March 29, 2005: The September 11, 2001 terror attacks shook up the rulers of Saudi Arabia in many ways, and not just because most of the terrorists involved were from Saudi Arabia. The aftereffects led to the creation of a very special corps of chaplains for the royal guard in Saudi Arabia. The royal family (a group now several thousand strong) of Saudi Arabia had been getting increasingly concerned about the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the kingdom. Some of the more extreme preachers were calling for the overthrow of the monarchy. These malcontents were easy enough to take care of in a place that still beheads traitors. But it was the less obvious, and just as radical, clerics that really worried the Saud family.
In addition to cracking down on known troublemakers, the royal family also saw to it that their personal army, the National Guard, was not corrupted by these radical troublemakers. The National Guard was basically a mechanized infantry force recruited from tribes and families that had traditionally been loyal to the al Saud family. The National Guard was a counterweight to the regular armed forces, which was recruited from the general population. The National Guard recruits tended to be less educated, and more religious, than the average Saudi. To insure that National Guard recruits did not get any misguided religious ideas, shortly after September 11, 2001, created its own "Chaplains' Corps," totally separate from the Saudi religious apparatus and the Ministry of Religion. These special chaplains attend to the needs of members of the National Guard, and was staffed by recruiting promising young scholars, training them in its own religious school, and assigning them to mosques on National Guard bases. This is an effort to keep the new imams from becoming tainted by the ultra-conservatives who dominate the clergy nation-wide. Since the invasion of Iraq two years ago, many Saudi Islamic radicals have come out of the shadows and made terrorist attacks inside the kingdom. As a result, the Saudi government has been searching everywhere for Islamic radicals. Some were found in the police and armed forces, but very few in the National Guard. That was no accident.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/29/2005 1:36:45 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This pisses me off. Regular imams not good enough for you, huh? Then why are they good enough for the rest of the world whose radical mosques and madrassas you support? The Soddy rulers are the biggest bunch of evil, hypocritical, demented, assholes in the world.
Qatar's foreign minister has said he does not believe al Qaeda was behind a suicide bombing that killed a Briton in the capital Doha but has declined to speculate on who might have carried out the attack.
In the March 19 bombing an Egyptian rammed an explosives-laden car into a theatre popular with Westerners in the first attack of its kind in the Gulf Arab state, host to a U.S. military base that directed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"I don't believe this is (the work of) al Qaeda," Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani told reporters on Monday.
Qatar has said investigators found the house where the car was rigged with explosives but has given no further details on the probe into the attack, in which at least 16 other people were wounded -- mostly Arabs and Asians.
The attack occurred two days after al Qaeda's suspected leader in Saudi Arabia urged militants in Qatar and other Gulf states to wage a holy war against "crusaders" in the region.
An unknown group calling itself The Army of the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the Internet.
Hamad dismissed the claim, saying he believed it was a propaganda stunt.
He said he would not speculate on whether a terrorist cell might be operating in Qatar but did not rule out the possibility of further violence in the future.
"This can happen anywhere... This could happen again," he said, without elaborating.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:07:57 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The recent suicide bomb attack on foreigners in Qatar suggests that the Islamist extremists who look to Osama bin Laden have opened a new front in their war against the west and its Arab allies: the rich and fast-expanding Gulf city-states that run down the east of the Arabian peninsula. While no one knows how soon or far this campaign will spread, it is in some ways a surprise that these glittering emirates have managed to stay out of the line of fire this long.
It is not just that their aggressive modernisation policies affront the medievalism of the jihadis. The autocrats who rule these tiny sheikhdoms have to perform a high-wire act of consummate skill to stay politically aloft. Qatar and Dubai are cases in point.
Both are using bumper oil and gas revenues to diversify, aiming to become the Singapore of the Gulf. Dubai, with centuries of trading history, is already an air transport hub and tourism magnet, and is aiming to become a regional financial and services centre. From a slower start, Qatar aims to emulate it. There are elements of braggadocio and overreach in their ambition. Dubai, for instance, seems to want the biggest of everything: the largest man-made island, the highest tower (the planned 3,000 feet Burj Dubai), the richest horse-racing prize or the biggest civil aviation order.
But this willingness to spend money to make money has so far worked. After 9/11, moreover, Gulf citizens, benefiting from high oil prices but suffering unprecedented visa restrictions, are a captive market. Some of the world's leading universities and hospitals are setting up units in the Gulf emirates to serve them, while Dubai, Qatar and the older banking centre of Bahrain are plausible homes for some at least of the region's fast-accumulating petrodollars.
From the jihadi perspective, however, these are all rotten family auto-cracies in thrall to infidels and "crusader" armies. Qatar houses US Central Command and was a main platform for the Iraq invasion. Bahrain is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. Freewheeling Dubai meanwhile, host last year to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, is viewed by the fundamentalists as a sort of Sodom and Gomorrah on the peninsula that gave birth to Islam. Recent al-Qaeda webcasts identify all three as targets.
The Qatar bombing suggests the jihadis are not impressed by the political acrobatics of the ruling family: providing a base to US Central Command yet also sponsoring al-Jazeera, the Islamists' favourite TV channel; or keeping links with Israel yet also giving refuge to Hamas leaders.
All these states run tight security and most spread largesse among their citizens (usually a minority as in Dubai, where only 15 per cent of the population is indigenous). There has always been a question as to whether that would be enough, but the Qatar bombing is posing it in an acute and urgent way.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:05:54 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Many say people power brought down the regime in Kyrgyzstan last week. But Bayaman Erkinbayev, a lawmaker, martial arts champ and one of the Central Asian nation's richest men, says it was his small army of Kung Fu-style fighters.
In southern Kyrgyzstan, where the protests that brought down the Askar Akayev's 15-year regime first flared, the name of 37-year-old Erkinbayev seems to be on everyone's lips.
Erkinbayev is the wealthy playboy head of the Palvan Corporation, who led 2,000 fighters trained in Alysh, Kyrgyzstan's answer to Kung Fu, to protests launched after the first round of a parliamentary election on February 27.
A hero in his hometown Osh, he is generally considered to have financed the protests and sent his martial arts trainees to the front lines of the demonstrations, including in the capital Bishkek.
"When our old men were beaten and thrown out of the regional administration building, my fighters were on the front line. And during the siege in Bishkek, my fighters went in first," Erkinbayev told AFP in his gymnasium in Osh.
The demonstrations led to the toppling of Kyrgyzstan's veteran leader Askar Akayev, the third such "revolution" in an ex-Soviet nation in less than two years, after Georgia's "rose revolution" in 2003 and Ukraine's "orange revolution" late last year.
People in Kyrgyzstan's south say Erkinbayev threw his men and money behind the opposition to prepare voters for his candidacy in an upcoming presidential election.
Whether or not he was the driving force behind the toppling of the government, he is certainly regarded as such in his hometown.
When some 20,000 people gathered in Osh's main square over the weekend to celebrate the regime's fall, the crowd cheered Erkinbayev who had just returned from the capital Bishkek, and locals jostled to get a closer look at him and shake his hand.
Erkinbayev is not shy about taking credit for the tumult that led to Akayev's overthrow.
"I went out and rallied the people," he said, cracking his knuckles as he struggled to compose sentences in Russian, his muscled build showing through his pin-striped suit.
"The city of Osh, the capital of the south, played the most important role in the destruction of Akayev's regime."
Erkinbayev said he invested "an impressive amount" of money in keeping protesters in Jalal-Abad and Bishkek well fed and warm as they picketed and eventually stormed government buildings in this poor, mountainous state on China's western border.
He said the Kyrgyz revolution started in the small town of Kara Suu, where Erkinbayev's former boss and mentor Arap Tolonov was shut out of a parliamentary seat after a candidate loyal to president Akayev allegedly armed busloads of high school students with absentee ballots to stuff boxes.
Pupils from Erkinbayev's Alysh martial arts school in Osh were sent to protect demonstrators protesting the contested ballot in the Kara Suu bazaar.
Afterwards demonstrations with the participation of Erkinbayev's trainees spread to the southern cities of Jalal-Abad, Osh, and Batken. They captured government sites, burnt down police stations and blocked key highways in the lead-up to the chaos that deposed Akayev in Bishkek.
Erkinbayev won't say how much he is worth, but he is generally regarded as one of Kyrgyzstan's wealthiest people, especially in the impoverished south of the country.
A decade ago he was an underling at a tobacco factory, but today he owns the Kara Suu bazaar, a cotton processing business, a shoe factory, entertainment complexes and several other businesses.
He said his prowess in Alysh helped him progress.
"I have always been a champion, so the people love me. This helped me get involved in politics personally," said the three-time champion of Central Asia.
Erkinbayev is no stranger to election scandals.
In the parliamentary elections of 2000 he is said to have spent two weeks on the run from the police after allegedly beating a judge who ordered him to drop out of the race for failing to disclose some of his wife's property in his registration form.
The ruling was later overturned under unclear circumstances and Erkinbayev described it as an "untruth."
"When I met the judge later he retracted his accusations," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 2:41:20 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Cool.
Wonder how much of it is true? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/29/2005 3:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think his modesty is his most endearing trait, lol!
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 3:20 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It was a revolution of extraordinary magnitude!
