The U.S. military expressed regret Wednesday for the deaths of a reported 16 civilian villagers Monday in U.S. airstrikes near here, but officials and elders said Taliban insurgents were responsible for the incident.
"We never wanted this to happen," Col. Thomas Collins, a U.S. military spokesman, told reporters in Kabul, the capital. "The ultimate cause of civilians being injured and killed was that the Taliban knowingly and willingly chose to occupy homes. . . . We do everything we can to prevent killing civilians."
According to Afghan and U.S. officials, the civilian deaths Monday occurred when Taliban fighters took shelter in mud compounds near the village of Azizi, about 30 miles west of Kandahar, the provincial capital, and fired at U.S.-led ground forces from windows and roofs. U.S. A-10 gunships then strafed the compounds with heavy fire, killing and wounding an undetermined number of civilians. The governor of Kandahar province, Asadullah Khalid, said 16 people were killed and 16 were injured, and U.S. military spokesmen said between 20 and 80 Taliban fighters died.
An A-10 is an attack aircraft, not a gunship.
President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday called for an investigation of the incident and asked the senior U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, to come to the presidential palace in Kabul and explain what had happened.
Witnesses have told Afghan journalists that the number of dead and wounded was far higher than the number cited by Khalid and that the air attacks took place in more than one village. U.S. officials said they were assessing the damage and could not confirm the number of dead or wounded civilians.
Some tribesmen publicly blamed the Taliban for using civilian homes as shelter and said they were planning to demand that the insurgents leave the area. "We will defend ourselves and our district. We will not let the Taliban come and use it against the government. We will tell them to go somewhere else and do their actions," one leader, Hajji Agha Lalai Dastegui, said Wednesday by telephone.
Ahmed Karzai, the president's brother and a senior political leader in Kandahar, said some of the people injured in the attack had told officials they did not want the insurgents there. He said he and other leaders met Tuesday with a large number of Panjwai elders to discuss the incident. "Everyone understands this is the fault of the Taliban," he said. "They said they asked the fighters please not to get on their roofs."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 00:13 ||
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#1
I was wondering why so Taliban many survived the madrassa attack. I assumed it was because the building was built like a fortress and the bombs did not penetrate. In hindsight, it would have been better to be less sensitive about collateral damage, put 2 500 pounders into the madrassa and been done with the fools.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2006 8:33 Comments ||
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#2
Well, an A-10 is an 'attack' aircraft. But since it's essentially a plane built around a very large gun, it's not incorrect to call it a 'gunship' either.
The multitude of forces that make up the tangled and knotted web of politics in the stateless country of Somalia were pulled taut in mid-May as violent clashes broke out in the constitutional capital Mogadishu between militias associated with the Islamic Court Union (I.C.U.) and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-terrorism (A.R.P.C.T.), an umbrella group of warlords and businessmen who have dominated the city since Somalia lost an effective central government in 1991.
During the week of May 7, intense street fighting between the militias resulted in an estimated 150 dead and more than 300 wounded -- mostly civilians caught in the cross-fire. The outbreak of violence marked an escalation of the chaotic conflicts that have racked Somalia since its descent into statelessness, threatening tentative movements toward stabilization and national reconciliation.
In a severe blow to efforts to establish a functioning government in the Horn of Africa country of Somalia, four elected ministers, all based in the capital Mogadishu, have announced that they are quitting the government.
Have you considered setting up a League of Nations protectorate until they're ready for self-governance in the year 3002?
The minister for national security in Somalia's struggling transitional national government, Mohammed Qanyare Afrah, says he and three other ministers agreed several days ago to withdraw from government, currently located in the provincial town of Baidoa, 240 kilometers west of the capital. Wednesday was the deadline for the ministers to formally join the parliamentary body, which has the backing of the United Nations, but remains largely powerless.
Much like its backer.
Qanyare tells VOA that he is quitting his cabinet post because the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf are not interested in restoring security in Mogadishu. "They are not considering the job we are doing. Mogadishu has no security. We are working on security to fight terrorism. They are against us because they are siding with the terrorists," he said.
I'd guess that, like their backers, they're siding with the guys they think will eventually win.
The other three disaffected ministers are the minister of religion, Omar Finish, the minister of the disarmament of militias, Botan Ise Alin, and the minister of trade, Muse Sudi Yalahow. Yalahow accused transitional government leaders of being ineffective and lazy. Yalahow says the government does not want to come to Mogadishu because it is happy doing nothing in Baidoa. He says the people of Mogadishu do not need a government that does nothing.
Yalahow, Qanyare, and their two colleagues are powerful factional leaders in the capital and senior-ranking members of the newly-formed, 11-member anti-terror group, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. The group's aim, they say, is to rid the country of Muslim extremists, who are attempting to turn Somalia into another Afghanistan.
But many Somalis say they believe the real reason why the four factional leaders are pulling out of the government is because they are angry over recent comments made by President Yusuf. President Yusuf accused the United States of funding the anti-terror alliance, adding that Washington should be working with interim government leaders to bring stability to Somalia, not giving money to warlords to chase down terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Top United Nations officials failed to gain Sudan's agreement to allow a technical team to plan the deployment of UN troops to the violent Darfur region as a Security Council deadline expired on Wednesday.
The council passed a resolution on Tuesday last week saying Khartoum had to allow a UN assessment team to begin work within a week on the plan to take over from an ill-equipped and struggling African Union force monitoring a shaky truce in the region. The government has refused the team visas. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's veteran troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi and the world body's peacekeeping chief Hedi Annabi began talks in the capital on Tuesday to break the deadlock but, as the deadline expired, no agreement was reached.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Eight men are being questioned by police following raids on 19 addresses across England. The raids came as part of an operation aimed at those suspected of aiding attacks on targets in Iraq. More than 500 police took part in the operations in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Middlesbrough, London and Liverpool.
Three of those held were detained under anti-terrorism legislation and five under immigration laws. Two other people were arrested, but later released. The eight detained men are reported to be Libyans.
Reeeeally? Not Samoans?
The Home Office confirmed five of the people held were detained under the home secretary's powers to "deport individuals whose presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good for reasons of national security".
One of the men arrested in Manchester is Libyan-born Tahir Nasuf, a 44-year-old. He moved to Manchester in 1993 and is married with four children.
Who will get to stay even if the Brits manage to deport Tahir, which they prob'ly won't.
The offices of a charity he works for - the Sanabel Relief Agency - were also raided in Birmingham.
The operation is being led by Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) anti-terrorist unit, and the searches using warrants issued under the Terrorism Act 2000, are likely to continue for at least the rest of the day.
The BBC's Nick Ravenscroft said it was beginning to emerge that the raids probably centred on activities in Iraq. The operation was jointly organised with MI5 and followed an intelligence-gathering investigation that has been going on for "at least a year", said Mr Todd. Police said 18 addresses had been raided - 12 in Greater Manchester, one in Liverpool, one in Middlesbrough, three in Birmingham and one in Eastham, London.
Police said they issued a search warrant for a further property in Farnworth, Bolton, on Wednesday afternoon. One house in Middlesbrough had been raided and is still being searched, but no arrests have been made, said Cleveland Police.
Three people were held under the Terrorism Act and three under immigration legislation in Greater Manchester, one in Merseyside under immigration legislation and one in London under immigration legislation, police said. Police would not disclose where the ninth arrest was made.
Another article courtesy of Dan sez that they're now up to 10 Libyans.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 00:06 ||
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It is all but impossible to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, a leading British think-tank said yesterday, as the world's powers struggled to find a common strategy to face the threat. Senior officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China closeted themselves at a secret location in London to negotiate a package of "incentives" for Iran to halt its nuclear programme.
But the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) suggested that neither diplomacy nor military action to destroy the nuclear facilities was likely to succeed. "There is a consensus emerging that an Iranian nuclear capability is both inevitable, and certainly bad," said the IISS director, John Chipman, presenting an assessment of the international military balance.
"Therefore, we should do nothing about it."
He said America's Arab allies in the Gulf feel "the only thing worse than a nuclear-armed Iran is a US military strike against the country, especially if it were still left with a nuclear option". Bombing Iran might provoke retaliation against coalition forces in Iraq, attacks by Hizbollah on Israel and attempts to choke the flow of oil through the Gulf.
"Therefore, we should do nothing about it."
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, said officials were discussing incentives designed to persuade Iran to halt enrichment. This is believed to include the offer of a European-built light water nuclear power reactor.
Because Europe has a long history of successful appeasement.
The US has pushed for economic and political sanctions to be included among the punishments. The IISS said the package is unlikely to sway Iran as it rejected a similar deal last autumn. Teheran has repeatedly ruled out any deal that stops it from enriching uranium. Didn't the IISS say that the western powers could never hope to defeat Iraq, like, twice?
#1
See DRUDGEREPORT.com and WND.com for numerous current articles on Iran crisis, espec WND.com article where Israeli official claims Iran will reach "point-of-return" in three months.
#2
STRATEGYPAGE also has a good article on Iran's testing of its SHAHAB-3 missle. The article strongly hints that Iran may had already gotten working nuke warhead designs from CHINA and RUSSIA - iff true, goes to show that AMERICA IS NOT JUST DEALING WID INDIVIDUAL ROGUE NATIONS BUT WITH A POTENTIAL COLLUSORY GROUP OF DEDICATED, ANTI-AMER, HOSTILE NATIONS ENGAGED IN GLOBAL/INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY-VENTURES AGAINST THE USA-WEST. Regional-Global Caliphate = China taking over Taiwan-East Asia = de facto decline in American geopol power and influence > ENEMY ARMIES WILL INEVITABLY ATTACK AND INVADE AMERICA ITSELF, e.g. "George Washington Prophecy", etal.
FTLG, STAY ARMED!
#3
You can't just attack the U.S. that triggers a response from NATO. And I would tend to disagree with these guys about it being inevitable. If we bomb the dogshit out of Irans nuclear facilities(even the ones with civilians around them) then they would be set back for 10 years. Ten years is a long time.
