#3
The puppets! Where're the giant puppets. This was nothing more than a bunch of bi[cycling] pedel pushers cause without giant puppets its not an official political demonstration. "I don't want to see no stinking permit. I want to see your giant puppet, Mister, and what you're carrying wouldn't even qualify to fill a finger."
#8
This is all the Republicans fault, you know. Pres Reagan let the crazies out and now they are riding nakid in the streets. The liberals were right, we should have kept all those crazy liberals locked up. That or this is just a bunch of dead heads going home after a concert.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
06/10/2005 21:40 Comments ||
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#9
Yeah, I'm sure that riding a bike naked is going to be real effective. Hope it's a bright sunny day.
The article will get you wondering why we tolerate these A-holes at all. After the media ran Koran abuse stories until you just wanted to put a pistol in your mouth, and the resulting "outrage" of the middle east mobs, you might be suprised to learn that muslims arent really the most sensitive group to other peoples right of choice. In fact you might come to the conclusion that I did. They are a bunch of lunatics that will use anything they can to further their own goals; liberals(both here and abroad),the media(cant wait to air the next prisoner abuse story or Koran desicration allegations), moderate muslims(that try to tell us Islam is a religion of peace and love), fanatics,children,mental incompetants,murderous lunatics and anyone else they can brainwash,trick,pay or force into strapping on a suicide belt and blowing up a bus full of Israeli tourists or school children.
The Saudi government recently launched a multi-million-dollar public advertising campaign to educate the average American about the benevolenceof its Islamic regime. A blitz of radio ads have been designed to highlight Saudi Arabia's friendship with the U.S., and to try to negate some of the bad press the former has received due to the post-9/11 fallout. The advertisements are being aired in 19 U.S. cities and will run until September 6. They cite the September 11th Commission's report as proof that the Saudi government has been a loyal friend and ally in the fight against Al Qaeda. Mr. Abdel al-Jubeir, a senior foreign policy adviser to the Saudi Royal House, was also sent to the United States to appear on television to set the record straight. He informed viewers that not only is his country unequivocally on America's side in the war on terror, but also that it is a much more "modern and reliable" nation than the American public has heretofore realized.
#1
Of course. We Americans beleive EVERYTHING we hear on the radio or see on TV, so I'm sure this campaign will be successful After all, before 9/11 all us dumb rednecks here really thought the world of our friends in Saudi Arabia, and we were SO confused and hurt after 9/11 when we found out that they weren't returning the love. My worst nightmare as an American is thinking about the horrible nightmare that awaits us all if the House of Saud no longer stands...it will make scraping by to make ends meet that much harder to bear...
June 10, 2005: Conservative Islam is the foundation of Islamic radicalism, which is Islam carried to a murderous extreme. This movement is weakening in the place where it originated; Saudi Arabia. One of the most telling signs has been the decline and fall of the religious police. The Mutawwain -- national "religious police" — or "Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice" has long been a force in Saudi Arabia, acting against any perceived "un-Islamic" behavior in an attempt to preserve religious purity (e.g., it's better that women should burn to death in a fire than that they appear without their veils). Over the past few years, however, the Mutawwain have come under increasing pressure. Long regarded not only as arbitrary, but also corrupt, the organization is under investigation by the official state prosecutor, and its budget and personnel have been cut repeatedly; from over 2000 officers just five years ago there are now apparently only some 700.
The weakening of the Mutawwain's power has led to modest, but real changes in public behavior in Saudi Arabia, and led to calls for even more liberalization, including the suggestion that perhaps "some" women might be permitted to drive without a male family member present. Naturally, this does not play well in the country's conservative religious circles, including the largely Islamist-leaning clergy, who still benefit from considerable government funding. The more radical religious elements are already at war with the Royal family, claiming that it is a gang of "apostates." So far Saudi security forces have been successful in keeping threats from the country's religious right more or less under control.
Perhaps because of increasing government pressure, the Mutawaaini ("Religious Police"), have been increasing harassment of foreign Christians in Saudi Arabia, particularly those from countries that are either Moslem or have large Moslem minorities, such as Pakistan or India. This plays well with the conservative religious faction in Saudi Arabia, and provides the Mutawaaini with some leverage against government efforts to curb their activities. The official Saudi Arabian policy toward non-Moslems is that so long as they don't make any overt displays they are free to practice their religion privately. Some Christians, especially those belonging to Evangelical groups, have been pushing the limits of this policy, and even attempting to proselytize, which plays right into the hands of the Islamist element in the country.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 09:02 ||
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Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah has been admitted to hospital, official reports say. The agency said Sheikh Saad, who is in his 70s, has been suffering from a high level of blood glucose.
The crown prince has been deputising for the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is in the US recovering from medical treatment. Many of the daily duties of the ruler are already handled by Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
In 1997, Sheikh Saad spent seven months abroad for treatment and recuperation from colonic bleeding. He became crown prince in 1978, and was prime minister until July 2003, when the Emir appointed Sheik Sabah as prime minister, breaking with a political tradition that crown princes also serving as heads of government. Like the emir, Sheik Saad has made few public appearances in recent years.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 08:18 ||
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Qatar took its first step toward greater democracy yesterday, officially adopting a constitution that grants women equal rights and paves the way for the emirate's first parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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I'll believe it when Qatari women can have four husbands.
Posted by: ed ||
06/10/2005 0:28 Comments ||
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What sane woman would want four men to boss her around and beat her, instead of just one?
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh appointed his secretary to head the country's top intelligence body that was established in 2002 to help combat terrorism, the official Saba news agency said in a report yesterday. The nomination of Muhammad Ali Al-Anessi as chairman of the National Security Agency was made public during coverage of a meeting between Saleh and visiting Secretary of Iran's Supreme Council for National Security Hassan Rowhani. Saba did not say when the appointment was made. Al-Anessi would also keep his old post as head of Saleh's office, which he has held since the mid-1980s.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Should you pixelate the face just to be on the safe side?
Outraged Hindu groups in Britain called on devotees worldwide Wednesday to boycott French-made goods, after a French manufacturer refused to remove a Hindu god from its designer shoes.
British Hindus have added their voices to growing global anger over the image of Lord Rama, one of the most revered gods, appearing on Minelli brand footwear from the French fashion group Vivarte.
The Hindu Human Rights group, "incensed by their indifference," said it was organising a rally for this Sunday outside the French embassy in central London.
The Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) umbrella body is also demanding that Hindus pressure the Indian government to stop buying Mirage fighter jets, write to the International Olympic Committee to say Paris should not be chosen as the venue for the 2012 Olympics, and stop flying with Air France.
"This is the last straw," Ramesh Kallidai, HFB secretary general, said in a statement. "Hinduism is a very tolerant religion and we have no problems if our images are used in a respectful manner. But to use the image of Lord Rama on a shoe, when we don't even wear shoes inside our temples, is disrespectful and disgraceful," he said.
"It has hurt the sentiments of over one billion Hindus in the world, and yet Minelli have not agreed to withdraw the sale."
Kallidai widened his fire to France as a whole, which has introduced a law that forbids the wearing of "conspicuous" religious insignia and garments in state schools, most notably Muslim headscarves.
"France has a history of religious intolerance. France has refused to accord the status of a bonafide religion to Hindu temples in the country, thus denying them legitimate tax benefits enjoyed by other religions," Kallidai said.
"Hindu women and men cannot put bindis, tilaks and other forehead markings in school and other places for fear of religious persecution. We are fortunate that Britain has such an excellent model of religious tolerance and community cohesion."
Posted by: too true ||
06/10/2005 09:12 ||
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France has refused to accord the status of a bonafide religion to Hindu temples in the country, thus denying them legitimate tax benefits enjoyed by other religions
That is because there are no suicide Hindu bombers in France.
In the wake of international unrest about the May 13 turmoil in Andijan, Uzbekistan, the regime of President Islam Karimov has received support from 40 thousand Bukharian Jews in New York, who emigrated from Uzbekistan en masse during the early 1990s. Prominent Bukharian community leaders have said that the United States should support Karimov in the present crisis, concerned that Muslim fundamentalists might otherwise take over the country and persecute the estimated 30,000-50,000 Jews remaining there. Since 1991 Bukharian community leaders have frequently met with Karimov and other high-ranking Uzbek officials and have consistently advocated closer ties between the United States and Uzbekistan. Rafael Nektalov, editor-in-chief of the Bukharian Times, the largest newspaper for the community told reporters in Uzbekistan last week, "Do people who call for a new regime in Uzbekistan really think those who carried out the uprising and prison break in Andijan are humanitarians who would govern democratically if they ever take power?" In another instance of disputing the figures of Andijan casualties circulating in the western media, founder and president of the American Association of Central Asian and Caucasian Countries Boris Pincus said, "I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the Western media reports. When I spoke by phone last week to the leader of the small Jewish community in Andijan, he told me that most of those killed were shot by the Islamic extremists who started the uprising, not the army."
NHK reported Thursday a suspected al-Qaeda operative now in FBI custody boarded a Korean Air flight to San Francisco at Incheon International Airport and was questioned in Japan after the flight was diverted to Tokyo.
Hamid Hayat, 23, a resident of Lodi, California, left Pakistan on May 27, arriving at Incheon via Bangkok two days later. He then boarded a Korean Air flight to San Francisco, which was diverted to Japan when the FBI found out he was on the plane.
NHK said the FBI later allowed the plane to leave when Hayat denied being an al-Qaeda operative, but recently arrested him in the U.S. It is not known how long the suspect stayed in Korea.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2005 09:55 ||
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So Kimmy is now being briefed on Al Q?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/10/2005 14:54 Comments ||
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DENMARK'S cosy idyll of bicycling monarchs and accessible politicians was shattered yesterday by the torching of the Immigration Minister's car.