Posted by: Dr. Kwan ||
03/29/2005 4:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"So, Bayaman, your kung-fu is very strong, HAHAHAHA!" (Must be spoken out of sync with your lip movements. It's tough, but it drives little kids nuts.)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/29/2005 7:18 Comments ||
Top||
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who headed mass protests that triggered a coup in Kyrgyzstan last week, was appointed to lead the Central Asian state by its new parliament Monday as officials battled to end political chaos. Bakiyev, who had previously disputed the election of the new parliament, was named prime minister, giving Kyrgyzstan a leadership with some claim to legitimacy after days of confusion following the overthrow of veteran President Askar Akayev. The parliament's decision automatically confirmed Bakiyev's position as acting president, a role he took on last Friday even though Akayev -- in power for 14 years in the impoverished, mountainous former Soviet republic -- has refused to quit.
Akayev issued a statement from exile in Russia, accusing Kyrgyzstan's new leaders of disgracing the mainly Muslim country of 5 million and ruining the economy. He did not indicate whether he would try to return home as he has hinted before. The new leaders had warned of the risk of civil war after the collapse of Akayev's government last Thursday in an orgy of violence and looting that followed protests over alleged election-rigging. Calm has since returned. Bakiyev held out an olive branch to the new parliament, which was formally allowed to take over Monday from the previous legislature. The old parliament bowed out with deputies saying it did not want to cause friction, in what many observers said was a sign of politicians adapting to reality. "I can be reproached for saying earlier that the (February and March) polls were not legitimate. I said so. But in this parliament we have questions to only 15 to 20 constituencies, no one is saying that all deputies have to go," said Bakiyev.
Kyrgyzstan has set June 26 for a new presidential election, although the date still has to be confirmed. Bakiyev is almost certain to stand. Acting Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva said there would be no radical changes in foreign policy and that the new government would stick to agreements with Moscow and Washington, allowing them to keep their military bases in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
An American Asia expert says money Hyundai gave to North Korea might have accelerated North Korea's highly enriched uranium (HEU) weapons program. Thank you, Hyundai, for aiding and abetting the enemy.
Larry A. Niksch of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), who regularly publishes reports on North Korea and the Korea-U.S. relationship, said in his Feb. 22 report Hyundai funds went into accelerating North Korea's secret HEU development program. He said the money Hyundai gave Pyongyang accounted for at least 30 percent of North Korea's foreign currency earnings between 1999 and 2000. A princely percentage to the Norks while their people starve.
According to a CIA estimate, it was between this time and 2001 that North Korea accelerated its HEU program, he said. He added it was at that time that the North went shopping for supplies and parts from abroad for the program, and its HEU program went from the research and development stage to procuring and installing equipment capable of producing weapons.
But Niksch said the conclusion about the ultimate use of Hyundai's money was not the CIA's but his own, based on strong circumstantial evidence.
The report said Hyundai's funds went straight into the Korean Workers Party's Bureau 39 reportedly managed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Bureau 39 has been in charge of obtaining parts and supplies for the country's weapons of mass destruction program. Hyundai is said to have paid North Korea an estimated US$600 million for its Geumgang Mountains tourism project and two other business projects in the North, as well as US$500 million in under-the-table remittances, between 1999 and 2003. US$500 million is quite the chunk of change. Remember that when you are shopping for a Hyundai car.
Niksch first fingered Hyundai for covert transactions with the North in a report released in March 2002 in which he claimed that the company had secretly paid North Korea US$400 million in addition to the US$400 million it officially gave Pyongyang.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/29/2005 3:19:17 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
You know everyone was cheering when Hyundai and other SK businesses opened shop in the North. Was there any doubt where the profits would go? Oh I forget that was during the "elightened time" of President Clinton and not during the dark times of President Bush. How much did Madeline Halfbright get?
On a bleached and scratchy video image smuggled out of Kim Jong Il's closed regime, blindfolded prisoners are tied to white posts on a rocky landscape, shot three times, and dragged away. The rare video footage of summary executions in North Korea - a practice considered routine in the North but never captured on film - was taken by hidden camera March 1 and 2, and smuggled through China to South Korea.
At the time, refugee groups in Seoul were ecstatic. It looked like a human rights slam-dunk: Refugees from the North have long described summary executions - public spectacles where prisoners are shot moments after a death sentence is proclaimed. The shootings are a form of social control via terror, experts say.
Yet in a twist not anticipated by underground groups that carried off the filming, South Korean TV authorities have not let the video be broadcast. The tape has been aired worldwide; Japan recently aired three exhaustive reports.
But due to intense though indirect pressure by Seoul officials, the North Korean execution tapes, purportedly of "middlemen" who help refugees escape to China, are not yet available for viewing by Koreans in the South. The indirect censure adds to frustration among those documenting the gulags and torture in the North. They charge indifference in the South to evidence of manifold suffering by ethnic siblings across the demilitarized zone.
It also raises anew questions about a five-year policy in Seoul of studiously avoiding acts that might upset Pyongyang, for fear of harming fragile North-South relations. South Korea's ambivalence about a get-tough policy with North Korea may also factor into the mechanics of the six-party talks over the North's recently declared nuclear program.
"We have told of many public executions [in the North]. But officials in Seoul always ask us for material evidence," says Pak Sang Huk, an escapee from the North. "Now that we have evidence, they don't want to see it.... The people who brought this tape through China were speechless when they visited KBS [Korean Broadcast Service] studios, and were shunned." Mr. Pak claims those who filmed the executions risked their lives to do so.
Seoul's effort to avoid broadcasts of negative images or facts about North Korea is part of a larger strategy dating to the Sunshine Policy and Korean summit of 2000. In this view, unification of North and South can't be achieved if the South criticizes or acts in a manner that the North deems hostile.
"Kim Jong Il holds public executions to show the Kim family is omnipotent," says Jae Jin Suh of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. "It is naive to think that Pyongyang will respond to a push by Seoul to change and treat its people better. We need to focus on what is effective, not what we think we should say."
Of late, the South has stopped raising the North's abuses in international bodies. In 2003, South Korea withdrew from a UN Geneva process when it required a vote on North Korea's human rights record. In 2004, Seoul abstained from voting. A new South Korean defense white paper released this month after a three-year delay, deletes a former reference to the North Korean Army as the "main threat."
Critics say that to stifle or disallow comment about the unpredictable Kim leaves the South in the position of being influenced or governed by Kim's own whims. Supporters of Sunshine say that patience is needed, and a return to hostile accusations could create a standoff that would slow foreign investment in the South. Critics say millions are suffering now.
The taped executions took place near Hoeryang, along the Chinese border. South Korean intelligence officers have told Western reporters the tape is far too detailed to be a fake. Yet officially the tape's authenticity is "still under investigation."
North Korean refugees claim that an underground group called Youth League for Freedom shot the tape, which records about 104 minutes over two days.
The camera is held at mid-body and initial images are of a rush of dark winter coats, a thronging crowd, police officers pushing people into line. Some 1,500 persons appear scattered around a rocky ravine. At one point, a white "propaganda truck" pulls up and over a megaphone one hears a charge read out. The accused are described as prostitute traffickers. (Sources insist the executed were helping Koreans escape the North.)
In due course, white posts are hammered into the ground. Then two men are escorted from a tent. Their arms are tied to the post. People stand on top of bicycles to see. A woman is heard to say, "I can't watch this." A police chief's voice calls out, "Aim, fire, fire, fire." Nine shots by three soldiers ring out from behind the prisoners, who instantly fall. An official with a megaphone can be heard saying, "How pathetic is the end of these traitors of the fatherland."
Such footage is rare, coming from one of the world's most closed states. Since 1956, North Korea has been sorted into a hierarchy of those with greater or lesser adoration for the ruling Kim family. At the top is a "core class" of supporters, followed by a "wavering class" whose loyalty is questioned, and a "hostile class" that are outcast. The Kim family "recognizes only a part of the population," notes Stephen Bradner, a veteran US adviser in Seoul. "The rest are considered disposable."
Evidence of a system of gulags where hundreds of thousands of the hostile class live has been confirmed by satellite imagery. From 1995 to 1999, between 1 and 3 million starved to death. Detailed knowledge of the North is difficult to obtain.
Nearly half the geographical area is off limits. Distrust of foreigners is profound. A fifth of the population are alleged to be informers, and a half dozen security agencies compete with each other to quash dissent, say US sources.
What the tape shows, apart from punishment seemingly in excess of the alleged crime, is that the accused have no lawyer, are not allowed to speak, and have no appeal, says Abraham Lee, a human rights lawyer in Seoul who also heads Refuge Pnan, which offers sanctuary for refugees.
US and Japanese sources describe a practice of stuffing rocks in the mouths of the accused - making them unable to shout out last words against the regime.
Many activists express dismay at a disinterest in the fate of fellow Koreans. Gyeng-seob Oh, who runs the newsletter NKnet, says, "When I first saw the footage, I thought it would be front-page news. But South Korea, the most important market for this information, was not interested."
The only public airing of the tape in Korea came March 25 in a basement room of the Seoul National Assembly Library. One refugee testified that Pyongyang had in recent years declared that executions should be kept indoors. A large public outdoor gathering suggests that a crackdown may be under way, experts mused.
Another refugee plaintively asked the group what South Koreans will say to North Koreans "once North Korea is liberated. "What will we say when they ask us, 'What did you do to help?'"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:45:53 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Time for us to get out of South Korea. I'll be calling my Rep and Senator tomorrow. Cowards and appeasers are running the country. What reasonable obligation do we have to these fools. I say get out and save the money we borrow to help defend them.
#2
Oh calm down. The S.Koreans make up the third largest contingent in Iraq, hardly cowards in the Spanish sense.
