"And we have it on good authority that Mullah Omar's pee-pee is only that big!"
Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, will go to Afghanistan for the first session of its new parliament next week and also make stops in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman, all allies in the US war on terror. Cheney's office said in a statement on Friday: "The vice -president will represent the United States at the opening session of Afghanistan's new, democratically elected parliament." He will also meet Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and visit US troops.
Cheney will be among other foreign dignitaries attending the landmark session of Afghanistan's first elected parliament since the 1970s. His visit comes after elections in Iraq on 15 December that were viewed by the White House as another step towards democracy in that country and the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2005 00:00 ||
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This has to be making the Secret Service very nervous. The Democrats too (run against sitting VP Rice in 2008?)
Investigations into Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad bil-Maghrib (the Monotheism and Jihad group in Morocco) cells broken up by Moroccan security have revealed the inroads al-Qaeda has made into the region (see Terrorism Focus, Volume II, Issue 22). From the testimony of the arrested Belgian national Mohamed Rha, al-Qaeda has emphasized the restructuring of its organization in Saudi Arabia and set up affiliate organizations in North Africa. As part of the broader restructuring plan, the Algerian Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC) is to rejoin bin Laden's organization and provide support bases for its expansion, in order to more effectively target pro-U.S. regimes in the region.
The details released from the investigation add to the messages that were intended to be delivered to bin Laden via Abu Baseer the Algerian. The first of these was the call to active al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia that had already been installed to replace the recent losses from Saudi intelligence crackdowns. A second message contains the plan to have the GSPC make formal bay'a (allegiance) to Osama bin Laden and take over the administration of the North African jihad under this aegis. The third message indicates efforts to create al-Qaeda organizations in each North African country and a program to unite them with North Africans residing in Europe. The process behind these objectives includes the recruitment of volunteers for training in GSPC camps in Algeria, followed by their military activity against the Algerian security forces, before being sent to Syria, pending suicide operations carried out by members across the border in Iraq. Moroccan volunteers who returned to North Africa would form sleeper cells awaiting instructions from al-Qaeda.
Volunteers from North Africa have played important roles in al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq, but interestingly, UPI reported on December 4 that al-Zarqawi appears to have rejected a contingent of Algerian recruits, fearing that they were infiltrated by U.S. intelligence. The thoroughness of the security response in North Africa is making security difficult for the mujahideen. Following the May 2003 multiple bombings in Casablanca, the arena has become even less orderly, with a number of previously unknown groups declaring themselves and issuing threats against the government. One group, "The Moroccan Islamic Army for Shariah," has been issuing threats to leading Socialist figures such as Minister of Territorial Development Mohammad al-Yazghi, the head of the socialist bloc in parliament Idriss Lashgar and Minister of Economy and Finance Fathallah Oualalou. Meanwhile, remnants of the Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamaa, heavily affected by the post-Casablanca crackdown, formed the Usbat al-Falah (The Salvation League) and announced its existence in a communique from the Syrian jihadi forum Minbar Suriya al-Islami last November, declaring jihad on the Moroccan state (www.nnuu.org/vb; Focus Volume II, Issue 20).
On November 24, a day after the posting on the Usbat al-Falah, the same Syrian forum hosted a posting containing the Charter of the Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad bil-Maghrib signed by two Moroccans, the "commander" Abu al-Zubayr and the "media wing" Abu Muhammad. The text, addressed "To the Lions of Monotheism in all parts of the country," issued complaints against the Moroccan state, focusing on the substitution of the Shariah with a "government based on man-made infidel laws," and the "education of a new apostate generation that will tend the seedling of the infidel colonizers after their departure." The Charter identifies these as more dangerous than the colonizers, "since this group comes from among us, speaks our language, and most of the populace know little about them; the disbelief of apostasy is more injurious than original disbelief." The Charter goes on to describe the existence of "a blessed group resolved to rise up against the criminal tyrant [King Muhammad VI], to fight him and his party — in the path of jihad in the land of Tariq bin Ziyad [the Conqueror of Spain] and [leader of the Almoravids] Yusuf bin Tashufin — to fight the apostate hordes and tear up their roots." The authors of the Charter, however, lay stress on the limitations they place on the process of takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever), confining it to those committing overt acts contrary to the core practices of Islam, rather than extending to the evaluation of the individual's level of personal piety. This, no doubt, distinguishes the Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad bil-Maghrib from the takfiri groups such as the Algerian GIA, or the absolutist excesses of Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi (www.nnuu.org/vb).
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/17/2005 03:04 ||
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THE closed and secretive world of Irish republicanism was thrown into turmoil last night after one of Gerry Adamsâs most trusted lieutenants admitted that he had been a British agent for 20 years. Denis Donaldson, acquitted last week of charges of leading an IRA spy ring in the âStormontgateâ affair that ended Northern Irelandâs power-sharing executive three years ago, was a member of Belfastâs republican elite whose credentials in the fight to end British rule in Ireland would until now, have been regarded as unimpeachable.
But after he was âoutedâ yesterday and thrown out of Sinn Fein by Mr Adams, the question raised in West Belfast was: âIf Denis, then who else?â Mr Donaldsonâs extraordinary confession came a week after he and two other men, including his son-in-law, were sensationally acquitted of charges of possession of sensitive security documents, which resulted in the forced rehousing of 2,000 people at a cost of £300 million.
In one remarkable â and, for Mr Donaldson, extremely lucky â respect, his expulsion from Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Provisional IRA, also marks a significant departure from the traditional fate of a republican charged by his or her own comrades of âworking for the Britsâ. It is not unreasonable to suggest that only six months ago, prior to the IRAâs statement that it was ending its armed campaign to end British rule in the north of Ireland, Mr Donaldson would have suffered the fate of scores of earlier âvolunteersâ condemned to death for spying and been shot through the back of the head, his hooded body left on a roadside.
Continued on Page 49
After a week of surprises and denials, what now for Freddie Scappaticci?
Like a grisly arm pushing up through the soil of a long-abandoned grave, the name of Freddie Scappaticci sensationally surfaced last week, to widespread dismay and denial from all concerned.
This ageing but still barrel-chested Irish builder living quietly in a west Belfast suburb was melodramatically "outed" in Irish newspapers as Stakeknife - the British army's top informant during the bloodiest days of the IRA's terrorist war.
He stands accused of torturing and killing dozens during his reign over the IRA's own internal security team - called the nutting squad, as a fellow IRA man Eamon Collins once succinctly explained, "because they shoot you through the nut"
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/17/2005 3:10 Comments ||
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Nice graphic!
Posted by: The Prisoner ||
12/17/2005 15:57 Comments ||
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From East Asia Intel, subscription. A group of former North Korean commandos have established an overseas dissident organization to fight for freedom in their communist homeland and topple the Kim Jong-Il regime. The "Free North Korean Solders Association," spearheaded by some 20 North Korean special forces soldiers who defected to South Korea, will focus on dismantling North Korea's concentration camps that house some 200,000 political prisoners and freeing North Korean people from oppression. The dissident group also said it would wage a frontal fight to collapse the regime led by Kim Jong-Il, vowing they are prepared to sacrifice their lives to the cause of realizing freedom for the North Korean people.
If they're serious, I'd say it's a good bet they will...
"Commandos or ordinary [North Korean] soldiers who defected to the South are the most competent for the solution of North Korean problems. It is our inevitable duty to dissolve North Korean system and democratize it," the group said in a press conference in Seoul. "It is our ultimate objective to establish democracy throughout the entire Korean peninsular."
Too bad the SKors don't have the same objective.
The group said it would form a network with maltreated North Korean military personnel to challenge Kim Jong-Il rule. "Anti-regime atmosphere is spreading in the North Korean military. Soldiers are suffering from serious human rights abuses," the group said. "Many North Korean soldiers live on food aid from South Korea. The North Korean People's Army will collapse once the aid is blocked," the group said, calling for international efforts to ensure the transparency in the use of the aid in the North.
My guess would be that the North Korean army will collapse as soon as it's put under any kind of serious strain since the society supporting it is so fragile it can't feed itself.
"We will also expand contacts with North Korean border guards and join hands other groups to bring about substantial changes in North Korea." Lim Chun-Young, the leader of the dissident group, said North Korean people and Kim Jong-Il are standing at a crossroads. "If Kim Jong-Il lives, North Korean people will die. On the other hand, if North Korean people live, Kim Jong-Il should die," he said at the press conference.
And Junior Leader has to go too...
Members of the group wore sunglasses and masks to conceal their identities. Lim defected to South Korea in 1999 from a special military unit in the North. "More than 20 former solders have joined our organization," Lim said. "But for the time being, their identity will not be disclosed for smooth operations."
Not having assassins sneak into their houses and slaughter them at night will smooth operations enormously...
Earlier in this month, Lim issued an open letter to the North Korean leader, declaring a life-or-death fight against the regime. "Chairman [of the North's National Defense Commission] Kim, grant your people the freedom they deserve. They are not in this world to serve you alone. Their life should be worth their living. Freedom and democracy are the tide of the time that a few key people in your system can stop. Your people are not fools any more. If you refuse to act, we will act."
Bravo, Lim! Well said! This is probably the last we'll ever hear from you — having noted your existence as a curiosity, the press will now forget all about you. But the sentiments expressed are correct: Fearless Leader's era is over. The state exists to serve the people, not the people to serve the state. The only question still open is whether Kimmie's people are fools anymore.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Just topple his head - the rest of him will fall over automatically.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/17/2005 0:14 Comments ||
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I doubt that effective regime change has ever come from a press conference. If these boys were serious, they wouldn't talk about it.
#3
They sure are not going to get help from the SKOR government. I do not know if these guys will get anywhere, but I am cautiously optimistic (50.007%, heh) that the appointment of the new hard-line-for-the-NORKS ambassador to SKOR will send a message about how we will deal with the NORKS.
These guys are dead right about one thing: Any aid to the NORKS goes into propping up the Kimmie regime. Aid needs to be completely cut off. The sooner Kimmie and Co are toppled, the sooner the North Korean people can be rescued. It will then be up to the ChiComs and SKOR govts whether Kimmie and Co survives.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/17/2005 10:45 Comments ||
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I agree with anonymoose: unless NK army officers have a lot more access to the world media than I'd guess they do, this is for consumption outside NK, not for "rallying to the banner." The cynic in me says "fundraising," though I hope they can wake up the enablers.
Posted by: James ||
12/17/2005 16:07 Comments ||
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AS police prepare for more trouble at Sydney's beaches today, several peaceful gatherings will take place to condemn the recent race-fuelled violence.
Up to 2,000 police officers will be on duty amid fears of a repeat of last Sunday's riot at North Cronulla beach in Sydney's south where crowds turned on anyone of Middle Eastern appearance.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the state was prepared for a worst-case scenario.
Police would act on information from SMS messages, criminal intelligence, Crime Stoppers and the National Security Hotline.
But as police keep a watchful eye for any trouble, crowds are expected to gather at Town hall at about 1pm (AEDT) today for The Unite Against Racism Rally.
"We need to send the strongest possible message to the rest of Australia and to the rest of the world that those 5,000 people who rioted at Cronulla do not speak for us," a rally spokesman said.
"It's time that ... Sydneysiders who did not like what they saw last weekend took (to) the streets to make their voice heard."
In a similar action, people wearing white T-shirts are expected to converge on Bondi Beach about 3pm (AEDT) despite calls from authorities for people to stay away from popular beaches this weekend.
Yesterday, some of the state's most popular beaches were almost deserted as people heeded police calls to stay away.
But "Peacebake" organisers are today encouraging participants to "swim and hang out with people of all cultural backgrounds" and get their t-shirts signed by as many people from as many cultures as possible.peAbout the same time, a "harmonious gathering" at Belmore Park near Central Railway Station in the CBD is being planned to "promote cultural, religious, racial and ethnic harmony for all Australians."
Overnight, police said four cars, 14 mobile phones and weapons including swords and iron bars were seized and several arrests were made as part of Operation Seta, set up in response to last weekend's racial violence.
Police said a 32-year-old man walking in Maroubra about midnight was assaulted by four men, including one armed with an iron bar. The man, who attended Maroubra police station to report the attack, was treated by ambulance officers.
Up to 1,500 police officers hit the streets yesterday and about 31 roads were closed using tough new laws passed by state parliament last week to crack down on troublemakers.
Some streets were locked down in the beachside Sydney suburbs of Cronulla, Maroubra, Coogee and Bondi, and police established security checkpoints in other areas as part of Operation Seta.
Cars at the lockdown points were yesterday stopped and occupants spoken to, and only people who lived in the area or with a reasonable purpose were allowed in.
The security checkpoints will be in operation again today at key access roads to beachside suburbs across Sydney's south and east.
Deputy Commissioner Scipione has apologised for major traffic delays and has asked the public to avoid travelling to Cronulla, the eastern suburbs, central coast beaches and Wollongong.
"We need to send the strongest possible message to the rest of Australia and to the rest of the world that those 5,000 people who rioted at Cronulla do not speak for us," a rally spokesman said.
The rally spokesman is not named. Therefore, we must conclude it is a lefty organization and/or the spokesperson had an obviously ethnic name.
