removed from the US list of world states suppor terror, espec as per PLUTONIUM NUCMATS.SOme analysts think it will be unlikely for NK to fulfill the new US conditions, i.e. NK will fail to be removed from the US terror sponsor list.
#3
Why not just bulldoze the site? This is crap. There is not a single legitimate use for this site. If NK is so serious, they shouldn't mind turning it into recycled concrete.
South Korea's upcoming presidential election will be held just as the six-party talks on North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear programs are expected to reach a critical point. A record-high 12 candidates have registered for the election to pick the successor to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, scheduled for Dec. 19, of whom three are seen as the main contenders.
Whoever is elected will face an issue of grave importance in terms of security--determining how to proceed with the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, which is still under nuclear threat from North Korea. The issue weighs heavily on Japan's national security as well. From this point of view, the nation has to closely watch the election campaign.
In the past two presidential elections, conservative forces failed to unite behind a single candidate and lost to the leftist camp. Since Lee Hoi Chang, who left the GNP, is making a third bid after two failed attempts to win the presidency, conservative forces again are split. The left, meanwhile, is struggling to secure solid support due to the unpopularity of Roh, whose approval rating stands as low as about 20 percent, and has a number of candidates running in the election.
The three main candidates do not differ much in that they all pledge to seek continued economic growth, but they clearly differ on policy toward North Korea.
Who wins South Korea's presidency is sure to affect the future course of the six-party talks. Japan should pay very close attention to the campaign debate pertaining to North Korea.
North and South Korea have agreed to run a regular daily cross-border freight train service from next week for the first time in over half a century, officials said on Sunday.
Negotiators from both sides on Saturday mapped out details on the rail service at talks in the North in a follow-up to their leaders agreement, the Souths unification ministry said in a statement.
President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il agreed at a historic summit in early October to resume regular freight services, and both sides last month set December 11 for their inauguration. The service, the first since the 1950-53 Korean War, will begin with a twice-daily border crossing by a 10-carriage cargo train, the ministry said. The train will leave Munsan in the South at 9:00 am and reach Bongdong in the North before returning to Munsan at 2:00 pm, it said. Defence chiefs from both sides last week agreed to provide a security guarantee for the daily cross-border cargo train to run the 20-kilometre section of track across the heavily fortified border.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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I hope the South is gearing up Engine Factory No.1, because a lot of Chinese trains have gone and never returned. NEW! From Kia. The "Number 10" Kimilator. Employing the latest in CONEX design and sturdiness, the new locomotive package exploits low cost and functionality to allow one time, no deposit, no return movement of goods into the vast reaches of the North.
President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Thursday to track down the "yobs and traffickers" he accused of fomenting unrest in the high-immigration suburbs of Paris. In a prime-time television interview, Sarkozy promised his government would take a tough line towards those behind a flare-up of violence that left more than 120 police wounded, some by gunfire.
"These people are yobs, ready to do anything. We will find them one by one," said Sarkozy, who seized hold of the suburb crisis upon his return from a state visit to China. "We came within inches of a catastrophe," warned Sarkozy, who earlier visited several officers wounded by hunting rifle buckshot and bullets, including one who lost an eye.
Sarkozy charged earlier that the violence was caused by a hard core of delinquents rather than social deprivation. "What happened in Villiers le Bel has nothing to do with a social crisis and everything to do with yobocracy," he told a meeting of police officers. "Other unemployed people do not open fire on the police," he reaffirmed. "This has nothing to do with an accident. This has nothing to do with social problems. I will not respond to this with more money."
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#3
This has nothing to do with social problems. I will not respond to this with more money."
Thereby signalling the reversal of decades of socialist progress.
Government policy would be "more generous to those who want training and a job, a family and a home, and more severe to those whose only idea is to poison the lives of others," he said.
#4
I'm guessing that the French will essentially do a Surge on the burbs. Sarko now has the justification to go at those mafia ringleaders like they're Al Qaeda.
(I'm feeling very optimistic this morning. It must be the new exercise program.)
Because of the U.S. government's policies on torture and refugees, Canada can no longer turn away refugees coming from the United States, a Canadian judge has ruled.