Flames spread from the garage of Rikke Hvilshøj, the Minister, and engulfed the roof of her home but no one was hurt. Anarchists opposed to Denmark's tough asylum laws claimed responsibility.
"We heard a large explosion and my family got out of the home," said Ms Hvilshøj, 34, who has presided over some of the harshest immigration policies in Europe. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Prime Minister, said that he had received the news "with the greatest disgust and regret".
The Minister and her two young children have been moved to a secret location. Bodyguards, who are normally given only on an ad hoc basis to Danish politicians, were yesterday assigned to all Cabinet Ministers. Ms Hvilshøj was seen outside Parliament with two police escorts.
The attack reminded Danes of the fatal stabbing of Anna Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister, in 2003. Ms Lindh was killed while shopping in central Stockholm, unaccompanied by a bodyguard. The murder sent shock waves throughout Scandinavia and showed how Sweden's open society was uncomfortable in an age of terrorist threat.
Although Denmark was stunned by the Lindh murder it refused to go down the Swedish route and tighten politicians' security. One opinion poll showed that two thirds of Danes thought similar political violence could occur in their own country, yet only 27 per cent thought ministers should be allowed bodyguards.
Mads Stenbjerre, the head of research at Copenhagen's Zapera Polling Institute, said: "Danes place the openness of society above the threat of attacks on politicians."
The informal relationship between politicians and the voters is part of Danish culture. Children walk to school on their own, Parliament can be visited without elaborate security checks, ministers cycle between appointments and Queen Margrethe goes shopping in Copenhagen or Aarhus with friends and courtiers, rather than policemen.
Workindenmark.dk, a government-backed internet guide for foreigners, claims: "Even famous business executives here do not feel the need to surround themselves with bodyguards."
But the passion stirred by Denmark's immigration rules is strong. Five years ago a car belonging to the head of the Danish immigration service was firebombed.
The latest attack was organised by a group calling itself "Action Group Border-less Beate".
Denmark's immigration laws have cut benefits to foreigners, restricted the right to marry in an attempt to keep child brides from being taken out of the country to 3rd world places and discouraged the arrival of any refugee over the age of 60. Spouses are not allowed to join their partners in Denmark unless they have a sufficiently large apartment and income.
A foreigner based in Denmark must have at least 7,000 krone (£630) in his Danish bank account before he can even ask to bring his wife into the country.
A foreigner also has to pass a test equivalent to the linguistic ability of a 14-year-old Danish child to get residence.
now we'll see if the Danes retain any instinct for self-preservation
Posted by: too true ||
06/10/2005 10:07 ||
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It sounds to me like the Danes have their shit together on the immigration thing. We could take a lesson here.
#2
While their rules have been tighter than the Swedes' for some time, these particular constraints are fairly new and the dhimmis want to dismantle them ASAP.
Posted by: too true ||
06/10/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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A foreigner also has to pass a test equivalent to the linguistic ability of a 14-year-old Danish child to get residence.
We should copy this and it would eliminate having schools being required to teach in languages other than English!!!
Posted by: DJ ||
06/10/2005 15:35 Comments ||
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I think the 14 yr linguistic test should apply equally to the native born - no, especially to the native born.
French President Jacques Chirac has called on Britain to "make an effort" over the EU budget, amid a escalating row about the UK's rebate. Speaking after talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Mr Chirac called for "greater fairness" in EU contributions. Earlier UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was not willing to renegotiate the rebate unless there was a "fundamental review" of EU spending.
Mr Schroeder and Mr Chirac met in Paris ahead of a crucial EU summit next week. The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the war of words has set the scene for a deeply uncomfortable EU summit in Brussels. Britain will be isolated on the rebate, with the 24 other member states arguing that it should be scrapped, our correspondent adds.
The row erupted on Thursday, when the French president urged Britain to make a "gesture of solidarity" on the £3bn ($5bn; 4.5bn euros) it gets back from the EU budget each year. In response Mr Blair said London would not give up the money because it was still contributing more than France. On Friday, Mr Blair added that the rebate could only be discussed as part of more general discussions on EU finance. "If you have a fundamental review of how Europe spends its money, then everything is open to debate," he told reporters.
During his news conference with Mr Schroeder, Mr Chirac said: "Our British friends must be aware of how things are changing and therefore of the need for greater fairness in the burden carried by each (member)." But he added that a 2002 agreement that preserves large subsidies for French farmers should be implemented. "I am not willing to compromise" on this issue, he said.
Next week's EU summit is also overshadowed by the rejection of the European constitution by French and Dutch voters in recent referendums.
In Paris, both Mr Schroeder and Mr Chirac reiterated calls for other members states to go ahead with their own ratification procedures.
Britain, however, has suspended its own plans for a referendum. Ten member states have already ratified the document. It cannot come into force until all 25 EU countries have approved it.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 07:58 ||
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"I am not willing to compromise" on this issue, he said.
Now here is a French position the British should whole heartedly adopt. Another is "Go pound sand Froggy".
Here is a graph of EU budget net beneficiaries. The Spanish make out like bandits. The French make out by far the best of any of the "large, rich" countries. The Germans, Brits, and Dutch (esp. on a per capita basis) carry the burden.
http://www.terrywynn.com/eubudget/part3balances.shtml
Posted by: ed ||
06/10/2005 8:42 Comments ||
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Remember. When cornered, a rat with no other options will attack...
CORDOBA: The Organisation for Security and Cooperation began winding down a two-day conference on anti-Semitism and intolerance in this southern Spanish city on Thursday by insisting terrorism must not be identified with a religion, ethnic group or culture.
Not even when religion or ethnicity is grounds for slaughtering people? I guess that's logic, but I don't think it's very good logic.
After noting that the political climate, particularly in the Middle East, could never justify anti-Semitic attacks, delegates denounced linkage of terrorism with "a religion, a culture, an ethnic group, a nationality."
At the risk of repeating myself, when a religion — or a sect within that religion — or a culture or a nationality declares jihad against the rest of us, what the hell else are we going to link it to? Eye color? Shoe size? Odor?
In a carefully-worded final declaration, the 55-member organisation linking states from North America to Central Asia insisted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not be an excuse for anti-Semitism, seen as on the rise since the second Intifada began in 2000. "International events and political questions never justify racism, xenophobia or discrimination, towards Muslims, Christians or the faithful of other religions," participants concluded. A discordant note emerged, however, when the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre which seeks to uphold Jewish rights and preserve the memory of the Holocaust, regretted that the OSCE was broadening its remit beyond anti-Semitism.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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"...insisting terrorism must not be identified with a religion, ethnic group or culture."
Oh, good grief... the TERRORISTS THEMSELVES identify their actions with their religion.
IT'S THE MUSLIMS, STUPID!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/10/2005 0:17 Comments ||
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conference on antisemitism: âInternational events and political questions never justify racism, xenophobia or discrimination, towards Muslims, Christians or the faithful of other religions.â
#3
NO BOXCARS full of people headed to the slaughter.
Posted by: What More to say? ||
06/10/2005 3:33 Comments ||
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If the largest portion of a Sect identifies with a group it's pretty clear what it is. If the Shoe fits, they do have to wear it. The rest of the world doesn't have or need to make excuses for them.
#5
âInternational events and political questions never justify racism, xenophobia or discrimination, towards Muslims, Christians or the faithful of other religions,â participants concluded.
IMO, in a few years the moonbats liberal intellectuals will start accusing Israel of anti-semitism.
#6
The lobster was great, and they managed to successfully word that they support terrorism and anti-semitism in such a manner as to avoid world outrage.
#7
What More, we're hearing that, at least in Holland, people are privately talking about special trains to ship away the Muslims. I have no idea if slaughter is being mentioned.
#9
"And in the process, [Europe] is allowing radicalized twenty-first century Muslims -- who think of their forebears' military defeats at Poitiers in 732, Lepanto in 1571, and Vienna in 1683 (as well as their expulsion from Spain in 1492), as temporary reversals en route to Islam's final triumph in Europe -- to imagine that the day of victory is not far off. . . . Should that happen, the irony would be unmistakable: the drama of atheistic humanism, emptying Europe of its soul, would have played itself out in the triumph of a thoroughly nonhumanistic theism."
Posted by: ST ||
06/10/2005 8:53 Comments ||
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Meanwhile, in Lodi California, "FBI officials urged the community not to react against Muslims who have nothing to do with the case". And that was the gentlest warning the community got.
A nest of terrorists is uncovered in an American community, and the VERY FIRST THING the officials do is say stuff like this: "âAs our agencies have long demonstrated, we have zero tolerance for hate crimes and acts of retaliation,â U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said at a standing-room-only press conference in Sacramento. âAnd to those who would seek to retaliate against Muslim persons for the actions at issue in this case, Special Agent Keith Slotter and I have one simple word of advice â donât.â"
The almost non-existant number of "hate crimes" against Muslims in America since 9/11 is a FACT. Yet, officials trip over themselves to warn the blood-thirsty Americans against retaliation. *sigh*
Trust me, the sheep are grazing quietly on the hillside...no worries.
The Federal Air Marshal Association and its President Terry Babb, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Federal Air Marshal Director Thomas Quinn, challenging federal air marshal rules designed to prevent federal air marshals from speaking about any matter that pertains to the Federal Air Marshal Service, the Transportation Security Administration and the US Department of Transportation. The actions by DHS, TSA and other agencies amounts to a de facto gag order placed on air marshals. Recently, border patrol agents were also required to sign a non-disclosure agreement thus prohibiting border agents from speaking with the news media or even the US Congress about problems and concerns regarding border security and illegal immigration.