A quick check shows I am right. The National Union of Students Anti-Racism Officer Mr Osmond Chiu
Their web site highlights the Socialist Alliance, The Venezuela Solidarity Brigade and has an ad for resistance books: According to them, the Iraqi women were happier with the rape rooms and the torture chambers and the mass graves than they are the American occupation.
as for the Peacebake group - they are showing up in white tee shirts, I would assume because they don't want the women who particpate in their bathingsuits to be called sluts, whores and dragged off for a little multicultural gang rape.
Overnight, police said four cars, 14 mobile phones and weapons including swords and iron bars were seized and several arrests were made as part of Operation Seta, set up in response to last weekend's racial violence.
arrests of whom? we don't know. shhhh..it's a secret.
Police said a 32-year-old man walking in Maroubra about midnight was assaulted by four men, including one armed with an iron bar. The man, who attended Maroubra police station to report the attack, was treated by ambulance officers.
Since they didn't inform us that it was a druken white racists doing the beating, we can only conclude it was not.
#2
And this is funny - Tim Longhurst, the organizer of Peacebake, lists on one of his internet profiles that Fight Club is one of his favorite movies. You know - the one that is about a guy who goes around the world - setting up fight clubs and kisses his girlfriend as the Sears Tower falls in the background.
Via Melanie Phillips, a short excerpt from a speech given by an Australian Cop on November 12, 2003. Prescient.
The Middle Eastern crime groups and their associates number in the thousands, not the hundreds as the government and senior police would have you believe. It is the biggest crime problem we have ever faced, and it is growing. Hardly a day goes past without some violent crime involving a âmale of Middle Eastern appearanceâ, though I see lately that description is watered down now to include âand / or Mediterranean appearanceâ. To an operational policeman, there is a noticeable difference between an Italian and a Lebanese male.
That these groups of males can roam a city and assault, rob and intimidate at will can no longer be denied or excused. You need only to look at Paris and other European countries that have had mass immigration from Middle Eastern countries to see the sort of problems we can expect in years to come. My prediction is that within ten years, Middle Eastern crime groups will spread rapidly across Australia as they seek to expand their enterprises. There will be no-go areas in south-western Sydney, just like Paris.
Only recently I have seen quotes from senior police and retired police who claim that race is not the issue in organised crime. Those statements are stupid and dangerous. Organised crime groups with the exception of the bikies are almost always ethnically based â any experienced detective will tell you that. The days of Anglo-Saxon gangs are almost gone, with the exception of one or two local beach gangs.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Leb gangs have been a problem for years and yes they are getting heaps worse in the last 3 or 4.
Australia is screwed: the proposed solution to the "racist" violence (cue images of white neo nazis) is "greater understanding" to be fostered by forcing surf clubs to have a certain number of lebs (they were always free to join but they don't want to) and educating the locals about Lebanese culture so we can understand them.
THis will fail miserably as they have not correctly identified the problem. (Thanks to the dishonest media)
The problem is cultural.
Leb gangs of southwest sydney don't need to respect anyone else and they are taught to be territorial , women who don't wear sheets are sluts, be violent in numbers, organise on extended family principals, have a tribal mentality and add a dash of Islamic supremacy and you are there.
Now a civic education program forced on Lakemba mosque would go a long way to solving the cultural clash.
Lakemba mosque being forced to preach a message of respect for all women even those who don't wear the veil would help a lot.
What the hell is going on in Aussieland? Are they under the same level of what George Carlin calls "pussification process" that we have here in the States?
Simply deport the medieval bastards back to where they came from and be done with it!
#6
French immigration is a good comparison. Most of those "romantic" park walks that you saw in Paris based movies, are now polluted by Arab crapzoids. Paris parks are now no-go areas for non-Arabs. The recent jihad-riots gave Froggy a golden opportunity to put down the internal parasite mob. Instead, Chirac expressed an intent to shell out integration money. That move won't squelch Arab Muslim anger; it will stimulate it.
A man and a teenage girl have been arrested allegedly for selling a hand grenade in Sydney's inner-west. Police have alleged the 20-year-old Menai man and 17-year-old girl from Earlwood sold a hand grenade at Tempe last night. Officers attached to Strike Force Calderon, made up of police from Task Force Gain and Newtown Local Area Command, arrested the pair a short time later at Newtown.
The grenade was secured in Gough Whitlam Park in Earlwood and the area sealed off. The Police Bomb Squad made the grenade safe before handing it over to army bomb disposal officers. The man and teenage girl were taken to Newtown police station for questioning and charged with unauthorised possession of prohibited weapons and unauthorised sale of a prohibited weapon. The man was refused bail and is expected to appear in Parramatta Bail Court today. The girl was also refused bail and is expected to appear in Cobham Children's Court today. Task Force Gain commander Detective Superintendent Mark Henney said the police operation and arrests were not related to any investigation by Strike Force Seta, the police arm set up this week to deal with Sydney's recent race-related violence.
Not content to embarrass herself stateside - somebody's paying this bag of sh*t to travel abroad and denounce the US efforts Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan led a small protest Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy to denounce the war in Iraq.
About 100 protesters carried banners criticizing President Bush. Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, called Bush a war criminal and said, "Iraq is worse than Vietnam."
The protest also was called in memory of Jose Couso, a Spanish television cameraman killed on April 8, 2003, in Baghdad when a U.S. tank fired at a hotel where many foreign correspondents were staying. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, also was killed in that incident.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2005 18:11 ||
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hot-linked the pic, hope it stays...what a dipshit
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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Too bad she doesn't need a VISA to return.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 18:23 Comments ||
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Cindy Sheehan - the face of the anti-war movement *snicker*...lol!
#4
You guys got it all wrong. Cindy is Golden and I love her. I have a morbid obsession with her on-going adventure/travails.
A word to you hawks: RELAX!!...She isn't doing anybody any harm, except perhaps her own cause.
I think it's the anti-war types who should consider her poison, though it serves them right for embracing her so eagerly before. Now, even the Kos folks realize that she's a loser who squandered her chance to have a big impact. She radiates moonbattery. Even by moonbat standards, she seems excessively illogical. She's a big grinning middle class white American matron going through menopaus. Her grief was genuine before but now it's turned into a reflex, and she's no Meryl Streep. She can't even draw a crowd more than a "about 100 protesters" in Zapatero land!!
We should celibrate everytime she appears in the news - make sure she remains the face of anti-war movement and we have nothing to worry about. But what ever her many flaws, at one point in her life she did manage to raise Casey, so she does deserve a little respect.
#6
But what ever her many flaws, at one point in her life she did manage to raise Casey, so she does deserve a little respect
BZZZZZT bad answe. Lots of children manage to overcome the most atrocious of parents to succeed. Casey was obviously one of those who rose above, no credit to this sack
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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I nominate her for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She gets so much airtime she's earned it by now.
... almost all major media outlets tilt to the left. These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study
Surprising to whom, exactly? Not anybody with a brain, boobie.
"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican,"
OK, so he's sort of honest....
"But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."
But obviously clueless.
"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress..."
Which members? Pelosi? Kennedy? Shirley Moonbat, ferchrissakes?
"nearly all of them lean to the left"
Ya' think?
Did our tax dollars pay for this study of the obvious? That will be buried and/or denied.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/17/2005 22:43 Comments ||
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"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."
Lets hope this guy has tenure---cause journalists are not the only ones tilting to the left.
The House acted Friday to stem the tide of illegal immigration by taking steps to tighten border controls and stop unlawful immigrants from getting jobs. But lawmakers left for next year the tougher issue of what to do with the 11 million undocumented people already in the country.
The vote was 239-182, with opposition coming from Democrats and some Republicans upset by the exclusion of the guest worker issue and other Republicans wanting tougher border control measures. One measure that Republican leaders wouldn't allow a vote on was a volatile proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants.
Nobody is advocating the deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants, said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., sponsor of a guest worker measure. Without a temporary worker program, he said, "We simply won't enforce the law, and that's the dirty little secret here." While many agree with Flake, there are wide differences on the details of a guest worker program. Some lawmakers would require those in the country illegally to leave before applying for such a program, arguing that counterproposals allowing those already here to seek legal status is equivalent to amnesty. Bush has proposed that undocumented immigrants be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend those for an additional three years, but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.
The House bill would beef up border security with the help of local law enforcement and military technology, impose tougher penalties for smuggling and re-entry, and end the "catch and release" policy for illegal non-Mexicans. It makes drunken driving convictions a deportable offense. The bill makes unlawful presence in the United States, currently a civil offense, a felony. An amendment to reduce the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor was defeated, with many Democrats voting against the proposal in protest over subjecting people who have overstayed their visas to any criminal charges.
The House also voted 273-148 to end the diversity visa lottery program that's open to countries that send few immigrations to the United States. Opponents said it was susceptible to fraud and could be a way for terrorists to enter the country. On Thursday, the House approved an amendment calling for construction of a fence in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The most sweeping provision of the House bill would require all employers in the country, more than 7 million, to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national data base to verify the legal status of workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups protested this provision as unworkable, while immigrant rights groups said some of the new penalties were draconian.
"A migratory reform that only addresses security will not resolve the bilateral immigration problem," Mexican President Vicente Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Friday. "It is indispensable to establish legal, secure and ordered migration. Our countrymen make an enormous contribution to the United States economy." But sponsors, led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., insisted the bill was a needed step to restoring the integrity of U.S. borders and re-establishing respect for the law.
The White House said in a statement that it strongly supported the House bill, adding that it "remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform, including a temporary worker program that avoids amnesty."
#2
One measure that Republican leaders wouldn't allow a vote on was a volatile proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants.
fu*king limp dicks.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
12/17/2005 2:46 Comments ||
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Actually, Red Dog, this is the example of the half-loaf : get what you can the first time around, and then try again when people see the world has not come to an end by the first item. Too many people on both side of the political fence want illegals for a variety of reasons, none of which help the average citizen out.
#4
Nobody is advocating the deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants, said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., sponsor of a guest worker measure.
I am. Just because there's a whole bunch of them to have to deal with is no excuse to not do anything. The longer one waits, the worse it gets.
The most sweeping provision of the House bill would require all employers in the country, more than 7 million, to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national data base to verify the legal status of workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups protested this provision as unworkable,..
No, it's not "unworkable". It's more like, "We don't wanna do this - our workforce will be decimated".
#5
The House acted Friday to stem the tide of illegal immigration by taking steps to tighten border controls and stop unlawful immigrants from getting jobs. But lawmakers left for next year the tougher issue of what to do with the 11 million undocumented people already in the country.
what is the point of my reading this article any further? It is already obvious that the bill has no teeth, or the "remaining 11 million " would not be able to show up to work.
#6
"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups protested this provision as unworkable, while immigrant rights groups said some of the new penalties were draconian."
Q. Why has it taken so long to craft legislation that has such wide "bi-partsian" support?
A. The majority of the US population doesn't agree.
#7
ahhhh the outcry! I love the squeal of little piggies and the smell of bacon!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2005 11:23 Comments ||
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C'mon guys. Almost all of us are descended from immigrants.
I have no problem with Mexicans who want to be Americans. And I have to say that I were a struggling campesino with a campesino wife and six starving campesion kids trying to get by on $5 a day, going north to make $5 an hour would start looking pretty good.
And if I had any gumption at all, I'd take the chance.
That's the issue. The illegals in this country have more gumption and courage than most folks, because they were willing to hoof a thousand miles (or more) to come here and do the kind of work that relatively few Americans want to do (I haven't seen a pretty-boy white kid doing lawn maintenance for a long time).
Disclosure: I worked one summer to pick fruit and veggies. I did it because there was a recession and I couldn't find work doing anything else. I can't think of how much you'd have to pay me today to pick veggies. Yet the illegals will do it for $5 an hour. Makes you wonder how much more drive and gumption they have.
And that drive is what built our country. These folks are going to help build our country (in the case of New Orleans, literally) for the next couple of generations. The Scots-Irish, the Germans, the lower Irish, the Poles, Eye-talians, Serbs, Slavs, Bohunks, Chinese and Japanese of yesteryear did their jobs, and now it's time for Mexicans, Guatemalans, Nigerians and Vietnamese to do the same.
They will.
And we'll be better for it.
As far as I'm concerned, build a decent fence -- not to stop the illegals, but to put the coyotes who prey on them out of business. Figure out how many low-paying, dirty, lousy jobs we have in this country that no one wants to do, and open the gates in the fence each year to let that number of folks in. The work will get done, and these people will become Americans. They and their kids and their grandkids will be the salt of this country in the coming century.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2005 11:40 Comments ||
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#9
C'mon guys. Almost all of us are descended from immigrants.
I have no problem with Mexicans who want to be Americans. And I have to say that I were a struggling campesino with a campesino wife and six starving campesion kids trying to get by on $5 a day, going north to make $5 an hour would start looking pretty good.
We were once a nation of slavery too, but we painfully grew out of it. Either tell the environmentalist/lefties to shut up about the population and its consumption or be ignored when they support violations of the sovereign borders. Now if we violate someone's borders, they're the first to cry how evil America is. The again they're mainly transnationalist and don't believe in sovereign countries.
As far as the campesinos are concerned that is the creation of their own governments policies. I don't buy the guilt. Maybe if they didn't have a place to dump their excess unemployed they'd have the long over due revolution to line the SOBs pols up against the wall who've looted their countries resouces and treasure to enrich themselves and their parties.