S.Korea is or among the highest net'ed country in the world, so the images are going to get around whether those in power want it or not.
The government is very conflicted. They would like a peaceful unification, but fear it will spell economic disaster. They have a quarter of their population concentrated around Seoul within SCUD range of the North and are trying to avoid triggering something that bring unnecessary pain and suffering. They do have regular shoot outs along the coast with Northern infiltrators and naval craft. The European model demonstrated that waiting them [the Communist]out sometimes works. Don't expect other cultures to turn on a dime with regime changes in Washington, they had eight years of Clinton appeasement, care of the American voters. And no guarrentee that Hildabeast won't be the next leader to make policy.
Amid the Bush administration's tough talk toward North Korea, a new fear is emerging: Could Pyongyang test a nuclear weapon this year? Some insiders think so. "Knowing Kim Jong Il 's track record for brinksmanship, I'd bet on it," says Larry Wilkerson , who worked the North Korea issue as former Secretary of State Colin Powell 's chief of staff. "If we don't resume negotiations, I'd give it a 70-30 chance." The CIA is not predicting anything imminent. But then again, it missed India's nuke test in 1998. "The only thing that would preclude this," says Wilkerson, "is if they don't have a bomb."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:41:10 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"If we donât resume negotiations, Iâd give it a 70-30 chance." And if we do resume negotiations, Iâd give it a 70-30 chance.
#2
+1 My personal speculation is that a lack of nuclear material and/or a working design is the only reason they've yet to light one off. As soon as they're comfortable that they'll succeed and that they have enough material for a few more cores we'll see the Korean penensula light up like a Christmas tree.
Ultranationalist groups are being organized in cells and provided with smuggled weapons in and around central Anatolian settlements where citizens of Kurdish origin are living, according to sources close to the security apparatus.
Those crazy Turks! Either they're denying one massacre, or they're planning another one!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/29/2005 7:47:24 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Against the PKK makes sense. Against any Kurd is insane -- and asking for far more trouble than they seem able to handle. If the little PKK band gives them nightmares, just imagine the fuse these idiots could light... Turkey's real worst fears come to fruition: an independent Kurdistan - including of a large chunk of southern Turkey.
The Govt fools had better rein in the other fools - y'know, the ones who've made a mockery of Atatürk and the Kemalists by electing an Islamist Govt. Their BS bravado will backfire.
#2
I wonder if that Turkmen strip border between Kurdistan and the South is going to pan out. That really is an intriguing idea all way round. In a way, it is like princes exchanging sons, giving each motivation to behave: everyone is motivated to stay friendly instead of continually conspiring against the others. Thus the group can instead focus on those princes outside of the group, in this case, Syria, Iran and the Arab South.
#3
Even against the PKK this might be unwise because attacks could so easily be manipulated to look like attempted genocide. Just the type of thing that might type the Iraqi Kurds into insisting on independence rather than trusting a semi-secular Islamic state.
If I remember correctly the Turks were dead against a Kurdish state so such a move could be counter-productive.
Personally if I was Turkey I would cooperate with the US to carve up Syria. Convince my own Turks to move out of the the hinterland of Turkey and into the new Syria/Iraq Kurdish areas. I'd also create a semi-autonomous state in Turkish Kurdistan to (1) buy off the Kurds and get them to join the Turkish military (2) create somewhat of a buffer between Turkey and Iran (3) create a lever to screw with Iran. (4) Allow me to determine where the lines would be drawn rather then wait for the a crisis when such decisions wouldn't be mine.
Of course that's me, an American, without the historical and pride attachments that have kept the issue unresolved for so long and so bloody a time.
#4
If they start "against the PKK", the odds that it would stop with just the PKK are pretty slim. And while it sounds unconnected, I would expect a Turkish pogrom against the Kurds to drive up the likelihood of the Kurds wanting to split from Iraq.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/29/2005 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Even against the PKK this might be unwise because attacks could so easily be manipulated to look like attempted genocide.
At the very least, the Turks won't have anything to fear from the UN.
#6
"At the very least, the Turks won't have anything to fear from the UN"
Well, the grown-ups won't have anything to fear from the UN. Dunno about the kids...
Via Lucianne, just in case you need to register:
nobody@coldmail.com
mugsgame
Even support for getting closer, pulling away and status quo
Poll numbers in Quebec, B.C. seen as good news for Liberals
Canadians are split three ways on support for closer ties with the United States on defence issues, says a new poll conducted for the Toronto Star. But the Martin government's decision to stay out of the U.S. missile-defence scheme plays to public opinion in the key political battlegrounds of Quebec and British Columbia, according to the poll, carried out by SES Research for the Star earlier this month. The poll, conducted about three weeks after Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Canada would opt out of missile defence, shows a nation almost evenly divided among those who favour closer defence ties with the Americans, those who want to move farther away and those who are fine with things the way they are....
Posted by: anonymous2u ||
03/29/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Who cares? The Pols in Canada have sold out to Socialism. The end result of that disease is always certain.
Don't put any trust in those who will sell you out, That would be Canada and Canadians.
Fifty-nine former US diplomats have written to the chairman of a key Senate committee in protest at the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the UN. The diplomats, who served under both Republican and Democrat presidents, described Mr Bolton, a known critic of the UN, as "the wrong man" for the job. They urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to block his appointment. Mr Bolton served as under-secretary of state responsible for arms control during President Bush's first term. Chief among the objections was Mr Bolton's stated view that the UN "is valuable only when it directly serves the United States". In addition, Mr Bolton was criticised for his record as US arms control supremo. He had an "exceptional record" of undermining potential improvements to US national security through arms control, the diplomats complained.
Meaning he didn't bow to "international concencus"
Among the most senior signatories was Arthur Hartman, former ambassador to France and the Soviet Union under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and assistant secretary of state for European affairs under President Richard Nixon. Princeton Lyman, a former ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria, Monteagle Stearns, US representative in Greece and Ivory Coast, and Spurgeon Keeny Jr, Jimmy Carter's deputy director of arms control, also signed the letter.
The "usual suspects"
Mr Bolton requires approval from the foreign relations committee - made up of 10 Republicans and eight Democrats - before being told he can head to the UN's New York headquarters. Announcing his nomination at the start of March, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described him as a "tough-minded diplomat" with "a proven track record of effective multilateralism". But the former diplomats insist his hard-line views on states such as Cuba and Syria, as well as previous paid employment for the government of Taiwan, make him an unsuitable candidate. "Given these past actions and statements, John R Bolton cannot be an effective promoter of the US national interest at the UN," they wrote. "We urge you to oppose his nomination."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/29/2005 12:02:06 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Arthur Hartman, Princeton Lyman, Monteagle Stearns, Spurgeon Keeny Jr.
Those names look like they came out of Fred's anonymous poster name generator. I'm surprised they don't have 4 digit numbers following them.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/29/2005 12:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Princeton? Monteagle? Spurgeon? Who names their kids that?
#6
It's a bunch of guys whose lifelong ambition has been to be quoted by the BBC, or perhaps even, gasp, LeMonde.
"My father always used to say, 'Spurgeon, you're not really a member of the East Coast Establishment until you've been quoted by the European press.'"
Posted by: Matt ||
03/29/2005 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#7
sounds like guys whose wife is named Penelope or Muffy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/29/2005 13:38 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Yeah, real long odds against these three staggering out of the Shalimar Lounge on Martin Luther King Boulevard after sucking down a couple of forties...
#9
Bolton is anathema to this crowd which further confirms that he is a great pick. I don't think these clowns realize just how far the mood has shifted. We don't revere them as senior statesman. Many of them were complicit in the erosion of America's international position in the past decades. (Ambassador to France in the Carter administration?) They would do well not to stick their heads too far above the parapet.
#10
Here's old Spurgeon himself explaining what a great job we did negotiating with the Norks until the evil Bush came along. Which supports my guess that Spurgeon is part of the East Coast Establishment. (Of course, it could be some other Spurgeon Keeny, I suppose.)
Posted by: Matt ||
03/29/2005 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Wow! This is proof positive that Bush has made the right choice. If this many EX-diplomats that carried on the failed foreign policy are against Bolton then Bush must be on the right track. The State Department is/was riddled with people who got along by going along and shunned anybody who rocked the boat or took anything from their rice bowl. Sounds like Condi and Bolton will ruffle some diplomatic feathers over at State and in the unâ¦..GOOD! It has been a LONG time coming!
1. Do y'all really think that populist beer drinkers were qualified for the state dept in the '60s and '70s? Cmon it mainly WAS the thurston howells who had the skill sets and the interest in foreign policy. If anyone was kept out of the foreign service by the favoritism to the thurston howell set, it was mainly jewish intellectual types. A very different east coast perhaps, but still east coast.
2. again in all fairness, these are guys who coulda gone into banking etc. Instead they accepted placements as economic affairs officer in lower slobovia, or south hellhole, with no particular assurance of getting to Rome or Paris. I mean they sacrificed, in their own way. Ive met some FSO types, and they are NOT unpatriotic.
3. What the hell was wrong with Carter's policy to France?
4. I applaud the wolfie nomination. Im not sure about Bolton - saw a good article the other day - said Bolton nomination is meant to follow tradition of Moynihan and Kirkpatrick nominations - tell it like it is to the UN, and be damned. But now IS NOT 1975 (daniel patrick) or 1981(Kirkpatrick). Then we were outnumbered and outvoted in the UN, and under pressure. We are STRONG now - WE pushed out Butros, and we may be on the point of pushing out Kofi. We've just won a couple of wars. Other folks want to reconcile with US. Now is NOT the time to be abrasive, to tell everybody off. Its time to realize our strength, and to have the graciousness of strength.