#4
If we let these A-holes make themselves a bomb, we might as well just give everyone a free pass. Venezuela, Sudan, Brazil, everyone will just thumb their nose at the U.S. and U.N. and go balls-out for their own nukes.
#8
You can't just attack the U.S. that triggers a response from NATO.
Perhaps I've become cynical, but I no longer trust that NATO would actually choose to respond to an attack on the US -- of any sort -- with much beyond diplomatic posturing. Look at the reluctance to go into Afghanistan, and the even greater reluctance to continue the effort there. With individual exceptions, for the most part it's been all arm-twisting and teeth-pulling, and all sorts of "Evil America" dramatics.
Individual countries, yes. But not NATO. Not so long as France is stuck in its self-created morass, Angela Merkel can't seem to shift Germany out of self-destruct mode, and both want the rest of the EU to swallow the costs of their fiscal recoveries.
So is the American responce, once we have definitive proof we will send in the missles. First to destroy their nuke capability and second to destroy their military.
We are so gunshy since the Iraq nuke fiasco we will probably wait another year until we can capture one of their weapons or show undisputed proof. Cutting it too close for me.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2006 8:40 Comments ||
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#10
I agree it is inevitable. But then I think the Iranians already have enough HEU for several bombs. They are known to have bought, since 1997, enough centrifuges for 2 bombs per year.
The default posture of democracies is to do as little as possible. As long as the Iranians provide the thinnest veneer of deniability, nothing will happen. Even with Iranian admission, I believe nothing can happen in this political climate.
The interesting period will come in 15-20 years when the mullahs think they have enough bombs to destroy western civ. But by then, dozens of states will be nuclear armed because they will have figured out there is little downside of arming themselves with nukes, and a lot of downside not having them when your next door neighbor is so armed. It's gonna be a real unstable world. Globalization will be history. Closed borders and regional blocks will be the norm.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2006 8:55 Comments ||
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#11
Israel will not allow it to happen. Period. So much for 'inevitability'. If the US is not able to solve the problem, just watch and wait for the Israeli 'solution'.
#16
Not sure this "think tank" isn't a stinky tank.
Of course, Russia and China being locked into the room makes the conclusion self serving, doesn't it?
The fact is that once they master the capability, the task of defusing Iran becomes extremely complex.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/25/2006 19:18 Comments ||
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#17
Any organization that includes International in its name is automatically suspect of being agenda driven. These guys sound driven to get another grant.
Prosecutors are investigating a journalist for publishing an article mocking President Vladimir Putin over his call to pay Russian women to have more children, an official said Wednesday.
The article was published by Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the online newspaper Kursiv in the central city of Ivanovo, said Andrei Galchenko of the regional prosecutor's office.
The piece poked fun at Putin's recent state of the nation address that called for economic incentives to boost the country's plummeting birth rate. Russian media reported that the publication suggested that animals at a local zoo increased their mating, heeding Putin's call.
Rakhmankov could not be reached for comment Wednesday. His article could not be seen, because the Web site has been shut down.
Galchenko said the investigation was launched because the article "contained phrases of an insulting nature aimed at the president."
If convicted of insulting a representative of the authorities, Rakhmankov faces up to 12 months of corrective labor or a fine, Galchenko said.
The suspect has been summoned for questioning, Galchenko said.
Since coming to power six years ago, Putin has reined in major independent television channels. Critics accuse his government of curtailing freedom of speech.
"This case illustrates the outrageous lengths that authorities will go to silence critical voices," said Ann Cooper, the head of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
#1
Ernst Stavro Blofeld Putin: Now, if you're very, very nice to me, I could make you my reporter.
Vladimir Rakhmankov: But I'm already a reporter.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld Putin: Whereas if you displease me, I can promise you a very *different* estate.
North Korean capitalism is thriving - just not inside North Korea. Pyongyang has steadily established a string of legitimate and less legitimate front companies across East and Southeast Asia, aimed at earning the cash-strapped government badly needed hard currency. And, by all indications, business is booming.
Consider, for instance, Cafe Pyongyang, one of Vladivostok's most popular eateries. It is so popular, in fact, that there are plans to build a new restaurant in the shape of a North Korean peasant's hut, similar to the one where the late leader Kim Il-sung was born in 1912. Here, gracefully clothed North Korean women serve up traditional Korean fare, while patrons sing popular Korean tunes.
"Y'want weeds with that?"
Similarly themed restaurants have popped up in Beijing and Shanghai in China, and Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia. But this by no means represents a North Korean business diaspora similar to the ethnic-Chinese community that now controls a large swath of Southeast Asia's economy. Rather, the Pyongyang government owns and operates all of the eateries - and their regional interests reach far beyond restaurants.
#1
Its the economic side of being an anti-China Chicom/Chinese-controlled, Rampaging Barbarian-Warlord-Bandit Slaver-Robber Baron of antiquity. ASIATIMES, ASIANEWS, and SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, etal news sites report that activities such as this,legal andor illegal, is how North Korea is funding its nuke devprogs and international arms-tech proliferation.
#2
Pragmatically, iff we Clintonian Male Brute, defective misguided arrogant, Rightist GOP-Conservative, Dubya-led Amerikan = Amerikanski SOCIALISTS want to work that ulcer(s), or at least get one, in righteous male enjoyment of gastrointestinal-destroying hot spices and high cholesterol, we will not fail and can't go wrong with Korean, Vietnamese, or other SE Asian cuisine.
In the early morning hours of May 24, the police Anti-Terrorist Unit from Manchester, England, working with the British Immigration Service, four other police departments and the MI5 domestic intelligence service, conducted raids in five British cities, arresting nine people under the country's Terrorism Act. A day earlier, the Netherlands toughened its anti-terrorism stance, passing laws to give authorities greater leeway in dealing with suspects. While Britain, the Netherlands and other countries in Western Europe are reacting to the militant threat in their midst, France remains relatively complacent to its growing problem.
The British raids, which began at 3 a.m. local time, took place in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Middlesbrough. Authorities later released two of the detainees, but are holding five people on suspicion of immigration violations and two on suspicion of supporting terrorism abroad, primarily in Iraq. Those suspected of immigration violations likely will be deported.
Among those detained in Manchester is Taher Nasuf, a man the U.S. government says is a midlevel member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and an al Qaeda fundraiser. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Nasuf was associated with other British-based Libyans who were linked to the al Qaeda-affiliated Algerian Armed Islamic Group. In February, London froze Nasuf's assets on behalf of the United States. Nasuf has denied any link to militant groups.
The Dutch parliament also is reacting to an apparent domestic militant threat in the Netherlands, as highlighted by the November 2004 slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Parliament on May 23 adopted anti-terrorism measures that will allow prosecutors to approve surveillance, including wiretaps, on suspects as well as the infiltration of suspicious groups, even absent "reasonable suspicion" that the suspects have committed a crime. The law also will expand police authorization to carry out preventative searches and arrests.
In Italy, security forces frequently round up and deport those suspected of involvement in militant cells. In the immediate aftermath of the London Underground attacks of July 2005, Italian security forces conducted major sweeps in northern Italy, deporting dozens of Muslims. More recently, the Italians claim to have disrupted plots to attack mass transportation targets and a cathedral in northern Italy.
By contrast, the French have done little to toughen their anti-terrorism laws or to deport foreign suspects. This likely stems from a French belief that their existing laws are adequate to deal with the militant threat in France, as well as the high degree to which local French law enforcement agencies believe they have tapped into the country's Muslim communities. Indeed, it has been more than a decade since France experienced a serious terrorist attack on it soil. In 1995, two Algerians used homemade bombs to target civilians at Paris metro stations in a campaign that killed eight people and injured more than 150.
As France's Muslim immigrant community grows, however, it has experienced many serious social and economic problems, leading to increasing instability within the community. These tensions were most visibly expressed during riots that raged for weeks in the fall 2005.
For now, the French seem to have adopted a policy of allowing potential militant communities to operate in France -- as long as they do not conduct attacks. This has led to the establishment of several militant networks in the country. As militants in other European countries are increasingly harried by tougher laws and efforts to disrupt their activities, however, they could find the French environment more favorable for operations. Should that happen, the French accord with its immigrants could break down.
#1
"For now, the French seem to have adopted a policy of allowing potential militant communities to operate in France -- as long as they do not conduct attacks."
This needs to be changed to "as long as they do not conduct suicide bomb attacks", since they've already had lots of other kinds of attacks: honor killings, religiously-inspired gang rapes, etc.
Ward Churchill, ethnic studies professor at the University of Colorado, presented a lecture Friday on campus where he said the Bush administration is ignoring the U.S. Constitution and the rights it guarantees all citizens, including controversial ones like himself.
More than 300 audience members attended Churchills lecture in Fraser Hall Room 4, a part of the CASCAID Advocacy Conference.
Western senior Kyle Shielbs said he appreciated Churchills thoughtful and honest point of view.
"Being a Native American myself, seeing Ward was really inspirational," Shielbs said. "It is nice to see someone out making a difference, someone doing some pretty radical thinking."
Churchill spoke about subjects ranging from the U.S. Constitution to the deaths of his friends Mark Clark, a Black Panther Party member, and Fred Hampton, the leader of the partys Chicago chapter.
"It was amazing to see the way that Churchill could keep up with the thoughts formulating in his head," Shielbs said. "He is very well spoken and intelligent."
Churchill began the lecture by saying the rights the Constitution grants Americans are worthless if the government wont uphold them in controversial cases.
"You have those inalienable rights right up until the moment you try to use them," Churchill said.
The United States laws should protect all freedoms, but as soon as citizens express their freedom in an unpopular manner, the laws fail, he said.
Churchill asked any Republicans in the crowd to raise their hands, because, as Republicans and conservatives, he said their job is to preserve the Constitution. One audience member raised his hand, and Churchill asked him to say what the Ninth Amendment which Churchill called the most important amendment does. The audience member couldnt recall the Ninth Amendment, so Churchill explained.