As far as pay goes, if the labor market is infinite there is no reason to raise pay other than the artificial mininal wage. If labor is finite, then either wages rise to get the workers, or the service or product is not produced because it isn't that vital to the overall economy. So you make up the paper savings by indirectly taxing the law abiding citizens in providing education/daycare, medical, social services, and law enforcement infrastructure [jails, courts, prisons] to support all the additional bodies the consume the 'entitlements' of citizenship. Meanwhile the natives are screwed out of the quality of their birthright.
#10
C'mon guys. Almost all of us are descended from immigrants.
That's not really the point. The question is, do our laws count for something or not? If they do, then people should be expected to obey them. Just because there's some sort of need for what someone or some group offers does not mean that a law should be ignored or disregarded. In the case of immigration, there are other more important thinkgs at stake than just a cheap labor supply.
The Scots-Irish, the Germans, the lower Irish, the Poles, Eye-talians, Serbs, Slavs, Bohunks, Chinese and Japanese of yesteryear did their jobs, and now it's time for Mexicans, Guatemalans, Nigerians and Vietnamese to do the same.
I wouldn't count on it. The PC crowd and the race agitators are all hard at work trying to drum into our heads the notion that we are members of various and different tribes, all of which need to be identified whenever and wherever possible (see the hyphenated American phenomenon), with the exception of whites.
Oh, and let me add: Yours truly is not white, nor even part white. But being an American is my birthright, and I carry it with pride.
#15
"Nobody is advocating the deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants, said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.,"
why the hell not, I'm with you BAR. "Bush has proposed that undocumented immigrants be allowed to get three-year work visas."
I still see these workers as scabs in many areas. "One measure that Republican leaders wouldn't allow a vote on was a volatile proposal to deny citizenship to babies born in this country to illegal immigrants."
These anchor babies are a big issue. Maybe next time.
As a teenager growing up during the summers I worked picking beans for 1 1/2 cents per pound, for money for clothes the next year. Yes it was hard work, but I learned to value hard work and it gets the right focus into perspective. Now a days kids don't want to get their hands dirty. What kind of precidence are we setting here. A second class citizen to do our dirty work? Take it a generation down the line here, they'll want someone to do their dirty work.
They should go through the proper channels, and come into our country legally if they come in at all. Remember that immigrants and illegals are two different groups of people here. Illegals are hurting us tremendously, also themselves. I would prefer that immigrants are here because they want to live as we do, not because of money. To be Americans first...
Posted by: Jan ||
12/17/2005 22:39 Comments ||
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Lawyers for Jose Padilla, a US citizen facing terrorism charges, has accused Washington of playing games with the nation's courts by repeatedly changing its reasons for holding the former Chicago gang member as an "enemy combatant". Padilla's attorneys, Andrew G Patel and Donna R Newman, wrote on Friday: "Though its factual allegations have changed with the prevailing winds, the government's actions have been strategically consistent. "At every turn, the government has sought to manipulate the federal courts' jurisdiction and evade judicial review."
In a filing with the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Patel and Newman urged the court to transfer Padilla, who has been held for three-and-a-half years, from US military custody to civilian law enforcement authorities in Miami. Last month, a grand jury in Miami charged Padilla with being part of a North American terrorism support cell that raised money and recruited fighters to wage violent jihad outside the United States. Padilla's transfer is being delayed while the 4th Circuit reviews the responses it has sought from lawyers on both sides since the grand jury's indictment. The appeals court wants to know what effect the indictment has on a ruling it made in September that gave George W Bush, the president, wide berth in detaining US citizens indefinitely without charges. Patel and Newman urged the appeals court to wait to rule on whether to void its September decision until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear Padilla's constitutional challenges to the president's wartime powers to hold US citizens without charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Justice would have been swing at the end of a rope for Treason during time of war. Would have sent a message. Not necessarily to would be terrorists, but to their lawyers about trying to push the envelope.
MULTAN: A religious seminary student Muhammad Asif, 12, was scarred with hot iron for refusing to have sexual intercourse with his teacher, Abdul Rashid, who injured his private parts in anger. âWe have registered a case against Abdul Rashid on the complaint of Asifâs grand father for allegedly scarring the boyâs body with a hot iron,â said Multan DPO Munir Ahmad Chishti on Friday. He said the incident occurred on December 11 in a religious seminary in Hazoriwala where Asif stayed in boarding. His grandfather registered a case after a medico-legal certificate on Dec 15. Meanwhile, a madrassa teacher and two others are jailed awaiting trial in Karachi for an acid attack on a 14-year-old boy in 2002 after he allegedly refused to have sexual intercourse with the cleric. The boy was blinded and badly injured. However, the accused deny charges. Last year, a Pakistani official stunned the nation by officially disclosing more than 500 complaints of sexual assaults against young madrassa students, said Zia Ahmed Awan of the âMadadgaarâ, a group that compiles reports on sexual abuse of children in Pakistan. He said allegations of abuse in madrassas are being compiled to draw attention towards child abuse. staff report
Posted by: john ||
12/17/2005 19:03 ||
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2005 â Today is "a new day for Iraq," regardless of who wins in the country's parliamentary elections, an Iraqi-American who emigrated here 12 years ago and became a U.S. citizen in 1995 said here today. Ali Sadoon al-Timimi, an Iraqi-American sporting his ink-stained finger showing he's voted, calls Iraq's parliamentary election on Dec. 15 "a new day" for his native country.
Ali Sadoon al-Timimi, a Shiite Muslim from Basra, proudly held up his ink-stained finger to show he'd been to the East Coast polling station in nearby McLean, Va., set up where Iraqi expatriates could vote.
After three and a half decades under Saddam Hussein's bloody dictatorship, Timimi acknowledges he and many of his countrymen never dreamed they'd live to see the day when they would choose a new, democratically elected government.
"We're really, really excited," he said. "We as Iraqis believe in democracy, and the people are so happy to see this day."
Timimi remembers all too well the brutality and repression of the Saddam Hussein regime. He said two of his brothers were murdered under Saddam's order, one during the 1991 uprising against him.
Regardless of who wins at the polls today and what sect they represent, Timimi said, all Iraqis will be winners if their legislators keep the interests of the country at heart.
"Whoever wins, it doesn't matter, as long as they are for the people," he said. "Who's good is good and who's bad is bad. It doesn't matter what group they come from."
Timimi said he's encouraged to see Sunnis taking an active part in the elections after boycotting the January elections. "The Sunnis have come to see that this is the new reality and that things have to change," he said. "It's good is that they are now a part of that."
A U.S. citizen for the past 10 years, Timimi keeps in close touch with his family in Iraq and travels there frequently as an adviser to U.S. military organizations and contractors.
He sees a critical mission for himself and his fellow Iraqi-Americans: to help bridge the gap between Iraqis and Americans and educate their fellow Iraqis about America. Many Iraqis know only what the Saddam Hussein regime taught them about the United States, he said.
"I want people to see the other side," said Timimi. "Our responsibility is to help educate the people in Iraq."
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/17/2005 18:29 ||
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I wonder how can one immigrate to the US twelve years ago, in 1993, and become a citizen two years later, in 1995?
One of the most noticeable things is that some of the Sunni leaders like Mithal Al-Alowsi party (the Party of Iraqi Nation) achieved quite considerable amount of voices in the Shiite regions. It was reported that it achieved the third place in Karbala where there are 100% Shiite population and many Shiite parties. This is a good indication that many Iraqis are not looking for the faith of the person but for his program.
more at link
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/17/2005 17:53 ||
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John Burns from the NYT. He's usually pretty good, but watch a promising start hit the rocks in this piece.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 16 - The top two American officials in Iraq called Friday for the country's main political groups to come together quickly to form a broad-based government once Thursday's election results are known, saying hopes of quelling the Sunni Arab insurgency should not be squandered.
"The people, particularly the Sunni folks that I talk to, want a government that is seen as broadly representative of all the different ethnic and sectarian groups of Iraq," Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the American commander in Iraq, told a Pentagon news conference by video link from Baghdad. "That is the one thing I think that will help pull this country together in relatively short order."
A similar statement was issued by the American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, an Afghan-born Muslim who has been an energetic conciliator here. He is expected to help broker the compromises necessary before Iraqis get their first full-term government since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
The public statements by the two most powerful Americans in Iraq - the general who will guide military strategy and the ambassador who will coach and nudge Iraqi politicians - were a rare, and apparently coordinated, display of American influence at a key juncture in the Iraq war. With the election over, the last major milestone in the American-sponsored political process here has been passed, and Iraq's future course will depend increasingly on the four-year government that will emerge from the results.
General Casey and Mr. Khalilzad appeared concerned that the momentum gained through a largely peaceful election with wide participation from all Iraqi groups, crucially including large numbers of Sunni Arabs who had previously boycotted the political process, could be lost amid a new round of political squabbling. After the Jan. 30 elections for a transitional parliament, it took Iraqi politicians three months to form a government, creating a power vacuum that the insurgents exploited with one of the most violent passages of the war.
In effect, the Americans seemed to be saying that Thursday's election has given Iraqi politicians their best chance - and, implicitly, their last chance - of winding down a conflict that has cost at least 30,000 civilian lives, paralyzed large areas of the country and prolonged the presence of 160,000 American troops.
Here's where JB goes off the rails. It's the Iraqis' best chance but not their last chance, and I don't see Casey or Khalilzad exactly wringing their hands. They're reminding the Iraqis that now that the election is over, the government has to .. govern.
While encouraged by the high election turnout and the stand-aside policy of some insurgent groups that helped cleared the way for the voting, American officials have been warning Iraqi politicians for weeks that failure to form a government that can reach out promptly to wavering insurgent groups could lead to intensified fighting and, in the worst case, to civil war.
The main Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish groups and a centrist, multiethnic political bloc led by the former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, are deeply divided on issues like the role of Islam, the division of oil revenues and the powers of the central government and provinces, as well as the future role of American forces and whether, as Sunni Arab groups have demanded, there should be a fixed timetable for their withdrawal.
Sure they're divided. That doesn't mean doom, gloom and Fairbanks have set in yet. It means that the new coalition government has to sort this out. It will take months, it will be messy, and there will be setbacks, each breathlessly reported by the NYT as a 'major Bush failure'. But the Iraqis have shown remarkable fortitude in getting their country back together so far, and I'm betting they continue to do that.
Talks on forming the new government are not likely to begin before election results are final. Iraqi officials have said that will be two weeks, and possibly longer, as the election commission rules on allegations of irregularities.
General Casey told Pentagon reporters that he expected a turnout of 65 to 70 percent among the 15.5 million eligible voters, the highest on any of the three occasions that Iraqis have gone to the polls this year. He said the American command expected the turnout in Anbar province, the vast desert territory west of Baghdad that is the principal bastion of the insurgency, to be "in the 45 to 50 percent" range, up from less than 10 percent in the constitutional referendum two months ago.
He credited the new political opening partly to American-led offensives that have disrupted insurgent infiltration down the Euphrates River valley from Syria, which he said had brought suicide attacks across Iraq down to 26 in November, from more than 60 in June. Also, he said, the offensives "pushed Al Qaeda out of the small villages" along the river, clearing the way for heavy voter turnouts in a string of desert towns that were virtual no-go areas for American troops before.
But the general also credited a new split in the insurgency - between Qaeda-linked Islamic militant groups that he said had tried to disrupt the election in Ramadi, the Anbar capital, and other insurgent groups with links to Mr. Hussein's ruling Baath Party that he said "came together and frustrated the Al Qaeda in Iraq attempt to halt those elections." He added, "So we're seeing the political process, and particularly these elections, causing tensions within the insurgents."
After January's elections for a transitional government, the deal-making over top government posts and policies was mostly between Shiites and Kurds who had worked closely with the Americans after Mr. Hussein's overthrow in April 2003. This time, the negotiations will have to factor in the demands of Sunni Arabs, who appeared to have voted Thursday in broadly similar proportion to the other main ethnic and religious groups, after boycotting the January elections and showing up in only limited numbers for the constitutional referendum in October.
"The election has shown the potential for Iraqis to choose politics as a means to resolve differences," Ambassador Khalilzad said in his statement. But he added: "More needs to be done to nurture this. The newly elected leaders should come together quickly and build bridges for national unity and establish an effective, broad-based government that Iraqis across ethnic and sectarian lines have confidence in. Iraqis should join together in condemning terrorism, isolating Saddamists and renewing their call on insurgents to refrain from violence."
And he said that as a reminder, not as an appeal or a plea.
American officials have said they expect negotiations over the new government to last well into the new year, complicated by constitutional rules that will effectively require a two-thirds majority in the new 275-seat Parliament before a new prime minister and cabinet can be chosen. The Americans expect that the negotiations could quickly deadlock, both over the leadership and composition of the new government and over parallel negotiations involving crucial elements in the Constitution.
Then again, the Iraqis could cut a deal that doles out the, er, blunt-nosed beef for everyone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2005 12:30 ||
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John Burns is an excellent reporter for a slimely NY Slimes. I agree that JB went off rails, but I wonder how much influence in NY was put into the article.
Posted by: Captain America ||
12/17/2005 22:01 Comments ||
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#2
doesn't matter - blame your pimp for your sins - you're still a DNC whore
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/17/2005 22:47 Comments ||
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The results of the poll could take up to two weeks to be confirmed International observers have praised the organisers of Iraq's parliamentary election, which they said generally met international standards. A spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections conceded that there had been minor problems, but said the vote had generally gone well. About 11m Iraqis were estimated to have voted, a turnout of about 70%, with results due in two weeks or more.