According to Canadian news accounts, Justice Michael Phelan's ruling struck down an agreement that once barred thousands of refugees seeking asylum in Canada. The judge said the United States does not protect refugees fleeing political persecution and torture, which international conventions require. Instead, it adheres to rigid policies which may result in mistreatment, including forcing victims of abuse to return to the countries in which they were mistreated, he said.
As a result, the United States can no longer be considered a safe place for refugees, Phelan ruled. His ruling nullifies an existing U.S.-Canada agreement saying that if a refugee is turned away from one country, he or she cannot seek refuge in the other. The agreement was intended to reduce so-called "asylum shopping," in which immigrants attempt to obtain refugee status from multiple countries.
Apparently he's not a justice in the Canadian High Court, so his 'nullification' is a temporary one.
In his ruling, Phelan pointed to U.S. government's policies on torture and interrogation, the expedited removal of immigrants, its detention practices and its rigid application of time limits for filing paperwork as well as anti-terrorism related provisions, the Canadian press reported. Such policies are "extremely harsh and cast a wide net which will catch many who never posed a threat," Phelan wrote.
The judge cited the case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-Canadian who was detained by U.S. authorities on terrorism-related suspicions and "renditioned" to Syria, where he was tortured. Canada has said publicly that Arar had no terrorist ties, though to date the U.S. government has not done so.
The Canadian government is expected to appeal the ruling.
#6
Does this mean we can send them our 12-20 million Mexican guests?
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2007 10:47 Comments ||
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#7
Sickening. Three - count'em - three detainees water-boarded and this is enough to make Canada the pool filter for any scum passing through North America or worse yet attempting to evade justice south of the border. In another time this judge would have been tarred and feathered.
#8
This asshole is going to screw around with the funding until he really makes a mess. That is going to come back and bite him in the ass. What a complete jerk this guy is.
TAMPA | A University of South Florida student charged with trying to aid terrorists said the explosives found in his possession were just fireworks that could only travel a few feet in the air, according to a court filing. Ahmed Mohamed, an Egyptian national, said he made the fireworks, called "sugar rockets," because it was cheaper than buying them at a roadside stand, the defense filing said.
Doesn't pass the 'sniff test' around here. If you live in Chicago /NW Indiana, you've seen the billboards for 'Krazy Kaplan's' fireworks emporium -- buy one, get six free. Why on earth would I make my own?
Mohamed and Youssef Megahed were arrested in South Carolina in early August after deputies found what they described as pipe bombs in the car driven by Mohamed. The men were charged in a federal indictment with illegally transporting explosives.
Although it is cheaper to make your own pipe bomb than to buy one, since you can't legally buy a pipe bomb.
Mohamed was also charged with trying to aid terrorists by demonstrating the use of explosives in a video posted to the Web site YouTube. Prosecutors said Mohamed showed how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb in the video.
Mohamed told investigators that he became interested in fireworks just before July 4 when he noticed their availability as part of the holiday celebrations, public defender Adam Allen wrote.
Mohamed told authorities the devices "did not explode, but traveled a few feet into the air and would make smoke." Mohamed said he went to YouTube to learn how to make the sugar rockets, and had ignited them before his arrest.
Allen filed a petition Friday for reconsideration of the decision by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday to deny a separate trial. The trial is set for March.
Friend or Foe
Extreme Rocketry Aft Closure Article
The following article was published in the Jan/Feb 2003 edition of Extreme rocketry magazine. It is pretty self-explanatory. Please contact us at using the header button above if you have a similar experience - we are in continued contact with the FBI, and they are eager to track these guys down....
CNN reported on June 12, 2002 that a source in Germany's BND intelligence agency "warned that al Qaeda operatives could strike passenger aircraft model aircraft or small rockets." The source added, "the threat was being taken seriously despite its unspecific nature."
I read that and thought, "Oh, great -- like rocketry hasn't been through enough lately."
Well, at about that same time a fellow who claimed to be a student in the United Kingdom contacted my brothers and me via our web site. He explained that he wanted to design and build a high-powered rocket as a research project. We responded as we usually do to inquiries from anyone obviously new to the hobby -- we gave him some generic information about rocketry, encouraged him to start small, and to begin with a visit to his local hobby shop. He rejected this advice, explaining that the urgency of his research would make it necessary to jump right in to a large project.