"The ninth amendment, summarized, states that all the rights vested in the people, which arent written in the Bill of Rights, are vested here," Churchill said. "That means dignity and food are obligations of the federal government of the United States."
Churchill compared Washington D.C. to the Roman Empire, highlighting the overwhelming poverty at the capitals outskirts.
Churchill said the wealth of industrialized nations throughout the world is a result of the poverty and work of others, mostly indigenous races in places such as South America and Africa.
"But you dont have to look to South American to see starving children," Churchill said. "Just go to an Indian Reservation one without a casino."
Churchill also spoke about recent immigration controversies and the federal governments pending decision to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
"I am just not sure how they are going to build it without discount migrant labor," Churchill said.
When he finished with his speech, Churchill invited Aaron Dixon, co-founder of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party and a Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, to the stage.
Dixon said he supports Churchills ideas and treasures the camaraderie they shared after living through the aftermath of their mutual friend, Hamptons, death.
Churchill and Dixon emphasized Americas need for a more constitutionally sound government and said they were opposed to the war in Iraq.
"There is a war being waged in our name," Dixon said. "Over 100,000 Iraqis are being tortured and brutalized in our name."
Despite recent charges of research misconduct a committee at the University of Colorado made against Churchill, and the controversial nature of his speech, Korry Harvey, coach for Westerns debate team, said no apparent dissent was present at the lecture.
"I was excited to see that people were more interested in the substance of his experience and claims than the politics of UC Bolder," Harvey said.
#1
'The ninth amendment, summarized, states that all the rights vested in the people, which arent written in the Bill of Rights, are vested here," Churchill said. "That means dignity and food are obligations of the federal government of the United States."'
sigh. Id like to see more done by for dignity and food for people, but inane constitutional arguements wont help. Can someone make this guy go away?
#3
Churchill spoke about subjects ranging from the U.S. Constitution to the deaths of his friends Mark Clark, a Black Panther Party member, and Fred Hampton, the leader of the partys Chicago chapter.
Be joining your esteemed colleagues soon will you Ward old chum?
#4
Strange how they make up history isn't it. Tens of thousands of Tories were sent packing by the founding father's generation. There were limits to tolerating those who supported the enemy to remain in your communities. One of the nice things about this free society is the freedom to move one's ass elsewhere whether its internal or external. I'm sure President Fox would value such a fine example of gringo native american academic allstar in his country. If not Foxy, then maybe Hugo.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2006 19:45 Comments ||
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#6
Wonder how many of the dimbulbs in the audience are on scholarships for ethnic minorities (real, imagined, and wannabe)? Kyle Shielbs said..."Being a Native American myself, seeing Ward was really inspirational," Shielbs said. "It is nice to see someone out making a difference, someone doing some pretty radical thinking." Kyle Shielbs sounds almost as Indian as Ward Churchill. They are both contributing to global warming by converting oxygen to carbon dioxide for no benefit.
#7
He's talking communism, a failed experiment. This country isn't communist, if that is what he wants he should simply move to a communist country. Where all your needs are provided by the state. And I would bid him a fond adieu, and don't let the door hit you in the ass Ward.
#9
If the folks who WROTE the Constitution didn't find in it an obligation to provide food to the people, how does fake indian churchill find it?
Aditionally, the Ninth Ammendment has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with feeding the people. It simply states that any powers not specifically granted to the Federal government in the Constitution are reserved to the States and to the people. It's a LIMIT on Federal power, not an expansion. What a flipping idiot! These are the kind of clowns that are "teaching" our youth.
The United States is riding roughshod over human rights by outsourcing key anti-terror work in Iraq to private contractors, who operate beyond Iraqi law and outside the military chain of command, Amnesty International said Tuesday. It called for tighter rules on the use of contractors in a statement released with its 2006 annual report detailing human rights violations in 150 countries around the world. The rights watchdog said contracting for military detention, security and intelligence operations had fueled violations.
"We're concerned about the use of private contractors in Iraq because it creates a legal black hole of responsibility and accountability," Amnesty's Secretary-General Irene Khan told AP Television News. "These contractors are protected from being prosecuted under Iraqi law, but they're not part of the U.S. military command. So when they commit crimes, or when they abuse human rights, they're accountable to no one."
Few aspects of the multibillion-dollar U.S. contracting effort in Iraq have been disclosed. A report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office last year said monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor there was no way to determine how many contractors were working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects or how many have been killed.
Continued on Page 49
#1
has given a new lease on life to old-fashioned repression...
Imagine that: we've brought Uday and Qusay back from the dead.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/25/2006 0:13 Comments ||
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#2
Its a quabdry - private sector/free market accountability and responsibility, versus Big Govt universal deficit spending and anti-bankruptcy bankruptcy = pro-bankruptcy anti-bankruptcy = balanced budget!?
#3
The primary source of torture is the incessant whine from Amnesia Int'l. I gots dog ears. Since they only "investigate" the Good Guys, never the Real Perps (China, NorK, etc), it's hard to imagine a more worthless bunch of parasites than Khaaaan & Co.
They're as useless as tits on a boar-hog - and about as attractive.
Those who can, do. Those who can't - run their mouths.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/25/2006 21:57 Comments ||
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#12
Amenesty International - Bunch of pu**ies and hypocrites. Islamofascists and other terorists are murdering, slaughtering, raping, enslaving hundreds sometimes 1000s a day in Chad, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Nuevo Laredo Mexico, etc. and they are "concerned" about the living conditions and treatment of islamo-cockroaches that should be shot in the head.
One wonders what the reception would be like were Hugo Chavez to pay the university a visit ...
Douglas J. Feith's table at the Georgetown University faculty club is shaping up as a lonely one. The move to a teaching position at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown by Mr. Feith, a former Pentagon official, set off a faculty kerfuffle, with 72 professors, administrators and graduate students signing a letter of protest, some going as far as to accuse him of war crimes.
Some critics complain about the process. (He was hired without a faculty vote.)
That could be a problem. As a faculty person myself, it would upset me substantially if a senior person was hired to a tenure or regular track without a proper vote by the Department and the Promotions Committee. Most every university has similar rules, and it's done to prevent deans and chancellors from just hiring their pals. However, as is explained below, if he's hired to a special track especially created for ex-admin types who come to teach and cash in, that's different.
Some complain about the war in Iraq. (Mr. Feith has been accused of promoting it with skewed intelligence.)
That can be discussed in an academic forum, like a classroom or a debate.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 00:12 ||
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#1
The usual suspects? Just exactly what kind of graduate does Gerogetown produce? How many US citizens got jobs from the impact of Georgetown Grads on the world? How many US citizens lives saved? To me it seems just one more place out of touch totally with where I live and and me getting by.
#4
Mark N. Lance, a philosophy professor who teaches nonviolence in the program on Justice and Peace
Ah. An idiot.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/25/2006 7:18 Comments ||
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#5
Georgetown sends a lot of grads to the State Dept, World Bank, etc.
To State? So Georgetown produces traitors?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/25/2006 7:19 Comments ||
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#6
That explains a lot, lotp.
There are many dens of foolishness, but I'm becoming convinced that our most dangerous and enduring problems stem almost solely from the education system. Even if we could sweep the decks of the insane (I can think of no more appropriate word) "educators", what the hell do we do with their indoctrinated minions? It is a split generation - and I don't know the relative sizes. One part is obviously sterling - those who join our military demonstrate it clearly, as well as those who we've heard have challenged their fool professors. One part, those who treated Mr Feith (and Rice and McCain and Gonzalez and many others) with such disrespect, displaying such a lack of grace and intelligence that they don't appear to be of any value to society. What to do with them? Do we need that many burger-flippers? How to drop the hammer on the system and it's power brokers?
The Wahhabists created the tumor that is today's Saudi Arabia (and by extension to all "centers" where that have exported their venom) by taking over their education system. We have the Socialist and Moonbat parallel.
This behavior is one of those leading indicators of what is to come, incivility and confrontation on a scale that eventually far outstrips the juvenile snide and sneering of callous youth. Woe will come to them in waves.
May 25, 2006: Without much publicity, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have gotten a divorce. For over half a century, the Department of Defense depended on the CIA for a lot of the intelligence it needed. No more, or at least less-and-less. DoD recently created the post of undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and made it one of the top four positions in the department. DoD is being coy about exactly what the new arrangements are, given the new Director of National Intelligence and plans for "making intelligence more efficient."
For DoD, plans aren't enough, as the major issue is that the troops are out there fighting the war on terror, and they need good intel now. So DoD is grabbing as much raw intel (from NRO satellites) as they can, and whatever else the CIA will give up. In the meantime, DoD has its own growing force of agents on the ground, many of them from the Special Forces. This sort of thing isn't new for the Special Forces, they have been going in to foreign regions, dressed as civilians, for decades. Some of this was in cooperation with the CIA, which still hires lots of retired Special Forces troopers, for another career as CIA operatives.
DoD is overhauling its entire intelligence apparatus, right down to the individual soldier on patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plans are pretty ambitious, and are partially implemented. The basic idea is to take advantage of abundant computer power, and affordable networking, to tie together as many troops, vehicles and warships as possible into one giant information gathering system. Computer software is used to do an initial filtering of lots of the data, leaving human analysts to deal with a much smaller amount of relevant information identified by the software.
DoD has, for years, been aghast at the huge amounts of data that NRO, CIA and NSA collected, but never had the analyst resources to do anything with. The new DoD system is much more oriented towards solving immediate intel problems with all possible dispatch. No more waiting days for satellite photos, when the information was needed in hours, or minutes, to be useful. DoD is buying billions of dollars worth of UAVs, and installing communications equipment that will allow troops in combat to get the images when they are needed, not much later, after they have been "analyzed and cleared."