President Bush is to make an address on the situation in Iraq on Sunday night. "We are now entering a critical period for our mission in Iraq, the president will talk about what we have accomplished and where we're headed," said his spokesman, annoucing the rare address from the Oval Office, to be made at 2100 on Sunday (0200GMT Monday).
"The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq is to be commended on the way it has performed its role under the difficult circumstances prevailing in Iraq," said Paul Dacey, spokesman for the international observers.
The country's electoral commission announced on Friday that 320,000 Iraqis living abroad voted in the election. Around 15 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for the country's first full-term government since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003. The vote will elect 275 members of a national parliament, who will in turn appoint a president. Voting was extended in many parts as Sunni Arabs took part after boycotting previous elections. Election officials reported high turnouts even in Sunni insurgent strongholds such as Falluja and Ramadi.
The voting took place amid a massive security operation, with 150,000 Iraqi troops and police deployed and borders and airports closed. US President George W Bush described the vote as "historic", and appeared delighted with the high turn out. Sunni nationalist insurgent groups had urged people to vote to prevent the election of a government dominated by Shias and Kurds. However, the al-Qaeda in Iraq group denounced the election and threatened attacks. Two civilians and a US marine were slightly injured in morning attacks. The new national assembly will replace the transitional government elected in January. Some 6,655 candidates, 307 parties and 19 coalitions registered for the ballot
#1
But I thought we did not have a plan. I thought we were losing the war and needed to run home. Oh my gosh the dems were wrong? This cant be, Bush must have fabricated this. Where is Bagdad Bob, I mean Sen Kerry on all this? I need some move on . org to get the true message out.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
12/17/2005 10:30 Comments ||
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#2
One of the first acts of this new parliament should be to make future parlimentary elections national days of celebration. Feast days, gift days, and even get the religious leaders in on it as a type of multi-religious thanksgiving celebration.
Make it as gaudy as Mardi Gras, less the babes and the booze. Store discounts for purple fingers and a general party atmosphere.
Lead up to it with a week of "debate", where TV and radio are filled with endless discussions, arguments, and politicians pounding the podium for votes; where people are encouraged to debate politics as a national sport.
#3
49 - Kerry has to check the polls to find out where he stands. Like any lefty hack they have to have poll numbers. Polls are the source of their legitimacy, not votes cast in an election. Why would they support democracy in Iraq? They don't support it in America.
#4
If I were the leader of the RNC, I would purchase a bunch of those giant foam hands that you see at football games and decorate them appropriately for the next convention.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 12:31 Comments ||
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#5
Damn! I think we here (in the US) should require 'purple fingers' in order to vote. It would certainly cut down on fraud! Have a 'polling-place on wheels' for people cannot get to the polling booth (not the ones who are just to frigging lazy).
Oh and require proof of reason for voting absentee - stop this 'vote by mail' or 'vote online' shait. Require people to expend some effort and they would appreciate it more (and might actually think before they blindly vote).
In the Philippines National Elections are holidays - can't use 'too busy' as an excuse then.
That's why we are especially miffed at two bits of news coming out of New Orleans this week. On Monday, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco announced she was postponing the February elections in New Orleans indefinitely. She cited a recommendation by Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater who said polling sites and voting machines were so damaged from the storm that the elections couldn't possibly be held five months after the storm.
[...]
We are glad these folks are keeping their spirits up, but if they can have a parade and stage a massive tourist event designed to fill 28,000 hotel rooms, certainly they ought to be able to have an election.
They are having elections this month in Iraq, where there is an actual war going on. What's the aftermath of a hurricane compared to that? Could it be that postponing this election, in which qualifying for the ballot was set to begin Wednesday, is being done to benefit some of the incumbents who right now may not be in great favor with their constituents?
Hmm. Maybe Louisiana could be the victim of a domino effect?
Posted by: Phil ||
12/17/2005 17:20 Comments ||
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John Agresto has been over to Iraq twice: First time to help with Iraq's colleges and the second time to help with the Iraqi constitution.
But also when you look now, you'll see...there was, two years ago, you'd see women on the newscasts, and they were unveiled. Now, almost every picture you see of Iraq, where you see women out of Kurdistan, they were veiled. Or they were wearing an abayah of some sort. It's...the worst that's happening is that the real religious fanatics are taking over. They've taken over the universities in very many ways. They've taken over the schools. And that, I think, is the worst thing that's happening, that we're losing...we have a democracy there, but that it's a free democracy, a liberal democracy, a democracy that respects human rights? It's not moving that direction in all parts of Iraq. That's for sure.
#1
jeesh...what a Chicken Little. It used to be so much better when Saddam was in power, everyone was flying kites and making love not war. No rape rooms, no torture chambers...oops sorry, my bad, those things were there but there were no abayahs. Whew!
So the women are wearing abayahs. Is he surprised by this? It is a representative democracy. Duh, Sherlock.
That's how representative democracy works. They have to represent the culture that they live in. You are never going to get them from the 7th century to the 21st century by installing a totalitarian dictator. Give them the training wheels and let them learn on their own. Despite mommy's worries - they can do it. Just like we did.
#3
Agresto is no chicken little. He was president of this school for a while. It's a place that takes the true liberal tradition (i.e. freedom, not socialism) quite seriously.
Agresto's comments match those of some Kurdish women who were on tour here after serving as translators for our forces - and suffering attacks (and some deaths) from the Kurdish al-Q affiliates as a result.
#4
It'not demoncracy. Thugs like Sadr's gangs beat, kill and terrorize women who have the audacity to dress according to their preferences. You ought to read some of the accounts of what they've done -- NONE of it reported in the U.S. mainstream media.
#5
Agresto is no chicken little indeed, and he notes what is going to be the next big problem for Iraqis to solve: what kind of democratic state do they want?
If it's a 'pious' Muslim state that treats women like cattle, okay, but you'll do it without us, because we'll be heading home, job completed, head held high. And if you get into trouble with your neighbors or if you can't hold your country together, well tough.
If it's a more modern, traditionalist state that is secular and respectful of people, so that women are first-class citizens and (among other things) can do and dress as they please, then we're there to help you for the long-term.
We can't do it for you; you have to figure it out yourselves. We know it will take time, but we'll be watching.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2005 11:45 Comments ||
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#6
I think it is a mistake to portray Sadr's Mhadi Army as an arm of the new Iraqi Democracy. The Islamo-thugs are an element of society that were held in check by Sadaam in the same way that the Shah held back the tide of acid-throwing 7th century crazies just to the East. An inability to control extremists in not a blanket incitement of the democratic way of life. I am hopeful that the Kurds won't put up with thugs harassing their daughters. Maybe vigilantism will have to suffice until the police are less busy preventing nutters from blowing up the kindergartens.
lopt, St. John's isnât Liberty University.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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#7
No? It's my alma mater. Been there, know the people there.
#9
lopt, my Alma Mater is quite close to yours. As an institution it is proof positive that at least one chicken little can graduate from anywhere - and become president. :-)
Here is another parallel that I think illustrates the role that the fundamentalists are playing in modern Iraq. Columbia was probably more peaceful before the government went after Pablo Escobar. In neutralizing Medallin Cartel government made room for the Cali Cartel, which is probably more violent and effective than the Escobar's operation. Pining for the return of the Medallin Cartel is not the answer to the problem. The new threat needs to be addressed.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 18:55 Comments ||
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#10
SH:
Pining for the return of the Medallin Cartel is not the answer to the problem. The new threat needs to be addressed.
This is consistant with what John Agresto was saying. No where did he say he wanted a return of Sadam and the Baathists. Democracy is the first step. The US should not use the establishment of democracy as an excuse to pull out and go home.
My fear, Hugh, is we're making believe that our wish is the truth, and we'll leave before we're supposed to leave ... We need to be there. We need to be there a little longer.
Agresto fears that if the US pulls out too soon, Iraq will fracture into three parts.
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday urged leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait to help Iraq set up a government after historic elections, the White House said. "The president talked about how this was a hopeful moment for the region," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters about the call, which followed Iraq's parliamentary elections. "The president thanked each of the leaders for their support for the Iraqi people and urged them to continue supporting the Iraqi people as they move forward on the transition from tyranny to freedom and democracy," he said.
The leaders were U.A.E. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Saudi King Abdullah, Kuwait's Premier Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Jordan's King Abdullah II. "They discussed the high voter turnout and the large participation among Sunnis, and they talked about how the violence was down and, ... after that, the president talked about the formation of the government and the importance of making sure that there's an inclusive government in place," he said. "It's going to take some time to get the Cabinet in place, but all of us want to do what we can to assist the Iraqi people as they move forward on forming their government," said McClellan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2005 00:00 ||
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U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday urged leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia,..
The Shiite religious coalition is leading in the polls in Iraqâs five southern provinces, the Kurdish Alliance looks set to win the north and a Sunni coalition leads in a central province, unofficial results showed yesterday after millions of Iraqis voted in elections.
The strong election results for the conservative Shiite United Iraqi Alliance were expected in southern Iraq. However, the UIA might face stiffer competition in urban areas like Baghdad from secular former premier Iyad Allawi, whose list often scored second in Shiite regions.
In Kerbala province, the UIA may have marked its highest score, at 85 percent, according to a source close to the independent electoral commission but not confirmed by the body.
The UIA includes religious parties like the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafariâs Dawa party. In Babil province, 70 percent of the electorate went for the UIA, with Allawi managing to scrape up 17 percent, according to an election commission source.
In the Kurdish north, the Kurdish alliance, pairing the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), apparently perpetuated its total dominance of the autonomous regionâs politics.
In Arbil, the alliance took 86 percent of the votes while the Kurdish Islamic Party took only 3.4 percent, according to a PUK official. In Dohuk, the alliance claimed 76 percent, and 71 percent in Sulaimaniyah.
In the Sunni-dominated province of Salaheddin, the capital of which is Saddam Husseinâs hometown of Tikrit, a Sunni coalition that included the Iraqi Islamic Party led with 45 percent of the votes. It was followed by Allawi at 30 percent, an electoral source said.
More than two-thirds of Iraqi voters turned out nationwide in the countryâs landmark election, according to first estimates yesterday, but final results were not expected for at least two weeks.
An international monitoring mission said the election had generally met international standards, and hailed the organizers for meeting a âdifficult challenge.â In many regions, voters were thought to give strong local backing to parties or coalitions based on Shiite, Sunni, Turkmen and Christian leanings.
Iraqi authorities tallied millions of ballots Friday and received some complaints about the conduct of the parliamentary election, including allegations of "violent interference" with voters. The election commission said none of the complaints involved fraud. Officials said it could take at least two weeks until final results are announced for the new, four-year parliament because all the complaints have to be investigated. Preliminary results might be available in less than a week, they said.
The election commission did not provide any figures on how many of Iraq's 15 million voters cast ballots Thursday, but officials estimated turnout could have been as high as 70 percent. Another 320,000 Iraqi expatriates voted abroad, a top Iraqi election official said Friday. The overseas polls were praised by monitors despite several violations being reported.
Hamida al-Hussaini, head of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, told reporters in Amman, Jordan, that the highest polling was in Iran, where 59,000 people voted from Tuesday through Thursday. Jordanian authorities arrested 34 Iraqis for trying to vote twice.
The commission said it had received 178 election complaints so far, and spokesman Ezzeddin al-Mohamady said 35 of them charged "violent interference" from the police, army or election workers. He said most of the rest, 101, were related to campaigning violations such as using religious symbols in campaign ads. Western officials in Baghdad said they had heard reports of numerous voting irregularities in the north and south, most of them dealing with intimidation of voters.
In Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni Arab province of Nineveh, an official with the Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party charged that Kurdish soldiers voted twice in at least one location. Honayn al-Qado also said there were many names missing from voters rolls. A Mosul official with President Jalal Talabani's Kurdish Democratic Party claimed Sunni Arabs tried to pressure people to vote for their alliance. Abdel Ghani Botani also alleged that thousands of Kurds were missing from voters rolls.
The head of Iraq's largest Sunni Arab slate, the Iraqi Accordance Front, predicted the governing Shiite United Iraqi Alliance would not retain its slim parliamentary majority. Adnan al-Dulaimi said his group, the Kurdish Alliance and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's secular ticket would gain strength and might be able to form a governing coalition. But with Shiite Arabs making up 60 percent of Iraq's 27 million people, the Shiite alliance is expected to win the largest bloc in the 275-member parliament and have the first crack at trying to form a government.
A prominent militant group said Friday the reason it did not attack polling stations was to avoid harming Sunni Arab voters. The strong participation by Sunnis bolstered U.S. hopes that the latest election will produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily violence that has ravaged the country since Saddam's ouster. Al-Dulaimi said Sunni Arab participation in the election could have been even higher if there were more polling centers in key Sunni areas. An election commission spokesman, Farid Ayar, said officials opened only 167 of the planned 207 voting stations in Anbar province because of security concerns. Anbar includes Ramadi and Fallujah.
Many groups were releasing what they described as preliminary results, none of which could be independently confirmed. They released similar figures after the Jan. 30 election, many of which later were proven inaccurate.
In sharp contrast to the growing consensus of Jerusalem's security and political establishment, President Bush argued this week that Israel's safety depends on democratization of the Arab world.