Which isnt to say Bolton wont pleasantly surprise. But count me with the skeptics. (of course the other line is that this is just Condi getting Bolton out Foggy Bottom)
#13
Names somewhat reminiscent of Ambassadors Straphanger, Muehl, Crodfoller, and other geniuses of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne. For an antidote to the various diplomatic headlines read Keith Laumer's Retief stories.
LH, I agree with you that we need to "have the graciousness of strength." But there are still times when one has to tell people off, especially given the stench coming out of the Oil For Food program.
#17
Sounds like John Bolton is the right man for the right job at the right time. The squealing going on confirms the choice as good. It is my sincere hope that at the confirmation hearings in the Senate Committee, events and major failures of these ass clowns come out into the open. Bolton does not have to be nice, just respectful and straight forward in his answers and his view of his job at the UN.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/29/2005 20:16 Comments ||
Top||
(CNSNews.com) - A Muslim terrorist civil rights group is urging the Boeing Company to stop running ads in the conservative National Review magazine. The Council on American-Islamic Relations objects to the National Review's promotion of books that "attack Islam and the Prophet Muhammad." Those books include "The Life and Religion of Mohammed," which, according to the magazine's review, exposes the "ugly truth about the founder of the world's most violent religion"; and "The Sword of the Prophet," which "gives the unvarnished, 'politically incorrect' truth about Islam -- including the shocking facts about its founder, Mohammed; its rise through bloody conquest; its sanctioning of theft, deceit, lust and murder."
In a letter to Boeing CEO James A. Bell, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad "respectfully" requested that Boeing "address the concerns of Muslims worldwide by withdrawing its advertising support from a magazine that actively promotes anti-Muslim hate."Awad said a copy of the letter would be sent to ambassadors of Muslim and Arab nations in Washington, D.C. Boeing does business with Arab-owned airlines.
Hey, Nihad! How about we stencil our reply on the nose of a few Boeing products and deliver them to you, airmail?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/29/2005 12:31:04 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Still not quite getting a grasp on that whole "freedom of the press" and "difference of opinion" thingy, are we, Nihad?
#2
Well, as soon as they get an apology from Muslims for using their products to plow into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, I'd be all for pulling the ads.....
"You do something for me, I do something for you" is something they should understand very well. No reason not to do it, but somehow I think we'll just hear "...if Americans didn't do x y and z in the past, then there wouldn't be any terrorism..." or some other such evasion of responsibility for being the RoW. Religion of War=RoW. Wow, I never noticed before-it's an abbreviation for the British term 'row"-fight. :)
#5
What are they going to do, boycott them? Only use Airbus planes in jihad operations? Hey, CAIR! Is it still okay for them to continue to build bombers?
#6
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, unaware that he is no longer relevant spouted unintelligible diatribes while spittle dripped out of the side of his mouth. I think that CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad needs to turn his sensitivity meter down a bit and take a deep breath. They had hoped that Americans would backlash towards Arabs over 9/11 but sadly they were left with nothing to complain about except that maybe someone might accuse ALL Muslims of homicidal maniacs. I bet CAIR is still denying that Arabs and Muslims had nothing to do with 9/11 or international terrorism. F%[K them and the camel they rode in on!
#7
Um, last time I checked, National Review isn't a neocon outfit. It's pretty much a straight-ticket middle-of-the-road conservative publication. I think they're thinking of the Weekly Standard. Not that the Weekly Standard is particularly harsh on Islam - that's one of the characteristics of neocons vs. regular conservatives - a certain squishiness on the whole "nuke Mecca flat" thing.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/29/2005 14:38 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I think NRO gives off a false positive on account of Jonah.
#9
Jonah, Ledeen, a couple of others. NRO has neocons and paleocons, and their neocons tend to the rightwing end of "neocondom". WS is more purely neocon, and leans to the less rightwing end of neocondom, IMHO.
EFL: EXTRA! EXTRA! It's about what you expected! EXTRA! EXTRA! NEW YORK - Investigators of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq said Tuesday there was not enough evidence to show that Secretary-General Kofi Annan knew of a contract bid by his son's Swiss employer. However, they criticized the U.N. chief for not properly investigating possible conflicts of interest in the matter. Kojo, tell the nice man you're sorry. C'mon tell him...
Asked if he was planning to step down in a response to the program, Annan replied, "Hell, no." He's going to hunt for the real corruptors. Just like OJ.
The report released Tuesday also accused the company, Cotecna Inspection S.A., and Annan's son, Kojo, of trying to conceal their relationship after the contract was awarded. It also faulted Kofi Annan for conducting a one-day investigation into the matter, saying it should have been a more rigorous, independent probe. I'm surprised it lasted even one day.
The report's conclusion was not the clear vindication that the secretary-general had wanted, though the investigation led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker did not accuse the U.N. chief of corruption or any other wrongdoing.
While Kofi Annan said he accepted that criticism, he was happy with the report's findings he committed no wrongdoing. We could only prove that he was an inept, incompetent fool who shouldn't be running a phone booth, nevermind the UN. Also notice that Kofi appears very happy about that.
"After so many distressing and untrue allegations have been made against me, this exoneration by the independent inquiry obviously comes as a great relief," he said. Exonerated, I tell ya! Like OJ. I can see his epitath now. "Kofi Annan: They could never prove it."
At a press conference after the report was released, Volcker said the investigation found no evidence that Kofi Annan improperly influenced the process by which Cotecna was selected for an inspection contract under the oil-for-food program. "Our investigation has disclosed several instances in which he might, or could have become aware, of Cotecna's participation in the bidding process," Volcker said. "However, there is neither convincing testimony to that effect nor any documentary evidence. "Taking all of this into account, the committee has not found the evidence is reasonably sufficient to show that the secretary-general knew that Cotecna had participated in the bidding process in 1998," Volcker said. I know NOTHING! NOTHING!
Kojo Annan worked for Cotecna in West Africa from 1995 to December 1997, and then was a consultant for the firm until the end of 1998 — when it won the oil-for-food contract. He remained on the Cotecna payroll until 2004 on a contract to prevent him from working for a competitor in West Africa. Yeah, he did such a great job we just couldn't afford to have the competetion scoop him up...
Although Tuesday's report found no wrongdoing by Kofi Annan, it clearly faulted the secretary-general's management of the world body and his oversight of the oil-for-food program. And there's no jail time for that. I wonder where he's celebrating tonight?
The report is the second issued by Volcker's team. It coincides with allegations of sex abuse by U.N. peacekeepers and of sexual harassment and mismanagement by senior U.N. staff and comes a week after Kofi Annan called for the biggest overhaul of the United Nations in its 60-year history. And I'm sure that will be equally hard hitting...
"I think we all share the hope and confidence that the results of our investigation ... may contribute to the larger objective of a reformed U.N., a U.N. capable of commanding and maintaining the support of its member states and the public at large," Volcker said. Put money on that, Paul? Wanna match paychecks?
Senior U.N. officials insist the secretary-general has no intention of stepping down, and U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard dismissed reports describing the secretary-general as weak and depressed. No, no. The party continues!
Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee found that Kojo Annan was not forthcoming with either his father or the committee and accused him of consistently trying to hide the nature of his relationship with Cotecna. It said an investigation was continuing into Kojo Annan's dealings with the program. In a letter annexed to the report, Kojo Annan's lawyer, William R. Taylor, rejected any claim that Kojo Annan had not been wholly cooperative with the committee. But Taylor admitted he had not told his father the entire truth. Yo, like, sorry, pops.
"He regrets the embarrassment that omission caused to his father and to the United Nations and accepts responsibility for it," Taylor wrote. The Volcker report said that while Cotecna "generally has cooperated" with the investigation, the committee "concludes that Cotecna has made false statements to the public, the United Nations, and the committee." After a British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, reported the link between Kojo Annan and Cotecna in January 1999, the report said, "Cotecna disguised its continuing relationship with Kojo Annan by routing the payments that were made to him" through three different companies, in response to instructions from the secretary-general's son. Ah, Kojo wasn't as dumb as we all thought...
The secretary-general initiated an inquiry through his staff, which concluded within a day that Kojo Annan's connection to Cotecna was not known to the officials handling contract bids. See? Good enough for me! Bring the limo around and let's see if we can beat the dinner crowd, shall we?
Volcker's investigation, however, concluded, that Kofi Annan's inquiry "was inadequate" and that the issue should have been referred to the U.N. legal office or internal watchdog. In an attached letter, Kofi Annan's lawyer defended the secretary-general's action, saying he acted on the advice of three advisers. Moe, Larry, and Curly no doubt.
#1
Why would a corrupt man leading one of the most corrupt organizations in the world resign?
After all, the UN's own inquiry reached the conclusion (surprise, surprise) that there is no evidence that would get Coffee convicted. What more can one want?
UNITED NATIONS, March 28 - Iqbal Riza, the former head of Secretary General Kofi Annan's staff, will be criticized Tuesday in a report of the commission investigating the oil-for-food program for having thrown away documents on the program, according to a person who has seen the report and a former United Nations diplomat. Oh, is that what they were? I thought they were out of date menus.