In a very short time the correspondence from our new friend included questions that made it obvious this 'research project' was rather unusual. He wanted to carry a heavy payload, formulate his own propellant, and make his own motors (which by itself sounded like a typical BALLS project). However, he also wanted to calculate trajectory and targeting data, communicate with the rocket in flight, and build it out of steel. Taken all together, it didn't pass the stink test.
Some amateur sleuthing turned up several interesting facts: First, the web site for his email portal was written in Arabic (see http://www.bab.com/). Second, we discovered his emails were not originating in the UK, but from somewhere in the vicinity of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I relayed this information to a friend of mine in the FBI who quickly verified that our friend was not who he claimed to be. They also agreed that the circumstances and deception in this case would suggest this information was being collected for potential use in a terrorist weapon. Because the FBI has no offshore jurisdiction, the case was handed over to the CIA. On their advice, we discontinued our correspondence. Some time has passed now and we have heard nothing on the progress of the investigation.
I feel obligated to communicate this information to the rocketing community, as I doubt we are the only hobbyists who have been contacted by those who would try to use our hobby for nefarious purposes. Be aware that the fellow(s) who first contacted us have realized their early deceptions were rather transparent and have become more sophisticated. For example, they have since switched to an email provider in the UK.
Were we contacted by a bona fide bad-guy or by some wannabe whack-job? I hope I never find out. I've left a lot of blanks in describing the details we learned about this fellow, as some items are disturbing enough that I prefer not to list them. The potential strongly exists that it was not just one impostor acting alone.
Here is some of the evidence that reinforced our suspicions about our enigmatic friend. These may be clues to others who find themselves in a similar situation.
* Misspellings and grammatical mistakes that indicate a non-English speaker (beyond just sloppy typing skills).
* Cultural ignorance and misuse of colloquialisms.
* Evasiveness or inconsistencies regarding personal details (location, employment, school, etc.).
* Wanting to loft mysterious payloads or use of construction materials not typical to the hobby.
* Concern about trajectories or targeting.
* Boasts of grandiose projects coupled with obvious inexperience in the most basic elements of rocketry.
One of the great aspects of our hobby is the enthusiastic support we give to one another. I see no reason for this to stop. But we must also be aware of who it is we may be helping and think twice before answering unusual questions or even directing strangers to information already available on the Internet. Even though there is a great deal of data readily accessible to anyone with a working web browser, none of us would knowingly lend assistance to a potential terrorist. While I personally believe that misusing the technology available to our hobby would more likely produce malicious mischief than widespread mayhem, I am still relieved to know that my brothers and I did not become unwilling accomplices in some gruesome plot.
I admit that I did debate with myself - for maybe two seconds - about whether it would be bad for the hobby to contact authorities or to broadcast this information publicly. I concluded that rocketry has survived as it has only because of our own self-regulation and self-enforcement of safety guidelines. Due to the times we live in, the level of required diligence has just been raised. We cannot afford to be either careless or ignorant.
http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/misc/aftclosure.aspx
Posted by: bruce ||
12/03/2007 17:27 Comments ||
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The U.S. Air Force recently held an exercise off Hawaii, using several B-2 bombers that flew in from a base in Missouri.
The B-2s ran simulated attacks on ships in Hawaiian waters. The B-2 can carry Harpoon anti-ship missiles. For two decades, the air force has equipped B-52 bombers with Harpoons, for the same type of missions.
The Missouri-Hawaii mission was a round trip that kept the B-2 in the air for twenty hours. The B-2's radar can search the ocean, but is not equipped with a targeting pod that would enable it to identify what is down there. However, a B-2 can wreck a naval base in one pass, dropping as many as 80 JDAM (GPS guided) bombs in a minute.
#8
Tehran is probably about to announce that they have developed the locally made B-4 bomber that can travel up to Mach 10 on an indigenously engineered Ramjet and drop up to 200 2000# locally made GPS-guided bombs on a GPS system invented, developed, built, and launched by local sheepherders in their spare time. It can travel from its home base to the moon and back before it needs refuelling, and it is about the size of and looks remarkably like a Cessna. This B-4 bomber is totally invisible to all sensors, even to the naked eye, and they have about 500 of them parked in the open around the country fully fueled, loaded and ready to go.