"If you're a supporter of Israel, I would strongly urge you to help other countries become democracies," President Bush declared Monday, in a major address defending American policy in Iraq and his wider vision for the region. "Israel's long-term survival depends upon the spread of democracy in the Middle East."
Israeli security officials argued the opposite view at this month's American-Israeli strategic dialogue, warning that regime change and democratization threatened to destabilize the Middle East. Israel sees its security tied to regimes such as Egypt and Jordan, and fears that democratization could turn those countries against Israel.
"I am skeptical when it comes to the supposition that democracy is a panacea. Not all democracies are good," said General Shlomo Brom, former chief of the Israeli army's strategic planning division. "What about a democracy in Egypt â let's say â which is governed by the Muslim Brotherhood? Would Egypt then have better relations with Israel than under Mubarak's regime?"
As the American-Israeli debate quietly heats up, the Bush administration's approach is creating fault lines within the Jewish community. On Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition took out a full-page advertisement attacking the Reform synagogue movement over its recent call for the United States to develop an exit strategy for the war in Iraq.
Neither the Republican Jewish Coalition ad nor the Reform statement mentioned Israel. But some pro-Israel activists and Israeli observers criticized Bush's comments, saying they could end up fueling claims that Jerusalem and Jewish groups pushed the United States into an unpopular war.
"American Jews don't want American soldiers to be dying for Israel," said Martin Raffel,
associate executive director of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, a public-policy coordinating umbrella group consisting of 13 national organizations and 123 local community-relations councils.
"Would Israel benefit from democracy in the Middle East? Yes. But so would Europe, and America and the whole international community," Raffel said. "So why would the president select supporters of Israel? Supporters of Western civilization would want to see democratization in the Middle East, along with Israel."
Israeli experts voiced similar concerns.
"It could put Israel in a very awkward situation with the American public, if Israel would be the excuse for losing more American soldiers every day," said Danny Rothschild, a retired major general who once served as the Israeli army's top administrator in the West Bank.
In a speech on Wednesday, Bush criticized anti-war opponents who would suggest that America went to war for Israel. At the same, he and other Republicans defended his foreign policy by linking it to Israel's security needs.
Senator John Warner of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently argued in an interview with MSNBC that a premature American pullout would "put Israel in a very tenuous and vulnerable position." And a GOP activist, Bruce Blakeman, told the Forward that Israel's security has always played a key role in the president's thinking on Iraq.
"The president realized not only that Saddam Hussein was a danger to America, but that Saddam Hussein had designs on attacking Israel," said Blakeman, whose brother Brad is a former Bush aide. "There was a concern that an attack on Israel would turn into a regional war, with Syria and Iran joining in on Iraq's side."
While some Israelis and Jewish communal leaders worried about Bush's remarks, Blakeman told the Forward that "concern for the well-being of Israel is not confined to the Jewish community."
"The vast majority of Americans realize that Israel is a strong democracy in a region where there has been no democracy and an ally that shares our values," Blakeman said.
But several Israeli experts insisted that any pro-war argument â even a valid one â linked to Israel's security could end up undermining American public support for the American-Israeli relationship. And while most Israeli experts contacted by the Forward predicted that an American withdrawal would unleash a wave of terrorism directed at American allies in the region, several still challenged the premise that the United States should remain in Iraq.
"I maintain that the U.S. presence there actually causes harm to some of our interests," said Brom, who is currently a guest scholar at the federally funded United States Institute of Peace in Washington. "Take Iran. America's presence in Iraq does not allow an appropriate dealing with the Iranian problem. It also erodes, over time, the powerful image of the United States. That's not good for Israel, as an ally of the U.S."
Still, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said few dispute that a premature pullout would create instability, threatening several U.S. allies, including Israel, and several Arab states. "That is not to say that we went to war because of Israel or we stayed at war because of Israel," Hoenlein said, "but one of the consequences of making the wrong step of leaving Iraq prematurely would be Israel.... I don't think that there is any division in the Jewish community that I know of on that."
A very public dispute did erupt this week between Jewish groups over Iraq, with the Union for Reform Judaism and the Republican Jewish Coalition exchanging rhetorical blows. At issue was the Reform union's resolution last month calling for a strategy to end America's presence in Iraq.
On Tuesday, the Republican group published a full-page ad in The New York Times, addressing the Union for Reform Judaism and stating: "Freedom is worth fighting for." The ad was signed by several prominent Jewish Republican elected officials, former ambassadors, senior military officers, rabbis and former senior officials with Jewish groups. The Republican ad argues that it is "misleading and wrong" for the Reform movement to suggest that "American Jews oppose the president on Iraq."
By Tuesday evening, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Rabbi David Saperstein, had sent a scathing open letter to the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Matt Brooks. The Reform union's president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, and its chairman of the board, Robert Heller, sent a letter to Bush.
"Respectfully but firmly, Mr. President, we want our leaders to tell us the truth, the whole of it, and we therefore call on your administration to adopt a policy of transparency," Yoffie and Heller wrote. "With regard to troop withdrawal, we call not only for a clear exit strategy but also for specific goals for troop withdrawal to commence after the completion of parliamentary elections scheduled for later this week and then to be continued in a way that maintains stability in Iraq and empowers Iraqi forces to provide for their national security."
With reporting by Ori Nir in Washington, Guy Leshem in Tel Aviv, and Ami Eden and E.J. Kessler in New York.
#1
"Israel's long-term survival depends upon the spread of democracy in the Middle East."
Nope. It depends on
(i) IDF's ability to defeat the armies (some US equipped and trained) of our "neighbors".
(ii) Israel's gov's ability to resist Eurabian diplomacy (usually supported by our American allies) aimed at gradually eliminating Israel by the repeated application of the Peace for Territories formula.
p.s. "Democracy" as Bush uses the term presuposes the ability for enlighted self-interest. Good luck finding any examples ofit in Arab history.
Hamas supporters yesterday celebrated a landslide election victory in major West Bank towns, the strongest sign yet of the groupâs growing political appeal ahead of Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. Israel responded with concern, saying a Palestinian government dominated by Hamas â which calls for Israelâs destruction â would not be a partner for peace.
The results stunned officials from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbasâ Fatah party, who blamed the poor showing on internal disarray in the party, which split earlier this week in a dispute over its slate for the parliamentary elections.
Thousands of Hamas supporters marched through West Bank and Gaza towns after Friday prayers to celebrate the groupâs election victory. In the West Bank town of Jenin, where Hamas won eight of 15 seats on the local council according to unofficial results, supporters held up copies of the Qurâan and chanted: âTo Jerusalem we march, martyrs by the millions.â
Hamas overwhelmed Fatah in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, capturing 73 percent of the vote and 13 of 15 council seats. The other two seats went to a coalition of Fatah and independent candidates.
âWe didnât expect we would get that many votes,â said Adli Yaish, a local businessman who headed the Hamas list in Nablus and is expected to be named the new mayor. âThe Palestinian people want change and believe in our list. We now have to do a good job. We are now being tested.â The party did well in other local elections, winning 72 percent of the vote in El-Bireh, a large suburb of Ramallah.
Hamasâ schools, clinics and other welfare programs â coupled with its fierce resistance to Israelâs occupation â have won it grass-roots support among Palestinians fed up with Fatahâs inability to bring order to the lawless streets of the West Bank and Gaza. However, some Palestinians said they were wary of putting the group in charge of the Palestinian Authority. A Hamas victory in the parliamentary elections could torpedo efforts to renew long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and damage the Palestinian relationship with the United States.
Fatah, meanwhile, is in turmoil. Abbasâ last-minute attempt to unify the ranks failed Thursday when a group of popular young leaders led by jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti defected, forming a new party called âFuture.â Hamasâ landslide victory was a direct result of Fatahâs internal struggle and would carry over to the Parliament vote, said Hani Masri, a Palestinian political commentator for the Al-Ayyam daily.
While Fatah did win Thursdayâs election in several small towns and villages, it did not capture any of the large election prizes. Even in Ramallah, the West Bankâs commercial hub and a city with a significant Christian population, Fatah only tied for first place, grabbing six seats in a coalition with other factions. The radical PFLP won another six seats, and Hamas took three. Official election results were to be announced Saturday.
#3
Obviously, when given a choice between a corrupt existing govt, a criminal (Barghouti), or terrorists (Hamas), the Paleostinian "people" prefer terrorists.
#4
Nablus is the largest Muslim pig-pen in the West Bank. If it is now a terrorist governed entity, then it is a legitimate target for a nice little carpet bombing.
Scroll down the following link to see Muhammad - Pig-One of the Muslims, being tossed into Hell.
#5
bummer for Hamas. Now the people that voted for them expect will Hamas to make their lives better. You got the power - now you're the man to bitch and whine about.
#6
It is obvious that the Paleos have not bottomed out yet. There is still the core of the earth to dig to. This thing will have to play itself out. I just hope that the US will stop raining our dwindling tax dollars down this rathole.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/17/2005 10:55 Comments ||
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#7
AP have you seen this? US House of Reps will not support PA if Hamas runs
The US House of Representatives released a statement Friday saying that if Hamas participated in the Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections, the US will cease to support the PA.
#9
Better be the same, lotp. Otherwise watch the blogs fire up and public pressure come crashing down. Hope American politicians recognize that their job security is hanging by a thread on this. Americans are not gonna put up with their pockets being picked to fund suicide bombings in Palestine in some kind of "economic revival" racket for Hamas' Palestine.
#10
Well, the people are starting to have their effect on the politicians on illegal immigration, though it is still a boulder up the hill in Hades thing. The same will have to happen with the Senate AND the Administration. They better watch out for the public's purse, and that means showering money on fools' projects, like Paleo *cough cough* government.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/17/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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#11
The Senate is troubling me.
Senate elections cost a lot.
I suspect that they are being influenced by lobbyists representing firms with lots of Saudi and Soros investments.
From Geostrategy Direct, subscription.
TEL AVIV â Israel's two leading state-owned companies have agreed to form a joint venture in an effort to capture a stake in the microsatellite market. Under the plan, Israel Aircraft Industries and Rafael, Israel Armament Development Authority would join forces to produce low-cost multi-mission satellites that weigh no more than 120 kilograms.
"The Defense Ministry has demanded that state-owned defense companies cooperate," an official said. "The space budget is very tight and industry efforts must be coordinated."
Established in October 2005, the joint venture, the first between the two companies, is called MicroSat Ltd. The venture was effected by the suspension of IAI's long opposition to Rafael's entry into the satellite market.
Executives said IAI would focus on building satellite platforms with Rafael contributing subsystems and payloads. Rafael has developed such capabilities as micro propulsion, inertial sensors and inter-satellite, laser-linked communications.
Over the next few weeks the IAI-Rafael venture is expected to sign an estimated 12 million euro project with the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES. CNES and the Israel Space Agency have been partners on the Venus micro-satellite program. Venus is planned for launch in 2008. The joint venture has been encouraged by Israel's Defense Ministry, which has turned to the private sector for help in satellite reconnaissance. Interesting partnership. The Israelis and the French.
The ministry's policy stemmed from difficulties in budgeting at least $60 million for the launch of the Ofeq-class satellite. In September 2004, Israel's Shavit space launch vehicle failed to place Ofeq-6 into orbit.
Executives said the ministry has turned to other contractors to coordinate launches of commercial reconnaissance satellites to ensure Israeli coverage of the Middle East. ImageSat International has been operating the dual-use Eros-A reconnaissance satellite and plans to launch Eros-B in March 2006. ImageSat shareholders include IAI and its leading rival, Elbit Systems.
The Defense Ministry has encouraged IAI's partnership with Elbit, whose El-Op subsidiary provides the reconnaissance payload for the Ofeq and Eros satellites. "There were periods when ImageSat's contribution was significant," said Aby Har-Even, former director-general of the Israel Space Agency.
In 2005, the Defense Ministry also approved an IAI request to market the TechSAR synthetic aperture satellite. Under the agreement, IAI could offer both services on the TechSAR scheduled for launch in 2006 as well as the construction of similar platforms. The ministry has also sought to develop an Israeli microsatellite capability that would enable the rapid launch of a constellation of low-cost platforms that could provide strategic intelligence in the Middle East, particularly on Iran. And we KNOW that Iran bears watching, with an eye on action.
The concept envisions the launch of these satellites from high-flying fighter-jets or even civilian aircraft. "It is worth doing an air launch," Yair Ramati, general manager of IAI's MLM division, told a space seminar by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on Dec. 7. "It's not easy."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/17/2005 11:37 ||
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#1
The TechSAR will be launched in October 2006 via Indiaâs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
Posted by: john ||
12/17/2005 12:41 Comments ||
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ABU DHABI -- Leaders of six pro-U.S. Gulf Arab states meet on Sunday to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions and a U.N.-Syria standoff, concerned that an escalation of these disputes could rock a region already suffering from instability in Iraq. "There is concern that Iran's nuclear program could be weaponised. At the end of the day they (Iranians) are building a nuclear reactor across the Gulf," one Gulf official said.
"There is also concern that if there is any military action (on Iran), Iran might retaliate and attack pro-U.S. allies in the Gulf," he said ahead of the two-day annual meeting held in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi.
Yup, they'd be that crazy, wouldn't they?
Foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meet on Saturday ahead of the summit, which some analysts expect will call for intensified diplomacy with Iran. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
"GCC countries are getting worried that things in Iran are getting out of hand," N. Jahardhan, analyst at independent think thank Gulf Research Center. "The GCC realizes Iran is definitely a threat...Things have reached a critical stage and they feel they will bear the brunt of any escalation. It is clear that there is no defined policy in Iran about what to do if it is attacked."