The former diplomat, John G. Ruggie, assistant secretary general for strategic planning from 1997 to 2001, asked to confirm the report about Mr. Riza, said the missing papers covered the period from January 1997 to the end of 1998. Mr. Ruggie said that Mr. Riza had told him that he had been questioned about the episode by investigators from the commission, which is headed by Paul A. Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman. That coincides with the early stages of the oil-for-food program and the hiring of a major contractor in the program that employed Mr. Annan's son. The report is also expected to criticize both Mr. Annan and his son, Kojo Annan, for Kojo's involvement with one of the major contractors in the oil-for-food program, under which Iraq was allowed to sell oil to buy aid goods during the period of international sanctions against the country. The panel is expected to fault Kojo Annan for accepting nearly $400,000 from Cotecna Inspections S.A., a Swiss-based company. Bad Kojo! Bad! Stern reprimand! Try really hard not to do it again, all right?
In an interview late Monday, Mr. Riza, 70, denied wrongdoing. He resigned as Mr. Annan's chief of staff on Dec. 22, to be replaced on Jan. 3 by Mark Malloch Brown. He said he had ordered the destruction of his personal copies of documents to save filing space three months before Mr. Annan ordered his staff to preserve all material on the program. "These were not records, since they were copies of what was in the archives or in the filing registries of various departments," Mr. Riza said, adding, "I don't know why I'm being criticized." Do you know who I am?
He said he told the Volcker panel in December that he had authorized the destruction of the copies, called "chron" files, because his secretaries had complained that they were running out of filing space. He said that he assumed that copies of all the records were kept elsewhere and that the files were mostly copies of outgoing, not incoming, documents. "But they are very voluminous, and they are periodically destroyed not only by us, but at the State Department and everywhere," he said. You mean that stuff was important? Note to self: Don't destroy the secret incriminating documents because you think they're unimportant. Got it.
Mr. Annan issued his order to preserve oil-for-food documents in June 2004. Mr. Riza said he ordered the file destruction in April without telling Mr. Annan, "because it was so routine," but learned Monday that the actual shredding of documents actually took place after Mr. Annan's order. He said he doubted that his secretaries ever even saw the order because the circular was issued only to the professional staff. That's right. Leave the coverup to the "professionals".
Mr. Riza said he had virtually no contact with the oil-for food program except an exchange of memos in January 1999. That was with Joseph Connors, who was then under secretary general for administration and management, and the memos were about whether to investigate whether Cotecna had been awarded the oil-for-food contract fairly. He said the request was prompted by an article in the British news media suggesting that Cotecna's employment of Kojo Annan had helped it win the contract. He said that Mr. Connors had explored the issue and found that Cotecna had won the contract legitimately. Nope. Nothing to see here, sir. Looks legit to me, sir. How's Kojo like the new job by the way, sir?
He said that while the Volcker panel complained that it had been unable to find the exchange of memos about Kojo Annan and Cotecna, he was told that the investigators eventually found the documents they needed. Well that's what they told me, anyways. I think.
Kojo Annan and Cotecna have denied any wrongdoing and have said he did not work on matters related to the oil-for-food program. No, no, no. He worked on our "Door Footer Inner" Division. Nothing to do with that Oil for Food business.
The Volcker commission is also expected to cite Dileep Nair, the head of the United Nations' watchdog unit, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, for using oil-for-food funds to hire a staff person in his office who ended up not working on the investigation. And isn't this totally shocking, Inspector Reynaud?
According to United Nations employee documents, the person was Tay Keong Tan, like Mr. Nair from Singapore. Mr. Nair proposed him for a higher ranking job than he was found suitable for, but in both cases the position was supposed to be related to the oil-for-food program and ended up not being for that purpose. Yeah, Tay, why don't you just pick us up some hookers instead. Young ones.
In what appeared to be a pre-emptive move, Mr. Nair late Monday circulated a statement saying that he had been exonerated in an earlier investigation in November. By who? The bloodhounds at the UN watchdog unit?
The United Nations reversed a commitment to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for a senior U.N. official who was accused of ethical lapses while administering the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq. The U.N. decision Monday came after U.S., British and Iraqi officials expressed concern about U.N. plans to use surplus Iraq oil revenue to defend Benon Sevan against accusations that he improperly steered lucrative Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian businessman.
The U.N. leadership braced for a critical report Tuesday by a U.N.-appointed investigator into Secretary General Kofi Annan's handling of the program. The report will examine whether Annan's son, Kojo Annan, used his family connections to obtain contracts for a Swiss company that once employed him. Senior U.N. officials said the report by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker will clear Kofi Annan of any personal wrongdoing but fault him for lax oversight of the U.N.'s largest humanitarian aid program.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2005 9:59:44 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why do I have this image of a troika chased by a pack of wolves?
#6
Just remember that President Kerry would have crawled back to these idiots and begged for forgiveness. Bush has THEM begging for mercy! Can Bush run for a 3rd term?
Kofi Annan, the beleaguered United Nations secretary general, is expected to sacrifice his son's reputation today as he fights to save his own position after a damaging report into a family conflict of interest.
The long-awaited report by the commission set up to investigate the scandal-hit oil-for-food programme for Iraq, will criticise the UN leader for a series of management failings.
In particular, he will be accused of failing to recognise or deal with conflicts of interest involving the work of his son, Kojo, for Cotecna, a Swiss firm that had a lucrative UN contract in the multi-million-pound humanitarian programme.
Leaks of the report suggest that Mr Annan will be absolved of having organised or benefited from the United Nations' allocation of contracts.
But there is mounting concern at UN headquarters in New York that new revelations over Cotecna and Kojo Annan will intensify the pressure from Washington for him to step down.
The Wall Street Journal said the report would say that Kojo Annan received nearly $400,000 from Cotecna, more than twice the money previously acknowledged.
It will also focus on four previously undisclosed meetings between Mr Annan and Cotecna starting in 1992, five years before he became secretary general.
Mr Annan has denied any impropriety but his many critics in Washington say that, by failing to disclose the meetings before, he has given the impression of a cover-up.
Republican Right-wingers in Congress who are baying for his blood will seize on the report to press home their argument that he is too discredited to keep his job.
The report has been drawn up by Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, who heads an independent commission appointed by the UN to investigate the oil-for-food programme.
This is the second of three interim reports by the commission and is seen at the UN as being potentially the most damaging to Mr Annan.
"There is a fair amount of anticipation and turbulence," a UN source said. "This is the one that might hurt."
Mr Annan has said that he was "disappointed and surprised" when he learned that Kojo continued to be paid by Cotecna after 1998 when the firm was awarded a contract to monitor the oil-for-food programme.
But in his response to the report he is expected to go much further in distancing himself from his son. UN officials are privately briefing that he has never had a close relationship with his son and that he is exasperated by his behaviour.
Cotecna and both Annans deny any connection between the firm's contract and its employment of Kojo. Cotecna says that Kojo was paid his fee for agreeing not to work for a rival firm in west Africa.
But the report will criticise him for appearing to trade on his family name and will claim that he misled his father over the extent of his involvement with Cotecna, which employed him from 1995 to 1998, as it won the key contract. The report will say that Cotecna paid the $400,000 between 1996 and 2004.
The UN is on the back foot over a range of issues, including a sex scandal in its peacekeeping operation in the Congo, and the first Volcker report last month that savaged the record of Benon Sevan, the former head of the oil-for-food programme.
It has since emerged that up to the publication of the first Volker report the funds for Mr Sevan's legal defence came from the remains of the oil-for-food project.
The White House was furious with Mr Annan over his remarks to the BBC last year that the war against Iraq was "illegal" and for his call for the American-led forces not to launch an offensive on the former insurgents' stronghold of Fallujah.
As the Bush administration seeks to repair relations with its former allies, it has toned down its criticism of the UN, leaving the attacks to Republican congressmen who have long seen it as a bumbling and corrupt restraint on American interests.
"This report will greatly increase the pressure from Congress for Kofi Annan to go," said Nile Gardiner, of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. Mr Gardiner works closely with the congressional inquiries into the oil-for-food programme.
"What will hurt him is the impression that he has not been completely honest, the impression of a cover-up."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:42:45 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"What will hurt him is the impression that he has not been completely honest, the impression of a cover-up."
What do they mean "will" hurt him? Goo-fi is already hurt, and his own stupidity is the cause. And throwing his son to the sharks won't help.
#5
I wonder what Mrs. Kofi Annan thinks of her husband's current behaviour wrt her son? And just how angry she'll have to get before she reveals names, dates, and account numbers?
#9
LOL--Great comments! Rantburg's off to a good start today!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/29/2005 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#10
In particular, he will be accused of failing to recognise or deal with conflicts of interest involving the work of his son, Kojo, for Cotecna, a Swiss firm that had a lucrative UN contract in the multi-million-pound humanitarian programme.
"...those were unofficial meetings. I was informed Kofi won those SuperBowl Tickets and use of the Cotecna Luxury box in an office raffle. I only expressed my gratitude for the hospitality. Besides, how much business could be conducted during the game anyway, particularly with the unfortunate Justim Timberlake- Janet Jackson affair..."
#11
UN officials are privately briefing that he has never had a close relationship with his son and that he is exasperated by his behaviour.
These kids today, huh, Kofi? Ungrateful bastards!Ya try and do 'em a favor and look what happens. Bet ya don't know what to do with him anymore, do ya?
#12
Yeah, that's the story! Kojo was so important that Cotecna had to pay him "not to work" for a rival firm. Can't they do any better than that? Why not "Kojo's already dead in my eyes."