#9
Cain't find the source or the webpage that pointed it out to me, but the exercise was also significant in that the bombing was also carried out without benefit of GPS. Why is that significant? Glad you axed me that! In case the People's Red Army gets antsy and uses their anti-satellite systems against our GPS sats. Then we (USAF) could level the playing field and anything else they might have standing.
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
12/03/2007 16:34 Comments ||
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"The rule-of-law, humanitarian and human rights principles at stake in this case are the very principles which the coalition of liberal democracies together seek to uphold and defend in the 'war on terror,'" British and European parliament members said
I would rather uphold the principles of life, liberty and self-defense. Non-US citizens at war with the United States are taking the piss trying to shelter under the protections of the very Constitution they seek to destroy. The same might be said of the traitorous left.
Pakistani authorities Monday rejected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's candidacy for general elections to be held on January 8, officials said.
"The nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif are hereby rejected," returning officer Raja Qamaruz Zaman said, after hearing a challenge against Sharif on the grounds that he was convicted of hijacking in 2000.
The case involved Sharif's attempt to stop a plane carrying his then army chief, Pervez Musharraf, from landing in Pakistan in October 1999. Musharraf and the army ousted Sharif as a result of that incident.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has decided to contest the January elections with a separate election symbol. MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday phoned the MMAs Liaquat Baloch and asked him to convey to MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed his desire to contest the elections against a separate election symbol.
The last date to apply for an election symbol has passed. The JUI-F now needs a letter from the MMA allowing it to get a separate symbol. "Fazl wants a letter from Ahmed, allowing the JUI-F to contest the elections on a separate election symbol," Baloch told Daily Times. He said he had forwarded Fazl's message to Ahmed.
JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has been opposing taking part in the elections and has asked his party candidates to withdraw their nomination papers. JUI-F chief Fazl has, however, publicly said he is not in favour of boycotting the elections. Baloch said Fazl had told him that his decision to contest the elections was final. "A delegation consisting of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and other APDM leaders will meet Fazl in Islamabad today (Monday) to convince him to boycott the elections," Baloch added.
This article starring:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Liaquat Baloch
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Mehmood Khan Achakzai
Nawaz Sharif
Qazi Hussain Ahmed
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Pro-Taliban militant leader Maulana Fazlullah on Sunday accused security forces of committing atrocities against civilians, and said the security forces did not even spare women and children.
"Not even holy men!"
Fazlullah said over his illegal radio station that only 32 militants had been killed during clashes with security forces. He said the militants would not object to security forces building checkposts at any place.
"Just don't kill me!"
Meanwhile, authorities relaxed curfew from 6am to 5pm in Chakdara, Mingora and surrounding areas. The Swat Media Information Centre said in a statement that the security forces had captured various heights in Bariam Bar and Pir Kalay. A Frontier Corps official, requesting anonymity, said the FC had captured 26 militants from Ayub Bridge, Fizza Gut and Landa Kai.
If Mullah Fazlullah's broadcasting again that should make it pretty easy for them to locate him, round him up, and jug him.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday denounced President Pervez Musharraf, accusing him of blindly following Washingtons dictates.
Sharif, who returned last week from seven years of exile, led separate rallies on Sunday involving thousands of supporters in Lahore and in the nearby town of Phoolnagar. Today Pakistan is in danger, he said at a gathering of more than 6,000 supporters who carried his portraits and the green flags of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. One individual is out to destroy the country for the sake of his lust for power.
Nawaz-Bhutto meeting: Sharif confirmed he would meet former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to discuss boycotting the January vote to discredit Musharraf, who the former premier said was out to destroy Pakistan. Bhutto and Sharif are scheduled to meet today (Monday) to discuss the election boycott issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Sharif for some reason reminds me of Edwards. Which begs the question, who cares?
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AP) - Lt. Col. Mark Bennett never imagined he would fly a propeller plane over northern Iraq with a former member of Saddam Hussein's air force at his side. Four years ago, Bennett screeched across Iraqi airspace in a B-1 bomber, dropping 2,000-pound bombs on runways and hangars at an Iraqi air base below. Now, he is back to rebuild the same Iraqi air force he helped disable during the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Bennett is one of more than 80 Americans training Iraqi pilots at a flight school inaugurated this week at this U.S. military base set up on the ruins of a Saddam Hussein-era air base. The goal is to restore the Iraqi air force - once the sixth-largest in the world - to at least part of its former glory.