Iran's controversial nuclear program is fuelling regional and Western fears that it is seeking to develop weapons, which Tehran denies. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's verbal salvos at Israel -- in which he called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map -- are stoking fears about its nuclear activities and making Gulf states even more anxious.
Ahmadinejad's a real diplomat, eh?
Any talks by the Sunni-led GCC with Shi'ite Iran would also focus on Tehran's growing influence in Iraq where Shi'ites gained power after the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Saudi Arabia has bluntly accused Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/17/2005 12:21 ||
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Does Iran still consider Bahrain a rogue province in the same manner as Iraq's claim to Kuwait?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 12:38 Comments ||
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#2
You know its bad when the Gnu C Compiler (aka GCC) is upset.....
The government's crisis continued Friday, with the bloc of Shiite Ministers maintaining their boycott of Cabinet sessions, despite efforts made by top government officials to mend the situation, including a visit by Premier Fouad Siniora to Speaker Nabih Berri. Following their late night meeting, Siniora emerged to tell reporters the problem with the Shiite bloc in Cabinet was "on its way to being solved."
The Shiite ministers had boycotted the government since Monday over calls for an international probe into assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in the country, and did not attend Thursday's Cabinet session. "I am optimistic about the dialogue we are holding and it is still going on, and I believe all the Lebanese wants us to reach some sort of an agreement" Siniora said.
The premier added that his talks with Hizbullah and its Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were also ongoing. Hizbullah's Nabatieh MP Mohammad Raad said during a ceremony held by the party in the southern city of Sidon that the only way the party will end its boycott is if the government returns to applying the national consensus formula, which bans taking decisions on critical national matters on the basis of majority and minority. "The decision that was taken in the name of the majority was a huge mistake, and this mistake should be corrected," Raad said. He added: "If our presence or absence from the Cabinet is the same, then what is the need for our attendance?" Raad also slammed the political majority in Lebanon as a dictatorship. "This is not a ruling majority, this is a dictatorship that is imposing its hegemony over the country," he said.
In his turn, Amal Movement MP Ali Khreis asserted that the alliance between the country's two main Shiite powers, Hizbullah and Amal, was solid and ongoing. "The relation with our brothers in Hizbullah is not a circumstantial or a sectarian alliance, it is the base for a vast national alliance," he said.
The sect also did not appear very impressed with an apparent attempt by the Cabinet on Thursday to woo the boycotting Shiite ministers, through its decision to file a complaint against repetitive Israeli breaches to Lebanese sovereignty, and to speed up an investigation into missing Shiite spiritual leader Imam Moussa Sadr, who disappeared 27 years ago during a visit to Libya. A spokesman for Hizbullah said Friday: "These are not rewards. This is not how you do business in the country and certainly not the way to deal with Hizbullah."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/17/2005 00:00 ||
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"...This is not how you do business in the country and certainly not the way to deal with Hizbullah."
I agree whole-heartedly.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/17/2005 13:39 Comments ||
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For the uninitiated, al-Faqih is a key member of the Londonistan mob who should be warming a jail cell for his current and previous assistance to al-Qaeda, but he continues to remain active despite the UN designation of as a global terrorist. His perspective should be seen as the equivalent of the bad guys' PR department. Mahan Abedin: What is the latest information on terrorism in Saudi Arabia? Saad al-Faqih: The latest general trend is that the jihadis have abandoned their previous tactics of targeting Westerners and the security forces. The jihadis are now focusing all their attention on the royal family. Two factors have driven this change. Firstly, the jihadis had previously avoided targeting the royals for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities. But now they believe that the prevailing opinion in Saudi Arabia-and probably in the wider Muslim world-is that the royal family is infidel and deserves harsh treatment.
That's the usual takfiri spew. The House of Sod is assiduous in spreading Salafism. The al-Qaeda bitch is that they keep power to themselves, rather than letting the holy men be in charge.
Secondly, the jihadis have finally overcome their fear of a secular takeover in the event of the sudden downfall of the House of Saud. Somebody told me that in the late 1990s bin Laden used to say that if the House of Saud is removed, the country will fall into the hands of secular forces. But now al-Qaeda believes that the regime is behaving far worse than a would-be secular system, because it is gradually destroying Islam under the banner of a false Islam. Al-Qaeda has reached the conclusion that the sudden collapse of the regime will either invite foreign interference or chaos.
My guess would be the latter, followed by the former. Because of Arabia's importance, I doubt the interference would brook a lot of nonsense. On the other hand, splitting the peninsula into a number of emirates — which is actually possible, given that the provinces are governed by princes who're prone to their own barely comprehensible internal rivalries. The end result would be an exanded "United" Arab Emirates, with the non-oil producers either finding some way to compete or becoming quaint cultural exhibits.
Both scenarios are now favored by the jihadis, who have learned great lessons in the Iraq theater over the past 33 months. In fact the jihadis would welcome an American invasion, knowing full well that it will provide a massive recruitment opportunity for them and hence they will be the ultimate winners, as they think they are proving to be in Iraq.
The lesson they seem to be missing in Iraq and elsewhere is that jihad depends on money. Remember the multiple trucks captured in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion, carrying a half billion dollars? The ones that got away are financing the fight now. If there's no money coming out of Soddy Arabia, then there's no money for jihad. Guns only seem free to the cannon fodder they're being handed out to. You can have all the guns and ammunition you want, but you'll only last a few days without anything to eat or drink, and operations slow down when there aren't vehicles to transport you to where the fight is. There would be a dribble of cash from Emirates moneybags and Kuwait, some international donations, but it's unlikely it would be enough to sustain the kind of war the geniuses of jihad seem to have in mind.
MA: How has the political transition (i.e. death of King Fahd) affected the struggle between the regime and al-Qaeda? SF: The transition has little to do with al-Qaeda; in fact al-Qaeda is not in the least bit interested in these developments.
If it's not them in charge, then it's irrelevant.
The only way al-Qaeda would become interested is if a very serious and open dispute between the leading royals broke out. But this has not happened, not yet anyways. Moreover, there is no division in the regime when it comes to al-Qaeda; all the top figures of the regime, namely Abdullah, Sultan and Nayef, are determined to eradicate al-Qaeda. They are also in favor of maintaining the regimeâs dependence on America.
MA:But presumably al-Qaeda is monitoring developments inside the regime very closely and the decision on the timing of any assassination attempt against a leading figure would surely be determined by these internal developments. SF: Al-Qaeda will certainly exploit any open divisions in the regime. In fact Abdullahâs ascension will most likely result in open disputes, and this will benefit the jihadis. But in terms of target selection, at the very highest levels of al-Qaeda, targets are discussed and selected very carefully. But at the local leadership level, quite a few clumsy decisions have been made in the recent past. And of course at the operational level there is now a very tenuous link between bin Laden and his advisers and the local al-Qaeda leadership in Saudi Arabia.
They're not sure Binny is actually alive, either. So they're on their own. And they've got a foot in a bucket because the big money comes from the princes and the princes don't want to be targeted, so they have to get by using the international donations route.
MA:When is an attack likely to take place? SF: If you read Zarqawiâs statement after the incidents at Dammam a few months ago, you get the impression that something is going to happen very soon. Zarqawi is clearly after revenge after what happened to his brothers in Dammam.
MA:I have a couple of questions on the Internet. Firstly do you think that the jihadis now see the Internet as the most important battle space? SF: Only the jihadis in Iraq.
MA:Why? SF: Because the only place on earth where the jihadis feel safe is Iraq. The Internet used to be awash with jihadi material but this is becoming less so for two reasons. Firstly, Western intelligence services are now aggressively targeting jihadi websites and are showing a greater determination to close them down completely. In the past they would allow some of the more interesting ones to remain in operation so that they could covertly gather intelligence on the webmasters and the contributors. Dozens of websites have been closed in recent months.
I'd call that a sign they've got the information they need or that they've come to the conclusion that the bullshit content so far outweighs the actual intel content that the sites have become all grass...
Secondly, Western governments have provided software and other expertise to the Saudi regime to trace individual contributors to web forums. But the jihadis in Iraq feel safe and secure because they have satellite Internet connections and they can set up temporary websites and upload files very easily. The invasion of Iraq has boosted the fortunes of jihadis in many respects, and the Internet is no exception.
MA:Are you saying the Americans are providing the Saudi authorities with the requisite technology to trace contributors to jihadi websites? SF: Precisely! The problem is that the Saudis are using the technology to trace and detain non-jihadi authors and contributors as well. In fact several people connected to our organization have been detained in recent months as a result of the transfer of technological expertise.
MA:What happens to these people after they are detained? SF: Firstly they conduct a thorough search of their computers to trace all their communications and contacts. The detainees are then subjected to prolonged and tough interrogations.
MA:Are they subsequently released? SF: No, they remain in detention because the Saudis now consider a wide-range of people as critical security threats.
In other words, they've gone beyond looking only at cannon fodder. They're looking at clamping down on the supporters, as well. But they haven't taken the final step of clamping down on the holy man and the sheikhs and princes who're running things.
MA:How many forum users have been arrested? SF: The figures are no less then 2,000, but this includes both jihadi and non-jihadi forum contributors.
MA:Do you think the jihadis are trying to consolidate their assets on the Internet? I refer specifically to the emergence of the âGlobal Islamic Media Frontâ. SF: I think this Global Islamic Media Front is just a name. The jihadis have used over-arching and inclusive names like this before. In any case the jihadis do not need to consolidate their resources, because the existing set-up works quite well.
MA: I have a few questions on Afghanistan. Do you believe the Taliban insurgency is intensifying? SF:Yes it is. The spread of crime and lawlessness was the single most important factor which led to the emergence and empowerment of the Taliban in the mid-1990s. The same situation is developing now where the central Karzai government, which is heavily sponsored by America and the West, only exerts control in the major cities and the north of the country.
Their control used to be concentrated in Kabul. Saad is missing the real story here.
The vast southern and eastern regions are clamoring for the return of the Taliban.
Not actually being there, I couldn't say for sure. But judging by the numbers of actual Afghans who're potted or captured, and the fact that the entire Taliban high command seems to be situated in Waziristan, I'd guess that's not a true statement.
Another factor to consider is that when the Americans first moved into Afghanistan in late 2001, they paid huge bribes to the major tribes to buy their compliance. But the effect of this has been short-lived as they can not continue to bribe influential forces indefinitely. I have been told that the Saudis have paid no less than $300 million to southern tribes in order to ensure their compliance with American interests and wishes in Afghanistan.
I don't think we intended to continue a program of bribery indefinitely. I think the longer term goal was to set up a situation where once they stop being bought they immediately regret the fact.
MA:This is Saudi money spent on American national security? SF: Exactly!
Tusk tusk.
MA: Some jihadis have begun to talk about a great new jihad in Afghanistan on a par with the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s. Do you share this assessment? SF: I think it is too early to make such predictions. But the general trends point toward a deterioration of security in Afghanistan. In fact Zawahiriâs latest statement highlights this.
MA:Do you think there is going to be greater resistance to the continuing U.S. and Western military presence in the short-term? SF: There is now a sense that the aura and prestige attached to the swift American victory in Afghanistan is well and truly over.
That's short attention span kicking in. There's a difference between military operations, occupation, and peacekeeping. Not being real military guys, Saad and Ayman don't recognize it.
MA:Do you think the Taliban and other insurgent forces in Afghanistan are copying the methods and tactics of the Iraqi insurgents? SF: Maybe, but these tactics are nothing new. They date back to Lebanon in the 1980s.
And before that, to Algeria, in the 1950s...
MA:To what extent is al-Qaeda involved in the intensifying Afghan insurgency? SF: Iâd say that most of the training and planning are masterminded by al-Qaeda.
MA:Let us discuss the recent Amman Bombings. Were the bombings a blunder by Zarqawi? SF:The consensus is that it was a reckless move, even by jihadi standards. It was certainly not useful to the jihadi cause.
Translation: "Yes, it was a blunder." He just can't bring himself to say it.
MA:What was Zarqawi trying to achieve? SF: Zarqawi hates the Jordanian regime and simply striking at it and proving to them that he can breach their security was his primary aim.
MA:How do you interpret the use of female suicide bombers both in that attack and other attacks in Iraq, for instance the suicide bombing in Tal Afar? SF: There are two reasons why females are being deployed for these operations. Firstly, a large number of women are ready to join jihad. Secondly, women want to exact revenge for assaults against them and their families. This is particularly the case in Iraq where civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting.
MA:Does this also indicate an ideological shift by the jihadis? SF: No, it does not. Although jihad is a task generally for men, there are no Islamic injunctions against women fighting on the frontlines of jihad. Moreover, jihadis have been training their wives and sisters for combat and jihad since the early 1980s. In many Arab tribes women have the position of knights and dominate the toughest of men. Those who raise the issue of an ideological shift on the part of the jihadis are driven by Western prejudices against Muslim societies.
MA:Will Jordan be attacked again? SF: If there are further attacks, they wonât be as stupid and self-defeating as the suicide bombings in the hotels. Zarqawi is coming under huge pressure, especially by other jihadi leaders in Iraq who are now very skeptical about him. They begrudge his arrogance and recklessness.
There's a nice little bit of news...