Posted by: Steve ||
05/25/2006 09:07 ||
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#1
Sounds like Chloe is going to get a new job offer.
#3
It's the basic conflict of "actual" data vs. "theoretical" data. That is, the CIA can offer only cocktail-party assurances; whereas DOD has operatives who can tell the differnce between it and Shinola(tm).
#6
I retired six plus years ago and was a member of the Intelligence community for twenty years. Even back then everyone thought the CIA was too bloated and bureaucratic to be efficient. Most of their operatives had some many layers of rules that it was impossible to gather actionable intelligence. So instead of providing intelligence they became customers of other agencies intelligence and simply drew conclusion from that. The military has been pulling this cart for a long time honestly doesnt need the CIA to perform its mission. A clear example would be the WMD intelligence about Iraq. We had a know quantity that Iraq had manufactured and used WMD of various flavors. The CIA supposedly had assets to monitor/track WMDs, because that was THEIR JOB. NOBODY in the CIA had any clue about where, when, who, or how much about WMDs prior to the Military capturing Iraq. It used to be that you would like to have intelligence PRIOR to rolling into a hostile area, not afterwards. Dismantle and start over.
#7
Good. I was getting tired of hearing about soldiers getting in trouble 'cus the intel was just plain wrong from the agency. DoD can do a much better job for military intel.
#8
Wonder how long it will take before the CIA realizes the NYT is their only customer?
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 13:31 Comments ||
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LOL John. I hope that Hayden will invite the Senior CIA staff into his office and have them justify their existence. Two things that he didnt like were busy work and duplicity of effort.
I been in the IC forever too. And the layers and entanglements between ops and analysis and all the "silo kingdoms" built to protect jobs by CYA management at Langley have made the "product" coming out of there so imprecise and hedged with political language as to be un-actionable. And don't get me started on tasking or operational flexibility (or politically motivated leaks)!
Hopefully Gen Hayden will bring in the same kinds of changes he made at Ft Meade. If the rumors are true, decoupling Analysis from Ops is a fantastic first step. If I were him, I'd next decouple Ops-covert-action from Ops-humint-development. Thsoe 2 areas would seem to fall at cross purposes.
this would get the action guys to work more with SOCOM, let the HUMINT guys go a little more free wheeling and be more responsive to tasking from wherever, not just internal analysis or action groups. And the analysis guys could respond and interoperate better with analysis from other agencies, since they woudl no longer be wedded to the CIA-centric point of view.
#11
OS, CS, This type of talk always gives me a sour taste. But I guess thats whats needed for change at the upper levels, wish it was not so. From 01 to 04 I had the pleasure of working with the ops guys and I found at the ground level the guys were straight, interdependancy helps, action oriented, and were as equally frustrated with their leaders as both of you talk of. But at our level we shared most everything and they were dedicated to working as a team.
Hayden, if he is going to save the agency and its reputation, must spotlight these young honorable members and promote them past the bureacrats if he is coung to instatute change. The CIA is too important to scrap. DOD might be able to replicate a lot of the functions but we will never be able to replace the capabilities of the CIA.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2006 14:07 Comments ||
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49Pan - let me be very clear that I have *never* run into a problem op-to-op. If you are a field op, then you have to be straight up with others in your line, no matter which "A", "D" or "COM" you nominally work for: you cannot afford to not be anything other than that without putting your life and others at risk (the backstabbing/doublecrossing stuff is best left for the fantasy worlds of James Bond movies and TV's Jack Bauer or Sydney Bristow). I've not heard of interagency squablling being a problem analyst-to-analyst either, as long as they are not overmanaged, and are allowed to work independantly together in a true joint environment.
The problem comes when stuff has to go up the food chain, and the supervisory ass-covering with management & budget fiefdoms come into play. Its not an IC specific thing - I see it in corporate America a lot too. I think its a result of human nature if you let an ogranization get ossified and never bother to shake it and its leadership up to keep things dynamic.
At the places in question, its probably a result of having so many decades with an institutional opponent (KGB/GRU) who seldom changed anything at its core - so dealing with change became an exception instead of the norm. And we all know how well any govt b-cracy works delaing with unexpected changes...
#13
Considering the DoD has the folks with their asses on the frontline, and that the CIA is completely inept, blame Darwin.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/25/2006 17:17 Comments ||
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CIA must now have to earn respect
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/25/2006 17:18 Comments ||
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Ditto Syber Sarge and Spook! Excellent analysis. DoD has had those low risk-no risk mother may I, diplo-donks up it's arss for far too many years. Too damn bad it took 9/11 failures and a GWOT to finally ferret the worthless kaks out. Too damn bad.
#16
Old Spook,
Fully agree you see the same "silo building" all over corporate America. As one inept, but funny CEO I served did put well, however, when he said "...there are no watertight compartments on this submarine". Same goes for the Intel biz, me thinks.
No, not today, so calm down:
ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security agencies have arrested more than 1,000 al-Qaida suspects between January 2002 and May 2006, a comprehensive study by a Pakistani independent institute revealed on Thursday. The Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) said that it provided an in-depth understanding and objective analysis of national, regional and global strategic issues, affecting international peace and security.
Of the arrested al-Qaida suspects, 70 came from Algeria, 86 from Saudi Arabia, 20 from Morocco, 22 from the United Arab Emirates, 11 from Libya, seven from Kuwait, 20 from Egypt, 28 from Indonesia, 18 from Malaysia, and 36 from West Asian countries, according to the report on PIPS's website. They also included 18 citizens of Western countries: five from the United States, two from Australia and 11 from the United Kingdom. An unknown number of French and German citizens were also included, according to the report.
The study was based on the reports in the media and did not include all the arrests of the Afghans and Pakistanis fighting against the Pakistani security forces in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The PIPS study included only important Pakistani and Afghan members of al-Qaida from these areas.
Didn't count the lowly cannon fodder, nor the ones important enough to be "disappeared" via ghost jet. Still, not a bad total.
Moreover, the security forces have also killed more than 1,000 al-Qaida fighters in operations in Pakistan.
Deaders go in a seperate file. Sometimes they rise from the grave and skew the totals.
However, the Pakistani government has announced the arrests of only 660 al-Qaida members.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/25/2006 13:20 ||
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India wants to purchase military hardware from Mitsubishi and Toshiba
India and Japan on Thursday announced a slew of measures to step up defence cooperation, including holding goodwill exercises between the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF).
They have also decided on "progressively advanced content of future exercises", a joint statement issued here after bilateral discussions between visiting Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Japanese Minister of State for Defence Fukushiro Nukaga said.
Mukherjee arrived here on Thursday on a four-day visit to Japan. "The two sides also agreed on exchange of ship visits between the Indian Navy and the JMSDF. They also agreed to invite officials of the other side to witness designated military activities," the statement said.
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 12:55 ||
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#1
So, now we see why it's so critical to court India. The oppnents are becoming much more clear.US+England+Japan+India+Australia+Israel vs. Russia+China+N.Korea+Iran+Saudi Arabia+Pakland. These are the players who matter. The others, France, Germany, Spain , Italy, Egypt won't do much unless it becomes very obvious who's going to prevail.
"So far I see the problem like this: I have a 32 ounce can of worms. I have a six hour time limite. The worms have to be sorted by length and thickness. The worms are alive. They are also venomous. Simple, no?"
Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai, who yesterday took oath as the new governor of Pakistans troubled Islamist North West Frontier Province, admits his new job is challenging in view of the international focus on the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Although the governor is for the entire province, his main area of concern is the tribal area. It was neglected in the past and, therefore, there is need to pay lot of attention to it to accelerate development work, expand education and health services, and improve the economic life of the tribal people, he said.
Thousands of Nepalese protested in a southern business town on Wednesday against a plan to turn Nepal into a secular state. More than 5,000 people burned tyres and logs, and blocked roads in Birgunj, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Kathmandu, resident Shiva Patel said. They were protesting over a plan approved by parliament last week to turn Nepal, the world's only Hindu kingdom, into a secular state. Shouting "Jay Shree Ram!" (Lord Ram is great!), demonstrators obliged shops to pull down shutters and forced vehicles off the streets, local journalist Govind Devkota said from the town on the Indian border.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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The Senate's Functional Committee on Human Rights will investigate the death of Aamir Cheema who died in police custody in Germany earlier this month. Cheema, a 24 year-old Pakistani, was studying in Germany at the University of Applied Sciences in Muenchberg sine 2004. He was arrested on March 20 for trying to enter the building of Axel Springer publishing house, the publisher of Die Welt newspaper, in Berlin and was accused of planning to attack the paper's editor for reprinting Danish blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Though German authorities have declared Cheema's death as suicide, it has raised questions about the rights of Pakistanis abroad, prompting senator SM Zafar, chairman of the committee, to initiate an investigation into the matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Anti Terrorism Court-V declared Akhtar Mengal, former chief minister of Balochistan and chief of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal), an absconder in an army hostage-taking case and issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest for June 2. When the case was taken up Wednesday by the ATC-Vs Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch, all the under-custody accused were present in court. In the charge sheet, the police had shown Akhtar Mengal as the accused yet to be arrested.
Defence counsel Ghulam Shah submitted that four of Mengals servants were being kept in solitary confinement at Central Prison Karachi. He prayed the court to transfer them to District Prison Malir at Landhi. The court dismissed his plea. Complainant Qurban Hussain, a havaldar of the army, lodged an FIR at the Darakhshan police station on April 5, 2006 that he and Lance Naik Fayaz were going to Sea View on intelligence duty when they were intercepted by Sardar Akhtar Mengal and four or five men and kidnapped them.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The Indian Government should take real fine ground Norite (Activated Charcoal) and spread it as a fine dust over the Siachen Glacier.
Wait a couple of years and its just a nice lake.
#2
The Indian government won't destroy the glacial river sources in its own territory.
It holds the high ground and cannot be dislogded by military means. The Indian army has divisions of troops trained and acclimatized to high altitude warfare.