I'm thinking somebody is going to be speaking Congress about this, or rather, testifying.
The lawsuit alleges that the Federal Air Marshal Service rules are an attempt to smother and prevent the disclosure of information by federal air marshals of agency mismanagement, fraud, waste and abuse.
In addition, the lawsuit challenges the Federal Air Marshal Service actions in investigating the Federal Air Marshal Association in an attempt to identify FAMA members, its Board of Directors and other private information about the organization. In this regards, the lawsuit alleges that on November 17, 2004, agents from the Department of Homeland Security and/or Federal Air Marshal Service compelled Mr. Babb, a federal air marshal, under threat of disciplinary action and/or criminal prosecution into divulging information about FAMA's membership, dues structure, the identity of its Board of Directors and officers.
The lawsuit seeks to strike down several of the Federal Air Marshal Service's regulations and seeks to enjoin the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Air Marshal Service from infringing upon the recognized First Amendment Rights of Babb, FAMA and its members in speaking about matters of public concern and in their right to associate with a lawful organization. FAMA, among other reasons, seeks to protect its members' interest in joining and participating in the association without fear of administrative or criminal prosecution.
FAMA legal counsel Stephen G. DeNigris called the agency regulations at issue unconstitutional both on their face and in their application. He asserted the regulations were "nothing more than an attempt by the Federal Air Marshal Service to prevent oversight by Congress and the public at large of an agency rife with mismanagement and pettiness." As to the investigation into FAMA as an association, Attorney DeNigris commented that these types of investigation have been found improper by the Supreme Court for over 40 years.
"This is exactly the type of investigative practices that the NAACP fought against during the civil rights movement and which the Supreme Court found improper." DeNigris continued, "Every individual has a right to be a member of and participate in a lawful organization for a lawful purpose. The actions of DHS and the FAM Service during the investigation were nothing more than an overt attempt to infringe on the privacy of the association, to discourage membership in FAMA and to prevent participation in the organization by air marshals who protect the flying public." Federal Air Marshal Association, Inc., membership consists of federal air marshals and federal flight deck officers. The expressed goal of FAMA is to advance professionalism, integrity and mission effectiveness without regard for political or bureaucratic agendas.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 12:53 ||
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This would be pretty easy to fix if a committee chairman or two in Congress was interested in hearing what these folks have to say.
June 10, 2005: Since 9/11, reports of the theft of police uniforms or explosives or even shipping containers are often linked to possible terrorist activity. But whether the link is pointed out by the police or other domestic security organizations, public officials, or the media, it is rarely mentioned is that there is at present no standard for determining what constitutes "normal" levels of such activities. Consider some examples of thefts and other incidents that have been linked to possible terrorist activity by local police, the FBI, or other official agencies.
--The theft of about a dozen 40-foot shipping containers, with transporters, in Connecticut over the past three months.
--The theft of a shipment of border patrol uniforms from a warehouse in California.
--An "upsurge" in the use of bogus police credentials by people seeking to gain entry to certain potentially high value targets, such as police stations, hospitals, and so forth.
The problem is that we don't have a good statistical baseline to use to make comparisons with the current rate of incidents with. Take the case of the Connecticut shipping container thefts. Is there really a surge, or merely that we've gotten better at reporting incidents? What's been the "track record" of this sort of activity in the past? The police report that suggested a possible link to terrorists omitted some vital information. Container theft is not at all uncommon, and it's a lot easier to steal one with its transporter than without it. It would be useful to know what the "normal" level of theft in the state has been over the past few years. And it would also be useful if the police had mentioned whether the containers were loaded or not. The same problem holds true in the case of the theft of border patrol uniforms. Was the warehouse known to be used to store border patrol uniforms, or was it just a general purpose facility? Was anything else taken? And what was the rate of warehouse theft in the area?
As for the bogus credentials "upsurge," there's long been a very lucrative traffic in bogus credentials in the US. All sorts of badges and identification that looks almost like the real thing can be had for a few bucks from catalogs and websites. In some large cities petty criminals have been known to use phony police badges to shake down hookers and small time drug dealers, and even to set up local "protection" rackets, all while giving the real police a bad reputation.
And people trying to gain entry to places like hospitals, police stations, town halls, and even schools using bogus credentials is not exactly rare either, just ask emergency room personnel or teachers. Sometimes it's just some dolt pretending to be important (perhaps making like a doctor in an emergency room, with some risk to the patients, or pretending to be a school board official on an unscheduled inspection). But mostly it's someone looking for an opportunity to steal something that isn't nailed down.
This is not to say that there isn't a possible terrorist link to the thefts of the shipping containers or the uniforms, or the alleged increase in the use of bogus credentials, but rather that no one is responsible for determining what constitutes a "normal" rate of such incidents, and given that, it's impossible to tell if there's been a significant change in the rate of incidents.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 09:16 ||
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I think I agree with the author, theives don't even know what they are stealing sometimes, they grab a box and run. Constructions sites I have managed in the past have had puzzling and bizzare thefts that defied logic.
The U.S. Justice Department says a CIA official blocked a memo warning the FBI two Sept. 11 hijackers had entered the country before the attacks. The memo, prepared by an FBI agent on the CIA's special Osama bin Laden unit, was meant to be transmitted in January 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. The information could have helped agents track down the al-Qaida operatives before the attacks took place, the Times quoted U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the Justice Department report as saying.
Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released the report after winning a court battle against officials involved with the case of alleged would-be hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui. The officials had attempted to block release of the report, claiming it could compromise the outcome of his case. The section on Moussaoui was deleted from the released report. The report said it was not known why the CIA official, identified by the fictitious name "John," put a hold on the warning.
That's easy. It might have exposed a source and cut off a flow of imformation that "John" was collecting, printing, arranging in nice neat piles, stapling and filing away. And we can't have that.
This article starring:
Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine
ZACARIAS MUSAUI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 08:48 ||
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In my job, the deliverable is the written report. If I make the report too long and detailed, the client will be overwhelmed and will not benefit. If I make it too short, the client will lack some important basic background and will suffer for it. I'm sure it works exactly the same way at the FBI and the CIA. I'm not perfect. They're not perfect. We are talking about fine judgements that were made four years ago and more without benefit of 9/11 for perspective. Can't we just all move along?
Posted by: Tom ||
06/10/2005 8:57 Comments ||
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If I make the report too long and detailed, the client will be overwhelmed and will not benefit. If I make it too short, the client will lack some important basic background and will suffer for it.
#3
Pretty much,BAR.While I haven't had to write many formal reports,I have taken a couple of college level technical writting course'.In essence(like a resumee)keep it as short,give the relavent facts and get to the point.
#4
I've found that when writing reports, policy papers, etc for politicians, it's best to keep it really simple with few big words and small bite-sized concepts
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/10/2005 11:21 Comments ||
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We musta save the historic Can I Lever bridge. The Levers have always been good citizens with superior dentistry.
Remember the anguished wails and Deaniac screams and wild-eyed moronic claims and vicious demonification of Bush & AshCroft regards The Patriot Act? I do. The MSM eagerly assisted in the birth of the abuse and terrible loss of freedoms meme the Act would entail, etc. Note that none of the dire black-helicopter crowd's predictions have materialized. Not One. It was TFBS*.
"Lisa Graves, the ACLU's senior counsel for legislative strategy, said the lack of a documented case of abuse did not mean the law does not violate civil liberties."
Lol. Moonbat Chicken Little has been discredited, methinks, but then I've actually read it and the analysis of it and its impact by those who aren't drinking the Kool Aid. It's a fair start, given the political circus.
It attempts to eliminate some of the truly inane politically-motivated stupidity of people like Jamie Gorelick, CAIR, and the fucking ACLU. It allows investigators (cops) and intelligence (spooks) to cooperate - that means talk to each other (massive DUH). It allows the coppers to request warrants on documented suspicion, i.e. lowered evidence threshold, without proving, in advance, what they need the warrants to obtain: courtroom-quality proof (this is an ACLU specialty - demand proof to get a warrant, which you wouldn't need if you had such proof in hand; massive DUH). It recognizes the advent of those computer thingys and that they can talk to each other through the Internet thingy - which must now be monitored since the terrs have even figured it out (/. [slashdot] twinks have group-symp heart attack! massive DUH). It incorporates already existing RICO procedures (RICO's a big hit with MSM cuz they love to see Mafia BigShots fall; but include Johnny Jihad, Professor Paleo, or Abdullwit Bombtool and they Phreak!) where they are applicable to terrorism (i.e. money tracking and laundering, foreign and domestic interagency cooperation, etc.; ear-shattering DUH).
In essence, it is the politically-palatable subset, and that's actually a damned small set, of common sense applied to terrorism.
We are still hamstrung in many ways, unable to do what your common sense would demand of you if it was your job to protect America - much of it thoughtless knee-jerk PCism / "activism" - profiling being the most obvious with illegal immigration running a close second.
The Moonbats create memes and are never held to account for the reality that plays out: the memes are *Total Fucking BullShit.
The Patriot Act has actually harmed no innocents and it has actually helped round up asshats. So the answer is yes.
#3
It incorporates already existing RICO procedures (RICO's a big hit with MSM cuz they love to see Mafia BigShots fall; but include Johnny Jihad, Professor Paleo, or Abdullwit Bombtool and they Phreak!) where they are applicable to terrorism (i.e. money tracking and laundering, foreign and domestic interagency cooperation, etc.; ear-shattering DUH).
RICO can and should be applied to the United Nations
#5
What's amusing is that the most invasive procedure "Sneak and Peek" in the Patriot Act was put in by a Democrat and not a Republican. I say let it roll, if they get out of hand we can chnage it.