MA:Which other country might be attacked by the Zarqawi network in the foreseeable future? SF: Saudi Arabia. In fact it is the most logical choice, especially in light of Zarqawiâs statement on the recent events in Dammam.
MA:Do you believe the Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi is genuine? SF: Analytically speaking I believe it is genuine because it conforms to Zawahiriâs mentality. But I have no information to this effect. But I was expecting this type of letter simply because even hardcore jihadis believe Zarqawi has gone too far in his arrogance and recklessness.
MA:What is the most striking feature about the letter? SF: I think it shows that al-Qaeda secretly thinks it might have made a mistake by appointing Zarqawi as its leading representative in Iraq. Zarqawi is far too decisive as a commander, and this is what drives his arrogance.
I was remarking the other day about idolatry at the altar of the Moloch of Certainty. I was thinking of Zark when I wrote it.
Some people say there are many people in the jihadi circles who are trying to reach bin Laden in order to convince him to remove Zarqawi as the local al-Qaeda commander in Iraq. The jihadi leaders in Iraq have largely kept silent but they are not at all happy with Zarqawiâs conduct. One of their biggest criticisms is on Zarqawiâs decision to stay and fight in Fallujah once the Americans decided to attack the town in November 2004. The other jihadi leaders wanted to avoid a direct large-scale confrontation with American forces and instead concentrate on exhausting them through a war of attrition. At that time the other jihadi leaders not only avoided criticizing Zarqawi but in fact decided to stay with his forces and fight the massive U.S. Marines assault on the town.
Brilliant move, wasn't it?
MA:Are there any other striking features about the letter? SF: It indicates that Zawahiri remains al-Qaedaâs main strategist and that his understanding of the battle space and how it will evolve in the immediate future surpasses that of any other strategist, whether jihadi or American.
And that indicates it's not Binny running things.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/17/2005 03:12 ||
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Is there anything scarier than a well trained 'neck with a quality rifle?
Posted by: Lookin at the Pikture Spemble1217 ||
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An extended audio statement from Ayman al-Zawahiri, believed to have been made in mid-September, was posted on December 9 on the al-Safinat jihadi forum (http://202.71.102.108/~alsafnat/vb). Under the rubric "Four years on since the attacks on New York and Washington," and dated Sha'ban 1426 (September 2005), the 48-minute tape was produced by al-Sahab Media Productions, an organization that has come to be known as al-Qaeda's video production company. The statement is worth examining in detail since, amid the rhetoric of denunciation and challenge, it reveals much about the present state of morale within the al-Qaeda organization.
The presentation, entitled Mu'awwiqat al-Jihad (Obstacles to Jihad), is provided with English subtitles and is hence intended for the widest possible circulation. It starts off in a buoyant tone: "I wish to speak to you about the victory that, with Allah's permission, is imminent ââ¬ÂŠ for a simple reason, that the key to victory is in our hands." Subsequently, however, the tone shifts, indicating some exasperation at the lack of the "final push" required to ensure the success of the jihad, outlining that "the primary cause of defeat is in ourselves." As if to counter a mood of despondency, al-Zawahiri underlines how the jihad has already achieved successes. In Iraq, he maintains, the resistance "stabs America every day and makes it scream and search feverishly for a way out of its predicament there." And in Israelâ"were it not for the mujahideen's confrontation of Israel and its agents (our rulers) Israel would have now expanded to many times its current size." The mujahideen have also, he asserts, effectively defended Islam from the "puppet rulers," under whom "the corruption ââ¬ÂŠ would have worsened and they would have sought to eradicate Islam."
Al-Zawahiri spends most of the tape discussing the situation in Afghanistan. Keen to stress the unity of ranks between the Taliban and the mujahideen, despite all that has happened, al-Zawahiri reverses the interpretation of the New York attacks leading to the downfall of the Islamic Emirate, and instead speaks of the victory that galvanized the jihad. He maintains that the emirate's structure under Mullah Omar is firm and "controls large, extensive parts of eastern and western Afghanistan." Al-Zawahiri is particularly sensitive to the impression that the alliance between al-Qaeda and the Taliban has faded since the U.S. invasion, stressing the comments made by top Taliban commander and former intelligence chief Mullah Dadullah in an al-Jazeera interview that "we sacrificed our government for the mujahideen of al-Qaeda" as "our Islamic obligation" in the face of "a shared enemy." Al-Zawahiri then pointedly holds up Mullah Omar as a paragon of a jihadi emir, in comparison to those who subsequently apostated "at the feet of America and Israel." The Taliban are similarly regarded as uniquely steadfast against the infidel enemy.
The entire passage appears to be an extended vote of gratitude to the Taliban for sheltering al-Qaeda. Interestingly, throughout this long paean to the Taliban, al-Zawahiri speaks little of Osama Bin Ladenâsave to say that they protected a hero of Islam, and somewhat cryptically writes off the question of Osama as "no longer an issue of an individual but has become the question of the honor of Islam."
For all the bullish talk of triumph, the message of al-Zawahiri's address appears equally crafted as a last-minute appeal for support to help prevent the defeat of the mujahideen. "The key to victory is in our hands," he states, "and in turn, the primary cause of defeat is in ourselves." This part of the message is particularly noteworthy, in that the reproach and call for jihad contradict the image of success he maintains the jihad has already achieved. Al-Zawahiri gives his diagnosis for the problems besetting the jihad: "The first battle we must win is our battle with ourselves, our battle with out weakness and helplessness and clinging to the earthââ¬ÂŠ our preference for small gains." He then goes on to encourage the mujahideen by belittling the enemy as having little else but technology on their side, and "driven only by fear and desire ââ¬ÂŠ in the field they don't make a stand in any honest encounter." At root of the problem of the lack of victory is Muslims' "fear and ignorance of fighting" and their "submission to [the regimes'] terrorism and intimidation." Al-Zawahiri then develops this theme on the disastrous passivity of the Muslims; taking the example of the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat by Khalid al-Islambouli, he notes how everyone subsequently abandoned them to their fate and contented themselves with "passive praise." Another example is Saudi Arabia, where Muslims who called for reform were "left to fight alone" andâin a probable reference to the penitent Saudi jihadi shaykhsâ"some callers to reform relapsed and turned around to stab their brothers, the Mujahideen ââ¬ÂŠ in their backs."
Al-Zawahiri appears genuinely exasperated at the lack of enthusiasm in the Muslim community for the rigors of jihad and the ability of the broader community to content itself with the war of words. He scoffs, from his position out there on the front line in the hills, at the armchair commentators. "If each one of us wants to turn into a debater, analyst, and specialist who dresses in elegant clothes, attends seminars and appears on screen, then returns to his house safe from the tyranny of the Crusaders and their agents, then there is no hope for deliverance."
There is also a tone of negativity in al-Zawahiri's response to practical criticism: "if the Jihad brings on loss and disaster, then show us what you've got in your quiver! ââ¬ÂŠ What have you done to confront these disasters other than shedding crocodile tears and issuing condemnations and giving sermons and writing books?" Doubts concerning the legitimacy of jihad are similarly dismissed. To the argument distinguishing attacks on America and Israel from attacks on Muslim leaders, "we ask them: with which Book and which Sunnah have you differentiated between the foreign enemy and his domestic agent?" To the argument of timing al-Zawahiri is no less scornful: "If you want us to postpone the jihad, and be patient, and resort to your easy, comfortable methods, then how long must we wait for your barren ways to bear fruit? Another 100 years?"
This is a remarkable document from al-Zawahiri, indicating some serious doubts at the top of al-Qaeda as to the prospects of the success of jihad. While exhortations to jihad are commonplace, as are criticisms of laziness in the Muslim youth or vigorous calls to develop an appropriate jihad-consciousness, the present tape appears to take the form of an eleventh-hour warning, addressed this time not to the opponents, so much as the rightful supporters of jihad. "History," al-Zawahiri warns, "shall hold it against you that when the Mujahid vanguards rose ââ¬ÂŠ and hope was awakened in the ability of the Muslim Ummah to resist, you stabbed it from behindââ¬ÂŠ As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us there is no hope for victory."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/17/2005 03:09 ||
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I like what is in quotes here. It is the quotes that clearly show that Ayman is a coach rallying the losing team.
We fret over the women wearing abyahs on Iraqi TV. Good freaking grief. This war is already over.
A statement entitled "al-Qaeda's Future Soldier: Rakan Bin Williams," published by a group calling itself "al-Qaeda's Voice on the Internet," indicates that al-Qaeda plans to recruite white European converts to Islam rather than depend on Arabs and Muslims from Middle Eastern or Asian origin (posted on the jihadist forums al-Saha (http://alsaha.fares.net/sahat/.ee6b2ff, and www.la7odood.com; see also the Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat on November 8, 2005).
According to the statement, recruiting Westerners is part of al-Qaeda's strategy to respond to the "war on terrorism" and the resulting restrictions placed on its members. The statement indicates that following September 11, there was a special focus given to Saudi Arabiaââ¬âor the Land of the Two Holy Mosques (as described by the statement)ââ¬âin that most of the attackers originated from the kingdom. Later, however, al-Qaeda carried out its next attack in Indonesia by the hand of Indonesian nationals, and followed by a "strategic" threat to Europe by attacking its borders with the Islamic World in the east (Turkey) and west (Morocco). When Europe failed to recognize or react accordingly to the warning, al-Qaeda targeted Madridââ¬âin an attack carried out by North Africansââ¬âshifting scrutiny to Arabs in Europe. Then, in what came as a surprise to many, London was targeted in an attack carried out by British-Pakistanis. This attack may well have resulted from Europe's failureââ¬âin the eyes of bin Ladenââ¬âto accept the truce offered in regard to Iraq. (Moreover, al-Qaeda misled Europe, and others, into believing that the next target would be Italy). The statement finishes by vowing that the next al-Qaeda recruits will be "Rakan Bin Williams," which is the name it gives to white Europeans.
Whether the statement was issued by al-Qaeda or not, it is nonetheless reflective of the changes that al-Qaeda has undergone since 9/11, and the new recruitment methods it has adopted. While most original al-Qaeda members were of Arab origin, the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing American-led war on al-Qaeda drove them to become a decentralized organization. This was exemplified by the fact that most attacks led by al-Qaeda in different areas were organized and carried out by local groups, whether in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Indonesia, Turkey, Spain or the UK.
This dependence on local groups is a response to the tightened grip on Salafi-jihadists in the world. The statement describes "Rakan Bin Williams:" "You will not be able to monitor him, limit his movement or stop him." For al-Qaeda, this is what makes the recruitment of white Europeans so appealing.
Two factors in particular give credibility to the new recruitment strategy: al-Qaeda's activities in the West, and its focus on groups that seek to breakaway from their regimes. The Iraq war, by all indications, is providing fuel for recruitment, though mostly of Arab of Asian Muslims to date. French authorities have captured three recruitment networks, such as the "forgers network," which handled preparing forged passports for volunteers in Iraq; the "Afghan Arabs" network, headed by an Islamist called Saeed the Moroccan; and "Morocco's network," headed by Farid Bin Bieo (see the Saudi daily Al-Watan September 21, 2005). Attempts to recruit white Westerners became evident in the first female European suicide bomber in Iraq, carried out by 38 year-old Belgian national Muriel Degauque, who was recruited by her husband, of Moroccan origin, to become the second female suicide bomber in Iraq (on November 9). Additionally, there are also indications that other women are ready to become suicide bombers (al-Hayat, December 2, 2005).
With regard to the Salafi-jihadist focus in the West on marginalized communities that are discontent with their government, it can be noted that Muriel grew up in a blue collar area, which is considered a rich recruitment ground. This raises questions as to the future of al-Qaeda as a whole. Olivier Roy, a French specialist on Islamist movements, maintains that while the Salafi-jihadist way is a religious movement, it can still collaborate with non-Muslim organizations, and can also include members who are not Muslim. The agreement between Salafi-jihadists, particularly al-Qaeda, and groups of violent radical leftists who are "descendants of the Baader-Meinhof gang, Action Directe or the Red Brigades. They have a common enemy: a world order exemplified by U.S. imperialism. Al-Qaeda fascinates people looking for ways of breaking with the established order. And it benefits from the almost complete disappearance of the radical Marxist far-left. Former sympathizers have shifted their attention to building an alternative global market and tend to disregard the worst cases of social deprivation" ("Al-Qaida Brand Name Ready for Franchise," Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2005). Therefore, it appears that al-Qaeda is striving to recruit white Europeans, particularly disgruntled marginalized groups, as a mechanism to survive and adapt to the increasing pressure it faces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/17/2005 03:03 ||
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Moreover, al-Qaeda misled Europe, and others, into believing that the next target would be Italy.
For these keeping score, we here at Rantburg were able to identify it as an al-Qaeda front as soon as we got ahold of the Milan wiretaps. Where's our research grant? The past year has seen an increasing radicalism of the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami), resulting in a wave of arrests of its members in numerous countries around the world. Arrests were made in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, and Syria. In Britain-site of the organization's central headquarters-the government has made no secret of its intention to outlaw the Party.