The Indian Prime Minister is another matter. Born in what is now Pakistan, he seems to have a longing for the long lost brothers (an affliction common to Punjabis of that generation).
He may very well decide to "trust" Pakistan and order the Indian army to leave the glacier.
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 12:47 Comments ||
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#3
*cough*coup*cough*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2006 13:44 Comments ||
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#4
Last Indian General to have that sort of power was Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw (called Sam Bahadur or "Sam the Bold" by his men).
Indira Gandhi feared his popularity among the Indian people.
In 1970, then prime minister Indira Gandhi's worst fear was that Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw would stage a coup and take over the reins of the country from her.
In 1970, Mrs Gandhi's stock politically, was very low, Manekshaw explained, and he couldn't go anywhere without being asked whether he would actually take over. Even a US Diplomat had asked him at a party ``when are you taking over'', he remembered. Then one day, a worried Mrs Gandhi asked him to come to Parliament House and ``looked me straight into my eyes and said you are my problem,'' he said.
Shaken up, Manekshaw, the hero of the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict, said ``I put my nose next to hers and said what do you think ?''
``She said you can't.
"Do you think I am so incompetent" (Manekshaw replied).
I didn't mean that Sam. You wouldn't,''
he recalled Mrs Gandhi as having argued.
The former army chiefs aid he related a ``little jingle'' to the prime minister, ``you mind your own business and I'll mind mine. You kiss your own sweetheart and I'll kiss mine. I don't interfere politically as long as nobody interferes with me in the army''
"Don't you think I would not be a worthy replacement for you Madam prime minister? You have a long nose, so have I. I don't poke my nose in other people's affairs," he joked.
.
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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The Indian state has done a good job at enforcing civilian control over the army (which predates the state itself).
Something like a coup would be unthinkable in India now. The population and most of the army itslef would never allow it.
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 14:36 Comments ||
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Quite ironic that the Pakistan Army, which was formed from a parition of the Indian Army, has evolved in such a different direction...
Posted by: john ||
05/25/2006 14:38 Comments ||
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#7
Hummm.... The Indian Army keeping out of the political arena even during bad times has been one of the cornerstone of Indians success.
Imams loyal to terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi have issued threats in mosques in a western Baghdad neighborhood against anyone who does not follow Islamic law, terrified residents are saying. "They announced their loyalty to Zarqawi and put their rules on the street," said Sabah, 31, adding that supporters of the Jordanian-born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq had killed six men for wearing knee-length shorts in another Baghdad neighborhood on Tuesday.
"Everyone is talking about it," he said, adding that a friend of his had forbidden his brothers to go outside in shorts, despite the 106-degree weather. "Women must stay at home, and girls cannot go to school past primary school. People selling Iranian products will either have to throw them out or get killed," said Sabah, who asked that his last name not be used. He lives in the violent Sunni neighborhood of Amariya, where he said the threats were made.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has taken a tough stance against militias and terrorists, vowing to implement sweeping counterterror laws to bring peace and stability to the country. For city residents, that promise seems much more tenuous than the direct threats being issued in their mosques. Amariya, close to Baghdad International Airport, was a mixed Sunni-Shi'ite neighborhood during the rule of Saddam Hussein. But most of the Shi'ites have been driven out or killed, and the area has become a Sunni stronghold.
And moving up on our list of neighborhoods to be cleaned out.
News of the imams' words has spread fast in this city of 6 million people, where many are traumatized after three years of war and sectarian killings. By yesterday, one of Sabah's friends was making plans to repaint his "swamp cooler" -- a fan that blows water-cooled air. The popular devices typically are painted green and white and widely known to be made in Iran.
Other rules laid down by the Zarqawi supporters forbid men from wearing orange or red clothes or using gel in their hair. Women no longer are allowed to work, and girls cannot study. "They are destroying their lives," said Amer Amoori, a 66-year-old former school headmaster who was fuming at the news. "They will destroy a whole generation." He said residents in these neighborhoods would have to stand up for themselves or risk losing everything.
Get out yer shootin' irons and go whack those imams. I bet things calm down after that.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 01:19 ||
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Shorts? SHORTS? Jeebus! I didn't realise the fashion jihadis were in town..
Mmm that keffiyah don't go with those pants Abu.. Bang!. I ask you - where in the Koran does it say anything about short trousers?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/25/2006 4:06 Comments ||
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Howard,
All that matters is that it DOESN'T SAY Mo wore short pants, therefor short pants are forbidden. Or at least that's the kind of logic(?) I have heard. Somehow they miss the corrolary - the Koran also doesn't say anything about Mo shooting an AK-47 or blowing up cars full of artillery shells, so employing those weapons is also blasphemous and warrants the death penalty.
#4
Oops, in proper Arab society, I should say. Exceptions are those who've fallen under wicked infidel incluences, such as Bahrain. They will be cleansed, I'm sure.
#5
Riiiiight - thanks for explaining ep2648 & Glenmore. In proper British Society you would never be seen to publicly dunk a biscuit in your tea. I doubt whether one would be shot for it though.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/25/2006 7:41 Comments ||
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the ban on wearing shorts is probably a derivative of the 'don't imitate the infidel'
Q 9:30 has the phrase '...they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them..." (this by the way is the part of the Quran which says that Jews believe Ezra is the son of God).
#10
This is what these fools have to look forward to. They allowed the constitution they came up with to allow Islamic law to prevail. They will never have secular law or an ordered, civil society. Had they gone for secular precedence, they could handle this by monitoring imams. Once spittle starts gushing, quietly go in and have the imam eliminated. But, then, this would destroy Muzzie cult, wouldn't it. No pity for fools like these.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday he believed Iraqi forces were capable of taking over security around the country within 18 months, but he did not mention a timetable for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave. "Our forces are capable of taking over the security in all Iraqi provinces within a year-and-a-half," al-Maliki said in a written statement, in which he acknowledged that security forces needed more recruits, training and equipment.
His comments came as Sunni Arab and Shiite political leaders expressed hope that compromise candidates would be found to head the defense and interior ministries by Saturday.
A firm hand guiding the two ministries could lay the groundwork for shifting security responsibilities from U.S.-led forces to the Iraqi army and police. U.S. officials have conceded that could take longer than Iraqi officials wish.
The violence in Iraq and the need for coalition forces will be a primary topic when [President] Bush and [British Prime Minister] Blair meet Thursday. "I do not believe that you're going to hear the president or the prime minister say we're going to be out in one year, two years, four years," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. "I just don't think you're going to get any specific prediction of troops withdrawals."
Iraq's armed forces and police number about 254,000 and should reach about 273,000 by year's end. That, according to al-Maliki, is when "responsibility for much of Iraq's territorial security should have been transferred to Iraqi control" except for Anbar province and Baghdad, two of the most violent areas. Al-Maliki and Blair said Monday that Iraqi security forces would start assuming full responsibility for some provinces and cities next month. They declined to set a date for a coalition withdrawal.
However, handing over security responsibilities to the Iraqis does not necessarily mean that significant numbers of U.S.-led forces will start returning home. Instead, plans call for them to move from cities to large coalition bases where they will be on call if needed.
The Iraqi army needs to recruit at least 5,000 troops in Anbar, the western province that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad acknowledged is not fully under coalition or Iraqi government control. "I believe that parts of Anbar are under the control of terrorists and insurgents. But as far as the country as a whole is concerned, it is the coalition forces, along with Iraqi forces, who are in control," Khalilzad told CNN.
The U.S. Army has said it wants make up the shortfall in Anbar with locally recruited troops, but such a move probably will not be possible unless the Defense Ministry is controlled by a Sunni Arab. "Negotiations are under way in order to reach a decision regarding the appointment of the ministers of defense and interior. Within the coming two days, the decision will be made," Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the main Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Accordance Front, told The Associated Press.
Sunni Arabs also have sought the ministry as a counterbalance to the Shiite-run Interior Ministry, which many members of the minority blame for failing to disband militias they say are responsible for sectarian death squads. Al-Dulaimi said his coalition presented six Defense Ministry nominees for vetting and made it clear that Sunni Arabs want an interior minister "who is not linked to militias."
Shiite deputies said a seven-member selection committee failed to agree on a candidate but would keep meeting daily and hoped to make a choice by Saturday, the day before parliament convenes. The 275-member body will have to approve any candidates.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 01:06 ||
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It's not an unreasonable goal. They probably won't be able to be entirely free of Coalition assistance, but could well be 'in charge', and require assistance 'only' in the form of advisors, communications/air support, and some logistics. More than anything, it will be a function of their own internal command and control of their own forces, and thus of their force credibility. Can they weed out the moles and rein in the extremists? If they do, and thus gain the trust of the people, victory is certain.
Iraq's ex-Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz made his first public appearance in three years on the stand for Saddam Hussein on Wednesday, calling on the court to try current leaders for attacks on the state in the 1980s.
Aziz, the highest profile witness for Saddam, was once the international public face of the toppled leader's government and one of his closest aides. He tried to turn the tables around in the trial that started in October by accusing one of the parties now in power, the Islamist Shia Dawa of new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, of trying to kill him and Saddam in the 1980s.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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'Gaza link' to Egypt bombings Published in: BBC May 24, 2006
Egypt has for the first time linked Palestinian terrorists militants to suicide attacks in the Sinai last month. An interior ministry statement said the group behind the attacks, al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, had opened channels of communication with the terrorists militants. It adds at least two Egyptian terrorists militants had been to Gaza and one of them had been shown the red button trained in the use of explosives.
Shocked, SHOCKED, I tell ya! The Iran Paleo "government", aka Hamas, is implacably anti-Israel. Now, due to the "wonders of paleo deep thought", you can add Jordan and Egypt who now view Hamas as a direct and mortal threat. Jordan finds them moving in arms and making plans to attack targets in Jordan. They come in from Iran, I mean Syria. Now, he Egyptians, dumbasses that they are, allowed the Paleos to make the border a sieve, knowing the Israelis won't go arab on them. Can you say blowback? I knew ya could. The key here is knocking the sand out from underneath Islam. If they can be educated about what Islam really is, they might leave.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will hold a referendum on the parameters of a Palestinian state if Fatah and Hamas cannot agree on a political programme. He was speaking at a conference aimed at ending violence and political divisions between the main factions. Mr Abbas' Fatah recognises Israel, and wants a state in occupied territories with a capital in East Jerusalem.