#6
RICO's a big hit with MSM cuz they love to see Mafia BigShots fall; but include Johnny Jihad, Professor Paleo, or Abdullwit Bombtool and they Phreak!
THE MILITARY will investigate its intelligence arm over allegations that it was behind the wiretapping of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's calls concerning the May 2004 election. "This is a serious matter and the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] is conducting an investigation," Chief of Staff General Efren Abu told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo. "We can't pinpoint anyone in particular. Everyone is a suspect," Abu said, when asked if the investigation was zeroing in on specific agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). Commodore Tirso Danga, deputy chief of staff for intelligence or J2, himself a former ISAFP chief, will head the investigation.
Early this week, Malacañang released two compact discs of wiretapped cellular phone conversations between the President and an election official in which Mrs. Arroyo allegedly sought assurances of a convincing win in the polls. The Palace claimed that one was authentic and the other was tampered. Abu claimed that he had not asked ISAFP chief Brigadier General Marlu Quevedo if his office was the source of the tape. The military chief also clarified that the Board of Generals had not recommended Quevedo's replacement as ISAFP chief despite an announcement by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
When asked to confirm reports that an ISAFP team was grounded and its leaders restricted to quarters, Abu said: "I have not received any report about that."
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 14:59 ||
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A TAPE identical to one circulated by a former lawyer of deposed president Joseph Estrada, which allegedly indicates that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in the 2004 elections, has not been altered, Senator Panfilo Lacson told GMA Network's Mike Enriquez.
In a taped interview aired on GMA Network's dzBB radio late Friday, Lacson said he had a tape that was identical to the one being distributed by Alan Paguia sent to Australia for analysis.
Lacson said he has received the first portion of an expected two-part report. The first part of the report stated that the recording did not appear to have been altered. The second portion of the report would deal with the identity of those whose voices were recorded, he said.
Lacson said he sent a sample recording of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's voice along with the recording to determine this. He said he expects the second part of report soon. Lacson did not disclose the identity of the firm or the fees it charged.
The former chief of the Philippine National Police said that he has not heard the contents of a tape brandished by former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong, but said that if the recording turns out to be an exact copy of Paguia's recording, then the report he received would indicate that it had not been altered. Furthermore, he is meeting with his supporters now to determine whether to join protests set for Saturday.
Earlier Friday, Ong said the tape he had in his possession was the source of allegedly wiretapped conversations between the President and persons believed to be election officials that had earlier been released by the Palace. The Palace said that the recordings, one of which was said to have been altered to directly implicate Arroyo in electoral fraud, were to have been used in a destabilization plot against the government.
Ong said his lengthier tape would conclusively prove that Arroyo had cheated in the May 2004 elections. He said the tape had been given to him by contacts in the military intelligence service and that an inventory check would show that the tape was missing. He also claims to have a videotape of a military intelligence agent attesting to the authenticity of the tape. Officials of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines however said that that no tape had turned up missing in their inventory and that they do not engage in wiretapping.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 14:53 ||
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#1
Ping baby Lacson was also running for Pres in 2004 and ran the secret police when he was the chief. I suppose there will be a large crowd, everyone loves a coupe um I mean a parade! Maybe Ping will have Jollie Bee there to get folks to show up.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
06/10/2005 21:48 Comments ||
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THE MILITARY deployed more troops to Metro Manila from the provinces in anticipation of anti-government protests after a former official of the National Bureau of Investigation directly linked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to cheating in the May 2004 election. Lawyer Samuel Ong, former deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation, disclosed on Friday that he had a "master tape" in which Arroyo sought the help of an election official in ensuring that she would win the presidential election by at least one million votes. Arroyo has kept mum following Ong's expose save for a brief statement from Malacañang, which said that the President did not violate any law.
"It is our duty to protect the people and the Constitution," Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual said early Saturday, as GMA Network's "Saksi" newscast showed truckloads of soldiers from the Special Operations Command (Socom) in Northern Luzon headed towards the capital. The same report said that at least six military trucks have reached Metro Manila. Pascual said the Socom soldiers would help their counterparts from the National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), which had been on placed on "red alert."
The NCRCom has been deploying a Marine battalion each to the North and South Luzon Expressways and the Coastal Road, the main roads leading to Metro Manila, since Thursday. Army spokesman Major Bartolome Baccaro confirmed that they expected at least 13 truckloads of soldiers from the Socom but downplayed their presence, saying they are "parading troops" for the Independence Day celebrations on June 12, Sunday.
"Nothing to see here, wait for the parade, move along"
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism is covering the tape scandle on its blog. They have three hours of MP3 audio files of the tapes themselves plus transcripts. Here is a short paragraph on what its about:
THIS post contains the 67-page transcript in PDF format of the full three-hour recording of the conversations that allegedly took place between Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and various individuals, among them President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel, senatorial candidate Robert Barbers, and Rep. Gerry Espina. The recording also includes conversations with as yet unidentified individuals, including one who is addressed as "attorney," and another, as "superintendent."
These conversations have apparently been recorded by members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or ISAFP. The wiretaps were supposedly done on the instructions of high-ranking ISAFP officials. There are various theories as to why the wiretapping was ordered. One is that the officials wanted to keep an eye on Garcillano, to make sure that he would not switch sides and favor actor Fernando Poe Jr. instead. Another is that the officers wanted to protect themselves because they were being asked to help in the Arroyo campaign, and they needed to cover their backs by gathering evidence to show they were doing these on orders from above. Another theory is that the officers were aghast at the extent of the manipulation of the vote and wanted to record the fraud.
If true, Gloria stepped in it, big time.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 14:07 ||
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#1
Why, cause it wasn't Washington State or Wisconsin?
#2
U.S. political corruption is nothing compared to the Philippines - where the vast bulk of the power resides in the hands of a few 'ultra-rich' familie s.
Unfortunately the whole system is corrupt and Arroyo and the other fat cats haven't given anti-corruption demands by the people more then lip-service.
#3
Corruption is on a scale here. The corrupt GMA who took the country by Peoples Power overthrowing the Govt in her first term. And for her second she raised the value of buying votes to the point that competition could not afford to buy enough votes and where they could it seems the military helped her by sorting through the voting boxes. But then the options to her are Ping and the return of Marshal law.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
06/10/2005 21:55 Comments ||
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Rantburg welcomes Iran to the "International Protest Hotties Hall of Fame."
HUNDREDS of thousands of Iranian football fans flouted the Islamic state's moral codes as they took to the streets after qualifying for the World Cup. The national side's 1-0 win over minnows Bahrain booked Iran's place at the 2006 finals in Germany, and set off a country-wide party. Some women breached the strictures of Islamic rule by taking off their mandatory headscarves, waving them in the air and dancing with young men.
If you listen closely, you can hear the echoes from the exploding turbans...
Once more, football served as a vehicle for reform in the Islamic republic: more than 20 young female fans forced their way into the stadium before the game, defying a 26-year ban on their presence in the stands.
Now they've dunnit. The stadium will have to be fumigated, bleached, and vaccinated now.
"Freedom is my right, Iran is my country," they chanted. One woman, Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, missed the game after breaking her leg when guards tried to push the women out by closing a gate at Tehran's Freedom Stadium. But it was worth it, she said: "A leg gets broken, but maybe it will lead to a change in the law. Or an issue regarding women's rights might be brought to attention."
Sing it, sisters. Can I hear a "Hell yeah!"
Once her friends had pushed their way through, they were given seats on the orders of Mohammad Khatami, the moderate president, who watched the game from the VIP section.
He felt the winds of change ablowin'. And decided it would look bad to have some pretty wimmin beat up on live TeeVee.
The gate-crashers were not the only women at the game, attended by 80,000 male fans. Presidential candidate Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the head of Iran's Sports Organisation, had agreed for a few score women to be present at the game in segregated rows. With elections looming next Friday, supporters of the eight presidential candidates were present to canvass support. But football enthusiasm has far outweighed any excitement about the lacklustre presidential race. "Who cares about the elections?" laughed one young woman draped in the red, white and green Iranian flag. "We're going to the World Cup!" A bit more at the link.
#1
One woman, Mahboubeh Abbas-Gholizadeh, missed the game after breaking her leg when guards tried to push the women out by closing a gate at Tehran's Freedom Stadium.
DAMASCUS (AFP) - President Bashar al-Assad consolidated his power base as the ruling Baath party replaced many of its veterans at the top with figures close to Syria's leader, at the close of a four-day congress. The meeting ended amid news that the heat on Syria could be turned up over its decades-long domination of neighbouring Lebanon.
The 21-member Baath national command was slimmed down to 14 ministers, with Vice Presidents Abdel Halim Khaddam and Zuheir Masharka as well as former defence minister Mustapha Tlass among the veterans making their exit. The congress pledged to press ahead with reform, adopting the principle of a "social market economy" that would transform the pervasive public sector while supporting the private sector... It also recommended a "revision of the electoral law" for holding legislative and local polls, the television said.
And the party called for the formation of "higher council for information" and amendments to the law on publications that lays down prison terms for offenders. A new press law was expected to allow private media to play an essential role in the future.
The congress recommended a new law that would authorize other political parties. However, parties could not assemble based on "ethnic, religious or regional" grounds, effectively ruling out the Kurdish minority and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Syria's two main opposition groups.
If the regime does not change, banned opposition National Democratic Movement spokesman Abdel Azim said, "Syria will face real danger, the kind that has happened in Iraq."
During debate on Wednesday, some delegates emphasised "the need to pursue dialogue with United States and Europe on different subjects," state-run newspaper Tishrin said.