#13
If this is was anything close to what the original founders wanted Annan would resign in shame. For some reason LLL politicians wear their incompetence like some badge of honor. Kofi will probably next receive some Novel award for excellence in government. Not that he presided over and had FAMILY involved in the largest financial un scandal ever (that we know of). These people have no shame and DO NOT deserve our reverence or financial support. Can the whole bunch and start over with countries getting seats based on merit and not some silly alphabetical formula.
Jemaah Islamiah and allied regional terror groups may be using southern Philippine training camps to build networks and share their deadly expertise, Singapore's interior minister said Tuesday.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said coordinated bomb attacks last month in the Philippines highlighted an "urgent need" to disrupt and dismantle these camps in MinÂdanao Island.
Addressing a regional security conference, Wong noted a trend toward a "high level of coordination" involving different but allied terror groups in staging multiple strikes.
The southern Philippine camps could provide militants from the Jemaah Islamiah and its allied groups with a venue to fraternize with each other and share expertise in mounting terror attacks, he said.
"What may be occurring in these camps is that the previous segregation of Jemaah Islamiah and other groups, including Filipino trainees, is no longer observed," Wong told the global security Asia conference and exhibition.
"This will lead to greater collaborative networking among members of different groups and a dissemination of terror methods characteristic of Jemaah Islamiah operatives who had been trained by the al-Qaeda."
The Valentine's Day bombings that killed eight people and wounded 150 in Makati City and two southern Philippine cities demonstrated the coordination involving these fraternal terror groups, Wong noted.
"This is a trend that bears watching," he warned.
"More than that, it underlines the urgent need to disrupt and dismantle the training sites in Mindanao which continue to train these jihadist fraternal groups in the region," he added.
Security experts have said the camps are located in the jungle-clad mountains bordering several provinces in the central Mindanao area, a stronghold of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 4:17:37 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Remnants of al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militants are regrouping and expanding with the help of regional allies despite a crackdown by Southeast Asian authorities, Singapore's government said on Tuesday.
If unchecked, the collaboration could fuel more attacks like those staged in the past by Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy network blamed for a series of deadly blasts in the region, including the 2002 bombings on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.
"The Jemaah Islamiah or the JI has been knocked down but definitely not knocked out," Singapore's interior minister, Wong Kan Seng, said at the opening of a regional security conference.
"Those JI terrorists who seek to mount operations are not using JI members but are leveraging on the support and resources of fraternal groups," he added without identifying specific regional militant groups that could be helping the JI.
From Malaysia to Singapore to Indonesia to Philippines, authorities have uncovered an elaborate web of militant networks connected to the Jemaah Islamiah and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
The Philippines saw three explosions at crowded shopping malls and transport terminals in Manila and two cities in the south on Valentine's Day, an attack claimed by Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, which authorities believe to have received funding from the Jemaah Islamiah.
Wong said the bomb attacks in the Philippines last month underscored higher cooperation between different militant groups in staging multiple strikes and the urgent need to tear down training camps in the southern Philippines.
"It underlines the urgent need to disrupt and dismantle the training sites in Mindanao which continue to train these jihadist fraternal groups in the region," said Wong, who will take the post of deputy prime minister at the second half of the year.
Wong also expressed caution over regional or international groups which could establish links with an Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand. "If this happens, it will have serious ramifications for the entire region," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 4:18:47 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
We need to arm these people. That they are bludgeoned by pipe and machete wielding thugs pisses me off beyond belief. What a nasty surprise it would be if the thugs descend on them again after the Korean match and are met with a wall of lead. There must be a way and we must find it.
#3
The article states that a woman was clubbed by a pipe weilding cop, but nothing happened except the woman was rushed to a hospital, where she died.
When the crowd realizes that the propper response is to hang the murderer on the closest light pole, then, and only then, will this cease.
By the same token, this article is so heavily slanted that the truth may never be known, stating that "People threw their home-made grenades and firecrackers, being careful to hurt noone?"
Coming fast on the heels of the United Nation's and Washington's condemnations, Paris harshly slammed Saturday's blast in East Beirut, which left at least five injured and set six buildings ablaze. Speaking following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo, French President Jacques Chirac said: "All those who try and create chaos in Lebanon will be caught and severely punished."
Who's gonna catch 'em? Emile?
In a joint statement, Chirac and Koizumi insisted that "UN Security Council Resolution 1559 be fully implemented."
And that'll be over Nasrallah's dead body. Hopefully...
This third blast within eight days took place in a Christian neighborhood, devastating the industrial and shopping neighborhood of Sad al-Boushrieh, raised calls from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs for preserving stability in Lebanon. Meanwhile, U.S. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Dibble reiterated U.S. condemnation of the blast, saying Lebanon is under the international "microscope." In an interview with Radio SAWA in Washington, Dibble said: "The international community is watching Lebanon very closely. The [Lebanese] population deserves to live free of fear in a non-violent atmosphere. We hope no other attacks will take place."
Well, we're up to hoping now. Wonder what action's contemplated, and by whom?
On Monday Lebanese opposition politicians continued to point the finger at the Lebanese security services controlled by the Syrian-backed government, accusing them of seeking to foment confessional unrest as Syria withdraws its troops from the country. Some opposition MPs have speculated that the recent spate of attacks is aimed at provoking instability to justify a continued Syrian military presence. Batroun opposition MP Butros Harb said on Monday that such acts of terror were part of a plan aiming at halting the current political momentum and oppressing the people through fear. "They are using fear as pressure against the Lebanese people in order to limit the popular 'Independence Intifada'. Only these acts have only managed to make Lebanese stick to their convictions more than ever," Harb said.
Of course, the corpse count's not very high yet...
"Each explosion adds another page to the government's file," said Zghorta MP Nayla Mouawad. Outgoing Telecommunications Minister Jean-Louis Qordahi said that such attacks were only aiming at distorting the modern and pacifist image of the country. "These attacks destabilize the country's unity. It is high time every official see they are not up to their responsibilities and duties," he said. On Sunday, Syrian-backed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud pledged to fight the "violence gripping his country." "We will do all we can. We should all be united because this is how we can save the country," Lahoud said after attending Easter Sunday Mass service.
You might start by arresting somebody, Emile. Then you could run them through the wringer and arrest a few more people.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature
and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria.
Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive characteristic
is, and of Right ought to be, the natural foundation of his
environments, institutions, and respectful relations to his
fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented to a Freedom whose roots
are in the Order of the universe.
Note: "Could it be that the people of Lebanon are remembering who they are?"
Posted by: Choicemaker Jim ||
03/29/2005 10:24 Comments ||
Top||
"Hokay, Omar! Let's try this one more time, from the top..."
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network is making fresh efforts to engineer a comeback by the Taliban and regain a foothold of its own in Afghanistan, the commander of the United States forces in the country said on Tuesday. Lieutenant General David Barno said the US believed both Bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar were probably still in the region, possibly on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Al-Qaeda clearly still wants to see the Taliban stage some kind of a comeback in Afghanistan," Barno told reporters. "They're still providing financing, with guidance, training, support and selected individuals that help lead and motivate the operations here in Afghanistan."
Barno, who leads a force of around 18 000 US troops in Afghanistan, added that al-Qaeda militants were "located in tribal areas, down there in border areas, probably on both sides of the border" with Pakistan. "We operate under the assumption that they're still in this region," he said when asked where Bin Laden and Mullah Omar were believed to be.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 4:14:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"...possibly on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan." And possibly *under* the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I'll be leading a session on milblogging at the upcoming BlogNashville conference on May 6-7th. Check out the post at this link and then check out the conference. If you're a milblogger - or a reader of milblogs - and would like to participate, let me know. And if you can't come, drop by regularly to talk about milblogging at the site.
Posted by: Robin Burk ||
03/29/2005 3:29:44 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Smells like big time. Please don't mention me too often, Ima shy sort.
WIESBADEN, Germany (AP) - A U.S. Army tank company commander being court-martialed in the fatal shooting of an unarmed, wounded Iraqi was described Tuesday by defense witnesses as "a tremendous soldier" and a man who cared about the Iraqi people. Capt. Rogelio Maynulet is charged with assault with intent to commit murder in the May 21, 2004, killing near Kufa, south of Baghdad. Prosecutors say he violated the Army's rules of engagement by shooting the Iraqi while he was unarmed and injured. Maynulet, 30, of Chicago, has pleaded not guilty. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
One of Maynulet's superiors in Iraq said he was one of the "top three" of roughly 37 officers he oversaw at that time, describing him as "a tremendous soldier." Col. Bradley W. May told the court in written testimony read aloud Tuesday that, while he agreed in principle against firing on the wounded, each case must be considered individually. "To make that determination, we have to look at all the facts," May said in his statement. "It may be that some make it not as easy to determine as we would all like."
Video from a U.S. drone surveillance aircraft showed the outline of a soldier in a helmet and battle gear, identified by a witness as Maynulet, aiming a weapon at an Iraqi man lying on the ground, followed by a flash. The man on the ground appeared to be waving his right arm before the shot. Several seconds later, he appeared to twitch as though hit again. Defense attorneys maintain that Maynulet, convinced the man would not live, shot him to end his suffering.
Earlier Tuesday, a U.S. Army medic testified he had pulled the wounded Iraqi from a car that had crashed following a chase, but then failed to treat a severe head wound, instead telling Maynulet he would not live.
"You ignored him because you were freaked out, you told him (Maynulet) he's going to die?" defense lawyer Capt. Will Helixon asked the medic. "Yes, sir, that's correct, sir," replied Sgt. Thomas Cassady.