Hamas does not recognise Israel, and officially calls for an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
However, Hamas' Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, has said recently that Hamas would observe a long-term ceasefire if Israel withdrew to its pre-1967 borders.
Arab allies of the Palestinian Authority have sought refuge from the emerging civil war in the Gaza Strip. Egyptian and Jordanian diplomats have avoided traveling in much of the Gaza Strip to avoid being a target in battles between Fatah and Hamas. As part of their war, both militias, supported by rival PA security agencies, have established roadblocks and ambushed each other's patrols. "Most of the diplomats and military advisers of Egypt and Jordan have left the Gaza Strip or remain indoors," a diplomatic source said. "They have been under orders from their governments to do everything they can to avoid becoming a target."
On Monday, the driver of Jordan's envoy in the Gaza Strip was killed in a gun battle between Hamas fighters and PA police officers aligned with Fatah. The shootout took place near the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Let Abbas and his supporters earn a lot of money. Two billion dollars to eliminate Humas leadership and another two billions to destroy all the supporters of Hamas.
Jordan has urged the United States to reject an Israeli plan for a unilateral withdrawal from 90 percent of the West Bank. Administration officials said Jordan has relayed concern that an Israeli pullout would endanger the Hashemite kingdom. The officials said Amman envisions the West Bank turning into a haven for Al Qaida and Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored groups that aim to destabilize the kingdom. "The bottom line from the Jordanians was: 'We have enough of a problem with Al Qaida and Hamas. This makes it worse?'" an official said.
The Israeli's occupy the West Bank, they bitch. The Israeli's pull out, they bitch. It's like they're a ex-wife or something
The official said Olmert was directed by the administration to consult Jordan regarding any West Bank withdrawal. He said the State Department and White House would in the meantime seek to bolster the authority of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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Ahh yes, the West Bank IIRC that was part of Jordan a while back no? I think Israel should pull out and tell Jordan that it's all yours again.
Should do the same with Egypt and Gaza.
My conspiracy theory side says that Israel was allowed to win that war so that Egypt and Jordan could get rid of their Paleo problem.
An interceptor missile fired from a US warship destroyed a short-range target missile in its last few seconds of flight, the US Missile Defense Agency said. "It was the first sea-based intercept of a ballistic missile in its terminal phase," the agency said.
The USS Lake Erie, an Aegis cruiser that has been modified for missile defense operations, used a Standard Missile-2 Block IV missile to intercept a short range ballistic missile off Hawaii, the agency said. The goal of the test was to show that the target missile could be destroyed in the last few seconds of flight either with a direct hit or with a blast close enough to knock it down. "In today's test, the threat missile was completely destroyed by the combined effects of these two mechanisms," the agency said.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/25/2006 08:43 ||
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#1
"short range ballistic missile" is not the same as "short-range missile"
#2
Exactly, that's the point of the story. This block of SM-2 can attack high altitude missiles on a ballsitic trajectory - not just medium-low level aircraft or cruise missiles.
#3
Also read the US Navy wants to supplement its PHALANX CIWS with an intermediate range, all-altitude, missle-based system capable of simul or echeloned firing high-velocity mini-missles, equipped wid both conventional and nuke mini-warheads. The PHALANX will be still be kept and used as a last-ditch, shred everything-in-sight system.
TERRORISTS linked to the group blamed for the Bali bombings are being trained in the use of chemical weapons that can cause widespread death and destruction. Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna has warned that the authorities have proof Jemaah Islamiah has been training its operatives in chemical warfare.
Dr Gunaratna said authorities had recovered a training manual from the home of a senior JI leader instructing terrorists on how to develop and launch an attack with the deadly chemical, hydrogen cyanide. "The chemicals and biological agents discussed in the manual were similar to those that al-Qaeda had been experimenting with and producing in laboratories in Afghanistan," Dr Gunaratna said. "Al-Qaeda has conducted experiments on dogs and rabbits exposing them to the fumes and forcing them to die harrowing deaths."
TRIPOLI: MP Mosbah Ahdab said on Wednesday that there was no evidence to date to disprove that a Syrian security guard who had shot at the deputy's home had committed suicide in prison. Ahdab's update came during a news conference held at his Tripoli home. Rumors of foul play have circulated since the discovery of Jihad Abdel-Hamid Akleh's body last Thursday in his cell at the Justice Palace in Tripoli.
Gee, I wonder why?
Unidentified gunmen fired multiple gunshots on the MP's home in the early hours of May 14. The deputy is married with three children.
"When investigations began, Akleh tried to escape several times before finally giving himself up to police and confessing to having shot at my house," Ahdab said. "We were all shocked because he was a close friend of the family.
"Nothing personal, Mosbah. Just business"
"In his testimony Akleh told the police that he was forced by a 'certain party' to fire at my house. However, he committed suicide before continuing the interrogations."
Yeah, I can see why there might be "rumors"
Ahdab denied multiple rumors that he was not in Tripoli at the time of the shooting, that he owed Akleh money or that he had ordered Akleh to fire on his house so that he could accuse Syria of the attack. "If the incident aimed at exerting pressure on me to change my political positions, (those responsible should realize) that is impossible," the deputy said. "My positions are based on firm national convictions." Ahdab said he regretted Akleh's death and urged his family to contact the authorities if they had any relevant information. The MP had praise for acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat for assigning a committee to investigate the incident.
North Lebanon Bar Association President Fadi Ghantous asked Fatfat last week to have medical examiners determine the cause of death, after concerns were aired in Tripoli and the North that Akleh had died while being tortured in prison.
"Well, he could have gotten those bruises while trying to climb the stairs"
Asked if he believed Syria was connected to the suicide, Ahdab said he did not have a problem with any Syrians. "Many were born in Tripoli and have the Syrian identity; Akleh was one of them," he added.
"and we don't expect any more problems from him"
Posted by: Steve ||
05/25/2006 13:06 ||
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#4
Interesting how Iran is allowing open talk about the changing rolls of the RG. Shifting command lines, like USASOC did years ago. Openly admitting the doctrine change to assymetrical defence etc... Is it real or just propaganda?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2006 8:33 Comments ||
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#5
No Iranians, no guerilla warfare. Just undeveloped beachfront real estate.
Posted by: ed ||
05/25/2006 8:38 Comments ||
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#6
"The US is being completely ridiculous. While it wishes to police the region, it is dealing with a country that is significantly more powerful than Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Vietnam, and every other country bar Germany that it has ever fought," said Abdurrahman Shayyal.
The Vietnamese would kick 94 shades of waste matter out of the Iranians, and still be home in time for dinner.
#7
That "feeling of invulnerability" would change to a quite different feeling if it ever came to combat with the US. As I remember, the vaunted 'republican guard' had the same 'feeling'...until about 5 minutes after Desert Storm began. The white flags couldn't come out fast enough.
#8
When your religion doesn't face reality, and your religion is the driving force in your life, how can you face reality ? All things Islam are doomed unless we sleep.
#9
It would be unwise to equate Islam with Iran. Other forces have just as much impact. First of all Iran is really just "greater Persia", with only its core state, Persia, being the part of Iran that matters to the Persians.
The Persians are not Arabs, but Indo-Europeans, sometimes called "Aryans" (dating back to the 'Aryan Invasion' of the region, to include India). Indo-Europeans are culturally apples and oranges to Semitic Arabs, and the two never have been able to get along very well.
The native Persian religion is Zoroastrianism, which is still the religion of much of the upper classes in Persia--who bear some loyalty to Persia, if none to the Mullahs. When Sunni Moslem Arabs conquered Persia, the lower classes rejected Sunni Islamic domination with the Shiite religion; while the upper classes just retained their Zoroastrian beliefs, not caring for either the Arabs *or* their own lower classes.
So what is left today? As late as the Iran/Iraq War, Zoroastrians still ran large parts of the professional Iranian Army. All have since been purged, first to be replaced by incompetant Mullahs, who in turn, the leadership of the most critical parts have been replaced by the Iranian Presidents' fellow cultists.
The other parts of Iran, greater Persia, have no great loyalty to Persia, yet are exploited by Persia for their resources. Without these resources, Persia retains a well-educated population, but not enough resources to be able to proliferate nuclear weapons.
So how is Iran neutralized? First and foremost, by having layered anti-missile defenses in about a 270 degree arc around them, capable of taking down multiple salvos. Without their missiles, they have little or no offensive capability.
From that point on, the partitioning of Iran, with its pieces not left to autonomy, but given to its neighbors to keep and defend, reduces Persia to a manageable and peaceful size.
But this requires that its military and Revolutionary Guard be annihilated to far below levels they would need to try and reclaim these lost regions.
In the long run, this would be an object lesson as to the proliferation of nuclear weapons in disregard to international requirements--a death penalty for Iran, with significant loss of life, but more importantly, permanent disability.
An irony, I suppose, in that they justify the amputation of limbs with their Sharia law, that they themselves be amputated in punishment.
#10
Good read Moose. It makes sense the partitioning of Iran and all but just how do you suppose China & Russia would react to this? I'm guessing not so good. With the exception of Israel who would join us or at least give political cover? Again I'm guessing but it would be very few I think. If we were lucky maybe the Brits, Aussies & Poles but few others if any. I wonder about Japan....
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
05/25/2006 15:12 Comments ||
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#11
RJB: You have to assume strongly changed circumstances for this to happen. A good example was if Iran initiated an aggressive war, whether or not the attack was successful. None of the other powers would stand in our way at that point, as all have reserved the right to fight back.