According to sources close to the participants, some delegates harshly criticised Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara for his dealings with Lebanon and the United States. They accused Shara of "putting Syria in a dead end" situation by allegedly remaining convinced until the last minute that a UN resolution calling for Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon would fail to pass.
In his opening address, Assad said priority had to be given to improving the living standards of the people and to battling corruption. According to a joint UN-Syrian report, one in 10 Syrians survives on less than two dollars a day, and the state-controlled economy is plagued by a 12 percent unemployment rate.
The United Nations is to consider sending a verification team back to Lebanon after reports that Syrian intelligence may not have completely withdrawn from the country, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "We are now receiving reports that there may be elements that are still there, and we are considering the possible return of the verification team to ascertain what is going on," Annan told reporters on Thursday.
A UN verification mission to Lebanon had reported on 23 May that Syria had "fully" withdrawn troops from its neighbour, in compliance with UN resolution 1559 steered through the Security Council in September by France and the United States. The mission said it had found no trace of the Syrian intelligence services but added that the clandestine nature of such agencies made it difficult to establish their complete withdrawal.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Well the team said they didn't see any in the restaurants and bars they extensively investigated for possible Syrian infiltration.
Somebody call Peter Fitzgerald and tell him "Road trip!".
On Thursday, the widow of prominent Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, who was murdered on 2 June, said she is seeking a criminal investigation by authorities from France, where her husband also held nationality, complaining that the Lebanese inquiry has been incompetent. "I have made a formal complaint in France because Samir had French nationality and to benefit from the competence of French justice," said Gisele Khouri, a journalist with Al-Arabiya television. Khoury took advantage of a French law allowing her to file a complaint against "person or persons unknown".
US Federal Bureau of Investigation and French police experts arrived in Beirut at the Lebanese government's request, after Kassir was killed on 2 June by a bomb placed in his car outside the couple's Beirut home. Sources close to the investigation told AFP the French and American experts had described the initial investigation as one of "total incompetence" after detecting "major flaws".
Seems to be endemic to Lebanese criminal investigations, doesn't it?
"I do not want to accuse anyone," Khoury said, "but it is obvious that the methods of Lebanese investigators are archaic. The preliminary international inquest into Rafiq Hariri's assassination underlined that, and the interior minister at the time, Suleiman Franjieh, acknowledged it." She added: "I do not want other failures resulting from the incompetence of the local authorities to jeopardize the course of the investigation and to prevent justice from being done."
The sources close to the investigation said Lebanese investigators had been too quick to clear the crime scene. In particular, they were faulted for having removed the car too quickly, resulting in the bomb's detonator not being recovered. They were also criticised for not having performed an autopsy immediately, saying that made it more difficult to determine the type of explosive used and to trace infrared signals from the transmitter, also not found, that detonated the explosive. An autopsy was conducted after the insistence of the family, in the presence of the French experts, six days after the crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Syria's ruling Baath party yesterday allowed the emergence of other political parties and the relaxation of the state of emergency. The party's 10th congress also scaled back the size of the Regional Command, electing several new faces to the top party body, including the first woman. It voted unanimously to renew President Bashar Assad's term as Baath party leader. Baath official Ahmed Haj Ali said the political committee "endorsed a relaxation and modification of the emergency law. It will be used only for extreme cases such as war."
The 21-member Baath Regional Command was slimmed down to 14 ministers, with Vice Presidents Abdel Halim Khaddam and Zuheir Masharka as well as former Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass among the veterans making their exit. The congress pledged to press ahead with reform, adopting the principle of a "social market economy" that would transform the pervasive public sector while supporting the private sector, state television said. It also recommended a "revision of the electoral law" for holding legislative and local elections, the television said. And the party called for the formation of "higher council for information" and amendments to the law on publications that lays down prison terms for offenders. A new press law was expected to allow private media to play an essential role in the future. The recommendations listed by the television did not mention Article 8 of the constitution, which gives supremacy in government to the Baath party. There have been leaks from Baathists that the article would be amended or toned down.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow. So now they can have Shower Parties? How about Wesson Oil Parties? You really do need the Shower Party if you have a Wesson Oil Party. Think Soap-on-a-Rope and all becomes clear. Color me all pink and squeaky clean!
Three days ahead of the third round of parliamentary elections in Lebanon, hardline Christian Gen. Michel Aoun and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt have said they fear for their lives.
Probably with good reason...
"There are people more exposed to assassination than others and I believe I am one of those. I have taken measures to protect myself and continue to receive warnings from friendly security forces," Aoun said in an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper published yesterday. Meanwhile, in an interview with Deutsche Welle Television's (DW-TV) Arabic program Wednesday evening, Jumblatt made the same comments. "As long as dozens of Syrian intelligence officers roam freely in Mount Lebanon, Beirut and the Bekaa, who is not under threat?" asked Jumblatt. Aoun and Jumblatt are competing against each other in the Baabda-Aley district on Sunday in what is expected to be a tightly fought contest. Aoun, a harsh critic of Syria who returned from exile on April 7 after Syria withdrew from Lebanon, made the surprise move of joining with Jumblatt's Druze rival, pro-Syrian Talal Arslan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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I've got to give Assad credit. It looks like he is well on his way to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Radical Arab militants have been trickling into Iraq to join the fight of Ba'athists and radical Islamists against US forces. But another,non-violent Arab contingent of volunteers has been gearing up for battle on a different front the defence of Saddam Hussein. During the past year, the committee for the defence of Mr Hussein, known by its acronym Isnad, has swelled to more than 2,500 lawyers. Some are Iraqis, led by Mr Hussein's head lawyer, Khalil al-Duleimi. But the majority come from Arab states, with Jordan providing as many as 600 of the legal experts. In Libya, the head of the support committee is Aisha, the daughter of Colonel Muammer Gadaffi.
2,500 hostile Arabs, and they're all lawyers. Be still, my trigger finger.
The committee claims to have the direct blessing of Mr Hussein and to have been asked to represent him by his family. His daughter Raghed acts as the main liaison with the legal team. But the committee's role appears to be largely political. Its aim is to keep alive Arab voices of protest against the US and the new Iraqi political system, despite the January elections and the formation of a new democratic government in Baghdad.
Members have assumed the trial of Mr Hussein is years away and may never be held. They were taken aback this week when the Iraqi government, desperate to send a strong message to the insurgents, suddenly announced the trial would start in two months and focus on 12 charges based on well-documented war crimes. But after several of the lawyers complained the government had not followed due process and had not even officially informed them of the charges, officials in Baghdad backed away from their claims and said no date for the trial had been fixed. "We heard about all this through the media," says Ziad al-Khasawneh, the Jordanian lawyer who heads Isnad. "The whole thing is a charade it's total chaos."
A small, burly man and longtime admirer of Mr Hussein whom he calls a "real nationalist" Mr al-Khasawneh told the FT he would not be defending the deposed leader if Mr Hussein had been ousted in an internal coup. "We're doing this because of the occupation," he says. "Iraq and Egypt are the pillars of the Arab world. When one collapses, the whole Arab nation collapses."
It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Injecting insulting remarks about the US and the UK into his discourse, he says the committee, including the lawyers in Iraq, has never seen "a single piece of paper about his [Mr Hussein's] crimes". The lawyers have surfed the internet for details of the charges and have compiled their own files to counter every big accusation.
There have been reports of disagreements between the lawyers on the strategy for the defence of Mr Hussein, adding to the confusion over the trial. Mr Duleimi, the main lawyer in Iraq, has met his client only twice. Mr Khasawneh claims the charges are largely irrelevant. Defending Mr Hussein, he suggests, is about proving that he should not be on trial in the first place.
There was no justification for the Iraq war since no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he says, and that renders illegal all the laws enacted after the US-led invasion including the new permanent constitution that will be drafted this year. He maintains that Iraq's old constitution still applies, and so does article 40, which stipulates that the president cannot be tried without the permission of the so-called revolutionary council, the highest body in the ousted Ba'ath party.
Mr Khasawneh also cites article 58, which says the president of Iraq can essentially do what he wants to protect the nation. "This article covers everything that happened in the past," he says. "The [1990 Iraq] war against Kuwait and everything else falls under this article." His conclusion: "You simply cannot try Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 15:58 ||
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#1
get 'em all in one building and send a JDAM in. Piss on them and their litle dogs, too.
#2
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse than a regular American rat bastard lawer, along comes the radical islamic lawer. A new and improved version of the all too famliar a-hole we all love to hate. Doing work pro-bono for one of the worlds worst living tyrants (with the exception of George Bush the devil incarnate, of course). This my friends is the essence of inutile pursuits.
#4
Publish ALL their names and disseminate the list widely in Iraq and neighboring Arab countries. Everyone has a right to know just exactly who they are.
A growing number of Islamic militants from northern and sub-Saharan Africa are fighting American and Iraqi forces in Iraq, fueling the insurgency with foot soldiers and some financing, American military officials say.
About 25 percent of the nearly 400 foreign fighters captured in Iraq come from Africa, according to the military's European Command, which oversees military operations in most of the African continent.
Some recruits have joined the network of the militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has carried out many of the sophisticated attacks and suicide car-bombings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis in the past several weeks, the officials said.
A small vanguard of veterans are also returning home to countries like Morocco and Algeria, poised to use skills they learned on the battlefield in Iraq, from bomb making to battle planning, against their native governments, the officials said.
To combat the immediate threat and to prevent terrorists from gaining new safe havens in the region, the Bush administration is expanding a small military training program that has operated on a shoestring the past two years into a more ambitious program spending $100 million annually to provide airport security, money-handling controls, school construction and other assistance to nine African nations.