The landscape here still bears the scars of U.S. bombing runs in 2003 - craters in the runways and hangars roofs ripped open to the sky. Old Iraqi jet fighters decay in a gravel lot, near berms where Saddam's henchmen tried to bury them to elude U.S. detection in 2003.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2007 00:40 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
STRATEGYPAGE > TERRORIZING TERROR. Artiiikle is Ostensibly about terror-sectarian violence and its Muslim vs. Non-Muslim causes in THAILAND, but premises can easily apply to IRAQ. TERRORISTS ARE CORRECT IN BELIEF THAT LOCALS ARE INCREASINGLY TURNING AGZ THEM.
BAGHDAD - The United States said on Sunday it will hold Saddam Husseins cousin, known as Chemical Ali, and two other former officials sentenced to death, until Iraqi leaders reach a consensus on their fate.
Iraqs prime minister, president and a vice president have been at odds over who has the authority to order the execution of Ali Hassan Al Majeed, former Defence Minister Sultan Hashem and former army commander Hussein Rashid Muhammad. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said: They are in United States custody and ... once the government of Iraq has reached a consensus on what they wish to do with these detainees we will then take action.
So they can swing or they can stay in our custody. Works for me.
The Iraqi government said on Friday Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki had asked US President George W. Bush to order the handover of the three so they can be executed. Negroponte said he would not comment on diplomatic communications. At the moment the government of Iraq itself has not reached a consensus as to what to do about the situation so we await that, Negroponte told a news conference in Baghdad.
An Iraqi court in September upheld the death sentence against the three men who were convicted of genocide for their roles in a campaign against Iraqs Kurds in 1988. Under Iraqs constitution, the death sentence should have been carried out within 30 days.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who opposes the death penalty, and Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi, a member of Saddams Sunni Arab minority, say Iraqs constitution requires that the three-man presidency councilmade up of the president and two vice presidentsagree to an execution. Malikis government says the council has no such power.
The US military has said it would keep the three men until it receives an authoritative government of Iraq request. Many Sunni Arabs believe former Defence Minister Hashem should be spared execution, arguing he was only a figurehead in a campaign run by Majeed.
Hang him anyway and teach people the danger of being a figurehead in an odious regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Let's see. We'll drop a five hundred pound bomb on their little skulls from 10,000 feet, but are prickly about having them dance from the end of a rope? Ok, then, how about a compromise. Long rope from the back of C-130 or Saran Wrap them to an exiting MOAB in same said 130?
Iraq must take advantage of improved security and enact laws aimed at national reconciliation or risk a resumption of sectarian bloodshed, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Sunday.
Violence has fallen sharply over the past few months in Iraq after Washington deployed an additional 30,000 troops. But Iraqi leaders have so far made scant progress passing laws aimed at reconciling majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
Political tensions also escalated in recent days after the largest Sunni Arab bloc walked out of parliament to protest what it said was the house arrest of their leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi. The bloc called off the boycott on Sunday when Dulaimi was allowed to leave his house for the first time in three days.
"The security surge has delivered significant results," Negroponte told a news conference in Baghdad at the end of a six-day tour of Iraq. "Now progress on political reconciliation, including key national legislation as well as economic advances, is needed to consolidate the gains. If progress is not made on these fronts we risk falling back toward the more violent habits of the past."
With attacks at their lowest levels in nearly two years, attention has focused on whether the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can reach an accommodation with disaffected Sunni Arabs. In a sign of the sectarian divide, the Sunni Arab Accordance Front called the boycott of parliament after Dulaimi was confined to his house following the arrest of his son and dozens of bodyguards on suspicion of links to a car bomb. But Dulaimi was escorted from home on Sunday by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie and brought to a hotel in the heavily fortified "Green Zone" government and diplomatic compound, where he called an end to the boycott.
This article starring:
Adnan al-Dulaimi
John Negroponte
Mowaffaq al-Rubaie
Nuri al-Maliki
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
I'm posting it today, despite posting it yesterday, because yesterday it was Debka---which brought on the usual asinine responses by the usual asses, today it's a major newspaper.