Their obvious target would be the strongest US power in the region, the strongest threat to them, one or two US fleets. Most likely with an attack using a proxy like al-Q to take credit.
#13
I would never fight an Iraq-style war against the moonbats in Iran. I would bomb them to death. Destroy their ports and harbors, their airfields, their transportation networks, their military facilities, their oil facilities, and anything that moved. Just keep hitting them until they surrender, or they're all dead. Make the "muhjadeen" come to us in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they'll stand out like a sore thumb, and will be easy to whack.
Iran not only doesn't have sufficient refinery capacity to meet its own needs, it doesn't raise enough food to meet its people's needs. No imports, no exports, and bombs raining down on you without warning, day after day for several years, and the survivors would be so totally whacked they couldn't even LIFT a weapon, much less pull the trigger.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/25/2006 18:43 Comments ||
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#14
I suspect the Chinese don't give a flying fig about the Persians as long as the oil supply continues to flow.
I suspect that the Russians will be happy if they can pick up some of the resulting pieces (the Azeri portion of Iran?).
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/25/2006 18:52 Comments ||
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#15
I would wear a turquoise and gold brooch. That would indicate strong disapproval. I would also not wear underwear to the State Dinner - that would indicate willingness to make a deal
#25
Agree in general with Moose but I doubt with 2-1/2 years left Dubya will seek nor want the [current] partitioning of any nation, whatwever the merits. I still strongly believe Dubya will either resolve or at least contain/limit the de facto threats to Amer's democratic allies vv IRAN-NORTH KOREA-TAIWAN CRISES, wid Iran per se likely being deadmeat first thanx to the on-going rants of MadMoud. Wid RUSSIA-CHINA, espec China, going after states in the lower Americas, America and its Allies need Iran both as democratic model and anti-Russia-China buffer for the Muslim member-nations of the Shanghai Coop Organz. For the time being anyway, as expected Iran is focusing its asymmetric defenses along the high mountains and ridges of Iran - iff and when America needs to militarily invade Iran, Iran will probably try to sink or destroy a one or more major naval or base targets before majorily falling back into the mountains to conduct its anti-US, MSM-profiled/
verified "People's War" or "War for Resistance" campaigns in the name of Islam, Shia Islam, and Regional = future Global Iran-centric Empire.
Beirut- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah ruled out the widely popular option of integrating his armed group into the Lebanese army. His statement on this matter was viewed as a positioning strategy ahead of the June 8 national dialogue meeting on disarming all the militia in Lebanon.
Nasrallah made the statement on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from the South of Lebanon.
Nasrallah, who faces Lebanese and international pressure to disarm as per UN resolution 1559 and al Taif Accord, said that guerrilla fighting was Lebanon's sole option in facing Israeli aggression. "It is the only available alternative before us," Nasrallah said, reiterating that northern Israel remained "under the firing line" of his group's more than 12,000 rockets.
Nasrallah said "the resistance is a point of strength for Lebanon" in the absence of a powerful regular Lebanese army. "If today I go on television to tell the residents of the (northern Israeli) settlements that they should go down to the shelters, they will all be in Tel Aviv in no time," said Nasrallah during a conference on "the culture of resistance."
Nasrallah added "To merge the resistance into the regular Lebanese army is not a realistic option because this will weaken the Lebanese position in facing the much superior Israeli army equipment or its experience."
#1
Why doesnt Israel just withdraw its forces from the Shebaa Farms and let the chips fall where they may? Seems to me, with no occupation, would it not force the Lebanese government to deploy its army on the border and therefore remove the pretext for an armed Hezbollah? And what if Syria acts up as a result? Screwem, theyre long overdue for a smack down anyway. Maybe simplicity is just what is needed for this can of worms in a barrel of snakes.
#4
DepotGuy: After a successful seizure of the Shebaa Farms. the next target is something called the "7 Villages". There is no end to their madness, lest it be the occupation of Tel-Aviv...
Iran must suspend uranium enrichment before the United States will consider direct talks on the Iranian nuclear programme, the White House said on Wednesday.
US presidential spokesman Tony Snow was responding to a US media report that Iran had recently asked a number of intermediaries to convey its wish for face-to-face dialogue with the US.
Bilateral negotiations are not an option until Iran is very serious about suspending all enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, Snow told reporters.
They have to do it in a verifiable and credible manner and a permanent manner. When that happens, all right, then there may be some opportunities, he said.
Talk of possible US-Iranian contacts began in early May after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reached out to his US counterpart George W Bush in a lengthy letter.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Iranian officials had also asked a flurry of intermediaries to pass word to Washington that Iran is interested in dialogue.
They reportedly include the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei; UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; Indonesia, and Kuwait.
But Snow said the US would not want to divide the coalition of major countries that Washington says share the goal of keeping Iran from having nuclear weapons.
The US State Department portrayed Irans diplomatic offensive as a diversion from the dispute over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is only for civilian power generation.
There are many who want to make this a US-Iran issue, department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Its not a US-Iran issue. Its the concern of the international community, an increasingly united international community, and Iran.
ElBaradei met Wednesday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but sidestepped a reporters question about whether he brought a message from Irans chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, whom he met a few days before his trip to Washington.
Of course, I briefed Secretary Rice on the Iranian point of view, but it is rather different from the US point of view, ElBaradei said without elaborating.
US-Iranian official contacts have been on ice since Irans 1979 Islamic revolution and the 15-month hostage-taking of US diplomats by Iranian students.
The US is working closely with Germany, France and Britain to stop any attempt by Iran to build nuclear weapons.
Senior diplomats from the four countries met Wednesday in London with officials from China and Russia to work on a set of incentives and threatened penalties designed to make Iran suspend enrichment.
Rice said the negotiators made good progress. McCormack, her spokesman, said earlier that Washington hopes the package will persuade Iran to return to the pathway of dialogue, a call echoed by ElBaradei after his talks with Rice.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/25/2006 00:05 ||
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Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday that dialogue and not force remained the key to resolving Irans nuclear standoff with the West, warning that any military offensive against Tehran would destabilise the entire region.
The only region more unstable than the Middle East to include Iran is maybe the Horn of Africa, and for much the same reason: when the civilized world attempts to conduct "dialogue" with the local Fearless Leaders, they're treated to the sight of the nutcase states' negotiators spewing spittle, jumping up and down, rolling their eyes, claiming their "legitimate rights," having their heads spin around 360 degrees, and projectile vomiting. Sorry, but that's not "dialogue." It's more like possession by demons.
Aziz made the comments while talking to visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who had called on him at Prime Minister House. The two discussed bilateral relations, regional developments and the Iranian nuclear row.
"See that guy over there? Betcha I can hit him with a projectile vomit from here!"
"Go on! That's at least 200 feet!"
"Hrrrrrralph!"
"Dang! You did it! Here! Lemme give it a try. We've got negotiations with India coming up on Kashmir!"
Aziz reiterated Pakistans stance that conflict resolution had to take the form of dialogue, not force, adding that there was no room for the use of force in the 21st century.
Jihad, yes. The use of force by the West, no.
Pakistan, he said, wanted the Iranian nuclear issue to be resolved through negotiation.
With whom? We've let the Marshmallow People talk to them continuously for the past three years with no results except those noted above.
The prime minister said that Pakistan was making headway in boosting bilateral relations with Iran, stressing that Islamabad was keen to take the issue of gas imports with Tehran to a higher level. The Iranian foreign minister said that Pakistan and Iran enjoyed a strong bond of friendship, which was set to strengthen with the passage of time.
Since they're two peas in an Islamic pod.
He also briefed Aziz on the current situation regarding the Iranian nuclear programme. Mottaki had arrived in Islamabad early on Wednesday to represent Tehran in a two-day meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC), which he was due to co-chair, scheduled to begin later on Wednesday. It was expected that measures aimed at boosting bilateral trade from US $400 million to one billion dollars annually would top the JEC agenda.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Move aside boys, Uncle Sam is rolling up his sleeves to do some serious ass pounding. No moolah nukes.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/25/2006 0:37 Comments ||
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#2
AFRICA's Rogues will most likely be left to Dubya's successor - the glitch/snafu for the Dems and any DemoLeft POTUS is that their usual SPEND SPEND SPEND method is no longer sufficient for the post-9-11 world. Radical Islam wants and prefers a US Dem POTUS becuz the likelihood of unilateral Amer concession, appeasement, and isolationism-centric eventual US defeat, iff not destruction, is far higher than for any GOP POTUS. AMERICA AND BY EXTENS THE DEMOCRATIC-CAPITALIST WEST IS UP AGAINST A COVERT-OVERT GRAND ALLIANCE OF PAN-SOCIALIST ENEMIES HELL-BENT DEDICATED TO THE DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION OF AMER-WEST, AND NO AMOUNT OF DEMOCRAT DEFICIT SPENDING CONCESSION, AND APPEASEMENT, EVEN FOR OWG, IS GONNA SUFFICE. ARMISTICE > KILL US LATER, NOT IMMEDIATELY OR SOONER.
#3
Let's just F*ckin nuke these guys and assume our role as world's policeman. Bitch slap russia, remind china who their biggest trade partner is, crush Sudan with one mighty blow, give Syria a look that says "don't even think about it" , and call up Pakistan and tell them to have OBL ready to go in 24 hours or they are out in the cold. That should just about do it. And if anybody objects, give em something to cry about.
#4
State sponsored jihad and state sanctioned terrorism are violence if anyone from the "middle east" are paying attention.
16th, 20th, or 21st century you don't get away with these acts for long before someone smacks you down. Some people just need to be thankful the TRANZIs and "soft power" wankers have held what is on it's inevitable way back as long as they have.
#5
Perv has to presume that the Paki street would react badly to a US invasion of Iran. That could threaten his regime, or even his life.
Even IF that were not the case, the Paki street would certainly react VERY badly to any statement from him that even hinted at supporting military action against Iran.