As part of this broader strategy, the United States on Monday began training exercises in Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Algeria. Four other countries, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco, will also participate by the time the exercises finish in two weeks. About 1,000 American troops, including 700 Special Operations forces, will train 3,000 African soldiers in marksmanship, border patrol and airborne operations.
"For a change, we're trying to get ahead of the power curve in a region that we believe is susceptible to use by terrorists," Theresa M. Whelan, the Pentagon's top Africa policy official, said. "It's a deterrent."
United States military and intelligence officials say vast swaths of the Sahara, from Mauritania in the west to Sudan in the east, which have been smuggling routes for centuries, are becoming areas of choice for terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, which has quietly stepped up its recruiting efforts in the region.
The countries there are some of the poorest in the world and have scant resources to monitor their borders or patrol the large remote areas of their interiors, where drug smugglers, weapons traffickers and terrorists had established land routes after routes in the Mediterranean began to be patrolled more intensively.
"Al Qaeda is assessing local groups for franchising opportunities," said Maj. Gen. Richard P. Zahner, chief intelligence officer for the European Command, who assumes that post for the military headquarters in Iraq this summer. "I'm quite concerned about that."
Among the local terrorist groups is the Salafist Group in Algeria, which abducted 32 European tourists in early 2003.
On Tuesday, the Algerian group claimed responsibility for a surprise attack last Saturday against an isolated Mauritanian Army outpost that left 15 Mauritanians and 9 insurgents dead. The group said in a message posted on a Web site in Arabic that the assault was a direct response to the training exercises that were "put in place by the enemy of God, America, and its agents in the region," The Associated Press reported.
American military officers and defense officials, who spoke in authorized interviews but on the condition of anonymity, citing security considerations when they travel overseas, said the number of African militants and the funds they have provided for the fighting in Iraq - perhaps several hundred thousand dollars - are not large compared with support from countries like Syria or Saudi Arabia. "But it allows those elements to get in and be players," one officer said.
Not all northern African militants turning up in Iraq belong to a group like Salafist or the Moroccan Islamist Combatant Group. But the skills they learn and the connections they make with other insurgents there is making Iraq a training ground and networking hub for terrorists, these officials say.
"They're getting to use those training skills, hone them and eventually go somewhere else and use them," one defense official said. "The bottom line is you've developed a new extremist. It doesn't paint a pretty picture down the road."
The Pentagon is also paying more attention to other parts of Africa. About 1,300 American troops are based at a former French Foreign Legion compound in Djibouti to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa. Maj. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, the American commander, said his forces were using civil-affairs projects, not combat missions, "to isolate the terrorist from his support, which is the population."
American forces two years ago began training and equipping six light infantry companies of roughly 150 soldiers each from Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger in a program called the Pan Sahel Initiative. The Sahel straddles the southern edge of the Sahara. "It was barely a drop in the bucket given the nature of the problem we were dealing with," Ms. Whelan said.
The European Command lobbied hard to expand the $6 million program, and in March the administration approved the new effort, the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative, with plans to finance it with $100 million a year for five years, beginning in 2007, Ms. Whelan said.
Under the plan, the military will train battalions of 500 soldiers from the nine countries, and provide Toyota Land Cruisers, radios, uniforms, global-positioning devices and fuel trailers. American instructors would also teach the African militaries how to coordinate planning and operations with each other.
"They need the ability to support military teams, hundreds of miles away, with communications and logistics," said Rear Adm. Hamlin B. Tallent, the European Command operations director. "If they want to do maneuver operations, this is clearly a capability that doesn't exist now."
In addition, Ms. Whelan said, the initiative calls for the Justice Department to help train the local police; for the Treasury Department to assist on developing financial controls; for Customs to help with border security, and for the Agency for International Development to finance school construction.
"This assistance will provide countries in northern Africa with an enhanced ability to interdict transnational terrorists and other criminal elements," said Representative Ed Royce, a California Republican who heads the House International Relations terrorism subcommitttee.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2005 15:48 ||
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North Africans? They should be fairly easy to pick out from the natives in Iraq.
#2
North Africans are overwhelmingly Arabs. sub-Saharan Africa is normally used to refer to areas populated by black Africans, who would stick out like the proverbial sore thumb in Iraq. However, the NYT has chosen to use the term as literally meaning south of the Saharan Desert, which would include some Arab populated areas on the southern fringes of said desert.
Military operations in Iraq have not succeeded in weakening the insurgency, and Iraq's government, with US support, is now seeking a political reconciliation among the nation's ethnic and tribal factions as the only viable route to stability, according to US military officials and private specialists.
Two years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Iraq conflict has evolved into a classic guerrilla war, they argue. Outbreaks of fighting are followed by periods of relative calm and soon thereafter, a return to rampant violence. Despite significant guerrilla setbacks and optimistic predictions by a host of American commanders earlier this year, the Sunni-backed insurgency remains as strong as ever, forcing American officials and their Iraqi allies to seek a political solution to the bloodshed. Pentagon officials and current members of the military interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity.
''We are not going to win the unconditional surrender from the insurgents and have no choice but to somehow bring them into society," said retired Army Colonel Paul Hughes, an Iraq war veteran who is now at the government-funded US Institute for Peace. ''To think there will be one climactic military event to end this is foolish. Those who cling to that don't understand."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2005 10:04 ||
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But since the Jan. 31 Iraqi elections, the insurgents, relying on steady streams of funding and weapons, new recruits, and staging areas in Syria and possibly Iran, have struck back with a vengeance and US force levels have remained constant.
Sounds like the U.S. is making a Vietnam-style mistake in the vein of Cambodia. And everyone knows what the outcome of that conflict was.
Specialists say they believe Iraq's estimated 5 million Sunnis fear that the country's government, dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds, will exact revenge on them for decades of Hussein's brutal rein.
Keep on killing civilians indiscriminately boys, and it'll happen. And when it does, there will be few tears shed over it.
#2
Military operations in Iraq have not succeeded in weakening the insurgency...Sunni-backed insurgency remains as strong as ever
And how would you know? This is just another swell of MSM defeatism. My GOD, they haven't stop murder, rape, and robbery right here in River City. That must mean our state and local government efforts to reduce crime have failed. Failed I tell you. We're lost!
A little perspective -
"...The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of a recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting the enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable." Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant.
When the enemy has to trick men into going to Iraq, when they take the dupes' passports away to insure they stay around, when they have to lie that they'll be blowing up Americans and not Iraqi women and children, when they have to enforce discipline by threat of death, I doubt very seriously that outside the MSM, the terrorist can lay claim to succeeding in their operations. When you can look at what the Zman has to do just to stay around, it doesn't look like cake walk for them in the least.
There is only one group who can defeat us and that is us.
#5
Youre right matt, the boston globe should maybe consider mass suicide since we have lost the war on terror and don't deserve to live anyway. They should do the right thing and kill martyr themselves as an example to the rest of us.
To the editor of the boston globe: Everyone besides you and the washington post seem to think we are making progress in Iraq. What do you have against democracy? Why would you begrudge others this godgiven right?
It posits a change in strategy. I think the notion of negotiating a political solution, with major elements of the Sunni Arabs, including elements of the insurgency, has been part of coalition strategy at least since June of 2003, when Allawi became PM. Indeed that was one of the reasons Allawi was selected.
Why are negotiations more serious now - primarily because of the political success of the elections. Its clear that there is a political process going on that cannot be derailed, and that the Sunnis will be better off getting on board now. OTOH its also clear that the insurgents CAN make things very difficult for the new govt, and they and their Sein Fein like agents in AMS are bargaining for the best deal they can get. Beyond that its the usual rugdealing.
#7
There has indeed been a strategy shift, but the shift is from Iraqi terrorists. They know they can't survive a standup fight against US and US trained forces, so they are going against the toughest targets they can: woman and children.
Just another piece bemoaning the lack of American dead. The Glob and the Post all want the same thing: dead Americans and if they can convince the "insurgency" that all is not lost, then they will get their wish.
HOURS AFTER Tony Blair left Washington, after a surprisingly productive family visit in which indigent Africans pocketed almost as much American cash as did Cherie meow, President Bush entertained another visitor at the White House.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan lacks Mr Blair's star quality. The Turkish Prime Minister is the kind of man who can empty a room simply by entering it. His wife commands no fees on the Destitute Housewives circuit. The weight of his country's past sits uncomfortably on Mr Erdogan's sloping shoulders. He is to Suleiman the Magnificent what John Major was to Henry V. His visit went duly unremarked in the Blairs' vapour trail.
But the leadership shortcomings of this rather vapid prime minister should not obscure the importance of his country. For centuries Turkey has been the pivotal nation in the Eurasian landmass. In the Cold War it was a vital block on Soviet ambitions towards the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
Post-9/11 it became even more central to American and Western aims. As the one real example of a functioning democracy whose inhabitants happened to be Muslim, it was, if not a model, then, in the words of its own leaders, an " inspiration" for the rest of the Islamic world. If we could get the likes of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia to construct political systems that were half as democratic and pluralist as Turkey's, we would be well on the way to snuffing out the hate-filled ideologies of Middle Eastern tyranny.
This inspirational vision for Turkey was what has helped to drive the EU towards extending, albeit reluctantly, the prospect of membership to the Turks. The US too, has worked hard to persuade Turkey to stay in the modern camp; it has been a happy recipient of US assistance, and an unusually generous IMF programme in 2001.
But the terrible truth is that we are steadily losing Turkey. The Turkey rejectionists in France and the rest of Europe are rising just as American irritation with Turkey is reaching dangerous new heights. And all of this is taking place as developments at home in this great teeming country of 70 million people are pushing Turkey away from a Western embrace.