In a sudden about face, the United States on Friday withdrew a United Nations resolution endorsing this week's agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008 after Israeli objected to it.
Israel expressed opposition to the American initiative to pursue Security Council support for the proposed resolution because it does not consider most of the member states of the council to be friendly toward Israel.
#2
According to the New York Sun, Debka was right about the resolution having been shared with all the Annapolis participants except Israel before it was submitted. That is to say, neither the Israeli participants at Annapolis, nor Israel's ambassador to the U.S., nor Israel's ambassador to the U.N. were aware of the resolution or its contents before the State Department put it in the pipeline.
This was not a blunder, but a deliberate slap in the face with an iron mail glove. The question is, by who: a bunch of State Department hacks and our ambassador to the U.N., Secretary Rice, or President Bush?
#4
Not just one, Nimble Spemble. To show it round to all the Arab delegations, plus get it into the UN Security Council would take a team... with members high enough in the hierarchy to face down the Secretary of State and the President if it is without their agreement and approval. Were I in charge of anything, the people involved -- including those who knew but said nothing -- would have been stopped at the entrance when they came to work this morning, their personal items shipped to their homes by US mail, at the cheapest package rates (the government has limited funds these days for extras, what with Congress not passing budgets and all).
#5
This was not a blunder, but a deliberate slap in the face with an iron mail glove. The question is, by who: a bunch of State Department hacks and our ambassador to the U.N., Secretary Rice, or President Bush?
Not Bush, and not UN ambassador---who wasn't in charge of the "conference". DoS regulars might hate Israel---but they are not that crude. Let me give you a hint.
#6
If this came from Secretary Rice, she is a fool twice over. Once to attempt to betray Israel to secure some sort of fog-wisp "legacy", and second to take a decision that belongs only to her boss, who tends to suffer fools but has a long memory for betrayal.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Gaza's Hamas rulers ordered census workers Sunday to halt the first Palestinian population count in a decade, derailing a rare joint endeavor with the rival Fatah movement.
Hamas had agreed to cooperate with the census, which is being conducted by President Mahmoud Abbas' rival government in the West Bank. But Hamas officials on Sunday shut down the Gaza census office, saying the surveyors had violated an agreement to share their data with Hamas as it is collected. "Data can't just be given to one side and not the other," said Mohammed Madhoun, an official in Gaza's Hamas government. "The government wants to make use of it for its future projects."
But census officials said no political factions could see the data until the census was complete.
Demographics play a central role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jews are a solid majority inside Israel, roughly 80 percent of the population of 7 million. There are an estimated 3.9 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and about 1.7 million Arab citizens of Israel.
Palestinians had said they hoped the first census since 1997 would help them in future peace talks with Israel. The census at first had escaped the Hamas-Fatah rivalry because of their common interest in the count.
But you knew the Paleos wouldn't make that last. And they didn't.
Two earlier phases, collecting data on institutions and residences, were completed without interruption on Nov. 15. The final stage, counting people, began Saturday in the West Bank, but not in Gaza, and was expected to take two weeks. Hamas radio and mosques even called for people to cooperate with the surveyors. The demand to see the census data appeared to be part of Hamas efforts to exert authority in Gaza in the power struggle with Fatah.
Loai Shabana, head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, accused Hamas of ruining what was meant to be an apolitical effort. "This is blatant and unjustified interference that sabotages a professional endeavor," Shabana, who is appointed by the president, said from his West Bank office. He added that the data is off limits to all political factions until it is complete. "No lawmaker or government official can get a peak at our records. This would ... undermine our credibility," he said. "I wish they let national interest prevail, and not let temporary problems between Hamas and Fatah ruin a strategic project."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2007 00:33 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Hamas is afraid of how much population shrinkage would show up in their part, I expect.
Petrol stations shut across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as Israel continued to provide only restricted quantities of fuel to the Hamas-run territory, industry officials and witnesses said. Sorry, no fuel, no benzene, no petrol, read a typical sign posted at a Gaza City petrol station. All stations in Gaza have been shut down because there is no fuel of any kind, Mahmud al-Khuzudnar, a deputy chief of a Gaza association for petrol stations, told AFP. Israel, which provides Gaza with all its fuel, has delivered only restricted supplies since October 28 and Khuzudnar said that the association was not releasing for sale the quantities received on Sunday in protest of the cuts. Khuzudnar said that 60,000 litres of diesel came via Israel on Sunday instead of the 350,000 litres that are needed on a daily basis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
I dunno. Since car swarm is done on a NON moving car, I'd think fuel shortage is not an issue... as long as Israel is here to provide the hellfire, a pre-requesite for any car swarm (or at least, a good, family-oriented one).