The trend toward increasing radicalism has found expression in two attempts at political subversion by members of the party in Uzbekistan (May 13, 2005) and Kyrgyzstan (March 24, 2005). In addition, on September 2, 2005, senior officials in the Party's Jordanian branch called for a militant Jihad against the West, primarily the United States and Israel. The organization claimed that, "the end of American tyranny will be accomplished at the hands of the Muslims." With regard to Israel, Party leaders said, "its end is a 'simple task' and its existence is conditioned on Western interference and the 'betrayal' of Muslim leaders". In light of this incitement Jordanian security forces arrested seven members of the Liberation Party, among them the chemist Salih al-Jalabi, one of the senior ranking members of the Jordanian branch. It is still unclear if this deviation from the Party's traditional approach represents a change in the attitudes of the Party's leadership in Britain or is simply the viewpoint of an isolated branch.
One opportunity to examine this pattern more closely is the upcoming march in support of Muslims in Iraq, the Territories, Kashmir, Chechnya, and all other "oppressed Muslims of the (Islamic) 'Ummah'." This march, organized by the party's leadership, will take place in London on the morning of December 10, 2005. The march-which will depart at 11 o'clock from the Parliament Square in London (Abingdon Street) and end in Hyde Park-will culminate with an organized rally during which senior personalities of the Muslim community in Britain will protest the British government's policies vis-Ã -vis Muslims around the world. Among the issues to be addressed are the shutting down of mosques sponsoring activities in support of worldwide Muslims, the release of jailed Muslims in Britain, and the planned extradition of Babar Ahmad to the United States.
Over the past year, the Liberation Party has mostly maintained its traditional operational path, as illustrated by major demonstrations around the world calling for the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate. Two recent displays of propaganda are noteworthy. The first, on Friday, October 27, 2005 took place on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where during Friday services the Party called upon the Islamic Ummah to launch the Islamic Caliphate. The second demonstration took place on Sunday, October 16, 2005 in Dacca City, Bangladesh, where approximately 5,000 supporters of the Liberation Party demanded the replacement of the local "corrupt" regime and "tyrannical" regime and its replacement with the Caliphate.
Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami is an Islamic political movement created in 1953 in East Jerusalem by the "Qadi" Taqi al-din al-Nabhani, an appeals judge and senior religious figure who split off from the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1977, after the death of al-Nabhani, Abd al-Qadim Zalum, a Palestinian resident of Hebron and one of the founders of the Party, took over as the head of the organization, a position he held until his death in April 2003. His successor is 'Ata' Abu al-Rishta, a Jordanian national of Palestinian origin who served as the Party's spokesman for the past fifteen years.
According to its stated platform, the Islamic Liberation Party's mission is to reinstitute the Islamic Caliphate that was destroyed in 1924 by Mustafa Kemal (AtatÃŒrk); to institute Muslim religious law ("Shari'a"); and to "liberate" the Islamic "Ummah" from foreign influence (in economic, social, military, cultural, and political terms). The establishment of the Caliphate, according to the Party, will be achieved through the means of Islamic "Da'wa" (propaganda) - calling upon Muslims to repent and live their lives according to "Shari'a". At the head of the Caliphate will stand a Caliph appointed by the Muslim community, which will be sworn to support him. The Caliph will rule according to the Koran and the Sunnah (the practices of the Prophet that have become sanctified customs) and he will be sworn to disseminate Islam through "Da'wa" and militant Jihad.
The Party refuses to take an active role in the militant Jihad against "infidel" Muslim leaders prior to the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate. The Party argues that the lack of a policy of violence in order to defend itself or as a tool against the "infidel" Muslim regimes is not at all connected to the issue of Jihad. In its own words, there exist two conditions on which the Party will participation in Jihad. The first condition is founded on the idea that in every instance in which "infidels" attack an Islamic country, it is incumbent on the local Muslim population to repel the enemy. Members of the Party living in the Islamic state which is attacked then have the obligation to fight in the Jihad to repel the enemy. The second condition is that in which a Muslim Caliph advocates militant Jihad with the purpose of expanding the territory of Allah. In that case, members of the Liberation Party will contribute to this mission as far as possible. At present, neither condition has been met; there is no true Islamic country under attack, nor is there an Islamic state headed by a Caliph who calls upon Muslims to fight. Thus members of the Party are not obligated to participate in militant Jihad.
Hizb a-Tahrir's first base was in Jordan. There, the local authorities did what they could to limit its activities, infiltrate its services, and arrest its leaders. The Liberation Party subsequently spread to other countries in the Arab world-to Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Iraq), North Africa, Turkey, and Iran. At the same time, the Party also began to operate in Islamic communities in Europe-especially Britain and Germany-in North America, Central and East Asia, and Australia. Today, because of its subversive political activities and radical opinions, the Party is forbidden in most countries in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Party is also forbidden in Russia, and in central Asian republics such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In Europe the Party is barred from operating in Holland, Denmark, and Germany.
The Liberation Party rejects the existence of the Palestinian Authority, which it views as an "infidel Arab regime" just as any other Arab government that doesn't rule according to "Shari'a". The Party denounces any participation in the political system, such as joining parliaments or any elected councils, and views democracy as a "Bid'a" (a negative innovation adopted by Islam over the course of hundreds of years under the influence of infidels), since it serves the will of the people and represents the "cultural invasion" of the West into Muslim countries. As such, the Party refuses to participate in the upcoming elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, set to take place on January 25, 2006. It even rejects nationalism, arguing that it is a formulation of the West that has been imported to the Muslim countries.
The position of the Islamic Liberation Party with regard to Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and the Palestinian Authority is unambiguous. During the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit on February 8, 2005, the Party severely criticized the Palestinian Authority and argued that the Summit was just a symbol of the scalping of Palestine to the Jews and just another step in a long series of concessions and humiliations. The Party sees Abu Mazen as a marionette of the American government, whose objective is to maximize the worldwide Muslim awareness of Israel ("the Jewish entity"). In their own words, Abu Mazen is a pawn of the "Jewish entity" and "he tours all over the world" only to achieve normalization of relations with it. Thus, The Party argues that "Abu Mazen has become the foreign minister of Ariel Sharon more than Silvan Shalom himself." In the internal domain, the Party views Abu Mazen as a leader who has forced himself on the Palestinian people and does not promote its national aspirations. The Liberation party's activities against the Palestinian Authority primarily take the form of propaganda, sermons, and opposition advertising.
The various security apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority have in the past monitored the the operations of the Liberation Party. The PA is well aware that the activities of the Party could threaten Authority officials. Nevertheless, Palestinian security forces have only carried out short-term arrests of a few activists-mostly during the 1990s-who were charged with incitement. Two possible explanations for this limited law enforcement might be the comparatively limited support of the Party among the Palestinian population and the Authority's preoccupation with primary radical Islamic organizations, such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
During its decades of existence, local branches of the Liberation Party have taken part in several failed attempts at political sabotage, two of them in the past year. Nevertheless, as long as the stated platform of the Party does not deviate from its pragmatic political missions, outlined by al-Nabhani, it can be assumed that attempts at subversion or calls for Jihad against the West and "infidel" Muslim regimes represent only the views of local branches or of individuals belonging. In other words, since currently there exists only a hope for the Islamic Caliphate, Party leadership will stick to the al-Nabhani policy: focusing on strengthening religious faith and avoidance of armed combat.
At this point in time, then, the Party may be expected operate on two main levels: the first, Islamic preaching and propaganda against the West-including Israel-and against the "infidel" Muslim regimes, which are accused of abandoned the Islamic religion and serving as a shield for Israel. The second, organizing of demonstrative marches and political protests around the world against the "infidel" Muslim regimes and against the West, which is accused of oppressing Muslims around the world.
Notwithstanding this purely "demonstrative" aspect of the Party's activities, in light of the developments of the past year, the Liberation Party does pose a real threat in the near future. This threat takes the form of a variety of possible actions:
· Political subversion against Muslim regimes-especially in Arab countries-that are viewed by the Party as "infidels".
· Perpetration of terrorist attacks inside Israel and against Israeli and Jewish targets abroad, based on the past declaration of the Party's Jordanian branch to embark on a militant Jihad against the West, including Israel.
· Perpetration of terrorist attacks against Western targets-primarily British and American-in response to the roles played by these countries in the war in Iraq and other conflict zones involving Muslims, not to mention the West's nominal support for Israel's right to exist.
Should one of the local branches of the Party take part in the near future in terrorist activities against the infidel Muslim regimes or the West, it is likely that it will not publicly claim responsibility for the attack. Rather the claim of responsibility will be under the guise of another Islamic terrorist organization -known or unknown-in order not to damage the declared al-Nabhani practices of the Party leadership and not to jeopardize the Party's standing in those countries where its activities are still sanctioned.
The radical Islamic outlook of the Party, the nature of its operations, and its existence in various corners of the world, has turned the Party into a popular source of recruitment by other Islamic terrorist organizations operating in the the Middle East and elsewhere, most notably al-Qa'ida. This alone makes Hizb a-Tahrir an organization that bears watching.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/17/2005 02:56 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Investigations into 
THE closed and secretive world of Irish republicanism was thrown into turmoil last night after one of Gerry Adamsâs most trusted lieutenants admitted that he had been a British agent for 20 years. Denis Donaldson, acquitted last week of charges of leading an IRA spy ring in the âStormontgateâ affair that ended Northern Irelandâs power-sharing executive three years ago, was a member of Belfastâs republican elite whose credentials in the fight to end British rule in Ireland would until now, have been regarded as unimpeachable.
A group of former North Korean commandos have established an overseas dissident organization to fight for freedom in their communist homeland and topple the Kim Jong-Il regime. The "Free North Korean Solders Association," spearheaded by some 20 North Korean special forces soldiers who defected to South Korea, will focus on dismantling North Korea's concentration camps that house some 200,000 political prisoners and freeing North Korean people from oppression. The dissident group also said it would wage a frontal fight to collapse the regime led by Kim Jong-Il, vowing they are prepared to sacrifice their lives to the cause of realizing freedom for the North Korean people. 
The Middle Eastern crime groups and their associates number in the thousands, not the hundreds as the government and senior police would have you believe. It is the biggest crime problem we have ever faced, and it is growing. Hardly a day goes past without some violent crime involving a âmale of Middle Eastern appearanceâ, though I see lately that description is watered down now to include âand / or Mediterranean appearanceâ. To an operational policeman, there is a noticeable difference between an Italian and a Lebanese male.
A man and a teenage girl have been arrested allegedly for selling a hand grenade in Sydney's inner-west. Police have alleged the 20-year-old Menai man and 17-year-old girl from Earlwood sold a hand grenade at Tempe last night. Officers attached to Strike Force Calderon, made up of police from Task Force Gain and Newtown Local Area Command, arrested the pair a short time later at Newtown. 
Lawyers for Jose Padilla, a US citizen facing terrorism charges, has accused Washington of playing games with the nation's courts by repeatedly changing its reasons for holding the former Chicago gang member as an "enemy combatant". Padilla's attorneys, Andrew G Patel and Donna R Newman, wrote on Friday: "Though its factual allegations have changed with the prevailing winds, the government's actions have been strategically consistent. "At every turn, the government has sought to manipulate the federal courts' jurisdiction and evade judicial review." 
The results of the poll could take up to two weeks to be confirmed International observers have praised the organisers of Iraq's parliamentary election, which they said generally met international standards. A spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections conceded that there had been minor problems, but said the vote had generally gone well. About 11m Iraqis were estimated to have voted, a turnout of about 70%, with results due in two weeks or more. 
Iraqi authorities tallied millions of ballots Friday and received some complaints about the conduct of the parliamentary election, including allegations of "violent interference" with voters. The election commission said none of the complaints involved fraud. Officials said it could take at least two weeks until final results are announced for the new, four-year parliament because all the complaints have to be investigated. Preliminary results might be available in less than a week, they said.
Hamas supporters yesterday celebrated a landslide election victory in major West Bank towns, the strongest sign yet of the groupâs growing political appeal ahead of Jan. 25 parliamentary elections. Israel responded with concern, saying a Palestinian government dominated by Hamas â which calls for Israelâs destruction â would not be a partner for peace.
The government's crisis continued Friday, with the bloc of Shiite Ministers maintaining their boycott of Cabinet sessions, despite efforts made by top government officials to mend the situation, including a visit by Premier 
Secondly, the jihadis have finally overcome their fear of a secular takeover in the event of the sudden downfall of the House of Saud. Somebody told me that in the late 1990s bin Laden used to say that if the House of Saud is removed, the country will fall into the hands of secular forces. But now al-Qaeda believes that the regime is behaving far worse than a would-be secular system, because it is gradually destroying Islam under the banner of a false Islam. Al-Qaeda has reached the conclusion that the sudden collapse of the regime will either invite foreign interference or chaos. 
Yes it is. The spread of crime and lawlessness was the single most important factor which led to the emergence and empowerment of the Taliban in the mid-1990s. The same situation is developing now where the central Karzai government, which is heavily sponsored by America and the West, only exerts control in the major cities and the north of the country. 
The consensus is that it was a reckless move, even by jihadi standards. It was certainly not useful to the jihadi cause.
One of their biggest criticisms is on Zarqawiâs decision to stay and fight in Fallujah once the Americans decided to attack the town in November 2004. The other jihadi leaders wanted to avoid a direct large-scale confrontation with American forces and instead concentrate on exhausting them through a war of attrition. At that time the other jihadi leaders not only avoided criticizing Zarqawi but in fact decided to stay with his forces and fight the massive U.S. Marines assault on the town.
The past year has seen an increasing radicalism of the Islamic Liberation Party (