Joining the EU and continuing Nato membership remain the avowed policies of the Erdogan Government, but the fire is steadily going out. Instead, feeling unloved in Brussels and Washington, and under growing pressure at home from those who favour Islamic solidarity over Western alliances, the leadership is looking elsewhere.
In some ways you can't blame the Turks. For years they have been told to get their house in order if they want to belong to a rich Western club: entrench their fledgling democracy with civilising laws and legal codes; withdraw the military from public life; be nice to the Greek Cypriots; promote economic liberalisation.
They have met these demands more than halfway. They have abolished the death penalty and subjected themselves to the post-modern interventions of the European Court. The military has been escorted politely to the sidelines of political activity. The Government has made hitherto unthinkable concessions on Cyprus. Their economy has, since the last crisis of 2001, been among the zippiest in Europe, with growth of about 9 per cent annually. In short, the Sick Man of Europe is up and about, and performing acrobatic feats to demonstrate its fitness to be a true European.
But the rewards do not seem forthcoming. French voters last month extended a Gallic middle finger to the prospect of Turkish EU membership. In Germany, a new government likely to take office this autumn will add the index finger to make it a full European V sign. Though accession negotiations will presumably start on October 3, no one seems to think they are likely to proceed quickly to EU membership.
Relations with the US are no better. The Bush Administration still blames the Erdogan Government for failing to get Turkish parliamentary support to help in the invasion of Iraq two years ago. no mention here of France's threat to keep the Turks out of the EU if they worked with us. Enjoying your new French friends now, Erdogan? The Turks are deeply unhappy that the PKK, the Kurdish terrorist group, is intensifying its campaign against the Turkish military with apparent impunity, or (in a conspiracy-theory-rich country) even with American connivance, from inside US-patrolled Iraq.
Ugly strains are developing in domestic politics. Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, elected three years ago, is a conservative religious party, dedicated to easing the tight controls that separate religion and the state. There is no immediate threat to Turkey's longstanding secularist constitutional approach, but there are ominous developments Anti-Semitism is spreading; Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion both sell well. The country's religious leaders have taken to excoriating Christian missionaries for their supposedly political campaign to undermine Turkey by proselytising, even though, by the Government's own estimate, this missionary campaign has succeeded in converting precisely 368 Turks in the past five years.
Increasingly, Turkey is looking east and south. The country has for neighbours some of the nastiest regimes on earth. But Mr Erdogan has recently visited Bashar Assad, of Syria, and his country is maintaining warm relations with Iran. Turkish officials talk about a foreign policy built on "strategic depth", code for a reorientation of policy from the West towards the Muslim world, the Caucasus and even Russia.
Turkey is not lost. Not yet. But the needle on the country's geopolitical compass has shifted sharply in the past few years. Its foreign-policy thinkers are aware that their country's geostrategic significance is no less than it was in the post-Second World War world. They are starting to explore some of the opportunities it represents. For Europe and America, who strove hard to keep Turkey in the right camp throughout the Cold War, that ought to be worrisome news.
Posted by: too true ||
06/10/2005 09:43 ||
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#1
Turkey is one of the "schizophrenic nations" of the world, culturally and politically split between competing philosophies, peoples and values. However, there is a new salvation just over the horizon: A Middle East Common Market. There being no other good comparison, Turkey and Iraq show prospect of being in a way like France and Germany, the heart of a unified economic zone. Potentially encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Saudi, Yemen, UAE, Algeria, Jordan, Oman, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and several others, though Iran is questionable; it could rival or exceed the EU in population, and could re-create the region economically into a modern confederation. I am hesitant about including Iran, because it holds much the same position to the MECM as does Russia to the EU.
#2
After 9/11 Turkey should have huddled with the US and Isreal and come up with a plan. (a) Isreal makes noises on the Syrian border to draw Syrian troops south (b) US makes noises on the Iraqi southern border to draw Saddam's troops south, and aircover, (c) Turkey invades Syria and Iraq.
Being an Islamic nation Syria would have gotten a lot less heat over such an invasion, could have set up strongmen, could have been satisfied that Kurdish issues would be dealt with to Turkish satisfaction. Could have gotten a big fat American paycheck and political cover to support the Peacekeeping. Could have been heroes in Europe (still not members of the EU though) for stabalizing the area and keeping the Americans out.
Turkey could have been a contender, instead they became a turkey.
#3
Instead, feeling unloved in Brussels and Washington, and under growing pressure at home from those who favour Islamic solidarity over Western alliances, the leadership is looking elsewhere.
Surely these dimwits can't be wondering WHY that would be......
#4
From a sheer gaming standpoint the mess Turkey has made of things is annoying. In every game of Dipolomacy I've participated in Turkey eneded up with the whip hand. Jeeeez what foul ups.
So, in case Avalon Hill every gets going in Rantburg, I declare for Turkey right now here today. Dibs!
#5
The USA and Britain will never allow either Radical Islam nor the Kurds to take hold in Turkey, neither will the Russians. The USA needs Turkey to be a regional democratic capitalist linchpin/bedrock and model for the newly independent Central Asian Moslem states plus the post-WOT democratic Middle East in general.
A militant Shiite Muslim group with close ties to Iran has gained enormous power since Iraq's January elections and now is accused of conducting a terror campaign against Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority that includes kidnappings and murders.
But in spite of concern among Sunni Arabs that the Badr Brigade is behind a series of attacks against Sunni clerics, including cases where victims appear to have been tortured with electric drills, the group has received praise from top Iraqi government officials.
"Today, there is a sacred mission of sweeping away the remnants of the dictatorship and defeating the terrorism, and your role with your brothers in the [Kurdish militia] is required and necessary to fulfill this sacred mission," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Sunni Kurd, told a meeting of Badr members Wednesday. At the same gathering, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari praised Badr for its restraint, saying "force without integrity is evil and integrity without force is weakness."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/10/2005 09:57 ||
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#1
Payback time...
Posted by: DJ ||
06/10/2005 15:46 Comments ||
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see bitch, it is a
and related
around, what goes and comes
June 10, 2005: Alarmed at the speed with which army and marine combat troops are just giving up on spy satellites, and air force intelligence in general, and developing their own aerial reconnaissance capabilities, the big intel agencies are talking serious change on how they distribute their product. The problem is, and has always been, one of determining who is authorized to view photos and other intelligence (usually electronic) obtained with these very expensive satellites and aircraft. During the Cold War, it was believed that if the enemy could see what we were getting, and realize the quality of it, the bad guys could use that information to better hide things. There was some truth to this. But the Soviet Union is gone, and the biggest user of all this expensive intel is not a bunch of generals in the Pentagon, but thousands of grunts fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When some people in Congress suggested that money be taken from the billions spent on satellites, and diverted to the army for more recon UAVs, there was suddenly a major attitude adjustment among the satellite community. Now there are proposals to make satellite and air recon images available immediately on the classified Internet. The ground pounders have access to this. The satellite lords would promptly classify the images, some being more secret than others. But any ground commander could instantly get access to the images if they had a high enough security clearance. That would mean that some images would only be seen at a division headquarters, and not at brigade or battalion level. No problem, sat the grunts. If you can get us useful stuff faster than anything we've got, we'll use it. Otherwise, the implication is, we'll take your money.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 09:14 ||
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What happens when some 15 year old hacker from Bumfuck, New Jersey get into the system and sells all the info to Choice Point?
#2
It would be on SIPRNET or GCCS or something whose name I dare not speak. It would be physically isolated from the Internet, not just logically and virtually isolated by firewalls, encryption, proxies, etc., like most other data sources.
June 10, 2005: The U.S. Navy has started construction of its first LCS (Littoral Combat Ship.) The navy now plans to build as many a hundred of these ships, which will become the most numerous warships in the fleet. LCS was originally meant for operations close to shore. But the LCS design has grown to the point where the LCS is no more capable of coastal operations than most other ships with the same displacement. No matter, the LCS features a number of major innovations. For one thing, it is highly automated, and has a crew of less than fifty. The LCS has a large "cargo hold" that can be quickly fitted with gear to turn it into a mine clearing ship, a submarine hunter, or just about anything (anti-aircraft, shore bombardment, commando support, or even command and control.) Each LCS also carries a Black Hawk size helicopter (MH-60), and has a hanger for it. There is also a water level dock for launching USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicles).
The LCS is fast, able to sprint at speeds as high as 90 kilometers an hour. At that speed, the LCS has a range of 2,700 kilometers. Cruising speed is 36 kilometers an hour, which provides a range of 7,700 kilometers. However, the LCS only carries supplies for 21 days, and fuel for, at most, nine days of cruising. However, the LCS can be replenished at sea. This situation is not much different than what ships of similar size, World War II destroyers, had to deal with when at sea.
There are actually two competing designs, one from General Dynamics (GD), and the other from Lockheed Martin (LockMart). The first LCS being built is the LockMart design, which looks rather conventional. The GD design is a three hull (trimaran) design. The first LCS will be launched next year, and enter service in 2007. The second LCS will be one of the GD design, which will enter service in 2008. Two of each design will be built, with the last of them entering service in 2009. A year or two after that, the navy will decide which design to go with. The LockMart design is the "safe" one, employing the familiar single hull. But the trimaran design shows much promise, and several smaller test ships have been operating for the past few years. The two GD trimaran LCS ships will be the acid test, competing directly against the LockMart ships.