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down expectations for a peace deal with the Palestinians before the end of 2008 as laid out at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last week. "We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's Israeli cabinet meeting.
U.S. President George W. Bush assured Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that Washington would actively engage in peacemaking, despite deep skepticism over chances for a deal before he leaves office.
Launching the first formal peace talks in seven years at the conference, Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to try and reach a deal on creating a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank by the end of next year. But skeptics say Bush's time scale for peacemaking is too ambitious given both leaders are politically weak. Speaking at the first cabinet meeting since Annapolis, Olmert urged caution.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
DOHA (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday offered a security pact with Gulf Arab leaders, as he became the first president from the Islamic republic to take part in their summit.
"We are proposing the conclusion of a security agreement," Ahmadinejad told the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, saying insecurity would affect all countries bordering the Gulf.
#2
Who can the GCC trust if not their fellow Mohammedan?
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2007 10:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Gulf Arab states are Sunni, correct?
Can anyone explain why we haven't created some kind of NATO type organization for the Gulf? I'm thinking back to the tanker war days mostly but such an organization would be helpful I would think.
#4
FREEREPUBLIC > WHY WE ARE NOT BOMBING IRAN. Poster - becuz 3000 cenrifuges are easy to hide/decentralize + could be anywhere in Iran = not in Iran right now. DRUDGE > New NIE Report argues that IRAN halted its nuke weapons progs back in 2003, and does not reappear to had reactivated same. NIE > cannot confirm or deny Iran's nucweapons intentions right now, but that Iran is becoming nuke weapons-techs capable and may dev actual weapons circa 2010-2015.
A judiciary spokesperson was telling reporters that Hossein Mousavian " had been acquitted of spying and keeping financial documents, but was convicted of engaging in propaganda against the regime. Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, "There were three charges against Mousavian: Spying, keeping classified documents and propagating against the state. He was found not guilty of the first two but found guilty of engaging in propaganda against the state.."
Mousavian received a suspended sentence for the third charge against him. However, Jamshidi noted, "He may face a criminal sentence if the prosecutor objects to the court's decision." Jamshidi added, "When a case reaches this stage, it must be approved by the prosecutor, who has the right to object. If he is in agreement [with the court's decision], it is over; if not, the case is sent back to court with the prosecutor's objections."
Exactly one hour into the announcement of Mousavian's acquittal, hardliner Fars News Agency, affiliated with the security and intelligence establishment in Iran, quoted an "informed judiciary official" as saying, "the prosecutor can object to the judge's handling of this case."
The involvement of Ahmadinejad and his administration in this case has angered many prominent figures in the conservative faction. In the latest reaction, Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, senior advisor to the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, announced that "accusations brought against Mousavian are not true."
Ahmadinejad and other government officials have referred to Mousavian as "A treacherous element" and "enemy agent" on several occasions. Last week, Ahmadinejad told reporters, "After we arrested an individual on spying charges, they put extreme pressures on the judge to acquit the spy. But I announce right here that the Iranian people will now allow individuals and groups to use their political and economic influence to save criminals from justice."
Given such remarks, analysts believe that Mousavian's acquittal is an embarrassing defeat for Ahmadinejads administration.
Damascus sent an envoy to Tehran Sunday to justify Syria's attendance at this week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Tehran and started talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, state news agency IRNA reported. IRNA quoted Mekdad as saying that Syria would not allow anyone to undermine Tehran-Damascus relations.
Mottaki said in the same meeting that resistance of Islamic and Arabic states "would be the only option to confront the injustice caused by Israel and its Western supporters." He added that the Annapolis conference was "just a gesture by the US and Israel, fact is however that they continue killing oppressed Palestinians."
This article starring:
Faisal Mekdad
Manouchehr Mottaki
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#2
ION, see PAYVAND > THE IRAN THREAT. Islam [including Islamism?] has shown itself to be highly resilient and capable of directly challenging the world's only superpower.