A fledgling republic without a navy, the United States seemed ripe for the picking. In 1783, Muslim pirates the sea-faring terrorists of their day began attacking American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, and the following year, the Moroccans captured a brig called Betsey and enslaved its crew. Soon afterwards, the ruler of Algiers declared war on the U.S., a declaration backed up by marauding corsairs.
The situation worsened with each coming year, but for the life of them, the Americans could not figure out what they did to make themselves so hated. In May 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then both diplomats in Europe, met with Tripolis ambassador to London. Why did the North Africans attack ships of a country that had done nothing to provoke such hostility, the two asked him. The response was unnerving. As Adams and Jefferson later reported to the Continental Congress, the ambassador said the raids were a jihad against infidels. Muslim privateers felt "it was their duty to make war upon them [non-Muslims] wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could as prisoners, and that every Mussleman [Muslim] who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."
[AD]
The Americans now had two choices: pay tribute or fight the pirates.
In Victory in Tripoli, Joshua London gives a fascinating, fast-paced account of how the United States took on the pirate states of North Africa and, in the process, learned about appeasement, naval power and diplomacy through the barrel of a gun. If the book has one drawback, it is this: The author sometimes gets too breezy with the details and the reader is left guessing. The Barbary States comprise what is now modern-day North Africa. The name comes from the word barbari ("barbarian"), what the Arabs called the native Imazighen population. The rough-and-tumble Imazighen (or Berbers) began to convert to Islam following the Arab invasion in the seventh-century CE and, some 70 years later, helped conquer much of Christian Spain when the jihad spread to Europe. Centuries later, in 1492, the Christians eliminated the last of Muslim stronghold in Spain, but the religious conflict did not end there; the North African Muslims simply took the war to the Mediterranean. "Piracy was deemed an acceptable and important component of the al-jihad fil-bahr, or the holy war at sea, and the taifa, or community, of seamen became integral to the Muslim struggle with Christendom," writes London.
Eventually, this holy piracy evolved into a nice money-making scheme. European powers would pay bribes to the Barbary rulers to avoid having their ships raided and crews enslaved. The British also participated in this protection racket, so vessels from America did not have to worry about Muslim pirates that is, until the United States declared its independence from England. And then, in 1783, the attacks on American shipping began. Diplomacy on the part of the Spanish helped free the crew of the Betsey captured by Morocco in October 1784, but other American vessels were plundered by Algiers in the coming months. Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. minister to France (later, third president), would have preferred to fight the pirates then, but the republic lacked the funds to build a navy. So the Americans traded arms and money for hostages.
Of course, once it set down that path, the U.S. had to pay tribute to other Barbary States. In 1800, Pasha Yusef Qaramanli of Tripoli sent a message to President John Adams that war would be forthcoming if the Americans did not pay up. Tunis was also itching for a fight, and with Portuguese and Sicilian forces no longer blocking the Straits of Gibraltar, its pirates had a clear run of the Atlantic.
In 1801, Tripoli declared war on the U.S., which in response instituted an utterly ineffective naval blockade that only managed to rile up other Barbary States. "The American war against Tripoli was understood in light of the infidels encroachment against the Dar al-Islam [House of Islam]," notes the author. "The fact that Tripoli seemed to be winning only spurred" on the pirate rulers. Two years later, President Thomas Jefferson redoubled war efforts, building more ships and jettisoning an incompetent commodore, but he never thought the Barbary pirates could be completely tamed. Finally, in November 1804, with the blockade still dragging on, U.S. consul to Algiers William Eaton went to Egypt to find a claimant to the throne who would lead a coup against the troublesome Tripolitan.
Eatons mixed Arab, Greek and American force marched all the way from Egypt, and backed up by naval guns, took the port city of Derna. An alarmed Pasha Yusef Qaramanli agreed to a peace treaty in June 1805, and Jefferson declared victory over Tripoli. As for the Arab claimant to the throne, he was betrayed by the Americans when deemed no longer useful; Eaton never forgave the president and died an alcoholic.
Though covering a neglected chapter of history, Victory in Tripoli comes alive thanks to a host of colorful personalities. The reader learns that, for example, the politically connected but incompetent Captain Richard Morris spent more time on port calls than securing the blockade of Tripoli, and that the Ottoman sultan in Constantinople first imagined the Americans were quasi-Muslim because the stars on their flag were, like the crescent moon, a heavenly body. However, in building a dramatic narrative, there is a danger in letting the statements of historical subjects go unchallenged especially when such remarks are controversial.
U.S. Consul Eaton described the dey of Algiers as a "huge, shaggy beast" holding out a paw to be kissed and, while seeking to overthrow the ruler of Tripoli, remarked, "Cash is the only deity of the Arabs." Similarly, Edward Preble, the commodore chosen to replace Morris, described the Imazighen as "a deep designing artful treacherous set of villains." In each case, a pro forma condemnation of racism from the author would have been appreciated. Another area where London stumbles is his treatment of peripheral events. For instance, he notes that four Swedish ships took part in the American blockade of Tripoli, but he does not say when or why the Scandinavian nation first took up arms. Likewise, he makes vague references to things like the Jay Treaty of 1794 and then leaves it to the reader to go consult an encyclopedia for more information.
Still, the book is a welcome look into a formative period of American history and a reminder that the Wests trouble with jihad did not begin in 1948 with the creation of Israel.
#1
Thank you for posting this. Most Americans today know no history. Thus, they don't realize that the birth of the US Navy was due to these Muzzies impounding our vesseles and crews at the very beginning of the Republic. Thank God that generation of Americans chose to fight back. Muzzies defeated. Now these same scumbags are at it again. They're like roaches. You douse them with poison and kill off most of them...but not all. As soon as their numbers replenish, the shitbags are back. We need nothing less than total extermination. There will never be any peace with these assholes as long as any of them continue to suck air.
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.
The U.S. military expressed regret Wednesday for the deaths of a reported 16 civilian villagers Monday in U.S. airstrikes near here, but officials and elders said Taliban insurgents were responsible for the incident.
Top United Nations officials failed to gain Sudan's agreement to allow a technical team to plan the deployment of UN troops to the violent Darfur region as a Security Council deadline expired on Wednesday. 
It is all but impossible to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, a leading British think-tank said yesterday, as the world's powers struggled to find a common strategy to face the threat. Senior officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China closeted themselves at a secret location in London to negotiate a package of "incentives" for Iran to halt its nuclear programme.
Prosecutors are investigating a journalist for publishing an article mocking President Vladimir Putin over his call to pay Russian women to have more children, an official said Wednesday.
Thousands of Nepalese protested in a southern business town on Wednesday against a plan to turn Nepal into a secular state. More than 5,000 people burned tyres and logs, and blocked roads in Birgunj, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Kathmandu, resident Shiva Patel said. They were protesting over a plan approved by parliament last week to turn Nepal, the world's only Hindu kingdom, into a secular state. Shouting "Jay Shree Ram!" (Lord Ram is great!), demonstrators obliged shops to pull down shutters and forced vehicles off the streets, local journalist Govind Devkota said from the town on the Indian border.
The Senate's Functional Committee on Human Rights will investigate the death of Aamir Cheema who died in police custody in Germany earlier this month. Cheema, a 24 year-old Pakistani, was studying in Germany at the University of Applied Sciences in Muenchberg sine 2004. He was arrested on March 20 for trying to enter the building of Axel Springer publishing house, the publisher of Die Welt newspaper, in Berlin and was accused of planning to attack the paper's editor for reprinting Danish blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Though German authorities have declared Cheema's death as suicide, it has raised questions about the rights of Pakistanis abroad, prompting senator SM Zafar, chairman of the committee, to initiate an investigation into the matter.
Anti Terrorism Court-V declared 
Imams loyal to terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi have issued threats in mosques in a western Baghdad neighborhood against anyone who does not follow Islamic law, terrified residents are saying. "They announced their loyalty to Zarqawi and put their rules on the street," said Sabah, 31, adding that supporters of the Jordanian-born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq had killed six men for wearing knee-length shorts in another Baghdad neighborhood on Tuesday.
Iraq's ex-Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz made his first public appearance in three years on the stand for Saddam Hussein on Wednesday, calling on the court to try current leaders for attacks on the state in the 1980s. 
Arab allies of the Palestinian Authority have sought refuge from the emerging civil war in the Gaza Strip. Egyptian and Jordanian diplomats have avoided traveling in much of the Gaza Strip to avoid being a target in battles between Fatah and Hamas. As part of their war, both militias, supported by rival PA security agencies, have established roadblocks and ambushed each other's patrols. "Most of the diplomats and military advisers of Egypt and Jordan have left the Gaza Strip or remain indoors," a diplomatic source said. "They have been under orders from their governments to do everything they can to avoid becoming a target."
Jordan has urged the United States to reject an Israeli plan for a unilateral withdrawal from 90 percent of the West Bank. Administration officials said Jordan has relayed concern that an Israeli pullout would endanger the Hashemite kingdom. The officials said Amman envisions the West Bank turning into a haven for Al Qaida and Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored groups that aim to destabilize the kingdom. "The bottom line from the Jordanians was: 'We have enough of a problem with Al Qaida and Hamas. This makes it worse?'" an official said. 
TRIPOLI: MP Mosbah Ahdab said on Wednesday that there was no evidence to date to disprove that a Syrian security guard who had shot at the deputy's home had committed suicide in prison. Ahdab's update came during a news conference held at his Tripoli home. Rumors of foul play have circulated since the discovery of Jihad Abdel-Hamid Akleh's body last Thursday in his cell at the Justice Palace in Tripoli. 
Beirut- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah ruled out the widely popular option of integrating his armed group into the Lebanese army. His statement on this matter was viewed as a positioning strategy ahead of the June 8 national dialogue meeting on disarming all the militia in Lebanon.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Wednesday that dialogue and not force remained the key to resolving Irans nuclear standoff with the West, warning that any military offensive against Tehran would destabilise the entire region. 