Actually, the LCS is the new "small warship" for the American fleet. A century ago, this was the 1,000 ton destroyer. Sixty years ago, it was the 1,500 ton frigate (or even smaller corvette). For the past sixty years, the frigate has been considered the smallest "warship." Anything smaller was considered some kind of a coastal patrol ship. Frigates have since grown to 3-5,000 tons. The LCS will be 2,500-3,000 tons, about the size of late World War II destroyers. The LockMart ships is 378 feet long, the GD one, 400 feet. The ships are stealthy, cost about $220 million each, and will be built at the rate of five a year once the final design is selected.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/10/2005 09:11 ||
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...They got a class name for this beast yet?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/10/2005 10:25 Comments ||
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90 KPH is 48 knots, kids. That is smokin' fast for a 2,500 ton warship.
I believe the WWII speed champs were the British Abdiel-class minelayers and the French Fantasque-class destroyers, which could do 42 knots. Anyone know of anything faster?
Posted by: Mike ||
06/10/2005 10:42 Comments ||
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Navy has started construction of its first LCS (Littoral Combat Ship.)
This is to be followed by the Clittoral combat ship next year.
Factions of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) headed by Amanullah Khan and Yasin Malik have decided to unite and form a seven-member committee to finalise modalities and the structure of the new JKLF, Altaf Hussain Qadri, JKLF (Yasin Malik) representative, told Daily Times on Thursday. He said the meeting between both factions —lasting several hours —decided to unite the JKLF.
No gunfights, not even a dented turban. I guess that's a good sign...
About complaints discussed during the meeting, he said both factions had no complaints against each other. "Both leaders have adopted a forgive and forget policy," he added. The first meeting of the seven-member reconciliation committee would be held in Mirpur in Azad Jammu and Kashmir with Yasin Malik and Amanullah Khan participating, he said. Farooq Haider would head the committee and both leaders would nominate three members to represent their factions in the committee, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Pakistan on Thursday denied claims that one of two terror suspects arrested in California had received training at an Al Qaeda camp in the country. "There are no training camps in Pakistan," senior Foreign Ministry official Naeem Khan said when asked to comment on reports in a number of newspapers in the US and Pakistan.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"We are the frontline state in the fight against terrorism. How could we allow such camps in our country?" he said, adding that Islamabad had asked its embassy in Washington to get details of the charges from US authorities.
"Find out how much they know!"
The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that the FBI had arrested a Pakistani American father and son with suspected links to Al Qaeda in Lodi, California.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
If there aren't any training camps, then nobody who isn't there anyway will object if it suddenly doesn't disappear from the face of the earth, leaving no survivors, right?
#4
CNN Interview
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned that Rawalpindi is where the military has bases, but also the ISI has bases there. Would it surprise you if any al Qaeda camps existed in the same area?
KHURSHID KASURI, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MIN.: What Rawalpindi? Where Rawalpindi? A village? A hamlet? City? Town? Where? Very Happy Rolling Eyes Laughing
KOPPEL: Would it surprise you that al Qaeda camps existed on the outskirts, essentially, of your capital city?
KASURI: No, no. It wouldn't surprise me, but what I'm trying to say is that just because somebody says such and such a camp is an al Qaeda camp, I don't know. I don't know nothing. Laughing It won't surprise me and I don't wish to rush to judgment.
Posted by: john ||
06/10/2005 22:13 Comments ||
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The Indian Army does not plan a ceasefire with militants in Jammu and Kashmir but is ready to encourage them to give up arms, said Indian Army chief Gen JJ Singh on Thursday. "There is no such idea," said Singh when asked by reporters about the possibility of a ceasefire in Kashmir. "The army is ready to help those Kashmiri youth who want to shun violence," he said.
There have been persistent calls for a truce with militants by Kashmir state politicians following progress in an 18-month old peace process between India and Pakistan. The Indian Army entered a ceasefire with militant groups in July 2000 that lasted two weeks. The army followed the aborted agreement with a unilateral halt to operations in November 2000 that lasted six months. In November 2004, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a unilateral withdrawal of several thousand troops from Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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"Hudna? Are you insane? We know better. Now sod off. It's time for tea."
#6
Isn't that the guy who played Capt. Nemo in "The League of Extraordinaty Gentlemen?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
06/10/2005 12:46 Comments ||
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Link
The sight of the General in tears may have confounded many. But the chatteratti had a new topic to talk about. Is the new army chief a metro-sexual man, they wondered, one who could fight as well as cry without any qualms.
Posted by: john ||
06/10/2005 18:54 Comments ||
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Iraq's Sunnis yesterday won greater role in the country's politics, but the exact number of their representation in the committee drafting a constitution remained unclear. Leading officials in the committee tasked with writing the constitution by Aug. 15 said the size of the committee would be expanded to 69 members from 55. The number of Sunni Arab members would be raised to 15 from two, giving them the same level of representation in the body as the Kurds. The Sunnis, however, have demanded more. On Wednesday an alliance of Iraq's main Sunni Arab groups said they wanted 25 seats on the constitutional committee and would refuse to take part in drafting the document unless their demand was met.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Ok, then two it is. Get the hell out, and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Posted by: ed ||
06/10/2005 0:33 Comments ||
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Maybe this like filing a lawsuit. You demand $100 million when you'd be happy with $10 million.
Then, again, since they are Sunni Arabs, maybe not. Maybe they're just insane.
#4
News Flash: They rejected the offer of 15 seats, demanding at least 25.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/10/2005 11:48 Comments ||
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I don't see this as appeasement but as an accommodation for the Sunnis. If they become part government, the insurgency loses pretty much the last branch (domestically) that kept them going. Now they canâ claim to represent any significant body within Iraq and become the enemy of ALL Iraqis because the Sunnis are part of that government. Yes itâs late in the game to add to the roster by if it speeds democratic control of the country it will be more than worth it. So by all means let the Sunnis in and offer them a chair that is part of the political process.
#6
I dunno, seems to me that speed in asserting democratic control of Iraq shouldn't take a back seat to quality; i.e., the process, such as participation in elections, fielding candidates, debates, etc., etc. When some group has spurned the process, yet makes political demands later on that are taken seriously, the whole purpose of the exercise itself loses its value.
Why go through all the motions when some group can kill a whole bunch of civilians, then make demands and subsequently receive all or part of what they want?
Egypt's ruling party submitted to the Cabinet yesterday a final draft of an election law regulating the country's first contested presidential election in September, the speaker of parliament said. Fathi Srour, speaker of the People's Assembly, Egypt's lower house of parliament, said that the bill submitted by the National Democratic Party (NDP), stipulates terms of reference for a higher ad hoc committee to supervise the election and sets rules for candidates' campaigns before the poll. "The bill states that the presidential election committee composed by high profile judges and public figures will be treated as a public legal entity, which will have its own budget and will be fully independent," said Srour. "The 10-member committee will be responsible for examining candidates' applications and will announce the results in the national papers," he told Arab News.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won a commitment from militant groups in the occupied Gaza Strip yesterday to maintain a truce with Israel that has been hit by a flare-up of violence. Abbas sealed the pledge in talks with leaders of 14 Palestinian political factions including the militant group Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad. But militants said they would still respond to any Israeli attacks.
Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Gaza throughout the talks, which came a day after an Israeli aircraft fired three missiles at a Palestinian rocket crew in Gaza in response to mortar fire at a Jewish settlement. That was the latest escalation of Israeli-Palestinian violence since Abbas coaxed militants into the truce he agreed with Israel in February. Israel wants Abbas to enforce calm to ease a planned Israeli pullout from Gaza starting in August.
"So far we are committed to calm...but if they (the Israelis) violate it, we will respond. If they abide by it, we will abide by it," said Khaled Al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader. Officials from Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state, said the group would also maintain calm if Israel did the same. But a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "There will be a reaction to every (Israeli) assault."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/10/2005 00:00 ||
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There's nothing better then fresh truce. A little tequila lime marinade, slow cooked over a low flame, mmmmmmm mmmmmmm good!
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.
Qatar took its first step toward greater democracy yesterday, officially adopting a constitution that grants women equal rights and paves the way for the emirate's first parliamentary elections.
Yemeni President 
CORDOBA: The Organisation for Security and Cooperation began winding down a two-day conference on anti-Semitism and intolerance in this southern Spanish city on Thursday by insisting terrorism must not be identified with a religion, ethnic group or culture. 
The United Nations is to consider sending a verification team back to Lebanon after reports that Syrian intelligence may not have completely withdrawn from the country, Secretary-General 
On Thursday, the widow of prominent Lebanese journalist 
Syria's ruling Baath party yesterday allowed the emergence of other political parties and the relaxation of the state of emergency. The party's 10th congress also scaled back the size of the Regional Command, electing several new faces to the top party body, including the first woman. It voted unanimously to renew President 
Three days ahead of the third round of parliamentary elections in Lebanon, hardline Christian Gen. 
Factions of the 
Pakistan on Thursday denied claims that one of two terror suspects arrested in California had received training at an Al Qaeda camp in the country. "There are no training camps in Pakistan," senior Foreign Ministry official Naeem Khan said when asked to comment on reports in a number of newspapers in the US and Pakistan. 
Iraq's Sunnis yesterday won greater role in the country's politics, but the exact number of their representation in the committee drafting a constitution remained unclear. Leading officials in the committee tasked with writing the constitution by Aug. 15 said the size of the committee would be expanded to 69 members from 55. The number of Sunni Arab members would be raised to 15 from two, giving them the same level of representation in the body as the Kurds. The Sunnis, however, have demanded more. On Wednesday an alliance of Iraq's main Sunni Arab groups said they wanted 25 seats on the constitutional committee and would refuse to take part in drafting the document unless their demand was met.
Egypt's ruling party submitted to the Cabinet yesterday a final draft of an election law regulating the country's first contested presidential election in September, the speaker of parliament said. 
Palestinian President 