A senior Hezbollah official said Saturday that the militant group holds army commander Michel Suleiman in high regard, further improving his chances of becoming Lebanon's next president and averting a political crisis.
Hezbollah deputy leader Sheik Naim Kassem's comments came two days after the group's ally, Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, said he will back Suleiman as a compromise candidate for president. The parliamentary majority also expressed its support for Suleiman this week, setting up a potential resolution to months of conflict with the Hezbollah-led opposition over choosing President Emile Lahoud's successor
"We, in Hezbollah, ... have a positive view of Gen. Michel Suleiman in addition to our appreciation of Gen. Michel Aoun's stance and consider this alternative as a serious one," the white-turbaned cleric said on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV. "There is a major opportunity for discussion in order to reach an accord on presidential elections," Kassem added.
Hezbollah officials have in recent days linked their support for any presidential candidate to Aoun's stance. Now that Aoun has publicly supported Suleiman, Kassem's comments were viewed as implicit support for the army commander. Parliament is scheduled to meet Friday to vote for a new president. For Suleiman to be elected, the Parliament will have to amend the constitution, which prevents senior state employees, including army commanders, from running for the post while in office.
This article starring:
Michel Aoun
Michel Suleiman
Sheik Naim Kassem
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2007 00:00 ||
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[8 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
KABUL: The government of President Hamid Karzai denounced the latest recorded message of the elusive al-Qaeda chief as ludicrous and inconsistent with the Islamic culture and core human values. Osama bin Laden has no right to speak on behalf of the sovereign Afghan government and people or comment on the casualties resulting from military operations in the landlocked country, according to the media office at the Presidential Palace here. 
KHARTOUM (Rooters) - A British teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammad has been pardoned, a Sudanese presidential adviser said on Monday.
President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Thursday to track down the "yobs and traffickers" he accused of fomenting unrest in the high-immigration suburbs of Paris. In a prime-time television interview, Sarkozy promised his government would take a tough line towards those behind a flare-up of violence that left more than 120 police wounded, some by gunfire.
Pakistani authorities Monday rejected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's candidacy for general elections to be held on January 8, officials said. 
The 
Pro-Taliban militant leader Maulana Fazlullah on Sunday accused security forces of committing atrocities against civilians, and said the security forces did not even spare women and children. 
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday denounced President Pervez Musharraf, accusing him of blindly following Washingtons dictates.
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AP) - Lt. Col. Mark Bennett never imagined he would fly a propeller plane over northern Iraq with a former member of Saddam Hussein's air force at his side. Four years ago, Bennett screeched across Iraqi airspace in a B-1 bomber, dropping 2,000-pound bombs on runways and hangars at an Iraqi air base below. Now, he is back to rebuild the same Iraqi air force he helped disable during the 2003 U.S. invasion.
BAGHDAD - The United States said on Sunday it will hold Saddam Husseins cousin, known as Chemical Ali, and two other former officials sentenced to death, until Iraqi leaders reach a consensus on their fate.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Gaza's Hamas rulers ordered census workers Sunday to halt the first Palestinian population count in a decade, derailing a rare joint endeavor with the rival Fatah movement.
Petrol stations shut across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as Israel continued to provide only restricted quantities of fuel to the Hamas-run territory, industry officials and witnesses said. Sorry, no fuel, no benzene, no petrol, read a typical sign posted at a Gaza City petrol station. All stations in Gaza have been shut down because there is no fuel of any kind, Mahmud al-Khuzudnar, a deputy chief of a Gaza association for petrol stations, told AFP. Israel, which provides Gaza with all its fuel, has delivered only restricted supplies since October 28 and Khuzudnar said that the association was not releasing for sale the quantities received on Sunday in protest of the cuts. Khuzudnar said that 60,000 litres of diesel came via Israel on Sunday instead of the 350,000 litres that are needed on a daily basis.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down expectations for a peace deal with the Palestinians before the end of 2008 as laid out at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last week. "We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's Israeli cabinet meeting.
Damascus sent an envoy to Tehran Sunday to justify Syria's attendance at this week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister 
A senior Hezbollah official said Saturday that the militant group holds army commander 