So the on-scene medical expert told the captain the Iraqi was a deader
Cassady said he had spent about one minute with the man, failing even to take his pulse or check his breathing. Asked why he did not treat him, Cassady said: "I spazzed out at that instant."
In addition, Cassady conceded that he had lied during Maynulet's Article 32 hearing - the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury investigation - giving testimony about injuries the man had not suffered because he felt guilty about the incident.
"You felt guilty, that it was your fault because you didn't do your job," Helixon said. Cassady responded: "That's correct, sir." "You felt you should be the one in trouble," the defense attorney said. "Correct," Cassady replied.
You are..
Maynulet's company had been on patrol when it was alerted to a car thought to be carrying a driver for radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and another militiaman loyal to the cleric. They chased the vehicle and fired at it, wounding both the passenger, who fled and was later apprehended, and the driver.
In further testimony Tuesday, two Iraqis who worked with Maynulet during his deployment to Iraq described him as compassionate and spoke of his helpfulness to civilians and Iraqi soldiers training for the civilian defense corps.
"Capt. Maynulet has compassion toward the Iraqi people," Maj. Yehay Haider, said in written testimony read before the court. "Capt. Maynulet cares for the Iraqis."
Such testimony plays an important role in a court-martial, where the six-member panel - the equivalent of a civilian jury - must also weigh whether the actions of the accused damaged the Army's reputation. Maynulet's command was suspended May 25, but he has remained with his Wiesbaden-based unit.
The U.S. military has referred to the Iraqi driver only as an "unidentified paramilitary member," but relatives named him as Karim Hassan, 36. The family does not dispute that he was working for al-Sadr. The court-martial is to continue Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/29/2005 12:44:26 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"shooting the Iraqi while he was unarmed and injured."
Funny that's pretty much what they gave the Silver Star to John Friggin Kerry for in Vietnam: "KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him." The VC had a B40 rocket at the time but I guess after getting hit with 50cal bullets he was in no condition to fire it.
Give the kid a Siver Star and lets get on with it!
An Egyptian attacked a kissing Hungarian couple with a knife outside a historical mosque in Cairo, but their wounds were minor. A security source said Hisham Mohammed Abdel Hamid, who was described as mentally ill and suffering from severe depression, attacked the Hungarian tourists outside the Hussein mosque in central Cairo Monday night.
Uh huh, a depressed, mentally ill..(fill in the blank with religion of choice)..., perhaps? Don't want to mention that fact, huh?
"The attacker was apparently dismayed by the couple who were taking photos while kissing," the source said.
Gee, now who gets all worked up over a little kissing?
The two victims suffered slight injuries for which they were treated in hospital. The State Prosecution was interrogating Abdel Hamid, who possesses a diploma in tourism and hotel management.
I'm guessing he scored low on the "people skills" portion of the final exam
Tourism is a main foreign currency source for Egypt whose economy also relies largely on revenues from the Suez Canal and remittances by Egyptian expatriates.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/29/2005 11:42:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to book 17 officers, including the SHO of Saddar Jalalpur Jattan police station, one Elite Force inspector, five sub-inspectors (SI), five assistant sub-inspectors and five constables for murdering a citizen in a fake encounter. Sounds like a real encounter to me, but for fake reasons
Petitioner Ghulam Nabi submitted to the court that his son Ghulam Mustafa was returning from Islamabad on March 2 when he had a heated exchanged with an Elite Force inspector. The inspector had killed his son with the help of accomplices. Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar opposed the petitioner and said that the challan of the case had already been filed before the trial court.
However, the court ordered a DSP to book the 17 cops in the murder case, file a copy of the FIR and inform the court by March 30.
The accused police officers include SHO Gulam Sarwar, SIs Muhammad Inayat, Muhammad Imanat, Mehdi Khan, Shaukat and Shafiq, ASIs Ijaz, Rashid, Arshad Cheema, Muhammad Tufail and Khadim Hussain.
LHC issues warrants for tehsildar: The LHC has issued arrest warrants for a Mandi Bahauddin tehsildar for contempt of court. He illegally transferred a piece of land to a patwari's son despite court orders barring him from doing so. The court also directed the sessions judge of Mandi Bahauddin to ensure the appearance of the tehsildar on April 8.
Petitioner Sakina contended that tehsildar Irfan Bhatti, with the connivance of patwari Ali Abbas, transferred 19 kanals and 14 marlas to Ijaz Ahmed. and a partridge in a pear tree
Posted by: Spot ||
03/29/2005 8:22:40 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Amidst the political turmoil that is Iraq stands a country in transition, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts. Influenced by the presence of American troops, new additions to satellite TV, and the now easy access to the Internet once forbidden under Saddam Hussein, the youth of Iraq is waging a cultural revolution. "They are wearing baggy jeans and, you know, hip t-shirts and or NBA jerseys and that kind of stuff," said one young Iraqi, Omar.
"Is that right?" asked Pitts. "So Lebron James is becoming a big name in Iraq or Michael Jordan and those guys?
"Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, you know these are like the biggest names."
One of the hottest radio stations in Baghdad these days? HOT FM, where DJ Moonie only speaks English, and only plays rock, R&B and rap. "Artist like Eminem is pretty famous here in Iraq. 50 Cent or 'Fitty Cent,'" said Moonie.
Moonie admits the music, the western ways are -- at the very least -- a distraction to all the mayhem. So life in Iraq is getting back to normal - if you can call this normal. But it's no longer the government dictating where people can go, it's the insurgents. Blast walls now line every targeted neighborhood and side street. In Baghdad, concrete is the new black.
"Right now Baghdad is officially a war zone. How can anybody feel safe?" asked another young Iraqi, Ali. Ali and his friends, all young and ambitious, say they welcome much of what the west has to offer, but there is impatience. "A lot of young people were expecting the U.S. administration, after a couple months of entering Iraq, would transform Iraq into a utopian civilization, like turn it into an amusement park over night," he said.
"That somehow the U.S. can instantly turn Iraq into the Disneyworld of the Mideast?" asked Pitts. "Exactly like magic," Ali replied.
DJ Moodie lives inside the radio station. To venture outside he says, would be a death sentence. Change is coming to Iraq. But it is still too dangerous, to change too quickly.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:39:45 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
ALONG WITH THE BAGGY PANTS AND THE CELL PHONES, PERHAPS THEY WILL DISCOVER WHO THEY ARE...
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature
and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria.
Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive characteristic
is, and of Right ought to be, the natural foundation of his
environments, institutions, and respectful relations to his
fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented to a Freedom whose roots
are in the Order of the universe.
Mr. Jefferson would agree: There is no alternative...
Posted by: Choicemaker Jim ||
03/29/2005 10:05 Comments ||
Top||
For several weeks, Iraq's most powerful politicians and foreign diplomats have been streaming like anxious pilgrims to western Baghdad, to the vast blue and gold dome of the Mother of All Battles mosque, which was commissioned by Saddam Hussein. They are there to visit Sheik Harith al-Dari, a 64-year-old cleric and tribal leader who has become a leading spokesman for Iraq's disaffected Sunni Arabs. Mr. Dari, a taciturn man with an air of cold authority, greets his guests in a dim office off the mosque's main hall, which is surrounded by a moat and tall minarets designed to look like Kalashnikov rifles. Then the guests get down to business. Will Mr. Dari, they ask, be willing to help bring Iraq's Sunnis into politics? Much could depend on the answer. No new government will be viewed as legitimate without the participation of the Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the election in January and dominate the violent insurgency here.
But in a rare interview, conducted Monday through an interpreter in his office at the mosque, Mr. Dari made clear that he would continue to view the armed resistance as legitimate until the American military offered a clear timetable for its withdrawal - a condition very unlikely to be met. "We ask all wise men in the American nation to advise the administration to leave this country," he said. "It would save much blood and suffering for the Iraqi and American people." The courting of Mr. Dari is part of a broad effort to engage the Sunni Arabs, who make up a fifth of Iraq's population and supplied its ruling class under Mr. Hussein. The Shiite and Kurdish leaders who dominate the new national assembly and are now struggling to form a governing coalition say part of the delay has been caused by negotiations over which ministries should be granted to Sunnis. Reaching out to the fractious Sunnis has not been easy.
#2
Kill this bastard and burn down his Saddam funded mosque. The Sunni should be an Iraqi export item, but no one will take them. That they should get 2 of the 6 government ministeries is a laugh. The only thing comming from this snake is a knife in Iraq's back. Nothing for the Sunni who did not participate in the elections. Nothing.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 2:37 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"We ask all wise men in the American nation to advise the administration to leave this country," he said. Is it wise to attempt to insult Sec.State Dr. Condoleeza Rice? She of the boots and President Bush's total confidence?
#5
Wait a sec. Once again I have to point out that this is *just* the "Association of Muslim Scholars", *not* the "influential Association of Muslim Scholars". The former group is the new group of about a dozen Baathist party hacks; whereas the "influential" group is the old group of about a dozen Baathist party hacks who are "influential".
Malignant aggression manifesting itself in the form of sectarianism is on the rise in the 14-million strong port city of Karachi.
This can be gauged from the fact that 16 people lost their lives in sectarian violence in Karachi in the year 2000, 57 in 2001, 31 in 2002, 27 in 2003 and 48 in 2004, according to official statistics.
"Sectarian killing has been a distinctive feature of the violence that has gripped Karachi, the most populous city in Pakistan, for nearly two decades. This form of violence peaked between 1994 and 1995. An extremely distressing feature of this crime wave was the targeting of eminent professionals; especially doctors, a majority of whom belonged to the Shia minority sect in Islam. The scale of violence declined over a couple of years but rose during the period between 1999-2002," according to "Sectarian Violence in Karachi," a report prepared by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
"While the rate of sectarian killings may have fluctuated over the past 12 months, some aspects of such violence are rooted in the exploitation of religion for power play and in the inertia of state institutions. That sectarianism continues and militants belonging to some factions have not been deterred by any ban on their functioning reflect on the permanent nature of the problem. Also left largely unresolved are issues such as the role of religion in politics, the proliferation of arms in irresponsible hands, the administration's tendency to concentrate on catching criminals rather than blocking their nefarious design, and the need for equitable compensation to victims and assurances to their families in safety and rehabilitation," the HRCP report said.
"The government paid me Rs 200,000 as compensation after my husband and 20-year-old son were killed by fanatics. I have to feed my six children and provide them with education in an environment which is extremely insecure," said Kazmeen Waqar, 50, widow of Waqar Hussain Naqvi, who was a lawyer of the Sindh High Court. Her husband belonged to the Shia minority sect of Muslims and was gunned down in Karachi along with his driver and son on April 7, 2000 in broad daylight.
Like Mrs Waqar, families, especially children who have borne the brunt of sectarian killings live in constant fear amid promises by successive rulers that the culprits would be brought to book and sectarianism would be curbed.
Is it not strange that more and more people are indulging in suicide bombings against a different sect in Pakistan. The people are being brainwashed by religious seminaries (madressahs) and are being told they would go straight to paradise if they kill people from the Shia Muslim sect. The phenomenon has its roots in the era when military dictator General Ziaul Haq ruled Pakistan (1977-88) and fought a proxy war against the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. As US aid poured into the country, people were persuaded to take up "jihad" in Afghanistan against what was called an atheistic communist regime.
But the fall out from the "Afghan Jihad" was deadly as it paved the way for an arms and drug culture and the mushrooming of tens of thousands of "madressahs" where hatred against different sects of the Muslim community was preached. "With the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, these religious schools came under worldwide criticism for providing military training and for fanning sectarianism. Taliban warriors were mostly madressah students who received education in Pakistan. These centres of learning are also known to be used by a number of religious parties for recruiting youth for jihad in Afghanistan and other countries such as Bosnia, Chechnya, and Indian held Kashmir," according to the HRCP report.
"The seminaries mushroomed during Zia's regime and according to some reports, they also received support from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, Iraq and Libya. According to recent estimates, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 madressahs in the country, with an enrolment of about 200,000 students," the HRCP report said.
In the wake of 9/11 and amid fear that Pakistan could be declared a "terrorist state," the government of President General Pervez Musharraf has initiated reforms in the madressah system but has failed to create a dent in the well entrenched menace that continues to nibble at the social fabric of Pakistan society. President Musharraf has escaped at least two assassination attempts by fundamentalist forces but so far there has been little success in curbing sectarianism in Pakistan. The fundamentalist forces hold sway in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan and continue to assert themselves in Karachi as elsewhere.
Even the minority Christian community in Pakistan feels threatened. "Only seven cases of blasphemy have been tried between 1927 and 1985 but since 1985 nearly 80 Christians have been detained under the blasphemy law. The law is being abused because of section 295 B and 295 C. They should be repealed," says Father Dr. Archie de Souza, a priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Karachi.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/29/2005 12:19:52 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Palestinians yesterday ruled out a future state with Jewish settlements in the West Bank even as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated that Israel would keep its largest settlements there under a permanent peace agreement. "Retention of these blocs is extremely dangerous because it would invalidate a viable state which (US) President (George W.) Bush has articulated in his vision," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei told reporters. Bush has declared his determination to enforce a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States is one of the four co-sponsors of the stalled road map peace plan that sought to create a Palestinian state by 2005. But in an interview broadcast on Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that any final Middle East peace deal will have to take into account the biggest Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian lands. Speaking to Israeli public radio, she said she was clarifying contradictory reports of US policy over the weekend. "These blocs, which the American administration has legitimized by giving its support to Israel make the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible," hit back Qorei.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
An Israeli official should the statement "no Palestinians in Israel proper", and watch Paleo hypocrisy take wing.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation might let two resistance groups join its ranks for the first time, a leader of one of the groups has said. Islamic Jihad and Hamas had in the past objected to joining the mainstream PLO, opposing its peace moves with Israel, but recently have softened their stance and agreed to a temporary halt to attacks against the Jewish state. In a meeting late on Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas agreed to Islamic Jihad members taking part in a meeting of the PLO executive this week to help cement the 17 March truce, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad al-Hindi said on Monday.
Al-Hindi said both his group and Hamas would attend the PLO session "to discuss a basis on which the PLO should be rebuilt" and said the PLO would consider an effort to let them join the organisation. Abbas, a moderate elected in January, said after the Gaza meeting that he was seeking to further "national unity and calm" with the groups. "It is necessary to follow up these issues with them so that we can push forward calm and the political process," or peace talks with Israel, Abbas said. Aljazeera reporter Walid al-Umari said Abbas' meeting with Islamic Jihad leaders covered results of the recent Palestinian factions' meeting in Cairo, the issue of calm with Israel, national unity, Palestinian elections as well as the feasibility of Islamic Jihad and Hamas being integrated into the PLO.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Question: Could this be "the basis on which the PLO should be rebuilt?" Hmmmm?
THE HUMAN PARADIGM
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature
and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of Criteria.
Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive characteristic
is, and of Right ought to be, the natural foundation of his
environments, institutions, and respectful relations to his
fellow-man. Thus, he is oriented to a Freedom whose roots
are in the Order of the universe.
Slow learners: write 100 times..."I am endowed by my Creator with..."
Posted by: Choicemaker Jim ||
03/29/2005 10:21 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Amid the Bush administration's tough talk toward North Korea, a new fear is emerging: Could Pyongyang test a nuclear weapon this year? Some insiders think so. "Knowing Kim Jong Il 's track record for brinksmanship, I'd bet on it," says Larry Wilkerson , who worked the North Korea issue as former Secretary of State Colin Powell 's chief of staff. "If we don't resume negotiations, I'd give it a 70-30 chance." The CIA is not predicting anything imminent. But then again, it missed India's nuke test in 1998. "The only thing that would preclude this," says Wilkerson, "is if they don't have a bomb."
NEW YORK - Investigators of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq said Tuesday there was not enough evidence to show that Secretary-General Kofi Annan knew of a contract bid by his son's Swiss employer. However, they criticized the U.N. chief for not properly investigating possible conflicts of interest in the matter.
The United Nations reversed a commitment to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for a senior U.N. official who was accused of ethical lapses while administering the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq. The U.N. decision Monday came after U.S., British and Iraqi officials expressed concern about U.N. plans to use surplus Iraq oil revenue to defend 
Coming fast on the heels of the United Nation's and Washington's condemnations, Paris harshly slammed Saturday's blast in East Beirut, which left at least five injured and set six buildings ablaze. Speaking following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo, French President Jacques Chirac said: "All those who try and create chaos in Lebanon will be caught and severely punished."
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network is making fresh efforts to engineer a comeback by the Taliban and regain a foothold of its own in Afghanistan, the commander of the United States forces in the country said on Tuesday. Lieutenant General David Barno said the US believed both Bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar were probably still in the region, possibly on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Al-Qaeda clearly still wants to see the Taliban stage some kind of a comeback in Afghanistan," Barno told reporters. "They're still providing financing, with guidance, training, support and selected individuals that help lead and motivate the operations here in Afghanistan."
Amidst the political turmoil that is Iraq stands a country in transition, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts. Influenced by the presence of American troops, new additions to satellite TV, and the now easy access to the Internet once forbidden under Saddam Hussein, the youth of Iraq is waging a cultural revolution. "They are wearing baggy jeans and, you know, hip t-shirts and or NBA jerseys and that kind of stuff," said one young Iraqi, Omar.
For several weeks, Iraq's most powerful politicians and foreign diplomats have been streaming like anxious pilgrims to western Baghdad, to the vast blue and gold dome of the Mother of All Battles mosque, which was commissioned by Saddam Hussein. They are there to visit 
Palestinians yesterday ruled out a future state with Jewish settlements in the West Bank even as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated that Israel would keep its largest settlements there under a permanent peace agreement. "Retention of these blocs is extremely dangerous because it would invalidate a viable state which (US) President (George W.) Bush has articulated in his vision," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei told reporters. Bush has declared his determination to enforce a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States is one of the four co-sponsors of the stalled road map peace plan that sought to create a Palestinian state by 2005. But in an interview broadcast on Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that any final Middle East peace deal will have to take into account the biggest Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian lands. Speaking to Israeli public radio, she said she was clarifying contradictory reports of US policy over the weekend. "These blocs, which the American administration has legitimized by giving its support to Israel make the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible," hit back Qorei.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation might let two resistance groups join its ranks for the first time, a leader of one of the groups has said. Islamic Jihad and Hamas had in the past objected to joining the mainstream PLO, opposing its peace moves with Israel, but recently have softened their stance and agreed to a temporary halt to attacks against the Jewish state. In a meeting late on Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas agreed to Islamic Jihad members taking part in a meeting of the PLO executive this week to help cement the 17 March truce, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad al-Hindi said on Monday. 
